Anime TV Shows and Movies We Can't Wait to Watch in 2022

It's a good year to be an anime fan.

spriggan anime
'Spriggan' | Netflix
'Spriggan' | Netflix

After two years of calendar shifts, 2022's anime slate is firming up and it's chock-full of titles we've been anticipating for a while. This year's winter season has already started strong, with the big announcement that Crunchyroll and Funimation are now one entity, Attack on Titan finally wrapping up and the follow-up season of Demon Slayer airing after last year's box office win with Mugen Train, rolling into Jujutsu Kaisen 0's big opening weekend, with more heavy hitters are on the way. Dragon Ball diehards will get a new movie, and the long-awaited adaptation of Chainsaw Man will drop, along with tons of other excellent-looking titles. These are the anime TV series and movies we're most excited to see in 2022—check back as we'll be updating this frequently throughout the year.

READ MORE: The Best Anime of 2022 (So Far) and The 20 Best Anime of 2021

Bubble (April 28)

One day bubbles rained down on Tokyo, breaking the laws of gravity, and created a sunken environment cut off from the rest of the world where bands of orphaned young people bounce around doing sick parkour moves in team battles. Wit Studio has pulled together an all-star team—directed by Tetsuo Araki (Attack on Titan), written by Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica), character designs by Takeshi Obata (Death Note), a score written by Hiroyuki Sawano (Promare)—for this gorgeous-looking Netflix spectacle. —Leanne Butkovic
(Watch the trailer)

kaguya-sama love is war
A-1 Pictures

Healer Girl (April 4)

An upcoming original Japanese anime television series directed by Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’s Yasuhiro Irie, Healer Girls depicts the eponymous group of high school girls who cure people with singing. The principal cast are part of a voice actress and choir unit also named Healer Girls, performing the opening and ending themes for the show—the unity of all of those elements interesting on its own even without considering the immense talent on board. —Kambole Campbell
(Watch the trailer)

Komi Can’t Communicate, Part 2 (April 7)

After an 8-episode drop on Netflix in late 2021, the series adaptation of Tomohito Oda’s hit rom-com manga Komi Can’t Communicate continues its eponymous character’s journey to make 100 friends despite her social anxiety. Helping her is Hirohito Tadano, Komi’s seatmate who inadvertently discovers her communication disorder, hidden by her overwhelming popularity. Complicating their mission is the fact that their peers at school are pretty strange, to say the least. The first half of the show was elegant in its presentation of Tadano and Komi’s silent communication, and in how it captured the comedy of their individual quirks—no doubt the second will be just as breezily charming. —KC
(Watch the announcement)

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -Ultra Romantic- (April 8)

War! What is it good for? In this case, romantic comedy. This battle of the sexes between star pupils Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya continues to escalate to absurd, hilarious levels with the show’s third season. But the series is capable of earnest romance too, landing on genuinely sweet moments between crushes. But in all respects, Love Is War is known for the animators’ continual overachieving, every sketch going the extra mile in its personalization of these characters—even going as far as adapting an entire chapter as a trailer for the upcoming season. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Spy X Family (April 9)

Taking place in a faux-European nation in the midst of a cold war, a spy must build a make-believe family as cover in order to get closer to his target. But little does he know, his fake wife is an assassin who also needs the sham marriage as cover, and their adoptive daughter is a telepath who knows both of their secrets. A whole lot of delightful mayhem ensues. Tatsuya Endo’s hit Shonen Jump series is receiving an adaptation from Wit Studio and Cloverworks, directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Hunter X Hunter, Dororo). —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Summer Time Rendering (April 15)

Following two lavish feature films produced by Studio 4C, Ayumu Watanabe’s latest work follows Shinpei Ajiro, a young man whose parents died when he was young, and who then moved in with his childhood best friends, sisters Ushio and Mio Kofune. Shinpei returns to his hometown of Wakayama City on the island of Hitogashima to attend Ushio's funeral. But once the ceremony is concluded, something strange begins to happen on the island. The series, which will be available to stream on Disney+, will feature music by Keiichi Okabe (NieR: Automata) and series composition by Hiroshi Seko (Mob Psycho 100, Jujutsu Kaisen). —KC
(Watch the trailer)

spriggan anime
'Spriggan' | Netflix

Vampire in the Garden (May 16)

This upcoming Wit Studio (Vinland Saga, Ranking of Kings) original for Netflix boasts some exciting talent, including the legendary Tetsuya Nishio, character designer on the Naruto anime and animator on Jin-Roh and Millennium Actress. It’s set in a world where humanity lost a war to vampires, and the survivors live in a small, sheltered town. In what sounds like a sort-of spin on the Eden-chasing of Wolf’s Rain, it follows the young girl Momo and the vampire queen Fine on a journey to find Paradise, a place where the mortal enemies peacefully coexist. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, Season 2 (May 2022)

