Tanaka Mayumi Birthday Celebration! Which is Your Favorite Character? Who beats Luffy from “One Piece”!?

Jan. 15 is the birthday of Tanaka Mayumi.

Tanaka-san made her debut in the 1970s. She was the first to receive the Takahashi Kazue Award, which was established to be given to the person who had obtained the most popularity as a professional voice actor, at the 5th Seiyuu Awards.
In 2019 she was active in various productions, such as “One Piece: Stampede” and “Gegege no Kitaro”, and her performance in the drama “Natsuzora” aired on NHK Asadora (“Morning Drama”) became very popular as well.

Here at Anime!Anime! we interviewed her during the dubbing in the American movie “Sing”.

To celebrate the birthday of Tanaka Mayumi, we have conducted a survey asking “Which is your favorite character played by her?”. In the survey period between Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, we have received answers from 128 people. The gender ratio was 40% male and 60% female with the majority of female respondents, while the age range was 25% under 19, 20% in their 20s, 20% in their 30s, and 40% in their 40s, which signify that the vote was from a wide generations.

■ Ikusabe Wataru from “Mashin Hero Wataru” at the top!
The 1st place goes to Ikusabe Wataru from “Mashin Hero Wataru” with a percentage of votes equal to 20%.
The “Wataru” series is an adventure fantasy with Ikusabe Wataru as the protagonist, a 4th-grade elementary school student who was transported to a different world called “Shinbukai”. We received a lot of votes from the audience who enjoyed the work in real time and comments such as “I can feel the total presence of Tanaka Mayumi behind the character, including the serious, gag, and shouting scenes. I like both the work and Mayumi-san.”, and “I fell in love with ‘Wataru’ since its first broadcast. Being the same age as him, his lively voice encouraged me every day.”.
There were also comments on famous line of Wataru such as “Omoshirokakkoiize!” (It’s fun and cool!)”. A new production anime titled “Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru Nana Tamashii no Ryuujinmaru” is scheduled to be broadcast in spring 2020, raising expectations from the fans; “I’m looking forward to seeing the new work released this year!”.

The 2nd place goes to Monkey D. Luffy from “One Piece”, with a slight margin of votes with the top.
Luffy is captain of the Straw Hat Pirates who sails to the sea aiming to become the King of the Pirates. Many comments have been left by the fans, such as “The voice of Luffy can only be played by Tanaka-san. I am always impressed by the energy she puts in the emotional moments of the character, like when he shows his honesty, his strong will and care towards his friends, and when he gets angry. One Piece is a work that makes me feel the true greatness and enthusiasm transmitted by the voice actors.”, and “Captain Luffy has such a lovely smile. I think Mayumi-san is very similar to him, they are both cheerful and so funny. They are the best!”.
One Piece is still being broadcast, receiving a lot of support from the younger generations in their 10s and 20s.

The 3rd place goes to Fujinami Ryuunosuke from “Urusei Yatsura” with a vote percentage of 15%.
Fujinami Ryuunosuke is a female character, but she was raised as a boy. She has a strong-minded personality and she’s used to wearing a school uniform for boys, though she is particularly attracted by the sailor suit. She received a large number of votes from the generation in their 40s, and some comments such as “She is very interesting as leader of the boyish female characters”.

■Other comments have been released!!
Settsuno Kirimaru from “Nintama Rantarou”; “His weakness for money is weird, but he is also so cute that I can’t hate him. I’m also impressed by his friendship with the teacher Doi with whom he lives together.”.
Ira from “Doki Doki! PreCure”; “She is a malicious and cruel character, but I really like the kindness she shows during her amnesia and her change of spirit after she gets back her memories.”.

Koenma from “Yu Yu Hakusho”; “Koenma as a child is cute, but his adult version is so attractive! I can enjoy both the cute and handsome voices of Mayumi-san!”.
Nakata Marumi from “Gotsugoushugi de Ikou!” received votes for her theater performance; “While she has a strong image of a boy as a voice actor, her performance as actress on the stage shows a character with the utmost charm, an overwhelming singing, her female beauty, and other different aspects.”

The next page will announce all the characters which have been voted. The list includes characters from anime and radio dramas since the 1970s up till now. Please check also here below.

■ Top ranking 10
“Among the characters played by Tanaka Mayumi, which is your favorite one?”
1. Ikusabe Wataru “Mashin Hero Wataru”
2. Monkey D. Luffy “One Piece”
3. Fujinami Ryuunosuke “Urusei Yatsura”
4. Settsuno Kirimaru “Nintama Rantarou”
5. Kirishima Kanna “Sakura Taisen”
6. Pazu “Castle in the Sky”
7. Ira “Doki Doki! PreCure”
7. Krillin “Dragon Ball”
7. Koenma “Yu Yu Hakusho”
10. Chibita “Osomatsu-kun”

(Survey period: Dec. 25, 2019 to Jan. 1, 2020)