High School! Kimengumi 2026 Anime: Where to Watch, Episodes, Cast & 1985 vs 2026

The High School! Kimengumi 2026 anime premiered on January 9, 2026, on Fuji TV's Noitamina block, ran 12 episodes and streams on Amazon Prime Video in North America. It is a full remake of one of Weekly Shonen Jump's great gag comedies, which last had an anime in 1985. The new version keeps the five oddballs at its center, moves them from the 1980s into the modern Reiwa era and gives them a completely new cast. The question for everyone who grew up on the original is simple: can a joke built on 1980s school life still land in 2026?

High School! Kimengumi Release Date and Global Streaming Schedule

The 2026 series aired from January 9 to March 27, 2026, on Noitamina, Fuji TV's late-night block, every Friday at 11:30 p.m. Animation Studio Seven animated it, with Kazuaki Seki directing, Takashi Nishikawa as animation director, Shigeru Murakoshi on series composition, Yuka Abe on character designs and Taku Iwasaki on music. Noitamina usually hosts prestige shows and adult dramas. Giving that slot to a slapstick gag comedy is a bold move, and it tells you how much affection the industry still has for this series.

Prime Video vs. Crunchyroll: Where to Watch

Amazon Prime Video streams High School! Kimengumi in North America, so it is not on Crunchyroll. In Japan, the series also streamed free on TVer after broadcast. Searches for "high school kimengumi streaming" and "eng sub" are common for a reason: the show was easy to miss outside Japan, and Prime Video is the legal place to watch it with English subtitles.

Broadcast Time & Episode Rollout

How many episodes does the 2026 High School! Kimengumi have? Twelve, packed with 20 shorter segments, which suits a comedy built on quick sketches.

Is there an English dub? Not as of October 2026. No dub has been announced, even though "high school kimengumi english dub" is a frequent search. The jokes lean heavily on Japanese wordplay, which makes a dub a much bigger job than usual.

High School! Kimengumi Plot: Five Weirdos and a New Spring

Rei Ichido, Go Reietsu, Kiyoshi Dese, Jin Oma and Dai Monohoshi are the Kimengumi, the "Funny Face Club," five students so eccentric that they repeated a year of middle school. Everyone at school knows them on sight. Then a transfer student, Yui Kawa, and her classmate Chie Uru run into them, and instead of keeping their distance, the two girls start tagging along.

The school is full of rival gangs with their own leaders: the heartthrob Irootoko-gumi led by Sho Kireide, the delinquent Ban-gumi led by Yo Nihiruda, the athletic Ude-gumi led by Kai Undo, and the girl gang Onna-gumi led by Jako Amano. Each one is a parody of a type, and the Kimengumi wreck all of them. Then time moves on and a new spring begins, which is exactly where the "High School!" in the title comes in.

Why the Reiwa Update Works

The original manga and the 1985 anime were set in the 1980s, with jokes rooted in that era. The 2026 version moves everything into the Reiwa era, Japan's current period that began in 2019. Phones, social media and modern school life replace the old references, but the core gag stays the same: five boys with no shame and a school that cannot handle them. Night Tempo, known for his modern takes on 1980s Japanese pop, produced the show's songs, which bridges the two eras neatly.

The theme songs follow the same idea. The opening, "Funky Spice feat. TOMOO," comes from the funk band BREIMEN, and the ending, "Suteki!!," is by Rikon Densetsu, a band whose sound borrows openly from Showa-era pop. Both songs sound new and old at once, which is exactly the balance the remake is trying to strike. Older fans hear the decade they remember, and new viewers just hear a catchy, modern band.

A remake lives or dies on its cast, and this one went big.

High School! Kimengumi Characters and Cast

Here are the main characters and their 2026 Japanese voice actors (CV):

• Rei Ichido (CV: Tomokazu Seki): the Kimengumi's leader and the strangest of the five.
• The other four members: Shunsuke Takeuchi as Go Reietsu, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Kiyoshi Dese, Chiaki Kobayashi as Jin Oma and Kikunosuke Toya as Dai Monohoshi.
• Yui Kawa (CV: Haruka Shiraishi) and Chie Uru (CV: Ikumi Hasegawa): the two girls who befriend them.
• Gang leaders: Daisuke Sakuma as Sho Kireide, Nobuhiko Okamoto as Yo Nihiruda, Yusuke Kobayashi as Kai Undo and M・A・O as Jako Amano.

The supporting cast is enormous, with more than 40 credited roles, including Yui Horie, Yoko Hikasa, Tomokazu Sugita, Sho Hayami and veteran Kenichi Ogata. That depth is a nice nod to the original, where half the jokes came from the background characters. Behind all of them is a manga that shaped Jump comedy for a generation.

Manga Guide: From 3-nen Kimengumi to High School!

High School! Kimengumi is by Motoei Shinzawa. The story began as 3-nen Kimengumi ("Third Year Kimengumi") in Weekly Shonen Jump from October 1980 to April 1982, collected in 6 volumes. It continued as High School! Kimengumi from April 1982 to July 1987, collected in 20 volumes.

• The 1985 anime: 86 episodes on Fuji TV from 1985 to 1987, plus a 1986 movie. This is the "high school kimengumi 1985" and "movie" many people search for.
• The game: Bandai released a High School! Kimengumi adventure game for the Sega Master System, another frequent search, and an MSX2 version too.
• Where the 2026 anime sits: it retells the opening of the story for a new audience, so the manga is the place to see everything the 12 episodes skip.

Will There Be More High School! Kimengumi?

No second season of the 2026 remake has been announced as of October 2026. A gag comedy has an advantage here: with 26 volumes of sketches across both manga, there is no plot that needs finishing, so the remake could return at any time. Whether it does will depend on how well the Noitamina run performed, in Japan and on Prime Video.

Frequently Asked Questions About High School! Kimengumi

Where can I watch High School! Kimengumi 2026?

Amazon Prime Video streams it in North America with English subtitles.

How many episodes does the 2026 High School! Kimengumi have?

The 2026 series has 12 episodes, made up of 20 segments.

Is there a High School! Kimengumi English dub?

No English dub has been announced as of October 2026.

What is the difference between the 1985 and 2026 anime?

The 1985 anime ran 86 episodes set in the 1980s. The 2026 remake has 12 episodes, a new cast and moves the story into the modern Reiwa era.

Who created High School! Kimengumi?

Motoei Shinzawa created it. It ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1982 to 1987, after the prequel 3-nen Kimengumi.

Who voices Rei Ichido in 2026?

Tomokazu Seki voices Rei Ichido in the 2026 anime.

Related Videos

Start with the main PV from Fuji TV's official anime channel, then the non-credit opening, BREIMEN's "Funky Spice feat. TOMOO." Both are in Japanese.

More Winter 2026 Anime Guides

These shows all premiered in the Winter 2026 season, and each guide covers where to watch, the cast and the source material.

• Dead Account: English dub cast, characters and Season 2
• Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube Part 2: where to watch, cast and the manga
• Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling: episodes, light novel and Season 2
• The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife: where to watch, cast and the manga
• Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You Season 2: episodes, cast and the manga
• Tune In to the Midnight Heart: cast, songs and Season 2
• The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom: where to watch and the source
• Scum of the Brave: episodes, Part 2 and the light novel
• Hana-Kimi: English dub, episodes and Season 2

The Kimengumi made it to high school. Whether they make it to a second season is still up in the air. See the rest of the season in our Winter 2026 anime lineup, browse the Fall 2026 anime schedule for what is airing now, and follow Upcoming Anime for sequel news.

Sources: High School! Kimengumi official site, official X, Prime Video.