March 30 is the birthday of legendary voice actress Megumi Hayashibara! The results of the official project "Hammer Character Popularity Poll" are announced! Celebrate with us or we'll go wild!

Today, March 30, is the birthday of popular voice actress Megumi Hayashibara. We would like to announce the results of the Akiba Research Institute's official voting project, "Just before Megumi Hayashibara's Birthday Commemoration! Let us announce the results of the "HAMARI CHARACTER Popularity Poll" held by Akiba Research Institute from March 23 to 29, 2020.

After making her debut as a voice actress in 1986, Megumi Hayashibara worked as a voice actress for several years, and in the late 1980s, she began to play leading roles in such films as "The Heroic Monster Wataru" and "Ranma 1/2. In the 1990s, she also had a series of hit songs as a singer. Megumi Hayashibara has become a cornerstone of the "voice actor artist" genre that continues to this day.

As such a living legend, the characters she has played are innumerable and can be found at ....... From among the countless number of characters, we have selected the main characters. This time, we are going to choose the most popular character among them. Which character really gained the most popularity?

No. 1 Lina Inverse ( Slayers ): 39 votes

2nd Ayanami Rei ( Neon Genesis Evangelion ): 30 votes

No. 3 Ranma Saotome ( Ranma 1/2 ) 23 votes

No.4 Shiho Miyano/Sherry/Ai Haibara ( Detective Conan ) 17 votes

No.5 Faye Valentine ( Cowboy Bebop ) 14 votes

No. 5 Miyokichi ( Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju ) 14 votes

No.7 Musashi ( Pokemon ) 11 votes

No.7 Himiko Oshibe ( Wataru ) 11 votes

No. 9 Pai / Sanjidagan / Pearl Batty IV ( 3x3 EYES) 9 votes

No. 9 Minky Momo ( Magical Princess Minky Momo: Embrace the Dream ) 9 votes

So, the winner of the first place was Rina Inverse , the main character of the "Slayers" series!　As her nickname "Doramata," or "even dragons can stride through," implies, Lina is a self-proclaimed beautiful young genius magician with tremendous combat power. She is a dependable and reliable elder sister.

This dependable and reliable character, which is reminiscent of Ms. Hayashibara's personality as seen in her radio programs, has quickly become her signature character.

Her popularity has not waned, and she was voted No. 1 in this year's poll.

Coming in a close second was Ayanami Rei from "Neon Genesis Evangelion.

The character has a very mysterious and dangerous atmosphere, with a lack of emotional expression and a desire to accomplish her mission without regard for her own life, and her unprecedented new image of heroine shocked anime fans. The fact that Ms. Hayashibara played this character was also quite a surprise at the time, as she had often played energetic, innocent, and powerful characters up until then, but her new characteristic became known to the world.

For the next few years, she had such an impact that Ayanami-esque characters appeared in every anime, but no character surpassing the great pioneer was ever created. Hayashibara's nihilistic performance only reminded us that the character of Ayanami Rei was responsible for most of the character's appeal.

Incidentally, both Rina (No. 1) and Ayanami (No. 2) are characters from 1995. It is clear that this was an important year in Ms. Hayashibara's career.

Third place goes to Saotome Ranma, a.k.a. "Onna Ranma" from "Ranma 1/2. This character is a female version of Ranma Saotome, a fighting youth who turns into a girl when covered with water, and is a rather maniacal character who is a boy on the inside but looks like a cute Chinese girl.

Rumiko Takahashi's skill as a manga artist in portraying such a character in a healthy and not overbearing manner, and Ms. Hayashibara's portrayal of the character's charms, are both outstanding. She gave viewers the impression of being cuter than any other heroine in the show.

In fourth place was Ai Haibara from "Detective Conan. He used to be a researcher for the Black Organization, but he betrayed the organization and was turned into an infant by a drug, just like Conan. He is an adult on the inside but an elementary school student on the outside, which is similar to Ranma's "gap between the outside and the inside". When he first appeared in the series, he was a cool and intelligent character, but as he interacted with the members of the Detective Boys, his personality gradually softened. As he interacts with the members of the Detective Boys, his personality gradually softens, and he becomes an appealing character with a genuine expression that he shows at a moment's notice. Such subtle nuances were made possible by Hayashibara's performance.

The ninth-ranked "3×3 EYES" characters Pi, Sanzagan, and Pearl Batey IV may also be from this lineage. She played both the innocent girl Pi and the pompous character Sanzagan with great skill. It is evident that she had been performing technically from a very early stage of her career.

Characters cloaked in an adult atmosphere are also one of Ms. Hayashibara's specialties.

Representative of such characters are Faye Valentine (No. 5 ), Miyokichi, and Musashi (No. 7).

Faye from "Cowboy Bebop" is a former cheater and a bounty hunter. Faye of "Cowboy Bebop" is a former scam artist and bounty hunter, as well as a woman with an unfortunate upbringing and amnesia, a backbone that is too deep for her. She played the role of a woman who is not a simple woman.

Miyokichi, on the other hand, is an overly deep character, a geisha whose life was ruined before and after World War II. In "Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju," she not only played Miyokichi, but also sang the theme song in collaboration with musicians with strong personalities, such as Ringo Shiina and Neko Saito. Both acting and singing added depth to the work.

Musashi, ranked seventh, is another adult character. Unlike Faye and Miyokichi, however, she is not a shadowy adult, but rather a lovable, slightly no-good sisterly character. She is hawkish and strong-willed, and depending on how you look at her, she could be perceived as a nasty woman, but on the other hand, she is also dependable and shows love for Pokemon, making her more than just a bad person. Ms. Hayashibara's performance has a cuteness that only an adult woman could give, which is probably another reason for her popularity.

From here on, nostalgic characters continue to appear.

Himiko Oshibe of "The Heroic Deities of Wataru" (No. 7) was the first main character in the memorable series, and the charm of the overly innocent character was further boosted by Ms. Hayashibara's brain-piercingly high-tension performance. The charm of the overly innocent character was further boosted by Hayashibara's brain-busting, high-spirited performance. and "Himiko miko miko himiko miko! a spell used when using ninjutsu (?), and other phrases with strong impact. Minky Momo, in ninth place, was also full of high-impact phrases.

Minky Momo, the ninth-place finisher, is also a naive magical girl, and her voice matches that of Ms. Hayashibara perfectly. The rhythmical phrasing of Takeshi Shuto's scripts is also impressive, and many of you may have heard the unique phrases in each episode. These two characters were the ones in which Mr. Hayashibara's artistic talents were fully demonstrated.

Thus, this year's poll was filled with a wide variety of characters, ranging from energetic girls to mature women. Once again, we are struck by the greatness of Megumi Hayashibara as an actor.

The characters ranked 11th and below will surely surprise you with the fact that she also plays such characters! You will surely be surprised to find out that she also played such a character. We hope you will take a look.

Last but not least, Happy Birthday, Ms. Hayashibara!