May 5 is Takayama Minami-san’s birthday.

She debuted in the late 1980s, and since then, she has played many main characters in various titles. In 2021, she is taking part in titles such as “Shaman King” and “Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House”. There are also many characters who have been voiced by her for many years.

To celebrate her birthday, we conducted the annual survey , “Who’s Your Favorite Character Voiced by Takayama Minami-san?” We received 295 votes during the survey period from April 23 to April 30.
The voters were mainly female with 80% female to 20% male, and the age range was on the younger side with 45% under 19 and 30% in their 20s.

■Heros and Villans Both Made the List!
1st Place
1st place went to Edogawa Conan from “Detective Conan” with roughly 65% of the votes, keeping him a the top for 3 years in a row.

Many fans were fascinated by the gap within the character and sent comments, such as “It’s amazing how she changes her voice depending on the scene or who the character talks to like the childish voice to hide his identity and the cool voice when he’s breaking the case,” and “How he says ‘Arerere?’ to give clues of the case to the adults is so cute.”
“I get excited from the narration at the beginning of the show,” is a comment that shows how the beginning of the show is also popular.
The release of “The Scarlet Bullet”, the first film in 2 years, must have helped him boost his support compared to last year. The protagonist of a popular series made the top of the list.

2nd Place
Coming in 2nd was Hao from “Shaman King” with roughly 6% of the votes, climbing way up the ranking from last year’s 11th place.

The completely new “Shaman King” anime that started in April is the reason he moved up. Many fans expressed their joy saying, “I was so happy to hear Hao’s voice for the first time in 20 years, I couldn’t stop crying. I can’t wait to see him make a full-scale appearance,” “Takayama Minami-san’s intimidating voice gives me the shivers,” and “I can’t believe I can see Hao-sama played by Minami-san again!”

3rd Place
Inadera Rantarou from “Nintama Rantarou” took 3rd place with roughly 4% of the votes, moving him down a spot from last year’s 2nd place tie.

“I feel relief when I hear Rantarou’s voice from ‘Nintama’ I used to watch every day as a kid,” and “Rantarou is full of energy and kind to everyone. He’s such an approachable character,” are comments that show how the friendliness of the character is popular among the fans. The show has been broadcast on NHK since the early 1990s, so there were also many comments saying that they were introduced to Takayama-san through this title.

■Here Are Some Comments for Other Characters!
For Tendou Nabiki from “Ranma ½”, “Minami-san is well known for voicing young boys, but I like her cute girl voices too. Especially Nabiki, who really matches the voice with the older sister vibe, making the character even more amazing.”
For Fu Ka (Fu Hua) from “Honkai Impact 3rd”, “Publicly, she’s the class president of the school, but she actually is… I believe Takayama-san is the only one who could portray the different faces of Fu Ka.”

There were many fans who pointed out how she played several roles in the same title such as:
Dilandau Albatou from “The Vision of Escaflowne”, “I’ll never forget her role of the cruel, narcissistic character. She also plays a young prince and a female character in the same show. I’m blown away by how a single person plays three different characters.”
And Ursula from “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “I couldn’t notice Kiki and Ursula were both being voiced by her on my first view. I love Minami-san’s natural big sister acting. I also like how Ursula’s positive character fits Minami-san.”

In the 2021 survey, various characters of both genders made the list. Not only heroes but many villains were also popular among the fans.

■Top 10
[Who’s Your Favorite Character Voiced by Takayama Minami-san? 2021 Edition]
1. Edogawa Conan “Detective Conan”
2. Hao “Shaman King”
3. Inadera Rantarou “Nintama Rantarou”
4. Tendou Nabiki “Ranma ½”
5. Female Singer “Love Live! The School Idol Movie”
6. Kiki “Kiki’s Delivery Service”
7. Envy “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”
8. Mukuro “YuYu Hakusho”
9. Amou Kanade “Symphogear”
9. Kitarou “GeGeGe no Kitarou” (5th series)

(Survey Period: April 23 – April 30, 2021)

※This survey was held to investigate the readers’ “interests and attention towards current anime titles and characters”. The results should not be used to determine the supremacy of characters and titles. We hope this article will help you find new anime/characters and deepen your understanding of them.

■Overall Ranking
[Who’s Your Favorite Character Voiced by Takayama Minami-san? 2021 Edition]
1. Edogawa Conan “Detective Conan”
2. Hao “Shaman King”
3. Inadera Rantarou “Nintama Rantarou”
4. Tendou Nabiki “Ranma ½”
5. Female Singer “Love Live! The School Idol Movie”
6. Kiki “Kiki’s Delivery Service”
7. Envy “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”
8. Mukuro “YuYu Hakusho”
9. Amou Kanade “Symphogear”
9. Kitarou “GeGeGe no Kitarou” (5th series)
11. Dilandau Albatou “The Vision of Escaflowne”
11. Hinata Hajime “Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair”
11. Mithos “Tales of Symphonia Mithos”
14. Ajiyoshi Youichi “Mister Ajikko”
14. Ursula “Kiki’s Delivery Service”
14. Okei (Honda Keiko) “Crayon Shin-chan”
14. Moomin “Moomin”

(Survey Period: April 23 – April 30, 2021)

※This survey was held to investigate the readers’ “interests and attention towards current anime titles and characters”. The results should not be used to determine the supremacy of characters and titles. We hope this article will help you find new anime/characters and deepen your understanding of them.