In the midst of a forever war waged to keep the world economy afloat, Mokoto Kusanagi, Batou and the agents Section 9 uncover a conspiracy involving the emergence of “post-humans.” Season 2 of Netflix’s Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045’s dystopian future continues Season 1’s mystery surrounding the post-humans and their battle with Section 9, with 3DCG animation production from Production I.G. & SOLA DIGITAL ARTS. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Spriggan (June 18)

Nations across the world are in pursuit of the powerful artifacts of an ancient people with knowledge and scientific prowess far beyond that of modern man. The eponymous ‘Spriggans’ are a group of elite secret agents dedicated to sealing away such power. The new Netflix adaptation of the ‘90s manga (following a less-than-beloved film from ‘98) written by Hiroshi Takashige and illustrated by Ryoji Minagawa, David Production (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure) takes it on the comic’s evocative mix of an ancient civilization and advanced science with a blend of 2D animation and 3D CG. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Blue Lock (June 2022)

The "I'm going to become the best athlete in Japan" format of sports anime meets a sci-fi twist in this adaptation of the manga written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Yusuke Nomura. Set in 2018, the Japanese national soccer team misses their chance to qualify for the World Cup and sets a plan in motion to build the team to superstardom. They hire a mysterious coach who insists on a greuling training program called Blue Lock, utilizing AI competitors to find the best striker to lead the country to victory in the 2022 World Cup. —LB
(Watch the trailer

my hero academia

My Hero Academia, Season 6 (June 2022)

Born without any special abilities in a world where superpowers are commonplace, the young Izuku Midoriya dreams of becoming a superhero anyway. Eventually bestowed powers by his childhood hero All-Might, Midoriya enrols in the UA Academy to train as a superhero. With the balance of power having dramatically shifted in the show’s most recent season, the superhero society of My Hero Academia has become a powder keg, the stage set for all-out war between heroes and villains. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer (July 2022)

An anime of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, a funny but surprisingly dark subversion of heroic prophecy, has been a long-time coming. Yuuhi Amamiya is an ordinary but misanthropic student before a talking lizard approaches him, and tells him that he's actually a ‘Beast knight’ destined to rescue a princess, and prevent an evil mage from destroying the world with a giant mallet. But when Yuuhi meets the Princess Samidare Asahina, she tells him her intent to save the world so she can destroy the world herself and Yuuhi decides to help. The anime is set to be directed by Nobuaki Nakanishi (Sumomomo Momomo). —KC 

Yurei Deco (July 2022)

“We're bringing you an excitingly decorated world overflowing with LOVE.” Beyond the brightly colored city of its brief preview, this is about all that is known about Yurei Deco, a new project from the studio Science Saru. Better still is that it continues the studio’s move to place the spotlight on new directors, such as longtime animation director Abel Góngora (Star Wars: Visions) taking on their recently announced adaptation of Scott Pilgrim. In the case of Yurei Deco, Tomohisa Shimoyama (Super Shiro) is set to direct, and Dai Satō (Cowboy Bebop) is set to write. Color us excited. —KC

Kakegurui Twin (August 2022)

Kakegurui, Netflix's horniest anime that doesn't actually feature any sex, seems to have been shelved after two seasons inside the high-stakes betting world of Hyakkaou Private Academy, a high school where the social hierarchy is dictated by gambling. However, MAPPA will adapt its spinoff manga Kakegurui Twin into a new Netflix series that puts supporting character Mary Saotome into the lead role, following her rise at the school one year before the utter freak Yumeko Jabami arrives at the start of Kakegurui. —LB

One Piece: Red (August 6)

The seafaring adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his band of Straw Hat Pirates are still going strong, with One Piece surpassing its 1,000th episode in late 2021. But their journey will take a little detour with One Piece: Red, directed by Gorō Taniguchi and series creator Eiichiro Oda heavily involved. It's still unclear what exactly this upcoming film will be about, but going by the teaser, it seems like it will leap several beats into the past to follow Shanks, Luffy's pirate mentor, and will allegedly introduce a new female lead. —LB
(Watch the teaser)

chainsaw man
MAPPA

Chainsaw Man (Summer 2022)

The violent and darkly comic hit 2018 manga Chainsaw Man, written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, is finally set for a highly anticipated adaptation by animation studio MAPPA. In a world where Devils, born from human fears, regularly terrorize the population, a young depressed man named Denji attempts to pay back his deceased father's debt to the yakuza by working as a devil hunter. When he fuses with the benevolent chainsaw devil named Pochita, Denji becomes a human-devil hybrid named Chainsaw Man, working for the government to kill devils in order to keep himself from being hunted, and impress his crush. The first look at the series gives us a good feeling that this adaptation will be absolutely inspired. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Inu-Oh (Summer 2022)

