Top 5 Highest-Rated Anime of 2026 (So Far)
Anime fandom has a short memory. Each season announces itself as the best in years, and yet 2026 genuinely has a credible claim. Three major returning series, one theatrical event, and a debut that appeared out of nowhere and immediately parked itself at the top of every ranking — here’s the definitive list of what you should be watching.
1. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End — Season 2
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Episodes (Season 2): Ongoing
MAL Score: 9.4
The first season of Frieren ended with a promise — the First-Class Mage Exam arc was barely getting started, and the show’s peculiar rhythm of melancholy, found-family warmth, and deceptively high-stakes magic battles had only just revealed its full range.
Season 2 delivers on every dimension. The exam arc gives the show its most complex supporting cast to date, and the way Frieren’s thousand-year perspective reframes moment-to-moment urgency — she’s witnessed so much that short human lifespans feel both precious and fleeting to her — has become one of the most sophisticated emotional frameworks in modern anime.
The animation from Madhouse remains exceptional. The magic system, once revealed to have actual internal logic, rewards rewatches of earlier episodes. And the relationship between Frieren and Fern has deepened into something genuinely affecting.
Best for: Viewers who want something thoughtful and emotionally resonant. Not for people who need fast pacing.
2. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (Movie — Part 1)
Where to watch: Theatrical (Crunchyroll streaming TBA)
Runtime: 2h 15m
MAL Score: 9.2
Ufotable has been building to this since Mugen Train. The Infinity Castle arc — Tanjiro’s final confrontation with Muzan and the Upper Ranks in a castle that reconfigures itself infinitely — was always too large and too kinetically complex for a standard TV production. The decision to adapt it as a theatrical trilogy was the right call, and Part 1 proves it.
The action sequences are the most technically ambitious animation ever put to theatrical screen. The fight choreography across multiple simultaneous battles, all taking place in an architecturally impossible space, demands the largest screen you can access. The emotional payoffs, earned across three seasons and a movie, land with appropriate weight.
If you’ve been watching Demon Slayer since the beginning: this is what it was building toward. If you haven’t started yet: don’t watch this first.
Best for: Existing Demon Slayer fans. New viewers start from Episode 1, Season 1.
3. Jujutsu Kaisen — Season 3 (Shinjuku Showdown Arc)
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Episodes: Ongoing
MAL Score: 9.0
After the Shibuya Incident arc raised the stakes to near-irreversible levels, the Shinjuku Showdown arc asks the survivors of that catastrophe to fight for a world that’s already been half-destroyed. The tone is grimmer than anything JJK has attempted before, and the body count climbs in ways that feel earned rather than gratuitous.
MAPPA’s production quality has stabilized after the Shibuya season’s much-discussed production strain. The fights in the Shinjuku arc — particularly a mid-season episode involving Gojo’s return — generated the kind of community-wide reaction that only happens once or twice a year across all of anime.
The narrative is more focused than Season 2’s sprawling cast management. If you felt the Shibuya arc occasionally lost the thread under the weight of its ambition, Season 3 is the tighter, more devastating version of that story.
Best for: Existing fans. New viewers: Season 1 is excellent and starts accessible.
4. Solo Leveling — Season 2
Where to watch: Crunchyroll
Episodes: Ongoing
MAL Score: 8.7
Solo Leveling Season 1 was the anime adaptation of one of the most-read manhwa in history, and it arrived with immense audience expectation and A-1 Pictures animation that largely met it. Season 2 — adapting the Jeju Island arc and its aftermath — goes harder in every dimension.
Sung Jin-Woo’s power scaling has reached a point where the show faces the traditional power-fantasy problem: how do you create tension when the protagonist is nearly invincible? Solo Leveling’s answer is to shift the stakes from personal survival to geopolitical catastrophe, and to introduce antagonists whose threat isn’t raw power but the scope of what they’re willing to destroy.
The animation budget is visible on screen. Some sequences in the mid-season are legitimately theatrical in quality. For fans of power-fantasy isekai-adjacent storytelling, this is the current benchmark.
Best for: Viewers who enjoyed Season 1, fans of the manhwa, anyone who wants spectacular action animation.
5. Dandadan — Season 2
Where to watch: Netflix / Crunchyroll
Episodes: Ongoing
MAL Score: 8.8
Dandadan premiered in late 2024 and was immediately one of the most visually inventive anime in years — Science SARU’s animation style, all jagged energy and deliberately off-kilter framing, made it look unlike anything else airing. Season 2 expands the mythology, deepens the central relationship between Momo and Okarun, and adds enough new weirdness to the already-dense urban legend lore that the show never settles into predictability.
What keeps Dandadan from being just a visually impressive action show is its emotional core. The romantic tension between two teenagers who deal with genuine supernatural trauma — and the way the show uses that absurd premise to talk about identity, adolescence, and belonging — is more grounded than the surface chaos suggests.
Best for: Anyone who appreciates animation as an art form. Fans of Chainsaw Man’s tonal chaos will feel at home.
The Honorable Mention: Chainsaw Man — Season 2
Chainsaw Man Part 2 (the Fujimoto manga’s current arc) began adapting in late 2025 and is carrying MAPPA’s reputation on its back after the JJK production strain drama. Early episodes suggest the studio has corrected course. Full verdict pending — but the buzz is positive enough that if you’ve been avoiding it, now is a reasonable time to catch up on Season 1.
Where to Watch Everything
| Show | Platform | Also available |
|---|---|---|
| Frieren S2 | Crunchyroll | Bilibili |
| Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle | Theatrical | Crunchyroll (TBA) |
| Jujutsu Kaisen S3 | Crunchyroll | — |
| Solo Leveling S2 | Crunchyroll | Netflix (select regions) |
| Dandadan S2 | Netflix | Crunchyroll |
Scores referenced from MyAnimeList community ratings. Rankings reflect early 2026 episode scores and are subject to change as seasons complete.