Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You gets cool celebratory visual as anime announced for 2026

Absolutely my now most-anticipated anime of the next year is the just announced quirky adult romance series Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You.

The manga written and illustrated by Jinushi is one of the most solidly-written, character-driven, funniest, most touching and most relatable manga I have read this year.

So much so, I grabbed the first volume a few months ago, while not really knowing what it was about, and then binge-read all four available digital volumes in the next half a day.

And now a Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You anime adaptation has been announced as already in production, with an expected 2026 premiere date.

And me? I am now beyond ecstatic in anticipation of seeing Sasaki and Tayama/Yamada moving and talking.

In celebration, the anime also got a cool celebratory visual via its X account featuring protagonist Sasaki, a middle-aged salary man who befriends Tayama, a young woman he meets smoking behind his local supermarket.

Little does he know Tayama is also Yamada, the cheery supermarket cashier he enjoys talking to. But with a much more less cheery personality.

The Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You celebratory visual was created by mangaka Jinushi.

Production details of the Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You anime

As of now, we know pretty much nothing about the manga’s upcoming anime adaptation. Although that will likely start to drip out in the next few weeks.

Just that an official website has launched, and that a 2026 premiere is expected.

If you’re not familiar with the manga, though, (and you really need to be if you enjoy a wonderfully human story with lovable characters), the first volume of its English translation, which is published in English by Square Enix, describes its plot like this:

At age forty-five, office worker Sasaki has had enough of the corporate grind. His only solace is smoking-and the friendly smile of supermarket cashier Yamada. When Sasaki can’t find Yamada after a particularly trying day, a striking woman invites him to smoke with her.

The despondent man thinks he’s made a new smoking buddy in the cool, teasing Tayama, but Sasaki doesn’t realize he already knows her!

Yep, it really is as mundane of a story as its title sounds — just two people sitting behind a supermarket smoking — but also a story that quickly becomes truly magical.