His final film with Science SARU, the animation studio he co-founded, director Masaaki Yuasa’s Inu-Oh is looking to be one of the director’s biggest and boldest yet. A self-described “rock opera” set in 14th century Japan, this fictionalized history centers on the friendship between the biwa player Tomona and the eponymous dancer Inu-Oh. Its wild, anachronistic music and Yuasa’s freeform animation imagine what it might be like if pop stars existed in the time of Noh theatre. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (October 2022)

Though the (monumentally long) anime of Bleach already wrapped up in 2014 with its Lost Substitute Shinigami arc, it was essentially unresolved—the manga by Tite Kuno finished a couple of years later, and its final arc, Thousand Year Blood War, was left unadapted. Until now, anyway. The final arc of the series follows Ichigo Kurosaki and his Soul Reaper companions as they battle against Yhwach and his despicable army. Produced by studio Pierrot and directed by Tomohisa Taguchi (Twin Star Exorcists), it sees series mainstay Masashi Kudo come back as character designer of those returning familiar faces. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Golden Kamuy, Season 4 (October 2022)

Everyone’s favurite treasure hunt and historical cooking show Golden Kamuy is set to return for its fourth season this year. Following the quest of Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto and his partner Asirpa, an Ainu huntress, the show combines frequently brutal action with surprising absurdist comedy, and a wealth of detailed knowledge about Hokkaido (especially when it comes to food) during a time of great change—one that brought about the decimation of Japan’s indigenous Ainu population. —KC

To Your Eternity, Season 2 (October 2022)

To Your Eternity continues its saga of Fushi, a being with the strange power to replicate the appearance and skills of those around them. As he journeys across the planet in search of purpose, he comes into contact with the ‘Nokkers,’ plant-like creatures that can steal Fushi’s different forms and his memories of the people who inspired them. Following up the persistent tragedies of the show’s first season, the second season of To Your Eternity sees Fushi continue his search for a form that will help him defeat the Nokkers. —KC

uzumaki adult swim
Adult Swim

Uzumaki (October 2022)

Horror writer/illustrator/cat lover Junji Ito's late '90s manga series Uzumaki has been adapted into various video games, a live-action film, and now a four-episode anime series directed by Hiroshi Nagahama (Mushi-shi) for Toonami and Adult Swim, pushed back from last year. The story follows a group of teens living in a town beset by dark spirits, causing the inhabitants to obsess over spirals in increasingly gruesome and deadly ways. —LB
(Watch the teaser)

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (TBA 2022)

Netflix picked up this anime spinoff of the popular but messy 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077, wherein one can play as Keanu Reeves' war vet-turned-post-apocalyptic rock star Johnny Silverhand. Produced by Studio Trigger (Promare, Kill la Kill), the anime will not, unfortunately, bring Reeves back, but will instead feature a whole new cast and story set inside the same world of Night City. —LB
(Watch the announcement)

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (TBA 2022)

The next Dragon Ball theatrical feature after the white-knuckle two hours of the awesome Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero seems to be moving away from the interplanetary Saiyan drama of the previous film and back toward (slightly) more Earth-bound thrills. It sees the return of the Red Ribbon Army, an evil organization that Goku defeated in the past, now reformed and seeking vengeance. Notably, Super Hero will be the first Dragon Ball feature to be mostly computer-animated. —KC
(Watch the trailer)

Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun (TBA 2022)

Made in Abyss, the deceptively horrific anime lurking under a cute exterior, is returning for a second season five years after its first batch of 13 episodes and three films traumatized viewers. Officially subtitled The Golden City of the Scorching Sun, the series will pick up with Riko's perilous journey into the Sixth Layer of the unmapped pit/cave network the Abyss to find her mother, who's been presumed dead. —LB
(Watch the trailer)

Mob Psycho 100, Season 3 (TBA 2022)

Backed by evidence of a single tweet from the official Mob Twitter account, we estimated that Season 3 of this incredible series about a boy with powerful telekinesis (that's Mob) and his mentor/sheisty small business consultant Reigen will be back by the end of 2022. Now there's confirmation in the form of a Season 3 teaser released in October that it's not the end of the road for Mob and co. just yet. —LB
(Watch the teaser)

Tatami Time Machine Blues (TBA 2022)

A belated sequel to Masaaki Yuasa’s incredible adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi’s The Tatami Galaxy, Science SARU’s Tatami Time Machine Blues (directed by Sonny Boy’s Shingo Natsume) adapts Morimi’s novel of the same name, itself based on a stage play by Makoto Ueda. Sure to be a reprise of its predecessor’s delightful surreal and fast-talking comedy, the sequel novel's story sees the protagonist traveling back in time to retrieve his student apartment’s only air conditioner remote after his friend Ozu breaks it. —KC
(Watch the announcement)

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Kambole Campbell is a contributor to Thrillist, on Twitter @kambolecampbell.
Leanne Butkovic is an entertainment editor at Thrillist, on Twitter @leanbutk.