5 Anime to Watch in Fall 2026
Kana
Fall 2026 has plenty to look forward to—from stories being animated for the first time to sequels bringing back familiar faces.
My top pick this season is The Vermilion Mask, a story about the power—and devastation—brought about by mysterious masks. Joining it are a relationship that begins as a matter of life and death, a coming-of-age story that isn’t all youthful sparkle, a long-awaited supernatural battle series finally making its screen debut, and a comedy that brings people together across countries and generations.
Here are five manga to check out on emaqi as we look forward to their anime adaptations.
A Journey to Destroy a Power That Makes People Too Strong: The Vermilion Mask
The first anime to keep an eye on this fall is The Vermilion Mask, which begins streaming on Crunchyroll in October. This battle fantasy follows a boy whose life is transformed by masks that grant extraordinary powers to those who wear them.
The protagonist, Pell, is the apprentice of Gaston, a legendary maskmaker. But after falling under the control of the Mask of the War God, Pell kills his companions and his own master with his own hands. To prevent the same tragedy from happening again, he sets out on a journey to destroy the masks his master scattered throughout the world.
A boy leaves home, meets new companions, and faces powerful enemies. On the surface, it has all the hallmarks of a classic fantasy adventure. But the purpose of Pell’s journey isn’t to train until he becomes stronger than everyone else. It’s to destroy a power that makes people too strong. He doesn’t want to claim that power for himself—he wants to stop the tragedies it causes. That reversal is what I found so compelling.
What makes it even more complicated is that the masks Pell must destroy are the works his master left behind. To honor his master, he has to destroy his master’s creations. And even if Pell wasn’t acting of his own free will, the people he lost aren’t coming back. That past turns his journey into something far more complicated than a simple quest for revenge.
There’s also the fun of discovering the different abilities each mask possesses. What kind of mask will appear next, and what powers will it reveal? One moment that especially stayed with me comes in Volume 2, with staging that feels straight out of a movie. It immediately made me think, “I need to see this animated”—but the way the scene is presented on the manga page is also something I hope readers will experience for themselves. It could be a lot of fun to revisit the manga while waiting to see how the anime brings it to life.
The Vermilion Mask is also included with emaqi Premium. Whether you want to experience the atmosphere of the original manga or find out what happens beyond the anime, I hope you’ll give it a read.
The One I Wanted to See Happy Was the Assassin: Firefly Wedding
My second pick is Firefly Wedding. Satoko, a young noblewoman with a heart condition, proposes marriage to Shinpei—the assassin who is trying to kill her. For Satoko, it’s a desperate proposal meant to keep her alive and get her through the immediate danger. Shinpei, however, takes it completely seriously.
If I had to describe Shinpei in one phrase, it would probably be “the ultimate yandere.” But the appeal of this series goes far beyond the explosive pairing of “proper young lady and assassin.”
In a world where marriage is treated as a woman’s only path to happiness, what does it mean for Satoko to live by her own will? And what is Shinpei supposed to do with his pride in being an assassin when the person he loves cannot accept that side of him? As the conflicts tied to both of their ways of life begin to intersect, the question of “What happens next?” becomes about much more than the future of their romance. In fact, the person I found myself most desperately wanting to see happy was the assassin.
It’s perfectly fine if “the ultimate yandere” is what first gets your attention. But as you keep reading, who will you end up rooting for—and what kind of happiness will you wish for them? I hope you’ll follow their relationship in the original manga and find out.
Not Just a Story for People Who Had a Picture-Perfect Youth: Blue Box Season 2
My third pick is Season 2 of Blue Box, winner of Best Romance at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. Known as Ao no Hako in Japanese, the series is a coming-of-age story about sports and romance centered on Taiki, a dedicated badminton player, and Chinatsu, an older student on the basketball team.
