The first official popularity polls was announced in February 2021, to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the series.[1] The poll options were comprised of favorite characters, favorite female characters, favorite male characters, favorite pairings, and favorite bouts.[1][2] The voting commenced on the fourth of February[1] and was concluded on the first of March.[3] The results were to be announced and published in the May 2021 issue of Dragon Magazine.[4]
The voting took place on a special website created for the polling process, with a maximum number of one vote allowed for each category per day. The voters were required to include authentication information, with special prizes given out.[1] Most categories had top ten placings with the exception of the Favorite Couplings and Favorite Bouts categories, which included eight each.
Prior to the first official popularity polls, Ishibumi had revealed the three most popular characters in the series to be Rias, Akeno and Issei by means of survey.[6]
According to Ishibumi, Akeno was the most popular character before the first season of the anime aired, which caused Rias' popularity to improve to the first position.[7]
