Anime’s Most Beloved Studio Adapts Shonen Jump’s Best New-Gen Manga

December 28, 2025, 11:08am

Kyoto Animation is working on a new anime, and it’s an adaptation of Shonen Jump’s new-gen hit, RuriDragon. The day after Christmas, Kyoto Animation launched a mysterious countdown on social media, and with nothing but a statement of when the announcement would come out, fans immediately took to theorizing what it could be.

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The day of the announcement has finally come, and it’s been revealed that Kyoto Animation will be adapting Masaoki Shindo’s RuriDragon into an anime, with the countdown being because December 28 is the protagonist’s birthday. This is the first time Kyoto Animation will be adapting a shonen manga, and overall, there couldn’t be a better choice for them.

Why RuriDragon Is The Perfect Anime For Kyoto Animation

Unlike most Shonen Jump titles, Masaoki Shindo’s RuriDragon is a very lighthearted slice-of-life series, even with a story centered around dragons, and it’s even more down-to-earth than other slice-of-life manga, as the focus is almost exclusively on fun character work without leaning too much into comedy, and there isn’t even a semblance of romance, either.

All of that, of course, makes RuriDragon perfect for Kyoto Animation; Kyoto Animation is famous for fun, lighthearted anime and the incredible amount of love they put into them, so with RuriDragon embodying slice-of-life in the best of ways, there’s no better Shonen Jump manga for them to adapt into an anime.

RuriDragon has been a major hit from the moment it debuted, and even after a lengthy hiatus, it’s still proven itself to be one of the best new-gen manga to read. It’s a series that deserves every bit of popularity it’s achieved, and once the Kyoto Animation anime comes out, it will truly establish itself as a generational hit.

What RuriDragon’s Anime Could Mean For Kyoto Animation

Kyoto Animation making the RuriDragon anime is great to see, and it has major implications for the company’s future. As previously stated, Kyoto Animation doesn’t usually adapt shonen manga or manga, in general, but if they’re adapting a Shonen Jump manga, of all manga, then that means manga adaptations might become a regular thing for them in the future.

That being said, even if Kyoto Animation does start adapting manga at a larger rate, they likely wouldn’t adapt anything action-heavy; slice-of-life stories like RuriDragon and K-On!, and comedies like Nichijou and City, are more in line with their aesthetic, so any future manga adaptations would likely be in that vein.