Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You emerges as one of the favourite anime of 2026

Tokyo: If you had a rupee for the number of anime around smoking that are also among the favourite anime of 2026, you’d have two rupees. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

That’s the hyper-specific note that fans are using to describe the 2026 anime season, where Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You has become the second – and exponentially less disgusting – of two smoking-themed surprises.

Adapted from the popular manga, the slice-of-life series follows the quiet, after-work bonding of a tired salaryman and a supermarket cashier behind the store, over a smoke break that turns into an unlikely connection.

Praised for its low-key charm, understated romance and hazy late-night atmosphere, the anime has coughed up a place on many year-end favourite lists, proving that even in 2026, a small, intimate story can clear the air.