The Chiikawa anime is pausing new episodes and will air 25 reruns through Dec. 25, 2026. The break follows Chiikawa the Movie, Japan’s top box office hit of 2026 so far.
The tiny, crying, very merch-able creatures are taking a break.
The official site for the Chiikawa anime announced that new episodes are on pause. In their place, the show will air a “revival” run of 25 older episodes through Dec. 25, per Anime News Network.
It’s the second time in about 18 months the anime has done this. And it comes right after the franchise’s biggest year yet.
Which Chiikawa episodes are airing during the break?
The anime’s earliest episodes, plus episodes tied to the recent movie, Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island. The official announcement lists which ones are coming back, but it doesn’t give a reason for the pause.
That movie tie-in is telling. The movie was a massive hit, and new fans who found Chiikawa through it now get a guided tour of the backstory.
How big was the Chiikawa movie?
Very big. Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island opened in Japan on July 24.
Per Anime News Network, it has earned more than 15.84 billion yen, or about $100 million, and sold about 10.86 million tickets. That makes it the top film at Japan’s box office this year so far.
For a series that started as short comics on X, that’s a wild climb.
What is Chiikawa?
Chiikawa comes from the artist Nagano, who started posting the comics on X, then still called Twitter, in January 2020.
The name is short for a Japanese phrase that roughly means “something small and cute.” The main characters are Chiikawa, a nervous little white creature; Hachiware, a cheerful cat-like friend; and Usagi, a chaotic rabbit-ish creature who mostly yells.
They live in a world where the cute stuff hides some truly scary monsters. That mix of adorable and unsettling is a big part of why adults love it as much as kids do.
How long has the Chiikawa anime been on?
The anime premiered in April 2022 inside Fuji TV’s morning show Mezamashi TV. The episodes are very short, just a couple of minutes each.
It aired once a week on Fridays, then went to twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, in April 2023.
The last break came in April 2025, when the previous series stopped new episodes and reran key older episodes until a new series started in July 2025. So this pause follows the same pattern. Whether new episodes return in early 2027 hasn’t been announced.
Where can you watch Chiikawa in the U.S.?
Sentai Filmworks holds the license, and the show streams with English subtitles on HIDIVE.
There’s also a newer option. Amasian TV, a North American streaming service from ODK Media, started carrying a selection of 20 episodes on Aug. 20.
Why is Chiikawa such a big deal for merch fans?
If you’ve walked into a Japanese character shop, or a Sanrio store, or scrolled any collectibles account lately, you’ve seen these guys.
Chiikawa has done collabs with Sanrio, Converse and others, and its plush are some of the most chased character goods out of Japan right now. The movie only made that bigger.
So the anime is resting for a few months. Nobody has said anything about the merch taking a break, and fresh off a hit movie, it probably won’t.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Anime News Network (Sept. 24, 2026), the pause, the 25-episode rerun through Dec. 25, the movie’s box office, the 2025 break and U.S. streaming
Comic Natalie (Sept. 2026), the original Japanese report, via Anime News Network
Wikipedia (accessed Sept. 25, 2026), the manga’s origins and brand collaborations, as a starting point only
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