To be honest, as someone who had nothing to do with school sports growing up, romances between student-athletes can feel almost too dazzling to look at. They pour themselves into practice, work toward their next competition, and fall in love somewhere along the way. It’s difficult for me to connect that kind of youth to my own experiences.
Even so, this manga draws me in. I think that’s because it doesn’t simply celebrate the act of charging straight toward your dreams and goals.
The beauty of that wholehearted determination and the vulnerability unique to being that age exist side by side. By carefully portraying both sides of youthful inexperience, the story can resonate even with readers whose school years looked nothing like the characters’.
The manga’s serialization in Japan just concluded in July 2026. Now that the story has reached a major milestone, why not let the anime inspire you to start following their youth in the manga as well?
A Story Fans Waited Years for Is Finally Coming to the Screen: PSYREN
My fourth pick is PSYREN. After more than 15 years since the manga ended—and three nominations in AnimeJapan’s “Manga We Want to See Animated” ranking—a series that fans have long hoped to see adapted is finally becoming an anime. This supernatural battle suspense story begins with a red phone card left in a public phone and a classmate who has mysteriously disappeared. When the protagonist pursues the truth, he is pulled into a deadly game.
Why PSYREN, and why now? Reading it again in 2026, I found myself thinking that perhaps it was simply a little ahead of its time.
It blends a dark-fantasy atmosphere with supernatural battles and a story that moves back and forth between everyday life and a strange, unknowable world. Today, there may be far more readers and viewers ready to embrace that premise and immediately lose themselves in its mysteries and fights. This anime is the long-awaited realization of a dream for longtime fans, but it may also be arriving at exactly the right time for newcomers to enjoy it naturally.
At the same time, I’m curious to see how much of Japan’s late-2000s atmosphere the anime will preserve. The story’s inciting elements alone—public phones and prepaid phone cards—make the difference in eras obvious. The structure of the story may feel familiar to viewers today, but the characters’ everyday lives may still feel noticeably removed from the present.
A story that feels more accessible now, presented on pages that still carry the atmosphere of the time when it was created: getting to experience both is part of what makes an adaptation arriving this many years later so interesting. If that glimpse of another era catches your attention, I definitely recommend reading the original manga.
Across the Distance—and Now Across Generations: Ranma 1/2 Season 3
My final pick is Ranma 1/2 Season 3, which begins streaming on Netflix in October. Rather than explaining what Ranma 1/2 is about, I’d like to introduce it through a personal memory.
When I—a manga fan living in Japan—first met one of our U.S.-based staff members in person, the question that helped us break the ice was, “Who’s your favorite character in Ranma?” Even when people live far apart, they can still talk about the same characters. There’s something wonderful about having a story you can love together across the distance.
And now, Ranma is crossing through time as well. With this new anime, we may be able to ask a whole new generation, “Who’s your favorite character?” No matter when we first discovered the series or how old we are, the same question can start a conversation.
The joy of seeing a long-beloved work receive a new anime isn’t limited to revisiting nostalgic scenes. Longtime fans can share their memories, but they can also hear what the people discovering and loving it for the first time have to say.
Ranma 1/2 is also included with emaqi Premium. Whether you want to reunite with an old favorite or discover a new one, I hope you’ll pick up the manga. Then try asking someone, “Who’s your favorite character in Ranma?”
While You Wait for the Next Episode
Wanting to see a hero’s journey through to the end. Hoping two people find happiness. Experiencing a kind of youth different from your own. Getting a feel for the era in which a story was created. Talking to someone about a character you love.
Each of these five titles offers a different reason to read the manga, too. You can read ahead to find out what happens next, or return to the moments you’ve already fallen in love with. Through both anime and manga, why not stay in these worlds a little longer?
About the Author
Kana
An entertainment junkie who loves the world of film and animation just as much as manga. I pick up the original manga because I can’t wait to find out what happens after the anime—only to start thinking, “I need to see this scene animated,” and eagerly await the broadcast all over again. Even on the long nights of fall, there are never enough hours.