The two biggest anime polls disagree about who won Summer 2026
The Summer 2026 season has three weeks left, and the two biggest fan polls cannot agree on what won it. Anime Trending says Goodbye, Lara. Anime Corner says Bleach. Both are defensible, and the disagreement is the most interesting thing about the season.
Anime Trending's Week 8 chart, dated 30 August from 3,663 votes, has Goodbye, Lara at No. 1 with 1,229 votes, ahead of Mushoku Tensei S3 (1,167) and Jaadugar (1,157) — three shows within 72 votes of each other. Anime Corner's Week 8 poll, published 28 August, has Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Calamity at 25.75%, with Goodbye, Lara not in its top ten at all.
Anime Trending, Week 8
- 1. Goodbye, Lara — Kinema Citrus · 1,229 votes
- 2. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation S3 — Studio Bind · 1,167
- 3. Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia — Science SARU · 1,157
- 4. Bleach TYBW – The Calamity — Pierrot Films · 1,018
- 5. You and I Are Polar Opposites S2 — Lapin Track · 896
- 6. Though I Am an Inept Villainess — Doga Kobo · 741
- 7. Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky — Makaria · 714
- 8. Re:ZERO S4 — White Fox · 651
- 9. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 — 8bit · 548
- 10. KAIJU GIRL CARAMELISE — LIDENFILMS · 492
Three different shows have topped this chart across the season: Mushoku Tensei S3 in weeks 1–3, Jaadugar in weeks 4–5, Goodbye, Lara in weeks 7–8. Nobody dominated it.
Why Goodbye, Lara is the story
It is an original — no manga, no light novel — made as Kinema Citrus's 15th-anniversary project, directed by Takushi Koide, written by Anna Kawahara, 12 episodes, a modern reimagining of The Little Mermaid. It only entered the top ten in week five and took No. 1 by week seven.
Originals almost never out-poll established franchise sequels. This one is currently beating Mushoku Tensei and Bleach. MAL has it at 7.93 from 5,891 users — a lower score than everything above it in that ranking, which tells you the enthusiasm is concentrated rather than broad. It streams on Crunchyroll and ends 21 September.
The highest-rated show is not the most popular one
Bleach TYBW – The Calamity sits at MAL 9.08 from 25,580 users — ranked fourth across the entire MyAnimeList database. It is the fourth and final cour, ten episodes, from 25 July, on Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally. If you want the season's best-reviewed show rather than its most-voted, it is this, and it is not close.
What ends this month, what carries on
- Ending: Jaadugar (12 September), Inept Villainess (20 September), Goodbye, Lara (21 September), Mushoku Tensei S3 (28 September). Bleach and Polar Opposites finish around the same week, though their end dates are not formally confirmed.
- Carrying into autumn: Please Excuse My Younger Brothers (24 eps), Red River (24), The Exiled Heavy Knight (26), plus spring carry-ins Re:ZERO S4, Slime S4, Ascendance of a Bookworm and LIAR GAME.
What to queue in October
The Apothecary Diaries S3 on 2 October is the season's headliner. Also confirmed: STEEL BALL RUN: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2 October), Reincarnated as a Sword II (1 October), Tokyo Revengers: War of the Three Titans Arc (3 October), Ranma ½ S3, Blue Box S2 and Aoashi S2 (4 October), One Piece returning (4 October), and CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth remake on 7 October.
One more gap worth noticing: critics and fans are watching different seasons. The titles on three of four major critics' 2026 lists — Witch Hat Atelier, Frieren S2, Daemons of the Shadow Realm, Nippon Sangoku — barely appear on the summer fan charts. Only You and I Are Polar Opposites bridges both.
Platform note: five of Anime Trending's top six stream on Crunchyroll, which reported 21 million paid subscribers in May, up four million year on year. Bleach is the exception.
Related: One-Punch Man is going free with its dub for the first time.