Deku's Bad Shirt Game Is Undefeated
July 20 is "T-Shirt Day" in Japan, an observance built on the fact that T is the 20th letter of the alphabet and that July 20 was once the fixed date of the Marine Day holiday. Japanese anime news site Anime Anime marked it the way it marks most quirky calendar days: with a themed reader poll. The 2026 results draw on 100 responses collected from July 1 to July 7, split roughly 45 percent male and 55 percent female, with about 35 percent of voters aged 19 or under.
Izuku Midoriya, the U.A. High hero-in-training better known as Deku, took first place with about 20 percent support, repeating his win from the previous poll. The votes came down to his civilian wardrobe, a parade of plain tees printed with baffling words like "Sheets" and "Dress Shirt." One respondent admitted the shirts convinced them Deku has zero fashion sense, then added that this is exactly why they love him. Another called him anime's reigning lame-T-shirt character and said half the fun was waiting to see what he'd wear next.
The shirts even made it into the story's climax. One voter pointed to the final-battle scene where Shota Aizawa hands Midoriya a tee printed with All Might's likeness, and Deku charges ahead in it while everyone cheers him on.
A Hell Goddess and an Idol Who Refuses to Work
Second place went to Hecatia Lapislazuli of the Touhou Project games with about 11 percent, up from third in the previous poll. Hecatia is a goddess who presides over the Moon, the Earth, and the Hell of another world, and she does it all in an off-shoulder black tee reading "WELCOME HELL." Voters savored the details: the heart printed between the two words, and the fact that fellow Touhou character Sanae Kochiya canonically writes her off as a weirdo in a strange T-shirt.
Third place was a tie. Anzu Futaba of The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, an idol whose defining trait is avoiding effort at all costs, wears a shirt declaring "You lose if you work." The shirt sums up her entire philosophy so well that it has been sold as official merchandise. Sharing the spot is Atori Mizutori of Bad Girl, the third-year head of the public morals committee at the private Fujigasaki High School. She is the school's adored sweetheart right up until she shows up in shirts printed with commands like "Rejoice" and "Take the hint," and voters loved the gap between the elegance and the message.
Yuba, Yakiniku Teishoku, and a Single Hiragana
The write-in comments below the top three read like a museum of terrible anime shirts. Togo Sakuradaimon of the spring 2026 rom-com The Klutzy Class Monitor and the Girl with the Short Skirt patrols in his armband even on days off, wearing joke tees that say "Discipline," "Layman," and "Yuba" (sheets of tofu skin). Wind Breaker's Hajime Umemiya drew votes for confidently sporting a shirt reading "Yakiniku Teishoku," the name of a grilled-meat set meal. Love Live!'s Honoka Kosaka practices in a shirt printed with the single hiragana character "ho," which one voter said their eyes lock onto every time.
Jinta Yadomi of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day earned votes for his bright red "Underground Dweller" tee, with one respondent recalling the impact of seeing it for the first time and marveling that the show first aired 15 years ago.
The top five rounded out with a four-way tie: Mahiro Oyama (ONIMAI: I'm Now Your Sister!), Ako Udagawa (BanG Dream!), Sasuke Tsubaki (Sket Dance), and Yu Nishinoya (Haikyu!!).
Looking Ahead
Anohana fans get the most concrete date out of this poll: the series holds a 15th-anniversary screening event in Japan on September 19, 2026. For everyone else, the winners are easy to catch up on. My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON, which premiered October 4, 2025, streams on Crunchyroll worldwide outside Asia, All Might tee scene included. Bad Girl also received an English dub, with Luci Christian voicing Atori.
Anime Anime is already collecting responses for its next round of themed reader polls, so expect the ranking treatment to continue through the summer.