When it comes to anticipated isekai anime returns, 2026 is a pretty phenomenal year on multiple fronts. All the Isekai Big Three are returning with new seasons, with Re:Zero and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime already in full swing as of the Spring 2026 anime season. But the long-awaited return of the best-animated of the three, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, may have its impact dulled by an anime which built its hype as if inside a pressure cooker. Following its glorious 2017 debut, a strong 2019 movie continuing its adaptation, and one special aired in 2021, there was a whole nine years between full seasons of Saga of Tanya the Evil.

Utterly unlike practically any popular isekai around, Saga of Tanya the Evil had a distinct elevator pitch that hooked into light novel readers and anime viewers instantly. The series boldly asks, “What if reincarnated, but in alternate WWI-era quasi-Europe with magic?” Needless to say, the bonkers premise turned heads and garnered an impressive following, so strong that it handily surpasses both Mushoku Tensei and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War on MyAnimeList’s hottest new anime coming in Summer 2026. With a dedicated fan base finally ready for a new season this July, Saga of Tanya the Evil has the potential to rule the summer with an iron fist.

Forget Mushoku Tensei, The Hottest Returning Summer Isekai Is This 2017 Hit

There’s plenty to be excited about for Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation season 3, to its loyal followers’ credit. Rudeus Greyrat has grown immensely, recently shouldering the harrowing trauma of losing the father who raised him in his new life, while Roxy Migurdia joined Sylphiette as Rudeus’ second wife, with season 3 promising a returning old flame. But not everything is as it used to be. Eris Boreas Greyrat’s return is complicated not just because she’s Rudeus’ second cousin; she’s grown too, becoming a formidable warrior following her sudden departure. Despite all this, there’s plenty of reason to be just as thrilled, and more, for Saga of Tanya the Evil season 2.

One of the cheap shots one can easily take when comparing the two is, there’s less expectation put on the viewer to excuse the protagonist in Saga of Tanya the Evil. Tanya Degurechaff, a reincarnated amoral salaryman in the body of a precocious young girl, is a cold, ruthless, calculating pragmatist more interested in picking fights with God than any of Rudeus’ more problematic pursuits. The controversial elements of the series are in full view and observed through a satirical lens, turning the ruthlessly efficient salaryman into the ultimate soldier too good to keep on a desk job, despite it being what she wants.

There’s so much to be excited about with Saga of Tanya the Evil, and it can’t be overstated how much of this begins with season 2 retaining much of the staff who worked on season 1 and the movie. While Mushoku Tensei has some of the cleanest, most filmic animation around, Saga of Tanya the Evil’s greatest strengths aside from a carefully-rendered grim wartime vibe and fantastic character design execution is its top-notch sound direction. The return of Yoshikazu Iwanami means fans will once again enjoy the breathtaking and occasionally overpowering sounds of magic and divine power joining 20th-century armaments for a perfect dark blend of military fantasy.

There Is No Isekai Quite Like Saga Of Tanya The Evil

While there are recurring elements of isekai all over Saga of Tanya the Evil, including but not limited to reincarnation, the genre-prerequisite other world, fantasy elements, and a flawed protagonist in a previous life, this series does plenty to carve out its own identity. The salaryman protagonist was perfectly happy to ruin the lives of desperate employees below him, and when said employee pushes him in front of a train (note: not Truck-kun) time freezes, and the salaryman is confronted by God. Promised a new life but with inevitable strings attached, the salaryman refuses to acknowledge or praise the deity, spitefully calling him Being X before being sent to the new world.

Sent away from modern Japan and instead landing in the middle of clashing forces clearly representing Europe in World War I, the salaryman is reborn as Tanya Degurechaff. Born with immense magical aptitude, Tanya quickly catches on that mages are rapidly conscripted due to their abilities being vital to the war effort in her home, the Empire (effectively Imperial Germany). Her answer: join the mage force as a trained officer, angling for a promotion to a position too remote to participate in frontline combat. But her plan consistently backfires, her past life as a ruthless company man proving her to be the perfect soldier.

The added kicker is, Being X consistently visits Tanya, pressuring her to worship him in exchange for using his abilities. The downside is, as Tanya soon learns, this condition erodes her psyche despite achieving enormous feats through such power, and this is all part of Being X’s design. A petty and vengeful god, he contrives Tanya’s situation in a bid to force her to pray to him, each instance gradually making her believe the words as they leave her mouth. This only serves to stoke Tanya’s resentment, the spirit of the atheist salaryman within still ablaze by season 1’s ending, even after Being X empowers others to fight her.

War is intensifying on multiple fronts ahead of Saga of Tanya the Evil season 2. Tanya has survived combat against the Republic and again against the Russy Federation. With on-the-nose nations like the Unified States, the Allied Kingdom, and other obvious real-world WWI stand-ins in a continuously escalating conflict preventing Tanya from safely getting the comfortable promotion she craves, Studio NUT’s long-awaited return is mere weeks away at this point. One can only hope that everything from the immaculate sound design to phenomenal performances and absolute banger opening music will continue with Saga of Tanya the Evil season 2.