This Crunchyroll Hidden Gem Anime Returns With New Season in 2026: Watch the Trailer

One major Crunchyroll hidden gem is coming back with a vengeance next year, and the anime has shared a new look at release window for its next big season. 2025 was an especially notable year for new anime releases with a lot of brand new debuts and returning franchises all vying for fans’ attention. As the year gets ready to wrap up the final wave of episodes for the Fall 2025 anime schedule, it’s time to look ahead to what is coming our way next year. And 2026 is already shaping up to be another strong year of new anime as well.

One of the major anime franchises returning for new episodes next year is Classroom of the Elite, which is coming back for its highly anticipated fourth season. Previously revealing that Season 4 would be hitting sometime in 2026, Classroom of the Elite has now confirmed that its new season will be premiering in April 2026 as part of the Spring 2026 anime schedule. Classroom of the Elite Season 4 has dropped a new trailer and poster that you can check out in action below.

What to Know for Classroom of the Elite Season 4

Classroom of the Elite Season 4 will be making its premiere sometime in April 2026 in Japan, and Crunchyroll has confirmed they will be streaming the new episodes alongside their premiere. You can also revisit the first three seasons of the anime with Crunchyroll in the meantime, and you’re going to want to catch up as there was quite a bit of a gap between the first and second seasons. But thankfully, these future seasons have been releasing on a much steadier clip as the anime finally continues through this ever evolving story from Shogo Kinugasa and Shunsaku Tomose’s original light novels.

Joining the cast for the new season are a new wave of Year 1 students (each with their own goals for the school) including Minako Sato as Tsubasa Nanase, Hiroya Egashira as Kazuomi Hosen, Momoko Seto as Ichika Amasawa, Shinnosuke Tokudome as Takuya Yagami, Iori Saeki as Sakurako Tsubaki, and Shogo Sakata as Riku Utsunomiya. Returning cast members from the previous seasons include Shoya Chiba as Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, Akari Kito as Suzune Horikita, Ayana Taketatsu as Kei Karuizawa, Yurika Kubo as Kikyo Kushida, Masaaki Mizunaka as Kakeru Ryuen, Nao Toyama as Honami Ichinose, and Rina Hidaka as Arisu Sakayanagi.

Why You Should Watch Classroom of the Elite

Classroom of the Elite is definitely a hidden gem as while the first season made its debut several years ago, it took quite a while for the anime to return for a second season. This long wait in between seasons had many wondering if the show was going to continue at all, and that’s why it has gotten to “hidden gem” status after all this time. Because once you actually sit and watch the series, you’ll see why it was such a big hit with fans when it first made its debut.

Classroom of the Elite Season 4 officially kicks off Year 2 for Ayanokoji and the others, and that means there are many more mind games going to kick off as their class tries to rise through the ranks. With a new generation of students fighting their way from the very bottom, Ayanokoji now has to defend his class from multiple angles as an even bigger war is about to break out in the new season.

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Crunchyroll is Bringing Back One of Anime’s Most Beloved Stories