Nostalgia Meets New Momentum
Japan has been on a rebroadcast kick lately. Assassination Classroom got a 10th-anniversary rerun in 2025, Neon Genesis Evangelion returned for its 30th, and the entire Demon Slayer series started re-airing in April 2026. With that trend as a backdrop, Japanese entertainment site Anime Anime ran a reader survey asking a simple question: which anime do you want rebroadcast next?
The poll collected 774 responses between June 9 and June 16, 2026. The gender split was roughly even, with about 25 percent of respondents aged 19 or younger and the 30s, 40s, and 50s age brackets each accounting for around 20 percent.
The Top Three
Gintama claimed first place with about 3 percent of the vote. The sci-fi period-comedy, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, follows odd-job man Gintoki Sakata through an Edo overrun by aliens. Its TV anime started back in 2006, and the franchise got a fresh theatrical release in 2026 with Shin Gekijouban Gintama: Yoshiwara Daienjo. Respondents noted that the series originally aired in a prime-time slot and that younger fans who weren't born when it premiered deserve a chance to watch it on TV. Several pointed to the new film as the perfect reason to revisit the series now.
Bungo Stray Dogs landed in second with about 2 percent support. The supernatural action series, serialized in Kadokawa's Young Ace, has produced five TV seasons since its 2016 debut. With 2026 marking the anime's 10th anniversary and the manga's first arc wrapping up, fans called it a natural moment for a full rebroadcast. The franchise isn't slowing down, either: spinoff series Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! 2 begins airing July 2, 2026.
My Hero Academia came in third, just a few votes behind second place. The superhero action series ran for 170 episodes across eight seasons, with its FINAL SEASON airing in 2025. Fans said they want new viewers to experience the full journey of Izuku Midoriya from the beginning, especially with a special short anime titled "I am a hero too" now in production.
The Rest of the Top 10
The remaining rankings show just how wide the nostalgia net stretches. Candy Candy (4th) and Kuma no Pu Taro (6th) represent older titles that rarely get streaming availability today, while Yo-kai Watch (5th) pulls from a more recent generation. Violet Evergarden placed 7th.
Eighth place was a five-way tie between NARUTO, Cardcaptor Sakura, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Attack on Titan, and Love Live! The tie underscores how fragmented the vote became once voters moved past their top picks.
Beyond the ranked results, write-in responses highlighted titles with active revivals. Samurai Troopers (known in the West as Ronin Warriors) got votes from fans who want the original series to air alongside its new sequel Yoroi Shinden. The Twelve Kingdoms, currently receiving a 4K remaster broadcast on BS, also drew support from voters who called its worldbuilding timeless.
Why Rebroadcasts Still Matter
A recurring theme across the survey responses was that streaming, for all its convenience, doesn't replicate the communal experience of watching a show on a set schedule. Multiple respondents said they want to react in real time alongside other fans, something a rebroadcast enables in a way that a catalog library doesn't. Others pointed to titles that simply aren't available on any current streaming platform, making a TV rebroadcast the only realistic path to watching them legally.
Looking Ahead
The poll reflects a moment where Japan's anime industry is actively drawing on its back catalog. Demon Slayer's ongoing full-series rebroadcast has proven the model works for building hype ahead of new content. Whether networks pick up on these fan requests remains to be seen, but the demand is clear: viewers want their favorites back on the air, and they want to watch them together.
For international fans, most of the top-ranked titles are already available on Crunchyroll or Netflix in major markets. Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! 2, the nearest new release connected to this poll, starts July 2 in Japan with no international simulcast partner announced yet.