Wow and you people thought he wasn't going to be included
I decided I should probably put him back on since I am pretty attached to him and I can always talk about Archer since he's awesome. First of all, he's just really badass. I mean, when you hear “Archer” you probably think of Robin Hood shooting arrows or something. Archer just says **** arrows and he shoots swords out of a bow or just throws weapons around with magic. Literally magic. He has a lot of awesome scenes and he was my favorite character pretty much right away. His intro is amazing and his dynamic with Rin is pretty entertaining right from the beginning. He was cemented as one of my favorite characters ever for when he stays behind at the mansion while everyone else escapes. Some unknown dude kills Berserker six times (I think it was six) while injured and possibly going easy on him. Would have been better if he had just killed him for good and ended the story right there. His powers in general are interesting since he's never shown fighting at full power or effort. But there are a lot of cool hints like when Shirou gets a fraction of his power and is then able to DESTROY Dark Berserker like he's a goomba or something so Archer must be pretty powerful. Archer''s not just some generic badass though. He's gets really sympathetic as you find out more about him and his past. Especially the bad end where Shirou just straight up murders Sakura, starting him on his path to becoming Archer. That is just a bunch in the dick. On the brighter side of things, I loved his last scene in UBW though where he was so happy at how young and naïve Shirou and Rin were. I just want to give him a hug.
Akio is probably the best character I've seen at actually being a parent. He just cares about his family so much and shows it all the time. I will never forget during the play when he gives his over the top speech to get Nagisa to go on. Of course, the best part of this is that Sanae has apparently been sitting in the audience doing nothing while her daughter is on stage crying. Even when it's not dramatic, Akio is pretty much the man and he even lets Fuuko stay at their house and take baths with his wife and daughter (hot) for like months on the spur of a moment. Not to mention Tomoya who is pretty much accepted as a member of the family by them. Those two have several great scenes together like when Tomoya asks for permission to marry Nagisa and MC Akio. Oh god, MC Akio. I think Akio is the funniest character in the series overall and MC Akio is pretty much the pinnacle of this. I mean here is this guy that is probably like 50 going into a restaurant dressed as a buffoon and his daughter doesn't even recognize him. It's just amazing. He's also really awesome in the baseball game which is some of the best comedy Clannad has to offer. Back to more serious things, since he's relatively old, Akio doesn't have as much room to develop as most of the cast. Still, his backstory shows why he is so obsessed with Sanae and Nagisa and it's pretty sweet.
zea imo (12:50:13 AM):he kurtfisto you should post a top 10 prediction kurtfisto (12:50:54 AM):oh ok after i go take a **** zea imo (12:51:30 AM):well gee thanks for sharing
Wait, did it really take this long for me to start cheating? Well I hope you guys are ready. Anyway, I just can't separate these two. They are pretty distinct but their characters play off of each other for most of the series. The entire point of TTGL is to pay homage to other SR series so both Simon and Kamina are an archetype but multipled by like a billion. Let's do this right shall we
Kamina is pretty much the star of the beginning of the series. He is just there all the time and has a ton of presence. He has an IQ of like 4 and his MO is to be ridiculously badass at all times. What gives him a little depth and prevents him from being a total mary sue is that he doesn't have much confidence himself, he's just doing all of this insane stuff to inspire everyone else, mainly Simon, which is pretty much the coolest reason to be acting like he does. Kamina's really badass and even when he's just being funny, I love him. Simon starts out as some loser teenager who thinks Kamina is god and doesn't have any confidence in himself. Kamina, being the real one without much confidence, inspires him to just say f*** being lame and just start not caring about anything. This is why I don't separate them since neither would be what they are without the other. It's hard to go really in-depth about why I love them since there's really not much to either. Both are really inspirational in their own ways and if I didn't already have a lot of self-confidence in general before I watched it, the show probably would have helped me grow a lot. Well maybe not, I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people with no confidence who love this show
