Quantcast
games  anime  toys  movies
Japanator is anime news, community, videos & geeky J-stuff. Updated daily!   Sign up to comment or blog    |    Returning? Login

japanator logo

IGN tells us who the top 25 most popular anime characters are
by Colette Bennett, 10/28/2009
IGN tells us who the top 25 most popular anime characters are photo

IGN has decided to throw up a list of what they consider to be the top 25 anime characters of all time. As you can imagine, with any such list comes a wave of reaction from the denizens of the internet and cries of "WRONG!" According to IGN, the choices were based on, as they put it, "each character's lasting fame, the impact they had on the medium and their particular genre at the time, the depth and quality of their realization on screen, and of course, a little bit of personal taste". Anyway, hit the jump if you want to check out the full list.

I would say there are some pretty good ones in there, but obviously there are some missing from my personal favorites. Anime Vice finds the list pretty insulting, but  my take is that anyone that takes lists like this as anything other that opinion is bound to be pissed off by them in general.

Who's missing from this list that should be there, in your opinion?

1. Goku (DragonBall Z)
2. Astro Boy (Astro Boy)
3. Speed Racer (Speed Racer)
4. Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)
5. Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)
6. Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
7. Edward Elric (FullMetal Alchemist)
8. Pikachu (Pokemon)
9. Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon)
10. Rei Ayanami (Evangelion)
11. Shotaro Kaneda (Akira)
12. L (Death Note)
13. Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell)
14. D (Vampire Hunter D)
15. Arsene Lupin III (Lupin III)
16. Jubei Kibagami (Ninja Scroll)
17. Vash the Stampede (Trigun)
18. Light Yagami (Death Note)
19. Haruhi Suzumiya (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
20. Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)
21. Vegeta (DragonBall Z)
22. Monkey D Luffy (One Piece)
23. Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass)
24. Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
25. Shinji Ikari (Evangelion)





About our new comments system

We're evaluating Livefyre, a new comments system that helps us fight spam, allows you to thread comments, get email notifications, and follow site-wide AND twitter/facebook conversations about our stories all from one page. If you love it we will integrate it into the site permanently so that your old comments and profiles sync up. During this test you can register a chat avatar and track your comments here. Let us know what you think! support@japanator.com

Embedding images/pictures: To help us fight spam/pr0n we only support images from Flickr, Twitpic, tinypic, and imgur for images. Just type in the URL and a thumbnail of the picture will show up. Supported video sources are vimeo and youtube.

Legacy comments:

SeancetheBLADE

Shinji is below Luffy? WTF!?

I said it before and I'll say it again, people are stupid, let them believe what they want to believe
 
The_Kenji

I stumbled across this list a few days ago and found it rather entertaining. As you say it is a mater of opinion, and there are some names missing. However it's not a bad list overall, I find the top 3 to be hilarious. Not the top 3 I would have expected to be chosen.

 
zhalfim

I never take IGN's list placement seriously, I just look at the overall list and see whether or not I approve...this one isn't that bad, so I can live with it
 
Setre

No Kamina, Simon, or Yoko? For shame IGN, for shame. Also where the hell is the Gundam love? Char, Captain Bright, Amuro, Heero, Lockon, and several other notable characters would like to have a word with whoever wrote that article.

 
The Lost Horizon

I expected worse, The ranking I don't believe in because Totoro could take them all in a fight. (I Would love to see that!)

This list also needs.....CHAR!
 
Niko

Kenshin beat out Pikachu? Now I love Rurouni Kenshin, but I'm pretty surprised it's that high and that Pikachu was that low.

 
Antwhan

Personally it's a decent list, but it is aimed at anime that was met with an American audience moreso. Personally it could have done without so many shonen characters(luffy, naruto, goku, ichigo) but if we change the context it works i think. Because everyone knows goku...Everyone.
 
Jin Saotome

[quote]Shinji is below Luffy? WTF!?

I said it before and I'll say it again, people are stupid, let them believe what they want to believe[/quote]
Based on the fact that One Piece has probably sold more volumes then Naruto and Bleach combined, I don't understand why he's not #1.

Best selling shonen jump manga and all time and #22? Yeah I don't buy it either.

 
Psycho Soldier

No Alucard from Hellsing makes me sad panda.
 
mangadazed

Char doesn't have 4 places on this list, clearly it is not only faulty, but not certified by the Japanese.
 
Y0j1mb0

LOL.

IGN barely knows about videogames and it doesn't stop them from covering them. Might as well tackle anime too. What's next? Toys?
 
Red Baylon

IGN told us that Metroid Prime is the Citizen Kane of video games.
 
Ace0fClub5

What's with all these lead characters? Lame.

 
Gee-Man

Heh, I find it funny how people instantly bash the list simply because *gasp* it's someone's opinion! Look, if we were to assume that they were judging mostly anime that were well known in America, the list is surprisingly decent. It's not perfect (no list without Kamina is), but it has enough notable names to suffice.

I mean really, IGN is a gaming website. They're not going to know every single anime and have the most well formed opinions, just like how anime fans aren't going to be the most reliable sources of gaming knowledge (sorry guys, but FFVII =/= the best Final Fantasy).
 
Wedge Jaeger

Well all my favorite characters I pretty much expect to never be on any top character lists. Nekki Basara being one of them.
 
