2026 will go down as not only one of the best movie years, but also the year where some of the best animated shows delivered banger seasons. The year has been packed, spanning adult superhero epics, long-running anime sagas, a Star Wars villain’s comeback, and irreverent multiverse comedy.
This ranking weighs four factors: critical reception, narrative ambition, how well a season builds on what came before, animation craft, and cultural buzz. Only shows that were released from January 2026 till now have been considered. Here are the top 10 best animated shows of 2026 so far, ranked.
10. Dorohedoro – Season 2
The acclaimed manga adaptation returned for a second season six years after its debut. Dorohedoro takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where sorcerers and normal humans are bifurcated, with the sorcerers led by the crime boss, En, and they face a common enemy in the Cross-Eyes Boss.
The season keeps the manga’s mix of body horror, gallows humor, and grimy production design intact. It ranks tenth for a strong comeback that rewarded a long wait, even if its niche tone and six-year gap keep it from the wider audience the shows above it have built.
Where to Watch (USA) – Netflix
9. Nippon Sangoku
Set in a near-future Japan devastated by nuclear war, pandemic, and natural disaster, the country has splintered into three warring kingdoms a century after its collapse. The story follows Aoteru Misumi, a once-obscure bureaucrat turned strategist, as he works to reunify the nation through knowledge and eloquence rather than brute force.
Critics have praised its political-drama focus over nonstop action, with every faction’s choices genuinely reshaping the plot. It ranks ninth as the newest original property on this list, still building the track record that older franchises carry.
Where to Watch (USA) – Amazon Prime Video
8. Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord
Dave Filoni’s animated show follows the former Sith Lord, Maul, as he tries to establish a criminal syndicate on the planet Janix. While he is on the journey, he finds a young Jedi Padawan, whom he tries to recruit to his cause. The show is set after The Clone Wars and during the rule of the Galactic Empire.
The pulpy, noir-inflected crime story gives Sam Witwer’s Maul his most substantial spotlight since Star Wars Rebels. A second season is already confirmed. It ranks eighth for a strong, self-contained ten-episode run that expands the Star Wars animated universe without leaning on nostalgia alone.
Where to Watch (USA) – Disney+
7. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes – Season 2
Set before Izuku Midoriya ever meets All Might, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes follows street-level hero Koichi Haimawari (The Crawler) and Pop Step as they keep fighting crime in the Naruhata district without Knuckleduster, while the Trigger drug ring introduced in Season 1 continues to spread.
The season adds American hero Captain Celebrity to the mix and folds in Eraserhead flashbacks that deepen the wider My Hero Academia mythology. It ranks seventh for its grounded, street-level take on a franchise otherwise wrapping up its main story this year.
Where to Watch (USA) – Crunchyroll
6. Rick and Morty – Season 9
This season proved that Rick and Morty has still got it. The ninth season of the wacky sci-fi comedy sees ten episodes of interdimensional chaos, including a parasite that forces Morty into uncomfortable empathy and a hostage situation at an alien summer camp that Morty and Summer handle without Rick.
While the ninth season is pretty good, it still has mostly standalone episodes and is not as tight as the serialized shows above it in the list. The comedy is pretty good, though, and it is one of the cleanest stretches for the show in a long time.
Where to Watch (USA) – Hulu
5. Jujutsu Kaisen – Season 3
Season 3 opens on a desolate, curse-ravaged Tokyo in the aftermath of the Shibuya Incident. The season adapts Itadori’s Extermination and Perfect Preparation arcs before launching Kenjaku’s Culling Game, a deadly tournament that forces ordinary people suddenly granted cursed powers into battle.
Critics have praised the animation and tension in Jujutsu Kaisen, though the 12-episode count left the arc’s biggest confrontations for an already-confirmed Season 4. It ranks fifth for peaks as high as anything on this list, held back slightly by its abbreviated first cour.
Where to Watch (USA) – Crunchyroll
4. X-Men ‘97 – Season 2
The second season of X-Men ‘97 is still ongoing, and hence, it ranks at fourth place. There is a chance that it can climb higher as the episodes progress. Picking up with the X-Men scattered across time after Magneto ripped the adamantium from Wolverine’s body, Season 2 finds the team facing the immortal Apocalypse across the past, present, and future.
The show has continued its first season glory with brilliantly written and performed episodes, and a season 3 is already in development. It does not rank higher because the best episodes of the season seem to be in the future, and a strong premiere has already promised it.
Where to Watch (USA) – Disney+
3. Devil May Cry – Season 2
Studio Mir’s follow-up to its acclaimed Capcom adaptation of Devil May Cry picks up after Vergil’s freed-from-bondage reveal and Lady’s betrayal of Dante, escalating into a war between the human and demon worlds as the estranged twin brothers face off.
Creator Adi Shankar promised a different season, and the show delivers by letting Dante grow rather than simply overpower his enemies. It ranks third because, while its reception rivals Invincible’s, it’s still a newer property without the multi-season track record that separates the top two shows.
Where to Watch (USA) – Netflix
2. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Season 2
With Fern now a First-Class Mage, the party resumes its journey north across the Northern Plateau toward Aureole, adapting the manga’s Continued Northern Travels and Divine Revolte arcs.
Episodes move through a cave of magic-nullifying crystal, a mission to slay a demon in the Rufen Region, and reunions with old acquaintances, building toward the doorstep of the fan-favorite Golden Land arc, which the show sets up for Season 3.
Critics have called it the year’s best sequel season for the way it lets quiet, melancholic character moments carry as much weight as its fights. It ranks second for its emotional consistency, even if it trades the spectacle of the top show for restraint.
Where to Watch (USA) – Crunchyroll
1. Invincible – Season 4
Amazon Prime Video/MGM Studio’s superhero show remains the best animated show of 2026 so far. Invincible season 4 sees Mark Grayson take on Thragg, Dinosaurus, and Universa, and adapts the Viltrumite War storyline from Robert Kirkman’s comics. It picks up right after Invincible kills Conquest and sees Nolan and Oliver come back to Earth.
The season digs into Nolan’s past within Viltrumite society, adding context the comics never provided. Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, and J.K. Simmons anchor a cast that keeps finding new emotional stakes in a story about a father, son, and empire built on conquest. It ranks first for combining the year’s strongest writing with genre-defining ambition.
Where to Watch (USA) – Amazon Prime Video
| Rank | Animated Show 2026 Name | Rotten Tomatoes – Tomatometer | Popcornmeter (as of July 28, 2026) |
| 1 | Invincible | 100% | 87% |
| 2 | Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End | 100% | 88% |
| 3 | Devil May Cry | 100% | 72% |
| 4 | X-Men ‘97 | 100% | 91% |
| 5 | Jujutsu Kaisen | 88% |
| 6 | Rick and Morty | 100% | 81% |
| 7 | My Hero Academia: Vigilantes | – |
| 8 | Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord | 98% | 93% |
| 9 | Nippon Sangoku | – |
| 10 | Dorohedoro | 100% | 96% |
Which show of 2026 do you think ranks among the best animated shows? Comment below.
