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[Oyashiro]

What a horrible list. Naruto isn't even in first place, what a fail.

 

[TylerD]

Good to see Vegeta on the list. This thread's view count is over 9000!!!!

 

[AFreak]

I see a serious lack of Sakura from CCS.

Also, NO FUCKING GUTS!

 

[bengraven]

Why is Totoro not number 1?

 

[polyh3dron]

 

[K.Sabot]

Wow, no fucking Kenshiro.

What a list.

 

[Future PhaZe]

This and it is not even close.

I mean what the fuck?

 

[Haly]

We should have a GAF Votes: Best Anime characters of all time.

Bets on who takes first, Guts, Kenshiro or Luffy.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

We should have a GAF Votes: Best Anime characters of all time.

Bets on who takes first, Guts, Kenshiro or Luffy.

Spike would, obviously.

GAF's tastes are not that drastically different than this list. Though, Kenshiro would at least make the damned list.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

They need to watch more anime...

 

[Vamphuntr]

Well like everybody said they chose the most popular characters from the most popular animes. The top 5 is great. It's also surprising that there is no gundam on that list. Not because the characters are great but because it's popular and there were many iterations. I'm happy to see Kenshin in the top 5. He was so badass in the OVA! Pikachu is weird though he's not a main character. DBZ, Kenshin, Evangelion, Sailor Moon they pretty much changed the anime scene in some way so it's deserved.

 

[Anticitizen One]

how could IGN forget about mulan??

 

[Killer]

ctrl+f= no Berserk.

FAIL.

 

[DrForester]

This would be my to 10 list based on impact and lasting popularity

1. Lupin III
2. Goku
3. Sailor Moon
4. Char Aznable
5. Nausicaa
6. Spike Speigel
7. Lum
8. Totoro
9. Kamina
10. Sakura Kinomoto

 

[flintstryker]

Also needs more Yusuke as he have the most fun to watch animes fights of any i have seen mostly because of his constant wise cracks win the heat of battle and his bad boy demeanor.

 

[Skiptastic]

This would be my to 10 list based on impact and lasting popularity

Lasting popularity is a factor and Doraemon or Pikachu NOT involved? For shame, sir.

As much as I love Masako Nozawa's Goku, I hate Schemmel just as much. Awful voice "actor." The Ocean dub trio: Peter Kelamis, Kirby Morrow, and Ian James Corlett all did a far better job.

Thank you. Let's face it, the Ocean dub all around was superior.

 

[Snaku]

Thank you. Let's face it, the Ocean dub all around was superior.

Scott McNeil and Brian Drummond were also far superior to their Funi replacements.

 

[DrForester]

Lasting popularity is a factor and Doraemon or Pikachu NOT involved? For shame, sir.

No Pikachu hate intended, but as far as mascot characters go I had to give it to Totoro.

 

[rpmurphy]

For a look at a better list, here's a Japanese poll from 2000 where the TV station Animax, the magazine Brutus, and the rental chain Tsutaya polled 187,373 fans for their favorite shows and characters. Here's the character list:



This poll ain't perfect or anything, but it's a damn sight better than what IGN just put up, which was presumably thought up by editors who haven't seen any anime before or since the heyday of Adult Swim.

FnordChan

The newer anime are naturally going to have an extra impact, so if they did a new poll we'd probably see many of the ones on IGN's list on there. I doubt though they would all rank at the top like on IGN's absurd list.

Also, :lol at Sailor Moon ranked so low. Even though it did get stale, I'm surprised its sheer popularity at its peak didn't have much lasting positive impressions on their minds.

No Pikachu hate intended, but as far as mascot characters go I had to give it to Totoro.

Besides, I dunno if Pikachu should count considering it's originally a video game.

 

[Skiptastic]

No Pikachu hate intended, but as far as mascot characters go I had to give it to Totoro.

I don't know, Totoro has always seemed a bit overrated to me. I mean, great anime, no doubt about it. But I don't really feel that character had such an amazing impact. And I've been to the Ghibli Museum so I have some indeterminate amount of clout that I will now unwield!

In other words, no worries. Just opinion vs. opinion.

Besides, I dunno if Pikachu should count considering it's originally a video game.

Pikachu was not the main character of the video game. The character took off with the anime, which led to Pokemon Yellow and all sorts of Pikachu paraphernalia. But without the anime and Pikachu/Ash as the main characters, he wouldn't have been the character he is today and wouldn't have had the impact he did.

