September 7 is Yamashita Daiki’s birthday.

Yamashita Daiki debuted as a voice actor in the 2010s. He won the Rookie Actors Award at the 8th Seiyuu Awards, and in 2021 he has been playing the main characters in various titles, including “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro” and “Full Dive: This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life!”

He also debuted as an artist in March this year. His song “Tail” became the ED theme of “Seven Knights”, in which he played the leading role. He released his 1st EP “hear me?” on June 9, and fans were fascinated by his singing voice.

Therefore, to celebrate Yamashita Daiki’s birthday, we conducted an annual readers survey entitled “Who is your favorite character played by Yamashita Daiki?”. We received responses from 416 people during the survey period from August 23 to August 30.
The male-female ratio is about 15% for males and about 85% for females. About 60% of the age group were teens, and about 25% were in their 20s.

■ Deku from “Hiroaka” is topping the list for 3 consecutive years! The movie is also a big hit

1st place

1st place goes to Midoriya Izuku from “My Hero Academia” with an approval rating of about 48%.

Readers commented, “I think, Yamashita-san’s voice matches Deku’s earnest and straightforward personality, which makes it even more attractive.”, “Deku’s screaming voice gives me goosebumps every time. Tension as if I were there!”, and “He perfectly performed various aspects of Deku, such as the usual weak voice and the heroic voice in front of the enemy. I especially love the fast-talking and nerdy muttering!”

Some readers greatly admired the recently released movie, “It was wonderful that he did not give up until the end of ‘World Heroes Mission’. It is Yamashita-san’s acting that made this anime so impressive.”
The main character of the popular series is topping the list for three consecutive years.

2nd place

2nd place goes to Sakuma Ritsu from “Ensemble Stars!” with an approval rating of about 13%, also remaining on the 2nd place for the third consecutive year.

Readers commented on the performance of the vampire character who slept in the daytime, “He is always dull, but I like Ritsu-kun, who takes it seriously in the case of an emergency.”, “The laid-back and self-paced personality matches Yamashita-san’s voice.”, and “Yamashita-san usually plays cheerful characters, so there is a gap with Ritsu’s low and calm voice.” The idol whose gentle voice attracts fans is showing the same strength as last year.

3rd place

3rd place goes to Onoda Sakamichi from “Yowamushi Pedal” with an approval rating of about 6%, remaining in the top-3 from last year.

Rookie of Sohoku High School Cycling Club gets ranked in, “It is impressive that he met the cycling competition and his friends and became a person who could clearly express his own opinion. He also has a nice smile when climbing a slope.”
His otaku side seems to attract fans, “I think, his voice perfectly matches Sakamichi-kun’s sincere and serious character, but I still can’t forget the shock of singing the anime song “Koi no Himehime Pettanko” for the first time. In the end, it was very inspiring when he got his seniors involved and sang with the whole team.”, and “It’s cute how he can’t stop talking about anime once he starts.”

■Let’s introduce other comments!

For Sakuraba Ryota from “TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION”, “A solid person who has high ideals and strict to himself. He is in charge of the treble part in the song and the powerful singing voice is wonderful.”
About Yamazaki Kaname from “Stand My Heroes” the readers said, “Yamashita-san is usually associated with cheerful characters, but Kaname-kun is a cool genius high school student. I was surprised when I first heard his calm voice. His wide range of roles got me more and more into him!”

For Iura Syu from “Horimiya”, “He is a mood maker with high tension at school, so the difference of him being hard to approach and speaking in lower voice at home was surprising. But the gap between the older brother who cares about his little sister is also impressive, and I would be happy having such an older brother.”

For Senpai from the title of 2021 “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro”, “The character Senpai tends to be teased by people around him. When he is trying hard to rebel, but ends up crying is the best!”

In the 2021 version, while popular characters show their strength, new characters are also ranked in multiple ranks. It is interesting if top-3 will be ruined next year.

■ Ranking Top 20

“Who is your favorite character played by Yamashita Daiki? 2021 Edition”
1st place Midoriya Izuku “My Hero Academia”
2nd place Sakuma Ritsu “Ensemble Stars!”
3rd place Onoda Sakamichi “Yowamushi Pedal”
4th place Iura Syu “Horimiya”
5th place Go “Pokemon”
5th place Narancia Ghirga “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind”
7th place Iride Akatsuki “The Ones Within Within [Live]”
7th place Sakuraba Ryota “TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION”
7th place Shirogane Rekka “Gaist Crusher”
10th place Imanotsurugi “Touken Ranbu: ONLINE”
10th place Noda Yamato “Outburst Dreamer Boys”
10th place Nekoyanagi Kirio “The Idolmaster SideM”
13th place Amakusa Shion “Uta no Prince-sama”
14th place Senpai (Hachioji Naoto) “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro”
15th place Joro (Kisaragi Amatsuyu) “Ore o Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo”
15th place Toya “Log Horizon”
15th place Nakao Tsubaki “Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori”
15th place Nemo “Seven Knights”
15th place Yamazaki Kaname “Stand My Heroes”
14th place Yushirou “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”

(Response period: August 23-August 30, 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.