Anime Expo 2026 ended Sunday in Los Angeles with the convention’s lightest programming day by design — but the most talked-about event wasn’t on Sunday’s schedule at all. The overnight avalanche of reactions to Thursday’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 world premiere continued to spread across anime communities Monday morning, with cross-outlet coverage describing the first episode as a genuine creative achievement rather than a sequel coasting on its predecessor’s reputation
That distinction carries real weight. What the early reviews collectively establish is that Night City — not David Martinez’s story — is the durable part of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners franchise. A standalone sequel that earns enthusiastic reviews from critics and a 6,000-person audience while introducing entirely new characters confirms that CD Projekt Red has built a universe capable of sustaining multiple narrative campaigns. That is a different kind of success than a beloved Season 1; it is the foundation for a multimedia franchise.
The closing day’s ticketed programming included the Jujutsu Kaisen 5th Anniversary panel, hosted by TOHO animation at Crypto.com Arena, and a Closing Ceremony at 4:00 PM PT where attendees reflected on four days of announcements spanning Netflix, Prime Video, Crunchyroll, and the year’s most crowded slate of fall premiere dates. For anyone building a fall watchlist, the convention’s four days produced a set of concrete, confirmed decisions
Edgerunners 2 Earns No-Leak Ovation from a 6,000-Person Crowd
The world premiere of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 took place Thursday evening, July 3, at Crypto.com Arena — the Los Angeles Lakers’ home venue — before approximately 6,000 attendees. What followed was unusual: not a single frame of footage leaked online, and CD Projekt Red’s global PR director Radek Grabowski publicly thanked the crowd for that discipline, calling the Anime Expo screening a rare clean premiere. In an era when footage from private convention screenings routinely surfaces within minutes, the no-leak outcome is itself a data point about how protective the Cyberpunk fanbase has become of its franchise’s reveals.
The reviews that did emerge — written descriptions, not leaked footage — were uniformly enthusiastic. One outlet described the premiere as packed with striking visuals, sharp framing, and punchy sound design, drawing comparisons to Ghost in the Shell and Trigun for its gritty, grounded character work. Edgerunners 2 first reactions Another described the season as simultaneously bigger and more intimate than its predecessor — a balance that defined Season 1’s appeal and that Season 2 reportedly threads as well. io9 Edgerunners 2 premiere review
Night City Over David Martinez: How Season 2’s Structure Changes the Stakes
What separates Edgerunners 2 from a standard sequel, according to reviewers and the creative team’s own pre-premiere framing, is a deliberate architectural shift. Season 1 was built around a single protagonist — David Martinez’s rise and fall, told with the romanticized intensity of an action blockbuster. Season 2 is an ensemble portrait of the city itself
The new season follows four characters whose lives intersect: Weak Kingsley (voiced by Clancy Brown), a veteran edgerunner who lost everything to cyberpsychosis and now lives without chrome; D (Nazeeh Tarsha), a Netrunner for the Snake Nation nomads carrying unresolved emotional weight; Roman Carax (Valeria Rodriguez), a young cinephile documenting Night City’s dysfunction through a literal camera lens; and Talia Yang (Kimoy Lee), a chromed-out woman embedded with the Maelstrom gang. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 crew and characters
Director Kai Ikarashi and writer Masahiko Ōtsuka return from Season 1, with showrunner Bartosz Sztybor leading the narrative. Ikarashi has said the studio aimed explicitly for the flair of 1990s animation — a specific aesthetic goal that reviewers confirmed is visible in the finished episode. Cinema itself functions as a structural theme through Roman’s character: in a world where dominant entertainment means passively experiencing someone else’s recorded memories via neural link, Roman’s choice to engage with film through a screen forces an active reckoning with what watching means. Kotaku on the Edgerunners 2 premiere
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 arrives on Netflix this fall. No specific premiere date within that window has been confirmed
JJK Five-Year Panel Celebrates Season 3, Skips Season 4 Date
Sunday’s marquee programming was the Jujutsu Kaisen 5th Anniversary panel, hosted by TOHO animation at Crypto.com Arena at 10:00 AM PT. The panel featured Enoki Junya and Adam McArthur — the Japanese and English voices of protagonist Yuji Itadori — alongside behind-the-scenes retrospective content covering Season 3’s biggest battles and character moments. The franchise has spent five years evolving from a Shonen Jump breakout into one of the decade’s defining properties
What the panel did not deliver was the update most fans came hoping to receive: a release window or new footage for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 4. Season 4 — formally titled Jujutsu Kaisen: The Culling Game Part 2 — was announced almost immediately after Season 3’s finale, and MAPPA released a first trailer at the studio’s 15th anniversary event in June 2026. That trailer confirmed the season is “diligently in production” without committing to a date. Anime Expo’s panel offered no new details
Fans waiting for a release window have a clearer next target: Juju Fes 2026, a dedicated anniversary event scheduled for August 29 and 30, 2026, at K-Arena Yokohama in Japan. That event is the next significant opportunity for franchise news
Read more:Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 Locks Fall 2026 on Netflix: Trailer, Full Crew, Anime Expo Panel
What the Weekend Confirmed: Fall 2026 and Beyond
While Day 4 closed the convention quietly, the three days prior produced a set of concrete premiere dates now actionable for anyone planning a fall watch schedule
BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 4, subtitled The Calamity, dropped its final trailer at Anime Expo with the opening theme “I-BULL” by jo0ji and the closing theme “Rasen” by 9Lana. The arc arrives on Hulu on July 25. The panel featured Masakazu Morita and Johnny Yong Bosch, the Japanese and English voices of Ichigo Kurosaki
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End confirmed its full Season 3 production staff on Saturday evening. Director Tomoya Kitagawa returns alongside assistant director Daiki Harashina, series composition by Tomohiro Suzuki, character design by Takase Maru and Keisuke Kojima, music by Evan Call, and animation production at Madhouse. The season is targeted for an October 2027 premiere
Black Clover Season 2 unveiled a main trailer and its opening theme — “Kienai Riyuu” by rock band WANIMA — confirming an October 2026 return after five years off the air. Solo Leveling: Beyond the System, a new theatrical film co-produced by Aniplex, D&C Media, and Crunchyroll, was announced as a direct continuation following Season 2 events, with no release window yet confirmed
Steel Ball Run — the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure adaptation — locked its premiere date at September 25, with weekly Friday streaming beginning that date. The new cast includes Tomoaki Maeno as Mountain Tim, Tomokazu Sugita as Funny Valentine, and Yoko Hikasa as Hot Pants. Steel Ball Run September 25 premiere and cast
Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 film Akira returns to US and Canadian theaters in 4K IMAX format on September 4, 2026
Studio TRIGGER’s New Flagship Stays Unnamed — for Now
Studio TRIGGER’s Saturday panel announced that director Hiroyuki Imaishi and screenwriter Kazuki Nakashima — the team behind Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, and Promare — are developing a new project together. No title, no visuals, and no release window were shared. The announcement consisted of the two names, the weight they carry, and the confirmation that the collaboration is active. Given that the panel had teased the reveal of their “next flagship title,” the delivery was a tease within a tease — but for an audience that knows what those two names together have produced, it was sufficient to generate immediate community speculation.
Delicious in Dungeon Season 2 was also confirmed by TRIGGER for an October 2027 Netflix debut, picking up from chapter 53 of the manga. The character design for Falin has been revised to align more closely with the original manga artwork
More Announcements From the Weekend Still Making Rounds
The convention’s upstream days produced several additional announcements still generating coverage as Day 4 ended. The Ghost in the Shell remake by Science SARU — the first Ghost in the Shell anime not produced by Production I.G. in the franchise’s history — opens July 7 on Prime Video. The opening theme, “GO GHOST,” is performed by King Gnu
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends — the anime adaptation — revealed new character visuals targeting a 2027 release, with Gen Urobuchi and Satoshi Maejima co-writing the script and Takashi Okazaki handling character design. The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All confirmed Nirvana’s “Breed” as its opening theme — a detail confirmed by Dave Grohl himself — ahead of a January 2027 premiere. Nirvana theme reveal
Magic Knight Rayearth released a second main trailer, additional voice cast, and confirmed an October 7 premiere. Witch Hat Atelier Season 2 released an early teaser hinting at a darker tone. Atlus confirmed that all animated cutscenes in the upcoming Persona 4 Revival remake will be produced by MAPPA
Anime Expo 2026 ran July 2 through July 5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, organized by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, with programming extending across Crypto.com Arena, The Novo, Peacock Theater, and the Entertainment Arena on the L.A. LIVE Event Deck — the convention’s largest campus to date
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 come out on Netflix?
Netflix and CD Projekt Red confirmed a fall 2026 release window. No specific premiere date within that window has been announced. Based on Netflix’s typical fall release calendar, which generally runs from mid-September through early December, the series could arrive any time in that range. The first season premiered on September 13, 2022. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 fall 2026 on Netflix
Did Jujutsu Kaisen announce Season 4 at Anime Expo 2026?
No. The JJK panel on Day 4 celebrated the franchise’s fifth anniversary with behind-the-scenes content and cast appearances but did not announce a release window, new footage, or premiere date for Season 4. A MAPPA trailer from June 2026 confirmed Season 4 is in production. The next potential announcement opportunity is Juju Fes 2026, scheduled for August 29 and 30 at K-Arena Yokohama in Japan. JJK Season 4 Anime Expo update
Is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 a continuation of David Martinez’s story?
No. Season 2 is a fully standalone series with entirely new characters set in the same Night City universe. The creative team has explicitly framed it as a new campaign in the world rather than a follow-up to Season 1’s narrative. David Martinez does not appear. The four new protagonists are Weak Kingsley (Clancy Brown), D (Nazeeh Tarsha), Roman Carax (Valeria Rodriguez), and Talia Yang (Kimoy Lee). Edgerunners 2 standalone story and new cast
What are the biggest confirmed premiere dates coming out of Anime Expo 2026?
The convention locked several firm dates: Ghost in the Shell (Science SARU) on Prime Video July 7; BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 4 on Hulu July 25; Akira 4K IMAX in US and Canadian theaters September 4; Steel Ball Run streaming beginning September 25; Black Clover Season 2 in October 2026; and Magic Knight Rayearth on October 7. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 arrives on Netflix sometime in fall 2026 without a specific date confirmed. Anime Expo 2026 confirmed fall dates
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