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September 17 is Matsuoka Yoshitsugu-san’s birthday.

He debuted as a voice actor in 2009. He won the Best Rookie Actors in the 6th Seiyu Awards, and the Best Actor in a Leading Role in the 10th. In 2021, he is playing main characters in various works such as “Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won’t Lose”, “Sailor Moon Eternal: The Movie”, and “Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night”.

To celebrate his birthday, we conducted an annual readers’ survey, “Who is your favorite character played by Matsuoka Yoshitsugu-san?”. There were 403 votes during the survey period from August 30 to September 6.
For the gender ratio, the females were the majority with about 70% while the males were about 30%. For the age distribution, we received the majority of responses from readers of young ages: about 45% were teens, and about 25% were in their 20s.

■”SAO” Kirito topped the list. Pay attention to him in the latest title!

1st Place

1st place went to Kirito from “Sword Art Online”. The support rating was about 26%, and the character is topping the list again as last year.

As Matsuoka-san has been playing this role for years, this character has won many votes. The received comments include, “He is the protagonist of ‘SAO’ series. Matsuoka-san faithfully plays Kirito growing up, which left me impressions”, “Kirito’s growth from 1st season, where he was still a little boy, to the latest work, overlaps with Matsuoka-san’s life as a voice actor. I am heartily grateful that Matsuoka-san cuddles up to Kirito with all his soul, and brings him into life”, and “He was almost speechless in ‘War of Underworld’, however, Matsuoka-san’s performance still impressed me.”

In “Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night”, which will be premiered on October 30, Matsuoka-san will play the role of 14-year-old Kirito again. The readers said that “To see the PV, I felt Kirito in the 1st series from 10 years ago”, showing their expectations.

2nd Place

2nd place went to Hashibira Inosuke from “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”. The support rating was about 12%, and he moved up from 3rd place of last year.

The readers consider him having various charms, saying “As his line ‘Headlong rush’, he is absolutely straightforward, honest, and wild. Although he used to be brutal and behave in an aggressive manner, he has been changing through encounters with people’s kindness, and the story depicts his failures in terms of both skills and mental. Matsuoka-san’s performance made such scenes more realistic”, “His roars when he shows his skills are so robust and tremendous that make us viewers worry about Matsuoka-san’s throat”, and “He is typically being stubborn, but he sometimes becomes ‘giddier’ while being with his friends. That’s so cute”.

3rd Place

3rd place went to Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti from “Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World”. The support rating was about 8%, and he remained in the top 3 though he slipped down from 2nd place of last year.

Many readers got overwhelmed by his performance that we can possibly describe as being mad, and the received comments include, “Matsuoka-san perfectly pulled off such a crazy character, and when I first heard the performance, I was almost terrified”, “Only Matsuoka-san would be able to play the character full of madness. The difference of Petelgeuse in the past was also surprising”, and “Matsuoka-san perfectly played the messed-up and mad character. I realized how talented Matsuoka-san is again”.

■Let’s introduce other comments!!

Sora “No Game No Life”
“In this character, you can see Matsuoka-san’s wonderful aspects such as being cool, cute, and funny. I realized how amazing he is when I saw the latest CM.”
Twilight the Demon King “Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle”
“He is cute in that he is swayed by the Princess despite being the King. Matsuoka-san’s voice perfectly matches him, who owns overwhelming power but actually has been living a difficult life.”

Helios “Sailor Moon Eternal: The Movie”
“I was impressed by Matsuoka-san faithfully recreating the delicacy of Helios, who is fairly gentle, with his ephemeral and smooth voice just like glass. He was exactly the prince we’re dreaming of.”
Mitsuya Takashi “Tokyo Revengers”
“Matsuoka-san excellently expresses the character’s gap that he is just like a mom since he is the leader of the handicraft club at school, and takes care of his younger sisters at home at home.”
The characters from the latest titles in 2021 have also been voted.

Multiple characters from the works of 2020 and 2021 have been ranked in. While popular characters received strong support, new characters fared better in the battle.

■Ranking Top 20

－Who is your favorite character played by Matsuoka Yoshitsugu-san? 2021 Edition－
1. Kirito (Kirigaya Kazuto) “Sword Art Online”
2. Hashibira Inosuke “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba”
3. Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti “Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World”
4. Mitsuya Takashi “Tokyo Revengers”
5. Sora “No Game No Life”
5. Bell Cranell “Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?”
5. Yukihira Soma “Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma”
8. Uesugi Futaro “The Quintessential Quintuplets”
9. Nicol Ascart “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!”
10. Twilight the Demon King “Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle”
11. Boy A “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”
12. Aki Tomoya “Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend”
12. Mitarai Shota “The Idolmaster: SideM”
12. Enjo Retto “Super HxEros”
15. Helios “Sailor Moon Eternal: The Movie”
15. Xiao “Genshin Impact”
15. Wagner “ClassicaLoid”
18. Titus Alexius “Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic”
18. Rio “Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles”
18. Ishikawa Takuboku “Bungo to Alchemist”
18. Oboro “Rin-ne”
18. Mechamaru Ultimate “Jujutsu Kaisen”

(Survey Period: August 30 – September 6, 2021)

*This survey is intended to research the readers’ “interest in anime and characters today”. It is not intended to discuss the relative merits of each character nor work. I would be glad if this article can help you develop an understanding and interest in the anime and characters.