Voting massively for a minor character in an
official popularity poll is a tradition that the anime community is well aware
of. Doing so by buying 900 issues of Weekly Shonen Jump and
then publishing it on the internet is where things get tricky. A YouTuber
specializing in One Piece content did exactly that: he
publicly revealed that he acquired 900 copies of the magazine to
accumulate 9,000 votes for Namur, a member of the
Whitebeard Pirates, in the second WT100, the worldwide popularity
poll of characters from the manga.
The mechanics, intent, and why execution
created the problem
The WT100 allows you to vote in two ways: via
the web, where each vote is worth one point, and through postcards included in
the magazines or collected volumes, where each one is worth ten points.
Physically buying hundreds of magazines to maximize votes per postcard is
technically within the rules. The problem was not what the YouTuber did, but
that he posted it.
Many observers pointed out that documenting and
publicly sharing the purchase of 900 magazines shifts the focus from the
character to the voter himself. The most repeated criticism was that the
gesture, presented as a way to give visibility to a little-known character,
ended up being more about the YouTuber's visibility. Some made the comparison
with an earlier case of the Nisekoi popularity poll, where an
anonymous voter from Chiba Prefecture, known as "Y-san," allegedly
cast a massive amount of votes for a character without publicizing anything
about it and seeking recognition. That case is often cited as the example of
pure fan dedication, and the comparison was not favorable for the YouTuber.
Reactions were generally negative. Most of the
comments expressed discomfort at what they perceived as a manipulation of the
survey for purposes of personal attention rather than genuine love for the
character. Some also pointed out that these types of high-profile actions may
affect how official polls are perceived or designed in the future.
The WT100 (World Top 100) is
the second global One Piece character popularity poll hosted
by Shueisha. The first, held in 2021 for the manga's 100th volume, was notable
for the massive participation of international fans that brought characters
like Nami and Nico Robin to unexpected high positions. The new edition allows
you to combine web and postal votes, which opens the door to strategies like
the one executed by this YouTuber. Namur is a member of the
Whitebeard Pirates squad with little presence in the manga, which makes his
inclusion in this type of campaign have a certain logic within the tradition of
fans who seek to give visibility to characters that the main narrative leaves
in the background.
