Kenichi is my favorite VN protagonist and one of my favorite protagonists in general.
In the first 3 chapters he was quite possibly my #1 character. He was incredibly funny, finding the best times to mess with all his friends and making a whole bunch of really random jokes. He also had a whole bunch of badass moments though the ones I liked most are a bit spoilery so I won't mention them.
I really liked his a role as the person to help rehabilitate the 3 girls with their obligations. He followed or broke the rules as he saw fit, and found the best ways to not only get them over their obligations but to help them develop themselves.
While he was still quite good in Chapter 4 and 5, he just didn't get enough chances to be as awesome as he was in the first 3 due to some circumstances but he gets his moments in both. I also like his subtle character development you start to notice by these chapters.
The story of the underdog told in its best form from what I've seen.
I'll admit, Ippo's personality isn't particularly original, being a typical shy nice guy. However it's his overall presentation and growth that I really really enjoyed about him.
He starts off as the guy who gets bullied, yet has great physical strength from helping him mom and is finally able to put it to good use in BOXING. Boxing is a sport I've always kind of liked but never went out of my way to watch often but mixing it along with Ippo's development was great.
Unlike many shounen protagonists who get random new powers out of nowhere, Ippo has to train hard and find his own techniques to win fights and it's makes every fight he's in much better when he's able to find just the right technique to beat the opponent. The development he gets before and during each fight makes me root for him all the more and it's almost really satisfying when he wins.
The mix of being a nice guy and having great badass fights where he has to think of plan is what I really enjoyed about Ippo. His only flaw is his overly dragged out romance.
Hanako was the one I forgot so she should probably be a little lower but WHATEVER my rankings don't matter she is so moe
But seriously, KS is a weird one for me. It has a lot of problems and most of it isn't very well written at all but it has a ton of heart and the characters are pretty distinct. Hanako's character is pretty basic. KS is all about disabilities but Hanako isn't actually physically impaired at all. However, she's let herself be more negatively affected by her scars than any of the other girls with their conditions. So anyway, she's got some crippling social anxiety and only has one friend. She opens up as her route goes on and eventually becomes happy. It's about as formulaic as it can get but she's really easy to relate to since everyone has an insecurity about something and with the VN's unique charm, it works.
Ippo's lack of growth and development is the main flaw of the show. Despite his many victories, he *still* thinks of himself as the underdog in pretty much every fight. Would be much better if he got more confident.
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You're the type that *********** to the girl you like, right?
Out of all the characters that are ever Harry's partner, Michael is my favorite. I always get excited when he's in one of the books. It's cool how in a series where almost every character has some dark traits, Michael is incorruptible. I like how devoted he is to everything. His family, killing demons and stuff, Harry, God, etc. He was literally handpicked by God (or something) to be one of three knights in the whole world. It's pretty neat how the whole divine intervention thing works in the series too. He and Harry have a lot of chemistry including great exchanges such as the following
“Holy ****," I breathed. "Hellhounds." "Harry," Michael said sternly. "You know I hate it when you swear." "You're right. Sorry. Holy ****," I breathed, "heckhounds.
He also wears flannel and is a family man. On that note, I also think Charity is awesome but she's not on my list.
2.Suguru Oogushi (Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai)
Kinda funny how one of my favorite characters ever is literally a minor character in a cast with a lot of great main characters. But damn it, he's easily the best minor character that I know of.
Suguru's character is basically if you took the Japanese otaku stereotype and ramped up the traits Up to Eleven. The result is ****ing amazing.
The majority of Suguru's dialogue is him grumbling about 3D women and the 3D world in general. These comments are always funny and it's particularly hilarious to see him insult them in their face.
Even though he's an otaku, he goes to Kawakami High School so that means he is not without badass moments. Pictured above is the climax of one of his better and more hilarious/badass scenes and he has a bunch of other great moments.
Basically Suguru's concept is awesome and hilarious, his execution is even better and I look forward to see more scenes of him once the everything actually gets translated in 2 years.
It was a very tough choice, but Akari reigns supreme once again.
It's no secret that Aria is my favorite anime/manga series and Akari is a very big reason for that. I really like Akari's very positive outlook on life and how she genuinely has a great curiosity and open mind to almost anything.
That fact that she can have this kind of personality, be super nice and cheerful and avoid being boring or annoying is quite a feat especially since you see her in just about episode/chapter.
She may not have as much development as her other 2 friends, but she still gets a decent amount and makes up for it by being great in just about every episode/chapter.
Whether she's helping out other people, having fun with her friends/mentor/pet, enjoying the scenery or just interacting with other people Akari is a great character who helps make you appreciate the world around her more. In some ways she's a character I can actually look up to.
