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The story
A “Most Popular Japanese Actresses” ranking, tallied as of October 14, 2026 by the user-voting site “Minna no Ranking” (Everyone’s Ranking), became a hot topic on 5ch’s Entertainment & Sports News+ board. In the poll, which drew 30,566 voters and 191,145 votes, Ayase Haruka came in 3rd and Kitagawa Keiko 2nd, with replies in the thread indicating Aragaki Yui took 1st place. But since Aragaki Yui has appeared in relatively few works in recent years, many questioned whether she “really” deserved the top spot, and the thread split over how reliable the tallying method was and who exactly was doing the voting.
2026.10.14
“Minna no Ranking” is a user-participation ranking site run by Infonia (Minato Ward, Tokyo). The site is currently collecting votes for a “Most Popular Japanese Actresses” ranking covering every actress who has ever been active in Japan. Here is the ranking as of October 14, 2026, based on 191,145 votes cast by 30,566 people.
Coming in 3rd was actress Ayase Haruka. Voters wrote in with comments like “I love how natural and unpretentious she is, with that pure, wholesome (seiso) feel,” “She has amazing transparency and radiates cleanliness — such a lovely actress,” and “Her acting is excellent, she has a great personality, a beautiful figure, and even her ditzy side is cute.”
Source: otonanswer.jp / Original article here
What people said
Then go make a ranking that doesn't reek of BS.
Just rank by actual sales numbers.
We don't need rankings with a limited voter pool.
TV ratings stats are sketchy too.
She was in Ikoku Nikki (lit. "Diary of a Foreign Country"), so it's not 5 years — she was working at least 2 years ago.
Guess it's because she's been all over the media lately — some favoritism?
Aragaki at #1 when the only recent work she's had is Ikoku Nikki?
Imada, Hirose, or Kawaguchi are definitely above her.
Either they only surveyed old folks who only watch TV, or the ranking was just made up from the start.
If they only asked old folks, I'd expect Yoshinaga Sayuri to be on the list too.
if it's cumulative votes over the past 10 years or so, that could explain it.
That would put younger actresses at a disadvantage though.
She just keeps getting happier.
This survey's totally useless.
Just call them actresses already.
Sailor Mars (her role in live-action Sailor Moon)
Oppai Volleyball (lit. "Breast Volleyball," a 2009 film) — all career highlights of the actress in question.
What's wrong with just saying actress or nurse (joyuu, kangofu)?
seriously, how long are people gonna keep dancing to this tune.
Imada Mio just had a drama air, but it bombed both in the ratings and on the thread.
If she really had enough popularity to be #9, the numbers would be better and the thread would be livelier.
That age group had an unusually deep bench of young actresses.
Feels like the '85-'88 group, born at the tail end of the Showa era, was the last big wave.
One generation below them you've got people like Arimura Kasumi and Yoshioka Riho, but compared to the names above, there's an undeniable sense they're a bit smaller-scale.
Though that might also come down to whether they came up during TV's peak or after it.
Kitagawa Keiko was in one — Bakebake, I think.
Though it was kind of an unglamorous role.
If they only watch TV, I'd think Yoshinaga Sayuri would be a blind spot.
If you watch TV, "Sayuri" makes you think of "Sayuringo" (her famous apple-juice commercial nickname).
Background and key points of this discussion
Sites like “Minna no Ranking” don’t use random sampling — rankings are determined by tallying votes from whoever voluntarily chooses to vote, so veteran actresses who’ve been active for years, or those who made headlines in the past, tend to stay near the top. In the thread, repeated comments pointed out that the apparent #1, Aragaki Yui, “hasn’t worked much recently,” sparking doubts about the age range of respondents and who exactly made up the voting pool. In fact, like TV ratings surveys, this type of ranking often doesn’t disclose its sampling methodology, so it’s worth keeping in mind that it may not reflect current popularity. A notable feature of this discussion was also how many commenters took issue with the term “female actor” (josei haiyuu) itself, sparking a side debate over terminology that was separate from the ranking’s actual content.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “Over 30,000 People Vote on ‘Most Popular Japanese Actresses’ Ranking — 3rd Place ‘Ayase Haruka,’ 2nd Place ‘Kitagawa Keiko’… Who’s #1?.”
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