10 All-Time Popular Anime Characters and Their Quirky Characteristics

Anime is a popular term in Japan and means animation. Several animations are produced every year. 

The first Japanese animation was released in 1917. The first anime in Japan, Astro Boy, was released in 1963 and aired on TV. Several popular anime are adaptations of Manga and other media. Anime has become popular worldwide, and now everyone can access Japanese anime with English subtitles. 

Let us know some popular anime characters and their stories. 

1. Itachi Uchiha

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Itachi Uchiha is a popular fictional character Naruto Manga created by Masahi Kishimoto. He is the older brother of Sasuke Uchiha and killed the members of their clan. He works as a terrorist from the organization and serves as Sasuke's greatest enemy. In Naruto, Itachi is a member of the Uchiha clan. He grew up as the child prodigy and established milestones for Sasuke and others. 

He is the famous edge lord in the anime. His childhood was marred by war. The violence of which caused him to seek peace. The battle between Itachi and Sasuke ends in the 393 chapter of the Naruto Manga. Sasuke is rescued by Tobi, who reveals about Itachi’s action plan. He also revealed that Itachi killed all his friends, family, and lover. After Naruto ended, several novels were released, which depicted different characters in the stories. 

Izumi Uchiha was found to be his lover and also another member of the Uchiha clan. He was the second-best student at the academy. But this was not shared in any story. When he was four years old, he gave water to a wounded Ninja. He was forced to kill ninja by slashing his throat. His cool moves and iconic design has made Itachi Uchiha a favorite character of everyone. 

2. Sakata Gintoki-Gintama

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Sakata Gintoki-Gintama is also one of the popular anime characters and is the protagonist of the series. He is introduced as a rebel samurai who lives in a fictionalized version of the 1860s Japan. In Gin Tama, Sakata is a former freelance samurai who lives in an era where aliens known as the Amanto have come to the Earth. He was taught by Shoyo Yoshida with his classmates. 

After his master’s death, Sakata opened a freelance business while continuing to live by his samurai code. He is a member of the Four Heavenly Kings and is a powerful swordsman. He has demonstrated incredible skills in swordsmanship and fought against Utsuro. 

His strength is remarkable & pulls down his helicopter with raw power. Sakata Gintoki Gintama is featured in different merchandise. He is the president of the Yorozuya. He is also known as Kintaro, a hero from the tale set. He is the child of superhuman strength and is raised by a mountain hag on Mount Ashigara. 

3. Roronoa Zoro-One Piece

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Roronoa Zoro-One Piece, better known as Pirate Hunter, is a combatant of Straw Hat Pirates. In the beginning, Zoro was a kid who thought that having more swords means he is stronger. He is the first to join Monkey D. Luff (the protagonist of One piece of Manga series). Roronoa is one of the two swordsmen of the Straw Hat pirates. He came from the town Shimotsuki, where he learned the two-sword styles. 

He is an expert in Santoryu, where he wields a third sword with his mouth. He first appeared in the chapter Enter Pirate Hunter Zoro and was first published in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. He appears in a  special episode of One Piece X Toriko, fighting Prince Vegeta and Zebra. Also, Roronoa wears a plain white shirt and holds his three swords. He also has a black bandanna around his bicep. 

Roronoa wears three golden earrings in his left ear and depicts his three sword style. Zoro is a serious and distanced personality and reacts goofy. He ranked second in the four Shonen Jump character and ranked third in the fifth one. Zoro has scars on his body and has a long scar running down his left eye. He has scars both on his ankles. In the Japanese version of One Piece anime series, Roronoa is voiced by Kazuya Nakai. 

4. Ryuk

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Ryuk is a fictional character in Death Note, a manga series created by Takeshi Obata, Japanese manga artist, and Tsugumi Ohba. In the anime adaptation, he is voiced by Brian Drummond and Nakamura Shido in English and Japanese versions, respectively. He was designed to look like a human rockstar. 

The artist's mindset was to make him look like a darker version of light. After the editors said that he shouldn’t look like a human character, he began the design of his death god. Ryuk, an anime character, is bored with activities of the Shinigami realm and decides to obtain a second death note and drop it in the human world, hoping to relieve his boredom. He has a humanoid appearance, and his skin is bluish-gray and purplish. He has yellow eyes with black irises. 

In the pilot chapter of Death Note, he is portrayed as the master of two Death Notes. Light Yagami, the protagonist of the manga series Death Note, finds Ryuk difficult to understand and his secret identities, Obata is the easiest to understand and relate to. 

5. Light Yagami

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Light Yagami is portrayed as the brilliant protagonist of the manga series Death Note. He is a young man with light brown hair and eyes. In part I, he dresses casually and sports a shirt underneath a jacket. In part II, he is seen wearing a suit. He is described as a talented and hardworking man. He is famous among friends and loved by family members. He has a strong sense of justice and aims to create a new world that should be crowded with people who are honest and kind. He likes living alone so that he could spend more time thinking about new ideas. 

