Best Anime of Fall 2026, Ranked
This season is dominated by returning franchises, not new blood. Here's which sequels are actually worth catching up for.
AnimeShinsekai Team · Oct 5, 2026 · 6 min read
Fall 2026 is a sequel-heavy season — scan the premiere list and almost every major title has a '2nd Season' or '3rd Season' after its name. That's not a knock; a season stacked with returning shows means less guessing about quality and more picking up stories that already proved themselves. Here's where the big returns actually land, ranked by how much they're worth your slot.
Black Clover 2nd Season leads the pack. The shounen staple is back on Studio Pierrot after a long gap between seasons, and it's the highest-rated new premiere of the season so far — a reminder that Asta's story still has an audience waiting for it, gap or no gap.
The Apothecary Diaries 3rd Season is the other heavyweight. Maomao's return to pharmacy life in the pleasure district doesn't stay quiet for long this time — the season picks up the aftermath of the Shi Clan rebellion and leans harder into the political intrigue around Jinshi than previous seasons did, while keeping the mystery-of-the-week structure that made the show a sleeper hit in the first place.
Blue Box Season 2 and Ao Ashi Season 2 both continue 2024's best sports-romance and best pure-sports runs respectively, and both are safe recommendations if you watched season one — neither show has given any sign of slowing down.
The Ramparts of Ice Season 2 is the one worth seeking out if you missed season one: a quieter drama-romance that isn't shouting for attention in a season full of louder sequels, which is exactly why it's easy to overlook and worth not overlooking.
Lower down but not off the list: Ranma ½ (2024) Season 3 keeps MAPPA's remake rolling along reliably, and Tokyo Revengers: War of the Three Titan Arc continues a franchise that's long past the point of winning new viewers but hasn't lost its existing ones.
And then there's the one show on this list that isn't new at all: One Piece is still airing, still over a thousand episodes deep, and still pulling a bigger audience than almost anything premiering this season — which tells you something about where a chunk of Fall 2026's actual viewership is going.