Tom's Favorite Anime Characters Ever - - Part One

 I won't dress it up. Most of my favs will probably come out of this crop.

Having just completed another furlong in my journey of anime discovery, I reckon the time’s right for some reflection. My thoughts thusly turn to the individuals who have touched my heart throughout this ongoing social experiment of watching and learning. Specifically, my favorite characters and scenes. Ergo, over this week, I'm going to share my top choices from this 2D multiverse with you lunatics. If you agree, let me know. If you disagree, let me know. Let's get a discussion going, and start right here...

 "I have a suspicion, but it's only a 98% probability."

L from DEATH NOTE  

Here’s a guy you’d just love to grab some tea (and a lot of coffee cake) with and hear his thoughts on, well, basically everything in the world. Whether you saw him as the hero or villain of DEATH NOTE depends on your own moral compass but, for me, he stole every single scene he was in. Just highway robbery. I’ve frequently described him as Japan’s answer to Batman and I find him fascinating for being probably the most realistic depiction I've seen of a master detective in fiction. Here's a man who’s spectacularly cunning and brilliant, yet so lacking in such basic fundamentals of grooming and social skills that you seriously wonder if he’s autistic. And the fact that we only ever get hints about his background makes him all the more tragic and intriguing.

 "This is the Briggs way."

Olivier Armstrong from FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD

So often, when girls kick ass on screen, their dainty 90 lbs physique and carefree attitudes stretch your suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. Not so with General Armstrong who, for my money, is the most credible lady badass since Sarah Connor. Other characters in FMA may have powers of alchemy or bestial transformation; her’s is an indomitable will. While practically every bigwig in the Amestris government is on the Homunculi's conspiracy, she’ll only put up with their evil nonsense for exactly as long as she needs to before she finds an angle to take the bad guys out. When it comes to the greatest hits," her taking on Sloth or shooting down Ed are only close runners-up behind the part where she buries a corrupt bureaucrat alive in concrete at the mere suggestion that she collude with Father's evil plan. That's what a "Never suffer fools" attitude is all about.

 "Don't believe in me, or yourself. Believe in the me who believes in you!" Or something like that.

Kamina from GURREN LAGANN

Messages in anime can run a wee ostentatious, so it’s freshing to hear such an insightful, applicable message come from the mouth of a dude with such a limited vocabulary. Indeed, Kamina may be the first “bro” philosopher: a hero with an indefatigable spirit whose message of self-belief really feels like it’s coming from the heart instead of some bag of trite platitudes. Like L, Kamina is a personality big enough to be felt even in his absence, proving to be the wind beneath Team Gurren Lagann’s wings and the nitro in their fuel tanks.

That’s all for today, but keep your eyes peeled for more through the week. I'm making sure that all of my favorites are getting their proper space and attention. Now, let's see some of yours! 

 Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of  HYBRID BASTARDS!  &  UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon   here  &   here .  Follow him on Twitter:  @tompinchuk