Dazai and Chuya Take the Top Spot
Osamu Dazai and Chuya Nakahara pulled roughly 6 percent of the vote, enough for a clear win in a field this scattered. The two are former Port Mafia operatives, both ability users, and the readers who voted for them were blunt about the appeal: these two cannot stand each other.
One respondent described the pair by their underworld nickname, Sōkoku, a duo billed as the worst in the criminal world. They argue constantly, the comment said, and then fall into perfect sync the moment a fight starts, without needing to exchange a word. Another wrote that the relationship works precisely because two people who dislike each other that much still understand each other better than anyone else, and each becomes the other's most dependable ally when it counts.
A third comment pointed to Chuya's willingness to use Corruption, the ability that puts his own life at risk, on the grounds that he trusts Dazai to stop him. Japanese anime news site Anime! Anime! illustrated the entry with the key visual for the anime's "Fifteen" arc, the Season 3 storyline that goes back to how the two met as teenagers in the mafia.
A Near-Tie for Second and Third
Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue of Lycoris Recoil finished second at about 3 percent. The two are agents of a covert organization called DA. Off duty they work at Café LycoReco, and on assignment they take on cases with guns. Voters kept returning to the contrast between them: Chisato, the café's free-spirited front-of-house presence, and Takina, the by-the-book agent transferred out of DA headquarters. One reader singled out the moments when Takina plays the unwitting airhead and Chisato has to switch to the straight-man role, citing a scene of Takina imitating a fish.
Shoyo Hinata and Tobio Kageyama of Haikyu!! landed in third by the narrowest of margins, close enough that Anime! Anime! described the gap from second place as barely there. The two are first-years on Karasuno High's volleyball team, and Hinata's freakish vertical paired with Kageyama's pinpoint setting produced the ultra-fast combination the series calls the freak quick. Readers liked that the pair started as pure friction and became teammates who draw out each other's strengths, and one reader prized the line each of them can say to the other: with me here, you're unbeatable.
The Full Top 10, and What Changed Since 2022
Anime! Anime! surveyed 320 readers between September 16 and September 23, 2026. The site timed the results to the calendar: September 29 is Adhesive Day in Japan, registered by the country's adhesive industry association because 9/29 can be read as kuttsuku, "to stick together." The published ranking:
- 1. Osamu Dazai & Chuya Nakahara, Bungo Stray Dogs
- 2. Chisato Nishikigi & Takina Inoue, Lycoris Recoil
- 3. Shoyo Hinata & Tobio Kageyama, Haikyu!!
- 4. Maple & Sally, BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.
- 5. (tie) Cure Arcana & Cure Eclair, Star Detective Precure!
- 5. (tie) Satoru Gojo & Suguru Geto, Jujutsu Kaisen
- 5. (tie) Reimu Hakurei & Marisa Kirisame, Touhou Project
- 9. (tie) Kumiko Oumae & Reina Kousaka, Sound! Euphonium
- 9. (tie) Nanoha Takamachi & Fate Testarossa Harlaown, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
- 9. (tie) Yuko Yoshida & Momo Chiyoda, The Demon Girl Next Door
The site ran this poll once before, in January 2022, and the top two have since traded places. Hinata and Kageyama won that edition with about 8 percent, Dazai and Chuya took second at about 7 percent, and Kirito and Eugeo from Sword Art Online: Alicization came third. That third-place pairing does not appear in the 2026 top 10 at all.
The voter pool is not the same crowd either. The 2022 poll collected 1,287 responses and skewed roughly 70 percent female, with about 65 percent of respondents aged 19 or under. The 2026 edition drew 320 responses split about 55 percent male to 45 percent female, with under-19s and readers in their 30s each accounting for around 40 percent.
Outside the ranking, Anime! Anime! printed reader comments for several pairings that did not make the cut. Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto of Jujutsu Kaisen drew a note about their time as the strongest students at Jujutsu High and how much the eventual split hurt. One reader argued for Kirito and Sinon over the more obvious Sword Art Online duos, on the strength of the close-range and long-range split in episode 13 of the second season. Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara of Detective Conan got a nod for a film exchange where Haibara asks when she became his assistant and Conan corrects her: not assistant, partner. And Love Live!'s Maki Nishikino and Nico Yazawa were pitched on their duet "Zurui yo Magnetic today," a song about two people repelling and attracting at once.
Looking Ahead
All three of the top finishers are already available in English. Bungo Stray Dogs streams on Crunchyroll across all five seasons, and Yen Press publishes Kafka Asagiri and Harukawa 35's manga. Lycoris Recoil is on Crunchyroll, including the six-part 2025 short series Friends are thieves of time. Haikyu!! streams on both Crunchyroll and Netflix, and Viz Media publishes Haruichi Furudate's manga.
Haikyu!! is the only one of the three with a confirmed new production. Anime! Anime! notes that the film Haikyu!! VS The Little Giant is set for 2027; Production I.G announced it alongside a companion special anime, and no international release plans have been confirmed for either. Bungo Stray Dogs has not announced a sixth season.