With the Summer 2025 season still in its infancy, the current year has plenty of great anime still to produce. However, before long, January will arrive, bringing forth an array of new sequels and newcomers who have the potential to hog the limelight and online discussions. What will be the biggest 2026 anime? While certainly too early to make any definitive claims, a few prime contenders have already stated their intentions to grab the crown, provided they are not delayed or produce seasons that are well below expectations.
Solo Leveling Season 2 will likely go down as 2025’s biggest anime, and the upcoming year will need something massive to match that adaptation’s hype and exposure. Therefore, let’s highlight a couple of 2026 anime that should be huge, along with a few series that have yet to confirm their release years.
The focus is on the “biggest” and not the “best,” as it would be completely premature to make any claims regarding the latter.
One Piece is not included because, well, it will naturally be one of the biggest anime of 2026. For this article, I decided to prioritize new anime and sequels that should/could debut next year.
Demon Slayer has been left out since the sequel movies are unknown quantities at this point.
Slated to get 2026 started on a perfect note, Frieren: Beyond The Journey’s End will soon be back on our screens, delivering another majestic blend of slow-life fantasy, subtle world-building, and splashes of incredible action. Season 1 set the bar extremely high, earning praise for being not only Madhouse’s strongest anime in about a decade, but also one of the best series of all time.
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The anime has only covered about half of Kanehito Yamada’s ongoing manga, so the sequel has more than enough content to produce another full season. More importantly, Frieren is consistently great; in fact, the manga seems to improve with each new arc. If it hits the mark, Frieren season 2 will be the biggest anime of 2026. Honestly, it might also be the best.
Jujutsu Kaisen is kind of weird. Even though the shonen anime has seemed inescapable since making its 2020 debut, MAPPA has generally avoided overexposure, opting to take its time to ensure a quality adaptation that lives up to the hype.
Similar to the gap between the first two seasons, the third entry will (likely) drop 2.5 years after its predecessor’s conclusion, which is more than enough time to allow MAPPA to put together a great follow-up AND to make fans crave Yuji and company’s return. You need to give people the opportunity to miss you, and by the time season 3 arrives in 2026, the world will be desperate for more JJK.
The sequel should cover the Itadori’s Extermination and Perfect Preparation Arcs, along with starting the lengthy and ambitious Culling Game. Season 3 might even finish the latter, but that will depend on its episode count.
A decade ago, Bleach‘s anime seemed destined to remain forever incomplete. Despite producing some of the best arcs of the 2000s, the adaptation steadily chipped away at its reputation through underwhelming filler that overstayed its welcome and, also, canon stories that felt like a retread of past glories. Then, in 2022, Pierrot revived this former giant, shoving Ichigo back into the spotlight while making sure his return goes down as one of the greatest comeback stories in anime history.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War has been phenomenal so far, particularly in the animation department. Honestly, if you were to argue that this run represents the pinnacle in anime action, I would see no need to offer any sort of rebuttal. The Calamity will bring Bleach to an end, giving the anime the conclusion that it deserves.
Solo Leveling was not the first manhwa to receive an anime, but it was the most important. While Tower of God was and still is a big deal, Solo Leveling is generally regarded as the most popular manhwa of all time. If the adaptation failed to meet expectations (both commercially and critically), Japanese studios might have been discouraged from turning to South Korean comics for inspiration, opting to remain insular and focus solely on manga.
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Eleceed is a pretty huge name in the manhwa industry, and Son Je-ho’s webtoon has been producing high-quality content since 2018. The story follows an extremely odd couple as the electrifying Jiwoo teams up with Kayden, a guy stuck as a cat. Together, they work as an independent unit that tries to leave a positive mark on the world, all the while dealing with Awakeners who might not have noble intentions. Humor is a big part of Eleceed‘s formula.
Dandelion Animation is not a big name by any stretch of the imagination, but the studio worked on The First Slam Dunk, which was great.
Solo Leveling has had a pretty good run so far, and that is meant to be an understatement. Season 2 overshadowed the rest of the Winter 2025 lineup, and its sequel seems set to do the same whenever it becomes a reality. For the moment, A-1 Pictures has not confirmed when Solo Leveling Season 3 can be expected, and there is no guarantee that a 2026 debut will happen. That said, next year is not beyond the realm of possibility, especially since the adaptation is working off an already completed source.
2022 – 2022
Keiichirô Saitô
Erika Yoshida, Aki Hamaji
A slow-burner that gradually exploded in popularity during its late-2022 run, Bocchi the Rock was an unexpected cultural phenomenon that took the anime world by storm. While it has been around since 2017, Aki Hamazi’s manga was not a particularly huge name before the anime, which might explain why more than three years have passed without a sequel. CloverWorks might have been caught a bit off-guard by the show’s success, at least to the point that the studio had not put a follow-up into production before season 1’s arrival.
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Bocchi the Rock Season 2 is confirmed to be on the way, but a release year has yet to be stated. 2026 seems likely to mark Kessoku Band’s return, but CloverWorks should take all the time it needs to ensure the sequel replicates its predecessor’s charmingly awkward magic.
Frankly, almost no manhwa anime adaptations should be expected to replicate Solo Leveling‘s success, as that is simply too high of a goal to set. It would be akin to dismissing a new shonen anime because it is not as popular as Demon Slayer or Dragon Ball. However, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint is the closest thing to an exception, as the source material is not only very popular but also extremely highly regarded and accessible. The manhwa is also complete, coming to an end in 2020.
After being the first and only person to complete a strange novel that talks about the end of the world, Kim Dokja finds himself having to play a hero when elements of that story merge with reality. Suddenly, he has to use his knowledge to try and avoid the end of days. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint is known for having a bit of a slow start, but the manhwa becomes great very quickly. Very little is known about the adaptation so far, but if it is handled by a competent studio that treats the material with respect, the anime could and should be one of the biggest of 2026.
2026 will include dozens upon dozens of exciting anime that will attract plenty of attention when they debut. While they might not be the absolute biggest releases of the year, the following series will not slip by unnoticed.
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Fans of Solo Leveling should check out these other action-packed anime, which share similar themes and characters.
