May 26 is Maeno Tomoaki-san's birthday.
Maeno Tomoaki debuted in the 2000s. He was awarded as the Best Male Newcomer in the 4th Seiyu Awards and in 2020, he voiced the main character of various works such as “Drifting Dragons” and “Uchitama?! Have you seen my Tama?”
His newly established Twitter account in Apr. has become a topic.
Thus, in order to celebrate Maeno Tomoaki-san's birthday, Anime! Anime! had conducted a reader survey “Who is your favorite character by Maeno Tomoaki-san?” following the survey conducted last year. We had received a total of 451 responses during the survey period of May 13 until May 20.
Most of the responses came from female as the gender ratio is about 10% male and 90% female. For the age distribution, it mostly consists of the young generation as about 30% came from age 19 and below, about 35% came from those in their 20's.
■Camus from “Uta☆Prince-sama♪” has taken the lead with a huge gap!
1st place is Camus from “Uta☆Prince-sama♪”, and the support rating is approximately 20% and has taken the top for two consecutive years.
Camus is born from a Count family that served the Queen and is a person with high pride. We had received comments regarding his dual personality acting, which had charmed the fans, such as, “I think that Maeno-san's low pitched and cold clear voice, fit perfectly with the cold Camus” and “The balance between the butler and Count = sweet and cold is amazing. He is not honest but I am moved by the true intention that appears sometime.
“It can be seen that Maeno-san treasure his role as Camus when he tries to liven up the concert by calling the fans 'peasant' during the greeting”, showed his manner of speaking as a noble character is also popular. “Camus usually looks down on people around him but among his harsh voice, I can feel his thoughtfulness toward QUARTET NIGHT. I believe that this is something that only Maeno-san can do”, showed that his acting on expressing the hidden feeling is amazing.
2nd place is Doujou Atsushi “Library Wars”, and the support rating is approximately 11%. He ranked up from 3rd place from last year.
Doujou Atsushi is the protagonist and both the demon instructor and superior of Kasahara Iku. There were a lot of comments received for his harsh teaching such as “I had watched the anime after reading the original novels but I love how he is the imitation of instructor Doujou when shouting 'Are you stupid!' angrily!” Among them, there were also comments like this, “I jealous of Iku as she is living a life where she is working while being scolded by Instructor Doujou.”
“Maeno-san's low pitched yet sweet voice perfectly with the good-looking instructor who is sometime harsh and kind” showed that a lot of fans were charmed by this character that showed various feelings.
3rd place is Haku from “Yona of the Dawn”, and the support rating is approximately 10%. He ranked up from 4th place from last year.
Haku is a warrior protecting the protagonist Yona and also her childhood friend. We had received comments regarding the heart-throbbing acting that was born from a complicated situation such as, “I was charmed by Maeno-san voice during the comical situation and also the situation where his loyalty can be seen. I was moved by his acting as he holds a complicated feeling toward the protagonist despite being a retainer”, and “In the situation where his inner feeling can be peek, I got attracted to his manliness, sadness, and mischievous acting. I am also attracted to his deep love that wished for Yona's happiness from the bottom of his heart.”
■Let's introduce the other comments
Regarding Yamanbagiri Kunihiro from “Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-” and others series: “Despite looking cool during the battle, he is quite naive. He is so cute when he can't handle being praised for his handsome appearance.”
Regarding Asahina Natsume from “BROTHER CONFLICT”: “My heart is beating whenever being approached in an adult manner with Maeno-san low pitched voice.”
Regarding Mika from “Drifting Dragons”: “It amazing how Mika becomes serious when involving dragon despite saying it troublesome occasionally.”
Regarding Kuramochi Bull “Uchitama?! Have you seen my Tama?”: “I liked it how he tries to act cool and complicated his chuunibyou (Termin typically used to describe early teens who have delusions of grandeur, who so desperately want to stand out that they have convinced themselves they have hidden knowledge or secret powers.) personality. I love both his ugly cute appearance as a dog and the pity handsome personification appearance” showed that a character from the 2020 anime had ranked in as well.
As new characters has ranked in, there was a big change when compare to last year.
■ Top 20 Ranking
[Who is your favorite character by Maeno Tomoaki-san? 2020 version]
1. Camus “Uta☆Prince-sama♪”
2. Doujou Atsushi “Library Wars”
3. Haku “Yona of the Dawn”
4. White Blood Cells “Cells at Work!”
5. Yamanbagiri Kunihiro “Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-” and others series
6. Asahina Natsume “BROTHER CONFLICT”
7. Abeno Haruitsuki “The Morose Mononokean”
8. Hayami Hiro “Pretty Rhythm・Rainbow Live” and others series
8. Yayoi Haru “Tskiuta. THE ANIMATION”
10. Mika “Drifting Dragons”
11. Kaidou Haru “SUPER LOVERS”
11. Hidaka Hokuto “Ensemble Stars!”
13. Seki Daisuke “Stand My Heroes: Piece of Truth”
14. Arsène Lupin “Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~”
15. Yukina Kou “Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi – World's Greatest First Love”
16. Dino “Blend S”
17. Ooshiba Kousuke “Hitorijime My Hero”
17. Fukutomi Juichi “Yowamushi Pedal”
19. Kumasa “If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die”
19. Kuramochi Bull “Uchitama?! Have you seen my Tama?”
19. Schubert “ClassicLoid”
19. Charles Phipps “Black Butler: Book of Circus”
(Survey Period: May 13 ~ May 20, 2020)