Yep! That’s right the number one anime character on my list is none other that Kenshin Himura. I am a sucker for stories about samurais. In my book you will not find another character that is able to balance dark and light moments as well as Kenshin Himura. Though Kenshin has a basic samurai character look, what makes him a great character is that we are able to get moments and episodes where Kenshin plays the straight man, or the comedic foil, but when push came to shove he can pull of the dark moments like no other character. When we get to see Kenshin’s eyes go from their usual color to the yellow/gold you know that you should not be anywhere nearby. With his Hiten Mitsurugi-style Kenshin is basically unstoppable as he is able to move at god-like speed with no other character being more dangerous with a sword than him.

I will admit that I am not a fan of how Kenshin’s story ended in the anime OVA, as I thought it was a very sad death when Kenshin, after all the crap he had been through, deserved a happier ending. Personally, I prefer the we got in the manga and it sucked that the anime was never able to do an anime version of the final arc in the manga. I really liked the last arc. Though it wasn’t as good as the Kyoto arc it was awesome to learn all of Kenshin’s backstory.

And even though the anime never did reach that point they did a great job revealing enough information of Kenshin’s past during the Kyoto arc made him still a character you can sympathize with. I would rank the Kyoto arc among my favorite stories told in anime as the series really picked up the intensity in that arc which it never was able to reach with the filler arc that happened afterwards. Kenshin was faced with impossible odds and it was great watching how he was able to face his past and did not allow the Battosai personality overcome him anymore as he was able to let go of that past of being Man Slayer.

Also Kenshin participated in three of my favorite anime fights. His fights with Saito, Aoshi, and Shishio in the Kyoto arc were just pure awesomeness with all the sword action. I would put any one of those three as my favorite anime fight. Kenshin really proved his worth in each of these fights as each opponent did what they were supposed to do when fighting the hero: pose an actually threat and challange/ None of these fights never felt like they were forced on to Kenshin as each one of these fights were well developed that in the end, while knowing Kenshin would win, had me wondering how he would pull of the win with all the intense action going on.

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Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Top 25 Anime Characters: #1 – Kenshin Himura

Yep! That’s right the number one anime character on my list is none other that Kenshin Himura. I am a sucker for stories about samurais. In my book you will not find another character that is able to balance dark and light moments as well as Kenshin Himura. Though Kenshin has a basic samurai character look, what makes him a great character is that we are able to get moments and episodes where Kenshin plays the straight man, or the comedic foil, but when push came to shove he can pull of the dark moments like no other character. When we get to see Kenshin’s eyes go from their usual color to the yellow/gold you know that you should not be anywhere nearby. With his Hiten Mitsurugi-style Kenshin is basically unstoppable as he is able to move at god-like speed with no other character being more dangerous with a sword than him.

I will admit that I am not a fan of how Kenshin’s story ended in the anime OVA, as I thought it was a very sad death when Kenshin, after all the crap he had been through, deserved a happier ending. Personally, I prefer the we got in the manga and it sucked that the anime was never able to do an anime version of the final arc in the manga. I really liked the last arc. Though it wasn’t as good as the Kyoto arc it was awesome to learn all of Kenshin’s backstory.

And even though the anime never did reach that point they did a great job revealing enough information of Kenshin’s past during the Kyoto arc made him still a character you can sympathize with. I would rank the Kyoto arc among my favorite stories told in anime as the series really picked up the intensity in that arc which it never was able to reach with the filler arc that happened afterwards. Kenshin was faced with impossible odds and it was great watching how he was able to face his past and did not allow the Battosai personality overcome him anymore as he was able to let go of that past of being Man Slayer.

Also Kenshin participated in three of my favorite anime fights. His fights with Saito, Aoshi, and Shishio in the Kyoto arc were just pure awesomeness with all the sword action. I would put any one of those three as my favorite anime fight. Kenshin really proved his worth in each of these fights as each opponent did what they were supposed to do when fighting the hero: pose an actually threat and challange/ None of these fights never felt like they were forced on to Kenshin as each one of these fights were well developed that in the end, while knowing Kenshin would win, had me wondering how he would pull of the win with all the intense action going on.

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Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Top 25 Anime Characters: #1 – Kenshin Himura

You want to talk about one of the most popular series around than you do not have to look in farther than Detective Conan, also known as Case Closed. The series has been running for 15 years collecting over 700 chapters that have been collected in 66 volumes and around 550 episodes with 13 movies with no signs of slowing down both in the anime and manga. I think if you show that to anyone that is an impressive resume that no other fictional character can say they have. And what is more impressive is that even after 15 years of writing Detective Conan Gosho Aoyama has still been able to keep the story just as interesting as it was when it first came out. Each mystery we get is fun to watch Jimmy try and figure out.

As a life long comic book fan I highly respect Gosho Aoyama for his ability to write interesting mysteries as not even comic book writers are able to write a series that comes out once a month for a few years without it getting stale or having boring arcs. And I have always felt that Detective Conan was given an unfair shot when it aired here in the States as I think many anime/manga fans would love.

