Best Manga side characters

782 duels later, Zoro is still #1 in the Manga side character ranking, with Itachi close behind at 1317 ELO points.

The podium separates sharply at the transition from second to third place, where 36 ELO points divide Itachi from Vegeta. Zoro wins 68% of his duels and dominates with 1348 points, while Itachi secures second place at 1317 points through 113 duels. Vegeta sits third with 1281 points, followed by Jiraiya at 1267 and Gojo at 1250. The ranking reflects a clear preference for veterans from long-running series, with three of the top four drawn from the Naruto and One Piece universes. The tight spacing between ranks 3 through 5 suggests fierce competition in the middle tier, where just 31 points separate Vegeta from Gojo. At the bottom, Go Gun-hee from Solo Leveling struggles at rank 12 with 985 points and a 19% win rate, suggesting the community favors established characters from mainstream titles over newer or niche series entries. Nezuko holds rank 10 with 1103 points, while Igris sits at rank 11 with 1063 points.

This ranking draws from 782 duels between 12 contenders, shaped by the votes of 29 players. The data was updated on 12 October 2026. Cast your own vote to shift the standings and decide which side character truly deserves the top position in the manga world.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →