Favourite anime protagonist

[Navvan]

Balsa from Morbito is the first that jumps to mind.

Reasons without spoilers?

She isn't a caricature like many other protagonists in anime.
Realistically bad-ass.
Believable and tragic back story
Believable agenda/goals and character progression.

If you by chance haven't watched Morbito: Guardian of the Spirit I highly recommend it.

 

[Ishal]

Gundam Seed gets a lot of criticism for... reasons? I don't know why exactly, its one of the highest selling facets of the franchise and the characters always place highly in "favorite character" polls in anime magazines.

It's mainly because of Kira, most of the main characters, the borrowed story, the hypocritical character motives, and how it focused to much on the over arching theme to the point of annoyance. It could also be because it had to live up to the light of Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, G Fighter Gundam, Gundam Wing and Turn A Gundam. Seed may have been popular but it's never regarded as 'good' in comparison to previous(already stated) and post Gundam franchises(00 and Unicorn).

That's... odd, but not unexpected. I get how a lot of people probably wouldn't like Kira. I thought the main reason was that it was a different era other than earth fed vs zeon, which makes up the majority of the shows you listed.

It does have the same problem most other animes have, though. Terrible monologues and pedantic use of flashbacks. The story was the one that sold me though, focusing on the overarching theme to the point of annoyance is something most all anime does, but this theme was one I actually liked so it didn't bother me as much. Gundam Wing was so convoluted by the time it ended that I forgot what they were all fighting for.

I have yet to see Unicorn, but I know that was going to be popular since Char is still a main character in it.

 

[xplosive59]

Although my avatar is Reinhard, I actually prefered Yang Wenli. I liked his "I don't give a shit. I am just fighting because I am good at it and I want my pension" attitude. He loved democracy but saw the ideals of both sides at the same time.

Also:

Arsene Lupin III
Kyon
Oscar Francois de Jarjeyes
Makunouchi Ippo
Okabe Rintarou AKA Hououin Kyouma

Also Char, who is not really a protagonist but can be seen as one... Kind of.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Gundam Seed gets a lot of criticism for... reasons? I don't know why exactly, its one of the highest selling facets of the franchise and the characters always place highly in "favorite character" polls in anime magazines.

It's mainly because of Kira, most of the main characters, the borrowed story, the hypocritical character motives, and how it focused to much on the over arching theme to the point of annoyance. It could also be because it had to live up to the light of Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, G Fighter Gundam, Gundam Wing and Turn A Gundam. Seed may have been popular but it's never regarded as 'good' in comparison to previous(already stated) and post Gundam franchises(00 and Unicorn).

That's... odd, but not unexpected. I get how a lot of people probably wouldn't like Kira. I thought the main reason was that it was a different era other than earth fed vs zeon, which makes up the majority of the shows you listed.

It does have the same problem most other animes have, though. Terrible monologues and pedantic use of flashbacks. The story was the one that sold me though, focusing on the overarching theme to the point of annoyance is something most all anime does, but this theme was one I actually liked so it didn't bother me as much. Gundam Wing was so convoluted by the time it ended that I forgot what they were all fighting for.

I have yet to see Unicorn, but I know that was going to be popular since Char is still a main character in it.

Or is it Char????? Ohhhhhh mystery, now you have to watch it!

 

[Ishal]

Gundam Seed gets a lot of criticism for... reasons? I don't know why exactly, its one of the highest selling facets of the franchise and the characters always place highly in "favorite character" polls in anime magazines.

It's mainly because of Kira, most of the main characters, the borrowed story, the hypocritical character motives, and how it focused to much on the over arching theme to the point of annoyance. It could also be because it had to live up to the light of Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, G Fighter Gundam, Gundam Wing and Turn A Gundam. Seed may have been popular but it's never regarded as 'good' in comparison to previous(already stated) and post Gundam franchises(00 and Unicorn).

That's... odd, but not unexpected. I get how a lot of people probably wouldn't like Kira. I thought the main reason was that it was a different era other than earth fed vs zeon, which makes up the majority of the shows you listed.