Taking a look at the star of this series, Jimmy Kudo, or as he is also known Conan Edogawa, is the modern age Sherlock Holmes. Though he has yet to catch the men who turned him into a kid again Jimmy is always able to figure out the cases he is given. And even as a kid he is just as sharp as he was as a teen and with some help from devices that are James Bond-esque he always catches the criminal. Though Jimmy doesn’t have the fighting prowess of a lot of the characters on my Top Anime Character list he more than makes up for it with his mind as he is able to figure out any case he is given on his own.

Also what makes Jimmy’s situation even more interesting is that he has to hang out with his girlfriend acting like her little brother as he does not want to put her in danger if she found out Jimmy was turned into a kid by a dangerous organization. Behind all the mysteries is the great love story were Jimmy really wants to admit to the love of his life that he loves her but is unable to do so because of his current situation.

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Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Top 25 Anime Characters: #2 – Jimmy Kudo/Conan Edogawa

You want to talk about one of the most popular series around than you do not have to look in farther than Detective Conan, also known as Case Closed. The series has been running for 15 years collecting over 700 chapters that have been collected in 66 volumes and around 550 episodes with 13 movies with no signs of slowing down both in the anime and manga. I think if you show that to anyone that is an impressive resume that no other fictional character can say they have. And what is more impressive is that even after 15 years of writing Detective Conan Gosho Aoyama has still been able to keep the story just as interesting as it was when it first came out. Each mystery we get is fun to watch Jimmy try and figure out.

As a life long comic book fan I highly respect Gosho Aoyama for his ability to write interesting mysteries as not even comic book writers are able to write a series that comes out once a month for a few years without it getting stale or having boring arcs. And I have always felt that Detective Conan was given an unfair shot when it aired here in the States as I think many anime/manga fans would love.

Taking a look at the star of this series, Jimmy Kudo, or as he is also known Conan Edogawa, is the modern age Sherlock Holmes. Though he has yet to catch the men who turned him into a kid again Jimmy is always able to figure out the cases he is given. And even as a kid he is just as sharp as he was as a teen and with some help from devices that are James Bond-esque he always catches the criminal. Though Jimmy doesn’t have the fighting prowess of a lot of the characters on my Top Anime Character list he more than makes up for it with his mind as he is able to figure out any case he is given on his own.

Also what makes Jimmy’s situation even more interesting is that he has to hang out with his girlfriend acting like her little brother as he does not want to put her in danger if she found out Jimmy was turned into a kid by a dangerous organization. Behind all the mysteries is the great love story were Jimmy really wants to admit to the love of his life that he loves her but is unable to do so because of his current situation.

Tribute Video:

Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Top 25 Anime Characters: #2 – Jimmy Kudo/Conan Edogawa

Created by: Yasuhiro Nightow

When you talk about cool anime looks it is hard to get better than Vash the Stampede. With the blond broom head type hair, the long red trench coat, some nice shades, a killer gun, and even better robotic arm that transforms into an even bigger gun that can destroy whole cities what else is there not to like about Vash. And when you add to it that Vash has a $$60 billion dollar bounty on his head it doesn’t get much better.

Trigun is similar to Cowboy Bebop in that it combined the western, comedy, action/adventure, and sci-fi genre, with more of a heavy reliance on the western genre, into this one show and made it work. So like Cowboy Bebop the anime and manga work on a lot of levels. This is probably my favorite series that had a western/post-apocalyptic look to it as Yashiro Nightow made everything look great as well as creating a great story.

To make things more interesting was as the anime progressed we started to learn more about Vash’s past and why he had a bounty of $$60 billion on his head. I think what really sets it home of how much of a tortured life Vash has lived is seeing all the scars on his body. Though on the surface Vash is a goofy acting character underneath there laid a complex character who had everything taken away from him by his “brother.” You add in the western look of his world Vash is great character who you do not want to mess with especially when he uses his gun.

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Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Top 25 Anime Characters: #3 – Vash the Stampede

Created by: Yasuhiro Nightow

When you talk about cool anime looks it is hard to get better than Vash the Stampede. With the blond broom head type hair, the long red trench coat, some nice shades, a killer gun, and even better robotic arm that transforms into an even bigger gun that can destroy whole cities what else is there not to like about Vash. And when you add to it that Vash has a $$60 billion dollar bounty on his head it doesn’t get much better.

Trigun is similar to Cowboy Bebop in that it combined the western, comedy, action/adventure, and sci-fi genre, with more of a heavy reliance on the western genre, into this one show and made it work. So like Cowboy Bebop the anime and manga work on a lot of levels. This is probably my favorite series that had a western/post-apocalyptic look to it as Yashiro Nightow made everything look great as well as creating a great story.

To make things more interesting was as the anime progressed we started to learn more about Vash’s past and why he had a bounty of $$60 billion on his head. I think what really sets it home of how much of a tortured life Vash has lived is seeing all the scars on his body. Though on the surface Vash is a goofy acting character underneath there laid a complex character who had everything taken away from him by his “brother.” You add in the western look of his world Vash is great character who you do not want to mess with especially when he uses his gun.

Tribute Video:

Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Top 25 Anime Characters: #3 – Vash the Stampede