gia (Level 13)

An updated take on an old film noir archetype-- the strong, badass-type; the only difference is he's not a detective and he doesn't explicate in the background of every scene. Superb all around.

Whether you loved him or hate him, his over-the-top style really made Gurren Lagann what it was-- and it's probably one of the biggest shows of this decade. In scale, at least.

A gentleman thief and another take on a classic, but this man's a chameleon: sometimes he's a serious good guy, others a wacky (but lovable) bad guy.

A unique character, but he managed to also be flawed and interesting without some lengthy explanatory backstory coming to the foreground of the series. Very simple design, too. Probably one of my favorite characters of recent memory.

We didn't get to explore her very far in a single film, but I thought she was a really interesting take on the duality that comes part and parcel with womanhood these days: by day, she's a very put-together, intelligent, hard-working, no-nonsense woman. In dreams, she becomes a flirtatious, whimsical sprite.

You know...I got over Sailor Moon years ago, and I can recognize that Serena/Usagi could be a pain in the ass. But for me, she was one of the first female characters I'd ever seen who was that kind of character...and a *heroine*.

Decades before "House" meant anything but the roof over your head, Black Jack was the original misanthropic doctor-- a rogue, refusing to bow to the demands of the Medical Board and charging occasionally outrageous prices for his risky surgeries. But at heart he still manages to be a good guy...usually. Doubtless one of Tezuka's most interesting characters.

Astro may not be the most "complex" character (in fact, sometimes he can be almost nauseatingly good-guy-ish), but he's amazing because he spawned such an interesting concept. In the US we frequently address the idea of robots taking over and kicking our asses in fiction, but in Japan, they wondered about whether a robot programmed to feel human emotions would "count" as a human or not-- and it spawned a lot of very interesting stories.

I know, I know, Haruhi herself will probably be on a lot of these lists. And I'm tempted to put her on here too: her feeling of wanting to live a unique life, to be someone "special," is something I can really relate to. But I think Yuki continues an interesting tradition started by Tezuka himself back in the day-- the idea that a robot can "feel." And he does it very slowly and (relatively) subtly, to boot.

It's rare to have a strong narrator character in an anime, much less one with a strong penchant for humor, sarcasm, funny references, and dry wit. I know, I know, TWO Haruhi characters? But still.

A strong female character who knows what she wants and takes it, Lum is kind of like Asuka from Evangelion or Naru from Love Hina-- but without all the boring and now cliched denial about their affections.