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Oricon: Nana's Yazawa, DB's Toriyama are Most Popular
posted on by Egan Loo
The marketing research firm Oricon has posted the results of its poll for the favorite manga artists of Japan.
| Ranking | Artist | Representative Work | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ai Yazawa | NANA |  |
|
| 2 | Akira Toriyama | Dragon Ball |  |
|
| 3 | Takehiko Inoue | Slam Dunk |  |
|
| 4 | Mitsuru Adachi | Touch |  |
|
| 5 | Yoshihiro Togashi | Hunter X Hunter |  |
|
| 5 | Eiichiro Oda (tie) | One Piece |  |
|
| 7 | Naoki Urasawa | 20th Century Boys |  |
|
| 8 | CLAMP | Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE |  |
|
| 8 | Fujiko F. Fujio (tie) | Doraemon |  |
|
| 10 | Osamu Tezuka | Astro Boy |  |
|
Yazawa was the #1 pick among the female respondents, while Toriyama was #1 for males. Inoue and Adachi were the only artists who appeared on the top five lists for both males and females. Yazawa tied with Oda as the top favorite among teenagers, and Yazawa also topped the choices among people in their twenties. For people in their thirties, Toriyama was #1. Toriyama's most popular work, Dragon Ball, ended 13 years ago, but its profile has risen in recent years with the first Japanese anime DVD releases and this year's live-action movie production. In last year's poll, the top three choices were Yazawa, Tezuka, and Adachi.
The 2008 poll was conducted during February 12-15 over the Internet with 600 panelists, evenly divided by gender and three age ranges: teenagers, people in their 20s, and people in their 30s. Last year's poll included 1,000 respondents with a different range of age groups: junior and senior high school students, vocational and college students, company employees in their 20s, employees in their 30s, and employees in their 40s.
Update: A misspelling of Yazawa corrected. Thanks, saini85.
