Last week I looked at the female characters from 2016 that left an impression. This week I turn my attention to the guys. I’m going to be honest; this was a much harder list to write. The reason being that female characters still tend to play a lot of support roles and still tend to have very generic personalities (with some exceptions). There are more leading male characters and more personality types (though still some basic archetypes) out there to choose from.
So how did I choose my top 5 male characters? Pretty much they played a significant role in their anime, were entertaining to watch, and, for whatever reason, memorable. They also had to be in an anime that aired at some point during 2016 (either continuing on from 2015, completely in 2016, or at least started before the end of 2016).
Please Note – There will be spoilers below.
Honourable mentions go to: Natsume (Natsume Yuujinchou Go), Mikleo (Tales of Zestiria the X), and weirdly to Matsumi Asuma (Kiss Him, Not Me).
Number 5: Dazai (Bungo Stray Dogs Season 2)
There were times in season 1 when Dazai drove me absolutely crazy. He was hilarious and intriguing for the first 2 episodes and then his character went into one note comedy mode for most the rest of the season. Season 2 Dazai became a much more interesting character. First we spent four episodes getting his back story and then even after that while we still had the odd goofy moment and suicide joke, Dazai kind of left the playful facade behind and started actually being a character. It made him far more intriguing and made me far more interested in him. Is Dazai the best character? Not really, but I certainly remember him.
Number 4: Karma Akabane (Assassination Classroom Season 2)
Okay, this one should come as no surprise given he topped out my list of favourite red haired male characters last year. I find Karma fantastic value as a character. Why isn’t he higher up my list? Because season 1 of Assassination Classroom did not air in 2016 and looking at Karma’s contributions to season 2, I just couldn’t justify it. His character decidely takes a back seat with the exception of the conflict between him and Nagisa and even that plays out relatively quickly. He is still one scary teenager and what I like is that he isn’t just a hoodlum, he is smart, manipulative and motivated.
Number 3: Yuuri Katsuki (Yuri on Ice)
It would have surprised me more if I hadn’t added a character from Yuri on Ice and it had to be Yuri himself. The character transformation he underwent and how natural it felt was one of the highlights of the whole year for me. I liked that this wasn’t a show about someone who was bad at skating getting suddenly amazing. Yuri was always good but lacked confidence. This story really just focussed on him overcoming himself rather than a skills deficit and it was a much stronger character story because of it.
Number 2: Obi (Snow White with the Red Hair)
Obi was always my favourite character from Show White with the Red Hair and season 2 we got more Obi. When Shirayuki leaves the kingdom to visit Prince Raj it is Obi who goes with her as a bodyguard so when she get’s kidnapped, Obi kind of loses it in the best possible way. It’s probably the first time we ever see Obi anything less than laid back and completely in control and that he then spends the rest of the season working to save her and then in ensuring that Zen and Shirayuki are going to get their happily ever after (despite the fact it’s pretty clear he’d really like Shirayuki to look at him) just makes Obi an even better character. He’s still stealing every scene he shows up in and I would love more of this character. Note to self: Do not get on Obi’s bad side.
Number 1: Allen Walker (D Gray Man Hallow)
Okay, I know a lot of this placement is due my overall love of this franchise but Hallow did an amazing job of progressing Allen’s story as the fourteenth is slowly but surely taking over. Allen has come along way from the naive want to be exorcist we met back in episode 1 of D Gray Man and is now a very competent exorcist however he is continuously doubted and mistreated by the Order and ultimately is forced to make the decision to leave (which gave us an incredibly heartbreaking farewell between Allen and Lenalee). Allen is a character I always want more of because he is incredibly interesting and I would love for him to eventually find out everything and be able to make his own informed choices about his life. Seems unlikely and far more likely he will continue to flounder along, but he does keep moving. Not even certain death keeps him out of the action.
That’s my list so now its time to share yours. Who were your favourite male characters in 2016?
*Google searches “Matsumi Asuma”* IT’S SLEEPY GUY!! I’ve only seen 2 episodes, but he’s the only one who likes her no matter what her stranger interests are or how she looks and I ship it!
I still need to watch “Yuri!!! on Ice;” I sense a weekend marathon coming on… One of my friends and I were talking about the “Yuri.” And the convo basically went like this:
I wonder about the representation therein and said friend who has recently watched it goes, “…They’re not gay.” I say, “They say at one point that they are engaged,” and immediately he retaliates, “That was just a promise ring!” My husband and I were CRACKING UP.
ROFL! Dude, do you KNOW what a promise ring means??