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More than most characters on this list, the bros just have a ton of badass moments. Probably multiple ones in every episode, assuming they're in the episodes. I really don't know how long I need to go on about this since everyone has seen TTGL but starting from the first episode, first scene even. Future AU Simon captaining some huge mech in space is one of the most awesome opening scenes in anything. Kamina facing down some unknown giant monster robot thing because WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK HE IS? BELIEVE IN ME WHO BELIVES IN YOU THE REPUTATION OF THE GURREN-DAN ECHOES FAR IN WIDE ITS LEADER IS A MAN OF SPIRIT A PARAGON OF TOTAL MASCULINITY HE NEVER YIELDS NEVER RETREATS AND NEVER REGRETS WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM KICK GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY BELOVED LITTLE BROTHER PUNCH MANLY COMBINING LET'S SEE YOU GRIT THOSE TEETH LISTEN SIMON DON'T BELIEVE IN ME DON'T BELIEVE IN THE YOU THAT BELIEVES IN ME BELIEVE IN THE YOU THAT BELIEVES IN YOURSELF GIGA DRILL BREAK ON MY BACK AND IN MY HEART HE LIVES ON AS A PART OF ME IT'S NOT ZERO SO THAT MAKES IT THE SAME AS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT TO ME WE DON'T CARE ABOUT TIME OR SPACE OR MULTI-DIMENSIONS OR WHATEVER WE DON'T GIVE A DAMN THAT'S THE WAY THE DAI GURREN-DAN DOES THINGS WE EVOLVE BEYOND THE PERSON WE WERE THAT'S THE WAY A DRILL WORKS MY DRILL WILL OPEN A PATH THROUGH THE UNIVERSE AND THAT WHOLE WILL BE A PATH FOR THOSE BEHIND US THE DREAMS OF THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN THE HOPES OF THOSE WHO WILL FOLLOW SORE GA TENGEN TOPPA SORE GA GURREN LAGANN ORE NO DRILL WA TEN NO TSUKURU DRILL DA
A common theme among characters I like is going through hard stuff and not giving up. This definitely applies to Tsugumi but her circumstances are different than most. Even though it's a sci-fi story, her story isn't very over the top. Actually, probably a lot less out there than any other character's. She's also pretty negative about life in general despite trying hard to keep going on. Kind of like Kaiji except significantly less ridiculous. But anyway, that's a trait I've always liked since it's so realistic. People act contrarily to what they apparently think all the time and I like to see things like that in characters. Tsugumi is pretty mysterious and you don't know what she's actually thinking or doing most of the time which is also cool. She also has awesome expressions and her voice is great so she was my favorite character pretty much right away even though she might as well not be even the same character as she is by the end. Her backstory and related devlopment are DEEP. DEEP I tell you. It's awesome how much Ever 17 screws with your perception of everything and I think people take for granted how it does it with the characters too (except Sora lol needed to fit in a Sora joke here somewhere.) By the end, you're probably not thinking as much about the characters as you are thinking “what in the blue hell did I just read.” I flew through Coco's route since it just keeps hitting you with twist after twist and after the initial 'wut da hayle' scene, the revelation with Tsugumi is my favorite part of the game. It's just a great mix of emotions. Just like Tsugumi. ;)
Onizuka may not be as objectively ridiculous and badass as someone like Kamina but what sets him apart is that he is in an otherwise realistic universe. He is on earth in Japan and he is doing all of this impossible bull**** and it's awesome to see. Right away, you know he's awesome since he's basically just been a failure of a person his whole life, can't do anything right, and just decides “hey I should be a teacher so I can hook up with high school girls.” And as the title says, he is pretty much the greatest teacher of all time once he realizes he actually enjoys his job. He does not tolerate any crap from his infamously terrible class and it's awesome to watch him help them turn their lives around one by one. What's also great is that he literally has superhuman strength, durability, and is probably a genius. Onizuka has a huge number of awesome scenes, probably more than any other character I have ever seen, and most of them are hilarious too. It's just awesome since he's a huge loser at the beginning of the series but he's so badass at the same time. He has to put up with a lot of trouble from people trying to get him fired and stuff so he also has his own problems to deal with while taking on all of his students'. Truly an inspiration to us all to follow our dreams and never let anyone else stop us and also be really badass at the same time.
