Today is 22 November. In Japanese, dates are written MM/DD and so 11/22 can be pronounced as ‘ii fufu’. This can mean ‘good married couple’, so our friends over at Anime!Anime! celebrated by asking the question: Which anime couple is the best? Around thirty couples were listed and participants could also pitch in their own couple suggestions.

See what their Japanese readers voted for! Do you think this survey would have had similar results among our readers here at MANGA.TOKYO?

The survey was open between 15-21 November 2017 and 581 people voted. 35% of the voters were male, 65% female. The majority of the participants was either younger than 19 (40%) or in their 20s (40%).

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Ranking in first place are Touko and Shigeru from Natsume’s Book of Friends. In the same survey, held last year, they also came in first. This couple was very popular with the female voters and received around 23% of the vote. The second place only had half the number of votes, so it was really hard to beat this couple. They also ranked first among the males, making it obvious how popular they are. The Fujiwara couple takes in Natsume and care about him as if he were their own son. They also love Nyanko-sensei, which only shows how gentle they are. The couple appears more often in the anime than the manga, which might be one of the reasons they leave such a big impression. In 2018, the first movie of this series will be released. Keep your eyes open not only for Natsume and his adventures, but also for the caring couple.

Second place goes to Hiroshi and Misae Nohara from Crayon Shin-Chan. They ranked one place higher than last year. Among male participants they ranked first, among females third. Even though they normally give off the impression that the woman is in charge in their house, in the movie version one can see the braveness of Hiroshi when it comes to his family. Recently, Hiroshi became the main character in the movie Crayon Shin-chan: Serious Battle! Robot Dad Strikes Back, which was highly praised.

Coming in third place are Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki from Naruto. They ranked fourth among male voters and second among females. They are the parents of the main character, Naruto Uzumaki, who died right after he was born to protect him. Naruto and Hinata tell the story of his parents to their son, Boruto.

In the write-ins, the most popular couple were Kirito and Asuna from Sword Art Online. Even though they are married in the game world, they sadly couldn’t be counted towards this ranking as they aren’t married in real life. Another popular couple were Makoto Tachibana and Haruka Nanase from Free! who also had to be disqualified because they aren’t a couple. But it’s good to see that fans support the characters they see as a couple even without the series telling them that they are!

Which Anime Couple Is The Best?

1. Natsume’s Book of Friends – Touko and Shigeru
2. Crayon Shin-chan – Hiroshi and Misae Nohara
3. Naruto – Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki
4. Detective Conan – Yusaku and Yukiko Kudo
5. Clannad – Furukawa Akio and Sanae
6. Fullmetal Alchemist – Sig and Izumi Curtis
7. I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying – Husband and Kaoru
8. Fate/zero – Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel
9. CLANNAD – Tomoya and Nagisa Okazaki
10. Sazae-san – Namihei and Fune Isono
11. Dragon Ball – Vegeta and Bulma
12. Hunter x Hunter – Killua and Kikyou Zoldyck
13. Cooking Papa – Kazumi and Nijiko Araiwa
14. Detective Conan – Kogoro and Eri Mori
15. Sazae-san – Masuo and Sazae Fuguta
16. My Neighbor Totoro – Tatsuo and Yasuko Kusakabe
17. One Piece – Kyros and Scarlett
17. In This Corner of the World – Shusaku and Suzu
19. Mobile Suit Gundam – Bright and Mirai Noa
19. Kiki’s Delivery Service – Fukuo and Osono
(15-21 November 2017)

source: https://animeanime.jp/article/2017/11/22/36049.html