Obi is an awesome character and I agree with everything you said about him. Now I need to go back and watch season 2 again!
Looking forward to your thoughts on Yuri on Ice once you watch it.
Yeah, Matsumi Asuma was the only decent guy in Kiss Him Not Me so got an honourable mention. Still not a great character.
Yuri’s become such a big hit that nearly everyone is familiar with the name by now. I think he definitely deserves a spot in the list, though. Same with Yurio, but it’s a bit much to list two from the same show ^.^
Yeah, I try to avoid that if I can, though in Yurio’s case it was more a matter of not liking him for the early part of the show. He definitely grew on me by the end and he was a great supporting character but Yuri was definitely the stand out from the show (which is probably a good thing given he’s the title character).
I felt awful for excluding Karma off my own list T_T But he is hands down one of my favorite characters to have come out in the past few years. I loved this list and was happy to see a few shows that I had seen this year as well ^^
I felt bad that Karma didn’t come out on top. First season Karma would have even against Allen Walker who had all of nostalgia working for him. Second season Karma, not quite enough.
I kind of had the same feeling with Makoto Naegi. I wanted to put him near the top of my list, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. He’s my favorite but there were better characters if I’m being fair lol
I am very happy to see Yuri on the list because of the reasons you stated. But I was really surprised to see Allen Walker, since I had totally missed that D Gray Man had gotten a new season last year.
I really loved D Gray Man when it came out back in 2006, because it was a little darker (at least in my opinion) than the other shounen shows that were coming out at the same time. So after dating myself and feeling really old I totally need to go back and watch this new season!
I really enjoyed Hallow because I was an incredible fan of the original series. While Hallow is quite good it isn’t quite the same with character designs and just the general look of the show. From a story point of view it kind of continues exactly as it needs to.
I need to watch Snow White with the Red Hair…that’s always popping up. Great top 5 list! 😀
i haven’t finished watching shirayuki but have been meaning to! i remember Obi and thinking he was cute and kinda cool but to see him have a bigger role in this and that he actually shows he likes her (or enough that we notice it) is like WOAH to me, incentive to go continue it bc i really liked him!
it’s nice to see that dazai becomes more than this comedic character and we get to see that darkness that was hinted at in s1 😀
Obi is probably the best part of season 2 of Shirayuki. Not that the rest is bad but the other characters don’t shine quite as well as Obi.
There aren’t even 5 dudes I can remember from the season off the top of my head! The first three are fine then I had to think.
Sakamoto
Koro-Sensei
Onara Gorou
JUSTICE Guy (Space Patrol Luluco)
Arata (ReLIFE)
Have yet to see all of these, but from a series that for me wasn’t to great (but not bad either) I really liked Ikta Solork from Alderamin on the Sky. Even though it was a character that had a lot of flaws, he still did a lot of things right as well 😀
Ikta was a great character. He was definitely considered when making this list. However, part of what made him so great was his partnership with Yattori. When standing alone I just couldn’t place him above any of these characters.
Can’t argue with you there. Yattori definitely made Ikta an even better character (that said Yattori was also even more interesting than Ikta himself 😀)
That’s why she got a mention on the female list. Okay, maybe I’m biased because she’s a red haired character who fights with swords (almost a perfect combination really). Add in to that she actually has a personality and wow she really did appeal as a character.
Haha, no I don’t think your biased at all. She was an amazing character, and one of the best things of the entire series. So I could not agree with you more on that count 😀
I saw Allen Walker at the top of this list from a mile away 😀
Glad to see Obi on this list, though I figured you wouldn’t leave him out. Season 2 of Snow White was good to him. He was definitely one of the more engaging characters and along with Raj captured my attention in every scene he was in.
Let’s not forget that Suwa is the real MVP though. 😛
Suwa was the best character from Orange, however I really didn’t think much of any of the characters in Orange so he never even got a look in when I made my list.
Oh, I know. I only ever mention Orange here to tease you since I have such fond memories of how tedious you found it.
I’ll look forward to more Orange related comments then.
I like your choices. 🙂
Awesome list. I’m in love with Dazai. Obsessed with Yuri. Allen walker was awesome. Karma is everything. I would have on there Satorou from Erased. He was awesome and a hero
Satorou worked well in his story but he just didn’t stand out to me as an individual character. Admittedly, he does get more interesting as the series progresses but at the start he’s very bland (and admittedly he is supposed to be). Okay, now that I think about it, Satorou is actually a pretty good character. Nice choice.
Hahaha