It depends on How you cook the number
“Okay, we have a question for you. How many of you personally know someone who’s fallen under the spell of Sanrio? We’re guessing, quite a lot. The sheer number of characters the company has come up with during its 54-year history is truly amazing, not to mention the immense appeal and popularity some of these characters enjoy across the world. Even if you’re not a passionate fan, if you have even a remote fondness for anything kawaii, then you’re bound to have a favorite Sanrio character, which is why Sanrio has a popularity poll for its characters each year, called the Sanrio Character Ranking.”
This year there is a twist, the 100 charter are arranged into 5 groups. The top four moves on the final voting round. According to the article Hello Kitty is struggling but it is how one looks at the numbers. A different result emerges. I think the new story is skewed because the voting is in groups. It’s similar to results where a team may have regional or conference dominance. In this case Pompompurin’s numbers reflects lower popularity strength of other characters in his bracket. In Group E Kitty is competing with two of the newest characters KIRIMIchan, Gudetama ; Both high numbers may reflect a novelty bump. Other groups voting seem same across the line for poplar charters.
I would l love to see how the number measure up Japan vs. international
Personally I find KIRIMIchan, Gudetama number interesting, I find Sanrio’s anthropomorphic food characters a bit creepy.
Voting end Sunday