Anime Anime Global

September 2 is “Shoes Day”.

It is an anniversary established by Diana, the store that specializes in woman’s shoes, basing on the words play “Ku (9), Tsu (2)” (“Kutsu” means “shoes” in Japanese). There are other anniversaries related to shoes like March 15 is the “Shoes Anniversary” established by the Japan Shoes Federation.

Many anime and games characters wear memorable shoes. There are various types, such as a custom-made model that only this person wears, flashy colored ones that attract attention from others when the character goes through the city, or ones with a normal design to which the character has strong feelings.

Here at Anime!Anime!, we conducted a reader survey entitled “Speaking about characters who wear impressive shoes, who comes to your mind?” We received responses from 150 people during the survey period from August 17 to August 24.
The male-female ratio is about 25% for males and about 75% for females. About 55% of the age group were teens, and about 25% were in their 20s.

■ Two people in red sneakers are topping the list!

1st place

1st place is shared between Edogawa Conan from “Detective Conan” and Midoriya Izuku from “My Hero Academia” with an approval rating of about 10%.

Conan loves the kick-strengthening shoes made by Dr. Agasa. The fact that Conan frequently wears these shoes the work make those popular, “An invention that looks like ordinary red sneakers but actually carries a tremendous kicking power. He can use the soccer ball to defeat the criminals and protect his friends.”, “I remember very well when I first saw the using of those – the ball broke through the goal net and knocked down a big tree.”, and “One of the most famous inventions in the work. Just by seeing those shoes you can tell that Conan is on the screen.”

Deku, Izuku Midoriya, is also a character wearing red sneakers. Readers commented, “Although he has a simple personality, he wears bright, eye-catching red shoes, which fit him for some reason. There is also an episode about shoes, which is more impressive.”, “Red shoes that shine with the green costume are great.”, and “In the manga popularity vote, there was a vote for Deku’s shoes, which is funny.” These are ordinary shoes, but they are gaining popularity as items that brighten the character’s feet.

3rd place

3rd place goes to Sakata Gintoki from “Gintama” with an approval rating of about 8%.

Gintoki’s black boots were praised for a unique sense, “The combination of Japanese clothes and boots is the most fashionable! Gin-san basically always wear the outfits of the same style, but the fashion that matches Japanese and Western styles is never getting old.”, and “It’s a novel look of boots with kimono without hakama, but it matches the world view of the work.” Some readers touched on the production of the movie version released this year, “In the end roll of ‘Gintama THE FINAL’, I was impressed by the fact that Gin-san, who keeps running, was caught in a cut with boots up, and I thought that he went on that path with those boots on his feet.”

■ Let’s introduce other comments!

For Benedict Blue from “Violet Evergarden”, “He is a postman, so I’m impressed by how well he wears shoes with very high heels.”
For Captain Harlock from “Space Pirate Captain Harlock”, “His costume is also fashionable, but I wonder if the upper part of the boots is folded or a separate part, what the ankle part is for”.

For Kinomoto Sakura from “Cardcaptor Sakura”, “I long for the magic shoes that enables her to fly around freely in the sky.”, and “I envy going to school with roller skates!”
For Woody from “Toy Story” says, “He loves cowboy boots with spurs. The name of the owner ‘Andy’ is written on the back of the shoes, and the decision line is ‘My boots rattlesnake.’ is great.” Some readers voted for the character from an overseas anime.

A wide variety of shoes are ranked in this survey. Characters wearing shoes that are memorable in many ways, such as having special powers and making the characters look cooler, are ranked up.

■ Top 10 rankings

“Speaking about characters who wear impressive shoes, who comes to your mind?”
1st place Edogawa Conan “Detective Conan”
1st place Midoriya Izuku “My Hero Academia”
3rd place Sakata Gintoki “Gintama”
4th place Woody “Toy Story”
4th place Floyd Reach “Disney Twisted Wonderland”
6th place Nakahara Chuya “Bungo Stray Dogs”
6th place Hao “Shaman King”
6th place Monkey D. Luffy “One Piece”
9th place IidaTenya “My Hero Academia”
9th place Kinomoto Sakura “Cardcaptor Sakura”
9th place Cinderella “Cinderella”
9th place Taikoubou “Hoshin Engi”
9th place Benedict Blue “Violet Evergarden”

(Response period: August 17, 2021 to August 24, 2021)

* This survey is part of a survey of readers’ awareness of “current interest in and attention to anime works and characters.” Regarding the results, we do not intend to decide the superiority or inferiority of any character or work. We hope that this article will help you to get to know new works and characters, and to deepen your understanding and interest.