Poll: IGN Ranks 25 Best Anime Characters Of All Time

[Kaboose the Moose]

I noticed it, I just assumed it was someone at IGN making a joke

Heh, nah this is all me and my perverse sense of humor.

 

[RabbitDynamite]

I quite agree with this list. It doesnt just cater to anime fans, but rather tries to give an honest opinion on which characters (and series by extension) did the most to further the anime cause. Astro Boy and Speed Racer have no doubt been huge influences on the anime world and so has Dragon Ball. Even rare characters like D and Jubei get there spot in the limelight. My point is that the list tries do make an honest and non-biased opinion, something which is more difficult than just constantly catering to fans.

Bullcrap. Catering to fans is exactly what they're bloody doing there. If the writer(s?) actually had the guts to state influence as their criteria, the list could at least lead into a potentially interesting discussion over to what extent it is correct in those criteria. They just seemed to throw up a list of 25 well known characters and cover their asses with some rubbish about a using a variety of criteria. Now if you'll excuse me, I have kids to grumble at and puppies to kick.

 

[Sewblon]

This is a solid list of characters that are most influential in English-speaking countries, but not by any other criteria.

 

[mokes310]

How the hell is there no Ekichi Onizuka?

 

[Azraellod]

Kind of surprised that none of the characters from Hellsing Ultimate OVA got mentioned at all, but I guess I'm fine with it otherwise. I don't necessarily agree with all of it though.

I would have liked to have seen Elven Lied feature somewhere in there too, but looking back over it it seems that the characters weren't great on their own, it was just the way the story moved them around that was impressive. The same applies for Higurashi.

 

[RavingPenguin]

Bullcrap. Catering to fans is exactly what they're bloody doing there. If the writer(s?) actually had the guts to state influence as their criteria, the list could at least lead into a potentially interesting discussion over to what extent it is correct in those criteria. They just seemed to throw up a list of 25 well known characters and cover their asses with some rubbish about a using a variety of criteria. Now if you'll excuse me, I have kids to grumble at and puppies to kick.

In case you missed it they did state their criteria.

Our criteria for selection involved a little bit of everything ? each character's lasting fame, the impact they had on the medium and their particular genre at the time, the depth and quality of their realization on screen, and of course, a little bit of personal taste. Everyone out there has their own damned opinion, of course, so have a look at ours, and then feel free to share yours afterwards.

Their use of this standard has actually led to a diverse list of characters, and again this is not for Japanese fans but for American. All these characters shaped the American standard for anime more than any other. Before you *****, why dont you consider all the factors affecting the list.

 

[RabbitDynamite]

Their use of this standard has actually led to a diverse list of characters, and again this is not for Japanese fans but for American. All these characters shaped the American standard for anime more than any other. Before you *****, why dont you consider all the factors affecting the list.

If you think its a good criteria, that's your judgement. I think the fact they stated a list of actively opposed, unconnected is creating an impression of objective judgement where there is none, partially because the judgement between criteria is subjective - for instance influence vs. good characterisation. It's a minor bit of silliness, but it annoys my sensibilities.

 

[Kivan12]

Abso-fuckinglutly goku for number 1 spot

 

[GrandmaFunk]

well, at least Motoko made the list. that redeems it ..somewhat.


i guess the list did match the criteria, but... why make a list based on those criteria? at best it's mislabeled.

it's true some of the top characters are part of a series that made a big impact however most of the characters themselves are horribly shallow and annoying.

 

[JenXXXJen]

They should have put Haruhi at the top. I mean, hello people? This is God we're talking about.

And Lelouch higher up...

Otherwise I'm easy.

 

[mannaroth]

Pikachu some hentai??? Ha tahts funny but where oh where is Alucard from Hellsing? He's so badass he needs to be at least 5.

 

[Aus_azn]

25. Shinji Ikari (Evnagelion)
Watched part of it. Asuka deserves it more. Cut.

24. Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
In the name of overrating, holy crap. I hate Totoro as much as I hate Final Fantasy VII. Hell, put any other character here. Just not Totoro. Cut.

23. Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass)
Sure. Never saw it.

22. Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)
Not a fan of the work, no comment. Although I think he should be only slightly lower than Naruto.

