Oh Vash, you're so great... both by being fun and by making LOVE AND PEACE seem like the considerably more badass path than murder and violence...Retsam19 said:This guy.
I mean, it helps that Trigun is my favorite anime ever. But, the character of Vash is a good part of why Trigun is my favorite anime. Besides for the fact that he's a lot of fun, you really grow in your understanding of the character; he's one of the few characters who succeeds at being deeply characterized and hilarious.
Personally I'm going to go with my all time favorite...
Black Mage Extraordinaire! The Dragon Spooker! The Bandit Killer! Ms. Lina Inverse!
Yeah definitely showing my age here but I love Lina as a character, vain, greedy, gluttonous, mercurial, intelligent, heroic, powerful, brave... Lina is pretty damn three dimensional and for me is the gold standard for female characters in fiction.
As far as other protagonists I'm very fond of...
The Elric Brothers, it's so nice to see a pair of intelligent male anime heroes... they are SO damn rare... also doesn't hurt that I find their personal journey and growth so engaging.
Lupin the 3rd (Miyazaki Edition), I have trouble taking the cynicism of the proper Monkey Punch character but Hayao Miyazaki's take that makes the thief more lovable and heroic has been a big inspiration to all of my own character writing.
Nausicaa, while she is super cool and makes pacifism look as badass as Vash does she's too much of a nearly perfect savior/saint character. I guess my real "love" of this character comes from her design, she just looks so damn cool.
Alita/Gally, I really love this character, a Badass cyborg martial artist with both a great deal of coolness and a lot of flaws and vulnerabilities.