Anime Anime Global

Oct. 30 is the day of First Love.

On Oct. 30 in 1896, Shimazaki Toson, an author active in Meiji era, released a poem titled Hatsukoi (first love), and Nakadana Sou in Komoro City, Nagano, which is his famous villa, established the day of First Love. The poem starting from ‘Mada Age Some shi Maegami no (you had swept back your bangs for the first time
)’ is still being loved after more than 100 years.

There appear many attractive characters that you unconsciously fall in love with. For some people, an anime character would be their first love. We tend to have a deep attachment to a character that we liked in childhood, and have a certain special feeling about him when we watch/read the work again after we grew up.

Here at Anime!Anime!, we conducted a readers’ survey titled, ‘Who is your first love anime character?’ again as last year. The survey was conducted from Oct. 19 to Oct. 26, and we received 190 answers.
The male-to-female ratio was about 30% to 70%, which means that the male readers accounted for a large percentage. About 50% of the readers were minors, 30% were in their twenties, which means that the young readers accounted for a large percentage.

In this article, the ranking for the male characters is introduced.

■Kind, and reliable male characters were ranked high. Voice is also what you should be focused on!
1st place
1st place went to Doi Hansuke in “Nintama Rantaro” again as last year with about 7% support ratings.

Doi-sensei is a classroom teacher of Class Ha in the first grade. The comments for him are, ‘He is always thoughtful, and watching his students, and I was really into him! He is reliable in case of emergency, which is also the reason I like him.’, and ‘I used to look forward to seeing him in front of the TV, thinking “Can I see Doi-sensei today?” Now I grew up, and I still want to get married to a man like Doi-sensei.’ Many readers praised him for leading the students that are messing around.
A lot of comments like, ‘Seki Toshihiko-san’s voice is really gentle, and I feel so comfortable to hear. He is absolutely a good mentor character. I want to learn by such a teacher.’, have arrived, and the majority of the votes are from the readers in teens to thirties that enjoy watching “Nintama” today.

2nd place
2nd place went to Kudo Shinichi in “Detective Conan” with about 6% support ratings.

The comments like, ‘He looks cool when he is solving a mystery, but becomes shy when he is with Ran, which is so cute that I had butterflies many times.’, have arrived for Kudo Shinichi, a bright detective in high school, and his unexpected side attracted a lot of fans.
Edogawa Conan also got many votes with comments like, ‘When I first watched the work, I was younger than he is, and fell in love with him! I am older now, but still love him so much!’

3rd place
3rd place went to Kurama in “Yu Yu Hakusho” with about 5% support ratings.

The comments for him are, ‘He is usually kind, but becomes relentless against someone that hurts his friends. It was the first time that I fell in love with an anime character.’, ‘His looking and gestures are both beautiful. Ogata Megumi-san’s voice makes him more and more attractive’, and ‘He is cool, reliable, and ideal man for me. He is also nice when he becomes Fox Demon.’, and some readers praised him for showing his true potential.

■Other comments are below!!
For Levi in “Attack on Titan”.
‘He defeats the Titans so easily, which brings me a calm feeling. He is so strong, but at the same time, he is obsessed with cleanliness. I am into the gap!’

Shigeno Gorou in”Major”.
‘I like him as he is so passionate about baseball that he puts all his strength to one game, and he keeps doing until he drops. ‘

For Zelgadis in “Slayers”.
‘He is cool but playful, and has a good looking, and beautiful voice. I fell in love at first sight! He is the only one that I loved among characters. Since then, I am crazy about him.’
Hyakkimaru in “Dororo”(1969)
‘I liked Nozawa Nahi’s playing. He would feel sorrow and pain of the character that had been living an unusual life.’ The works from different periods gained the votes.

In this survey, many titles that have been aired for years are ranked high. The readers commented not only about the characters but also about the cast. Some of them got attracted by the voice, and have continued to be fan.

■Ranking Top 20
‘Who is your first love anime character? Male characters ver. 2020’
1. Doi Hansuke “Nintama Rantaro”
2. Kudo Shinichi (Edogawa Conan) “Detective Conan”
3. Kurama “Yu Yu Hakusho”
4. Sakata Gintoki “Gintama”
4. Saotome Ranma “Ranma 1/2”
4. Levi “Attack on Titan”
7. Sesshomaru”Inuyasha”
8. Inuyasha “Inuyasha”
8. Okita Sougo “Gintama”
8. Li Syaoran “Cardcaptor Sakura”
11. Akabane Karma “Assassination Classroom”
11. Ashitaka “Princess Mononoke”
11. Kaito Kid (Kuroba Kaito) “Detective Conan”
11. Kirito “Sword Art Online”
11. Tuxedo Mask “Sailor Moon”
11. Todoroki Shoto “My Hero Academia”
11. Tomioka Giyu “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”
11. Nakahara Chuya “Bungo Stray Dogs”
11. Haku “Spirited Away”
11. Lelouch Lamperouge “Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion”

(Survey Period was from Oct. 19 to Oct. 26, 2020.)