Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia Review - The Boldest Anime of Summer 2026

Most seasons give you one anime that feels like it is playing a completely different game than everything around it. For Summer 2026, that show is Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia. It premiered July 4 on Crunchyroll, and within a single episode it made a case for being the most ambitious new series of the year. This is proper historical fiction, set in a period anime almost never touches, made by some of the best people working in the medium. Here is why it deserves a spot on your watchlist.

What it is about

Jaadugar adapts Tomato Soup's manga A Witch's Life in Mongol, a story that has picked up serious acclaim. It topped the female-reader category of This Manga Is Amazing! 2023 and earned back-to-back Manga Taisho nominations, so the source material arrives with a real reputation.

The setting is the early 13th century, near the end of the Islamic Golden Age, a stretch of history when mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and the arts were flourishing across the Middle East. The story opens in the Persian city of Tus, where a girl named Sitara is sold into slavery to a family of scholars. She tries to run at first, but the household teaches her the value of knowledge, and she gradually becomes a student as much as a servant. Then the Mongols invade. Her world is destroyed, her master killed, and she is carried off toward Mongolia, where she begins to plot her revenge.

That is a heavy premise, and the show does not soften it. What makes it sing is the angle it takes on all that darkness.

Knowledge as a superpower

The "witch" in the title is not literal. Sitara has no spells. Her power is learning, and the series treats that with total conviction. The central idea, stated plainly in the early episodes, is that the more you understand about the past and the way the world works, the more you can anticipate what is coming and prepare for it. Knowledge is control. For a girl who has been stripped of everything, including her freedom, education becomes the one form of self-respect and agency nobody can take away.

That is a genuinely unusual thing for an anime to be about. Plenty of shows use a smart protagonist as a plot device, a character who conveniently knows the answer. Jaadugar makes the act of learning itself the emotional core. Watching Sitara absorb astronomy, languages, and history is not filler between action beats. It is the point, and the show frames it with the same weight another series would give a power-up.

Science SARU at the top of its game

If you have read anything about Science SARU's incredible 2026, you already know the studio is on a heater, and Jaadugar is a big reason why. Naoko Yamada, the director behind A Silent Voice, K-On!, The Heike Story, and The Colors Within, serves as chief director. Abel Gongora, who co-directed Dandadan Season 2 and helmed Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, directed the first episode. Kenichi Yoshida handles character design and chief animation duties, and Koshiro Hino composes the score.

That is an intimidating amount of talent pointed at one project, and it shows on screen. The animation is faithful to Tomato Soup's distinctive art style while still carrying Science SARU's signature tactile, hand-drawn feel. The period detail is rich without becoming a museum tour. Backgrounds breathe, character acting is expressive, and the direction knows exactly when to sit in a quiet moment and let it land. This is the kind of craft that reminds you why Yamada is spoken about the way she is.

The music package is strong too. Sekai no Owari performs the opening theme "Stella," and Queen Bee handles the ending "Hoshi," two acts with real personality that suit the show's blend of beauty and melancholy.

The authenticity matters

One thing that stands out is how seriously the production took its setting. The team did not just draw a generic "old world" and call it a day. In interviews around the show's festival screenings, the directors talked about casting actual Mongolian voices where they could, including two Mongolian sumo wrestlers based in Japan, and having Japanese actors deliver lines in another language to keep the world grounded.

That care extends to the themes. Yamada has described Sitara's arc as complicated on purpose. She loses her homeland to the Mongols, yet as she spends time among them and learns more, she starts to feel a grudging respect. The show is interested in that discomfort rather than a clean revenge fantasy, and it is willing to sit in moral gray areas most series would rush past.

The one caveat

It is worth being honest about the pushback. Some critics have flagged that the series draws a distinction between different systems of slavery in the story, framing certain masters as kind and others as cruel, and that this framing sits uncomfortably given the subject. It is a fair thing to keep an eye on as the show develops. A story this serious invites that level of scrutiny, and how it handles the topic over a full run will matter a great deal.

For now, though, the craft and ambition are undeniable, and the early episodes earn the benefit of the doubt.

Should you watch it

Yes, especially if you want something with weight. Jaadugar is not a comfort watch or a hype machine. It is a thoughtful, gorgeously made historical drama about a girl who turns learning into survival, built by a studio and a director at the height of their powers. In a season stacked with sequels and adaptations chasing familiar highs, it is the show swinging for something genuinely different, and mostly connecting.

If you only have room for one new series this summer and you want to feel like you watched something that mattered, start here.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia release?

Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia premiered on July 4, 2026, and streams on Crunchyroll. It adapts Tomato Soup's manga A Witch's Life in Mongol, produced by Science SARU.

Is Naoko Yamada directing Jaadugar?

Naoko Yamada serves as chief director on Jaadugar, while Abel Gongora directs and handled the first episode. Yamada is known for A Silent Voice, K-On!, The Heike Story, and The Colors Within.

Have you started Jaadugar yet? Tell me what you think in the chat.