General Discussion

Personally I like male characters. Females are much harder to create well and a lot of writers can't seem to get that gender right. As well, the female stereotypes in anime and manga piss me off. Males are better lead characters simply because people make them better because it's easier to create a good male character that doesn't come off as a bitch, slut, or other misogynistic term.

But, I do find that female characters make better villains. Something about a woman makes me think 'evil witch' more than a man does. Woman seem more like ones to make better plots because of the way they use both right and left sides of their brain more than males.

It doesn't matter for me either. The lead character should be well-executed for the story as well as the concept of the series.

It doesn't matter

Doesn't matter. I've seen that in anime, unlike video games, there's a nice mix of both genders usually in every show. Most of what I watch has an element of romance, so that means there's going to be both sexes represented (I haven't seen too many same-sex series as of yet).

Right now I am watching Yawara A Fashionable Judo Girl which is a sports anime with some comedy and romance mixed in. Obviously, the heroine is female but the men are not under represented either with a young sports reporter in tow and a rival's coach pursuing the girl. Before that, I watched Cross Game which is a baseball anime with a parallel romantic-comedy plot. The male lead and female lead certainly got equal time on and off the baseball diamond, so again there was enough for whatever your tastes.

I don't by the assertion that female leads are harder to write. It is easier to fall into exploitive stereotypes, but that doesn't necessarily lead to a less entertaining character. We see a lot more sexy girls these days, and therefore assume that makes them pandering and poorly constructed characters. However, if you look at the broad wealth of female characters in anime, there are many who are equally captivating as any male lead. For example, pianist Megumi Noda from Nodame Cantabile, Amu Hinamori from Shugo Chara, and Yukino Miyazawa of His and Her Circumstances are all deeply layered girls who offer some beyond their appearance.

It doesn't really matter to me as long as the character is enjoyable.