The Summer 2026 anime season has already released all the new series, and the lineup is more exciting than ever. Just like every other season, Crunchyroll added dozens of upcoming series to its library and began streaming new episodes weekly after the Japanese broadcast. The Summer anime season kicked off in July, during which almost all of the series will premiere and begin streaming on the platform. However, one of the most anticipated series of the season, Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You, had an early premiere in June this year with mini-episodes. The episodes were broadcast on the Japanese TV network ABEMA, following which Crunchyroll began streaming them for global fans.
The anime’s success is positively influencing the manga sales since it was one of the best-selling series in July this year. According to a report shared by @WSJ_manga on X, the manga sold over 171k copies from June 29th to August 2nd. The information comes from a reliable source, and it confirms that the series has a lot of potential to continue climbing the ranks thanks to its heartwarming story.
Thanks to the unique strategy of releasing 12 mini-episodes a month before the original premiere, the anime grabbed all the attention when the Spring 2026 anime series were already reaching their end. The mini-episodes were simply the first six episodes of the anime split into smaller segments. The series debuted with a perfect 5-star rating on Crunchyroll even before its official premiere.
Although the rating has fallen to 4.9 stars now, it still remains one of the highest-rated series on the platform. This helped introduce the story to the viewers and caused enough buzz before the official debut. Naturally, the main reason why fans stuck to watching the series was because of the exceptional story. However, it can’t be denied that the early episodes helped quite a bit. The anime is still streaming all the mini-episodes while also adding full-length weekly episodes in both subbed and dubbed versions.
The anime is based on the acclaimed manga written and illustrated by Jinushi. The manga was published as a webcomic on X in March 2022 (known as Twitter at the time). Later on, it began serialization in Square Enix’s Monthly Big Gangan magazine in July 2022 and grabbed enough attention to get an anime adaptation. The anime stands out as one of the most heartwarming and cozy slice-of-life series in recent years. The story centers around Sasaki, a middle-aged office worker whose only joy in life is seeing the cheerful smile of Yamada, a beautiful young woman working at the 24-hour supermarket he frequently visits.
However, before long, he gets entangled with a mysterious girl named Tayama who is quite the opposite of the cashier. As an unlikely relationship begins to blossom, he learns about the connection between the two women. The manga has released eight volumes so far, out of which seven have already been released in English and are available on the official website of Square Enix.
