Oct. 23 is “Chemistry Day”.

It is an anniversary established because one unit of mole, which is the unit of the amount of substance, is expressed as 6.02 x 10 to the power of 23. The week including Oct. 23 is designated to be the Chemistry Week, and chemistry-related events are held in various places.

Many characters who are into natural science, including chemistry, appear in anime. The most memorable of them are the mad scientists who create only strange experiments. Mad scientists who are out of the ordinary in both good and bad ways lead the story in unexpected directions.

Here at Anime! Anime!, we conducted a reader survey “Who is your favorite mad scientist character?” We received responses from 87 people during the survey period from Oct. 11 to Oct. 18.
The male-female ratio is about 30% for males and about 70% for females. About 55% of the age group were minors, and about 30% were in their 20s.

■The top is Professor Agasa from “Conan” who created many things!
1st place
1st place goes to Professor Agasa from “Detective Conan”. The approval rating was about 10%.
Professor Agasa is a self-proclaimed genius scientist who invented numerous things used by the main character, Edogawa Conan.

He invented a voice modulator as a bow tie to change the voice freely and a wristwatch-tranquilizer gun to put the opponent to sleep, and many fans find him hard to deal with, “He invented so many things, I want to try them”, on one side, and “There are many useless things and mistaken results in his work.”, on the other. He is also attractive, and that makes him hard to be mad on.

2nd place
2nd place goes to Okabe Rintarou from “STEINS; GATE” with an approval rating is about 8%.

Okabe Rintarou is a college student who claims himself to be a crazy mad scientist and uses a nickname Hououin Kyouma. The story unfolds unexpectedly due to the invention he accidentally created.
Readers commented, “He is the only true mad scientist. Okabe Rintarou…No! Hououin Kyouma!”, many voices have been received for Hououin Kyouma.

3rd place
3rd place is shared between Kurotsuchi Mayuri from “BLEACH” and Saiki Kuusuke from “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.”
About Kurotsuchi Mayuri, “He is very curious about everything and likes to research things like human experiments that are beyond ethics. He is a mad scientist who even remodeled his own body. On the other hand, he keeps his human side, and I cannot hate him”, and “He will no stop in front of anything, and it impacts even visual.”

About Saiki Kuusuke, “Because he has a brain of the genius brain, people for him are just monkeys. Like a mad scientist, he’s a creepy character with no clue, but he is also an older brother who helps his younger sibling if something happened.”, and “He is a genius who can make anything, such as making a supernatural power control device”. Different types of inventors are ranked at the same place.

■Let’s introduce other comments
About Hange Zoë from “Attack on Titan”, “She has a strong interest for giants, and her emotions are unstable in front of research subjects… It’s also cool that she never stops talking.”
About Professor from “Nichijou”, “Even thought she is a child she invents many amazing things, including humanoid robot Shinonome Nano”, and “I can’t understand how she can be so smart and so cute at the same time.”

About Victor Licht from “Fire Force”, “He is a perfect mad scientist because it’s never clear if he an ally or enemy.”
About Dr. Leonardo from “Eagle Talon”, a fresh comedy-release, which is on-air now, “He has ao ridiculous intelligence and technologies, such as making a spaceship from items of a 100-yen shop.”

In this survey, Professor Agasa, is on the top, and the characters that are amazing but have some omissions are conspicuous. Many characters are so immersed in their favorite things that they cannot see their surroundings, and it is possible to reconfirm that they have the charm of a troublemaker.

■Ranking Top-10
“Who is your favorite mad scientist character?”
1st place Professor Agasa “Detective Conan”
2nd place Okabe Rintarou (Hououin Kyouma) “STEINS; GATE”
3rd place Kurotsuchi Mayuri “BLEACH”
3rd place Saiki Kuusuke “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.”
5th place Kajii Motojiro “Bungo Stray Dogs”
6th place Professor “Nichijou”
6th place Hange Zoë “Attack on Titan”
6th place Victor Licht “Fire Force”
9th place Ishigami Chizora “Dr.STONE”
9th place Zaboera “Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai”
9th place Citron “Pokemon XY”
9th place Dekapan “Osomatsu-san”
9th place Doctor Gero “Dragon Ball Z”
9th place Dr. Leonardo “Eagle Talon”

(Survey Period: 2020 Oct. 11 ~ Oct. 18)