Sanji's Hands Are for Cooking, His Feet Are for Everything Else
The Straw Hats' cook ran away with first place in Anime Anime's reader survey, collecting about 32 percent of the 1,048 votes cast between May 9 and May 15, 2026. The poll asked a straightforward question: which character do you most associate with kick-based fighting?
Sanji's appeal came down to one thing voters kept circling back to — his reason for kicking in the first place. As one respondent put it, his hands exist to cook, and he refuses to risk injuring them in a fight. That self-imposed rule gives every kick a layer of characterization most action heroes don't carry. Voters also highlighted the Diable Jambe technique, where Sanji's leg ignites mid-attack, as a standout moment of style meeting substance.
The poll was pegged to May 21, the anniversary of FIFA's founding in Paris in 1904. The connection is loose — soccer and spinning heel kicks don't share much DNA — but it gave the site a reason to celebrate characters who let their legs do the talking.
Ran Mouri and Chun-Li Hold Down Second and Third
Detective Conan's Ran Mouri took second place with about 12 percent of the vote. Ran is a high school karate champion in the series, and respondents pointed to moments where she kicks down doors, snaps knife blades, and lands a flying knee strike on a criminal. Voters also called out her action scenes in the 2026 theatrical film Detective Conan: Highway's Fallen Angel as a recent highlight.
Chun-Li from Street Fighter II landed third at roughly 7 percent. The character's Hyakuretsukyaku (Lightning Kicks) and Spinning Bird Kick remain iconic in the fighting game community more than 35 years after her debut. Multiple voters mentioned childhood memories of playing on the Super Famicom and noted that Chun-Li's continued presence in Street Fighter 6 and crossover appearances keeps her relevant.
The rest of the top ten featured a mix of shonen heavyweights and deep cuts. Manjiro "Mikey" Sano from Tokyo Revengers placed fourth, with fans praising his ability to land devastating high kicks on opponents taller than him. Nezuko Kamado from Demon Slayer came in fifth — voters recalled her kicking a demon's head clean off during the Entertainment District arc battle against Daki.
The Full Top 10
Rounding out the list: Tadashi Sawamura from the classic boxing anime Kick no Oni at sixth, Chuya Nakahara from Bungo Stray Dogs at seventh, Hitmonlee from Pokemon at eighth, Kim Kaphwan from Fatal Fury at ninth, and a tie for tenth between My Hero Academia's Izuku Midoriya and D.Gray-man's Lenalee Lee.
Shinra Kusakabe from Fire Force also drew notable write-in support. Voters highlighted his unusual fighting style — a protagonist who channels flames through his feet and fights barefoot — and noted that the TV anime series wrapped up its run in April 2026.
One trend the site flagged: compared to the companion poll on fist-fighting characters published the day before (topped by One-Punch Man's Saitama, followed by Kenshiro and Jujutsu Kaisen's Yuji Itadori), the kick poll featured noticeably more female characters in its rankings.
Looking Ahead
Anime Anime runs these themed character polls regularly, and the site currently has an open survey on "villainess" characters with a May 28 deadline. The kick poll drew 1,048 responses across a week, with the audience skewing about 60 percent male and roughly 30 percent under 19 years old — a snapshot of how Japan's younger anime fans rank their favorites right now.
For international fans, all of the top five series are widely available: ONE PIECE, Detective Conan, Demon Slayer, and Tokyo Revengers stream on Crunchyroll and/or Netflix in most territories, while Street Fighter 6 is available globally on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.