Donghua Releases in September 2026
September is quieter than August — that is not hard, August was the strongest month donghua has had all year — but the month is not empty, and the biggest story is the one already in motion: Link Click's third season is airing right now, and its first three weeks have already reshaped our September ranking. Below: what premieres this month, what is still running from August, two corrections to earlier expectations, and — separately — what is circulating without a firm date. Every entry names its source.
Premiering in September
Spirit Realm Walker 《灵境行者》
The month's biggest premiere is an urban-supernatural adaptation of 卖报小郎君's novel, produced by the studio behind Battle Through the Heavens and Martial Universe. The first season covers the 夜游神篇 ("Night Wanderer") arc across four chapters of seven, seven, seven, and five episodes — a structure that tells you the production is planning around narrative blocks, not a drip feed. For genre context: this is "infinite flow" horror-adjacent urban fantasy, the lane The Outcast opened and very few series have filled well. The dingdang (official scheduling notice) landed August 11, which is the confirmation that matters — Chinese productions announce seasons a year early and confirm premieres three weeks out.
One honest note on accessibility: at launch this is a Tencent Video exclusive, and its Western route — WeTV subtitle coverage or a later simulcast pickup — is not confirmed yet. We will say so plainly rather than pretend otherwise, and this page will update when a legal English route is named.
Shan Zhu Dao 《山竹刀》
A double-heroine wuxia animated film adapted from a Golden Dragon Award-winning manhua, with the dingdang landing only September 3 — a three-day notice, the short end of how late Chinese productions can confirm. The AI-assisted production pipeline is part of why it exists at all; the award-winning source is the part worth attention. Film releases in this space are rare enough that each one is a data point about where donghua's theatrical ambitions are going.
Battle Through the Heavens — year-round resumes
The year-round king returns from its seven-week hiatus on September 6, with the series extended from 209 to 219 episodes. That leaves twelve episodes to run, and then the finish line: a roughly 100-minute finale theater film, 双帝之战 ("The Battle of Two Emperors"), from 幻维数码, slated for Q4 2026 as a Tencent Video release. After seventeen years of source material and years of animation, the ending of Battle Through the Heavens is now a dated sequence of events rather than a horizon. On our own list this matters concretely: the hiatus is why it slipped a slot in the September ranking, and a strong final dozen episodes is exactly the kind of aired evidence that flips the tie-break back.
Still airing from August
Link Click — Season 3, Part One
Three weeks in, the verdict is in and it is overwhelming. Season 3 Part One drew 18.84 million Bilibili views by 17:00 on premiere day with 420,000 danmaku, and the season sits near 8.6 on MyAnimeList — which pushes the franchise's MAL average to roughly 8.70, above Demon Slayer's. That is the number Western coverage keeps repeating, and for once the repeating is accurate. The English-speaking route is clean: Crunchyroll simulcasts outside China and Japan, with Bstation and Ani-Mi Asia covering Southeast Asia. For the record on dissent, a small Japanese review site rates it poorly on story substance — the minority view exists and we do not hide it, but it is a minority against the franchise's strongest reception yet. The ranking consequence is already published: Link Click moved #3 → #2 on our September list, the first verified movement of the year.
To Be Winner 《成也萧河》
The esports-romance manhua adaptation keeps its Monday slot. The joint iQiyi/Bilibili placement remains the interesting signal — dual-platform releases usually mean the production has the backing to negotiate both, and they correlate with titles that later pick up English-subtitled routes.
Jade Dynasty — Season 4 (final season)
The final season of the 诛仙 adaptation began August 21 after three seasons and 78 episodes. A long-running adaptation reaching a planned finale is rare enough in this industry to be its own news — most series stop, few conclude.
False Memory 《记忆管理局》
The original sci-fi that opened August finished its seven-episode run on August 30, and the gamble paid off: the western press coverage (Polygon, IMDb news) landed positive, and the series built a cult reputation as this year's standout 2D original. The full run is free globally on the official Made by Bilibili YouTube channel — the easiest legal watch on this page for a Western viewer.
Two corrections, because honesty about dates matters
Two titles we had seen listed in September roundups actually premiered earlier, and we would rather correct the record here than let a wrong date circulate.
- 斩神之凡尘神域 Season 2 did not premiere in September — it began June 25, 2026 on Tencent Video + 极光TV (15 episodes, Thursdays), and runs until roughly September 17–23. A theater prequel, 沧南之殇, is in the works.
- 一斩苍穹 (One Slash to the Heavens) is not a September premiere — it began July 28, 2026 on Youku (26 episodes, Tuesdays), an original dark-cultivation story from 神漫文化, running into January.
On the horizon — date not confirmed
The Sacred Ruins 《圣墟》
Still no premiere date, and we will not print one until the production does. What is confirmed, from Tencent's June 22–23 animation conference: the project exists, it is Tencent Video exclusive, Zhumeng Studio (the team behind Renegade Immortal) is building it in Unreal Engine 5, and it splits into a 90-minute pilot film (路尽燎原, in three-episode format) plus a 52-episode year-round season. Industry estimates put the film late 2026 to H1 2027 and the series around H2 2027 — estimates, not confirmations. Two aggregator-listed September titles, 神秘复苏 (Mysterious Recovery) and 大道之上 (Above the Great Dao), are in the same category: "expected September" roundup chatter with no official date attached. When there is a real date, it will appear here.
Lord of Mysteries — Season 2
The second season's 无面人篇 (Faceless Arc) has passed its planning filing — two parts, 30+ episodes — and is in production, but the date stays 2027 on the official roadmap. The June special Prey remains the newest LoM content in the meantime, and it is on Crunchyroll.
Fog Hill of Five Elements — Season 3 (final)
The final season, 封界大战, is in production with an official target of "within 2026" — but no date, and one rumored July date already proved false. Same rule: the date appears here when the studio prints it.
Sources. Spirit Realm Walker premiere via Tencent News and Sina; Shan Zhu Dao via Toutiao; Battle Through the Heavens resumption and finale film via 17173 and ITHome; Link Click figures via Baidu Baike, MyAnimeList, and Kaori Nusantara (simulcast detail); False Memory via Polygon; Jade Dynasty final season via Toutiao; 斩神之凡尘神域 correction via Baidu Baike; 一斩苍穹 via The Paper; The Sacred Ruins and Lord of Mysteries S2 via Sohu; Fog Hill S3 via Sohu.