21. Vegeta (Dragonball)
Eh, 100% tool. Cut.

20. Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)
Cooler than Naruto. Boost.

19. Haruhi Suzumiya (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
My favorite, hands down.

18. Light Yagami (Death Note)
Good character, shouldn't have been this low. Boost.

17. Vash The Stampede (Trigun)
Never saw it.

16. Jubei Kibagami (Ninja Scroll)
Never saw it.

15. Arsene Lupin III (Lupin the Third)
Wow memories. Good times.

14. D (Vampire Hunter D)
Never saw it.

13. Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell)
Eh, not a fan, but I can understand her influence.

12. L (Death Note)
I dunno; I significantly preferred Light. Bump down.

11. Shotaro KANEDA(Akira)
Eh, a bit too overzealous placing him so high. Akira was good, but still....

10. Rei Ayanami (Evangelion)
Asuka deserves it more, but nothing from this series should have been higher than fifteen. Bump down.

9. Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon)
Bloody hell, I can't think of an anime I hated more than this (unless you count Hello Kitty). Influential: Yes, good: No. Bump down.
8. Pikachu (some Hentai)
ICWUDT... Pretty much anyone is better. Cut.

7. Edward Elric (Full Metal Alchemist)
Eh, overrated IMO, but I can see why. Bump down.
6. Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
Older Goku with more stupidity. Bump below Ichigo

5. Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)
My No. 1. Bump up. Can't think of a single anime I enjoyed more, and the aloof but schizophrenic nature of his being was brilliant.

4. Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)
Eh, saw part of it...I liked Ein better. Yes, I liked the little doggy better.

3. Speed Racer (Speed Racer)
2. Astro Boy (Astro Boy)
No nostalgic value for me. I lost interest in Astro Boy, and I didn't like Speed Racer.

1. Goku (Dragon Ball)
Based on Dragon Ball Goku, he deserves the position, when DB was a humorous and light-hearted story. Thus, I vote Young Goku to be No. 2 on my list. Once DBZ started, the series just lost it, and Goku's extreme means of reappearing and refusing to die annoyed me greatly. For DBZ, Gohan deserves it much more. With DBZ Goku, cut.

 

[A random person]

Considering that it was made by influence on anime, it was a pretty decent list, as much of a copout as Goku may seem to be.

Also, I'm one of the few people here who doesn't hate Shinji. Asuka should have been there, though. Anyone who's seen episode 22 would know why.

 

[KarmicToast]

I knew I was going to hate this list before I read it, so in that sense, I am going to be a bit unfair here. That being said, I wish this list was actually what the best characters are, not what the main or second main character is from really popular animes. I sorry but Piakchu is not really a character. It doesn't even talk. How about Momo then from Champloo? Speaking of Champloo, where the hell was Mugen on that list? Also, Naruto and Ichigo are fine, but are those two really the best characters from their respective series? Of course not. I'm a huge Naruto fan but Naruto might actually be one of my least favorite characters in it. And Ichigo? I guess he is alright but what about Chad? Or Sandal-Hat? Gah, I feel like the people who made this list just found a list of popular animes and then looked up who the lead was...

 

[LackofCertainty]

My most emphatic appologies for this massive post with numerous quotes in it. I know that everyone has the right to skip any post at any time, but, just to remind you, if you don't want to read a long post from me, you can skip past and continue enjoying this thread as though I never existed.

#10 Rei
Uninteresting character laden with angst. It might just be because of my hatred for angst, but I really don't understand the appeal of NGE at all. But that's a topic for another time. Cut her. Crap, I was suppose to throw a flame warning in here... ah well, bring the hate NGE lovers.

...I find it rather strange that you could pick a series so laden with angst and pick out the least angsty character on the entire show.

That's not even hate, I'm honestly confused. You pick out the archetypal soulless, emotionless girl and call her angsty?

I will admit when I'm wrong. (or at least misguided in this case) I hold the sins of the father over the son. Rei in herself isn't very angsty, but the problem with NGE is that she is a vessel for Shinji to express his overflowing angst. "Oh god, I'm Shinji. How can they just use Rei like a weapon... I'll step it just to keep her from fighting, and then I won't stop crying about it for the rest of the series."

