Fall 2026 Anime Lineup: 10 Shows to Keep on Your Watchlist

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run — STAGE 2

Premiere: September 25, 2026 | Platform: Netflix | Studio: David Production

Steel Ball Run premieres a bit before the Fall officially starts, but not mentioning it here would be a crime. It is one of the most loved and best-written arcs in Hirohiko Araki’s long-running series, and the anime adaptation finally arrived earlier this year.

Now, the second stage of the adaptation is set to return on September 25, bringing Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli back to a dangerous cross-country horse race. The new episodes will stream globally on Netflix, continuing the story every Friday.

This anime is packed with bizarre abilities, unpredictable enemies, strange alliances, and Araki doing what Araki does best: making you wonder what on earth you’re watching before somehow making it completely brilliant.

If the first stage left you wanting more, September cannot come soon enough.

Black Clover Season 2

Premiere: October 2026 | Studio: Pierrot | Streaming: Crunchyroll

Black Clover’s original anime run ended in March 2021 after 170 episodes, leaving fans waiting for the story to return to the screen. For a while, that felt like the end of the story entirely.

Studio Pierrot has already proved its worth with the high-end action animation of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. That alone has raised expectations for Black Clover’s return.  The series is returning under director Tanemura, who helmed the show’s strongest stretch of episodes and the Sword of the Wizard King film.

Black Clover has a loyal fanbase around Asta, Yuno and the Black Bulls. The anime has had its ups and downs, but the people who stuck with it never really stopped wanting to see the story continue. Now they finally get to.

Season 2 picks up from chapter 270 of the manga, right where the anime left off, as Asta and the Magic Knights prepare for a rescue mission to save Yami and William from the Dark Triad.

Finally, fans are going to have Black Clover on their screens after five long years.

The Apothecary Diaries Season 3

Premiere: October 2, 2026 | Studio: OLM

Maomao is back, and thankfully, so are the palace mysteries.

Of everything on the list, Apothecary Diaries Season 3 has legit proved how crazy this season’s release pattern has been. OLM  confirmed the date after season 2 wrapped. By mid-August, Crunchyroll had already released a new trailer, key visual, and confirmed the opening theme by Yorushika.

Maomao and Jinshi’s story continues in a split-cour format, with the first half landing this October and the second half held until April 2027. What makes this return exciting is that Maomao’s appeal has never been about being the strongest person in the room. She is simply the person who notices what everyone else misses.

And when that person gets dragged into another mystery, you already know things are about to get interesting.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

Premiere: October 20, 2026 | Studio: Trigger

The first season of Cyberpunk has left a mark on everyone who has watched it. It’s stylish, violent, emotional, and somehow manages to make Night City feel even more tragic than the game that inspired it.

So naturally, the announcement of Edgerunners 2 came with a lot of expectations.

The second season arrives on Netflix on October 20, but it is not simply going to continue David’s story. Instead, it is being presented as a standalone 10-episode story with a completely new cast of characters navigating Night City.

That might be the best decision they could have made.

David and Lucy’s story had an ending. Trying to recreate it would probably only make the sequel feel like a copy. A new group of characters means the creators can explore another corner of Night City while keeping everything that made the first season so memorable.

If the first season taught us anything, we probably shouldn’t get too attached to anyone.

Tokyo Revengers: War of the Three Titans

Premiere: October 2, 2026

Tokyo Revengers and Apothecary Diaries Season 3 are airing in the same week. That tells you how loaded the first week of October will be.

Takemichi Hanagaki has spent years trying to change the future. Now, he is heading into the final stretch.

Tokyo Revengers returns with the War of the Three Titans Arc, which has been announced as the anime’s final saga. That alone gives you strong reason to watch it.

The series has always been a mixed bag of time travel, gang warfare, friendship and emotional chaos. Takemichi may not be the strongest character in a room, but his willingness to keep going when everything seems hopeless is what kept the story moving.

And now, with the final conflict approaching, the decisions he has made throughout the series are finally showing their consequences.

After everything that has happened, it will be interesting to see whether Takemichi can change the ending he has been fighting for.

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus

Studio: Toei Animation

Okay, this one needs a little context.

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is not a completely new continuation of Dragon Ball Super. It is an enhanced edition of the original anime, with reworked visuals, revised scenes, newly recorded audio, additional cuts, and a reconstructed story.  Toei Animation has confirmed it for Fall 2026.

The Beerus storyline introduced one of the most important characters in the modern Dragon Ball era, while also setting up Goku’s journey into the world of Gods of Destruction, Super Saiyan God and everything that followed.

For seasoned enthusiasts, this is the chance to experience familiar events with a fresh visual treatment. For first-time viewers, it could become a much cleaner way to get into the Dragon Ball Super era.

