Table of Contents
Dubai: For a long time, the entry point into anime was the same three titles. Naruto, Bleach and One Piece dominated so completely that fans just called them the Big Three, and everything else competed for the space around them.
All three returned in 2026, the first time they have released new content in the same year since 2012. The genre they came back to has changed. Seasons are shorter, filler has largely gone, and shounen now covers everything from competitive football to waste disposal.
Here are ten series that make up the current wave.
1. Black Torch
Jiro Azuma is a delinquent descended from a ninja clan and trained in shinobi combat. He can also speak to animals, which is how he ends up trying to help an injured cat he finds. The cat turns out to be Rago, a powerful mononoke known as the Black Star of Doom.
After Jiro is fatally wounded, Rago saves his life by fusing with him. The two are bound together, and Jiro is pulled into a covert war between humans and mononoke, working under a government bureau that polices supernatural threats.
Tsuyoshi Takaki’s manga ran in Jump Square and later Shonen Jump+ between 2016 and 2018, and was cancelled after five volumes. The anime was announced at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2025.
Studio: 100studio
Where to watch: Crunchyroll, new episodes Saturdays
Voice cast: Ryota Suzuki as Jiro, Yoji Ueda as Rago, Sayaka Senbongi as Ichika Kishimojin. Junya Enoki, who voices Yuji Itadori in Jujutsu Kaisen, plays Reiji Kirihara, and Junichi Suwabe, the voice of Sukuna, plays Ryosuke Shiba. English dub led by A.J. Beckles and Keith Silverstein
Status: Currently airing, 12 episodes, finale 19 September 2026
2. Gachiakuta
The setting is the Sphere, a society suspended above the clouds and split by walls. On one side are the wealthy city dwellers. On the other is the slum, home to the Tribesfolk, descendants of criminals. Below both sits the Pit, an enormous dumping ground where rubbish is thrown and where convicts are dropped as a form of execution. Nobody returns.
Rudo is an orphan raised by his adoptive father Regto. He spends his time salvaging and repairing discarded objects, which is prohibited. When Regto is murdered by a masked assailant, Rudo is blamed and thrown into the Pit.
He survives the fall and finds a landscape of toxic air and enormous monsters formed from refuse. He is rescued by Enjin, a member of the Cleaners, who fight using weapons called Vital Instruments. Rudo develops one of his own, the ability to draw out the latent worth of an object, and joins them while looking for a route back to the Sphere.
Gachiakuta took Best New Anime of the Year at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
Studio: Bones
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Voice cast: Aoi Ichikawa as Rudo, with Katsuyuki Konishi, Yumiri Hanamori and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, best known as Kirito in Sword Art Online and Inosuke in Demon Slayer
Status: Season one complete, 24 episodes, July to December 2025. Season two confirmed, no date announced
3. Sakamoto Days
Taro Sakamoto was the most feared hitman in the underworld. He fell in love with a shop assistant, left the profession entirely, married, had a daughter and put on a considerable amount of weight. He now runs a small convenience store and lives above it with his family.
His former colleagues and clients have not moved on. As they arrive one by one, Sakamoto has to fight them off without killing anyone, having given that up along with the job.
A live-action film adaptation was released in Japan in April 2026.
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Where to watch: Netflix
Voice cast: Tomokazu Sugita, the voice of Gintoki in Gintama, plays Sakamoto. Nobunaga Shimazaki is Shin, Ayane Sakura is Lu Shaotang, Natsuki Hanae is Nagumo and Saori Hayami is Osaragi. Matthew Mercer leads the English dub
Status: Two cours aired in 2025. Season two due January 2027
4. Dandadan
Momo Ayase comes from a family of spirit mediums and believes in ghosts. She does not believe in aliens. Her classmate Ken Takakura, whom she nicknames Okarun, is an occult obsessive who believes in aliens and dismisses ghosts.
They start speaking after Momo intervenes when Okarun is being bullied, then fall into an argument neither will drop. To settle it, Momo visits an abandoned hospital known for UFO sightings and Okarun goes to a tunnel with a haunting attached.
Both are proved right. Momo is abducted and awakens latent psychic ability. Okarun is possessed by a yokai called Turbo Granny, which grants him considerable speed and strength at a cost. The two are left dealing with paranormal threats from both categories.
Studio: Science Saru
Where to watch: Netflix and Crunchyroll
Voice cast: Shion Wakayama as Momo and Natsuki Hanae, the voice of Tanjiro in Demon Slayer, as Okarun. Abby Trott and A.J. Beckles lead the English dub
Status: Two seasons out. Season three confirmed for 2027
5. Blue Lock
After repeated failures to win the World Cup, the Japan Football Union launches a project called Blue Lock under the eccentric coach Jinpachi Ego. Three hundred high school strikers are confined at a remote facility and put through a survival programme designed to produce one player: the most ruthless striker in the country.
The stakes are absolute. Anyone eliminated is permanently barred from playing for the national team. Cooperation is discouraged. Yoichi Isagi, an unremarkable forward whose team has just been knocked out of the nationals, is among those selected.
Season two, subtitled vs. U-20 Japan, follows the 35 surviving players into a match against the Under-20 national side.
Studio: Eight Bit
Where to watch: Crunchyroll and Netflix
Voice cast: Kazuki Ura as Isagi, with Koki Uchiyama, who voices Tomura Shigaraki in My Hero Academia, as Rin Itoshi, and Yuma Uchida, the voice of Megumi Fushiguro in Jujutsu Kaisen, as Reo Mikage
Status: Two seasons out, 2022 to 2024, plus the spin-off film Episode Nagi
6. Solo Leveling
Gates have opened across the world connecting to monster-filled dungeons. People who awaken supernatural abilities become Hunters, clearing those dungeons for money and to protect civilians.
