March 30 is Hayashibara Megumi-san's birthday. She debuted in the 1980s and since then, has played the main characters of various titles. In 2021, she is taking part in highly anticipated titles including "Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time", "Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet", and "Shaman King". She is also active in other fields like a singer, radio personality, and essayist. Her new book, "Hayashibara Megumi no Zenbu Chara kara Osowatta Ima wo Ikinuku Chikara" (Hayashibara Megumi's I Learned Everything from the Characters. The Strenght to Get Through Today), has been released last February. She wrote down how she faces the characters and the messages she received from them. To celebrate her birthday, we at Anime!Anime! conducted the same readers' survey as last year asking, "Who's Your Favorite Character Voiced by Hayashibara Megumi-san?". There were 275 votes during the survey period from March 15 to 22. The voters were mainly female with a gender ratio of 70% female to 30% male, and the age range was widely spread with 30% under 19, 20% in their 20s, and 30% in their 30s. ■"Slayers" Lina keeps her top position for three consecutive years! Also, characters from 2021 titles made the list 1st Place 1st place went to Lina Inverse from "Slayers" with roughly 26% of the votes. "She's strong, selfish, unreasonable, etc. But somehow, she's full of cute charm, and that's thanks to Megu-san's voice," "I've always been encouraged by Lina never giving up despite the adversity," and "She's called a shaman voice actor, but for Lina, I think she's being herself. If it gets a remake, Lina would definitely be played by Megu-san," are some of the comments pointing out how cheerful Lina gave them power. There were also many comments referring to the song, "Hayashibara-san was also the singer for the 'Slayers' theme song. Lina, the song's lyrics, and Hayashibara-san's voice helped me become positive. It's forever my bible." The "Slayers Original Work Special Talk Show" that was held on March 27 was also a great success. The popular heroine kept her top position for three consecutive years. 2nd Place Coming in 2nd was Haibara Ai from "Detective Conan" with roughly 24% of the votes, keeping her position from last year. "She had a cold voice when she had just left the Organization, and recently she acts her age with a more cheerful voice. It's amazing how she changes her voice as she keeps playing the character for so long," "I love her regular cool personality, and the cute side of her which she shows once in a while gives me the butterflies," and "I love both the usual mature way she speaks and the childishness that occasionally comes out," are comments that show how fascinating the performance of a long-running role can be. 3rd Place Ayanami Rei from "Neon Genesis Evangelion" took 3rd place with roughly 12%, moving up a position from last year's 4th place. She received comments like, "Ayanami is so fragile, she would be blown away by the wind, and Hayashibara-san's voice perfectly portrays it!", "I was glad to see the emotionless Ayanami Rei smile," and "I was surprised by her unprecedented voice and performance." There were also many fans who were touched by her performance in "Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time", which is currently in theaters. ■Here are some comments for other characters! For Christina Mackenzie from "Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket", "She's a rare female Gundam pilot in the Universal Century saga who isn't the protagonist of the show, which makes her a special character. I think she's an amazing female who has both kindness and strength within." For Rokudou Rinne from "Rin-ne", "She also played the re-incarnated Ichigo-chan, who was cute, and she was also cool as the legendary death god." For the boy from "Dragonball Z", "I remember the pureness of the boy who had his eyes fixed by Majin Buu and how he accepts everything happening to him touching my heart. When I saw that he was played by Hayashibara-san, it made complete sense." There were also votes for Kyouyama Anna from the new anime "Shaman King", which starts in April, "I love the strong-willed girls played by Hayashibara-san. I'm so happy to be able to meet her again in spring!" In the 2021 survey, Lina still is very popular, but there were also several characters from new titles making the list. ■Top 10 [Who's Your Favorite Character Voiced by Hayashibara Megumi-san? 2021 Edition] 1. Lina Inverse "Slayers" 2. Haibara Ai "Detective Conan" 3. Ayanami Rei "Neon Genesis Evangelion" 4. Kyouyama Anna "Shaman King" 5. Saotome Ranma "Ranma ½" 6. Musashi (Jessie) "Pokémon" 7. Shinobibe Himiko "Mashin Hero Wataru" 8. Natsume Atsuko (Nuku Nuku) "All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku" 8. Pai "3×3 Eyes" 8. Rokudou Rinne "Rin-ne" (Voting Period: March 15-22, 2021) ※This survey was held to investigate the readers' "interests and attention towards current anime titles and characters". The results should not be used to determine the supremacy of characters and titles. We hope this article will help you find new anime/characters and deepen your understanding of them.

