Anime is undeniably more mainstream than ever these days, with its influence on popular culture acknowledged and embraced by creators and fans alike. It has become a haven for viewers wishing for bold, creative, bizarre, and iconic visions for animated entertainment. 2023 is a brand new year, and many fans are excited about their most anticipated anime coming soon, and we’ve been carefully following the shows that could become essential viewing.
Most Anticipated New Anime of 2023
Anime is a crazy creative fountain of ideas and concepts, and 2023 shows no signs of change. There are lots of brand-new anime stories, many of which are adaptations of popular manga, hitting the screen for the first time. Here are our picks for the anime we’re the most excited about:
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre
Starting this list off with a banger, we get to have an adaptation of 20 of horror visionary icon Junji Ito’s chilling tales. The teasers released so far show his terrifying visual style in play, along with chilling sound design and a great amount of attention to detail. It’ll scare your pants off and remind you why Junji Ito is the reigning king of horror manga.
Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre will premiere on January 19, 2023 on Netflix.
Solo Leveling
Solo Leveling is different from many entries on this list in that it’s based on a South Korean web novel rather than a Japanese manga. This sci-fi fantasy series focuses on a bottom-of-the-barrel hunter granted immense power by essentially a Deus Ex Machina known as the System. Using this power, the hunter named Sung Jinwoo finds himself becoming humanity’s greatest hunter and thrust into an enormous conflict between the Rulers and the Monarchs. Animated by A-1 Pictures, veteran animators behind Aldnoah.Zero, Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail, and many others, Solo Leveling looks to be a treat!
Solo Leveling will premiere in 2023 on Crunchyroll.
Rurouni Kenshin
Much like Shaman King received a reimagined anime treatment in 2021, Rurouni Kenshin is set to receive a readaptation of its manga with a 2023 anime. The original manga was exceptional, and while the first anime adaptation was certainly fun, the original manga’s intense violence was toned down for the west. This one seems endlessly promising, likely to please longtime fans of the wandering swordsman’s story. It’ll be animated by LIDENFILMS, the studio behind recent adaptations of Berserk and Tokyo Revengers, and for fans of the 90s manga, this anime will be among their most anticipated for 2023.
Rurouni Kenshin is set for a 2023 release window, streaming platform TBA.
Sand Land
Readers might do a double-take on this one, a much shorter Akira Toriyama story than Dragon Ball Z coming in 2023, and is highly anticipated. It’s a post-apocalyptic vision of the future with water and food made scarce by constant war and natural disasters, where protagonist Beelzebub (as in the biblical demon) and his allies must take back control over remaining resources from oppressive human rulers. Perhaps the most amusing part about this is the scene in the first chapter where they unearth a PlayStation 6 with Dragon Quest 13, which is eerily close to accurate as far as predictions go.
Sand Land is set for a 2023 release window, streaming platform TBA.
Hell’s Paradise
One of the hottest manga series to come out of Shonen Jump+ along with Spy x Family, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku is set for its anime debut. Animated by the phenomenal Chainsaw Man studio MAPPA, this series is one of our most, if not our top anticipated new anime for 2023. The animation looks smooth, colorful, vibrant, brimming with culture and lush backgrounds, and is set to adapt the wonderful, emotionally deep Shonen bloodbath that is the original manga.
It’s worth mentioning that Hell’s Paradise animator MAPPA is also working on Attack on Titan season 4 part 3, and an gorgeous-looking anime film known as Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Koujou.
Hell’s Paradise will premiere in April 2023 on Crunchyroll or Netflix in Asia Pacific.
Most Anticipated Returning Anime in 2023
In addition to anticipated new anime, there are several heavy hitters confirmed to be coming back to the small screen for 2023. These shows are enormously well-known and warrant no introduction, but deserve mention nonetheless.
- Dr. Stone Season 3 — Spring 2023
- Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 — July 2023
- Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 3 — 2023
- Vinland Saga Season 2 — Currently airing as of January 9, 2023
- Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown — Currently airing as of January 8, 2023
- Spy x Family Season 2 — 2023
- Record of Ragnarok Season 2 — January 26, 2023
There are many other series that could have made the list, such as Chainsaw Man if there was 100% confirmation that season 2 is on the way. For now, this is a mighty list of offerings, some big, some small, and you’ll be endlessly entertained no matter what you choose.
