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Mar. 31 is Sakamoto Maaya’s birthday.

Sakamoto Maaya made her debut as a voice actress around 1990’s. In 2021, she has played several main characters in well-known works, including “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time” and “Fate/Grand Order THE MOVIE: Divine Realm of the Round Table-Paladin; Agateram”.
She is also popular as a singer. She released her concept album called “Duets” on Mar. 17, and she held 25th-anniversary concert titled “Yakusoku wa Iranai” (I don’t need any promise) on Mar. 20 and 21.

To celebrate Sakamoto Maaya’s birthday, we conducted a reader’s survey titled, “Who is your favorite character played by Sakamoto Maaya?”. The survey was conducted from Mar. 16 to Mar. 23, and a total of 176 readers answered. In the survey, the female readers made up the majority with 55%, while the male readers made up approximately 45%. For the age group, the minors made up approximately 40%, and 20’s made up 30%.

■Echidona from “Re:Zero” The character from the new series ranked in the top!

1st Place
The 1st place goes to Echidona from “Re:Zero-Starting New Life in Another World”. The support rating was approximately 12%.

Many fans seemed to be charmed for her unexpected personality, and the comments related to it said, “Although she is the Witch of Greed, she sometimes can be an innocent girl and has a charming personality, and I was fully charmed by the acting. I cannot think of another actress playing Echidona”, and “I love how her cuteness when she makes careless mistakes”.
Moreover, for the long line in episode 37, the comments mentioned that said, “I was so surprised that Sakamoto-san fully acted through 2-minute line, and the fact that her acting was finished for the first take.”

2nd Place
The 2nd place goes to Ciel Phantomhive from “Kuroshitsuji” (Black Butler). The difference between the 2nd place was very small, and the character ranked in the same place as last year.

The comments about Ciel said, “Sakamoto-san’s boyish voice full of intelligence makes Ciel even more charming”, “Sakamoto Maaya-san’s noble voice made him even more noble”, “I learned about Sakamoto Maaya-san from this anime. It was impressive to see the acting which nicely showed Ciel’s strictness as a master and his true personality as a young boy”. Sakamoto seemed to be also popular for playing young boy.

3rd Place
The 3rd place is shared between Oshino Shinobu from the “Monogatari” series and Ryougi Shiki from “The Garden of Sinners”. The support rating was approximately 9%.

The comment to Oshino Shinobu said, “The gap between childish and elderly voice was wonderful”, and “I was surprised by playing Oshino Shinobu in various age levels”.

The comments to Ryougi Shiki said, “The atmosphere of Ryougi Shiki in the work and Maaya-san’s voice matched well”, and “I was glad that she played the character as it is written in the original novel which I love”.

■Introducing other comments!!

For Kanzaki Hitomi from “The vision of Escaflowne”: “I first heard Sakamoto Maaya-san’s voice in this anime. I love the anime itself. It was touching to see her debut song ‘Yakusoku wa Iranai” became the title of her 25th-anniversary concert”.

For Tamayo from “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”, “Her voice matched nicely with beautiful and noble characteristic”, and “I want to see her in the anime soon”.

To Padme Amidala from “STAR WARS”: “I think her voice matched perfectly with Amida, which is originally played by Nataly Portman. Her responsibility as a national leader and her kindness toward her people was well expressed, and the relationship with Anakin made me cry”.

Makiha Mari Illustrous from “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time”, ‘I was charmed by her actions in “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time”. When I look back, cute, friendly, mysterious, and strong character of Maki was well expressed because the role was given to Maaya-san’.
Comments for the work which is screening now also arrived..

The new character ranked in for the survey of 2021. There are even the characters from ongoing works, including “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time”.

■Ranking Top 20
“Who is your favorite character played by Sakamoto Maaya? 2021 ver.”

1st: Echidona from “Re:Zero-Starting New Life in Another World”
2nd: Ciel Phantomhive from “Kuroshitsuji”
3rd: Oshino Shinobu (Kisshot Acerolaorion Heartunderblade) from “Monogatari” series
3rd: Ryougi Shiki from “The Garden of Sinners”
5th: Makiha Mari Illustrious from “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time”
6th: Tamayo from “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”
8th; Kanzaki Hitomi from “The Vision of Escaflowne”
8th: Shou Kusagabe from “Fire Force”
8th: Marin from “Seven Deadly Sins”
11th: Cutie Honey/ Kisaragi Honey from “Cuie Honey Universe”
12th: Akashi-san from “Tatami Unniverse”
12th: Jeanne D’Arc from “Fate/Apocrypha”
12th: Padme Amidala from “STAR WARS”
12th: Fujioka Haruhi from “Ouran High School Host Club”
12th: Misaki Reika “RahXephon”
17th: Anzu from “Ensemble Stars!”
17th: Kumata Haruto from “Fruits Basket” (2019 ver)
17th: Lightning from “Final Fantasy XIII”
20th: Aigis from “Persona 3”
20th: Administrator from “Sword Art Online Alicization”
20th: Eto from “Tokyo Ghoul”
20th: Okunyo from “Okuyo: The Woman of Fate”
20th: Leonard Da Vinch from “Fate/Grand Order”

(Survey conducted: Mar. 16, 2021 to Mar. 23, 2021)