San Diego Comic-Con kicks off this Thursday, and the anime side of the show already has its headliner: Bandai Namco Filmworks will unveil a brand-new Gundam anime series on day one. The show runs July 23rd through the 26th at the San Diego Convention Center, and between that reveal, a big My Hero Academia anniversary, and a Studio Ghibli history lesson, anime fans have a packed four days ahead.
The reveal happens at the "Gundam Showcase 2026 - Unveil the Next Gundam" panel, Thursday, July 23rd from 10:30 to 11:30 AM PT in Room 6BCF. Bandai Namco Filmworks announced the panel earlier this month, promising special guests from Japan on stage to announce the new title and lay out where the franchise goes next. Attendees also score novelty bags while supplies last, packed with a Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe poster, a promo card for the newly announced game Gundam Rogue Orbit, and an inflatable beam saber!
Can't make the trip? Bandai Namco is streaming a special program with the same new-title announcement worldwide on its Gundam Channel INTL YouTube channel at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET that same Thursday. It's a separate program built around the same reveal, not a camera feed from the panel room, and it starts while the panel is still in session. Japan gets the same stream at 3:00 AM local time on the 24th, which tells you which side of the Pacific this premiere is aimed at. No badge, no line, no problem.
A reveal of this size on a US stage is a change of pace for the franchise. The new Gundam Wing production, the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Freedom Zero film, and the 2029 remaster of the original 1979 series were all announced this spring through Bandai Namco's Gundam Conference livestream out of Japan. Booking a San Diego panel room for the next series, with a worldwide simulcast timed to match, says plenty about where the company sees its audience growing.
It fits the year the franchise is having in the West, too. Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe landed in US theaters back in May, and the last all-new series, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX from Studio Khara and Sunrise, wrapped its 12-episode run in June of last year. The timing for a follow-up feels about right.
My Hero Academia Turns 10 In Ballroom 20
Crunchyroll grabbed the other Thursday-morning marquee slot. The streamer is celebrating My Hero Academia's 10-year anniversary in Ballroom 20 from 10:00 to 11:00 AM with four of the English dub's leads on stage: Christopher Sabat (All Might), Justin Briner (Izuku Midoriya), Clifford Chapin (Katsuki Bakugo), and David Matranga (Shoto Todoroki). Ten years since that first episode aired in April of 2016, and the dub cast gets to take a bow in front of one of the biggest rooms in the building!
Eagle-eyed planners will spot the schedule crunch: the Gundam panel starts at 10:30, half an hour into the My Hero Academia celebration, in a different room. Thursday morning forces a pick. The silver lining is that the Gundam simulcast starts at 11:00, so Ballroom 20 loyalists can catch the reveal on their phones the minute the anniversary panel lets out.
Crunchyroll's booth (#4135) is also home to the oddest activation of the week: an animatronic Teoritta doll from Sentenced to Be a Hero that responds when you give her head pats. Over at the Gundam booth (#3829), Gundam Rogue Orbit is playable ahead of its 2027 launch, and free Gunpla building workshops run daily on the mezzanine.
The Rest Of The Anime Slate
Beyond the two headliners, here's the rundown:
- Aniplex of America Industry Panel - Thursday, July 23rd at 6:00 PM in Room 7AB, with the Demon Slayer company walking through its past, present, and future lineup.
- Rooster Fighter episode 1 dub screening - Thursday at 5:50 PM in the Marriott Marina Grand Ballroom 4, part of VIZ's screening slate.
- Making Manga with VIZ - Friday, July 24th at 2:00 PM in Room 29AB.
- New and Upcoming Kodansha Manga Revealed - Saturday, July 25th at 11:00 AM in Room 9.
- 40th Anniversary of Castle in the Sky - Saturday at 4:15 PM in Room 6A, with former Studio Ghibli production coordinator Hirokatsu Kihara and longtime background painter Yoichi Nishikawa sharing production stories and original artwork. Castle in the Sky was Ghibli's first feature back in 1986, so this one doubles as a birthday party for the studio itself.
One more belongs on your list, and it's the heavier one. We've already made the case for why Comic-Con's most important panel is about who gets to ban manga and webtoons. If you care about what ends up on shelves next year, carve out time for that one.
If I had one Thursday-morning seat to give, the Gundam reveal probably gets mine. Dub reunions find their way online eventually, but a brand-new Gundam series only comes along every few years, and hearing that announcement land in a room full of fans is half the fun.
Which panel gets your Thursday morning, the next Gundam or the My Hero Academia reunion? What are you hoping the new series turns out to be?
Sound off in the comments below!
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