Video Research reported TV audience numbers for the week of October 19 to 25, 2026, showing long-running franchise favorites at the head of the list. The latest Japanese animation tv ranking placed Sazae-san in first position among viewers in Japan’s Kanto region, with family series taking the top three spots. The data tracks live airings on regional networks during the fourth week of October, measuring both viewer shares and total home shares in surveyed homes [1].
Japanese Animation TV Ranking Leaders
The Sunday evening comedy Sazae-san aired on October 25 at 6:30 p.m., drawing a 5.9% viewer rating and a 7.9% home share during its thirty-minute run [2]. It led all animated titles [1]. The Sunday evening program has led viewing charts for decades, keeping its numbers comfortably ahead of all other competing animated titles in the regional Kanto survey zone [2].
Airing right before that show, the second-place family animated series ran at 6:00 p.m. on the same Sunday evening. The half-hour episode gathered a 4.1% viewer rating with a 5.7% home rating among surveyed families [2]. It held the second spot on the chart by delivering steady numbers in its regular early evening time slot [1]. Sunday back-to-back scheduling on network TV helped both family blocks maintain strong numbers without losing viewer momentum as dinner hours approached [2].
Nippon TV took third place on Saturday, October 24 with its popular half-hour mystery program, airing at 6:00 p.m. The mystery series earned a 3.5% viewer rating and reached a 6.0% home rating, outperforming the home share of the second-place show [2]. Mystery ratings stayed high. The program regularly pulls strong Saturday numbers, proving that the mystery franchise can’t easily be displaced from top rankings [1].
Late-Night Broadcast Slots
Nippon TV placed a second series high on the list with The Apothecary Diaries, which aired during the FRIDAY ANIME NIGHT block on October 23 at 11:00 p.m.. The late-night showing recorded a 2.0% viewer rating and a 3.5% home share, finishing fourth overall in the weekly ranking. It beat many daytime slots [2].
Late-night anime surfaced again on Sunday, October 25, when network TV aired Dragon Ball Super at 11:15 p.m. for a thirty-minute run. That late screening posted a 1.5% viewer rating and a 2.9% home rating, landing in a five-way tie for seventh place [2]. The Sunday night slot gathered steady attention despite airing past eleven at night, showing that the action franchise still brings older viewers to late hours [1]. It proved that late-night anime can secure top-ten positions against daytime programs when familiar characters lead the story on network TV [2].
Viewers showed different habits during daytime and late-night anime blocks across Japan. Family titles like Sazae-san rely on early evening living-room gatherings, while shows airing at 11:00 p.m. depend on older viewers watching alone in private rooms [1]. These split viewing patterns explain why late programs rarely beat early evening home shares [2].
Saturday Afternoon Family Blocks
TV Asahi filled the late Saturday afternoon schedule with two well-known children’s series. The network ran Doraemon on Saturday, October 24 at 5:00 p.m. for thirty minutes, earning a 1.9% viewer rating and a 2.8% home share among surveyed homes [2]. That performance earned fifth place overall, keeping the robotic cat’s weekly adventures ahead of most afternoon competitors [1].
Right before Doraemon, TV Asahi aired a thirty-minute comedy at 4:30 p.m. on October 24, capturing sixth place on the chart. That comedy scored a 1.6% viewer rating and a 2.5% home rating, pairing smoothly with its companion show to create a solid hour of animation [2]. Ratings for the afternoon comedy showed consistent family viewership in suburban Tokyo and surrounding prefectures during the early evening transition [1]. The pairing gives TV Asahi a sturdy block on Saturday afternoons, drawing both young children and parents who grew up with the same characters decades earlier [2].
Nippon TV followed the TV Asahi block by broadcasting Vermilion Mask at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. The program achieved a 1.5% viewer rating and a 2.9% home share during its thirty-minute running time, placing it in a tie for seventh [2]. That 2.9% home figure topped the home ratings of both afternoon comedy blocks on competing channels [1].
Japanese Animation TV Ranking Seventh-Place Ties
The seventh spot in the Japanese animation tv ranking featured five separate programs finishing with identical 1.5% viewer scores. Those programs included two morning educational airings on NHK, TV Asahi’s Detective Precure!, Nippon TV’s Vermilion Mask, and a late-night run of Dragon Ball Super [2]. While their individual viewing numbers matched at 1.5%, their home shares ranged from 1.8% to 2.9%, reflecting differing family sizes and viewing environments in Kanto homes [1].
Public broadcaster NHK contributed two morning programs to that seventh-place tie on Saturday, October 24, showing how non-commercial channels reach younger children. The morning preschool show aired at 8:10 a.m. for twenty-five minutes, drawing a 1.5% viewer rating and a 1.8% home share. Fifty minutes later at 9:00 a.m., an animated detective program ran for twenty minutes, recording a 1.5% viewer rating and a 1.9% home share among weekend viewers [2]. Both NHK morning airings captured young children without commercials, presenting a calm public alternative to commercial anime blocks during weekend mornings when families wake up and begin their day [1].
TV Asahi completed the seventh-place group with Detective Precure! on Sunday, October 25 at 8:30 in the morning. The thirty-minute magical adventure reached a 1.5% viewer rating and a 2.1% home share, holding Sunday morning children’s TV. That morning result rounded out an unusually wide tie spanning public airings, commercial morning cartoons, and late-night series [2].
Survey Methods and Industry Reach
Video Research compiles its weekly TV ratings through home sampling in Japan’s Kanto region, which includes Tokyo and six neighboring prefectures. The agency measures real-time viewing among individuals aged four and older, as well as home TV sets tuned to active broadcasts [2]. It doesn’t count recorded programs that viewers watch later on DVRs or internet catch-up services [1]. Programs running less than fifteen minutes are excluded from consideration, and networks that air multiple episodes of a regular series during the week only see their highest-rated broadcast listed [2].
These broadcast figures arrive as the commercial market for Japanese anime continues to grow in size and global reach on multiple continents and distribution formats. At the TIFFCOM trade event held in Tokyo, the Association of Japanese Animations presented its latest annual report summary, revealing that the global anime market reached a record 4.45 trillion yen, or roughly 28.2 billion dollars. The report showed that while domestic market growth stood at 14.1%, overseas markets expanded by 17.2%, proving that international demand is outpacing local TV growth. Television ratings like those published by Video Research capture only a portion of modern viewing habits, but traditional broadcasts still serve as the base for long-running franchises that support global merchandise and overseas streaming agreements across digital platforms [1].
Audience figures shifted compared with the summer anime rankings recorded in September, as autumn TV schedules settled into steady viewing habits. Several programs from this weekly ranking also appear in the wider fall 2026 anime schedule broadcast on Japanese networks. While streaming platforms attract younger viewers, live weekly ratings show that broadcast TV keeps a firm place in family entertainment in Japan [1].
- ONLINE NEWS Anime News Network. (2026, November 1). Japanese Animation TV Ranking, October 19-25. [Article Link]
- WEBSITE Video Research Ltd. (2026). Weekly Real-Time Television Rating Ranking (Vol. 43, October 19–25, 2026). [Article Link]
