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May 30 is Hoshi Souichirou-san’s birthday.

He debuted as a voice actor in the 1990s and has played various characters. In 2021, he has roles in titles such as “Higurashi When They Cry Gou”, “Fukkou Ouen Masamune Datenicle Gattaiban +”, and “Idolish7: Third BEAT!”.
He is active in a wide range, not only as a voice actor but also as a supervisor for the smartphone RPG “RenCa:A/N”.

To celebrate his birthday, we at Anime!Anime! conducted the same readers’ survey as last year asking, “Who’s Your Favorite Character Voiced by Hoshi Souichirou?”. There were 315 votes during the survey period from May 19 to May 26.
The voters were mainly female with a gender ratio of 80% female to 20% male, and the age range was on the younger side with 30% under 20, 30% in their 20s, and 30% in their 30s.

■An idol, pilot, transfer student, etc… Various types of characters made the list!
1st Place
Toppin the list was Momo from “Idoish7”. He kept the top position for two consecutive years with roughly 30% of the votes.
He was popular for being a character that cheers others up and received comments like, “A cheerful and dependable senpai! His positive attitude of overcoming hardship and his words of wisdom gave me a lot of courage,” “His portrayal of the always cheerful and kind, yet also sensitive Momo was amazing. When Momo was distressed and troubled, it made my heart ache, and when Momo was happy, it made me also happy. His performance drew me into the story!” and “How he and Yuki, his partner in Re:vale, are great buddies and support each other makes me want to cheer for them.”
“Idolish7: Third BEAT!” is scheduled to start in July 2021. The character from a popular series received twice as many votes as the character in 2nd place.

2nd Place
Coming in 2nd was Kira Yamato with roughly 13% of the votes. He also kept his position from last year.

“I love everything about him, his cute looks that you wouldn’t expect from a Gundam protagonist, his voice that still has a boyish quality, his intelligence that can instantly understand Gundam’s OS, and the way he kept fighting for his beliefs despite his troubles,” “I love how Hoshi-san’s kind voice matches Kira’s personality. He’s a charming, kind character who cares about his friends, yet is strong and cool in battles,” and “I fell in love with Hoshi-san’s performance again, when seeing Kira, who was cute, fragile, and sad in ‘SEED’, all grown up in the sequel ‘DESTINY’,” are some of the comments he received.
Many votes for him were from those in their late 20s to 30s, who watched the show back in the original broadcast, and many of them said they got interested in “Gundam” or even anime itself since watching this show.

3rd Place
Maebara Keiichi from “Higurashi When They Cry” took 3rd place with roughly 10% of the votes, moving him up from last year’s 8th place.
Maebara Keiichi is a transfer student who has moved from the city to Hinamizawa. The protagonist who gets involved in mysterious incidents received votes like, “I think Keiichi adds to the fun in the club members of ‘Higurashi’ and brings the best out of them,” “The snappy reactions and screams perfectly match my image of the character,” and “His portrayal of the various emotions is amazing.”

He moved up the list thanks to “Higurashi When They Cry: Gou”, the new anime that started in 2020. There was also a comment surprised by his voice not changing over the 7 years, “His voice hasn’t changed a bit, and I felt the return of Keiichi!”
“Higurashi When They Cry: Sotsu” is scheduled to be broadcast from July.

■Here are some comments for other characters!
For Tachibana Senzou from “Nintama Rantarou”, “It’s fun to watch Hoshi-san, who often plays energetic characters, playing the cool and talented senior student of the Ninjutsu Academy. It’s also interesting to see the character go crazy from time to time.”
For Kasamatsu Yukio from “Kuroko’s Basketball”, “He’s competitive and has a strong sense of responsibility. I respect him for changing Kise Ryouta of the Generation of Miracles by treating him as an ordinary rookie member and not as a special person.”

For Batetemoda from “Healin’ Good Pretty Cure”, “Yasushi-san is the only one who can portray the luck-pushing yet ambitious villain in a cute manner! I enjoyed watching him every week adopting the latest trends like rap and the Shupei pose.”
For the first user of One For All in “My Hero Academia”, a character he played in the latest series, “The strength, fragility, and gentleness of the first user, all packed in Hoshi-san’s voice, was fantastic!”

While many popular characters were dominant in the 2021 survey, characters from titles that had their latest series broadcast recently also made the list. Characters from a wide generation received votes.

[Top 20]
[Who’s Your Favorite Character Voiced by Hoshi Souichirou? 2021 Edition]
1. Momo “Idolish7”
2. Kira Yamato “Mobile Suit Gundam SEED”
3. Maebara Keiichi “Higurashi When They Cry”
4. Son Goku “Saiyuuki”
5. Sanada Yukimura “Sengoku BASARA”
6. Tachibana Senzou “Nintama Rantarou”
7. Birca “Engine Sentai Go-onger”
8. Kasamatsu Yukio “Kuroko’s Basketball”
9. Mukahi Gakuto “Prince of Tennis”
10. Kusanagi Kei “Please Teacher!”
11. Akechi Gorou “PERSONA 5 the Animation”
11. First User of One For All “My Hero Academia”
13. Alviss “MÄR”
13. Sakurai Tomoki “Heaven’s Lost Property”
15. Kazuma “s-CRY-ed”
15. Keele Zeibel “Tales of Eternia”
15. Giou Yuki “The Betrayal Knows My Name”
15. Kain Blueriver “Lost Universe”
15. Taira no Atsumori “Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3”
15. Brera Sterne “Macross Frontier”
15. Yashamaru “NARUTO”
15. Risotto “Croket!”

(Voting Period: May 19 – May 26, 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.