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May 31 is Hidaka Noriko-san’s birthday.

After her days as a child actor, she debuted as a voice actor in the 1980s. She has played various roles including, pretty heroines, energetic boys, and caring mothers. In 2021, she is in popular works such as “Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet”. She also has her 40th-anniversary tribute festival “Non Fes the Concert ~Nonko 40th Anniversary Tribute Festival~” scheduled on June 20.

To celebrate her birthday, we at Anime!Anime! conducted the annual readers’ surveysame readers’ survey as last year asking, “Who’s Your Favorite Character Played by Hidaka Noriko-san?”. There were 237 votes during the survey period from May 20 to May 27.
The voters were mainly female with a gender ratio of 70% male to 30% female, and the gender ratio was on the younger side with 25% under 20, 30% in their 20s, and 25% in their 30s.

■Sera Masumi from “Conan”, who appeared in the latest film, is topping the listTopping the list was “Conan” Sera Masumi, who’s in the latest film!
1st Place
Topping the list was Sera Masumi from “Detective Conan”. She moved up from 2nd place with roughly 30% of the votes.

The high school girl Sera Masumi was popular for being both cool and cute, receiving comments like, “Now I think she’s a cool girl, but at first, I thought she was a boy! The portrayal of the cute Bokukko (a girl that uses ‘Boku’ as her pronoun) Sera-chan is amazing,” and “I love the boyish tone with a hint of femininity.”
There was also a comment pointing out “The Wizard of the Ripples”, an episode from 10 years ago, saying, “I was amazed by Hidaka-san also playing Sera-chan as a child.”

2nd Place
Coming in 2nd was Tendou Akane from “Ranma ½”. She dropped a position from last year with roughly 22% of the votes.

Akane is Saotome Ranma’s fiancée. “Akane-chan’s energetic tone that comes from her bright personality perfectly matches Nonko-san’s image. She has the internal heroine voice!”, “Nonko-san is the only person who can portray both her strong, cool side and vulnerable, sensitive side!”, and “I love her relationship with Rnama where they have feelings for each other but can’t be honest with them,” are comments that praise the portrayal of a heroine in her adolescence. She received votes mainly from readers in their 30s and up.

3rd Place
The Dominator from “PSYCHO-PASS” took 3rd place, the same position as last year, with roughly 12% of the votes.

The Dominator is the special gun used by the Public Safety Bureau. Hidaka-san is the system voice of the Dominator and was praised for how it matched the dystopian world of the title and received comments such as, “That creepy inorganic voice that somehow hints on having emotion is just amazing!”, and “Being able to express seriousness with a non-character role is a unique skill of hers.”

■Here are some comments for other characters!

For Takaya Noriko from “Gunbuster”, “One of the most passionate characters played by Hidaka-san,” and “The character lets me enjoy the screams.”
For Near from “DEATH NOTE”, “When I saw her name in the credits, I was surprised that she was able to use such a voice.”

There were also a few boy characters such as:
Seta Soujirou from “Rurouni Kenshin”, “It was amazing how she played the difficult role of a boy who lost all emotion except ease. The scene where he finally regains his emotions sent shivers down my spine.”
Jean from “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water”, “Hidaka-san’s boy voice matched the intellectual, kind, strong-willed, and passionate boy.”

Various characters received votes in the 2021 survey, which reminded us of how widespread her roles are. When you look at the overall ranking, you can see characters from a wide range of generations, from “Touch” in the 1980s to “Jujutsu Kaisen” in the 2020s.

■Overall Ranking
[Who’s Your Favorite Character Played by Hidaka Noriko-san? 2021 Edition]
1. Sera Masumi “Detective Conan”
2. Tendou Akane “Ranma ½”
3. The Dominator (The Sibyl System) “PSYCHO-PASS”
4. Takaya Noriko “Gunbuster”
5. Kikyou “Inuyasha”
6. Erica Fontaine “Sakura Wars”
7. Asakura Minami “Touch”
8. Kusakabe Satsuki “My Neighbor Totoro”
9. Seta Soujirou “Rurouni Kenshin”
9. Principal (Kotori’s Mother) “Love Live!”
11. Bell-mère (One Piece)
12. Pipimi (Pop Team Epic)
12. Tsukumo Yuki “Jujutsu Kaisen”
12. Jean “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water”

(Survey Period: May 20 – -May 27, 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.