Anime! Anime! published the results of its 2026 reader poll on "angel" characters on October 5, 2026. Kanade Tachibana from Angel Beats! took first place with about 16 percent of the vote, up from third in last year's edition.
The site ran the poll for Angel Day, which falls on October 4 in Japan because the word 天使 (tenshi) can be read as the numbers 10 (ten) and 4 (shi). It collected 154 responses between September 29 and October 1, 2026. About 65 percent of respondents were women and about 35 percent men; roughly 35 percent were 19 or younger, about 15 percent were in their 20s and about 30 percent in their 30s.
Kanade is the student council president at a school in the afterlife, where members of the group that fights her call her "Angel." Anime! Anime! also notes that the Angel Beats! collaboration with the game Heaven Burns Red is currently being rerun. Jun Maeda, who worked on Angel Beats!, provides that game's original concept and main scenario.
The Angel Devil from Chainsaw Man placed second on about 9 percent, one rank below its first-place finish last year. The character belongs to the Public Safety Devil Hunters' Special Division 4 and drains the lifespan of anyone it touches, and serves as Aki Hayakawa's partner in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
Towa from Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included was third on about 5 percent, up from a tie for seventh last year. She is an angel who comes to Earth to study humans and ends up living with a high school student. She hides what she is, but her white wings appear when her emotions run high.
Kurusu from Jujutsu Kaisen and Mahiru Shiina from The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten tied for fourth.