Anime Characters: Top 15 Best and Most Popular Characters of all Time in Anime History

Anime is a growing industry that has a huge worldwide following. The different characters that are part of the anime world are fascinating and engaging. They keep us hooked on the different stories that they tell. Within the world of anime, there are many different genres, characters, stories, and anime movies. Each story has its own set of characters. This article will look at 15 of the greatest anime characters of all time.

List of Best Anime Characters

Astro Boy (Astro Boy)

Astro Boy is considered to be one of the oldest anime characters to ever exist. The character made its first appearance in 1963, and was created by Osamu Tezuka, who is known to be the father of manga. In the television series “Astro Boy”, the character Astro Boy was created by Doctor Tenma so that he could replace it with his own son, who had died in an accident. Being a robot, he was later found by Professor Ochanomizu who later made robots so that he could have a family of his own, and not feel left out in the world full of humans. Astro was often called by Professor Ochanomizu to save the humans and his fellow robots in case of any danger, and was considered to be quite powerful. Astro Boy being a robot was quite famous among the kids was always there for them when they needed him. He always gave them advice on how to lead their lives and guided them when they lacked motivation, had problems that had complicated solutions, and people who had the ability to act kind as well as evil. He also appeared in the 2003 series which was a remake of the 1963 series, where he was seen fighting with villains, one of them being Doctor Tenma, who created him. Apart from that, Astro Boy has also appeared in several over television series and movies such as In My Memory, Robot Labor Union Leader, Golden Bar, Atom Cat, and many more. 

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Light Yagami (Death Note)

Light Yagami made its first appearance in the television series “Death Note” in 1986, and was seen portraying a character of a teen with great knowledge and student who was polite and kind, and who was loved by everyone that knew him or knew of him. He was also loved by his teacher since he was the topper of his class. He attends his last year of high school at To-Oh University, and lived with his father, Soichiro Yagami, was a chief of the National Police Agency, his mother Sachiko, who was a house wife, and his sister Sayu, who was not really into studies. When Light comes into possession of the Death Note, he writes the name of two criminals to test the notebook, resulting them dying of a heart attack within thirty seconds. Shocked by this ability, Light came under the impression that the notebook would help him save the world and eliminate any crime to ever exist in the world. Although he had pure intentions and a great motive, his actions started working against the world when he started killing innocents police officers and locals. He can be seen in a chasing game with an eccentric genius detective “L”, who worked with his father. L was keen on killing Light as he though Light was Kira, while Light was keen on knowing “L” real identity. After Light loses his memories and lost ownership of the notebook, he returned to be a moral man who could not commit any crime, and even refused to compel Misa, when L asks him to. Although throughout the series, Light turns into an evil character, people still can be seen rooting for him and wished for him to defeat “L” and come out as a winner. Despite of gaining everyone’s support, Light was still hunt down and was killed when his name was written in the Death Note. 

Gon Freecss (Hunter x Hunter)

Gon Freecss is a character of the television series Hunter x Hunter, who is considered to be one of the most popular characters among the other characters of the series. Gon is an enthusiastic boy, who lives with his aunt, and has a close connection to nature and animals, enabling him to have heightened senses of smell and sight, and also has a sense of taste. He aspires to be a hunter so that he could find his “dead” father, Gingo, also a hunter. During his training, he becomes friends with Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio, and him along with Killua learn about Nen, which helps him to meet his father. However, despite of having numerous skills, he can come out as an arrogant person, and his enthusiasm has also result him in being impatient, and short tempered. Being a strong hunter, he is always on the quest of proving his enemies wrong, which results him in becoming completely irrational. However, when his action has bad consequences, he loses his ability to use Nen, which falls in his favor as it helps him lead a normal life as a hunter. Despite his stubbornness, people still relate with him and still continues to be one of the most loved anime characters. 

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Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan)

Levi Ackerman is a character of the television series Attack on Titan, and is the most loved character of the series. Being abandoned after his mother’s death, Levi Ackerman was raised by his uncle Kenny Ackerman. When he was injured in an explosion that was initiated by Eren Jaeger’s brother Zeke Yeager, he was saved by Hange Zoe, who took care of him and took him to meet Commander Theo Magath and Pieck Finger in order to take his help to make Eren pay for his actions. After recovering, he joined the army and managed to kill all the enemies, especially the Beast Titan, Zeke, to fulfill his promise to Erwin, who was the one to motivate him join the army. Even though his present and future looked bright, Levi, as shown in the Attack on Titan: No Regrets, was a part of a band of thieves that used to commit crimes with the help of Vertical Maneuvering Equipments, before his life was completely changed after being captured by Erwin. After joining the army, Levi Ackerman was described as blunt and unapproachable, and always made to sure to respect the authority and follow a particular discipline which could be better for the society. Among his fans, he is considered to the most powerful soldier of humanity which makes him the most iconic characters in the world of anime and that they wished someone like him existed in real life, which could help this world be a better place. 

