Anime has some of the best supporting characters, even sometimes becoming more popular than the main characters themselves.
Oricon decided to figure out which one is the best by polling 900 Japanese fans that were between the ages of 13 – 30 on their favorite supporting character. The winner of this poll is perhaps the quintessential supporting character in all of anime, and that is
Krillin from
Dragon Ball. Other than
Bulma and
Yamcha, Krillin has been by
Goku’s side the longest. They trained together, they fought together, and they died together (sort of.) He’s one of the only people in Dragon Ball that didn’t want to kill Goku before becoming friends with him. One of the people polled stated that, “without him, the story simply couldn’t have continued.”
Second on this list is Pirate Hunter
Zoro from
One Piece. Seriously, he brings a level of awesomeness to the show that no other three sword swordsman can bring. The rest of the people on this list are from older shows that American fans might not be too familiar with. Sadly, spiral power was not enough to put
Kamina on this list. However, give it ten years, and he will be there without a doubt. Check out the entire top ten list below.
- Krillin (Dragon Ball)
- Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)
- Takeshi Goda (Doraemon)
- Kiminobu Kogure (Slam Dunk)
- Tony Tony Chopper (One Piece)
- Kouichi Senigata (Lupin the Third)
- Kaede Rukawa (Slam Dunk)
- Vegeta (Dragonball)
- Tomozou Sakura (Chibi Maruko-chan)
- Kogorou Mouri (Detective Conan)
Glad to see all the other classics getting their well deserved recognition as well.
@HeeroYuy: Of course Slam Dunk is popular! It started the whole basketball craze in Asia in like the 1990s. True classic, had something many anime these days lack (and it didn't even have any fan service). Go give it a try haha!