Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You release date is 2 weeks away — here’s how to watch it early

Summer 2026 is packed with major anime releases like Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation season 3, and even a new Ghost in the Shell adaptation. But one of the season’s biggest breakout hits isn’t a blockbuster sequel or part of a decades-old franchise. In fact, it technically hasn’t even premiered yet.

If you’ve been hearing people rave about Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You over the past few weeks, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking the anime had already begun airing. I was confused, too. Despite an official premiere date two weeks from now, the anime adaptation has already begun — sort of.

Earlier this month, the unconventional workplace romance became one of Crunchyroll’s highest-rated anime thanks to an unusual rollout: the opening story arc was released as a series of bite-sized mini-episodes. Since then, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You has amassed more than 57,000 user ratings for a 4.9-star average — all before the show’s official television broadcast has even begun.

Now, with just two weeks to go before the premiere, here’s everything you need to know about one of summer’s most anticipated anime romances.

What is Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You about?

Jinushi’s Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You began as a webcomic published on X.com in March 2022. It was then serialized in Monthly Big Gangan magazine that August and went on to win the 2022 Next Manga Award in the web category. Square Enix also publishes the series in English.

The manga follows 45-year-old office worker Sasaki, whose exhausting corporate job has left him burnt out. There’s an angry boss, new hires who bundle paperwork, and clients to handle — but it’s all pretty unclear exactly what Sasaki does. His job doesn’t really matter nearly as much as his favorite daily ritual, however. In addition to being a big smoker, Sasaki loves swinging by his neighborhood supermarket and buying the same dinner, bag of snacks, and beer so he can cash out and interact briefly with a cheery young cashier named Yamada who works the night shift. Her smile literally brightens his day and uplifts his spirits, and the show manages to make it all feel rather innocent.

One day, Sasaki gets stuck late at work and seems to have missed Yamada at the grocery store. As he looks for a place to smoke outside, a mysterious young woman who introduces herself as Tayama invites him to join her behind the supermarket. Sasaki thinks he’s found a new smoking buddy — without realizing that Tayama and Yamada are the same person. The two develop an earnest friendship that inches its way toward romance over time, but it’s a slow burn (like a cigarette left on the ash tray, perhaps). Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You has an odd premise, but it delivers on a really charming slice-of-life anime that balances workplace drama with good banter between two people accidentally falling in love.

The anime adaptation comes from Asahi Production, with Masato Suzuki and Aoi Mori directing, Mio Inoue handling series composition, Tomoka Otaki providing character designs, and Shin Kono and Sayaka Aoki composing the music. The anime features an opening theme by Zutomayo and an ending theme, “Fiction,” performed by Imase.

What are the Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You mini-sodes?

This is where things get a little confusing.

Despite the full premiere in July, Crunchyroll stealth-dropped a special preview on June 3. Instead of full-length episodes, the service split the anime’s first six episodes into 12 “mini-sodes” that are about 10 minutes long each.

They’re not bonus content, side stories, or chibi shorts either. They’re literally just the first half of season 1 edited into shorter chunks. They cover the anime’s opening arc in which Sasaki and Tayama meet and gradually get to know each other while smoking behind the supermarket together. Considering the fact that the series has already become one of Crunchyroll’s most highly rated anime already, it seems that strategy has worked pretty well.

When is the Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You release date?

The full television broadcast of Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You begins on July 10, with Crunchyroll streaming the series alongside its Japanese release.

If you’ve already watched the 12 mini-sodes, you’ve essentially already seen the first six episodes — and you probably won’t see anything new until the August 21 episode airs. New viewers can start with those preview episodes on Crunchyroll right now or wait for the standard television broadcast to begin in two weeks.

Whether the series can maintain that 4.9-star audience score as it reaches a much larger weekly audience remains to be seen. But after building an unusually large fanbase before the official premiere, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You has already established itself as one of the breakout romances of the summer 2026 season.