The first preliminary results of the Sanrio Character Awards 2024, a popularity poll for Sanrio characters, were announced on April 16th. In first place was Pochacco (4th last year), who celebrated their 35th anniversary this year. This is the first time that Pochacco has ranked first in the preliminary results. Up until the previous contest, Cinnamoroll had won four consecutive times, and had also taken first Cinnamoroll in the preliminary results for four consecutive years, but this time Pochacco's jump to the top marked an unexpected start.
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In second place was Cinnamoroll (last year's first place), third place was Pompompurin (last year's second place), fourth place was Kuromi (last year's third place), and fifth place was Hello Kitty (last year's fifth place). Hanamaru Obake, which just debuted from the user participation project "NEXT KAWAII PROJECT" last year and is its first entry this year, ranked eighth.
The Sanrio Character Awards is a public voting project for Sanrio characters that began in 1986. Voting is accepted on the official website, Sanrio Online Shop, Sanrio's monthly newspaper, Ichigo Shimbun, and elsewhere. Last year, the total number of votes exceeded 44.48 million, the highest number ever.
This year, voting will be accepted until May 26. The final results will be announced at "SANRIO FES 2024" to be held at Tokyo Big Sight (Koto-ku, Tokyo) on June 16.