The Narutop99 fan popularity poll has finally ended, with the final results having just been posted online from the 4.6 million votes cast.
The Naruto franchise has had a rollercoaster few months, from confirmation that four new series will be airing in September, followed by news that the Boruto series would be entering a new hiatus.
However, one of the biggest pieces of Naruto news concerned the Narutop99 fan popularity poll, which aimed to decide the ultimate fan favorite character from across both the anime and manga storylines.
Only a matter of minutes ago, the final results from the Narutop99 fan poll were posted online – so who is the ultimate winner?
Narutop99 fan poll finally confirms results and winners
The Narutop99 fan popularity poll was one of the biggest and most popular anime audience surveys in recent memory, with more than 4.6 million votes being cast since December 17, 2022.
The Top 20 highest-voted characters overall (across all regions) included:
- Minato Namikaze – 792,257 votes
- Itachi Uchiha – 505,014 votes
- Sakura Haruno – 489,619 votes
- Shisui Uchiha – 279,062 votes
- Kakashi Hatake – 212,403 votes
- Naruto Uzumaki – 182,911 votes
- Sakumo Hatake – 170,940 votes
- Sasuke Uchiha – 170,665 votes
- Madara Uchiha – 144,947 votes
- Hinata Hyuga – 144,484 votes
- Obito Uchiha – 132,252 votes
- Jiraiya – 117,825 votes
- Shikamaru Nara – 87,838 votes
- Tobirama Senju – 87,442 votes
- Gaara – 70,557 votes
- Hashirama Senju – 66,519 votes
- Deidara – 56,320 votes
- Neji Hyuga – 49,526 votes
- Sasori – 40,732 votes
- Rock Lee – 39,325 votes
However, results varied significantly from region to region; for example, the Top 10 characters in the United States alone were:
- Itachi Uchiha – 85,947
- Kakashi Hatake – 59,881
- Sakura Haruno – 49,160
- Naruto Uzumaki – 48,264
- Sasuke Uchiha – 46,223
- Shikamaru Nara – 39,496
- Obito Uchiha – 34,838
- Minato Namikaze – 34,555
- Gaara – 31,005
- Deidara – 25,302
This compared to the Top 10 rankings in Europe:
- Minato Namikaze – 223,694
- Shisui Uchiha – 133,994
- Itachi Uchiha – 129,376
- Sakura Haruno – 90,245
- Sakumo Hatake – 79,375
- Kakashi Hatake – 50,773
- Madara Uchiha – 50,237
- Tobirama Senju – 36,037
- Naruto Uzumaki – 34,959
- Sasuke Uchiha – 34,797
Mangaka Masahi Kishimoto also shared a congratulatory comment as part of the announcement, stating that “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 I ended up including him and Guy, who was in 21st place!”
The legendary author would then apologize 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 1st. 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!”
By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
Have something to tell us about this article?
