Ranker

Anime Underground

Button Mash

Graveyard Shift

Total Nerd

Unspeakable Times

Weird History

Weird Nature

Weirdly Interesting

Sports

Music

Entertainment

Living

Culture

Food

Makeup

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Holidays

Watchworthy

HBO Max

Lists about the most popular, memorable, and complicated characters in anime across all genres.

Anime Characters

Anime characters don't always look their age. Sometimes it's a case of early puberty, as is true for&nbsp;Hotaru Ichijō of Non Non Biyori.&nbsp;Other times, puberty shows up later than it should, as is Honey-senpai's problem in&nbsp;Ouran Host Club. Every so often, a character's appearance is utterly inexplicable. In&nbsp;Masamune-kun's&nbsp;Revenge,&nbsp;Kinue&nbsp;Hayase&nbsp;is the&nbsp;42-year-old&nbsp;mother of two teenagers, but she looks exactly like <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/little-girl-movies/ranker-film?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">a little girl</a>.&nbsp;Excluding characters who are thousands of years old,&nbsp;here are a selection of anime&nbsp;characters whose physical appearances don't match up with their age.&nbsp;

For most people, losing their lives is the worst thing they could possibly imagine - but in anime, there are some things that are worse than that.&nbsp;

Anime characters who suffer a fate worse than death are sometimes immortal, like Joseph from&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/why-you-should-watch-ancient-magus-bride/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">The Ancient Magus</a> Bride&nbsp;or Hidan from&nbsp;Naruto.&nbsp;These characters must endure situations that would destroy anyone else, for eternity. Other characters like Rika Furude of&nbsp;Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni&nbsp;are forced to repeat the same terrible experiences on an endless loop. Others, like Ymir of&nbsp;Attack on Titan,&nbsp;lose&nbsp;their sense of self entirely. All of them suffer immeasurably, to the point where passing away would be a relief.&nbsp;

The fact that a character is featured on this list doesn&#39;t necessarily imply that they shouldn&#39;t be alive - and it&nbsp;definitely&nbsp;doesn&#39;t imply anything about people in the real world who might have gone through more realistic versions of some of these experiences. It just means that what these characters have endured&nbsp;is so horrible that most people would not be able to bear it.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

It can happen at any moment. You’re enjoying an anime series -&nbsp;perhaps sipping a fine brandy -&nbsp;when suddenly,&nbsp;the annoying anime kids appear!&nbsp;These little brats can get so deep under your skin, it's enough to almost make you quit watching anime altogether.It seems that the sole mission of annoying kids in anime is to irritate the hell out of the protagonist (and, by extension, the viewer). Whether it’s an annoying younger sibling, a nuisance kid neighbor, or even a bratty lead character, anime kids have inspired more than their fair share of audible groans and muttered obscenities.Even though (too many)&nbsp;shows&nbsp;have that one annoying brat, there's some merit to be found in their existence. The exasperating&nbsp;attitude of a youthful character often helps create a sense of balance against the protagonist and provides a few begrudging laughs. Still, it's nice to get a heads up on which of these terrible tykes you should brace yourself for.&nbsp;

The term &quot;Mary Sue&quot; gets thrown around a lot in the anime community - but what does it actually mean? While the real definition is <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue" target="_blank">controversial</a>, there are several basic traits that most people agree on. A Mary Sue is an overpowered character whose abilities either break the established rules of the series in question&nbsp;or are so ridiculously OP that no series could possibly account for it. What&#39;s more, everyone in the series adores this character, even if it&#39;s not clear why that&#39;s the case. They often have multiple love interests&nbsp;or have other characters salivating over them. Their personalities are typically flawless, and when they do have flaws those flaws are endearing and don&#39;t really have a negative impact on their lives. A male version of the same thing is called a Gary Stu.

