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Blue Box Anime's 2nd Season Debuts in Fall 2026

The Jump Festa '26 event on Sunday announced that the second season for the anime of Kōji Miura's Blue Box (Ao no Hako) manga will debut in fall 2026 on TBS. The event also revealed the first "Blue visual" for the new season, drawn by illustrator Rei Katō:

The anime's first season debuted on television in Japan on October 3, 2024 on TBS and 28 affiliated networks. The anime began streaming on Netflix on October 4 (Japan time), where it streamed weekly. The first season aired for two consecutive cours (quarters of a year). The second cours premiered on Japanese television on January 2.

The anime stars:

• Shōya Chiba as Taiki Inomata
• Reina Ueda as Chinatsu Kano
• Akari Kitō as Hina Chono
• Chiaki Kobayashi as Kyo Kasahara
• Yūma Uchida as Kengo Haryū
• Shōgo Sakata as Ryōsuke Nishida
• Anna Nagase as Nagisa Funami
• Asaki Yuikawa as Niina Shimazaki
• Yūki Ono as Shōta Hyōdō
• Kenshō Ono as Shūji Yusa
• Kana Ichinose as Ayame Moriya
• Yūki Kaji as Kazuma Matsuoka

Yūichirō Yano (Moyashimon, Lupin the Third: Part 5) directed the anime, and Yūko Kakihara (Buddy Daddies, Cells at Work!, Chihayafuru seasons 2-3) oversaw the series scripts. Miho Tanino (Tower of God, Blue Thermal) designed the characters. Telecom Animation Film produced the animation, and UNLIMITED PRODUCE by TMS was in charge of planning and production.

Shueisha's MANGA Plus service publishes the manga in English digitally, and describes the story:

Taiki Inomata is on the boys' badminton team at sports powerhouse Eimei Junior and Senior High. He's in love with basketball player Chinatsu Kano, the older girl he trains alongside every morning in the gym. One Spring day, their relationship takes a sharp turn ... And thus begins this brand-new series of love, sports and youth!

Miura first published the story as a one-shot manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2020. The magazine started the manga's serialization in April 2021. Shueisha published the manga's 23rd compiled book volume on December 4. Viz Media published the manga's 18th volume also on November 4. The manga has more than 6.2 million copies in circulation.

Source: Jump Festa '26 Jump Super Stage livestream