Pretty much every anime fan will admit that at some stage they definitely struck the pose of their favourite character (usually a fighter) in real life. There’s something very cool about character poses on screen and something utterly ridiculous about using them in real life and yet some cosplayers really pull it off. Today my top 5 includes 5 character poses I love seeing and am really glad that they are either parodied regularly in other anime or that cosplayers enjoy them too because it means endless streams of images to admire.
What are the top 5 anime character poses?
And because this is a list I am revisiting, I asked Twitter to share their favourite character poses. Some great responses worth checking out and be sure to share your fav.
Number 5: Steins;Gate
This one is fantastic but mostly because you can actually pull it off in real life without looking too ridiculous, which makes it a fairly safe pick for most people who while they would like more anime in their everyday life don’t want to have people start avoiding eye-contact with them.
There are some more dramatic poses from Steins;Gate but the back to back in the lab coats is pretty classic. Now I just need a reason to wear a lab coat.
Number 4: Soul Eater
I’ll admit, Death the Kid with Patty and Liz is also pretty iconic but there is something insanely fun about taking on one of Maka’s stances and if you happen to have your scythe handy (or a broom stick or anything else really) you can really prepare to fight. And come on, Maka is just awesome. She made Soul Eater for me.
Of course, the key to Maka’s look is not actually how she stands given other than the crouch it isn’t exactly the same each time, the key is in that piercing gaze. Nail that and it won’t matter how ridiculous you look.
Number 3: Evangelion
The Gendo Pose from Evangelion. Probably doesn’t need much explanation and while it isn’t really a cosplayer favourite, it is an overly referenced and parodied look in anime. Plus, it is all kinds of fun to strike it in meetings when no one knows what you are doing. Even more fun if one person knows what you are doing and the rest are oblivious.
So maybe that makes this the best character pose because you can actually get away with using this one in real life without looking completely bonkers.
Number 2: Full Metal Alchemist
I dare you to tell me you watched either version of Full Metal Alchemist and didn’t at one point in the month after the viewing clap your hands together when something broke or didn’t work. It may not be the coolest pose but once again it is all about the attitude while doing it. This isn’t a clap your hands if you believe in fairies moment.
Plus, Edward certainly makes it look cool. So maybe this isn’t so much a cool character pose as it is a cool character who can make most things look good but it still deserves a place on my list.
Number 1: Sailor Moon
I should probably attribute this one to the fact that I was significantly younger when I watched Sailor Moon but I most definitely spent more time than I will ever admit practicing and perfecting each of the Sailor Scout’s poses. And their attacks. And pretty much anything else to do with the show. Favourites were of course Jupiter and Mars for attacks. But very little beats Sailor Moon’s transformation stance and then her little monologue ending with “In the name of the Moon, I’ll punish you”.
Okay, time to spill. What is your favourite anime pose or which one will you admit to practising in front of your TV?
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
I’ve seen so many that I can’t pick! 🙂
There are a lot of cool poses out there.
Oh yeah, those top three are all absolutely iconic.
I can’t say I’ve ever really practiced any anime poses much, since I was already in my twenties when I first got into it way back when. I did practice Ryu’s “hadoken” pose from Street Fighter II back in the day (only to find out much later that it was mostly copied from Dragonball’s Kamehameha), but since SFII is a video game and I’ve never watched a minute of Dragonball that doesn’t really count.
Apparently the “Nico-nico-nii” pose from Love Live has been trending on Tiktok recently. I’m not on that platform, but I heard something secondhand about it.
I will admit, as an adult I mostly mimic poses just to see if they are actually possible. Shugo Chara makes a cute heart shape with their fingers but I still am not certain in is actually possible the way they do it in the anime.
Oh yeah, I get that. Yoshiko from Love Live Sunshine has this really bizarre version of a hand scissors that fascinates me. I’ve played around with it before, but I’m not sure it’s possible to do irl without cheating. Like if I use my other hand to fold down the other two fingers then I can hold that pose once they’re down (though mine still looks more like a mutated Vulcan salute), but I definitely can’t do it spontaneously like she does. I mean, she even throws that thing out on a dime in rock-paper-scissors. lol
No JoJo poses?
I am guilty of most of the poses on this list 😂😂 especially Ed clapping his hands…. sometimes I still do it 😂😂
I completely agree with Maka’s pose. It is something about it just makes it look epic. Thinking about it, she has a lot of those in the series. In the first episode while fighting Jack the Reaper, the one when the black blood took over her during the Chrona fight… SO MANY!
It is a fantastic pose, and fortunately not to hard to duplicate. Unfortuantely, there aren’t a lot of opportunities in the real world to use it.
I watched Eva a couple years back and I do the Gendo pose every once in a while. Haven’t had anyone recognize it though. Also the Kamehameha, but who hasn’t done that one at least once right?
I haven’t watched Eva but I have seen the Gendo pose around and damn, it’s tempting.
So far though, all I rememeber is doing the Naruto handsigns with my cousins and then roughhousing.
Oh, the Naruto run should have got an honourable mention on this list.
After watching Eva, I really did start to randomly do the Gendo pose while in class or something, and I do it often now. But I have yet to see another person get the reference! 😛
That’s a shame. Hopefully one day someone will.
I still do Sailor Moon’s “I’ll punish you” pose.
I know I tried it on someone a few months ago after they beat me at cards. They nearly fell off of their chair laughing but I won the next round so evil vanquished in my opinion.
I may or may not have tried to do alchemy with the clap lol
I think everyone who has ever watched the show has (whether they admit it or not).
Hahaha what a fun idea for a post this was! Really enjoyed reading this one, and ofcourse I have been wracking my brain for which pose that I have been striking that I can remember. And I guess I am going with the Bio Booster Armor Guyver, the part where he exposes his chest weapon and blows away every single creature faced against him. I can’t remember the amount of times that I have tried to copy that pose (and of course failed miserably when I realised that I don’t have a chest weapon 😂😂). Great post!
I had to google Bio Booster Armor Guyver, but I see what you mean. Yeah, I always thought it was a shame when I couldn’t actually summon lightning after doing Jupiter’s pose perfectly from Sailor Moon.
Haha, yeah I can understand that. It’s a real shame when you realise things like that aren’t possible. Though I still have trouble convincing myself that is really the case lol 😂😂
I’m disappointed that this isn’t just five JoJo poses XD Missed opportunity…
Seriously though, great picks and enjoyed reading 🙂
You know, I still haven’t watched JoJo. Tried an episode of it a long time ago and just moved on. I’ve been told that was a mistake but have no real desire to rush back and find out.
I watched the first arc. It went from silly fun to ridiculous over-the-top pretty fast. That being said, it is surprisingly compelling once it gets going. Like you though I haven’t found any desire to go back and finish season one for some reason, despite having it.
You should give it another go sometime when you have the chance though but look who’s talking lol.
I think my issue is that I’m not really into over the top. I watched season one of Gintama and that was funny enough but I never felt any kind of compulsion to watch any more of it.
Fair enough.
Couldn’t agree with you more on all of these. There’s no greater joy than popping the Gendo pose and having that one person in the room recognizing your faith. Bless Gendo.
I also 100% agree
If you say you’ve never done the Kamehameha pose before, you’re lying. Lol
Pretty much a classic. I didn’t put this one on the list because I didn’t see it until I was an adult and haven’t actually ever done that one (at least not in public).
I’ll pay more attention next time.