Kakashi Hatake (Naruto)

Kakashi Hatake is considered to be the most loved character of the television series, Naruto, despite not being one of the lead characters. Although in the beginning of the series, he comes off as a carefree character, always losing track of time, but to his students, he is one of the best mentors that they could have ever asked for. He is known for the use of his Sharigan and has an impression of being a ninja who copies jutsus of others, and also mimics the movements of other ninjas. As explained in Kakashi Gaiden, Kakashi is the son of Sakumo Hatake, who was considered as the “White Flang of the Leaf” in the world of ninjas. However, after his father commits suicide after the failure of a mission, Kakashi has always believed that one should always priorities the success of his mission over his comrades’ welfares. Also known as copycat ninga, Kakashi has always taught his students to be a great teammate and keep his team’s profit over his own pleasure. Although he is powerful enough to fight alone, he has always told his students that working as a team will always prove better results, which could result beneficial for the society and everyone in the team. Not only his jutsu skills, but his enthusiasm to live a kind life has made him a much-loved character and an admirable ninja among the audience. 

Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Satoru Gojo is considered to the most popular character in the Jujutsu Kaisen franchise, as revealed in a Viz Media popularity poll taken in March 2021. Satoru Gojo is a teach at a school in Tokyo, named Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu School. He is considered to the most dangerous people alive by his allies and his enemies and he has given himself the title of “The Strongest”, and uses his power of curse to control his circle of people around him. His zest of not taking anything seriously and always taking a hands-off approach towards his students Yuji and others, and telling them to find a solution to their problem on their own, is what makes his friends love him and his personality. His fight with Jogo was regarded as the best fight scene of the series that was featured in an article about the character’s best ten fight scenes.  

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Arsene Lupin III (Lupin III)

Arsene Lupin is a character of the series Lupin III, who is considered to be the ladies’ man, who only uses them for his own benefits and do not want to commit to one woman. Lupin portrays the character of a skilled thief, who is always ready to help others and those who are less fortunate than him. Even though his gang members are always looking forward to betray him, he has always been loyal to them and have also helped them when they were at their worst, which in turn enables him to become friends with an inspector, who reciprocates the loyalty and promises him to not get him arrested. Lupin’s passion for stealing is unmatched, and as long as his plan succeeds and completes his heist without getting caught, he does not care if he gets the item that he has stolen. There have been several occasions where we can see him giving away the stolen object to someone else that it belonged to, or to someone that needed it desperately. When he is not stealing anything, he can be seen spending time dating woman, travelling, gambling, and enjoying food, and also competing is several international events. He is considered to be a very funny anime character, and despite his many shortcomings, people always know him as a kind person who is always ready to help people who are in need of desperate help, even if he needs to get out of his comfort zone. 

Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)

Despite having many skills, Roronoa Zoro is known for his comic timing, which makes him the best comic character of the anime world. Although he is confident, he can be seen getting lost as he has very bad sense of direction which makes him very insecure but he never admits it, and puts the blame on someone else. Zoro is quite ambitious, and can be seen training to become one of the world’s best swordsmen. Most of the time, he can also be seen fighting with his rival Sanji, who he calls by some weird names. He is short tempered and is very impatient, but despite all of these shortcomings, he is always the first one to sense any kind of danger. One good quality of his is that he never lies about his skills and admits his weakness, even to his worst enemy. He also will never lie and falsely win, as he thinks that it would make them a very little person, and that it could ruin their reputation. 

Tanjiro (Damon Slayer)

Tanjiro Kamado is the main protagonist of the anime series Damon Slayer, who is the oldest son of the late charcoal-seller, Tanjuro. His life falls apart when his family is killed by the king of Demons, and his sister can be seen turning into a half-demon. In order to save his sister from becoming a full-demon, Tanjiro vows to become a Demon Slayer, and use the skills to kill the Demon King, and to take revenge for killing his family, and get justice. Tanjiro’s personality is much-loved by the audience, especially his compassion and his nature that he can manage to find a connection with any demon that he kills, and emphasize with them. Tanjiro has also appeared in a novel named Demon Slayer: Flower of Happiness. 

