— Monthly Rankings · August 2026 —

The 20 Best Donghua to Watch Right Now

Aion Ren·Published August 1, 2026·7 min read

This is our standing answer to the only question most readers actually have: what should I watch? The twenty series below are the best Chinese animation available to an English-speaking audience in August 2026. Every entry is a real, watchable work with an English-accessible route in.

A note on this month's order — no changes, and this is why. The August list is identical to July's. That is not neglect. Our rule is that a position moves only when new content has actually aired and its reception can be checked — and in July, essentially nothing that could move this board did. August is the month everything changes: Link Click Season 3 Part One premieres August 14 on Bilibili (with a Crunchyroll simulcast), False Memory opens the month on August 2 with a three-episode drop, and Jade Dynasty begins its final season on August 21. None of it has aired yet as this page goes up, and we do not rank premieres before they exist. The September page is where the verified movement will be recorded — and if a position changes, it will name the title, the old and new rank, and the evidence. The full reasoning behind this order lives on the June page, which carries the per-title arguments.

The full list

Scores are composite values on our five-factor model (explained at the bottom of the page). They measure a series' overall standing for a Western viewer, not its raw popularity in China.

Rank	Title	Chinese title	Score
	S-Tier · The defining works
01	Lord of Mysteries	诡秘之主	9.4
02	To Be Hero X	凸变英雄X	8.9
03	Link Click	时光代理人	9.1
04	Mo Dao Zu Shi	魔道祖师	9.0
05	Heaven Official's Blessing	天官赐福	8.8
06	Fog Hill of Five Elements	雾山五行	8.7
	A-Tier · The cultivation backbone
07	The King's Avatar	全职高手	8.5
08	Release That Witch	放开那个女巫	8.4
09	Soul Land	斗罗大陆	8.3
10	The Daily Life of the Immortal King	仙王的日常生活	8.2
11	Perfect World	完美世界	8.1
12	A Mortal's Journey to Immortality	凡人修仙传	8.1
13	Battle Through the Heavens	斗破苍穹	8.0
14	Renegade Immortal	仙逆	8.0
	B-Tier · Range and range-breakers
15	The Outcast	一人之下	7.9
16	Throne of Seal	神印王座	7.8
17	Scissor Seven	刺客伍六七	7.8
18	The Magic Chef of Ice and Fire	冰火魔厨	7.7
19	Big Fish & Begonia	大鱼海棠	7.6
20	The Legend of Hei	罗小黑战记	7.6

S-Tier · Ranks 1–6

The defining works

The top six are unchanged because nothing has challenged them since June — but two of them are about to be directly tested. Lord of Mysteries holds #1 with the highest composite on the board (9.4), fed through August by the Prey special (Crunchyroll, June 20) while a full second season waits in 2027. Link Click sits at #3 with a 9.1 — a score higher than the 8.9 of To Be Hero X above it — because our model weights what is actually airing, and between seasons Link Click carried that penalty. That penalty expires on a fixed date: August 14. A premiere that lands as hard as its MAL numbers suggest would put the season's reception in hand and the between-seasons argument in the ground. That is the most likely reorder of the year, and it belongs to the September page, not this one.

A-Tier · Ranks 7–14

The cultivation backbone

The A-tier's long-runners keep rolling through August with nothing yet aired that would reorder them. One relevant scheduling fact: Battle Through the Heavens entered a planned seven-week hiatus in mid-July after episode 207, with a recap special filling the slot — so for most of August the year-round king is between proper episodes, while Renegade Immortal, Soul Land 2, and Perfect World all keep airing. That is a momentum signal, not yet a reorder: a hiatus earns a demotion only if a rival's aired arc actually overperforms. We are watching.

B-Tier · Ranks 15–20

Range and range-breakers

The bottom third stays put for the same reason the top does: no new aired evidence in July. The one August wildcard that could reach down here is False Memory — an original sci-fi series with no novel fanbase behind it, the kind of project that either connects immediately or disappears, and its three-episode opening day on August 2 will tell us which fast. An original that lands hard would enter the board on merit; the September page will say whether it did.

Why the scores don't march in a straight line

Sharp-eyed readers will notice the scores don't descend cleanly — a 9.1 sits below an 8.9, and two 8.1s and two 8.0s are separated by a rank. That is a feature, not an error. A composite is a weighted blend, and when two series land within a tenth of a point, the tie-break comes from the softer factors: which show is airing right now, which has the cleaner English on-ramp, which is carrying momentum into the month. A raw aggregate would sort them mechanically; a ranking meant to guide a real viewing decision should not.

On our radar for September

These are the developments that could genuinely move the list next month — flagged as things we are watching, not changes that have happened.

Link Click Season 3, Part One — August 14, 2026 (Bilibili, Crunchyroll simulcast outside China). 12 episodes. If the reception lands near the franchise's MAL average (8.7 before the premiere), the between-seasons penalty is gone and the 9.1 aggregate goes into direct contention with the two titles above it. The most likely reorder of the year.
False Memory (记忆管理局) — August 2, 2026 (Bilibili). An original sci-fi series from a Bilibili award-winning short, three episodes on day one. A successful original would be the strongest argument for a new entry this year.
Jade Dynasty Season 4 (final season) — August 21, 2026 (Tencent Video). A long-running adaptation's finale season; a strong final arc is exactly the kind of aired evidence that earns a tier move.
Battle Through the Heavens' return. The year-round king resumes after its hiatus; if the resumed arc overperforms, the #13/#14 stalemate resolves itself.
Anything that clears a Western licensing hurdle. Several strong series rank lower than their quality alone would suggest purely because they are hard to watch legally outside China. A new Crunchyroll, Bilibili, or Netflix pickup can lift a title on accessibility overnight.

Sources for this month's release facts: Link Click Season 3 Part One premiere date and Crunchyroll simulcast via AniTrendz; False Memory premiere via Polygon; Jade Dynasty final season via Toutiao (official announcement report); Battle Through the Heavens hiatus via 17173.

How we score

International reception (30%) — external ratings and sustained audience sentiment abroad. Animation quality (25%) — technical execution, art direction, and consistency. Source-material depth (20%) — the strength of the novel or original work underneath. Cultural significance (15%) — the mark a series left on the medium. Western accessibility (10%) — how easily an English-speaking viewer can legally start. A change of calendar month, on its own, moves none of these.

Where the deep dives live

This page is the month's snapshot; the arguments behind each rank live elsewhere so two near-identical pages never compete in search. The June Top 20 carries the full per-title reasoning for this order. For permanent explainers — power systems, character studies, beginner guides — browse the series hubs, and for genre context and legal viewing advice, start with the donghua guides.