Shōnen Jump artists do well

Charapedia, a Japanese anime and manga character database, conducted a poll of its users' favorite manga artists. The poll was conducted from July 2 to 8 and collected opinions from 10,000 users and followers of Charapedia's Facebook pages. The results were split 52% male, 48% female, with 72.5% of the respondents under age 30.

Note that the results are ranked by Charapedia's "points," which are calculated based on the number of votes, voting order, whether comments were left, and other factors.

Hideaki Sorachi , the artist of Gin Tama, came first thanks due to his unique combination of comedy, characters, emotional stories, and battle scenes. "That style, comic sense, and high quality can't really be found in other manga," said one voter. "I think he uses words very well," said another.

Coming in second was Eiichiro Oda , the artist behind One Piece . As the most successful manga artist behind a very long-running series, this does not come as much of a surprise. One fan praised his multitude of characters, who "feel as if they're really living." Another fan complimented his art, which "hasn't declined over the years. Rather, it's improved."

Third place went to Akira Toriyama , famous for Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball and hugely influential in the field of shōnen action stories. "He pulled along [Weekly Shōnen] Jump's Golden Age. And his artwork is great too," explained a voter.

Here is the list of the top 30 artists:

Charapedia also analyzed and commented on the results in a panel discussion on their online program, Charapelo (Japanese only; skip to 29:44).

[Via Charapedia; Image from Tajigenteki Naisho Hanashi]