Anime Anime Global

September 6 is “Black Day”.

It is an anniversary based on the words play “Ku (9), Ro (6)” (“Kuro” means “Black” in Japanese) established by the Kyoto Sumizome Industry Cooperative to popularize kuromonpuku (male black wedding kimono) and kurotomesode (black kimono for married women).

There are many characters whose image color is black in anime and games. There are various ways of showing it, such as having a street name related to black, always wearing black clothes, or having some character in the name related to black. Among all those characters related to a black color, who impressed you the most?

Here at Anime!Anime!, we conducted a reader survey entitled “Speaking of characters whose image color is black, who comes to your mind?” We received responses from 235 people during the survey period from August 22 to August 29.
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.

■ Kirito from “SAO” is topping the list! The expectations of his actions in the latest work are high!

1st place

1st place goes to Kirito from “Sword Art Online” with an approval rating of about 13%.

Readers commented, “All his equipment is based on black, and even in the work he has nicknames such as ‘Black Knight’ and ‘Blacky teacher’, which make him the one.”, and “The owner of the power suitable for his nickname. His lonely fighting figure matches the black color the best. ”

“Sword Art Online the Movie: Aria of a Starless Night” will be released on October 30. It will tell the story of the beginning of the game world, Aincard, where Kirito became a black knight.

2nd place

2nd place goes to Akutagawa Ryunosuke from “Bungo Stray Dogs” with an approval rating of about 9%.

Readers commented on how not just the image but the special moves of Akutagawa Ryunosuke, a member of the Port Mafia, fit to black color, “Because he has black hair, wears a black cloak and his entire body is covered in black items”, and “Because even the beast of Rashomon, one of his abilities, is also reminiscent of black.”
Another character of “Bungo Stray Dogs”, Dazai Osamu, is ranked in 15 place. Some readers commented on how they like Dazai during the “Dark Era Arc”, when he belonged to the Port Mafia.

3rd place

3rd place goes to Jin from “Detective Conan” with an approval rating of about 8%.

The nemesis of the main protagonist, Conan, has been ranked in, “The most important figure in the Black Organization. Among the people in the organization, he is the most dangerous one. Although he wears black clothes all year long, he looks nice.”, and “When he talked with Vermouth, I was impressed by his line, “Even if black and black are mixed together… all you will get is black.”
Another character from “Conan”, the Criminal was ranked in 7 place. In addition to the fact that his entire figure is always black, the reason for votes is that he is the main character in the spin-off “Detective Conan: Hanzawa the Criminal”.

■ Let’s introduce other comments!

For Kuroko Tetsuya from “Kuroko’s Basketball”, “As his name suggests, he is like black shadow when he plays.”, and “Everyone from Generation of Miracles has hair and eyes of the same color as the name, but Kuroko is the only one whose eyes are light blue in the contrast to his hair.”
For Cure Black from “Futari wa Pretty Cure”, “The only one who wears a black costume in the ‘Pretty Cure’ series. She is the only one who is cute and cool at the same time!”

About Blackie from “Pokemon”, “The Pokemon who is black in normal color state and changed color state. Many devil-type Pokemons are dark, but this one looks like a cute black rabbit.”
For Cascade from “Midori no Makibao”, a non-human character who is also ranked in, “A rival character who is being called black killer or a black emperor. The contrast with the white hair of the main character Makibao is interesting.”

In this survey, multiple characters from the same titles tended to rank in. Three characters from “My Hero Academia”, Aizawa Shota appears in 9 place, Tokoyami Fumikage in 11 place, and Kuroiro Shihai and in 16 place. The result reconfirmed that there is the variety of black characters.

■ Ranking Top 20

“Speaking of characters whose image color is black, who comes to your mind?”
1st place Kirito “Sword Art Online”
2nd place Akutagawa Ryunosuke “Bungo Stray Dogs”
3rd place Jin “Detective Conan”
4th place Nagumo Tetsutora “Ensemble Stars!”
5th place Sebastian Michaelis “Black Butler”
6th place Kuroko Tetsuya “Kuroko’s Basketball”
7th place Diablo “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”
7th place The Criminal “Detective Conan”
9th place Aizawa Shota “My Hero Academia”
10th place Kuroo Tetsurou “Haikyu !!”
11th place Tokoyami Fumikage “My Hero Academia”
11th place Hiei “YuYu Hakusho”
11th place Misumi Nagisa / Cure Black “Futari wa Pretty Cure”
14th place Lelouch Lamperouge “Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion”
15th place Dazai Osamu “Bungo Stray Dogs”
16th Cascade “Midori no Makibao”
16th place Kuroiro Shihai “My Hero Academia”
16th place Kurosaki Ichigo “BLEACH”
16th place Tuxedo Mask “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon”
16th Nightmare King “Little Nemo”
16th place Naberius Kalego “Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun ”
16th place Hijikata Toshiro “Gintama”
16th place Blackie “Pocket Monster”
16th place Black Hole “Kinnikuman”
16th place Mutsuki Hajime “Tsukiuta. THE ANIMATION ”

(Response period: August 22, 2021 to August 29, 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.