Bushiroad's Anime Data Insight Lab announced five data-based awards for the summer 2026 anime season on October 5, 2026, giving its overall grand prize to Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation III. The lab, the analysis group within the Bushiroad group, ranked the season on Google search volume and the number of posts on X, according to its release on PR TIMES.
How the Season Was Scored
The study covered the 73 anime that began airing in Japan in summer 2026, 52 new works and 21 sequels, and the ranking used the 68 titles with comparable data. For each title the lab averaged the Trend Score, calculated from Google search volume, and the Fan Score, calculated from the number of X posts, over broadcast weeks 1 through 10, converted those averages to logarithms to derive standard scores, and averaged the two figures into an overall standard score. Fan Scores take in reactions to concerts, merchandise and other related activity as well as to the episodes themselves.
The tally runs through September 12, so it does not include season finales. Only the 67 titles that aired at least eight weeks inside that window were eligible for awards; BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Calamity, with seven weeks, was ranked but left out of the awards. Two-cour series continuing from the spring season, one-episode works and short-form series of a few minutes were excluded from the study.
The Five Awards
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation III won the grand prize with an overall standard score of 73.9, first among the 67 eligible titles. Its trend standard score of 77.6 led the season even counting BLEACH, its first-week Trend Score was the highest single figure recorded for any title in any week, and its fan standard score of 70.2 placed third.
Yanineko took the talk-of-the-season award. Its Trend Score rose 3.2 times and its Fan Score 3.6 times in week two, the largest week-over-week gains of the 68 ranked titles, and its weekly Trend Score stayed above its first-week level through week 10. Among the 62 titles that aired all ten weeks, it recorded the biggest climb in overall standard score, from 63.8 to 72.3. The report calls it the season's biggest talking point and says the staging of its opening sequence drew both favorable and negative responses.
THE GHOST IN THE SHELL, the new Ghost in the Shell TV anime, won the award for most media attention, with the highest article count of the 68 titles and a weekly total twice that of runner-up Mushoku Tensei III from two weeks before broadcast onward. Eighty-four articles appeared in the two weeks before it aired, a stretch in which the report points to the announcements of King Gnu's opening theme and MILLENNIUM PARADE's ending theme, promotional videos and a premiere screening at North America's largest anime event. Once it began airing, coverage continued on theme songs, merchandise, collaborations and streaming. Its first-week Fan Score was second overall.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, the English title used in Science SARU's announcement of the adaptation of 天幕のジャードゥーガル, won the rocket-start award for posting the top first-week Trend and Fan Scores among new properties receiving a first anime adaptation. Only the sequels Mushoku Tensei III and BLEACH and the revived Ghost in the Shell property ranked above it in both scores in week one.
BanG Dream! Yume∞Mita won the fan-enthusiasm award with a fan standard score of 70.3, first among the 67 eligible titles and second among all 68 ranked. Its trend standard score was 57.9, or 13th, making it the most fan-score-weighted of the leading titles. Its Fan Score in the second half of the run held near 90 percent of its first-half level, and live and event news made up the largest share of its articles.
Overall Ranking
BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Calamity topped the standard-score ranking despite being ineligible for an award. Both of its scores jumped in broadcast week five, and its Fan Score that week was the highest single-week value of any title in the period. Eight of the first week's top 10 were still in the top 10 on the ten-week average. Four titles moved up on the strength of their second-half retention: Yanineko, BanG Dream! Yume∞Mita, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You and 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 3.