Jaime's an interesting one since he's so easy to hate at first. I didn't even hate Littlefinger for doing evil things at the beginning but I hated Jaime in the first book more than anyone else besides Jofrey. And Cersei. And Lysa, okay NEVERMIND
While he's a huge dick at first, Jaime gets a lot of development later and he's my favorite character in the series now. I don't think I would dislike him in the first book if I reread it anymore since he's really charismatic. In the first season of the show, I thought they made him more sympathetic from the beginning. Then he goes around with Catelyn and Brienne and has a bunch of badass scenes. He literally fights a bear. He's not as physically strong anymore but his storyline will probably go interesting places. I wish the series had more scenes with he and Tyrion together.
Roland might be too low since I haven't read the series in a really long time (he used to be my favorite character ever) but here he is. Roland is awesome since he's both really badass and easy to care about. He's also got an interesting side to him since while he is heroic and cares about his ka-tet a lot, he's also obsessed with finding the Tower. It makes you wonder for the whole series which is more important to him. I still need to read the new book but I thought Wizard & Glass was really good since it showed why he's so stoic and what he's really like on the inside. Looking forward to the TV show or movies or whatever it is they are doing (if it's still getting made.)
In a story that is all about heroism and bromance, Sam stands out as the most heroic. He't not as overtly badass as most of the Fellowship members but don't let his appearance fool you. I mean he literally uses a frying pan as a weapon to murder orcs. What does he do when Frodo is taken to a room alone by this mysterious “Strider?” Bad characters like Merry and Pippin bring weapons but Sam just sticks his fists up and yells “Let him go, or I'll have you, longshanks!” I don't even know what longshanks means. When the hobbits are cornered by the Nazgul and all the others are literally paralyzed with fear he starts fighting them and yells “Back you devils!” I could go on all day with other great scenes like where decides he doesn't care that he doesn't know how to swim and where he decides he doesn't care that he's exhausted beyond belief so he can still carry Frodo up a mountain WHILE CRYING.
He basically just doesn't even understand how to not be ridiculously courageous at all times. It's also cool how humble he is. He literally thinks Frodo is being sarcastic when he calls him brave. He's the most important member of the Fellowship besides Frodo himself but almost all of his contributions are via supporting the others. He's just the man.
I don't really have all that much new to say about Guts since he was on my list last year and there have been about five chapters since then LOL
but seriously, Berserk isn't that high up on my list of favorite manga but I always loved Guts. Though Berserk chapters come out once in a blue moon, I think about how awesome he is pretty often I don't think I touched upon this in my last writeup of him but it's really cool how despite being really badass, he's not all that conventionally manly. He's one of the rare cases of a male character being a rape victim. He's really emotional and is terrified of any kind of intimacy. He's also incredibly dedicated to Casca, which often isn't the case in romance in Japanese stuff since obviously the woman is supposed to be totally subservient while the man is a cold badass. Another stereotype he doesn't adhere to is although he gets really mad during fights, he usually remains intelligent and tactical.
Oh and of course he uses a sword that's like ten feet long and he can't feel pain so he will literally fight until he dies if it comes to that before his creator dies.
heh
Also, he would definitely be higher if I ever read Berserk.
Having recently reread Monster, I felt like I should include Tenma on this new list. As dark as Monster is, Tenma represents hope all through it. His story is an interesting one that combines both redemption and his kind of unrealistic ideals. I mean he literally throws away his fiance and a promising career to save a child's life and then he throws away his job and any chance of living a comfortable life to track that same child across international borders and MURDER him. And then he's struggling with himself the whole time of if he'll be able to actually kill him or not. This adds another layer of tension to the series where it's already really intense. You never know when he'll meet Johan next and if he does, will it really matter? Tenma is basically a modern and more realistic take on a character who dedicates their life to being good and not killing. Kind of like Kenshin except not for children.
There are a lot of things I love about Harry. First of all, he is just really badass. He has so many memorable scenes doing awesome things. Like, multiple times in every book that just make you go “hell yeah.” I'm not even going to talk about any of those since there are just so many. Probably like a hundred. He's also pretty different from a lot of fantasy protagonists. He is actually an adult and it's cool how he ages throughout the series due to most books being about a year apart. I think he's around 40 now. He's pretty heroic but he breaks probably about one billion laws throughout the series and even sacrifices his personal values a few times which leads to him having a lot of personal distress. He's got multiple of cool relationships with characters in the series. Thomas, Molly, Michael, Bob, Murphy, Marcone, Sanya, etc. He uses a bunch of cheesy one liners all the time and he is not in control of his emotions at all which helps make the books even faster paced and makes you wonder what exactly he'll do next. He's also really smart and his powerscaling throughout the series is pretty awesome. I love how Butcher is able to make the series and Dresden himself exponentially more awesome as it continues and I cannot wait to see how the next book goes.
