Anime has never had a better year than 2026 on paper, yet most people are still watching the same five shows while hundreds of brilliant titles sit untouched in the library. For all anime geeks and lovers, we have compiled a list of the top animes to watch in Crunchyroll in 2026.
Below you will find the best anime on Crunchyroll right now, mixing 2026 award winners, ongoing series worth catching up on, and compact picks for anyone who wants a complete story without committing to 500 episodes.
The 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards: A Quick Snapshot
Before diving into individual picks, it helps to know what the community and the judges agreed on at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Tokyo.
| Category | Winner |
| Anime of the Year | My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON |
| Film of the Year | Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle |
| Best New Series | Gachiakuta |
| Best Action | Solo Leveling Season 2 |
| Best Comedy | DAN DA DAN Season 2 |
| Best Drama | The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 |
| Best Slice of Life | SPY x FAMILY Season 3 |
| Best Original Anime | Lazarus |
| Best Continuing Series | ONE PIECE |
These are not the only shows worth watching, but they are a reliable starting point for understanding what stood out this year.
Best Anime Series to Watch on Crunchyroll in 2026
Before diving into individual picks, it helps to know what the community and the judges agreed on at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Tokyo.
- My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON
After years of building toward something enormous, the final season of My Hero Academia delivered the payoff the fanbase had been waiting for and then some. This is not just a good sendoff for a beloved shonen series. It is the kind of ending that reframes everything that came before it.
Katsuki Bakugo’s arc alone won Best Supporting Character, and the ending sequence from BUMP OF CHICKEN took home Best Ending Sequence at this year’s awards. If you dropped off somewhere in the middle seasons, this final run is the reason to come back. If you have never started, there has never been a better time to go from episode one.
- Gachiakuta
Gachiakuta arrived in 2025 as a best crunchyroll anime series that almost nobody saw coming, and it swept the 2026 awards in categories that do not usually go to newcomers. Best New Series, Best Character Design, Best Background Art, and a nomination for Anime of the Year for a show in its first season is rare.
The premise earns attention immediately. Society’s wealthy throw their waste downward, literally, into a massive pit below the city. Rudo lives in the slums where that garbage lands, until he is falsely accused of murder and thrown into the pit himself. What follows is a revenge story built on genuinely stunning visuals and one of the more compelling action leads in recent anime. The world design is unlike anything currently airing, and the second season is already confirmed.
- The Apothecary Diaries Season 2
If there is one show that rewards patience and attention in a way most anime do not, it is The Apothecary Diaries. Maomao is the rare protagonist whose intelligence drives the plot without making the story feel cold. She observes, deduces, and solves, but the series gives her enough warmth and wit that following her through the Imperial court never feels like homework.
Season 2 won Best Drama and Best Director at the 2026 awards, and Maomao herself took home Best Main Character. Voice actress Aoi Yuki also won Best Japanese Voice Performance for the role. This is a series operating at the top of its craft and one of the best anime in 2026 if you want story-driven content that respects your intelligence.
- Dan Da Dan Season 2
DAN DA DAN is the most chaotic show on this list in the best possible way. Season 2 won Best Comedy at the 2026 awards and also took home Best Opening Sequence, and if you have seen the opening you already understand why. The show blends supernatural horror, romantic comedy, and high-energy action in a way that should not work but absolutely does.
What makes it stand out is the chemistry between Momo and Okarun, two teenagers who stumble into a world of aliens and ghosts while also trying to figure out what they mean to each other. It is funny in a way that feels genuinely earned rather than formulaic. The animation is constantly impressive, and the second season builds on the first with more confidence and ambition.
- Solo Levelling Season 2
Solo Leveling arrived as the animation event that manhwa fans had been waiting years for, and Season 2 justified all of that anticipation. It won both Best Action and Best Animation at the 2026 awards, and watching the latter half of the season makes both of those wins obvious.
Sung Jinwoo’s progression from the world’s weakest hunter to something genuinely terrifying is handled with escalating momentum that is hard to stop watching. The animation studio A-1 Pictures treats major fight sequences like theatrical events. If you want action that looks and feels expensive, this is the top anime on Crunchyroll right now for that category.
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
The Infinity Castle film took Film of the Year at the 2026 awards and also won Best Score, with the Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina soundtrack doing the kind of work that makes already spectacular animation feel even more operatic.
Watching it on Crunchyroll is a different experience from a cinema screen, but what holds up regardless of format is how well the film handles its scale. This is not a recap film or a bridge piece. It is a feature built to function as a major story event, and it earns every minute of its runtime. Akaza’s English voice performance from Lucien Dodge also won Best English Voice Artist at this year’s awards.
- SPY X FAMILY Season 3
Three seasons in and SPY x FAMILY has lost none of its charm. The show remains the best argument that slice-of-life and action can genuinely coexist without either compromising the other. Season 3 won Best Slice of Life at the 2026 awards, and Anya Forger won the fan-voted “Must Protect at All Costs” award for the second year running, which tells you everything about how the audience feels about this show.
The Forger family dynamics continue to carry the series, and the spy missions remain genuinely tense despite the comedic framing. All three seasons are available on Crunchyroll, and the feature film Code: White streams there as well. It is one of the most accessible entry points for people new to anime.
- Mob Psycho 100
This one is not new, but it might be the most complete anime experience available on the platform right now. Three seasons, a satisfying ending, and a protagonist whose emotional journey is as compelling as any of his psychic battles. Mob Psycho 100 gets recommended constantly because it consistently earns those recommendations.
Studio BONES gave the series a visual treatment that leans into expressionism in a way most anime do not attempt. Some of the fight sequences look like animated paintings. The story underneath all of that visual creativity is about a genuinely kind, deeply insecure kid learning to value himself, and it lands every time.
- Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Frieren approaches fantasy from a direction almost no other anime has tried. The hero’s party already defeated the demon king at the start of the story. What Frieren explores is the aftermath: what it means to be an immortal elf who watched her human companions grow old and die while the world moved on.
It is quiet, often melancholic, and occasionally devastating. It is also one of the best-produced Crunchyroll anime series of the last two years, and with a third season confirmed for 2027, now is the ideal time to work through both existing seasons before the story continues.
- Barakamon
Every anime list needs the one show that exists outside the hype cycle entirely. Barakamon is a slice-of-life anime about a calligrapher sent to a remote island after punching an art critic, and it is funnier, warmer, and more quietly moving than that description suggests.
It is thirteen episodes. There are no villains, no power-ups, and no stakes beyond a man figuring out what his art should mean to him. For anyone who needs a break from the genre’s more intense offerings, Barakamon is one of the most rewatchable Crunchyroll anime in the library and a show that people tend to return to once a year just to feel good.
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The shows are waiting. The only question is which one you start with.
