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.
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.
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.
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!”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Source: Gizmodo