We were just touting 2025 as a huge year for anime, but 2026 is poised to repeat that—and it’s coming out of the gates swinging with some big banner titles jam-packed into January. With that in mind, we’ve assembled a list of shows we think you should add to your watchlist, who made them, and why they’re going to be great.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2
Studio: Madhouse
Release Date: January 16
Sales Pitch: A tale of an elf woman and her new young companions as they trek out on a lascivious journey filled with innocuously impeccable fight scenes and tons of heart.
Hell’s Paradise Season 2
Studio: Mappa
Release Date: January 11
Sales Pitch: A troupe of prisoners and their executors has their Suicide Squad quest for the elixir of life interrupted by a mysterious island (named Kotaku, funnily enough) whose gender-nonconforming beings intend to cut their lives short.
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3
Studio: Mappa
Release Date: January 8
Sales Pitch: Yuji Itadori and the rest of the jujutsu sorcerers are forcefully conscripted into a death game tournament arc with a bunch of rules and a lot of action that’s sure to make fans praise it for being “peak!”
Oshi no Ko Season 3
Studio: Doga Kobo
Release Date: January 14
Sales Pitch: A doctor and his former patient are reincarnated as the children of their favorite pop idol and spend the rest of their teenage years chasing stardom as well as their mother’s killer.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2
Studio: Bones Film
Release Date: January 5
Sales Pitch: My Hero Academia may be (mostly) in the history books, but its prequel spin-off anime (which is actually quite good) is still trucking, giving folks a look at what a more on-the-ground Batman-meets-Punisher approach to vigilanteism looks like in Kōhei Horikoshi’s superhero-rich world.
Trigun Stargaze
Studio: Orange
Release Date: January 10
Sales Pitch: The second and final season of Studio Orange’s reboot of the Trigun anime sees the gang fully back together with the glorious return of Milly Thompson.
Golden Kamuy
Studio: Brain’s Base
Release Date: January 5
Sales Pitch: The final season of a hilarious, hard-hitting, and wholesome series about a group of warriors (read: loveable idiots) as they hunt for a hidden treasure.
Journal with Witch
Studio: Shuka
Release Date: January 4
Sales Pitch: A rare josei drama (adult woman-centric anime) in an otherwise sea of shonen anime. It follows a writer named Makio, who, after the tragic deaths of her estranged sister and her sister’s husband in a car crash, grows closer to her niece, Asa, through their shared love of writing as they go through the motions of coping with the loss in their family.
The Darwin Incident
Studio: Bellnox Films
Release Date: January 7
Sales Pitch: A half-human, half-chimpanzee named Charlie (we listen and we don’t judge) tries to live a normal high school life but is instead thrown into the heart of a conspiratorial terrorist plot.
More to Watch in 2026
The above list doesn’t include all the other anime series we’ve got to look forward to for the rest of the calendar year. Chief among them that we’re keen to keep an eye on and recommend:
- Steel Ball Run: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: the seventh part of Hirohiko Araki’s long-running series featuring a lot of horseback racing and rotating balls, coming to Netflix in March.
- Beastars Final Season Part 2: The final chapter of Studio Orange‘s adaptation of creator Paru Itagaki‘s furry anime with tons of heart, coming to Netflix in March.
- Witch Hat Atelier: The long-awaited anime adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s magical manga series, coming to Crunchyroll in April.
- Daemons of the Shadow Realm: An anime adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromi Arakawa‘s series, by Studio Bones, coming to Crunchyroll in April.
- Marriagetoxin: A new shonen manga series that puts romance at the heart of its supernatural assassination action, coming in April.
- Akane-banashi: A promising rakugo anime adaptation, originally created by the duo Takamasa Moue and Yuuki Suenaga, that’s arguably the best ongoing Shonen Jump manga out right now. It’s essentially about competitive theatrical storytelling, coming in April.
- Mao: Yet another anime series adaptation from Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2 creator Rumiko Takahashi (she’s the goat) about a girl named Nanoka who, after getting powers from her isekai-esque jumps between the modern day and the Taisho era, is thrown into the orbit of Mao, a cat-demon cursed boy who performs exorcisms. Coming in April.
- Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Calamity: The fourth and final part in Pierrot Films’ anime adaptation of Tite Kubo’s Bleach, coming to Hulu in July.
- Jaadugar: A Witch in Magnolia: Dan Da Dan studio Science Saru‘s newest project, a historical josei anime adaptation of Tomato Soup (yes, that’s their pen name)’s manga about a Persian woman torn from her homeland and navigating the politics of a world dominated by Genghis Khan, coming July 2026.
- The Elusive Samruai Season 2: The tale of a prince named Tokiyuki and his troupe of friends, under the political tutelage of a prophesying priest claiming he’ll become a great hero, on a journey of revenge against those who killed his noble family by using the time-honored skill of running away. Coming to Crunchyroll in July.
- The Apothecary Diaries Season 3: The third season following the ever-so-shrewd poison-loving apothecary-turned-detective, Maomao, as she uncovers even more secrets of the royal palace she serves under against her will, coming to Crunchyroll in October.
- The Ghost in the Shell: Science Saru’s other “new” anime brings the OG Ghost in the Shell manga to life in the way only this studio can; it is slated for 2026.
If there are any shows we missed that are in your 2026 queue for January and beyond, be sure to sound off in the comments and put your fellow weeb on to some heat.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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