Naruto Global Popularity Poll Reveals the World’s Top 99 Characters

 

After one and half months of voting and approximately 4.6 million votes cast, the world has named the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, as the number one Naruto character. The results of the NARUTOP99 worldwide character poll were released today, revealing who ranked number one in the hearts of fans around the world and the illustration of the top 22 characters from series creator Masashi Kishimoto.

 

Results video:

 

Illustration by Masashi Kishimoto:

 

Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto wrote a comment in celebration of the results of the poll saying that he was “shocked to see Minato” ranking first in the world and that he was “rooting for Kurama” to rank highly. Because Kurama ranked 22 – outside of the top 20 which were going to feature in the Illustration – Kishimoto added the character, and 21st placed Guy, into the drawing. 

 

Read the entire message:

 

 

“Thank you for the incredible amount of votes!

It was fun seeing how results varied from region to region.

I was shocked to see Minato at the top for all regions, and the fact that Sakura is so beloved by many people around the world made me proud as a writer.

To tell you the truth, I was actually rooting for Kurama.

I was planning on drawing only the top 20 characters, but I really wanted to add Kurama, who was close at 22nd…

So lended up including him and Guy, who was in 2 st place!

Sorry for completely ignoring the original plan to have the top 20 characters for the 20th anniversary because of my personal attachment.

Right now I’m working on the short manga for Minato who placed Ist.

While trying to make a story that would match the expectations of his fans, I ended up with more pages than I had originally anticipated.

Please look forward to the secret story behind Minato’s jutsu!

I want to thank you all very much again for voting!”

 

RELATED: Naruto Global Character Popularity Poll Announces Preliminary Results

 

In the preliminary results for the poll, Minato Namikaze was already ranked number one, keeping the same spot for the final result, topping all the regions and age groups, with Itachi Uchiha also coming second in both the preliminary and final results. One character who had, as the press release notes, a “last-minute, meteoric rise” through the ranks was none other than Sakura Haruno, pushing Shisui Uchiha out of the top three while Kakashi Hatake overtook Naruto to take fifth place.

 

To celebrate Minato’s win, the character will be getting an official one-shot by Kishimoto, who has had to increase the page count due to being “fired up” by fans’ “immense passion” for the character. 

 

 

Masashi Kishimoto’s original Naruto manga ran in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1999 to 2014 and inspired the Naruto and Naruto Shippuden anime series. Its sequel, BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS, is currently streaming on Crunchyroll alongside the original two anime.

 

Source: Press Release

 

©1999 by Masashi Kishimoto/ SHUEISHA Inc.

 

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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.