But I'm sure my avatar doesn't give a sense of bias lol.

 

[tehvampire]

Yeah goku!

The description ign gave for him sucked though.

 

[rpmurphy]

Pikachu was not the main character of the video game. The character took off with the anime, which led to Pokemon Yellow and all sorts of Pikachu paraphernalia. But without the anime and Pikachu/Ash as the main characters, he wouldn't have been the character he is today and wouldn't have had the impact he did.

But I'm sure my avatar doesn't give a sense of bias lol.

True, but I meant in the sense that the show itself is based on a video game. Pokemon has been the most successful at the video-game-to-anime/manga conversion at an unprecedented level, but I don't think you could put it in the same playing field as other anime/manga which have not had pre-existing fame on another media form. Equivalently, even though there are terrific video games based on licensed IP's that are some of the best games of all time, I wouldn't use those characters in best video game characters lists because of this "taint", so to speak.

 

[shintoki]

GAF's tastes are not that drastically different than this list. Though, Kenshiro would at least make the damned list.

I think that's the humorous thing about this. Gaf really wouldn't make a much better list.:lol

It would still be pretty much the same sort of list. Another popularity contest except based on Gaf's favorite animes. One Piece characters will rise(Probably have Zoro or Ussop added in), while Bleach and Naruto would drop off. Guts will be added in, Ippo(Maybe Takamura instead), Kamina, Char/Amuro, Fist of the North Star Guy, Gintoki(Fit in at the end), possible entries from FLCL/Samurai Champloo. We'll get a few more choices of some better developed characters, but there is still going be allot of shallow characters in there only because it's from my favorite show appeal.

 

[andymcc]

And your criteria and sources are what exactly?

goku is selfish and only cares about fighting? how many times has he spared villains for just the sake of "wanting them to get stronger" so he can inevitably fight them later, thinking about his own personal gain from the fight even though these villains have the potential and disposition to harm many, many people.

Spoiler

Ma Jr., Vegeta, attempted to let Freezer multiple times in one battle

 

[polyh3dron]

Rei Ayanami at 10? Really? If I had to pick one character from Eva to be in that list it'd be Asuka, and even then there are so many more deserving characters, such as Char or Kamina.

 

[andymcc]

Himura should be number 1.

he's a really great character. in fact, rurouni kenshin is full of them, so many of the characters grow and develop and there's not any unlikable main characters.. he's one of my favorite shonen jump protagonists though.

 

[Rhino]

Correct answer.

Let me cite other reasons as well

Reason #1

Reason #2

Also lets not forget that the entire first arc/season of the Manga/Anime was just one big PRELUDE. I mean how the fuck can you get anymore epic than that?

Also please name one character that has gone through as

Spoiler

much emotional/mental and physical trauma as Gats and STILL managed to maintain their sanity(arguable) and totally beat the shit out of monsters and demons that swat humans aside like flies. Keep in mind most of this was done before he got the Berserk Armor.

I rest my case.

 

[Rewrite]

Had to make a GIF.

<3

 

[Dresden]

Had to make a GIF.

<3

I grew hair on my balls, just from watching that.

Sakura was manly.

 

[AFreak]

I blame Sakura for my lust of young jailbait.

 

[H.Cornerstone]

I'm not a anime fan really or anything (although I do Love Tri-Gun, Gundam, DBZ, Ronin Warriors, it was on Cartoon Network when I was younger...., and Rurouni Kenshin)

Just merely shocked that not one Gundam character made the list.

Thats one of the most important Anime's of all time is it not?

 

[AFreak]

Besides Lupin III tho, I can't argue with Goku being first. its been 20 years since that mother fuckers debut and he's still getting the ratings(honies??).

And how many times will people buy a game of DBZ that has the same fucking story retold for the billionth time...the answer...every fucking time.

 

[obijkenobi]

I don't understand the GAF shock that Naruto is ranked so high. Isn't that manga far and away the best selling in the US? Hasn't that been the case since it first started to air on Cartoon Network. Everyone in the manga thread always comments that the manga sucks when it isn't focused on him (IE when Sasuke shows up). So if Naruto (the manga/anime) is the most popular in the US and everyone agrees that when Naruto (the character) is absent that the quality takes a dive...... I dunno what else to say. Seems that he should be ranked fairly high.