Mars is far above other romance manga I've read and that's because of how the relationship is handled. Both characters have a lot of psychological issues, which is always a plus for me, and are great on their own but the relationship is written better than any other I've seen. First of all, spoilers they get together in chapter 2 or 3 which is just awesome and I love it when they do that. It's so much more interesting to me than having the characters just like each other the whole series and then get together at the very end. YOUR LIFE IS NOT ALL FUN AND GAMES ONCE YOU START DATING YOUR MIDDLE SCHOOL SWEETHEART
Anyway, both Kira and Rei have a lot more to them than it initially seems. You find out more about them as they themselves do about the other which is a cool format instead of interjecting backstory or something. Their relationship has problems, most of which caused by one or both of their issues, which is awesome. It doesn't feel artificial at all and neither do the characters themselves. It just feels really REAL okay. Past the first volume or so, I was just kind of misty eyed the entire time I read Mars. It was an awesome experience that I'm pretty sure will never be replicated.
Houzuki is easily my favorite villain ever. He's just so intense every time he's on screen and I always looked forwards to scenes with him. From the very first scene in the game, you just know he is not going to accept anything less than perfection and I really think I tensed up during every scene with him after that. He will just do anything with the slightest bit of provocation and he actually made me feel scared for Kenichi and pals all the time. You never know what he's going to do next and he goes to huge extremes to push Kenichi to the limit. He really protects himself and appears to show no weaknesses and he reveals zero personal details to anyone. Kenichi has been with him for like ten years and doesn't know anything about him other than his name and that he was in the war. He constantly worsens the terrible circumstances of the characters but there isn't proof that he's behind it but Kenichi still knows he is doing various nefarious things. It's really effective at getting under your skin. While I was definitely rooting for Kenichi the whole game, they make Houzuki pretty sympathetic in the end since he's actually not some monster with no morals. He's as much of a victim of the corrupt system as anyone else. His route on the fandisc makes this really obvious but even with just finishing the main game and thinking about it, it's pretty clear. His part at the very end sends a lightbulb off somewhere that he is really not as heartless as he seems. Well, he is still pretty heartless by this point in his life. He's also a foil to Kenichi but it's not exactly as it seems. They aren't complete opposites. They're actually really similar but the only difference is that Houzuki became a part of the system instead of fighting it. That being said, their relationship is awesome. Houzuki is basically trying to turn Kenichi into himself to have a worthy successor but also to prove to himself that no one could be stronger than he is. It's also like a mentor-student thing but so adversarial at the same time. Kenichi hates him but at the same time he can't help but respect him. Houzuki basically treats Kenichi like a test subject the whole time and at first thinks his determination is naivety. He later comes to admire and envy how Kenichi just absolutely refuses to give up in the face of literally impossible odds. And who wouldn't?
Anyway, Kenichi did the one thing Houzuki could not do. He never gave up. And that's really the only reason he's above. I think Houzuki is actually the best written character on this list and probably the best I have ever seen. However, Kenichi is just more awesome and my hero fetish puts him above Houzuki. I thought Kenichi was great right away since he's pretty hilarious in chapter 1 and something about him is compelling. He's training to be some special high class individual, basically a 1984 government job, yet he's not really jaded about the thing at all. He's usually a really easy going guy and he also does drugs all the time and we all know that doing drugs makes you cool. He takes his job really seriously, really cares about his rehabilitees and honestly wants to see them succeed. Him being so selfless and, more importantly, determined is why I really love him. He is totally dedicated to helping people. He's willing to cooperate with the system until things get bad and he realizes how awful it is. What's cool about Sharin is it's not even clear how optimistic or pessimistic the message is. Is trying to transform such a screwed up world actually futile or not? Also, the Kenichi/Houzuki is great this needs to be reiterated. While Kenichi respects Houzuki, he really doesn't want to be him since he views Houzuki as what is wrong with the world. I'm pretty sure he wants to just beat the hell out of Houzuki most of the time. Another thing I don't know why I haven't mentioned yet is how Kenichi uses different psychological methods to motivate the girls yet he's really supportive at the same time. And since Ririko isn't on my list, I just wanted to mention the twist. It is just so awesome and is my favorite plot twist ever. It's really surprising and also heartwarming in its own weird way and of course it just makes you go YES YES YES. My favorite scene though is the very end when he's climbing up a cliff, knowing he's probably going right to the death of everyone and just not caring. Just thinking about it makes me feel happy. Never give up. :)
I naturally do paragraphs when I'm going to a different thought but when it's just all a stream of consciousness type thing, I don't. I will make sure to do them for the rest. They're going to be necessary anyway.