Sung Jinwoo is publicly regarded as the weakest Hunter alive. A near-fatal dungeon run leaves him with access to a levelling system that nobody else can see, allowing him to grow stronger through completing quests.
Worth knowing: this one is not Japanese in origin. The source is a Korean web novel, later adapted as a webtoon, which makes it manhwa rather than shounen manga. It is grouped with these titles because the format and audience overlap almost completely.
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Voice cast: Taito Ban as Sung Jinwoo, with Makoto Furukawa, the voice of Saitama in One-Punch Man, as Woo Jinchul. Aleks Le plays Jinwoo in the English dub
Status: Two seasons out, 2024 and 2025
7. Kaiju No. 8
Kafka Hibino is 32 and works as a sweeper, cleaning up the corpses of defeated kaiju. As a child he and his friend Mina Ashiro promised each other they would join the Anti-Kaiju Defence Force. Mina became one of its strongest officers. Kafka failed the entrance process repeatedly and eventually stopped trying.
His ambition resurfaces when an 18-year-old recruit joins his cleaning crew. Shortly afterwards, a small flying kaiju forces its way into his mouth, and Kafka finds himself able to transform into a humanoid monster, designated Kaiju No. 8 by the authorities hunting him.
Studio: Production I.G
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Voice cast: Masaya Fukunishi as Kafka, Wataru Kato as Reno Ichikawa and Asami Seto as Mina Ashiro. Koki Uchiyama joined in season two as Gen Narumi
Status: Two seasons complete. Season two ran 11 episodes, July to October 2025
8. Wind Breaker
Haruka Sakura was treated as an outsider from childhood because of his appearance and his difficulty with people. The one thing he became good at was fighting, and it is the only thing he takes pride in.
He transfers to Furin High School, notorious for its delinquents, intending to reach the top of it. What he finds is Bofurin, the school’s dominant group, which functions as the local town’s protection rather than its problem. The shopkeepers in Makochi know the students by name.
CloverWorks has kept the series on an annual April cycle. A live-action film was released in Japan in December 2025.
Studio: CloverWorks
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Voice cast: Yuma Uchida as Sakura, Yuichi Nakamura, who voices Satoru Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen, as Hajime Umemiya, and Nobuhiko Okamoto, the voice of Bakugo in My Hero Academia, as Ren Kaji. Hiroshi Kamiya, Levi in Attack on Titan, plays Chika Takiishi. Austin Tindle leads the English dub
Status: Two seasons out, 2024 and 2025
9. Mashle
In this world almost everyone can use magic, and a mark on the face indicates it. Social standing is determined by magical skill, and anyone found without a mark is taken away by the Bureau of Magic.
Mash Burnedead was abandoned as an infant because he had no mark. He was found and raised in an isolated forest by his adoptive father Regro, who put him through daily physical training. Years of it left him with abnormal strength.
Mash is discovered on a trip into the city to buy cream puffs. Rather than being arrested, he is offered a deal: enrol at Easton Magic Academy and win the annual title of Divine Visionary, the single student designated as one of God’s chosen. If he manages it, he and Regro can live undisturbed. He has no magic, so he does it with his fists.
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Voice cast: Chiaki Kobayashi as Mash, also the voice of Gabimaru in Hell’s Paradise and Stark in Frieren, with Kaito Ishikawa, Takuya Eguchi and Reina Ueda in support
Status: Two seasons, story complete
10. Tougen Anki
Humanity in this story descends from two lines: the Oni of Japanese folklore, and Momotaro, the hero who fought them. Both survive as rival organisations, the Oni Agency and the Momotaro Agency, and the war between them is ongoing.
Shiki Ichinose carries Oni blood. His adoptive father, Tsuyoshi, carries Momotaro blood and was expected to kill him as an infant. He refused, and raised Shiki instead, temper and all.
When an agent of the Momotaro Agency kills Tsuyoshi, Shiki’s grief triggers the dormant power in his blood. He enrols at Rakshasa Academy, an institution that trains young Oni to control their abilities, under a teacher named Naito Mudano, and sets out to avenge his father.
Season one became a streaming hit well beyond expectations, reaching the top 10 in more than two dozen countries and ranking among Netflix’s most-watched non-English titles. Season two, the Nikko Kegon Falls Arc, was announced at AnimeJapan in March.
Studio: Studio Hibari
Voice cast: Kazuki Ura, who voices Yoichi Isagi in Blue Lock, plays Shiki. Hiroshi Kamiya, Levi in Attack on Titan, is Naito Mudano, and Natsuki Hanae is Juji Yusurube. Megumi Ogata plays the Principal. Zeno Robinson leads the English dub
Where to watch: Crunchyroll and Netflix
Status: Season one complete, 24 episodes, July to December 2025. Season two premieres October 2026
Where the genre goes next
Two titles are already being positioned as the next wave.
Kagurabachi, by Takeru Hokazono, follows Chihiro Rokuhira, a swordsmith’s son whose father is killed by a group of sorcerers called the Hishaku who steal his six enchanted blades. The anime was announced in April 2026 and is currently slated for spring 2027. Alongside it, Ichi the Witch and Shinobi Undercover are being grouped with Kagurabachi as a possible new Big Three, though neither has aired yet.
Meanwhile, the originals are back. One Piece began its Elbaf arc in April, Bleach is running the closing part of Thousand-Year Blood War, and Naruto has four special episodes scheduled.
