Is 2026 shaping up to redefine the anime “Big 3”?

Did anyone expect 2026 to be this stacked for anime releases? It honestly feels like we’re moving beyond the idea of just a “Big 3” and into something closer to a “Big 10,” with so many major titles dropping around the same time. With sequels and new adaptations generating massive hype, I’m curious which anime you think will completely dominate discussions and break the internet. For me, the biggest contenders are Frieren season 2, Chainsaw Man season 2, and Sentenced to Be a Hero. What shows do you think will define the year and why?

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Commentaires

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-17 19:21

Nope.

It's hard to say what'll define the year, but there's some key sequels and a few long awaited titles like Liar Game and Psyren due to come out.

teencandyy2026-01-17 19:21

You didn’t have expectations?

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-17 19:23

I mean to say that the Big 3 are permanently set. There's no replacing them even with more popular series, which are less likely to exist in the current anime landscape due to a lack of run time.

Komorebi_LJP2026-01-17 19:31

I have 0 expectation for the Liar Game adaptation, its apparently mostly the same studio that did trillion game so I am worried about the production quality

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-17 19:33

Trillion Game was my highest rated anime that completed in 2025. Well-produced anime are always better than poorly produced ones, but content is king.

Komorebi_LJP2026-01-17 19:36

Im still giving it a shot I just hope its better than Trilllion game. Cause that was rough

ILiveForWater2026-01-17 19:23

There is only one Big 3, which is One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach.

Komorebi_LJP2026-01-17 19:32

more like Dragon Ball instead of Bleach

Durinthal2026-01-17 19:41

Dragon Ball was the previous generation that paved the way for them.

Komorebi_LJP2026-01-17 19:44

Sorry I forgot only the US exists on reddit

ILiveForWater2026-01-17 19:53

You don't know the context of the phrase "Big 3", so it makes sense you don't know.

Komorebi_LJP2026-01-17 20:46

The big 3 exists more than in the US, hard to accept for redditors I know

ILiveForWater2026-01-17 22:29

Hilarious you just can’t admit you’re wrong

Sneeakie2026-01-18 00:06

"The Big 3" refers exclusively to the US. It is about the fact that *One Piece*, *Naruto*, and *Bleach* debuted around the same time in America. Any appropriation of the term is just kids trying to hype up their favorite anime. It is western anime/manga apocrypha.

N7CombatWombat2026-01-17 19:24

You can't redefine the Big 3, because that's a historical notation, not a title to pass on.

Salty1452026-01-17 19:45

I want to know where these kids are getting this notion that the “Big 3” is some title that’s up for grabs.

Who do I have to relentlessly beat into their head that this isn’t how it works such that they stop spreading this misinformation?

N7CombatWombat2026-01-17 19:50

Assumptions made on hearing the term "the Big 3" with no context would be my guess. No one seems to know what critical thinking is anymore and instead just assumes the answer based on their experience to that point.

Nayko2142026-01-17 19:24

That's...not what the big 3 is about...

Durinthal2026-01-17 19:24

No, because the notion of the Big 3 was important due to the era that they came from. The community's big and diverse enough now that there aren't a handful of Jump titles dominating the western fandom and the fact that there can even be a debate about what titles could be included means the idea doesn't have any traction.

JamesSomdet2026-01-17 19:25

Well in terms of the Big 3, I never thought those included seasons. It just includes the entire show. Like one of the originals was DBZ, but I think it just took up one spot. It wasn't like each arc or season took up a spot. But I definitely do think we're getting into a new generation of Big 3s right now with the end of MHA. I think Kagurabachi will be one of the big 3, but we need to wait until it gets its anime adaptation, which will probably come by next year. Chainsaw Man is probably the first one of the big 3 in this generation though, because I think last generation was JJK, MHA, and Demon Slayer. So Chainsaw Man probably fits more in this upcoming generation.

Torque-A2026-01-17 19:26

Here's the thing with the Big Three: It's a misnomer, or at the very least not applicable to this time.

The Big Three meant in its heyday the fact that in the early 2000s, if you were a western anime fan, you would've gotten into the medium through One Piece, Naruto, or Bleach just because they were that famous.

I'd argue that since like the 2010s, the anime sphere has blown up so much that there would never be a "Big Three" that would cover everything. Anime has ballooned so much that you can get in through like a dozen or more series per season.

As for what series will define the year, I'll play devil's advocate and say I want something new to break into discussion. Sequels are fine, but I don't want the anime fanbase to focus exclusively on them.

abandoned_idol2026-01-17 19:31

Yep, "Big 3" is going to die along with all the people who got into the medium are the 2000s.

