One of the biggest anime weekends of the year is almost upon us. Emanating from Los Angeles, this year's Anime Expo promises to deliver plenty of surprising announcements and shocking reveals for fans across its four days. From Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 to Jujutsu Kaisen, all the major new anime releases you're looking forward to are present and accounted for at Anime Expo 2026.
To help prepare you for the major panels, we've laid out this year's Anime Expo schedule, as well as giving our expert opinions on what to expect this year – from trailers, release dates, and so much more.
Once you've run the rule over Anime Expo 2026, join us as we bring together the best anime on Netflix. Then, discover all we know about Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4.
Anime Expo 2026 schedule
Below, we'll guide you through all four main days. With dozens panels, talks, and showcases taking place, we can't give due time to everything that's going down on the exhibition floor. With that in mind, we've narrowed down the schedule to our big highlights and some fan favorite picks for good measure.
Day 1 highlights (July 2)
- Echoes from Aincrad Unanswered Butterfly First Look – 12:30 PM Pacific/3:30 PM Eastern/8:30 PM BST
- Aniplex of America panel – 2:30 PM Pacific/5:30 PM Eastern/10:35 PM BST
- Star Wars Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi – 6:00 PM Pacific/9:00 PM Eastern/2:00 AM BST
Day 2 highlights (July 3)
- Steel Ball Run panel – 12:30 PM Pacific/3:30 PM Eastern/8:30 PM BST
- Blue Lock creators panel – 1:00 PM Pacific/4:00 PM Eastern/9:00 PM BST
- Sonic the Hedgehog Animated Shorts panel – 3:00 PM Pacific/6:00 PM Eastern/11:00 PM BST
- A-1 Pictures panel – 3:00 PM Pacific/6:00 PM Eastern/11:00 PM BST
- Witch Hat Atelier cast and creator panel – 3:15 PM Pacific/6:15 PM Eastern/11:15 PM BST
- Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Celebration panel – 5:00 PM Pacific/8:00 PM Eastern/1:00 AM BST
- Black Torch premiere panel – 6:45 PM Pacific/9:45 PM Eastern/2:45 AM BST.
- Junji Ito: Master of Horror (with live-action anthology series premiere) - 6:45 PM Pacific/9:45 PM Eastern/2:45 AM BST
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 panel – 7:30 PM Pacific/10:30 PM Eastern/3:30 AM BST
- The Apothecary Diaries panel – 8:30 PM Pacific/11:30 PM Eastern/4:30 AM BST
Day 3 highlights (July 4)
- Bleach Thousand-Year Blood War panel – 10:00 AM Pacific/1:00 PM Eastern/6:00 PM BST
- Atlus panel – 11:30 AM Pacific/2:30 PM Eastern/7:30 PM BST
- Black Clover season 2 panel – 1:30 PM Pacific/4:30 PM Eastern/9:30 PM BST
- Studio Trigger panel – 2:00 PM Pacific/5:00 PM Eastern/10:00 PM BST
- Tokyo Revengers panel – 2:15 PM Pacific/5:15 PM Eastern/10:15 PM BST
- My Hero Academia 10th anniversary panel – 2:30 PM Pacific/5:30 PM Eastern/10:30 PM BST
- The Ghost in the Shell and Science Saru panel – 2:45 PM Pacific/5:45 PM Eastern/10:45 PM BST
- Frieren: Beyond Journey's End special event – 6:00 PM Pacific/9:00 PM Eastern/2:00 AM BST
Day 4 highlights (July 5)
- Jujutsu Kaisen: Celebrating 5 Years of Curses panel – 10:00 AM Pacific/1:00 PM Eastern/6:00 PM BST
- GKIDS panel – 12:15 PM Pacific/3:15 PM Eastern/8:15 PM BST
What could be announced at Anime Expo 2026?
As you can see above, that's quite the packed schedule – with the Friday and Saturday (July 3-4) in particular offering up the potential for wall-to-wall exciting announcements.
So, what's realistic and what's an anime pipe dream? We already know Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 will be premiering its first episode at Anime Expo. If you're there, you're very lucky. If not, expect an influx of reactions to hit social media the minute people have left the panel. On top of that, we'd expect a little more story details. We're hoping we also get some more clarity on if this is set before or after Cyberpunk 2077, too.
The Demon Slayer Infinity Castle celebration panel isn't likely going to be too big of a deal. We'd be shocked if a sequel release date gets announced here. Let's put it that way. However, a streaming release date for the first movie is realistic – especially as Amazon Canada seemingly leaked a late July spot for Tanjiro's big-screen record-breaker.
There's almost certainly going to be more news and quotes surrounding Apothecary Diaries and its third season/movie combo, as well as a larger look at The Ghost in the Shell ahead of its Prime Video debut this month. After months of radio silence, we're almost certainly getting another Steel Ball Run trailer and, hopefully, a release date for its next batch of episodes this fall.
Intriguingly, there are a handful of names here that are still some way off but are still staking a claim for our attention at Anime Expo. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Jujutsu Kaisen are slated for new seasons next year, so we don't anticipate major announcements coming our way. A teaser or two wouldn't go amiss, though.
Finally, we're holding out hope for Solo Leveling to be part of the A-1 Pictures panel. We've heard precious little about its upcoming season, so any sort of teaser would be welcome. It's a slightly longer shot than most of the collected names here, but Anime Expo is certainly the place to drop it.
Dig deeper into some of the world's biggest anime with our guides to the One Piece filler list and how to watch Jujutsu Kaisen in order.
