Oricon surveyed 900 men and women with the question, "If you could turn into a main character of an anime series, who would it be?"

Not surprisingly, the super-powerful Son Goku of "Dragonball" was the top pick. At #2 was Doraemon with his fourth-dimensional pocket, and his popularity extended to his pal Nobita, who ranked #4. Monkey D. Luffy of "One Piece" came between them at #3.

Detective Conan tied for 5th with Usagi Tsukino ("Sailor Moon"). Heidi, the young girl of the Swiss Alps, made an unexpected appearance at #7, placing ahead of Lupin III. Three characters tied for #9: Minami Asakura ("Touch"), Satoshi/Ash ("Pokemon"), and Kyon ("The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya").

Actor Shido Nakamura has been added to the voice cast of the next "Pokemon" movie, "Giratina to Sora no Hanataba: Sheimi." He will play a villain who aims to rule the world.

Other guest cast members include talento Akina Minami, who is taking on her first voice acting role as the key character Reira, and Shoko Nakagawa, who also lent her voice to the previous film.

"Giratina to Sora no Hanataba: Sheimi" opens on July 19.

DA PUMP's ISSA (29) and talento Yu Abiru (21) have once again been romantically linked. The newest issue of Josei Seven says they were two of the many celebrity guests at Akiko Wada's birthday party last week. ISSA and Abiru left the event separately, but were later spotted entering Abiru's apartment, where they spent the night together.

The pair were reported to be dating in 2004, but broke up not long after that.

Otsuichi's story "Shinizokonai no Ao" is being turned into a movie, directed by Masaki Adachi and produced by Noriko Nishiguchi. Yu Shirota stars as a teacher who mistreats a student (Kenta Suga), who consequently tries to kill him.

The film is expected to open theatrically this year.

Talento Miyuki Imori will star in a daytime drama on TBS, titled "Saikon Icchokusen!" This is her first lead role in a drama since the 1986 series "Asobi Janai no yo, Kono Koi wa."

In this comedy, Imori plays Nodoka, an unsuccessful mangaka who receives divorce papers from her husband. Aiming to regain her family back, she starts trying to learn how to be a good wife.

The theme song will be a duet called "Koi no Flight Time ~12pm~," sung by Masayuki Suzuki and Momoko Kikuchi. It will be sold as a single on May 25.

"Saikon Icchokusen!" begins airing on May 12 and will show at 1:00pm on weekdays.

Singer-songwriter Bonnie Pink has been chosen to provide the theme song for Bandai Namco's role-playing game "Tales of Vesperia," the tenth entry in the Tales video game series.

The song, titled "Ring A Bell," will be sung in English for the North American version, and in Japanese for the Japanese version. It has just been made available worldwide through iTunes.

"Tales of Vesperia" is being released for the Xbox 360 later this year.

NHK announcer Yoriko Mekata, 48, got married on April 5. Her partner is 58-year-old Shinji Yamada, also an employee at NHK. This is Yamada's second marriage.

Mekata joined NHK in 1983 after graduating from Sophia University. She also once served as a Kohaku Uta Gassen host in 1986.

KinKi Kids' Koichi Domoto and KAT-TUN's Yuichi Nakamaru will have a guest appearance as themselves on the "Crayon Shin-chan" anime series.

The collaborative episode will air on April 25. Prior to that, both the "Sushi Ouji!" movie (starring Domoto and Nakamaru) and the new "Crayon Shin-chan" film are opening in theaters this coming weekend.

75-year-old actor Makoto Fujita has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, it was learned on Wednesday.

According to his agency, the actor first began experiencing symptoms in his throat in February. He underwent an examination in March, and a follow-up at the end of the month identified an early-stage tumor.

Fujita's doctor persuaded him to cancel his appearance in the play "Kenkaku Shobai" this June. He is now receiving treatment at a hospital and may undergo surgery. Fujita hopes to be well enough to resume work by this summer.