Haikyu!!'s Hinata Shoyo Tops Orange Character Poll for Seventh Year
Hinata's seven-year streak shows that a character's visual and thematic association with a color can become a durable franchise identifier, outlasting newer series entries.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime Anime.
Anime Anime's annual reader poll asking which character best represents the color orange has placed Haikyu!!'s Hinata Shoyo in first place for the seventh consecutive year. The survey ran from April 1 to April 8, 2026, and received 380 responses, with a gender split of roughly 40 percent male and 60 percent female, and the largest age group being 19 and under at about 30 percent. Hinata received approximately 19 percent of the vote. Readers cited his bright orange hair, his sunny personality, and the fact that his team's second uniform is orange, leading to his being called a "full-body mandarin guy." The series' court being called the "orange court" and the theme song for the film Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle being titled "Orange" also contributed. One Piece's Nami took second place with about 11 percent, her fourth consecutive year at that rank. Voters noted her orange hair, her connection to her adoptive mother's tangerine grove, and her orange-themed tattoo. Code Geass's Jeremiah Gottwald rose from seventh to third place with about 4 percent, driven by the running gag of his association with the word "orange" and the series' 20th anniversary revival screenings.
The poll was conducted by Anime Anime from April 1 to 8, 2026, timed to Orange Day on April 14. Respondents were asked which anime or game character they most associate with the color orange, based on hair, clothing, or overall image. The top ten includes a mix of long-running shonen leads and newer faces: fourth place went to Bleach's Ichigo Kurosaki, fifth to Love Live! Sunshine!!'s Chika Takami, sixth to Naruto's Naruto Uzumaki, seventh to Uta no Prince-sama's Ren Jinguji, eighth to Idolish7's Izumi Mitsuki, ninth to Kamen Rider Gaim, and a three-way tie for tenth among Project Sekai's Akito Shinonome, Bungo Stray Dogs' Chuuya Nakahara, and Machikado Mazoku's Mikan Zanka. The full top 20 is available on the site. The survey is part of a series of color-themed polls; previous installments covered green, pink, gold, light blue, red, black, and blue.
- Hinata Shoyo (Haikyu!!): 1st place, about 19% support, seventh consecutive year
- Nami (One Piece): 2nd place, about 11% support, fourth consecutive year at 2nd
- Jeremiah Gottwald (Code Geass): 3rd place, about 4% support, up from 7th last year
- Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach): 4th place
- Chika Takami (Love Live! Sunshine!!): 5th place
- Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto): 6th place
- Ren Jinguji (Uta no Prince-sama): 7th place
- Izumi Mitsuki (Idolish7): 8th place
- Kamen Rider Gaim (Kamen Rider Gaim/Gaim): 9th place
- Akito Shinonome (Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku): 10th place (tie)
- Chuuya Nakahara (Bungo Stray Dogs): 10th place (tie)
- Mikan Zanka (Machikado Mazoku): 10th place (tie)
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.