A character being a Mary Sue or Gary Stu isn&#39;t necessarily a bad thing - there&#39;s a reason the archetype exists and that is&nbsp;wish fulfillment. Sometimes you just want to watch your favorite anime guy or gal kick butt and you don&#39;t want to worry about the details. But sometimes Gary Stu and Mary Sue anime characters&nbsp;can fall flat, because they don&#39;t always face the kinds of challenges that a character struggling with personal flaws and weaknesses might face.

Vote up the characters that you think qualify as&nbsp;Sues and Stus, and vote down the ones you think are miscategorized.&nbsp;

Who has <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-anime-of-all-time/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the worst anime</a> laugh?

One Piece is probably the most notorious show when it comes to annoying anime laughs - which is why it appears three times on this list. But while the Shololololos and Kishishishis of&nbsp;this shonen giant are definitely worth noting, there are other shows with characters whose laughs make <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-you-wish-you-were-better-at/lauren-slocum?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">you wish you</a> had some industrial strength earplugs. Livebearer from Toriko&nbsp;not only sounds horrendous,&nbsp;but he also laughs while drooling and rotating his rootlike tongue. Cell from Dragon Ball Z laughs like an unenthusiastic vampire while barely moving his mouth.&nbsp;

Prepare to get annoyed, and vote up the videos you hated the most.&nbsp;

Anime draws viewers in with its captivating visuals, and the cutest characters created can be just as enticing. These men&nbsp;may be artificial, but our feelings for them are certainly not. Some are monsters, some are mannerly, and some occupy the middle of the road. Just like us, these <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/hot-anime-guys-and-boys/ranker-anime?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">cute anime guys</a> are created, or drawn,&nbsp;imperfectly, and that&nbsp;makes them all the more compelling.

Are you tired of watching anime where characters make rational&nbsp;choices based on healthy mental functioning? If so, you might want to check out some shows that feature mentally unstable anime characters.&nbsp;What makes insane anime characters so great is that they throw predictability right out the window. Characters with antisocial personality disorders, a condition that pops up frequently amongst&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-anime-villains/ranker-anime" target="_blank">anime&nbsp;villains</a>, don't respond to situations the way you expect them to –&nbsp;building&nbsp;suspense and keeping&nbsp;you guessing about what's going to happen next and what's motivating them. Other characters with more common psychological symptoms like anxiety can be intensely relatable.&nbsp;Note: &quot;Crazy&quot; anime characters aren't always portrayed in the most sensitive or realistic of ways. While these characters are engaging, they're often based on harmful stereotypes. In real life, people with mental illnesses are actually way more likely to be victims&nbsp;of violence than to act violently themselves. That's not the case in anime.&nbsp;

The world can feel like a bleak place,&nbsp;and sometimes&nbsp;viewers want anime that reflects how they feel, even if those feelings aren't exactly fun.&nbsp;Pessimistic anime characters see the negatives in everything, and they expect their lives to end in failure. Some power through anyway, trying their best despite their grim outlook, while others&nbsp;give up, or avoid situations that they think are doomed. Just because characters exist in an animated world doesn't mean that their lives are all sunshine and rainbows.&nbsp;

Secrets

The best anime stories create a sense of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-thriller-anime/ranker-anime" target="_blank">suspense</a>, often by featuring a character who's harboring a secret. Whether it's a kid who doesn't want anyone to know that he called himself &quot;Dark Flame Master&quot; in middle school, or a bunch of teenagers who join&nbsp;the military without mentioning to the higher-ups that they're actually man-eating monsters, anime characters with secrets have explosive plot potential.Tension builds quickly&nbsp;when viewers know a secret before the rest of the show's cast have any idea what's really going on.&nbsp;Other times, viewers are left in the dark, and get to react with the rest of the cast&nbsp;when the secret drops. No matter what, the unraveling of a juicy secret&nbsp;always makes for a good story.&nbsp;

