Shonen Jump Eyes Its Next Mega Anime After JJK and My Hero Academia

Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia are nearing the end of their anime runs, marking the close of two of the biggest Shōnen heavyweights from the modern era. Over the years, both franchises have delivered standout fights, character-defining moments, and emotional scenes that fans still talk about. While parting ways is never simple, the spotlight now shifts toward whatever comes next to carry that Shōnen legacy forward.

Jujutsu Kaisen leaned into a darker, higher-stakes tone, with volatile battles and high-impact characters that kept viewers locked in from episode one. My Hero Academia, meanwhile, won over a massive audience through its hero-centered worldview—big dreams, real feelings, and the long road of doing right by others. Together, the two series helped define a newer wave of Shōnen, and only another standout successor could realistically continue the momentum that Weekly Shonen Jump built over time.

Naoki Fujita’s Beat & Motion Will Receive A Netflix Anime Adaptation

The continued popularity of Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia showed that Shōnen doesn’t have to look one way to deliver action, heart, and motivation. Now that both are close to wrapping up, audiences are naturally hungry for something different—and Naoki Fujita’s Beat & Motion aims right at that gap. The original manga ran in Shueisha’s Shōnen Jump+ platform from February 2023 to January 2025, later collected across six tankobon volumes.

Even with the genre stacked with heavy hitters like One Piece, Naruto, DBZ, Frieren, and Jojo, competition in Shōnen storytelling has always been fierce. That makes the jump from manga to anime a major milestone for any title, and Beat & Motion is getting that chance.

At the MAPPA 15th Anniversary Lineup Reveal, it was announced that Fujita’s Beat & Motion manga will be adapted into an anime streaming on Netflix in 2027. The event also shared an initial teaser image and a trailer, giving viewers their first real look at what the adaptation could become. The trailer further confirmed the voices for the two lead characters: Shuichiro Umeda as Tatsuhiko Hirayama and Aya Gomazuru as Nico Kashiwagi.

Umeda previously voiced Makoto Hanaoka in Senpai is an Otokonoko, while Gomazuru has appeared as Yuki Makihara in Liar Game.

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The English-language manga description provided in VIZ Media’s edition (for the first volume) is framed like this: After that fateful night, Tatsuhiko uploads a new animation to social media, and it quickly goes viral. His favorite musician, Nico, then reaches out and asks him to team up on a music video for one of her songs. During their first meeting, Tatsuhiko is stunned to realize that he recognizes Nico from the event that changed his life.

You can check out the Beat & Motion trailer below:

From what’s shown in the trailer, the visuals already stand out with detailed artwork, bright color work, and storytelling that mixes playfulness with real emotion. That impression matters, because it suggests MAPPA is actively building the adaptation rather than treating it as a distant release. With MAPPA’s track record for high-quality animation and distinctive story choices, the project has a strong chance of getting the attention it needs when it lands.

The Beat & Motion anime will be directed by Yuki Komada (who is associated with Rurouni Kenshin Season 2). Misaki Morie is handling series composition and scripts. Character design is led by Kazunori Aoki, who also serves as chief animation director alongside co-chief animation director Mina Osawa.

Quick facts

• Beat & Motion is getting an anime adaptation streaming on Netflix in 2027.
• The announcement came during the MAPPA 15th Anniversary Lineup Reveal, alongside a teaser visual and trailer.
• Shuichiro Umeda voices Tatsuhiko Hirayama, and Aya Gomazuru voices Nico Kashiwagi.
• The manga ran on Shueisha’s Shōnen Jump+ from February 2023 to January 2025, collected into six tankobon volumes.
• Beat & Motion is directed by Yuki Komada, with series composition and scripts by Misaki Morie.
• Kazunori Aoki is in charge of character design and chief animation direction (with Mina Osawa as co-chief animation director).

Beat & Motion Has Everything Needed To Become The Best MAPPA Anime

Even with its obvious promise, Beat & Motion took time to reach the anime stage. Not every Shōnen Jump manga gets a shot at adaptation, and with so many contenders competing both inside the magazine and beyond it, even strong titles can miss their window. In the current era, though, success isn’t always the deciding factor—sometimes it simply needs the right timing and the right production push.

That said, a Shōnen Jump series can absolutely break through. Many manga only need the opportunity to reach a wider audience, and a solid anime adaptation can completely change what happens next, sometimes almost overnight. The path from manga to anime isn’t guaranteed, with plenty of factors influencing whether a story gets broader exposure. Still, recent conditions have shown that standout writing can find its way through, no matter where it starts—making Beat & Motion a title to watch as it heads to Netflix in 2027.

JJK Modulo has also received a surprise anime trailer from MAPPA to promote its final volume, which is set to release on May 1, 2026.

It’s worth noting that Beat & Motion made an early splash by winning Shueisha’s Million Tag manga contest in 2022, which granted it immediate serialization in Shōnen Jump+. The story centers on chasing dreams in the creative arts, while also featuring an emotional romance between its two main characters.

However, despite a strong early start and a compelling premise, some readers later felt the ending didn’t land as well as expected. Reports point to pacing problems during the final arc, followed by a finale that didn’t satisfy. That combination is presented as a key reason the series faded from many readers’ attention fairly quickly, with the hype cooling off over time.

Now, a year after the manga finished, things appear to be shifting. With MAPPA stepping in for an anime adaptation, Beat & Motion finally has a chance to reset its story’s reputation and reach a broader audience through its accessible, fun tone. The idea here is that Fujita’s creative direction paired with MAPPA’s animation strengths should deliver an adaptation that’s both memorable and warm—helping the series “shine” again with viewers who may not have discovered it before.

It’s also a familiar pattern: many manga effectively get a second life when an anime arrives. Once millions of new viewers see the story, it can find fans outside its original readership—especially for titles that previously flew under the radar.

For Beat & Motion, the argument is that the core ingredients for success are already in place. Emotional storytelling, vivid artwork, a focus on creativity, and themes built around chasing dreams could connect with a wide audience—especially when paired with MAPPA’s ability to bring distinct worlds to life. In that sense, the adaptation could serve as a turning point, turning a lesser-known Shōnen Jump title into something widely recognized.

Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia are almost done—so the next wave matters. With the right exposure from MAPPA and Netflix, Beat & Motion’s heartwarming, energetic approach has a real chance to become a major new success. The hope is that Shōnen Jump’s next era won’t need to copy the exact trajectories of past giants; instead, it can let stories that focus on passion, dreams, and human emotion carve their own identity. Beat & Motion is positioned as a candidate for that kind of fresh standout.

What do you think about the upcoming adaptation? Could Beat & Motion surprise people and become one of the standout anime hits of the new era? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Based on Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen manga, MAPPA’s battle Shōnen anime imagines a world where Jujutsu Sorcerers fight against threats formed from Cursed Energy. In the story, a teenager named Yuji Itadori is pulled into this conflict after he eats a possessed finger.