One Piece

I was going to bring up that she seemed to have been a nun. Considering how manga works, guessing her possible archetype isn't that hard.

When was the last time we've had nuns in One Piece? Whiskey Peak, right? (I only remembered because she's a common mob in Treasure Cruise).

From the looks of the picture, she was Nun Too Holy.

My first thought was that gun toting old nun from Black Lagoon.

The Carmelites started as an order of monks. The nuns came later. That said, they also have lay members, including me. The name comes from an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Mt. Carmel, overlooking Nazareth. Their symbol is the Brown Scapular, and the Virgin promised that whoever dies wearing the Brown Scapular will be saved. Of course, that's not an excuse for superstition; someone who wears the Scapular superstitiously, rather than devoutly, is not going to die wearing it, no matter how contrived the scenario necessary to remove the Scapular prior to death. On the flipside, the promise requires that someone who wears it devoutly will cling to life long enough to be reconciled to God, no matter how grave the illness or injury. The devotion also offers protection from physical dangers. Thus, it's a quite logical name to be associated with lifespan manipulation.

While there's still no chapter this week, for anyone who doesn't know yet, Viz is running a popularity poll of their own to coincide with the Japanese one, and the link to it is here.

I can't be the only one amused by the list of non-write in candidates, can I? You've got the usual gaggle of Straw Hats, Warlords, Emperors, and other hotshots like Law, Ace, and Sabo. The you've got Ivankov (I'm not really sure how popular he was), Carrot (who is one of, if not the most popular of the latest batch of new characters to be fair), and...Senor Pink (who was probably the most well-received of the Doflamingo Family, but still...).

Senor Pink is awesome, and totally deserves to be on a popularity poll.

As for Ivankov, he's a badass that looks like Tim Curry/Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Why wouldn't he be on a popularity poll?

Will be interesting to see the results, comparing differences between American and Japanese character polls. Usually you would have to just take a guess at which are popular/hated in America.

I was disappointed by the top ten last time. It was eight conventionally hot girls and guys, the cute mascot, and a one-arc scene-stealer who will likely massively fall in this one.

Well, the top 5 is almost always the Monster Trio and whomever was popular at the time like Sabo or Law.

It's also worth pointing out that Law only made it to #10 in his first poll due to a very odd technicality - Usopp and Sniper King were counted as separate characters on that poll, but they weren't in the previous one. If they'd both been counted as Usopp he'd have kicked off Law.

I don't see the new top ten changing that much from the last poll aside from Sanji possibly edging out Zoro for the first time and Ace beating Sabo (there was a minuscule difference between the two last time). I think if anyone's going to drop out it's going to be the bottom two, Hancock and Bartolomeo. I think Corazon stands a very good chance of taking one of their spots due to his popularity and connection to Law (he had only just been introduced when the last poll was held). As for the other possible top ten ranker, I dunno. I can see Brook making it if the Japanese fandom has been as receptive to his recent successes as the western one has, or possibly Carrot at the outside.

Law's definitely not going to be #2 anymore, I don't think. Sanji might actually take that spot.

Law will still likely be in the top 10 even if he drops from his #2 spot. I can see Nami, Chopper, and Brook moving up given their prominence.

Ace and Sabo will probably still be the same cuz fangirls. Sanji and Zoro are usually close, so the former could take 2nd given this arc is about him.

These popularity polls are seriously putting me in mind of the Viewers Are Goldfish trope.

How so?

Because the only characters who rank consistently are the ones currently visible.

edited 28th Apr '17 8:00:08 AM by sgamer82

You sure it isn't just that the characters that are currently visible have more time to do things that endear them to their fans, meaning that those who previously voted for them continue to vote for them, while gaining new fans in the process?

Eh, I like it when the top 10 isn't constantly dominated by the same folks.

That basically describes the same thing I just did. By the next popularity poll, by which time other characters become more prominent, the process repeats exactly so and, once again, the most currently visible characters are the ones who place highest.

edited 28th Apr '17 8:48:42 AM by sgamer82

Still not seeing how Viewers Are Goldfish applies. I'm not seeing how the most visible characters being at the top of the polls = the audience is dumb/has short memory span.

The implication being that a lot of people only have a favorite character when it's someone who is actively doing something cool at the time/getting a lot of screen-time. He's probably right about that, but that said, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm not really the kind of person to have one, definitive favorite character in a work for most things, and I don't really expect everyone else to be either. At least not for something that's on going and still has several years left in its run.

edited 28th Apr '17 10:04:24 AM by LSBK

It's hardly new or unique to this fandom. I remember a FMA omake or some such thing where the characters were joking about how Ed wasn't going to do well in the poll since he hadn't done anything recently.

I mean if a popular character is consistently prominent, doesn't it stand to reason that they'd always place high in polls? Unless the audience loses interest, there's no reason they'd drop.

I understand the sentiment because seeing the same characters in the top spots can be boring, but that's usually how these things work.

Don't know how Viewers Are Goldfish applies though.

The trope itself may not, by definition. I only said it made me think of it because of the lack of attention span/long term memory only seeing the main or recently active characters on top implies to me.

edited 28th Apr '17 10:36:21 AM by sgamer82