alright maybe I don't need to talk to anyone to break out the passionate writeups
14. Fuko Ibuki (Clannad)
just look at that picture
she literally does not give a ****
You may or may not know that I hated the beginning of Clannad when I first watched it. I thought Nagisa was really annoying and I didn't care much about anyone else besides Fuko who I thought was pretty cool. Of course, in vintage fashion it became my favorite anime and work of fiction ever but that is a story for another day. Anyway the point is, darkmac himself told me to at least finish Fuko's arc before giving up on it. And finish it I did. Kouko's wedding (and Sunohara's yellow tux, seriously where do they think of these things) convinced me to keep with the show since it was ****ing amazing. Fuko is just so damn awesome. She works so hard to make sure her sister is happy and then the payoff is probably my favorite non-After Story part of the series. When she comes back in After Story, she's even better. I mean where the hell was Sunohara when Tomoya was going through all of this? I guess he had better things to do than see his supposed best friend through all of this emotional trauma. What a jackass. But where was Fuko? Right there, obviously. It was really just the possible best direction to take her character. You've got all this really bittersweet stuff going on and Fuko is just there being hilarious. She is literally the biggest bro in the series and I am not kidding. She never goes into a rut like Tomoya and she isn't a habitual liar like Akio. She is just so great. Even when she's not the series' sole comic relief, she's pretty hilarious. “Weird guy” pranking her always has funny results, the best being when it winds up with her beating the everloving **** out of Sunohara with a wooden starfish. But yeah, amazing character who combines being cute, hilarious, and just totally awesome.
Also I found this picture kind of amusing.
Mainly because she still looks like she does at the beginning and she's supposed to be in her mid-20's. Anime, ladies and gentlemen.
There's really just too many cases of using mental illness, especially in anime, as a way to villify characters. Character X is evil because THEY'RE CRAZY., well gee that is insightful. I think Cross Channel really set out to do the opposite of this and especially with Taichi, it did a pretty good job. Don't get me wrong, none of the characters are heroes or anything but for the most part, they all feel like real people. Especially Taichi. His problems aren't even that apparent for awhile and even when they are, he feels like a normal, real person. He has both good and bad qualities, he contradicts himself, he has friends, he has his own hopes, insecurities, strengths, weaknesses, interests, WHATEVERS. At the beginning of the story, all he really does is be a pathological pervert (kind of like Mac except actually a menace to society) and while this actually does make him less likable as a person, it is also pretty funny in the context of a japanese porn game. He gets more understandable as you realize his problems are really deeply rooted and his backstory is pretty screwed up. Oh I also like how he is totally aware of the fact that he's not “normal” but he just does not care in the slightest about being normal, which is really a lesson everyone could afford to learn. By the end, you realize he really cares about his friends. Like, a lot. He probably goes through more for them than any other character I know of. It takes a stronger person than I to literally care about Tomoki. Tomoki. Tomoki! Anyway, Taichi is pretty much the man.
Sachi is probably the character on my list who feels most like an actual person. The way she's portrayed is a lot different from the usual for VN heroines. She's in a terrible predicament and unlike the norm, it is pretty much entirely her fault and the game never tries to make excuses for it. See, she is extremely lazy. She's really smart and talented but she ended up getting in a ton of debt from gambling. She's been cleared of the debt she can't afford to pay off but in exchange, she's been given a pretty horrible punishment. It was only been ruining her life for awhile (ruining it by normal standards; she doesn't really care) before the story starts but her sister gets wrapped up into it and bad things will happen to her if she doesn't make a lot of money fast. Her real talent is painting but despite being really talented, she has no confidence in her ability to do it. So the plan is to make an amazing painting and sell it. Simple, right? No because Sachi is still a lazy waste of a person who does not have the motivation to put effort into anything. To make things even better, she spends most of the time being mad about the situation, lashing out at everyone else and not really taking responsibility for any of it. She eventually resolves to get it done and what happens at the end? She still fails. It's pretty depressing in the context of the story but she's a character I learned a lot from. She's really one of the most inspirational characters I've ever seen. After chapter 2 ends, she actually does change for good but her miserable version is the one that's the most memorable to me. The writer gets a ton of respect from me for making a character with such terrible qualities as a porn game heroine. Everyone, please do not let your talents go to waste. :)
I like my females like I like my physics problems.
Idealized in a lower dimension and pleasant to think about.
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You're messing with me! You're messing with me, aren't you!? You're making fun of me, aren't you!? Aren't you!? You definitely are! I'll murder you!
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You're messing with me! You're messing with me, aren't you!? You're making fun of me, aren't you!? Aren't you!? You definitely are! I'll murder you!
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You're messing with me! You're messing with me, aren't you!? You're making fun of me, aren't you!? Aren't you!? You definitely are! I'll murder you!
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You're messing with me! You're messing with me, aren't you!? You're making fun of me, aren't you!? Aren't you!? You definitely are! I'll murder you!
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You're messing with me! You're messing with me, aren't you!? You're making fun of me, aren't you!? Aren't you!? You definitely are! I'll murder you!