I would say that Naruto has an interesting cast of characters. The weird thing is Kishimoto's hard on for all things Uchiha and Sharingan. I don't really remember people complaining about the story when it focused on Shikamaru, Jiraiya, or Kakashi.

 

[Enosh]

no Alucard

 

[Stage On]

Wtf? No Ranma, No card capter Sakura? No Conan edogawa? Talk about majer fail.

 

[Osuwari]

for Bleach, this guy shoud have appeared:

the plot he pulled off on everyone was crazy. that's still my favorite part of the series.

 

[hteng]

too much awesome in this picture

 

[NaughtyPrawn]

I really enjoyed Mugen from Samurai Champloo. His attitude made me laugh loads

 

[Haly]

Also please name one character that has gone through as

Spoiler

much emotional/mental and physical trauma as Gats and STILL managed to maintain their sanity(arguable) and totally beat the shit out of monsters and demons that swat humans aside like flies. Keep in mind most of this was done before he got the Berserk Armor.

I don't think it's fair to judge characters like that.

A better measure would be how believable a character is, because people can take pretty ridiculous amounts of damage in shounen and still come out fine and dandy with a few bandages.

 

[Rewrite]

I don't understand the GAF shock that Naruto is ranked so high. Isn't that manga far and away the best selling in the US? Hasn't that been the case since it first started to air on Cartoon Network. Everyone in the manga thread always comments that the manga sucks when it isn't focused on him (IE when Sasuke shows up). So if Naruto (the manga/anime) is the most popular in the US and everyone agrees that when Naruto (the character) is absent that the quality takes a dive...... I dunno what else to say. Seems that he should be ranked fairly high.

I would say that Naruto has an interesting cast of characters. The weird thing is Kishimoto's hard on for all things Uchiha and Sharingan. I don't really remember people complaining about the story when it focused on Shikamaru, Jiraiya, or Kakashi.

To be honest with you, the majority of the thread members there are pretty sick of him (Naruto) for always weeping. We're sick of both Naruto & Sasuke. We just want more focus of those other underdeveloped characters that Kishimoto refuses to show.

 

[intheinbetween]

22. Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece)

what a mess, he should've been #1

as much as I like Guts, Kenshiro, Spike, etc.. in my opinion Luffy is the best manga/anime character

 

[Kodiak]

1. Takamura!!!!!!!!

2. Ippo!!!!!!!!!

3. Gatts!!!!!!

4 Simon/Aniki TIE

5. YOKO

6 through 20? Who cares?

 

[Timedog]

Anyone who hasn't seen the fist of the north star movie, and the scene where a skyscraper falls on Kenshiro while he's walking and it doesn't slow him down at all, he just casually walks THROUGH it, doesn't deserve to vote!

 

[Nemesis121]

All IGN rank list=Fail.

 

[Iadien]

Looks more like a popularity list more than anything.

 

[Blader]

Thank you. Let's face it, the Ocean dub all around was superior.

God no. Their DBZ dub was one of the worst things Ocean has ever put out.

 

[hirokazu]

Haha, what a waste of bandwidth. :lol

 

[Skiptastic]

God no. Their DBZ dub was one of the worst things Ocean has ever put out.

Better than the sorry sack of voice actors Funi had.

 

[obijkenobi]

To be honest with you, the majority of the thread members there are pretty sick of him (Naruto) for always weeping. We're sick of both Naruto & Sasuke. We just want more focus of those other underdeveloped characters that Kishimoto refuses to show.

I think a lot of people are just wanting a return of Naruto from part 1 or a more mature Naruto. He hasn't cried in a while, but he still gets mopey thinking about Sasuke. We'll have to see if this talk with Sakura changes anything.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

5. YOKO

One of the things that troubles me in a lot of modern anime is the way the face is drawn. Now, I'm looking at this picture of Yoko here, and ordinarily I'd say that's a sexy drawing. Great body, interesting and detailed costume design and everything. She even has red hair, which half of the hottest fictional characters ever created happen to also have. But the face is just so plain. This is GAINAX we're talking about here, so I'm used to seeing characters with more detailed designs and complexions.

Or maybe I just miss the days when characters were designed to look more 'sexy' than they were to look 'cute'.

/grumble grumble