Plenty of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/my-top-10-favorite-anime-characters" target="_blank">anime characters</a> don't have sex –&nbsp;after all, a lot&nbsp;of it is aimed at <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-kids-anime-v1/ranker-anime" target="_blank">kids and teenagers</a>, and the series&nbsp;aimed at adults still doesn't usually get explicit. That said,&nbsp;it's pretty rare to come across a character who makes it clear that they aren't interested, and rarer still to find an anime character who actually identifies themselves as asexual.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asexuality" target="_blank">Asexuality</a> refers to a lack of sexual attraction, or a low or nonexistent desire to engage in sexual activities. This is distinct from celibacy, which is a conscious decision to abstain from sex, despite the presence of sexual attraction. Asexuals can, and often&nbsp;do&nbsp;have sex. Sometimes, it's for procreation. Sometimes, it's for the same reason that people who aren't really into hiking will hit the trail with their significant other –&nbsp;they want to make the other person happy and participate in activities they enjoy. They can have romantic&nbsp;relationships –&nbsp;though <a href="https://asexualagenda.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/talking-about-asexuality-in-japanese/" target="_blank">in Japan</a>, the term &quot;asexual&quot; tends to refer to people who are both asexual&nbsp;and&nbsp;aromantic, while the term &quot;nonsexual&quot; means people who have relationships without sex.This list focuses on anime characters who are&nbsp;probably&nbsp;asexual, based on their behavior, their words, or what their creators have said about them.&nbsp;Because of said rarity,&nbsp;much of this is up for interpretation.The characters on this list exhibit a distinct lack of interest in sexual activity, but what that means about the character's sexuality isn't always clear - it's difficult to find confirmed asexual anime characters. Also, some of these representations aren't exactly positive, and may even be offensive. Vote to let the world know which interpretations you agree with, and which you don't.

Anyone who has ever watched anime knows this archetype well: anime characters who just want a normal life. They range from reluctant heroes and heroines to everyday people who simply desire no fuss at all. Instead of great&nbsp;aspirations or big lofty dreams, anime heroes who don't want to be protagonists&nbsp;wish to be taken out of the spotlight and drama, preferably to a place where they can be left alone. It may sound like an oxymoron to create anime protagonists who don't like adventure, but the genre uses it as a means of making certain <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/the-top-most-badass-male-anime-characters/owilnic" target="_blank">anime characters look more badass</a>. But when it comes to other anime heroes who just want to go home, like Evangelion's Shinji Ikari, their detachment serves to highlight the circumstances which forced them into their situations.Anime characters who don't care are a dime a dozen, and&nbsp;detached characters who serve as protagonists feel right at home in the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/anime-high-school-tropes/crystal-brackett" target="_blank">genre's many tropes</a>. But for these characters to feel truly at home, they would probably be doing what you are now: scrolling aimlessly through the Internet.

According to the <a href="http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/">World Health Organization</a>, about 15% of the world's population lives with some kind of disability. With numbers like that, any kind of media worth paying attention to should have some decent representation of disabled people. Luckily for anime fans, there are some wonderful characters who fit the bill.Some anime that tackle&nbsp;disability do&nbsp;it with nuance and specificity - if you watch Prince of Tennis, for instance, you're going to learn a lot about&nbsp;Guillain-Barr&eacute; Syndrome. If you watch Gangsta, you're going to learn something about how real people deal with being deaf. Other anime is more vague about it, giving their characters unspecified injuries or heart problems with symptoms that don't quite add up - but these characters can still tell us important things about the social and&nbsp;emotional implications of disability.&nbsp;All of these characters are an important part of their story, sometimes because of how the show handles their disability, and sometimes because they're just really freakin' awesome characters. See if you find your favorite, or maybe find someone new. &nbsp;

For some unlucky anime characters, nothing ever seems to go right. Anime characters with bad luck have outrageously hard lives&nbsp;filled with seemingly endless misery. Many&nbsp;are characterized by their&nbsp;ill-fatedness, and a&nbsp;few are literal gods of misfortune who&nbsp;intentionally spread&nbsp;bad tidings. When properly executed, bad luck can add pathos and depth to a story;&nbsp;when done wrong, it can seem excessive and&nbsp;silly.&nbsp;