A western name that I'll never care for, despite me also being the same age as these people.

mattisyou2026-01-17 19:32

chainsawman season 2 definitely isn’t coming out this year. We MIGHT get another trailer this year. it’ll be out by 2027 at earliest.

Sentenced to be a hero is still a bit too early to tell. If its animation quality drops then I think it’ll be quickly forgotten.

Based on what I’ve seen, Frieren and jjk are gonna be pretty big. Though I haven’t read the manga, witch hat atelier is an upcoming show the seems to have a lot of hype surrounding it.

edit: Also I doubt anything this year will be apart of the “big three”. There are a lot of good shows this season but i doubt there will be a specific 3 the stand out due to the varying audiences and genres of these shows.

North5142026-01-17 19:33

I expect the big 100 actually.....seriously drop this term. We don't live in the mid 2000s anymore, where a good portion English speaking fans were aware of only a few shows, and only cared about battle shonen. The Big 3 really only referred to how the English fandom saw three works, and how they sold in WSJ (not in the wider anime/manga community in Japan).

Also CSM S2 is more likely to come out in 2027, than 2026.

Anyway I will say yeah I actually do think this is a really loaded year. Most hyped I have been about a new year of anime, overall, since 2021.

Journal With Witch so far has been good, we have the GITS 2026 Saru Remake, Witch Hat Atelier, Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, Liar Game, Yomi no Tsugai, Marriagetoxin, Saga of Tanya the Evil S2, Gundam Hathaway's Flash The Sorcery of Nymph Circe.

You have a lot of big sequels this season and next season too with Re Zero, Ascendance of a Bookworm, Slime and this season with Frieren and JJK, or in Fall with Apothecary Diaries S3.

IF you want to qualify possible works into the year, it's been awhile since Spice and Wolf S2 got announced and maybe Yona S2 or Historie, or a few other works can slip into the mix but I am going to wait until anything is confirmed.

Though yeah, Saru's GITS remake is what I am most excited for.

fraudilicioud2026-01-17 19:35

The thing with Big three is that it was running weekly for a very very long time. they were so massive that they are the definition of anime.
Even famous and well made shows will not match it due to longevity. MHA, Attack on Titan, ReZero just to name a few but are still rookies compared to big3.

ududbsisysveiudvdid2026-01-17 19:43

https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/deep-dives/2023/4/28/deep-dive-why-shonen-jumps-dark-trio-is-animes-new-big-3

Hate to break it to y’all but the “New Big 3” was already decided to be chainsaw man, jujutsu kaisen, and hell’s paradise.

What you are describing would be the “New *New* Big 3”.

Plenty-Formal99062026-01-17 20:25

called as well the dark trio

Plenty-Formal99062026-01-17 20:26

i understood the question she is making, it's about our expectations for thos 2026, don't get why people start complaining about her comment

ududbsisysveiudvdid2026-01-18 00:15

exactly,

big three was already a fan made term, so fans can totally be allowed to define big three differently as they want in a different context. that’s called nuance. it probably won’t stick, but saying “you can’t use that term like that because it’s locked to a time period” is limiting. that’s like playing pokemon and a rare pokemon can only be unlocked during a GameStop event open for a week, otherwise too bad. it’s absurd!

all that being said, i have posted an article from crunchyroll clearly stating the anime for the new big 3. so in my opinion, we should start with the new new big 3 discussion now, but i will not enforce that.

Salty1452026-01-17 19:44

*sigh*

Ah shit. Here we go again.

ududbsisysveiudvdid2026-01-17 20:01

*unzips*

Dolozoned2026-01-17 19:55

like others have said, the big 3 are the big 3 because they were the 3 main animes that got western audiences into anime, back in the 2000s/late 90s. Expanding that list to a big ten would take away the original meaning and significance.

No new anime release now will ever have the same effect it did on the west like the original big three because anime in the west was nearly non-existent or at least not mainstream like today. You could argue that there's a lot of anime now that's better than the big 3 but none have had the same significance to western media like the big 3 did.

I'm not saying we will never have new anime that will never leave a mark on the west, but just that with the current climate and popularity of anime presently in the west, I don't see how any new anime could make the same mark the big 3 left, since they were essentially the franchises that opened the door for every other anime moving forward in the west.

Alt22212026-01-17 20:03

chainsaw man is more 'flavor of the week' than 'generational tent pole'. there simply isnt enough content. a 12 ep season and a movie? thats a drop in the bucket. not a tsunami changing and dominating the landscape. i dont care how much content there is in the manga, this is r/anime after all.

when you consider the scope of the things you are attempting to equate, the results are laughable.

monkeyboy39912026-01-20 08:51

No one will be big three

monkeyboy39912026-01-20 08:51

But Luffy Naruto and ichigo