Anime Anime Global

January 15 is Tanaka Mayumi-san’s birthday.

She debuted in the 1970s. And in the 5th Seiyu Awards, she was the first one to win the Takahashi Kazue Prize, which is given to those who spread the profession of voice acting through the media.
In 2020, she played roles in titles such as “One Piece” and “Gegege no Kitarou”. There was also a streaming of the latest title in the “Mashin Hero Wataru Series”, “Mashin Hero Wataru: The Seven Spirits of Ryuujinmaru”.

To celebrate Tanaka Mayumi-san’s birthday, we conducted the same survey as last year, asking, “Who is Your Favorite Character Voiced by Tanaka Mayumi-san?” There were 151 votes during the voting period from December 29 to January 5.
There were a bit more female voters with a gender ratio of 40% male to 60% female, and the age range was widely spread with 30% under 20 and 50% in their 40s.

■Topping the list was Ikusabe Wataru, fans rejoiced about the new series
1st Place
Topping the list was Ikusabe Wataru from “Mashin Hero Wataru” with roughly 25% of the votes, keeping the top position from last year.

There were especially many votes from fans in their 30s and 40s saying, “It was the first anime that I was crazy about,” “It’s been 33 years since the first series was broadcast, and I still love the show,” and “He’s THE protagonist character with a cheerful, energetic personality, accompanied with mischief and honesty of an elementary school student. Mayumi-san’s acting in the intense scenes put tears in my eyes.”

In 2020, the latest online anime “Mashin Hero Wataru: The Seven Spirits of Ryuujinmaru” was released. We received comments of joy from long-time fans such as, “I’m happy to see her being able to act the same as she did back in the day,” and “I was happy to see ‘Wataru’ with Mayumi-san’s voice again.”

2nd Place
Coming in 2nd was Monkey D Luffy from “One Piece” with roughly 16% of the votes. He also kept his position from last year.

“When it comes to characters played by Tanaka Mayumi-san, Luffy is the first to come to my mind. He’s a proudhearted pirate that will stop at nothing to become the Pirate King and takes good care of his crew,” “I started watching the show when I was a child. I now have a job and she still plays Luffy. That’s so amazing!” and “It is one of Tanaka Mayumi-san’s masterpiece works, and is a character that represents Japanese manga and anime,” are some of the comments that pointed out how long she has played the character and how well that character is known.

3rd Place
Settsu no Kirimaru from “Nintama Rantarou” took 3rd place with roughly 9% of the votes, moving him up a position from 4th place last year.
He also received many votes from long-time fans, and there was even a comment saying, “Kirimaru was my first love.” Many comments referred to his love for money, “Even after I’ve grown up, the scene where his eyes turn into coins makes me laugh hard,” and “I’ve known him since I was a child. It’s amazing how he works part-time to make money even though he’s still a kid.”

■Here are some comments for other characters!
For Ira from “Doki Doki! Pretty Cure”, “I was impressed by how she depicted the difference between when he was the enemy of Pretty Cure and when he lost his memories. I also enjoyed watching him flirt with Rikka.”
For Kirishima Kanna from “Sakura Wars”, “Her brightness and energy give power to everyone around her. I loved how the character was like Mayumi-san herself.”

For Pazu from “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”, “I think Tanaka Mayumi-san is the best at portraying an energetic and kind boy,” and “Tanaka Mayumi-san brought out the best of Pazu, who is honest, brave, kind, and dependable.”
There were also votes for a timeless classic. For Fujinami Ryuunosuke from “Urusei Yatsura”, “It’s a work from the Showa era, but it was progressive with its 2D characters such as orekko’s (girls that refer to themselves as ‘ore’, which is used by boys) and beautiful girls that dress like boys. I was born in the Heisei era, but the work isn’t old even to my eyes.”

More than half of the top 10 characters were male characters, and the energetic boys were especially popular in this survey.
When looking at all the characters that received votes, there were also some non-human characters like Hanimaru from “Ooi! Hanimaru”.

■Top 10
[Who is Your Favorite Character Voiced by Tanaka Mayumi-san? 2020 Edition]
1. Ikusabe Wataru “Mashin Hero Wataru”
2. Monkey D Luffy “One Piece”
3. Settsu no Kirimaru “Nintama Rantarou”
4. Fujinami Ryuunosuke “Urusei Yatsura”
5. Ira “Doki Doki! Pretty Cure”
6. Pazu “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”
7. Kirishima Kanna “Sakura Wars”
8. Krillin “Dragon Ball”
8. Koenma “YuYu Hakusho”
8. Chibita “Osomatsu-kun”

(Voting Period: December 29, 2020 to January 5, 2021)