Anime News Network Names Its Top 11 Anime of Summer 2026
The list is the outlet's own record of how the season's pre-season headliners and its long-running sequels sorted out in practice, and it sets the baseline for the year-end Best of the Year debate ANN says it is already having.
Reporting from 1 source: Anime News Network.
Anime News Network closed out the Summer 2026 season with a staff top 11, after a season that opened with high expectations for Science SARU's The Ghost in the Shell and Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia and Kinema Citrus' Goodbye, Lara. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 4 lands at No. 11, with Kaiju Girl Caramelise at No. 10.
Anime News Network assembled eleven titles from the Summer 2026 season, a count the outlet put to a reader question about which shows made their own top tens. The staff writeup opens on the pre-season expectations: Science SARU's The Ghost in the Shell, Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, and Kinema Citrus' Goodbye, Lara. The ranking runs from No. 11 to No. 1, and the entries are individual staff writeups rather than a single pooled vote. ANN notes internally that it is debating how many of these titles will carry into its Best of the Year feature in December.
- Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 4: No. 11
- Kaiju Girl Caramelise: No. 10
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime News Network The Best Anime of Summer 2026