Here's a somewhat fraught subject. Goo Rankings asked Japanese anime fans to name their favorite otokonoko - a term more applicable to otaku culture, fictional characters and performative appearance than gender identity IRL. In a new poll, they asked Japanese fans to name their favorite male character who looks or dresses in a female fashion.

Classic characters did well, including the ex-assassin from Mineo Maya's 1978 ongoing Patalliro! - with a male character who has gotten pregnant multiple times.

Consistent with Goo's methodology, they collected 500 votes from fans in their 20s and 30s. 250 from male votes and 250 from female voters.

Top picks included

48. (tie) Another's Yūya Mochizuki

48. D-Frag's Sakuragaoka

45. (tie) H2O -FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND-'s Hamaji Yakumo

45. Little Busters's Riki Nao

45. MM!'s Tatsukichi Hayama

43. (tie) Gatchman Crowds!'s Rui Ninomiya

43. Phi Brain's Ana Gram

41. (tie) If Her Flag Breaks' Megumu Tōzokuyama

41. Overlord's Mare Bello Fiore

39. (tie) Inazuma Eleven's Byron Love

39. I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying's Mayotama

35. (tie) Oreshura's Kaoru Asoi

35. Here Is Greenwood's Shun Kisaragi

35. Hacka Doll's Hacka Doll #3

35. Hayate The Combat Butler's Hayate Ayasaki/Hermione Ayasaki

30 (tie) Danganronpa's Chihiro Fujisaki

30. Fruits Basket's Ritsu Sohma

30. Devil and Realist's Sytry

30. Hearcatch Precure's Itsuki Myoudouin

30. The Pet Girl of Sakurasou's Ryūnosuke Akasaka

26. (tie) Genshiken's Kenjiro Hato

26. Maria Holic's Mariya Shidō

26. Happiness' Jun Watarase

26. Ultimate Otaku Teacher's Kōtarō Araki (Luce)

23. (tie) Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru's Mizuho Miyanokouji

23. Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace's Kobayashi

23. PriPara's Reona West

22. Working's Sōta Takanashi (Kotori)

20. (tie) Himegoto's Kaguya Arikawa

20. Nanana's Buried Treasure's Daruku Hoshino

19. tome wa Boku ni Koishiteru's Chihaya Kisakinomiya

18. Sacred Seven's Fei Zhui Lau

17. Fushigu Yuugi's Nuriko

15. (tie) Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture's Kei Yūki

15. ERASED's Hiromi Sugita

12. (tie) Stop!! Hibari-kun!'s Hibari Ōzora

12. Nyarko-san's Hasuta

12. High School DxD's Gasper Bloody

11. Uta no Prince-Sama's Ringo Tsukimiya

10. Re:Zero's Felix "Ferris" Argyle

9. Assassination Classroom's Nagisa Shiota

8. High School! Kimengumi's Monohoshi Dai

7. Naruto's Haku

6. Kenshin's Honjō Kamatari

5. Himegoto's Hime Arikawa

4. Steins;Gate's Luka Urushibara

3. My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected's Saika Totsuka

2. Patalliro!'s Maraich Juschenfe

1. Baka and Test's Hideyoshi Kinoshita











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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.