A recent survey of elementary schoolers in Japan that asked “who do you admire?” had many of the results you might expect: mom, dad, teacher, a friend.
But there were also some surprising entries. In third place was Ai Hoshino, the singer from the manga and anime Oshi no Ko. Also on the list was Frieren, the titular protagonist of another manga and anime that was big in 2023.
Other fun entries: Shohei Ohtani, the baseball star who just signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the boy band Snow Man, and the Minecraft live group (I think??) Colorful Peach.
I wonder if any anime or manga characters would make it on a similar list by American kids.
Source: Otakomu