Commemorating Ootsuka Houchuu’s birthday! Who is your favorite character? The third place was Deneb from “Kamen Rider Den-O”, the 2nd place was Abuto from “Gintama”…He collects support from anime, tokusatsu, foreign movies, etc…!

May 19 is Ootsuka Houchuu’s birthday.

Ootsuka Houchuu-san is the active voice actor since 1980’s, and he received the assistant actor award in the 11th Voice Actors Award. Not only he is famous for playing dubbed version of the movies from overseas, he is well-known for narrating the news and variety shows.
Between 2020 and 2021, he played characters in “Baki”, “EDENS ZERO”, and “THE LEGEND OF HEI”.

Here at Anime!Anime!, to celebrate Ootsuka Houchuu’s birthday, we conducted the survey titled “Who is your favorite character played by Ootsuka Houchuu?”, following the previous year. Between May 9 and May 15, 140 people answered the survey.
The female votes made up the majority with the rate of approximately 60%, while the male voters made up approximately 40%. The minors made up approximately 30% and the voters in 20’s made up approximately 30%. The 30’s made up about 20%.

■Various characters from anime, tokusatsu, and foreign movies, have assembled!
1st Place
The 1st place went to Jiraiya from “NARUTO”. The support rating was approximately 18%, and he ranked on the top for 3 consecutive years.

The comments to Jiraiya said, “He looks charming even from the perspective of a man”, “he is the greatest teacher”, and “I became Houchuu-san’s fan from ‘NARUTO’”. Some comments mentioned his gap between different occasions: “He is sometimes pervert, but he looks cool when he needs to be”.

2nd Place
The 2nd place was Abuto from “Gintama”. The support rating was approximately 15%, and ranked higher compared to the last year, which he ranked in the 4th.

As the subordinate of Kamui, the older brother of Kagura, Abuto received comments like the following: “Although he is the experienced boss of the space pirates, he is kind, middle-aged man who looks familiar from his whistling atmosphere. Houchuu-san’s deep voice and easy-going feeling matched nicely with the character”, “I like how hard-working Abuto gets in trouble because of Kamui!”, “Though he looks tired all the time, Houchuu-san showed his uniqueness when playing Abuto being not too frank as a mature adult”.

3rd Place
The 3rd place went to Deneb from “Kamen Rider Den-O”. The support rating was approximately 9%, and ranked one spot lower than the previous year.
The comments to the Imagine Deneb said, “I love how cute he is, although he is actually strong”, “Only Houchuu-san could express his motherhood”, and “Ootsuka-san’s handsome voice was memorable when playing cute characters like Deneb”. He gained a great support for playing kind and caring character.

■Introducing other comments!
To Lieutenant Tsurumi from “Golden Kamui”: “Houchuu-san made Lieutenant Tsurumi, who often charms others easily, into even more charming character. I like the gap between chaotic lines and when he speak seriously.”
To Soldier No. 8 from “Nichijou”: “I laughed at the gap created between nice baritone voice and funny lines.”

To Sendou Akira from “SLAM DUNK”: “I was surprised at first, but I learned that his voice matched nicely from the beginning to Sendou-san.”
To Ipu Man from “Ipu Man Kung Fu Master”: “Dubbed version played by Houchuu-san enhanced the gap between Ipu Man’s kindness played by Donny Ian and toughness expressed when he is fighting.”

In this survey, not only the characters from the anime ranked in, but also the characters from tokusatsu, and dramas and movies from overseas appear in the ranking. The votes had been distributed to the works from 1980 to the present.

■Ranking Top 20:
1st: Jiraiya from “NARUTO”
2nd: Abuto from “Gintama”
3rd: Deneb from “Kamen Rider Den-O”
4th: Urokodaki Sakonji from “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”
5th: Signalman Police Koban from “Gekisou Sentai Car Ranger”
6th: Lieutenant Tsurumi from “Golden Kamui”
7th: Satou from “Ajin”
8th: Sendou Akira from “SLAM DUNK”
9th: Danny Turner from “Full House”
9th: Hakurou from “That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime”
11th: Sanada Shirou from “Space Warship Yamato 2199”
12th: Miura Cao from “Heavy Metal L-Gaim”
12th: Z from “ONE PIECE FILM Z”

(Survey conducted from May 19 , 2021 to May 21, 2021)

※This survey was conducted as a research on “the interest on current anime and characters”. The result does not determine any superiority not inferiority between works and the characters. Please read this as a source of you to expand the perspective regarding anime and characters.