April 6 is “White Day”. It is an anniversary established based on the wordplay of 46 (“shi” + “ro” – white in Japanese).
White is a special color, which reflects light. It is often used as an image color of anime and game characters, and it can be drawn in various ways, such as having pure white hair, preferring white clothes, or having a nickname related to white.
Among all these characters, who comes to your mind first when you think about white?
Here at Anime!Anime!, we conducted an annual reader survey entitled “What character has white as their image color?” We received responses from 295 people during the survey period from March 23 to March 30.
The male-female ratio was about 25% for males and about 75% for females. About 50% of the age group were minors, and about 30% were in their 20s.
■ Makishima Shougo from “PSYCHO-PASS” tops the list! Animal characters are also ranked in!
1st place
1st place goes to Makishima Shougo from “PSYCHO-PASS” with an approval rating of about 12%, up from 5th place last year.
The attractive enemy gained many votes, “He looks like a man of gentle manners with white hair and clothes. However, since all he is thinking about are bad things, there is a huge gap with his appearances. And he is also very charismatic!”, and “Despite the image of white innocence, it was shocking to see him in white and do bad things throughout the series.” A character whose white color amplifies the bewitching effect shines at the top of the list.
2nd place
2nd place goes to Phantom Thief Kid from “Detective Conan” and “Magic Kaito” with an approval rating of about 10%.
The white costume and the pretty personality attracted fans., “A phantom thief gentleman who can fly in the night sky in a pure white costume! He is nice, cool, and willing to help Conan!”, and “Even though he is a Phantom Thief, who is wearing conspicuous white clothes, the Phantom Thief Kid also steals people’s hearts together with jewelry by being insanely nice.”
3rd place
3rd place goes to Sakata Gintoki from “Gintama” with an approval rating of about 9%, down one place from last year’s 2nd place.
Readers commented, “Overwhelming strength and visuals with the nickname ‘Pakuyasa’. The gray-haired Tenpa of Gin-san is memorable.”, and “The image of white hair and clothes feels like it can’t be colored any other way.” Many people vote for him because of his former nickname and characteristic hair.
■Let’s introduce other comments!
For Cure White from “Futari wa Pretty Cure”, “Since she is the first white character in the ‘PreCure’ series”, and “See the fighting heroine in white was refreshing.”
For Elsa from “Frozen”, “I think, she is a character like the Snow Queen.”
About Gojou Satoru from “Jujutsu Kaisen”, “There aren’t many cool characters who look that good with gray hair!”, and “White hair and eyelashes are impressive.”
For Shiromo from “PUI PUI Molker”, popular stop-motion anime, “The white and round body, the symmetrical black eyes, and the bearish personality is just too cute. Will be robber or zombie also cute this way?”
In the 2021 version of the survey, familiar characters show strength, while new characters broadcast this year are also ranked in multiple ranks.
■ Ranking Top-20
“Speaking about characters in white?”
1st place Makishima Shougo “PSYCHO-PASS”
2nd place Kaito Kuroba / Kid the Phantom Thief “Detective Conan” “Magic Kaito”
3rd place Sakata Gintoki “Gintama”
4th place Shimotsuki Hayashi “Tsukiuta. THE ANIMATION ”
5th place Nakajima Atsushi “Bungo Stray Dogs”
6th place Cure White “Futari wa Pretty Cure”
7th place Elizabeth “Gintama”
7th place Kamimatsu “Mr. Osomatsu”
9th place White blood cells “Cells at Work!”
10th place Kuninaga Tsurumaru “Touken Ranbu:Hanamaru” “Live Touken Ranbu”
10th place Norman “The Promised Neverland”
10th place Minami Kotori “Love Live!”
13th place Amuro Toru “Detective Conan”
13th place White “No Game No Life”
15th place Sora Yuma “World Trigger”
15th place Gojou Satoru “Jujutsu Kaisen”
17th place Cure Rhythm “Suite PreCure ♪”
17th place Shiro “Crayon Shin-chan”
19th place Accelerator “A Certain Magical Index”
19th place Killua Zoldyck “HUNTER x HUNTER”
19th place Lan Zhan “Mo Dao Zu Shi”
(Response period: March 23 to March 30, 2021)
* This survey 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.