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As I understand it, publishers of magazines that host manga series hold
popularity contests/polls to gauge the readers' interests. However I can't
find any information on **how** it is being done?

Do they include a link to a survey or a QR code to scan? How do they prevent
vote manipulation? I imagine someone going out of their way to cheat the
system to boost their favorite character.

Also do the publishers decide **who** gets to be in the popularity poll? For
example, in Chainsaw Man, _Kobeni's car_ of all things ranked pretty high up.
Did they include her car specifically as a sort of joke or was it the readers
who collectively suggested it?


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2022-12-02T00:34:30.910
67506
2022-12-02T12:32:35.270
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question
manga-production
How are manga character polls done?


Short answer: (1) It is in most cases done by postcards attached to the
physical magazine. It generally costs ～$3 to cast a vote (magazine+postal
cost). These days, apparently there are polls online. I suppose issues are
handled individually, but it is possible to cheat.

(2) Regarding the list, it is simply decided by authors or editors, but in
some cases, the list is open and voters can just write their favorite
character's name.

* * *

Some sources.

[This
poll](https://web.archive.org/web/20211129175957/https://websunday.net/16907/)
(2021) seems to have been collected online whereas [this
poll](https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1432498.html) (2022) clearly
states it is votable only by postcards as follows (the bold part):

> **投票券** 、圧巻のキャラクターリスト、賞品の詳細は **電子版やマガポケには掲載されない** 。想いを託したハガキを投函しよう。

[This wikipage](https://w.atwiki.jp/aniwotawiki/pages/26704.html) has a bunch
of episodes. Just randomly translated a few:

  * In a [Nisekoi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisekoi) poll, there was a person who sent 1500 votes to a character. This means the person spent a few thousand dollars for this vote(s).
  * In another Nisekoi poll, this voter was voted and ranked 19th. (Here the list was open.)
  * In a Bleach poll, there were votes by cardboard boxes full of votes (which I assume are for the same character), but these were counted as just 1 vote, because the magazine side decided it was fairer.

(a side note: Nisekoi was a Shone Jump comic. Shonen Jump is about the size of
a large university text book 257mm x 182mm, a few cm thick. Just think of 1500
copies of them...)


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