Since the 1990s, Yamaguchi Yuriko has voiced many characters in various animes. There are so many memorable roles, she can be surprisingly smart, hiding her feelings or kind and thoughtful. So far in 2019, she has been in popular works such as “One Piece Stampede”.
Here at Anime! Anime!, we had a survey to celebrate the birthday of Yamaguchi Yuriko, asking the readers “Who is your favorite character voiced by Yamaguchi Yuriko?” The survey was conducted from Nov. 7 to Nov. 14 with a total of 46 respondents. The male to female ratio was about fifty-fifty. Most of the respondents were in the younger age group, with about 40% being 19 and younger, and about 35% being 20 to 29 years old.
■Robin from “One Piece” was at the top, the role of a doctor was also in a high position.
The most popular character was Nico Robin from “One Piece” receiving about 50% of the votes.
Nico Robin is the archeologist of the Straw Hat Pirates. She used to be an enemy of Luffy and the crew.
There were comments pointing out her being cool and sexy, such as “She is not just calm, intelligent and the only member of the crew that is mature but also a beautiful grown woman. Yamaguchi Yuriko-san’s seductive voice really matches her character. “, “The calm and intelligent nature of Robin is well expressed through her voice and makes her even more attractive.
Other comments were “I like it that ther are scense where you can see her playful side” and “Though her voice is comforting, the battle scenes are very intense. I can’t think of any other person than Yamaguchi-san for the voice of Robin!”, showing the popularity of her sharp tongue and battles using her power of Hana Hana no Mi.
The 2nd most popular was Nurse Joy from “Pokémon” with 15% of the votes.
Nurse Joy is the female doctor who works at the Pokémon Center.
Yamaguchi-san started this role from the latter half of the first series. One of the respondents says “I think many of her roles are cool women like Ritsuko from “Neon Genesis Evangelion” or Robin from “One Piece”. I was surprised to find out that the same person was voicing such a kind character as Nurse Joy!”.Nurse Joy is voiced by many people, so there were also comments such as “The Nurse Joy I’m familiar with since I was a child has been Yuriko-san’s voice”.
3rd place was Usami Satomi from “Kirakira PreCure a la Mode”. She also is a female doctor just as Nurse Joy in 2nd place was. She’s busy and traveling all over the world, so doesn’t have much time to meet the protagonist, Ichika. However, there was a comment saying “I like that she gently watches over Ichika.”
4th place was Akagi Ritsuko from “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. She is a scientist of the Special Service Organization NERV. She has had this role since 1995 and many respondents seems to know Yamaguchi-san from this role.
The result of this survey ended up being characters of various strengths.
■Top 5
“Who is your favorite character voiced by Yamaguchi Yuriko?”
1. Nico Robin “One Piece”
2. Nurse Joy “Pokémon”
3. Usami Satomi “Kirakira PreCure a la Mode”
4. Akagi Ritsuko “Neon Genesis Evangelion”
5. Vados “Dragon Ball Super”
5. Rougirafflesia “Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger”
(Votes Accepted from Nov. 7 to Nov. 14, 2019)