In anime and manga works, the popularity of characters and topics of conversation tend to be biased toward the main characters and heroes. However, it is the existence of the "shadows" that makes the "light" shine brightly. In the eleventh installment of "Enemy Character Biographies: Where is Their Aesthetics?”, we take a look at Hao from "SHAMAN KING". ※Please note that there are spoilers about “SHAMAN KING”. Basically, the antagonist in a story exists to be defeated by the protagonist. The role of the antagonist is to present values that differ from those of the protagonist and to glorify the legitimacy of the protagonist's side by being defeated. Since the audience and readers enjoy the story while empathizing with the protagonist, the defeat of the antagonist is also a catharsis for entertainment. In this sense, "SHAMAN KING" was a unique shonen manga. This is because Hao, the antagonist of this work, was an opponent that the protagonists could not defeat no matter how hard they tried. Why did "SHAMAN KING" need such an antagonist? I would like to think about it while comparing the original story and the old anime version. Hao, a unique antagonist who cannot be defeated “SHAMAN KING" is about a shaman boy, Asakura Yoh, who participates in a tournament called "Shaman Fight" and fights with his friends to become the Shaman King, a person with omniscient power. Although Yoh's goals are big, he is not an upwardly-mobile person and is an optimist who always says, "I can manage.” His reason for wanting to become the Shaman King is to create a world where people can live with ease. This sense of powerlessness in the protagonist is also unusual for a shonen manga. The general story line itself is typical of shonen manga, with Yoh becoming stronger through encounters with his fiancée Anna and rivals, but Yoh's goal is just to be able to live comfortably. The important point is that Yoh himself does not feel that strength is of much value. In contrast to the protagonist, Hao is a character who has been harboring anger and sorrow towards humanity for a thousand years and has set his sights on destroying it. He is willing to treat the lives of his recruited friends like tools to achieve his goal. His values are clearly at odds with those of the protagonist. And above all, Hao is unusually strong. In this work, the strength of a shaman is expressed by a numerical value called shamanic power, and Hao's shamanic power is 1.25 million, almost ten times that of the protagonist, making him a completely unbeatable opponent in terms of strength. In fact, Hao is not defeated in this work. So, what do the main characters do? They accept Hao's anger and sorrow and choose to "help" him. The main reason why this work is a unique shonen manga is because of the way it is resolved. And this will be the biggest difference between the old anime version and the new one which will be based on the original story. How to Stop the Cycle of "If they beat you, get them back.” In addition to the main character, there are two other forces that oppose Hao in this work: 'X-LAWS' with the sole purpose of defeating Hao, and 'Gandhara' also aiming to save the world. Many of the members of X-LAWS have had loved ones killed by Hao and are motivated by revenge, but Gandhara, on the other hand, acts to save even Hao. In X-LAWS, there is a clear boundary between friend and foe, considering someone as an ally if they help defeat Hao and an enemy if they get in the way, but Gandhara's boundary is ambiguous. This is because they are based on the idea of "moderation" and believe that all should be saved without distinguishing between friend and foe. The timing of the appearance of these two forces is important when considering this work. While the X-LAWS appear from the early days of the Shaman Fight, Gandhara does not show up until the latter half. Perhaps due to this influence, Gandhara does not appear in the old anime, which, unlike the original, depicts Hao's defeat in the end. As a result, the old anime completes the story in the scheme of enemies and allies. In contrast, the second half of the original work takes on a different value system from that of a typical shonen manga, and the story is no longer about just defeating Hao. One of the most memorable lines in the work is, " If they beat you, get them back”. The history of mankind is a repetition of this, and Hao describes mankind as "too much work". Shonen manga are basically a story of constant battle. The " If they beat you, get them back." storyline is one of the most exciting in the world. Episodes in which the hero's side takes revenge are so popular that they are depicted in many works, but in the end, they are part of the history of human conflict, in which "if somethings is done to you, you do it back to them”. Meaning there is no end to it. This work questions the endless cycle of conflict itself. While Hao tries to end the chain by destroying humanity, Yoh and his friends choose not to defeat him. They choose not to defeat Hao, because a solution by force would spark a new conflict. Hao, the antagonist who is too strong to be defeated, was set up, in my opinion, to portray this value system. If he cannot be defeated, he will not be defeated, and he will live in moderation without distinguishing the world into friend and foe. Even so, he believes that the world will "somehow go on”. Such strength of will is present in this work.