Discover which legendary manga will take the place of One Piece on Crunchyroll in 2026!

The temporary departure of the anime One Piece on Crunchyroll in 2026 paves the way for a new successor capable of meeting the expectations of manga and anime fans. This gap in the winter schedule is no accident: the platform is clearly betting on a series capable of maintaining community engagement and the dynamism of shonen. Among the contenders, several are drawing their swords to take over. Here are the elements that already shape the landscape of an unmissable season with:

• A scheduled break for One Piece from January to March, offering a rare slot for a major hit.
• The coinciding launch of season 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen, another landmark of contemporary shonen.
• An ambitious strategy by Crunchyroll aiming to offer a lineup of strong animes in 2026, with several highly anticipated sequels.

In this article, we will analyze why Jujutsu Kaisen is expected to become the new flagship of the platform, how the schedule is organized around this handover, and what consequences this entails for subscribers and the current anime scene.

Jujutsu Kaisen season 3: Crunchyroll’s new pillar during the departure of One Piece

As winter 2026 approaches, Crunchyroll faces a real challenge: how to maintain the attention of millions of One Piece fans during its imposed three-month break? The answer lies in one name: Jujutsu Kaisen season 3. Scheduled to start on January 8, this new season comes just in time to fill the vacant time slot.

Jujutsu Kaisen has proven its ability to mobilize a vast and passionate community since its first broadcast. Its story arcs rich in intense battles, charismatic characters, and high-quality production make it an excellent candidate to embody the “locomotive” role on the platform. This choice is not a mere reshuffle but rests on concrete consumption data:

• The first episodes generated more than 150 million global views on streaming platforms in 2024.
• The manga is one of the highest ranked in annual charts, competing with the biggest franchises of the shonen genre.
• Each announcement related to Jujutsu Kaisen generates a spike in engagement on social networks, with thousands of discussions and analyses in real time.

This active community engine is crucial to avoid the void felt during an extended break of a legendary manga like One Piece. Jujutsu Kaisen thus offers a credible alternative both in terms of quality and popularity.

The strategic role of Crunchyroll in the 2026 winter programming amid the temporary absence of One Piece

Crunchyroll’s strategy is not limited to substituting one flagship title with another in a simple replacement logic. The platform favors a cleverly calibrated schedule that maintains user loyalty. The One Piece break from January to March 2026 creates a void that several franchises must fill. Among them:

• Jujutsu Kaisen season 3, taking the lead from the first week of January.
• The return of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End with its highly anticipated season 2.
• The second part of season 3 of Fire Force, adding an intense dimension to the offer.
• Season 3 of Oshi no Ko, which continues to gather a growing community.

This diversification helps to avoid concentrating all the load on a single anime and to offer a broad spectrum to a heterogeneous audience that follows several stories simultaneously. This model also improves the platform’s resilience against a potential temporary drop in viewership linked to the absence of its usual mastodon.

To illustrate this point, here is a summary table of major broadcasts announced for this period:

Animated series	Season	Resumption/start date	Expected impact on audience
One Piece	Break	January-March 2026	Temporary gap in the schedule
Jujutsu Kaisen	3	January 8, 2026	Natural successor, strong mobilization
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End	2	Winter 2026	Highly awaited sequel, loyal audience
Fire Force	3 Part 2	Winter 2026	Maintenance of shonen action
Oshi no Ko	3	Winter 2026	Growing popularity

We observe that Jujutsu Kaisen fits into a multiple-offer approach aimed at stabilizing the audience during a period usually difficult for anime platforms.

Why Jujutsu Kaisen embodies the best successor to One Piece in terms of shonen

Comparing One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen amounts to facing two icons of the shonen genre which, despite their narrative differences, share a formidable success mechanism. Jujutsu Kaisen currently stands as a series capable of chaining episodes in which each fight is considered a unifying event.

One aspect that makes Jujutsu Kaisen particularly suited as a series to temporarily take the place of the legendary One Piece lies in its treatment of characters and its ability to renew interest episode after episode. The flexible universe and the density of stories allow quick immersion even for a new audience that might be hesitant due to the prolonged One Piece break.

Moreover, Jujutsu Kaisen’s structure relies on strategic battles and unexpected twists that trigger social network activity comparable to that of One Piece during its peak moments. This dynamic is valuable for maintaining virality and attracting a diverse audience, ranging from seasoned fans to curious novices.

The Jump Festa 2026 anime schedule confirms this trend of making Jujutsu Kaisen an unmissable headliner of the season.

The effect on the community and the manga landscape: a busy and balanced 2026 season

With One Piece’s temporary drop-out, fans naturally question their consumption and exchanges around major shonen themes. The simultaneous presence of several sequels allows a true wealth of exchanges: scene analyses, anticipation of future arcs, theories on character development. These elements enrich discussions and contribute to an intense community experience during the quieter months for One Piece.

The handover from one mastodon to another also promotes a kind of generational renewal. While One Piece remains an unmissable legend with a loyal base, Jujutsu Kaisen charms an audience sometimes younger or more attuned to current trends of the genre. This permeability contributes to better diversification of discussions, artistic proposals, and fan creations (fanarts, fanfictions, thematic debates).

In this respect, Crunchyroll’s editorial strategies seem well calibrated to maintain a sustained rhythm — this is not a one-off replacement but a redeployment of forces enabling a rich, varied, and ultra-connected season with its audience. Despite the break, winter 2026 promises to excite communities with a dense and quality program.

• Qualitative alternation between franchises to avoid the overload of a single series.
• Sustained weekly pace that maintains attention and loyalty.
• Enhanced fan engagement thanks to the diversity of worlds offered.
• Effective maintenance of social trends linked to episode releases.

Implications for fans and prospects for the future of manga on Crunchyroll

For the faithful viewer, this rotation between One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen illustrates a programming model where each highlight relies on another. This phenomenon could serve as a reference for platforms in the coming years, particularly for legendary titles that require a high diffusion pace.

The fact that Crunchyroll anticipates the break and organizes a vigorous schedule proves that the future of manga streaming is now structured around global strategies, where the launch of several major franchises is coordinated to sustain long-term interest.

It is easy to imagine that this rotation will influence the economy of animated series: the length of seasons, investment in story arcs, and schedule management now adapt to this fluidity. Fans thus enjoy an offer that is always renewed, more stable, and richer in emotions and adventures.

For more information on the future of Japanese animation and major releases, we recommend consulting the Jump Festa 2026 announcements and the trends of the 2025 manga rankings, which confirm the rise of new must-watches.