Even so, you can't call Rei a "good character" because her entire design is that she has no character. Aww look, she's all bandaged up, and she doesn't care that she's being used as a weapon more or less. That's not a good character, that's a doll. (a doll that some people like to drool over, unfortunately)

Sure, they might've done a great job portraying her as a doll, but in doing so you're basically forfiting any best character competition. You can't win a best character competition if you make a girl who's thing is that she has no character.

It's like... if there was a "World's Biggest Pumpkin Competition" and you show up with a five story tall watermelon. Yes, it's big, but that's not what the point of the competition was, so you get sent home with nothing.

In a sense a list like this is always going to start a flame war, so it does seem sensible for IGN to just pick a grab-bag of well known characters for damage control. That said, it does kind of annoy me there seems no kind logic here. Although Goku would be nowhere near my top 25 favourite characters on the basis of having the depth of a paper plate, I can easily accept his top spot in that nearly every protagonist of shonen (i.e. big money)since DB has been patterned on him. But then why have the deriatives in Naruto, Luffy and ichigo show up as well? Surely in a list of influential characters needs Amuro and Char on there? It just... gah. It's an awful, awful awful list, not because I disagree with it, but because there is on basis on which to disagree with it. Its completely arbitrary.

some quote from me

But why bother when this is the kind of response you get? Just like everyone else on the internet, your opinion itself is of no interest to me or anyone. The reasons why you hold your opinion may be. The only thing I know about your metric of quality is you don't like angst-ridden characters. Real helpful. If you state what you think is good or bad without justification then state that so and so is "the best" or "the worst" you A: contribute nothing to the discussion and B: come across as self centred for confusing subjective opinion with some objective metric of quality.

Let me address you concerns one by one.

1. I whole heartedly agree with you that the list is stupid. Trying to create a list with these criteria:

Our criteria for selection involved a little bit of everything - each character's lasting fame, the impact they had on the medium and their particular genre at the time, the depth and quality of their realization on screen, and of course, a little bit of personal taste. Everyone out there has their own damned opinion, of course, so have a look at ours, and then feel free to share yours afterwards.

... is foolish. Does the impact that a character had count for more in this list than how good the depth of the character was? How do you give a score for lasting fame, when that is entirely based on which person you ask? I mean if you ask a kid nowadays about Speed racer or astro boy, their only knowledge of the subject is that they are live action movies that came out/are coming out. They're more likely to know about Naruto, than they are about DBZ. In the end it's just a toss up and the reviewers "little bit of personal taste" ends up counting for more than any other category.

2.I will fully admit that my post comes off as self centered, because I am a self centered man, but I don't understand the other half of section B in your post.

"I come across as self centered..." Yes, that's a given. "for confusing subjective opinion with some objective metric of quality." ... Huh? Where did I suggest that my opinion was an objective metric? Did I not preface my entire list by saying:

To reitterate, this is a "Top characters" list for me. Not a "Most influentia anime series" or "most popular characters" or anything like that. "Top Characters" = "Best Characters" ... in my humble opinion.

I admit to lieing in the bolded section, because I am by no means humble, but I never suggested that my opinion was anything other than my opinion. Perhaps I should have started my post by saying,

To me, I think the most important aspect for a top character list is the character's depth, and how interesting they are to watch, so keep in mind when I suggest changes to IGN's list that this will be the primary reason behind said changes. I will still take other aspects into account, but I will not give a character a slot on my version of the list, if they are a crummy character who only made IGN's list because of their popular or influentia show. Also, this is all my opinion, so if you don't care about my opinion then feel free to skip this post, because nothing in it will entertain you.

3. I don't really have a point to end on, and I now regret using a numbered list to respond to you, because numbered lists look silly with only two points.

 

[SadakoMoose]

Where the hell is Alucard?
Has anyone at IGN WATCHED the Hellsing OVA?

 

[Grayjack]

For the most part, I agree with the list. There are some characters I would have liked to see that weren't on the list.

 

[MusicListeningGuy]

Where is Haru-hara-san from Fooly Cooly? You can't have an insane anime list with a guitar wielding chick driving a mophead.

 

[strangemoose]

7. Edward Elric (Full Metal Alchemist) YAY!
full metal alchemist books kicked ass!