2024 is shaping up to be a stacked year for anime releases, with fan favourites like Black Butler and Jujutsu Kaisen returning this year. With plenty of new anime coming up, here are the top 20 you’ll have to put on your watchlist.
1. Classroom of the Elite Season 3
Release date: 3 January
Season 3 of Classroom of the Elite has been airing since 3 January, this time focusing on a mixed training camp between the classes that sees the students of Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School struggling to work together.
2. Dungeon Meshi/Delicious In Dungeon
Release date: 4 January
Combining cooking, monsters, and Dungeons & Dragons-like shenanigans, Dungeon Meshi is a unique anime – with cool fights and cooking up monsters, its protagonists go on a quest to save their friend Falin, who was eaten by a dragon. In a world where it’s eat or be eaten, survival is a struggle. Dungeon Meshi is now airing, with the first episode having premiered on 4 January.
3. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Part 2
Release date: 5 January
The first season of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End was recently released, winning over the hearts of many in the anime community. Fortunately for fans, there’s no need to endure a long wait between parts, as part 2 has kicked off Elf Mage Frieren’s journey on 5 January 2024.
4. Solo Leveling
Release date: 6 January
Perhaps the most talked-about upcoming anime, Solo Leveling is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, after premiering on 6 January. The anime is about low-ranked hunter Jinwoo Sung who accepts a strange quest and starts leveling up, while others do not. Starting out as a web novel series written under the Korean pseudonym of Chugong in 2016, the series gained immense popularity after being adapted into a manhwa, illustrated by the late artist DUBU, and has garnered millions of fans worldwide.
5. Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga
Release date: 7 January
Yet another familiar entry for long-time anime fans. Blue Exorcist got a third season on 7 January 2024, featuring the Shimane Illuminati Saga, which follows twins Rin and Yukio Okamura on their quest to become exorcists, with surprising twists along the way.
6. Metallic Rouge
Release date: 11 January
To celebrate Studio Bones’ 25th anniversary, they’re starting strong with Metallic Rouge, a futuristic anime about androids and humans, where two girls are sent to kill rebellious androids on Mars. The anime is currently airing as of 11 January 2024.
7. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom
Release date: 26 January
It’s been 19 years since the conclusion of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, but it seems war never rests. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom is now screening in theatres as a full-length feature, with protagonists Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne navigating an unstable world as a new threat looms ahead, and freedom and destiny come into conflict yet again.
8. Eiga Given: Hiiragi Mix
Release date: 27 January
The Eiga Given: Hiiragi Mix movie premiered on 27 January, focusing on protagonist Mafuyu Sato’s friends, Hiiragi Kashima and Shizusumi Yagi, and their band shenanigans. The movie is the first in a two-part series, reinforcing BL manga Given’s status as a continued fan favourite.
9. Haikyuu!! The Movie: Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump
Release date: 16 February
Another beloved series is set to hit the silver screen, with the next entry of Haikyuu!! coming to theatres on 16 February 2024. In a divisive move, Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump! arc is being adapted into a two-part movie, replacing the anime’s fifth season, and serving as a welcome return to the fray.
10. Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc (S4)
Release date: 23 February
Demon Slayer Season 4 will be returning earlier than expected on 23 February 2024 with no two-year gap in between seasons this time. Fans have been excited for the Hashira Training Arc, where Tanjiro trains to become a Hashira as Muzan hunts down Nezuko and Ubuyashiki, with plenty of action happening in this season.
11. Blue Lock: Nagi
Release date: 16 April
Ahead of a second season, Blue Lock is getting a spinoff movie centering around the origin story of Seishiro Nagi and Reo Mikage, one of the anime’s most iconic (and heartbreaking) duos. The movie will release in Japanese theatres on 16 April 2024.
12. Kaiju No. 8
Release date: April
Here’s one for fans of the kaiju genre. Set to air in April 2024, Production I.G’s Kaiju No.8, a new anime where 32-year-old Kafka Hibino is a janitor, until he gets transformed into a human-kaiju hybrid, while keeping his newfound ability from his best friend.
13. Wind Breaker
Release date: April
News of a Wind Breaker adaptation was imminent, with the webtoon’s immense popularity ensuring that the series would become an anime. The first season will premiere in April 2024, and centres around protagonist Haruka Sakura as he fights his way to the top at a highschool where its students enjoy brawling.
14. My Hero Academia Season 7
Release date: 4 May
My Hero Academia Season 7 will adapt the Star and Stripe arc, moving into its endgame. With a traitor in Class 1A, the epic battle against All For One and a continuation of the Todoroki family drama, fans are especially looking forward to this season, which drops on 4 May 2024.
15. Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture
Release date: May
Code Geass is getting a brand-new, four-part anime movie after 15 years, Roze of the Recapture, which will feature siblings Roze and Ash as protagonists. “The year is 2017 of the Imperial calendar and parts of the world are under the control of the Holy Britannian Empire,” reads the synopsis for the film. “Lelouch Lamperouge, an exiled Britannian prince, encounters a strange girl known as C.C., who gifts him with a great and terrible power. The Geass. With this powerful ability, Lelouch can get anyone to do as he wills. But the power of Geass: is it a blessing…or a curse?” The anime movie will release in May 2024.
16. Ramen Aka Neko
Release date: July
A cute, heartwarming new anime based on Angyaman’s manga, Ramen Aka Neko follows Tamako Yashiro, a woman who gets a part-time job in a ramen shop run by talking cats. And who doesn’t like cats? Ramen Aka Neko is set to premiere in July 2024.
17. Black Butler
Release date: TBC
Joining the ranks of returning anime is Black Butler with the anime continuing Ciel and Sebastian’s adventures in the Public School arc. It’s been a six-year wait for Black Butler fans as the series revives sometime in 2024, but we’re hoping it’s sooner than later.
18. Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War
Release date: TBC
Part 3 of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War will also continue in 2024, after Part 2 left off with massive losses and betrayals. Part 3 will go off-script, with creator Tite Kubo able to give the anime additional nuance that the manga have left out. The first trailer dropped at Jump Festa in December 2023.
19. Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3
Release date: TBC
Jujutsu Kaisen is back this fall, with Season 3 adapting the Culling Game arc and a teaser dropping right after the last episode of Season 2’s Shibuya Arc. With the stakes getting higher and more characters joining the fray, the upcoming series promises to be an epic watch.
20. Oshi No Ko Season 2
Release date: TBC
Oshi No Ko will drop its second season this year, with the twins returning for more shenanigans following a highly successful first season. While the season does not have a release date yet, fans were treated to a teaser trailer at the Ichigo Production Fan Appreciation Festival 2023 event. There’s also a live-action adaptation of the anime in the works, promising a double treat in store.
Honorary mention
Terminator: The Anime Series
Release date: TBC
While not necessarily an anime influence, Production I.G. (Moriarty The Patriot, Haikyuu!) is behind Terminator: The Anime Series, which will stream on Netflix somewhere in 2024. The plot revolves around a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity by protecting a scientist working on an A.I. system, but they’re being hunted down by an assassin.
There’s plenty of new and exciting anime series coming in 2024, so keep a lookout for when they air!
Trinity is a geek who enjoys watching anime, superhero and Sci-Fi movies and TV shows. She enjoys gaming (however has terrible gacha luck) and creates cool homebrew campaigns in her free time. She’s always up for a new adventure — with a cosy jacket and a good book in hand.
Natalie