It does have the same problem most other animes have, though. Terrible monologues and pedantic use of flashbacks. The story was the one that sold me though, focusing on the overarching theme to the point of annoyance is something most all anime does, but this theme was one I actually liked so it didn't bother me as much. Gundam Wing was so convoluted by the time it ended that I forgot what they were all fighting for.

I have yet to see Unicorn, but I know that was going to be popular since Char is still a main character in it.

Or is it Char????? Ohhhhhh mystery, now you have to watch it!

Wha?!?! You little!!

I was going to watch it but I heard it was a set of like 7 movies or really long episodes. When things like that are done I tend to wait til they are all available then watch them all at once. But I might not want to wait now... :/

 

[indrak]

Spike Spiegel for the win, ladies and gentlemen.

Agreed,You cant beat him.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

Lelouch Lamperouge.

It's nice to see a protagonist fail, and freak the hell out. For actual reasons.

I think what really hit was when he about turns to drugs and that Shirley moment. Iunno, really liked him.

Another one is Mugen.

 

[F'Angus]

I really like Hei/BK201/Black Reaper from Darker than Black. I think the "Chinese Electric Batman" nickname fits him extremely well.

My favourite though is Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai X. He's got two sides to him, the happy wanderer side and the lethal Battousai. I think he's probably one of the best developed anime characters. He doesn't want to be the Battousai any more but he can't escape what he is, and he really struggles against his old killing side. He's interesting because he's not always been a "good guy" he was a bloodthirsty assassin, which he only did to bring around a new era without the fighting. The OVAs really helped develop him, especially Trust and Betrayal, because you see both sides of him there, and you actually get to see the killer side which is hidden in the series.



Oh and Piccolo. He's badass.

 

[RogueportJack]

I'm gonna get some hate for this, especially cause I don't watch a ton of anime, but Goku. Not the deepest character, no, but he's simultaneously heroic and inspiring while also being a huge dumbass manchild. He's just a fun character.

 

[RJ 17]

I also like Light, even if many people hate him.

I like him due to his ability to make eating potato chips ridiculously, deliciously epic.

As for my own answer, I'll go with Kenshin Himura, from Rurouni Kenshin (obviously).

In generaly, Kenshin is my favorite all-time anime series. The story kicks ass at least up until the end of the Kyoto arc, after that it jumps off the tracks set forth by the manga and the last couple arcs are just kinda meh. The OVA's are fan-frickin'-tastic and if you don't cry during the last two you quite honestly don't deserve to be called a human since you clearly have no soul.

That and I love his quick-draw fighting style. The battle being him and Soujiro is one of my favorite anime fights because Soujiro has the upper hand the entire time, moving so fast that Kenshin can't even see him, but with a simple, seemingly innocuous sentence, Kenshin completely shatters Soujiro's psyche and they have an epic final clash.

And that's what I really like about Kenshin. Like Batman, he refuses to kill his enemies, but unlike Batman, he spends the majority of the fight explaining why his opponent could be a good person if they truly wanted to be. He sees the best in people, and gets them to realize that they're wasting their lives while walking the wicked path that they're on. At least that's how it is in most cases, in the rest he just explains why he cannot give up and why the opponent is too evil to ignore...still, though, he manages to keep his oath of never killing.

And lets face it, the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki is the greastest sword-play ultimate technique in existence. Too fast to dodge, your only hope is to block it...the problem is, if you block it, you're going to get hit by the optional second part of the attack which has more destructive power than the first part.

Buuuuuuuuuuuut other than Kenshin, I've gotta give props to Bobobo from Bobobo-bobo-Bobobo, easily the funniest anime I've ever seen. And the manga is easily the funniest THING I've ever seen.

 

[Me55enger]

Spike Spiegel for the win, ladies and gentlemen.

Agreed. And because of that, I think it's time we blow this scene.

On a side note: my imported copies of OST 1 & 2 arrived today.

