2026 Anime & Manga Anniversaries — Complete Guide

Updated April 2026 · ~10 min read

2026 is a heavyweight anniversary year. Dragon Ball turns 40. Detective Conan and the Pokémon games turn 30. Spirited Away turns 25. The 2006 cohort — Code Geass, Haruhi, Death Note, Ouran, Gintama — all hit the 20-year mark together. Madoka, Steins;Gate, Hunter x Hunter (2011), and Fate/Zero turn 15. My Hero Academia, Re:Zero, KonoSuba, Mob Psycho 100, and Yuri on Ice turn 10. Jujutsu Kaisen, Mushoku Tensei, and Odd Taxi turn 5.

That density matters because anniversary years in Japan trigger a recognisable pattern: collab cafes, ichiban kuji rounds, exhibition tours, re-mastered Blu-rays, gallery prints, and figure waves that sell out faster than baseline releases. For overseas fans, anniversary merchandise is some of the hardest to source after the fact — the print runs are smaller than the marketing implies, and most cafe-exclusive goods never make it to international retail. This guide walks through every major 2026 anniversary milestone, what each one typically triggers, and how to catch the drops before they vanish.

How to read the anniversary tiers

Japanese IP holders treat anniversaries as a calendar — different milestones produce different scales of campaign. As a rough rule of thumb:

• 5th — quiet refresh. New key visual, one or two figures, sometimes a small cafe round.
• 10th — densest commercial tier. Cafes, ichiban kuji, exhibitions, full figure waves.
• 15th — mid-scale. Flagship cafe, an exhibition stop in Tokyo, a new figure or two, frequent gachapon.
• 20th — the loudest tier. Cafes, exhibitions, kuji waves, designer collaborations, multiple figure lines.
• 25th — upmarket. Gallery exhibitions, hotel suites, designer goods, fine-art reproductions.
• 30th and 40th — institutional. Museum exhibitions, Blu-ray box re-issues, retrospective art books, theatrical re-releases.

What anniversary events to expect

Across all the tiers above, anniversary years trigger a consistent set of event types in Japan. Here is what to plan around if you are travelling for one of the 2026 milestones — or sourcing remotely through a proxy:

Collab cafes and themed restaurants

The fastest-moving format. Anniversary collab cafes typically run 4–8 weeks at venues like The Guest cafe & diner, Animate Cafe, Sweets Paradise, or Princess Cafe, with full themed menus and exclusive merch (acrylic stands, postcards, pin badges, drink coasters) only available to seated customers. Reservations open 2–4 weeks before opening and close within hours for major IPs. See current collab cafes.

Ichiban kuji rounds

Bandai Spirits' lottery-style merchandise system. Anniversary ichiban kuji rounds drop in Lawson, 7-Eleven, and bookstores across Japan, with prizes ranging from prize figures (A and B prizes) down to acrylic charms and tapestries. Anniversary-specific designs are common. Last Prize and Double Chance lots are the rarest.

Pop-up stores and exhibitions

Mid-tier and major anniversaries often produce ticketed exhibitions — typically at Roppongi Museum, Mori Arts Center, Shibuya Hikarie, or Sunshine City. Entry usually includes a commemorative ticket; exit shops sell exhibition-exclusive goods that are rarely restocked.

Re-mastered Blu-rays and box sets

Anniversary years are when 4K UHD remasters, re-issued OST collections, and limited Blu-ray boxes drop. Aniplex+ and Pony Canyon's anniversary boxes often include drama CDs, art books, and exclusive figures inside the box itself. Pre-orders are typically the only way to secure them — they do not get restocked after the cutoff.

Figure waves

Major anniversaries reliably trigger new scale figures from Good Smile, Kotobukiya, Bandai Spirits, and Alter — often re-releasing fan-favorite designs alongside new poses. Pre-order windows are short and overseas allocations are limited. Track upcoming figures if you want the alerts before pre-orders close.

FAQ — finding and buying anniversary merch

Plan your 2026 anniversary year

The single best way to catch anniversary drops is to monitor the calendar for the specific IPs you care about, then pre-order or pre-book the moment a campaign is announced. Two starting points:

• Release Calendar — manga volumes, light novels, figures, and events on a single timeline.
• Events — every collab cafe, pop-up, exhibition, and ichiban kuji we can confirm, filterable by IP.
• Anime Concierge — for cafe reservations, in-person pickup, and shipping anniversary merch worldwide.

Anniversary years reward planning. The best anniversary goods are gone within hours of release — but everything in this guide is on the calendar, and the calendar is updated every day.