Either way, when Goku is coming back, people are going to get glued to the screens.

Blue Box Season 2

Premiere: October 4, 2026

Blue Box earned its fans by refusing to rush. The grounded sports-romance between a badminton player and a basketball star is so wholesome to watch.

The first season worked because it emphasized the small moments between Taiki and Chinatsu, the kind viewers could actually relate to. And now that the relationships are becoming more complicated, Season 2 has plenty of room to hurt us in exactly the way romance anime fans apparently enjoy.

Not every anticipated anime needs world-ending battles. And if you watched Season 1 and found yourself yelling at the screen more than once, welcome back.

Firefly Wedding

Premiere: October 9, 2026 | Studio: David Production

This is one of the titles everyone is curious about.

Based on Oreco Tachibana’s manga, Firefly Wedding follows Satoko Kirigaya, a young woman from a wealthy family who is desperate to escape a marriage arranged for her. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she encounters Shinpei, an assassin who offers her a different kind of solution.

The anime premieres in Japan on October 9 in Fuji TV’s Noitamina Programming block, with David Production handling the animation.

What makes this stand out is that this isn’t your regular romance anime. There is danger, murder, and a relationship that neither Satoko nor Shinpei fully understands yet.

It’s dramatic, strange and has just the right amount of chaos, making it a must-watch romance.

PSYREN

Premiere: October 2026 | Studio: Satelight

Some anime are highly anticipated because their previous season was a massive hit. PSYREN is highly anticipated because fans have been waiting years just to see it animated.

Toshiaki Iwashiro’s manga originally ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2008 to 2010. More than a decade after its conclusion, the most awaited TV anime adaptation has finally been confirmed for October 2026. The story follows Ageha Yoshina, a high school student who discovers a mysterious red phone card and ends up being pulled into the strange world of Psyren.

Then the psychic battle story unfolds involving supernatural abilities, survival and a world that is far more dangerous than Ageha could have imagined.

For manga readers, this adaptation is one of the most anticipated releases of the season. For others, it’s one of Fall 2026’s biggest wildcards.

Fool Night

Premiere: November 26, 2026 | Platform: Netflix

Fool Night closes out the season. It might have the strangest pedigree of anything on this list.

It’s the first-ever joint project between Sunrise, the studio behind Mobile Suit Gundam and Cowboy Bebop, and Shaft, known for the Monogatari series and March Comes Like a Lion, directed by Atsushi Yukawa in his directorial debut after working as a unit director on Suzume.

Adapted from Kasumi Yasuda’s seinen manga, the story follows Toshiro Kamiya, voiced by Koki Uchiyama (who is also playing the male lead in Firefly Wedding this same season), in a world where terminally ill people can choose to mutate into oxygen-producing plant creatures. Two studios with almost nothing in common, betting on the same dark idea, isn’t something that happens by accident.

Takeaway

Fall 2026 isn’t exactly giving anime fans a chance to catch their breath.

There are the massive returns: Black Clover, The Apothecary Diaries, Tokyo Revengers and Blue Box. There are franchises with decades of history behind them, like JoJo and Dragon Ball. And then there are the shows arriving with something to prove, from PSYREN to Firefly Wedding and Fool Night.

The best part is you don’t have to watch everything.

Pick the shows that make you curious. Pick the one your friends won’t stop talking about. Pick something completely outside your usual genre just because the premise sounds ridiculous.

Because if this lineup has taught us anything, it’s that Fall 2026 is going to be busy. Very busy.

FAQs

1) What are the top anime series scheduled for release in Fall 2026?

Fall 2026 has a packed lineup, with highly anticipated releases and returning favorites including JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run — STAGE 2, Black Clover Season 2, The Apothecary Diaries Season 3, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, Tokyo Revengers: War of the Three Titans, Blue Box Season 2, and more.

2) What are the best streaming platforms to watch the Fall 2026 anime lineup?

Major platforms such as Netflix and Crunchyroll will carry several of the season’s most anticipated anime, although availability can vary by title and region.

3) Where can I find official trailers for upcoming Fall 2026 anime?

The safest place to find official trailers is the anime’s official website or the official YouTube/social channels of its studio, publisher, or licensed streaming platform. Netflix, for example, has official trailers for Steel Ball Run, while the official Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 site also features its latest trailer.

4) When does JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run — STAGE 2 premiere?

Steel Ball Run — STAGE 2 premieres on September 25, 2026, with new episodes streaming weekly on Netflix.

5) When is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 coming out?

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 premieres exclusively on Netflix on October 20, 2026. The 10-episode series tells a standalone story with a new cast of characters in Night City.