The anime and manga fandom on Tumblr is an active one, and Tumblr is measuring that through their end of year Anime and Manga top characters list. They make lists for all categories of fandom, but we’re covering the Anime and Manga character lists in particular. Here are some highlights.

Tumblr's official GIF for their Anime and Manga list


50. Uzumaki Naruto

Giphy.

The popular Naruto protagonist is surprisingly at the bottom of the top 50, but considering just how many anime and manga characters and fandoms that there are on Tumblr, it’s still a good placement for a classic. Naruto is the boisterous lead of the long-running Naruto, with the manga around for twenty years this year. The anime is almost as old; so that a classic can still gain this much attention is a good sign of longevity for the franchise indeed. Naruto is also not the only Naruto character on the list, with several others claiming higher spots.

46. Victor Nikiforov

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On the other hand, that one of the Yuri!!! On Ice characters is so low on the list after the show’s extreme popularity in the past couple of years, is a little surprising. Victor was a part of the anime’s extremely active Yuri/Victor slash fandom. The series was only 12 episodes, a sports anime focusing on ice skating. There’s apparently a film coming out, but it has been delayed to a later date. But then again, maybe this show’s fandom isn’t slowing down — it has 23,372 fics for Yuri/Victor on Archive of Our Own. And there were fics being posted on the day of this report. Yuri, notably, is not on the list.

30. Edward Elric

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Another oldie but a goodie, Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist comes in at 30, proving that Fullmetal Alchemist is still very much beloved on the Internet, but especially on Tumblr. Interestingly, this list has a lot of classic characters from classic anime, with certain shows having a lot of representation. It’s probably because this list is calculated from the frequency of tags and mentions, and there’s a lot of content pre-existing for these older shows where there isn’t for younger shows and their fandoms

20. Eren Jaeger

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Attack on Titan is clearly still a popular show, and its protagonist lands in the number 20 slot. There’s actually a lot of male characters on this list, but maybe that speaks to the demographics of Tumblr more than the demographics of anime and manga, although both arguably have more compelling male characters than female characters (unfortunately). Attack on Titan is still ongoing, in both anime and manga, with the manga starting in 2009, and the anime starting in 2013 (although the anime has had long gaps between seasons).

14. Shinso Hitoshi

Tenor.

One of many My Hero Academia characters to make the list, this isn’t the highest placement for a character for the show, nor is it the lowest. My Hero Academia actually takes the first four slots of this top 50, and there’s plenty of other characters represented. Hitoshi is a stoic character, with a Brainwashing Quirk. The whole series is about an array of characters with these “Quirks” — it’s essentially a fun, long-running superhero show.


Those are the highlights — if you want to read more, check out the full list on Tumblr, as well as the other 2019 round-ups. Enjoy!

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