Momiji Sohma From Fruits Baskets

Anime has become such&nbsp;a prevalent&nbsp;art form that its style is instantly recognizable, and&nbsp;not just because of&nbsp;tropes like mech-armor or crazy&nbsp;powerful&nbsp;aliens. Japanimation incorporates&nbsp;unique&nbsp;facial features, over-the-top expressions, and <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/must-watch-anime-with-unique-and-beautiful-art-styles/nida-sea">distinctive illustration techniques</a>&nbsp;nonexistent&nbsp;in other forms of animation to create&nbsp;its characters. These specific techniques allow illustrators to depict characters, namely men and boys, with more typically feminine features, which leads&nbsp;to another famous anime trope: anime guys who look like girls.Bending the rules of an anime character's gender <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-gender-switch-anime/reference">is nothing new</a>. In fact,&nbsp;many shows feature&nbsp;anime boys who look like girls. These men sport&nbsp;delicate features that&nbsp;you could easily confuse them for women, and can appear in&nbsp;various shows ranging from the typical slice-of-life anime to the action-adventure stories of shonen anime.Check out this&nbsp;list of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-top-most-badass-male-anime-characters/owilnic?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">male anime characters</a> who look like girls and see if you can really tell the difference. &nbsp;

Far too many anime series have useless&nbsp;side characters that fans hate and protagonists begrudgingly put with. Many people complain about how they're weak, how they harm the protagonists, or just, you know, serve no purpose at all. These usless sidekicks in anime, at their best, don't really do anything.&nbsp;People can make some really great arguments as to why these characters served some purpose to the plot.&nbsp;What one person thinks is a useless trait or quality might not be seen as useless to another... but seriously, some of these tangential characters could&nbsp;truly get under your skin with their&nbsp;pathetic existence.&nbsp;The side characters&nbsp;listed below are the ones that get the absolute worst complaints, and frankly, most of them deserve it.&nbsp;

Orphans are common in the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-anime-world-to-live-in/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">world of anime</a>, but most of them don&#39;t go through their whole childhoods alone. Rather, they have parental&nbsp;figures who step in and do the job their parents couldn&#39;t finish.&nbsp; In other cases, a character might not be an orphan, but might be&nbsp;another adult that&nbsp;takes on a parental role.

Let&#39;s celebrate some of the best parental substitutes in anime - after all, they&#39;ve taken on some serious responsibility. Some of these characters meet their surrogate children through training: a great example of this is Izumi Curtis from&nbsp;Fullmetal Alchemist,&nbsp;who teaches the Elric brothers how to do alchemy. Others, like Akari Kawamoto of&nbsp;March Comes In Like A Lion,&nbsp;are more focused on their charges&#39; emotional development and physical needs than mentoring them in any specific way. 
 
Which ones are&nbsp;your favorites?

Himura Kenshin

It's inevitable in almost any show you watch, but what are <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/saddest-anime-series-of-all-time/ranker-anime?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the saddest anime</a> deaths of all time? For this list we're ranking anime deaths that made you cry, or at least made you feel really sad. Since it's the funeral that often makes these deaths so sad, this list is also kind of a ranking of the saddest anime funerals of all time. There are a few that come to mind when you talk about sad anime funerals, but Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist has always stood out as particularly sad (mostly because his young daughter doesn't understand what is happening when the casket is lowered into the ground.)Please vote for the anime characters deaths that made you cry, and add any to the list if that character is not already here.

