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April 2 is Namikawa Daisuke’s birthday.

Namikawa Daisuke has been active as a voice actor since he was a child actor, and from 2020 to 2021, he played the main character in many titles, including “The Gymnastics Samurai”, “Violet Evergarden: The Movie”, “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation”.
He is also active in a wide range of fields, including being the director of the new sensation reading project “READING MUSEUM”.

To celebrate Namikawa Daisuke’s birthday, we conducted an annual reader survey entitled “Who is your favorite character played by Namikawa Daisuke?”. We received responses from 243 people during the survey period from March 20 to March 27.
The male-female ratio is about 30% for males and about 70% for females. About 50% of the age group were teens, and about 25% were in their 20s.

■ Oikawa Toru from “Haikyu !!” is topping the list for 3 consecutive years with a double score!
1st place
1st place goes to Oikawa Toru of “Haikyu !!” with an approval rating of about 28%, topping the list again for 3 consecutive year.

The reliable captain of the Aoba Josai High School volleyball club with a calm face gained popularity, “At first glance, he seems to be a womanizer, but when it comes to volleyball, he’s the best captain who will do everything and can be relied on by his friends.”, and “Oikawa-san is usually in calm, but as a captain, he is insanely friendly and is the coolest during the match. I’m just grateful to Namikawa-san for perfectly performing various aspects of Oikawa-san!”

2nd place
2nd place goes to Gilbert Bougainvillea from “Violet Evergarden” with an approval rating of about 10%, which is a big increase from last year’s 11th place.

Gilbert is a major boss of the main character, Violet. readers commented, “I was touched by Major Gilbert’s words, ‘I love you from the bottom of my heart.'”, “Although he is the main character, he doesn’t have a lot of scenes, but among them, emotional excitement and conflicts are firmly expressed, and all emotions were delivered well.”, “A voice that sways with fine breathing and feelings. The flipped screams added to Gilbert’s love.” Probably the release of the movie in 2020 was the reason for being ranked up.

3rd place
3rd place goes to Italy from “Hetalia Axis Powers” with an approval rating of about 7%, up from 8th place last year.

Italy, as the name implies, is an anthropomorphic character of Italy. Many readers said that they get to know about Namikawa through this title, “I think it’s amazing that the same voicing can be performed even after more than 10 years have passed since the first released.” and “I think Namikawa’s character has the biggest gap from his usual way of speaking. His words are healing me.”
From April, the newest work “Hetalia World Stars” will be broadcast.

■ Let’s introduce other comments!
Waver Velvet from “Fate / Zero”, “I still remember how cute the voice of a sloppy heroine boy was.”
For Ichijou Seiya from Gyakkyo Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen”, “I bought a DVD when I first saw it. ‘But it’s crazy… It’s not a dream…!’ It was more than I expected.”

For Kazehaya Shota “Kimi ni Todoke”, “I love the freshness, purity, cleanliness, and coolness that surpass the original image.”
About Aragaki Jotaro from “The Gymnastics Samurai”, titles released in 2020, “I was impressed by the fierce and gag story of a gymnast Aragaki Jotaro overcoming a big wall!”

According to the 2021 version of the survey, the characters from the titles that will be broadcast and released from 20 to 21 dominate the top-3. The ranking has changed significantly since last year, and we were able to reconfirm that Namikawa-san has played many attractive characters.

■ Ranking Top 20
“Who is your favorite character played by Namikawa Daisuke? 2021 Edition”
1st place Oikawa Toru “Haikyu!!”
2nd place Gilbert Bougainvillea “Violet Evergarden”
3rd place Italy “Hetalia Axis Powers”
4th place Kazehaya Shota “Kimi ni Todoke”
5th place Otori Chotaro “Prince of Tennis”
6th place Scott Tracy “Thunderbirds Are Go”
7th place Ishikawa Goemon “Lupin III”
7th place Mori Ogai “Meiji Tokyo Renka”
9th place Hisoka-Morrow “HUNTER x HUNTER”
10th place Engine Sentai Go-onger “Engine Sentai Go-onger ”
11th place Waver Velvet “Fate / Zero”
11th place Saito Takamaru “Nintama Rantaro”
11th place Tokugawa Kiyoshi “Gintama”
14th place Jellal Fernandez “FAIRY TAIL”
15th place Tympanite “Jujutsu Kaisen”
15th place Narukami Yu “Persona4 the ANIMATION”
15th place Lord Elmeroi II “Case Files of Lord Elmeroi II: Magic Eye Collection Train Grace note”
18th place Tachikawa Kei “World Trigger”
19th place Aragaki Jotaro “The Gymnastics Samurai”
19th place Isana Yashiro “K”
19th place Ulquiorra Cifer “BLEACH”
19th place Kamishiro Maika “Onegai Twins”
19th place Liddy Mercenas “Mobile Suit Gundam UC”
19th Lindel “The Ancient Magus’ Bride”
19th place Louis Geld Spelldia “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation”
19th place Lucario “Pokemon”
19th place Rotom Zukan “Pokemon Sun & Moon”

(Response period: March 20, 2021 to March 27, 2021)

* This questionnaire is part of a survey of readers’ awareness of “current interest in and attention to anime works and characters.” Regarding the results, we do not intend to decide the superiority or inferiority of any character or work. We hope that this article will help you to get to know new works and characters, and to deepen your understanding and interest.