Most Memorable Character: Naru Kotoishi, Barakamon
Something new for this time around, we polled our staff to see which character made the greatest impression on them during this past year, a year which did have quite a few memorable new faces. While several different characters from Ping Pong were noted, only two individual characters appeared on multiple ballots: Migi, the parasitical symbiote from Parasyte -the maxim- and the adorable tyke Naru Kotoishi from Barakmon. Naru, however, got more votes.
Naru was a hyper bundle of cuteness and energy, enough to power a small star system at times. The dynamic established between her and Handa was what carried the entire show forward. And as Kestrel Swift noted Naru “was an adorable and most importantly realistic little girl…the biggest source of Barakamon’s two greatest assets: comedy and heart.”
Congrats winners!