I'm so sorry, I know you probably want another plot chapter, but this journal entry just totally came to me and I wanted to write it. I promise the next one will be a normal chapter. This one focuses on Hero Rankings. Again it's just an extra chapter, not plot important but it might help keep track of characters later on.

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There are two distinct forms of Hero Ranking within most countries. There is the pure strength of the Hero, that being their Letter Rank, and then there is popularity. However, because the strongest Heroes get the most media attention, it is almost impossible for most Heroes below S or A-Rank to get on the charts and receive significant popularity, enough to be Ranked on the Hero Charts. Because of this, when referencing Ranking in popularity, it almost always corresponds to a Hero's Ranking in strength as well.

The Hero Popularity Charts were created not long after Endeavor Awakened, causing many to speculate that he had a hand in the creation of the Charts, primarily to boost his own ego. However, this theory is contested by Endeavor's PR team, and by many skeptics who don't believe he would create such Popularity Contests when All Might exists, as it is almost a bygone conclusion that All Might is Ranked first. That is to say, Endeavor would never help create something that would invariably leave him in second place.

But since Endeavor has no way to reach All Might in terms of raw strength, the popularity polls may have been his attempt to claim first over All Might in something. If this is the case, he failed miserably. In every yearly ranking, All Might has five times the votes as second place.

Ironically, All Might is one of the few Heroes on the top of the charts that believe them to be worthless measurements. He has only ever attended one of the popularity poll announcement events, the first one. From there on out, he took them to be an idealized farce that meant nothing in the grand scheme of Hero Work and distracted people from the real problems of society.

All Might himself made references to the quote made by Stephen Hawking about IQ, comparing it to Hero Rankings.

"A true Hero's worth is not measured by the number of adoring fans. If that was the case, lower Ranks like E and D would be worthless, but they are not. We need men and women like them on the ground to handle those threats. They are just as brave as any A or S-Rank running into their respective Gates. A Hero's worth is in what they do for the people, whether they are acknowledged or not. To toil away in anonymity is far more heroic than to bask in the glow of the media."

Despite his reservations about what the Popularity Polls say about a society at large, the Polls have continued to keep score, with him remaining at the top, and many other countries began to follow suit.

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Japan's Hero Rankings:

All Might (Toshinori Yagi) (National-Rank)

Endeavor (Enji Todoroki) (XS-Rank)

Hawks (Keigo Takami) (XS-Rank)

Best Jeanist (Tsunagu Hakamada) (S-Rank)

Edgeshot (Shinya Kamihara) (S-Rank)

Ryukyu (Ryuko Tatsuma) (S-Rank)

Miruko (Rumi Usagiyama) (S-Rank)

Yoroi Musha (Real Name) (S-Rank)

Crust (Tsuguo Mogami) (S-Rank)

Gang Orca (Kugo Sakamata) (S-Rank)

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Korean Hero Rankings:

The Reaper (Sung Jin-Woo) (XS-Rank)

The Dancer (Cha Hae-In) (S-Rank)

The Wolf (Baek Yoonho) (S-Rank)

The Soldier (Choi Jong-In) (S-Rank)

The Archer (Lim Tae-Gyu) (S-Rank)

The Wall (Ma Dongwook) (S-Rank)

The Doctor (Min Byung-Gyu) (S-Rank)

The Cursed (Eunseok) (S-Rank)

The Witch (Gina Kwon) (A-Rank)

The Agent (Woo Jinchul) (A-Rank)

Note: Korea's Hero Safety Commission requires that all Top Ten Heroes have names following the displayed naming patterns. Possibly so that their names are easier to remember and recognized in other countries.

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American Hero Rankings:

Stars N' Stripes (Cathleen Bate) (National-Rank)

Goliath (Thomas Andre) (National-Rank)

Incineration (Christopher Reed) (National-Rank)

Mind Bullet (Jonas Robinson) (XS-Rank)

Godzillo (Joe Brody) (XS-Rank)

Wrecker (Omar Betts) (XS-Rank)

Cherry Bomb (Cassidy Burnett) (C-Rank)

Infinite (Brandon Burnett) (C-Rank)

Inner-Space (Alice Harris) (XS-Rank)

Zeus (Kent Balloway) (S-Rank)

Note: The Burnett twins are Ranked purely on popularity. They are two of the weakest Heroes to be on the top of the charts anywhere in the world.

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China Hero Rankings (Limited to Five Heroes):

Legend of the Fifth Star (Liu Zhigang) (SS6-Rank)

Legend of the Fourth Star (Li Hua) (XS-Rank)

Legend of the Third Star (Zhang Yan) (S-Rank)

Legend of the Second Star (Wu Lei) (S-Rank)

Legend of the First Star (Zhou Xinlang) (S-Rank)

Note: Chinese Heroes are not allowed to have their own Hero names as dictated by the government, as they believe it encourages people to stand out more than they should. However, their strongest five, determined by the government, are worthy enough to have these names. They are mostly referred to as their numbered star rather than their whole title.

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German Hero Rankings (Limited to Four Heroes):

Richter (Lennart Niermann) (S-Rank/SS4)

Da Vinci (Reiner Koch) (A-Rank)

Mӧrder (Heinrich Alter) (S-Rank)

Fáfnir (Lina Kerkich) (S-Rank)

Note: Reiner Koch's name comes from a global appreciation. His position as an A-Rank Forge Master allows him to create almost anything. Alongside his company's clothing brand, which is favored by a lot of teenagers, he is globally known as a genius designer, hence "Da Vinci," despite Da Vinci being an Italian name.

Note: Lennart Niermann does not have a Quirk, so he is not XS-Rank, and he is not considered a National-Rank due to his lack of global contributions. However, he is much stronger than the average S-Rank and is about SS4.

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U.K. and Australia: (Combined their Popularity Polls after both regions unified) (Limited to Five Heroes)

Terra (Mia Roberts) (National-Rank)

W.H.O. (Jack Anderson) (S-Rank)

Shore Up (Ben Wilson) (XS-Rank)

Wake (Chase Hughes) (S-Rank)

Enchantment (Isla Thompson) (S-Rank)

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Russian Hero Rankings: (Limited to Seven Heroes) (Does not use Hero Names)

(Yuri Orloff) (S-Rank/SS3)

(Leonid Viktor) (S-Rank)

(Annastasia Petrovia) (A-Rank)

(Alexei Mirnov) (A-Rank)

(Pavel Romanov) (A-Rank)

(Sergei Mikhail) (A-Rank)

(Aleksandr Ivanov) (A-Rank)

Note: Russia does not use Hero names because they felt it was silly to give themselves such titles. Some speculate that they don't use them because it would be easier to remember as opposed to native Russian names, and because of their rather lackluster roster, they didn't want to be compared to a country like America, which has several National-Ranks.

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Important Countries to note:

Canada - Doesn't bother with a popularity ranking

India - The government and country never really recovered from the initial chaos of the Gates. They're barely holding their head above water with Raids, they don't really have time or care for popularity polls.

South America - The country is far too corrupt to take the results seriously and many reliable sources have confirmed that the polls were stacked in favor of the rich and powerful. For example, a D-Rank political figure worked his way up to number one, despite the country having an S-Rank with wide reaching popularity.

Africa - The continent is broken up into far too many different regions and ruling bodies to properly document a Popularity Ranking.

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Other Important Heroes to note:

Siddarth Bacchan (National-Rank) - A Scientist that contributed heavily to I-Island's funding and construction.

Jay Mills (XS-Rank) - The strongest of Canada's Heroes

Jonas (National-Rank) - Brazil's strongest Hero. Not much is publicly known about him.