Netflix, Disney & Crunchyroll Leave Anime’s Biggest Winter 2026 Sleeper Hit Frozen in Streaming Limbo

by

Anime has become a major part of today’s streaming services, thanks to the huge popularity of shows like Demon Slayer, One Piece, Dandadan, and Frieren. However, international streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Crunchyroll aren’t paying much attention to a newer show that’s already very popular with viewers in Japan.

According to a recent report from Tokyo’s Anime Data Insights Lab, a winter 2026 anime series achieved a perfect viewer retention rate. This means every viewer who started watching the show continued to tune in for all three weeks of its initial run, according to data collected during that period.

It’s very unusual for any creative work to maintain a perfect record of not being taken down, even in Japan. The anime series Hoppe-chan: Mystery of the Sun Kingdom and the Black Cheek Team began airing in Japan on January 10, 2026.

Japan Reveals the Top ‘Dark Horse’ Anime Sleeper Hit of Winter 2026

The Hoppe-chan anime is inspired by characters created by Sun Jewelry, a company that, like many others, uses cute characters to promote its clothing, accessories, and other goods. The anime, produced by Toon Harbor Works, is about the Sun Kingdom, which has been invaded by dangerous creatures.

Hoppe-chan, a cute creature shaped like a pink raindrop, befriends Hoho, a young woman feeling lost in life. Inspired by Hoppe-chan’s story, Hoho joins forces with her and her friends on a quest to protect the Sun Kingdom.

Similar to other anime aimed at young children, Hoppe-chan is made for elementary school kids. While popular children’s shows like Doraemon, Digimon, and Hamtaro have some fans outside of Japan, streaming services don’t usually prioritize licensing them. Instead, they tend to focus on anime for teen boys, followed by anime for girls and adult men.

When anime is streamed outside of Japan, services generally choose titles that attract a wide audience, no matter their age or gender. Popular shows like Bleach, Jujutsu Kaisen, The Apothecary Diaries, Demon Slayer, Spy x Family, and One Piece appeal to both teens and adults. You can usually find these franchises on at least two major international streaming platforms.

Crunchyroll boasts a huge library of over 1,000 different anime shows, with something for almost everyone in terms of genre and age. However, it doesn’t have a lot of anime specifically made for very young children. Instead, Crunchyroll, like many other streaming services, focuses mostly on shows aimed at teen boys and young men (known as shonen and seinen). A popular new anime from Japan, An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at Age 29, is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.

I’m a little bummed that Hoppe-chan won’t be available outside of Japan anytime soon, but honestly, there’s so much other anime coming that I’m still super excited! Netflix has announced a bunch of great additions for 2026, including Wind Breaker from CloverWorks – it’s an action series all about martial arts – and Sparks of Tomorrow by Kyoto Animation, which sounds like a really cool steampunk story about growing up. Plus, we’re getting a spinoff of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir on February 27th, which is awesome!

Read More

2026-02-19 07:08