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September 29 is Furukawa Makoto-san’s birthday.

He debuted in the 2010s. He won the ‘Best Actors in Supporting Roles’ award in the 14th Seiyu Awards. In the fall of 2021, he will the main characters in “The Vampire Dies in No Time” and “Visual Prison”.

He is also active as an artist and will release a mini-album on November 17. He fascinates the fans with theme songs and character songs as well.

To celebrate his birthday, Anime!Anime! conducted an annual readers’ survey, “Who is your favorite character played by Furukawa Makoto-san?”. There were 668 votes during the survey period from September 15 to 22.
For the gender ratio, the females were the majority with about 90% while the males were about 10%. For the age distribution, we received the majority of responses from readers of young ages: about 35% were teens, and about 35% were in their 20s.

■A new character jumped to the top!

1st Place
1st place went to Sherlock Holmes from “Moriarty the Patriot”, who is a character from the title released in the fall of 2020. The support rating was about 13%.

This character is a world-renowned detective, and the received comments include, “He is typically in a languid mood. He is nihilistic and has a quirky personality. As the story progresses, his inner surface is getting revealed. Furukawa-san brings out his feelings with rich expressions” and “Furukawa-san’s matured and sexy voice adds more charms to Sherlock’s somewhat coarse vibe. I was thrilled to see a deduction battle with William, who has an opposite personality”.

This title's new OVA is scheduled to be produced. As the story was originally written for the anime, many fans seem to look forward to the development of how Sherlock gets involved in it. 2nd Place 2nd place went to Saitama from "One-Punch Man". The support rating was about 12%, and he remained 2nd place again as last year. This hero character becomes super powerful when needed, and the received comments include, "He is a chill and easygoing hero. Furukawa-san's performance perfectly expressed the gap between his usual loose way of speaking and his serious mode. It is like 'This is exactly Saitama!'" and "The character rarely shows his feelings, so this would be a difficult role in that the lines could sound too monotone. However, Furukawa-san's performance was so wonderful that it conveyed, even with a flat voice, how determined the character is".

Some reader seems to get surprised by his good singing ability, which you cannot imagine from the role, saying “He usually looks in a languid mood, but he is cool when singing! He is also in charge of the ending theme song in season 2, and I was surprised by the gap”.

3rd Place
3rd place went to Shirogane Miyuki from “Kaguya-sama: Love Is War”. The support rating was about 11%. Even though he failed to keep the top for two years in a row, he still remained in the top 3.

This character has multiple aspects, and the received comments include, “Only Furukawa-san can express Shirogane’s various characteristics without lacking anything, such as his coolness to always aim to be a perfect student council president, humor, clumsiness, and kindness”, “He is a bright character, so he talks a lot. I can fully enjoy Furukawa-san’s acting in both comical and serious scenes in one character”, “His interactions with Kaguya-sama and other student council members are funny, and I like onomatopoeia in gag scenes”.

As this series is scheduled to release season 3, the popularity seems to be going up yet.

■Let’s introduce other comments!!

Rikao “Show by Rock!!”
“This character is a serious lawyer with a righteous mind, but he is a big laughter and likes sweets. I like how Furukawa-san expresses such a gap without damaging his cool aspect. Speaking of singing, Furukawa-san acts in a little different way from other characters, which is also great!”

Higurashi Akane “DIG-ROCK”
“He is a wary character to the point that he is also known as ‘Unparalleled×Perfect King×Vocalist’. The band RUBIA Leopard, to which he belongs, is a super talented and popular band that no other group competes with, and it is thanks to Furukawa-san’s wonderful acting and singing skills.”

Yamamoto Fuyuki “ODDTAXI”
“He is the manager of an idol group Mystery Kiss. I was impressed by him struggling and to support the group becoming popular.”

Benimaru “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”
“Furukawa-san’s relatively low and clear voice matches strong and handsome Benimaru.”
“Furukawa-san’s performance conveys the character’s two-sidedness and feelings, which is amazing.”
The character from the title that becomes a film adaptation has been ranked in.

In the survey 2021, a new character jumped up to the top. Also, multiple characters with good singing skills have been ranked in.

■Ranking Top 20

－Who is your favorite character played by Furukawa Makoto-san? 2021 Edition－
1. Sherlock Holmes “Moriarty the Patriot”
2. Saitama “One-Punch Man”
3. Shirogane Miyuki “Kaguya-sama: Love Is War”
4. Higurashi Akane “DIG-ROCK”
5. Okurikara “Touken Ranbu ONLINE”
6. Rikao “Show by Rock!!”
7. Achilles (Rider of Red) “Fate/Apocrypha”
8. Benimaru “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”
9. Shorter Wong “BANANA FISH”
10. Kindaichi Yutaro “Haikyu!!”
10. Sylvain Jose Gautier “Fire Emblem: Three Houses”
12. Soma Hatsuharu “Fruits Basket” (2019)
13. Kagurazaka Soshi “TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION”
14. Asselin BB II “The Idolmaster: SideM”
14. Nan Feng “Heaven Official’s Blessing”
16. Hanabusa Yanagi “DREAM!ing”
17. Okazaki Rinto “Idolish7: Second Beat!”
18. Suwa Hiroto “orange”
19. Kyle Ash “Ikemen Kakumei◆Alice to Koi no Mahou”
19. Sasugai Hayato “Skate-Leading☆Stars”

(Survey Period: September 15 – 22, 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 anime and characters.