ABEMA Anime Festival 2026 returns to Shibuya

On July 10, 2026, ABEMA announced that ABEMA Anime Festival 2026 supported by コミックシーモア will return to Shibuya on September 19 and 20, 2026. The two-day festival is centered on MIYASHITA PARK and nearby venues, and ABEMA says this year’s edition will again combine rooftop stages, fan-facing exhibits, merchandise, and character greetings under the theme “Dive deeper into what you love in anime.”

What Was Announced

The core announcement is simple but substantial: ABEMA is bringing back its anime festival for a third consecutive year. The official release says the event will take place in Shibuya, with MIYASHITA PARK as the main hub, and that visitors can expect multiple ways to interact with anime beyond just watching a stream. That includes a rooftop stage for live talk events, dedicated photo spots, goods sales, and appearances tied to popular series.

The first lineup makes the scope of the festival clear. On the anime side, ABEMA listed Akane-banashi, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, Super no Ura de Yani Suu Futari, Tetsunabe no Jan!, Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken Season 4, Temmaku no Jadugaar, Tougen Anki, Futsutsuka na Akujo de wa Gozaimasu ga ~ Hinami no Choucho Torikae Den, Pop-up Porters, and Yomi no Tsugai. The festival also brings in ABEMA original programs such as GOALOUS5, SHIBUYA ANIME BASE, and Seiyu to Yoru Asobi 2026.

ABEMA also pointed back to the 2025 edition, which the company says drew more than 60,000 visitors on site and more than 610,000 total views on ABEMA. Those figures matter because they show the festival is no longer a small promotional add-on. It has become a real fan event with measurable reach both in person and online.

Why It Matters

What stands out here is the way ABEMA is treating anime promotion as a hybrid experience. The release does not describe a simple exhibition or a single stage show. It describes a city-scale fan program that moves between streaming, live appearance culture, merchandise, and public space. That matters because anime marketing in Japan often works best when it gives fans multiple ways to participate, not just one.

The 2026 lineup also crosses different kinds of titles. There are manga adaptations, sequel seasons, and ABEMA originals in the same program. That mix makes the festival more than a single-title showcase. It becomes a snapshot of what ABEMA wants to position as its anime identity: a place where viewers can discover new series, follow established franchises, and see original programming tied to the same audience.

Shibuya itself is part of the message. By placing the festival around MIYASHITA PARK and nearby venues, ABEMA turns a familiar commercial district into a temporary anime zone. That city presence gives the event more visibility than a closed-door venue would, and it helps explain why the release emphasizes photo spots, greeting opportunities, and rooftop stages rather than only on-screen content.

Context for International Fans

For fans outside Japan, ABEMA is worth knowing as a streaming service that also behaves like a promotion platform. It offers a dedicated anime presence, but it also uses real-world events to keep titles visible between broadcasts. The festival is a good example of how Japanese anime promotion can extend far beyond a premiere date or a trailer drop.

If you follow series such as Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken, or Tougen Anki, this is the kind of event that can shape what people are talking about in Japan during the season. It may influence official merchandise, cast appearances, and the pacing of follow-up announcements. Even if you are not in Tokyo, the festival gives a useful signal about which titles ABEMA is trying to keep in the spotlight.

That makes the official site useful to watch from abroad. You do not need to be on the ground in Shibuya to follow the program. The lineup, stage schedule, and related announcements are being updated on the event site as the festival date gets closer, so the press release should be read as the start of the rollout rather than the final version of the program.

What Happens Next

The official site says more cast additions, timetable details, and event content are still to come. It already posted the first rooftop stage lineup update on July 24, and it also opened ticket sales for the GOALOUS5 special talk stage. In other words, the July 10 announcement is the framework, not the whole schedule.

For readers tracking the event from outside Japan, the practical next step is to watch the festival site for the next wave of information and treat the July 10 release as the anchor announcement for the 2026 edition. If ABEMA keeps the cadence it used last year, the event should keep filling in the details over the coming weeks.

Sources

Information was checked on July 30, 2026 at 15:58 JST.

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