Not every villain gets to be that way because they were born evil. In fact, some of the most compelling villains started off as good people - heroes even - but were warped by circumstance into doing terrible things. When viewers first meet these characters, they appear to be horrific monsters with no remorse, but once you get a peek into their backstory, your opinion of them may change - sometimes dramatically.&nbsp;

Obito&nbsp;Uchiha&nbsp;of&nbsp;Naruto&nbsp;may have done some atrocious things, but he also endured immense suffering.&nbsp;His ancestor Madara used to manipulate him into believing that humanity should be destroyed. Revy from Black Lagoon&nbsp;became a mercenary after an encounter with the police taught her that the only person who was going to protect her was herself. Even&nbsp;Cells At Work&nbsp;uses this trope by making viewers cry their eyes out over the backstory of a cancer cell.&nbsp;

Fallen hero anime characters can be some of the most fascinating characters the anime world has to offer. They offer a glimpse into what creates a villain, and how the human psyche processes trauma. Be warned - some of these stories are pretty brutal.

For some fans, part of the appeal of anime is thinking about which characters would be relationship material if they were real. Some anime characters&nbsp;seem like they'd make terrible significant others, though. It could be because they treat their canon boyfriends or girlfriends like garbage; their <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/disturbing-romantic-anime-relationships/nida-sea" target="_blank">cartoon relationships are truly disturbing</a>. It could be because they're really insecure and&nbsp;willing to inflict violence on&nbsp;anyone who so much as looks at their crush. It could be because they're just really exhausting to be around.&nbsp;One person's dream date is another person's nightmare, so you likely won't agree with all the selections here. You might even give some a chance despite all the red flags, but hey, no judgment.&nbsp;

In the real world, most people won&#39;t live into their hundreds, and those who do aren&#39;t going to get too far into them - and they certainly won&#39;t live to be 200, 500, 1,000, 10,000, or 3 1/2 trillion years old while still looking like a teenager or a&nbsp;twenty-something. Anime characters who are hundreds of years old might defy reality, but that&#39;s part of what makes them so much fun.

Among these super <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/elderly-anime-characters/ranker-anime?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">old anime characters</a> are characters like Master Roshi from&nbsp;Dragon Ball&nbsp;and Tomiko Asahina from&nbsp;From The New World&nbsp;who are able to intentionally extend their lifespans through magical means. But there are also characters like Joseph from&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/why-you-should-watch-ancient-magus-bride/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">The Ancient Magus</a>&#39; Bride&nbsp;and C.C. from&nbsp;Code Geass&nbsp;who have been living for centuries despite fervently wishing for the end of their endless lives.

Each of these characters offer a unique perspective on what it&#39;s like to outlive everyone they&#39;ve known and have a history that spans generations. Which ones are&nbsp;your favorites?

Anime People

pageType

unsafe_grapeshot

unsafe_grapeshot_death_injury

X_AMP

top_fb_2-3

top_search_2-3

ranker_prime

cb_anime-people

Sure, we all love anime for its fantastic animation and high-quality story capabilities, but let's be honest. As we watch, we can't help but laugh at all that ridiculous anime hair. A story you're completely invested in can come grinding to a halt because a new character shows up with drills on the sides of her head. You get distracted wondering&nbsp;how in the heck they do that every morning. Check out the list below for <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-anime-of-all-time/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the worst anime</a> hairstyles ever drawn, and vote up the one you think is the most ridiculous... or perhaps would want yourself.&nbsp;

The 25 Most Baffling Anime Hairstyles That Completely Defy Gravity

The Best Comics Lists - Find or Make a Fictional Characters List  | Ranker  | Ranker - A World of Lists

Fictional Character

Other

Best Rankings of Random Cool Facts + Stuff

other

United States

Jacoby Bancroft

Gender

Millenials

Age under 50

Women

Gen Zs

Gen Xers

Baby Boomers

Region

West Coast US

Mountain US

Midwest US

Southern US

Northeastern US

International

Kenpachi Zaraki

Kenpachi Zaraki is a fictional character and an antihero in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. He is the captain of the 11th Division within the Gotei 13. His lieutenant is Yachiru Kusajishi.

Gr&eacute;vil de Blois

Rikuo Nura

Seseri Chono

Sure, we all love anime for its fantastic animation and high-quality story capabilities, but let's be honest. As we watch, we can't help but laugh at all that ... (Page 2)