Anime News Network·Japan·Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at 09:30 PM UTC

Fashion-Focused Bless Anime is a Visual Stunner

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The first episode of Bless, based on the manga by Yukino Sonoyama and premiering in January 2027, had an early screening at the Kodansha House pop-up in NYC as part of an anime watch party on October 12 with three other anime titles. I must acknowledge this pop-up wasn't the ideal venue for such a screening, as it was in the middle of a warehouse, surrounded by music from different activations and cars and motorcycles passing right outside the open doors. For full disclosure, all watch party attendees also received the first volumes of the four screened shows' manga source material as gifts.

Bless centers around a pair of students at a fashion-focused high school: Aia, a model whose real passion is makeup artistry but has been discouraged from pursuing his dream, and Jun, a girl who'd make a perfect model if only she wasn't so shy about being teased due to her freckles. Paired up for a transformation-themed runway show, the two classmates decide to help each other, with Aia doing one of his bold makeup designs for Jun's modeling debut.

Aia initially assumes his job will be to cover up Jun's freckles, but realizing it's better to highlight her unique beauty rather than conform to traditional beauty standards, he instead showcases her as a “sunflower.” Jun's confidence blossoms over the course of this first episode — a confidence which extends to her romantic pursuit of Aia, going from denying any feelings to already giving him an “accidental” kiss after their successful runway show. It's so much character development in one episode that I'm curious how these arcs will play out over the full series.

Visually, the anime is distinctive. A gorgeous prologue sequence uses painted animation à la the Frieren Season 2 ending sequence. The main art style uses very angular character designs, with color highlights around shadows. Facial details like Jun's freckles or bags under characters' eyes are heavily pronounced, except for the details of characters' pupils, which are more blurred out. The level of detail varies from shot to shot, and at times it feels like a little too much is going on visually, but it's a well-animated show, and the detail fits a story about makeup. The use of color gives it a clear advantage over the manga in presenting its subject matter effectively.

Bless joins the list of shonen that people are almost certainly going to be shocked to realize is, in fact, shonen. It's a Noitamina show that feels like what a “Noitamina show” used to mean before the block spent at least half the year on Jump adaptations and retro revivals. We'll see where it goes, and if it can keep up the momentum from this eventful first episode, but it's off to a promising start.

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