 

[Elfgore]

Mines a tie between Rikka Takanashi from Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions and Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail

Rikka is a hilarious no matter what she does. Either bothering the main character with her delusions or getting into epic "battles" with her "slave" and older sister. She also has a very depressing back story on how she developed her eight grader syndrome aka schizophrenia, which made me like her all the more.

Natsu is a fire mage who has the potential to become the most powerful mage in the world if he took himself seriously, but he rather destroy entire cities trying to stop one bad guy than train. He can use flaming punches and absorb fire, need I say more?

Natsu is in my top10 of worst character ever.

He's reduced to guy who cares about his friends and gets sick everytime he travels.

Every speech he makes is about nakama bullshit. I mean, shounens usually have protagonists like that, but Fairy Tail did it horribly.
Unless you're a Kid or has just gotten into anime I can't understand how would someone enjoy Natsu.

It's the second, well kinda. I've watched anime for about a month or two now and Fairy Tail is the first shounen I have watched, so I really have no clue what a "good" shounen character is. I just know I like his morals and his cocky attitude. Though I will say that joke about motion sickness gets really old really fast.

 

[gim73]

Gon Freeks from Hunter x Hunter. I love this anime. Just the Hunters entrance exam alone is enough to get you hooked on Gon, and that is before he actually comes into his own power. He's seriously just a kid with some good reflexes and a fishing pole. He doesn't manage to win a conventional fight until somewhere around forty episodes into the series. Personally, I really want to see Leorio make a return in the series, because he's another favorite.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm gonna get some hate for this, especially cause I don't watch a ton of anime, but Goku. Not the deepest character, no, but he's simultaneously heroic and inspiring while also being a huge dumbass manchild. He's just a fun character.

Why would you get hate for this? I agree wholeheartedly. If there was ever a fictional character I wish I could be like, it'd be Goku. ...well except maybe for his utter cluelessness, but that's one of the reasons why I love him.

 

[Miss G.]

I like the joint efforts of these protagonists in taking down a self-proclaimed 'god' serial killer. The rivalry amongst themselves and the game they play whilst Light goes around bringing the world to its knees highlighted perfectly that had they been working as a team to begin with they would've solved the case faster than even their mentor L, possibly without Mello and Matt having to die.

But... there's always something about the platinum blondes, albino-like characters, cold calculating geniuses and characters that look like kids in anime that gets me, and Near's a great mix of all four, so he's my real favorite.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Motoko Kusanagi.
There's an extremely short list of characters I've seen that I thought "Huh, I'd like to be that character in that world, doing what they do, how they do it."

Honorable mention to Rally Vincent from Gunsmith Cats coz she came to mind fairly quickly.

Balsa from Morbito is the first that jumps to mind.

Reasons without spoilers?

She isn't a caricature like many other protagonists in anime.
Realistically bad-ass.
Believable and tragic back story
Believable agenda/goals and character progression.

If you by chance haven't watched Morbito: Guardian of the Spirit I highly recommend it.

I agree with this. Balsa is a wonderful character.

 

[verdant monkai]

I have sooo many... picking one at random from my top ten would be Alucard from Hellsing.

 

[Darren Carrigan]

I really like Yoh Asakura from Shaman King. In middle school when everyone else was going through their grim dark Evanescence listening phase, I tried maintain a more positive attitude because of Shaman King.

EDIT: Oh, also Gintoki Sakata. Rather than a kid going through his hero's journey like in most Shonen manga, he's already been around the block a few times and was a veteran of a war where he fought on the losing side, but he also likes sweets and prefers strawberry milk to coffee. Such a cool guy.

It warms my heart to see someone else say/type Shaman King, nobody I know has heard of that show and it changed my bloody standards of anime with it's awesomness.

I like Kirito, because he tried to be a loner in the beginning of his journey; only to end up fighting for everyone he had grown to care about in the final battle - becuase I had my stage of trying to be a loner and some good people pulled me out of it. I can really relate to that aspect of him.