July 30 is Kimura Ryouhei-san’s birthday.

He was in TV shows, stage plays, and anime since he was a child, and won Best Actors in supporting roles in the 6th Seiyu Awards back in 2012. In 2021, he plays main characters in various anime, including “The World Ends with You: The Animation”, “Odd Taxi”, and “Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan”. He also started his official YouTube channel “Ryouhei wa Sake Nominagara Game Shitai.” and his gameplay videos are popular too.

To celebrate his birthday, we conducted the same readers’ survey as last year, “Who’s Your Favorite Character Played by Kimura Ryouhei-san?” There were 355 votes during the survey period from July 13 to July 20.
The voters were mainly female with a gender ratio of 85% female to 15% male. The age range was on the younger side with 30% under 20 and 40% in their 20s.

■”Haikyuu!!” Bokuto Koutarou keeps the top position from last year!

1st Place
Bokuto Koutarou from “Haikyuu!!” topped the list for two consecutive years with roughly 20% of the votes.

He is the captain of the Fukuroudani Academy Volly Ball Club. “I love the gap between the usual cheerful Bokuto-san and the depressed Bokuto-san! It’s amazing how the same character has two different unique personalities,” and “His excited voice gives me energy! On the other hand, it’s funny when he gets depressed, haha,” are comments from fans that like his mood swing.
There was also a comment pointing out how Kimura-san embodies the character, “All the different tones of voices matched perfectly, and I realized that this is how a character comes to life.”

2nd Place
Coming in 2nd place is Wei Wuxian from “Mo Dao Zu Shi” with roughly 14% of the votes.

Wei Wuxian, the main character of “Mo Dao Zu Shi”, mastered the Demonic Cultivation to controlcontrols the dead with a flute. Many fans were surprised by the various emotions of the character and said, “His emotions change rapidly, and Ryouhei-san’s voice really matches him! I love how he whispers ‘Get up,’ in the corpse’s ear,” “Kimura-san’s intonation is comforting and well portrays the free-spirited and naive personality of Wei Wuxian who gets carried away easily,” and “I was overwhelmed by how he expressed the character’s anger, sadness, and despair, in addition to his free-spirited and energetic nature.”
An anime that had its dubbed version broadcast in 2021 made it in the top 3 of the list.

3rd Place
Kise Ryouta from “Kuroko’s Basketball” took 3rd place with roughly 9% of the votes. He dropped a position last year.

He looks like a shallow character, but his sincere attitude towards basketball won the hearts of his fans and received comments like, “He’s usually a flirt but he’s so cool when he plays basketball,” and “It’s amazing how he obtained The Perfect Copy and recreates any kind of play.” He’s also a fashion model, and his glamorous side also makes him popular.

■Here are some comments for other characters!

For Izuminokami Kanesada from “Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-“, “Kane-san inherits the passion of his former master Hisjikata Toshizou. I like the way his passion and coolness are expressed and how his shallowness gradually seeps through.”
For Takizawa Akira from “Eden of the East”, “The prince is a naturally likable person, and is a genius in turning a pinch into a chance! No matter what the situation, Takizawa-kun will find a way out of it.”

For Tartaglia from “Genshin”, “Since he uses Tartagliarya in his gameplay, it’s nice to be able to hear his regular voice and the character’s voice. Kimura-san’s love for the character is amazing!”

There were also votes for an anime that received a film adaptation, Takakura Shouma from “Penguindrum”, “Ryouhei-san’s performance portrays how his kindness puts him at the mercy of everyone around him and that he really loves his family.”

In the 2021 survey, while BokutoKimura Koutarou from “Haikyuu!!” is still popular, there were also new characters making it on the list. There were votes for not only anime characters but also characters from games and media mix projects.

■Top 20
“Who’s Your Favorite Character Played by Kimura Ryouhei-san? 2021 Edition”

1. Bokuto Koutarou “Haikyuu!!”
2. Wei Wuxian “Mo Dao Zu Shi”
3. Kise Ryouta “Kuroko’s Basketball”
4. Tartaglia “Genshin”
4. Hinata Hideki “Angel Beats!”
6. Asmodeus Alice “Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun”
7. Lawless “Servamp”
8. Izuminokami Kanesada “Touken Ranbu -ONLINE-”
8. Shimotsuki Shun “Tsukiuta. THE ANIMATION”
8. Hayata Shinjirou “ULTRAMAN”
11. Mukami Kou “DIABOLIK LOVERS”
12. Juumonji Tsubasa “Rin-ne”
12. Judar “Magi”
12. Sorey “Tales of Zestiria”
12. Takizawa Akira “Eden of the East”
16. Lord Enma “Yo-kai Watch”
16. Takakura Shouma “Penguindrum”
16. Hyuga Yamato “Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Series”
16. Joshua “The World Ends with You: The Animation”
20. Arthur Conan Doyle “Ikemen Vampire: Ijintachi to Koi no Yuuwaku”
20. Suzumiya Hajime “Aopella?!”
20. Toono Hiyori “Free! – Dive to the Future”
20. Nishimura Satoru “Natsume’s Book of Friends”

(Survey Period: July 13 – July 20, 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.