20 January was the ‘Rivals Join Hands’-day. It comes from 1866 when, thanks to Sakumoto Ryoma’s mediation, the Choshu Domain and the Satsuma Domain formed the Satcho Alliance.

For anime as well, rivals are essential. They are strong enemies that help heat up the story and make our hero become stronger. That’s why our friends from Anime! Anime! asked their Japanese readers ‘What character comes to mind first if we ask for an anime rival?’. Everybody was able to write down their answer freely. The survey ran from 18-20 January 2018 and 154 people answered the question. 48% of the answers came from male voters and 52% from females. Most of them were 19 years or younger, making up 56% of the votes, and 23% of the voters are in their 20s.

The Saiyan Prince takes first place

In first place came Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z. He gained a total of 13% of the votes, which gave him double the votes compared to the character in second place. Vegeta is one of the rare surviving Saiyans, just like the main character Son Goku. When he first appeared in the series, he was a villain and a cruel character, but he slowly changed after getting married to Bulma and became like friends with the other main characters. In the newest series, Dragon Ball Super, we can see him even as a loving husband when he worries about Bulma going into labor. In the list, we also find Freezer in 12th place, who is the former boss of Vegeta.

In second place is Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto. He gained about 6% of the votes. Sasuke is the rival of Naruto Uzumaki. His powerful action scenes are always a big topic among fans. The manga was serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump, just like Dragon Ball Z, which means that the magazine snatched both first and second place. In third place is Shigeru/Gary from Pokémon. He also gained about 6% of the votes and the difference to second place was very small. He is the rival of Satoshi/Ash and they both come from Pallet Town. He is the grandson of Okido/Professor Oak and is always accompanied by an all-female cheer squad.

In fourth place, we find Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia, and in fifth place is Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam. One of the seventh places is Kaito Kid from Detective Conan, which is a series strongly represented in this survey as on 10th place was taken by Heiji Hattori, and in 12th place, we find Gin from the same series. The fact that the main character has more than one rival in the series has been a popular scheme for many years now. The result is that recent series are even more exciting to read.

What character comes to mind first if you think of an anime rival?

1. Vegeta (Dragonball Z)
2. Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)
3. Shigeru/Gary (Pokémon)
4. Katsuki Bakugo (My Hero Academia)
5. Char Aznable (Mobile Suit Gundam)
6. Toshiro Hijikata (Gintama)
=7. Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Bungo Stray Dogs)
=7. Kaito Kid (Detective Conan)
=7. Baikinman (Anpanman)
=10. Hattori Heiji (Detective Conan)
=10. Kojiro Hyuga (Captain Tsubasa)
=12. Asano Gakushu (Assassination Classroom)
=12. Accelerator (A Certain Magical Index)
=12. Toru Oikawa (Haikyuu!!)
=12. Graham Aker (Mobile Suit Gundam 00)
=12. Tetsuro Kuro (Haikyuu!!)
=12. Gin (Detective Conan)
=12. Shinsuke Takasugi (Gintama)
=12. Dio Brando (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)
=12. Freezer (Dragonball Z)
=12. Rin Matsuoka (Free!)
=12. Toru Rikiishi (Ashita no Joe)

source: https://animeanime.jp/article/2018/01/24/36584.html