L (Death Note)

L is a character of the anime series Death Note, which as revealed in the guidebook Death Note 13: How to Read, his real name is L Lawliet. He is considered to be the second or third best detectives in the world, and only communicates with other through his assistant, and never shows his face to the world. He has several skills such as holding stuff with his index finger and thumb, walking barefoot, crouching instead of sitting, and having an obsession with sweets, candy, and food. He can be seen spending most of his life solving crimes, and chasing criminals and arresting them for their crimes. He can be seen playing a chasing game with the other main character of the anime series Light, who he thinks is the criminal that is going on a spree to kill people. The audience have described him as the most intelligent character of the anime series Death Note and says that the anime would not be the same without his character’s wittiness and intelligence. 

Vegeta (Dragon Ball Z)

Vegeta is a character of the anime series “Dragon Ball Z”, who is the member of the Saiyan race. Vegeta travels to Earth with his partner Nappa in order to gain immorality with the help of Dragon Balls. During their time in Earth, they fight off with several of Earth’s heroes before Goku arrives and defeat Nappa, who is later on killed by Vegeta, due to being ashamed od being defeated by a lower class Saiyan such as Goku. After that he fight with Goku, and sustains several injuries which does not enable him to fight back and best the rest of the heroes. Throughout the series Vegeta’s personality can be seen changing, where he can be seen going from a bad guy to becoming a frenemy and also a loving father. However, there were times when he was seen fighting with Goku to come out as a winner, but that stopped soon and he was mature enough to realize that he does not have to live a life the way he is living. 

Johan (Monster)

Johan is considered to be the most dangerous characters in the anime world, and is called the greatest villain. Johan is the character of the anime series Monster, who portrays the character of a serial killer, who has a turned into a complete sociopath that has the ambition to kill everyone else in the world. Not only did he kill people, but they made sure other people turn into a monster just like him, and kill everyone around him. He even convinced his boy at his orphanage to kill all the staff and also kill each other. Johan is often considered to be the most daring character, and is not afraid of death and takes risk even if that would cost his life. He is also regarded to be a manipulator, where he used his knowledge of human nature to expose the true identity of the ones he killed. Johan is considered to be the backbone of the series Monster, without whom the series would not be the same. 

Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)

Naruto was linked with anime for a specific generation. The narrative of the titular young ninja seeking to obtain the approval and support of his village has been a fan favorite for years. It was so successful and impactful that it even spawned its own series. And it’s all because to Naruto himself. The energetic, ramen-loving orphan is one of anime’s most known and well-liked characters. Though he began his adventure as a beginner who struggled to find his feet, his persistence helped him become a great ninja. It doesn’t hurt that he has access to the chakra of Kurama, a mythical nine-tailed beast whose talents enhance Naruto’s. Despite his link to the strong beast, Naruto worked hard to become one of the greatest ninjas of all time – and in the process become one of the finest anime characters of all time.

Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)

Money D. Luffy is a character of the anime series One Piece, and is portrayed as fun loving character, who has a huge appetite often thinking about food, and has great comic timing. Often people consider him to be arrogant, but he is good-hearted and is more understanding than the other characters of the series. He can sense danger from far, and is always willing to take a risk in order to become the King of the Pirates and protect everyone around him. He is very loyal to his crew, does not think about the consequences his actions might and does whatever he feels is right for the moment. No matter who you talk to, if you ask to anyone about their favorite anime character, Monkey D. Luffy is always in the top three of their list.

Lelouch Lamperogue (Code Geass)

Lelouch Lamperogue is the main protagonist of the television anime series Code Geass, considered one the strangest characters in the anime world. Lelouch, who was in line for the Brittanian throne, was a prince whose life was completely changed when his mother was assassinated, which also ended up his sister getting severely injured. After discovering C.C. and coming in possession of the power of the Geass, Lelouch was keep on getting a revenge and get justice for his family members. In order to get the revenge, Lelouch became the leader of the “Order of the Black Knights”, and took advantage of his power, and made bad use of it. His power resulted him in betraying his friends which ended up killing thousands of innocent people, just so he could get the revenge for his family member. However, Lelouch turned into a person he despised, and also became manipulative and used people for his personal gain, which made people hate him which resulted in them compelling themselves from him in order to save their lives and also for the betterment of their families.