Interest

Fans Choose Characters to Exchange Chocolate With on Valentine's Day

Like in many countries, Valentine's Day in Japan revolves around chocolate. Women in Japan give male coworkers, colleagues, classmates, or friends chocolate items on February 14. Then the men return the favor with presents on White Day, March 14.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, anime and manga fans are bound to daydream about impossible relationships they could have with imaginary characters. The otaku goods app otakumart again asked users what fictional characters they would like to give chocolate to and receive chocolate from on Valentine's Day. The rankings include anime, manga, and game characters. Here are the respondents' choices:

Top 20 2D Characters People Want to Give Chocolate to on Valentine's Day (7,916 votes)

1. Victor Nikiforov (Yuri!!! on Ice)
2. Karamatsu (Mr. Osomatsu)
3. Shō Kurusu (Uta no Prince Sama)
4. Ichimatsu (Mr. Osomatsu)
5. Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)
6. Kiyomitsu Kashū (Touken Ranbu -Online-)
7. Osamu Dazai (Bungo Stray Dogs)
8. Chūya Nakahara (Bungo Stray Dogs)
9. Yūri Katsuki (Yuri!!! on Ice)
10. Keigo Atobe (Prince of Tennis)
11. Ai Mikaze (Uta no Prince Sama)
12. Yuri Plisetsky (Yuri!!! on Ice)
13. Yamato Nikaidō (Idolish 7)
14. Osomatsu (Mr. Osomatsu)
15. Otoya Ittoki (Uta no Prince Sama)
16. Tokiya Ichinose (Uta no Prince Sama)
17. Kei Tsukishima (Haikyu!!)
18. Reiji Kotobuki (Uta no Prince Sama)
19. Tamaki Yotsuba (Idolish 7)
20. Makoto Tachibana (Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club)

Top 20 2D Characters People Want to Receive Chocolate From on Valentines Day (7,558 votes)

1. Shokudaikiri Mitsutada (Touken Ranbu -Online-)
2. Nico Yazawa (Love Live!)
3. Victor Nikiforov (Yuri!!! on Ice)
4. Rem (Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-)
5. Karamatsu (Mr. Osomatsu)
6. Kotori Minami (Love Live!)
7. Maki Nishikino (Love Live!)
8. Kiyomitsu Kashū (Touken Ranbu -Online-)
9. Ichimatsu (Mr. Osomatsu)
10. Nozomi Tōjō (Love Live!)
11. Ritsu sakuma. (Ensemble Stars!)
12. Chūya Nakahara (Bungo Stray Dogs)
13. Hanayo Koizumi (Love Live!)
14. Shō Kurusu (Uta no Prince Sama)
15. Haruka Nanami (Uta no Prince Sama)
16. Masato Hijirikawa (Uta no Prince Sama)
17. Yuri Plisetsky (Yuri!!! on Ice)
18. Yūri Katsuki (Yuri!!! on Ice)
19. Mitsuki Izumi (Idolish 7)
20. Ai Mikaze (Uta no Prince Sama)

Survey respondents also ranked which 3D characters (i.e. real people) they would like to exchange chocolate with. Voice actors were popular, and Mamoru Miyano (Uta no Prince Sama's Tokiya, Bungo Stray Dogs' Osamu) ranked #1 on both the list of 3D figures that people want to give chocolates to and receive chocolates from. Masaki Suda (live-action Assassination Classroom's Karma, live-action Princes Jellyfish's Kuranosuke) came in at #9, and Ryūji Satō (Naruto musicals' Sasuke, Touken Ranbu musical's Kiyomitsu) ranked at #15.

For the final part of the survey, respondents chose 2D and 3D people to form Valentine's Day "special units." Fans selected both characters and real people for two separate units. Both Takuma Terashima and his Uta no Prince Sama character Otoya Ittoki made it into the groups as red milk chocolate.

Japanese fans also chose which characters they'd like to get chocolates from in 2016, 2015, and 2014, with completely different responses.

Source: Animate Times via Nijimen

Image via Yuri!!! on Ice Wiki