A cursory glance of anime tv shows released in 2006 and there's a lot of good things I'd watch again: Honey & Clover, Kemonozume, Ergo Proxy, Code Geass, Haruhi Suzumiya, etc.
In 2026 the only thing that has captivated me, so far, was the Chainsaw Man movie and Dorohedoro S2.
Kidding aside, did you pick those 2006 releases at the time they were being released or are you picking them up from a list after years of refinement and discovery? It's completely possible that 2026 will be as fruitful from a 2046 perspective.
Higurashi when they cry does the whole concept of time reset well (2006).
Trigun sequel is coming out this year.
2026 titles have caught on that trend of a really long specific title though.
“The Laid-Off Cheat-Granting Mage Enjoys a Second Lease on Life”
I think anime is a big enough category that every year there’s always at least a few good ones but it’s hard to get good signal to noise. But the whole tiny girl thing is 100% a trend that’s stuck around.
Those titles are a result of the webnovel -> lightnovel pipeline. Users won't click unless they like the concept so authors started to just put the tagline directly in the title.
I mean, you are twenty years older, if you didn't watch those anime in 2006 and tried to watch them now, you probably wouldn't watch most of them. It's not really any different than the people that say "oh, the best music came out in my formative years".
In 2026 the only thing that has captivated me, so far, was the Chainsaw Man movie and Dorohedoro S2.