The last few years have produced some great anime, from breakaway hits like Demon Slayer and Darling in the Franxx to quasi-educational favorites such as Dr. Stone and Cells At Work!. But with many of the more popular series drawing to a close, fans of the medium are looking to the future— and with all the anime set to premiere in 2021, there are quite a few choices for them to get behind.
According to IMDb's "MOVIEMeter" feature (which ranks films and television shows based on data collected from the site's visitors), these are the ones people are looking forward to the most.
10 Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation — 162,959
Based on the light novel series of the same name, the isekai seinen Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation is set to premiere in January 2021.
It follows a man who, jobless and newly-evicted, realizes his life was meaningless and begs for a second chance. When he dies and wakes up in a fantasy world, he realizes this is his last shot and is determined to live his life without regrets.
9 Skate-Leading Stars — 153,835
Another series set to premiere in January is the original anime Skate-Leading Stars, which follows a competitive team of high-school figure-skaters.
With the popularity of other sports-themed anime such as Haikyuu! and the similarly figure-skating-themed Yuri on Ice, this one is sure to be a hit for fans of those titles and other anime of that same ilk.
8 Eden — 151,201
While Netflix's selection of original anime certainly hasn't been met with much praise, their upcoming series Eden at least has a promising premise.
Thousands of years from now, the Earth is inhabited by robots, who have been raised to believe humans were nothing but a legend. However, all of that changes when two robots discover the last human survivor, a baby girl. Strangely called to the troubling prospect, they take it upon themselves to raise her and protect her from the dangers of the outside world.
7 So I'm A Spider, So What? — 111,110
Another isekai light novel adaptation to look forward to in 2021 is Crunchyroll's So I'm a Spider, So What?.
While the basic premise might seem a bit formulaic (following a character who gets reincarnated as a strange creature in a mysterious world), if the trailer is any indication, the series is sure to offer some interesting spins on the old clichés.
6 Horimiya — 97,344
Based on the web manga Hori-San to Miyamura-Kun, the upcoming CloverWorks series Horimiya follows two classmates, the popular girl Kyoko Hori and the geeky guy Izumi Miyamura. Initially, they think they have nothing in common, but when a chance meeting leads them both to discover that the other one is hiding their true self, a relationship blossoms that leads to drama and hijinks galore.
While the anime won't be released until 2021, the manga has already received multiple OVA adaptations perfect for previewing before starting the series.
5 Cells At Work! Code Black — 89,668
The upcoming spin-off series Cells at Work!: Code Black, set to air concurrently with the second season of its sister series Cells at Work!, follows anthropomorphized versions of human cells in a decrepit body plagued by its owner's stressful lifestyle and harmful vices.
Even with trillions of workers running at full efficiency, keeping the body alive and well-maintained is a daily struggle that tests the limits of the show's two main characters, a female Neutrophil (white blood cell) numbered U-1196 and a male Erythrocyte (red blood cell) numbered AA2153.
4 To Your Eternity — 81,360
To Your Eternity is a fantasy anime following an emotionless, immortal orb named Fushi, who has been placed on Earth by a mysterious being. Deciding to study the planet's strange inhabitants— human, plant, and animal alike, he learns he is able to take the form of creatures he encounters.
The series, licensed by Crunchyroll, is set to premiere in April.
3 Shaman King — 41,679
TV Tokyo's Shaman King, set to premiere in 2021, is the second anime adaptation of the extremely popular manga series of the same name.
The story follows a relaxed boy who decides to use his ability to communicate with the spirit world to enter a twice-a-millennium battle held between shamans to see who has the strongest powers.
2 Godzilla Singular Point — 40,344
One of the upcoming anime series that's been getting the most attention is Netflix's Godzilla Singular Point.
Besides the fact that the series follows two young geniuses who have to protect the world from the threat of Godzilla, not a lot is known about it. However, if the promotional images are anything to go off of, the animation is going to be out of this world.
1 Blade Runner: Black Lotus — 32,845
Back in 2017, Crunchyroll released the anime short film Blade Runner Black Out 2022, which was meant to serve as a prequel to the upcoming Blade Runner 2049.
However, the success of that short led to the announcement of a full-fledged Blade Runner anime series, titled Black Lotus, which will take place following the events of Black Out 2022 and focus on a female replicant. The series' animation studio, Sola Digital Arts, previously collaborated with Netflix on a similarly futuristic/dystopian anime series, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.