After a six-year wait, baseball anime fans finally have a concrete date to mark on their calendars. The second season of Ace of Diamond Act II is officially set to premiere in April 2026 on TV Tokyo and its affiliate networks . The announcement came alongside a brand-new trailer and key visual showing Eijun Sawamura, Satoru Furuya, and Kazuya Miyuki ready to take the field once again .
The sequel picks up where the first season of Act II left off in March 2020, continuing the story of Sawamura’s journey as a second-year student at Seidou High School. With the original manga concluding in October 2022, this new season has plenty of source material to adapt .
A New Team Behind the Camera
The upcoming season brings significant changes to the production team. Animation studio OLM (known for Pokรฉmon and Kunon the Sorcerer Can See) takes over animation production from Madhouse, which handled the previous seasons .
Hideaki Oba steps in as the new director. Oba’s previous work includes Love of Kill and the upcoming Kunon the Sorcerer Can See . He replaces Mitsuyuki Masuhara, who directed all three previous installments of the franchise.
The good news for longtime viewers is that Kenji Konuta returns to handle series composition. Konuta has been with the franchise since the very beginning, writing scripts for all previous Ace of Diamond anime seasons .
Yasukazu Shoji joins as the new character designer, taking over from Minoru Ueda and Satoshi Tasaki. Shoji previously worked as chief animation director on Major 2nd and designed characters for Restaurant to Another World . Composer Hajime Hyakkoku returns to create the musical score, having worked on the first season of Act II .
Main Cast Returning to Voice Seidou’s Finest
All the familiar voices will be back for the new season . Ryota Osaka returns as the energetic protagonist Eijun Sawamura. He shared his excitement on the official website, saying:
“It’s finally here, it’s finally here. We’ve come this far thanks to everyone who supported us! And now that we’ve come this far, we want to see it through to the end! We still need your support! That being said, I want you to enjoy the show, so please support us, both loosely and sometimes enthusiastically!”
Nobunaga Shimazaki reprises his role as Satoru Furuya, Sawamura’s biggest rival for the ace position. Takahiro Sakurai returns as the sharp-catching captain Kazuya Miyuki. The rest of the Seidou lineup includes Natsuki Hanae as Haruichi Kominato, Yuuma Uchida as Koshu Okumura, Shunsuke Takeuchi as Masashi Yuki, and Daiki Yamashita as Takuma Seto .
New Rival Players Join the Cast
Recent announcements have added three new characters to the roster, all from rival schools that Seidou will face . Shugo Nakamura (Gin from Blue Lock) voices Koya Urabe, a third-year pitcher for Norikane Academy High School. Urabe has an interesting backstoryโhe originally enrolled at East High School but quit the baseball team after only two weeks, later transferring to Norikane during his second year .
Atsushi Tamaru (Mikihiko from The Irregular at Magic High School) plays Soichi Yagira, the ace pitcher for Sousei High School. Yagira throws a sharp fastball and a signature pitch called the “Sousei two-seam.” He’s also a dangerous hitter with a batting average above .400, making him a two-way threat .
Kento Hama voices Koji Nara, Sousei High’s second baseman and cleanup hitter. Nara made the Tokyo regional all-star team and combines strong hitting with excellent running and fielding skills .
What to Expect in the New Season
Ace of Diamond Act II Season 2 continues Sawamura’s growth as he enters his second year at Seidou High. The story picks up after the third-year seniors have graduated, leaving Sawamura, Furuya, and their classmates to lead the team .
The internal competition for the ace number heats up as Sawamura and Furuya push each other to improve. New talented first-year players arrive, making the battle for starting positions even more intense . The team faces powerful rivals on their road back to the national tournament, including the newly introduced players from Norikane and Sousei High Schools .
Fans can expect high-quality baseball action with the signature emotional depth that made the series popular. The animation quality in the trailer suggests OLM is putting significant resources into bringing the diamond to life .
First Two Episodes to Screen Early in Tokyo
An advance screening of the first two episodes is scheduled for March 10, 2026 at Shinjuku Wald 9 in Tokyo . The event will feature appearances by the main voice cast, including Ryota Osaka (Sawamura), Nobunaga Shimazaki (Furuya), and Takahiro Sakurai (Miyuki) .
This screening gives Japanese fans an early look at the new season about one month before the official broadcast begins.
Where to Watch and Streaming Details
The anime will air on TV Tokyo and its affiliated stations across Japan. It will also broadcast on AT-X, a satellite channel dedicated to anime .
For international viewers, Crunchyroll streamed all previous Ace of Diamond seasons, including the 75-episode original series, the 51-episode Second Season, and all 52 episodes of Ace of Diamond Act II . While an official announcement for Season 2 has not been made yet, Crunchyroll’s history with the franchise makes them the likely streaming home for the new episodes in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, India, and worldwide .
The Long Journey from Manga to Screen
The Ace of Diamond franchise has a rich history spanning two decades. Yuji Terajima began serializing the original Ace of Diamond manga in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine in 2006 . That series ran until January 2015, spanning 47 volumes.
The story continued with Ace of Diamond Act II, which launched in August 2015 and ran until October 2022, releasing 34 volumes . The manga earned the shonen category award at the 34th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2010 .
The first anime adaptation premiered in 2013, followed by Ace of Diamond: Second Season in 2015. Ace of Diamond Act II aired from April 2019 to March 2020 . The new season marks the first anime content in six years .
The manga’s influence extends beyond entertainment. Professional baseball stars Shohei Ohtani and Kodai Senga have both mentioned the series as a favorite during their school years, showing its impact on real-world baseball .
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Catch Up Before April
For those wanting to refresh their memory or new viewers looking to jump in, the previous anime episodes are available. All 126 episodes of the original Ace of Diamond and Ace of Diamond: Second Season, plus the 52 episodes of Ace of Diamond Act II, are streaming on Crunchyroll in multiple regions .
In Japan, the official YouTube channel will stream past episodes for a limited time. The first run of this marathon event ran from December 24, 2025, to January 6, 2026, suggesting similar opportunities may appear closer to the April premiere .
The cast list for the new season includes over 40 returning characters, ensuring every fan favorite will be present when the team takes the field again .
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The return of Sawamura and the Seidou baseball team after six long years gives fans something real to look forward to this spring. Stay with VvipTimes for more updates on this and other anime releases as they happen.
