Anime Anime Global

November 12th is Ginga Banjo’s birthday.

Ginga Banjo began working as a voice actor in 1970’s. He had played various roles including charismatic villain to mysterious plot device to comedy characters with cool, deep voices.
He is also famous as a narrator of television shows. He narrates popular shows, such as “Nandemo Kantei Dan” and “Purebato”. Those of you who are not familiar with anime may know these shows.

Here on Anime!Anime!, the reader’s survey was conducted to celebrate Ginga Banjo’s birthday, asking “Who is your favorite character role?” The survey was conducted from October 30th to November 6th, and total of 59 people answered. Male-female ration was 80% male and 20% female. Age range was wide from teens to 40’s.

■The top response was Gihren from “Gandam”. Cannot Forget His Speech Scene!
The most popular character was Gihren Zabi, from “Gandam”. The approval rate was about 10%.
There are many comments that mention the speech scene of Ghiren is so memorable, as it is said that “I still remember all the words of the speech at the funeral of Garma”. Some readers mentioned that “it was new that the villain of robot anime ruled with political strength, not with militaristic power.”
Another reader mentioned Ginga Banjo’s greeting on the stage of “THE ORIGIN”, the new series of Gandam; the reader commented, “Ginga Banjo talked about Ghiren, and he said that he played the role, caring and thinking deeply about the backbone of the character.”

Second to the most popular character was Liquid Snake from “Metal Gear Solid” series.
Liquid Snake is brother of the main character, Solid Snake. We have received comments such as “Liquid Snake is the villain that symbolizes ‘Metal Gear Solid’ series” and “Performance was great”. Many readers were surprised from strong character of Liquid Snake.
There were votes given to Major Zero from “Metal Gear Solid 3”, saying, “With unique characteristics, he is in charge of FOX special force, which is consisted of unique members. He is an English gentleman, who hates coffee and loves tea.” Since there are many chances to hear voices of characters through the transceiver in the video game, many readers remembers character’s voices and existence.

The third in the ranking was tie of Timp Sharon from “Battle Mecha Xabungle” and Harada Masahira from “Touch”. Timp Sharon is the villain of the anime, and Harada Masahira is a classmate of the main character. The characters from anime of 1980’s ranked in the same place.

■We will introduce other comments we’ve recieved!
To Souther from “Fist of the Northern Star”, the readers send comments saying, “He is a character who made me a fan of GInga Banjo”, and “His three principles of ‘No retreat, no flatter, or no look back’ had historical impact”.
To Riki from “Silver Fang Legend”, “The leadership and strength of Riki were born because he was performed with Ginga’s voice. I admired Riki and I want to follow him!”

Some comments were given to Housen from “Gintama”, saying “I love him because Housen had charisma as the villain, and he also had strength and loving characteristics, in addition to holding human like-true motives”.
We also received comments for Issac Netero from “HUNTER×HUNTER” said, “There was godly charm when he showed thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara”. There were comments to the characters which he took over the role.

The survey had several votes of comments to characters who hold great strength.

■Characters Received Votes
[Who is your favorite play role?]
Ghiren Zabi from “Gandam”
Liquid Snake from “Metal Gear Solid”
Harada Masahira from “Touch”
Timp Sharon from “Battle Mecha Xabungle”
Issac Netero from “HUNTER×HUNTER” (2011, 1st take over of the role)
Crocodile from “Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai”
Bakuryu Brachiosaurus from “Bakuryu Sentai Abarenger”
Housen from “Gintama”
Riki from “Silver Fang Legend”
Souther from “Fist of the Northern Star”
Thanos from “The Guardians of Galaxy” and “Avengers”
Major Zero from “Metal Gear Solid”
De Villers from “Legend of Galactic Heros”
Hermann Wolff from “Jokers Game”
Reeve Tuesti from “Final Fantasy VII”
J from “Sakigake! Otokojuku”
Obo Kanemitsu from “Obocchama Kun”
Jigen Daisuke from “Lupin III -The Plot of the Fuma Clan”
Tongpu from “Cowboy Bepop”

(Survey conducted: 10/30/2019~11/06/2019)