Japan's Anime Valentines

[nebs66]

In honor of Valentine's Day, several surveys from Japan have come out asking otaku who they wanted to be their Valentines. Specifically, men were asked who they wanted to receive chocolates from, & girls were asked who they wanted to give chocolates to. The reason for that is in Japan, women are the ones who give chocolates on Valentine's Day, while men do it one month later on White Day (March 14). Here are the results from music distributor Recochoku. Unsurprisingly, K-ON dominated the list for guys:

Anime Characters I Want to Receive Chocolates from

1. Yui Hirasawa (K-ON!!)
2. Mio Akiyama (K-ON!!)
3. Azusa Nakano (K-ON!!)

Anime Characters I Want to Give Chocolates to

1. Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)
2. Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)
3. Shouta Kazehaya (Kimi ni Todoke)

In a separate survey, NTT Communications asked participants the same thing. This time though, the results were less predictable, if not downright weird. The characters chosen here are largely dated characters that I'm surprised hasn't dropped from people's memories. Not to mention that the top "girl" chosen by guys isn't even really a girl at all. Really, the only girl on this list that makes any sort of sense is number two:

Anime Characters I Want to Receive Chocolates from

1. Natsuru Senō (Kämpfer)
2. Ikaros (Sora no Otoshimono/Heaven's Lost Property)
3. Miyako Miyamura (ef - a tale of memories)
4. Kazuha Migiwa (Yosuga no Sora)
5. Kiraha Kirihara (Kagihime Monogatari - Eikyuu Alice Rondo)

Anime Characters I Want to Give Chocolates to

1. Takuto Tsunashi (Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto)
2. Aoshi Shinomori (Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan)
3. Kei Agemaki (Otome Yōkai Zakuro)
4. Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)
5. Reinhard von Lohengramm (Legend of the Galactic Heroes)

Finally, in a slightly different survey, Japan's Weekly Playboy magazine asked men in their 20s who they most wanted as their anime girlfriend. Not being limited to just an otaku readership, the top choices here weren't really of the moe variety. Still though, the results shouldn't be surprising:

1. Nami (One Piece)
2. Nico Robin (One Piece)
3. Boa Hancock (One Piece)
4. Tsukasa Nishino (Ichigo 100%)
5. Minami Asakura (Touch)

Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-02-13/ocn-valentine-anime-character-survey