Underrated supernatural battle manga finally gets anime adaptation after 16 years

Jul 13, 2026 - 16:11

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Underrated supernatural battle manga finally gets anime adaptation after 16 years

Published Jul 13, 2026, 6:17 AM EDT

Psyren finally gets its first full trailer ahead of October debut

Most of the time, the success of a manga leads to an anime adaptation being produced and released while the original work is still ongoing. Other times, fans have to wait for 16 long years before seeing their beloved characters come to life on a screen. This was the case for Toshiaki Iwashiro's Psyren, a mystery/supernatural manga that was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 2007 to 2010. Despite good commercial success, with over 4 million copies sold, the series never received an anime adaptation until one was finally announced in 2025.

Slated for an October 2026 release, Psyren just got its first full trailer, shown during Crunchyroll’s Japan Expo 2026 panel in Paris. The short video introduces the protagonists, high-schoolers Ageha Yoshina and Sakurako Amamiya, who are pulled into another world populated by monsters by the mysterious organization known as Psyren. Along with other kidnapped victims, they will have to overcome the challenges of this hostile environment to return to the real world.

Psyren has all the elements of classic shonen battle/action manga: a high-school protagonist with a strong sense of justice, a childhood friend in need of rescue, and an eclectic cast of side characters with different powers. The series adds an occult element to the mix, making it a compelling mystery story on top of everything else. It was popular enough to be nominated three times for Anime Japan's "manga we want to see animated" poll.

Perhaps, Psyren's only shortcoming was that it ended before the 2010s explosion of anime popularity worldwide. Still, it's great to see that the current success of the industry can lead to older series like this getting the recognition they deserve. Now, we only need that Vagabond anime to be made somehow. (Dreaming is free, after all!)

Psyren will debut in October 2026 on Crunchyroll. The manga is available in English from Viz Media.