Silverhertz

Where the FUCK is Guts? The only thing Naruto has influenced is me wanting to punch anyone who likes the god awful shit in the face.
 
derio

Well, this list is not meant to be a top 25 list for hardcore anime fans, it seems to me it's more of a list for casual fans. That's why nothing from the Gundam multiverse shows up, as Gundam has never been that big outside of Japan compared to other popular anime series.
 
Miraito

I agree with the pic above.
 
Mad March Harris

As a list of anime characters recognisable in North America this list isn't too bad. It covers most of what I remember from the late 90s and most of the big series from the past five years.

It really does come off as a list made by someone who watched anime as a kid and only sort of paid attention to it for the past five years, though. I mean, two characters from Death Note? Not only that, but two very archetypal characters? I mean, the show is cool but it's barely three years old. That is not nearly enough time to see any influence it might have.
 
Nihon Freak

Meh. 'Sokay. Take Shinji off the list and move Rei up higher. Don't know why Lelouche is in there, either.

 
Antwhan

They could have had someone from Gundam Wing, i mean that helped establish anime on tv in the 90s....i havn't seen it is ages so forgive my lack of naming someone...but they didn't need multiple characters from the same shows personally.
 
BGFUSAB

I mean this wouldn't be my list but like others have said, it's a fair representation of the characters that are big among casual views in the US.

It would perhaps be interesting to see Japanator do a top 25 list and see how that comes out.
 
Bigdonkey1

Where the fuck is kamina

that character is pretty much responsbible for my liking anime


whereas goku gave me a very bad outlook on it as a medium and made me hate anime for many years before kamina saved me
 
Slust

I like how the vast majority of it are from series that have been shown on Cartoon Network. Hardly a reflection of the American anime scene, but I guess that's as close to mainstream as it has reached here...
 
Mad March Harris

I too would like to see a Japanator top 25 list.

 
Zepwich

[quote]I too would like to see a Japanator top 25 list.[/quote]
Me too

But I wouldn't agree with allot of it. Goku deficiently 1 and Spike number 2.
 
Genryuuzai

No Kenshiro? He's influenced every martial arts anime/manga hero in the Genre. Including Goku. Fist of the North Star manga came out BEFORE Dragon Ball manga.

Yugi has sold way too many packs of Yu-gi-oh cards not the be on the list.

And...why isn't Inuyasha number 4? People who don't even like animé watched Inuyasha loyally.





 
LOL WUT

LOLNO
SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE
 
raasbo

Sad...There was no Pegasus Seiya. It totally would have been there if it were a list from Japan.
 
The-Excel

I'm surprised Haruhi didn't score higher.

@Genryuuzai:
This is a survey of popularity, not importance or influence. If you take issue with people not knowing about how important your choices are, that's really not their problem.
 
MexiChrist

Shinji need to be NUMBER ONE on that list!

 
okpank

Yeah, Goku! Who could be better? Other than Luffy!
 
ChubbyHuggs

How is Vash #17.
And not even one person from Outlaw Star. :(
 
BoukenLou

Needs moar Bright Noah! He should be #1 and his slaps should be #s 2-25.
 
Sirs Gunstash

no Char Aznable BLAAARGH!!!

This list is like, all from the 90's! I think that means '90's anime was better. I agree.

If this list were from Japan, you can be Lupin would be at the top, and he's like from the freakin 70's!
 
Rewarp

@Bigdonkey1 I must agree. Dragonball made me feel stupid.

But I still know Goku, and I am still surrounded by rabid fans everywhere - so I have to agree with the list as well.

Not a bad (opinion) list at all.
 
SasugaRIVAL

pure IGNorance.
 
SeancetheBLADE

@Sasuga
lol nice

I agree a top 25 Japanator list should be done
 
Kagami

Who made this list??
Japanator should do one instead.
 
Arcade Ness

I still don't understand why Naruto is on the list, and so high up it. They even say that there other characters from the series who are more interesting and popular than him, but just because he's the main character they have to put him in above the others. Nanoha or Fate should be on this list.
 
mana

OPINIONS!
 
Pangloss

I know I shouldn't get pissy over someone's opinions, but this doesn't even look like it's anyone's actual opinion. It just looks like (with the exception of Vegeta) they just did a google search for "anime" and wrote down the main character for the first 25 shows that popped up.
 
P Marsh

I am sickened and disturbed that the glorious Pen Pen is not on this list.

 
Thilieph

Man....I Love DBZ and a GREAT FAN Of GOKu... I LOVE THE SHOW for its action and adventure. Besides, compelling PLOT, GOOD characterization, and actions, and some humor lifts up the SHow...DBZ REceived GREAT RECEPTION from fan boys mainly for its FAST PACED ACTIONS....DBZ IS DA BEST NAD GOKU IS DA BEST!!!!!!
 


  

Anime news got news? tips@japanator.com


Manga news

Community Blogs   + post a blog   view all














TEAM

Editor-in-Chief
Brad Rice

News Editor
Josh Tolentino

Reviews Editor
Hiroko Yamamura

Associate Editors
Dale North
Zac Bentz
Jeff Chuang
Pedro Cortes
Bob Muir
Kristina Pino
Marc Speer
Elliot Gay Chris Walden Salvador G-Rodiles Michelle Rodanes

Made by
ModernMethod





about us and privacy policy