May 17 is “Package Tour Day”.

It is said that the world's first package tour was conducted on this day in 1861, Britain. Now is a difficult time to travel due to the novel coronavirus, but there must be many of you out there who want to go on a trip once things are under control.

One of the advatages about a package tour is listening to the stories of the tour guide. The question is, which anime character would be a great tour guide?

Here at Anime!Anime! we have conducted a survey asking, “Which Anime Character Do You Want to Hire as a Tour Guide?” We received 88 votes during the voting period of May 5 to May 12.
The gender ratio leaned a bit towards the female with 65% female to 35% male, and the age group was mainly young with 50% of those under 19 and 25% in their 20s.

■Popular characters who remind you of travel!
There were many votes for those characters related to travel. For example, Hattori Yuu from “Aikatsu!” gained popularity as a travel idol from her experience of studying abroad at various schools. She received comments saying how her being active in travel programs left an impression on them like, “She looked great in her tour guide outfit she wore in the anime.”

Also, characters who were traveling in the main story were popular too. Received comments shows that people want to enjoy traveling with them or hear their stories about their trips, “I want to go on a tour of Japari Park with her on the bus,” for Kaban from “Kemono Friends”, “I want to hear her stories of her traveling different countries,” for Kino from “Kino's Journey”, and “Because she travels all over Japan in the opening,” for Fuguta Sazae from “Sazae-san”.

Some characters received votes for their experience in travel-related jobs. For Kashiwagi Tsubasa from “Idol Master SideM”, “He's an ex-pilot with a lot of travel experience and is fluent in languages. I bet he's good at presenting the charm of the places we visit.” For Neko-musume from “Gegege no Kitarou” (5th series), “She was so cute working as a bus guide,” and for Akubi from “The Genie Family 2020”, “She looked good as a cabin attendant, so she could also be a good tour guide.”

Focusing on the word tour “guide”, people also voted for characters with professional knowledge. Comments pointed out how they are dependable when we need their help like, “Since she is an archeologist, I think she would give us a great explanation of the history of the sight,” for Nico Robin from “One Piece”, and “He is knowledgeable in various areas, so he'll probably explain everything without the need for us to ask any questions. Also, he would help us if there are any troubles like purse-snatching or luggage-lifting,” for Kudou Shinichi from “Detective Conan”.

Being cheerful and talkative maybe another trait fit for a travel agent. For Kyon from “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”, “A pedant with a ton of knowledge. Since his expressions and metaphors are interesting, I think he would give us enjoyable stories of each sight we visit,” for Takami Chika from “Love Live! Sunshine!!”, “I'd love a tour from Chika-chan, who knows a lot about her home town,” and for Fujiwara Chika from “Kaguya-sama: Love Is War”, “Secretary Fujiwara would probably make everyone smile through the funny and enjoyable tour by explaining the sights with her poor rap skills.”

The survey ended with characters from various animes receiving votes.

■Characters with the most votes
[Which Anime Character Do You Want to Hire as a Tour Guide?]
Edogawa Conan “Detective Conan”
Hattori Yuu “Aikatsu!”
Amuro Tooru “Detective Conan”
Takasaka Honoka “Love Live!”
Fuguta Sazae “Sazae-san”
Izumi Mitsuki “IDOLiSH7”
Kagura “Gintama”
Nico Robin “One Piece”
Fujiwara Chika “Kaguya-sama: Love Is War”
The Matsuno Sextuplets “Mr. Osomatsu”
Mouri Ran “Detective Conan”
Yukinoshita Yukito “My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU”

(Voting Period: May 5 to May 12, 2020)

※※This survey was held to investigate “the awareness and attention of the current anime” of the readers. The ranking is not intended to determine characters to be superior to others.
We hope this article becomes an introduction to new titles and characters.