Also, this gives him a break from the attention he gathers because of looks. He loves his hair and hates if anyone touches him. His parents were not aware of his depression and anxiety. He is sometimes bullied for being a nerd and hides his sexuality that he is gay. He is bipolar and changes his mood quickly. But he is also adamant and doesn’t change his mind unless his work is done. 

He is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in the Japanese adaptation and by Brad Swaile in the English version. In the Death Note, he was born in 1986, having a gentle personality. In the Japanese film series, Light Yagami is described as a gifted college student who has the frustration of the incapability of the law system. 

6. Naruto Uzumaki

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Naruto Uzumaki is one of the popular anime characters and is a shinobi (ninja) of Konohagakure's Uzumaki clan. He is created by Masashi Kishimoto and serves as the eponymous protagonist of the series. 

He is a ninja from the village of Konohagakure. His optimistic and carefree personality makes him a friend with other ninjas. He appears in the video games, video animations, and in the series films. His partner was decided at an early age. Hinata Hyuga respected Naruto Uzumaki before his academy mentor Iruka Umino; therefore, Kishimoto felt that they should be together. 

Screenwriter Maruo Kyozuka said he wanted to show the love triangle between Naruto, Hinata, and Toneri. He was unaware of Hinata’s feelings for him. At the time of filming, he acknowledges and responds to them. 

7. Kurisu Makise

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She is the lead character of the novel and anime series. She is an extremely talented neuroscience researcher, having an unusual sense of fashion. She is seen wearing a shirt tucked into a pair of shorts on black tights held up with a gold buckle. 

She wears a loose jacket that covers her thighs. She is a sensible girl, however, timid at times. She doesn’t like to be nicknamed and hates the name given by Okabe. She is a realist and believes that time machines are fiction. Makise is sarcastic and expresses this through her interactions with Okabe and Daru.

She is friendly as long as no one engages her in petty arguments. She treats others the way they treat her. She sometimes becomes rude to respectful people, but she is always kind. She loves swimming but is not good at sports. 

She is a genius who graduated from university when she turned 17. She researched the brain’s memory retention and system and is praised in the scientific community. She is a curious girl and couldn’t resist any experiment. 

8. Roronoa Zoro

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Roronoa Zoro is the first anime character to join a fictional character Monkey J. Luffy. He is native to the east blue and came from the town Shimotsuki. In Shimotsuki, he learned dojo and one and two-sword styles. He is an expert of three sword style and wields the third sword with his mouth. 

His primary sword is Wado Ichimonji, which he inherited from a childhood friend. He first appears in the manga chapter in Enter Pirate Hunter Zoro. For four years, he hunted pirates to get money for food. After he was saved from being executed by Morgan, he joined Luffy. He appears in the special episodes of One Piece X Toriko while fighting Vegeta and Zebra. 

He usually wears a plain white shirt and black pants. He has a black bandanna (a kerchief) around his left bicep and wears it on his head while battling. He has a scar on his left eye and sometimes replaces his shirt with a dark green samurai’s coat, which he can open while fighting. Since he first appeared in 1977, he underwent several changes. In the edition of chapter 598, the scar appears on his right eye. 

However, Eiichiro Oda (series creator) confirmed that this was an error. In the next chapter, he suffers from another error, which is replaced by another. Sometimes he is called by different names. He is addressed as Zolo. The name was changed due to copyright issues. 

Luffy recruited 11 members into the ‘Straw Hat’ pirates. He cares for his crew and can do anything to protect them. Zoro is unique as compared to other Straw Hats. He is the only member whom Luffy wanted to invite to his crew before meeting him. Zoro has the most voice actors than other straw hats. His voice is dubbed by four different voice actors and is also the voice in the video game. In the last 22 years, One Piece had six character popularity rolls. Zoro is the second most loved character after Monkey D Luffy. 

This anime character is an honorable person and goes well with his crew members. He is already an excellent swordsman and managed to kill a dragon. He might not be the first person to kill a dragon, but he is the first to defeat a dragon. He is the strongest member of Straw Hat pirates and is recognized alongside Luffy and Sanji as the Monster Trio. 

9. Kirito

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In the series, he is portrayed as a teenager who was amongst 1000 beta testers for a new state of the art virtual reality MMORPG. After the game is released to the public, along with other 10,000 players, they discover that they can’t log out and are trapped in the simulation. He is voiced by Yoshingtsugu Matsuka and Bryce Papen brook, in Japanese and English respectively. He became popular in the anime and manga fandom. 

He was born in 2008 and also enjoys teasing and eating a lot. Other than sword skills, fishing was his best skill. He is not a smart guy but has received an IQ on a test he completed in middle school. His parents died in an accident & later was adopted by his uncle and aunt. Kirito and Suguha are related as cousins; however, they are brother and sister under the registry. 

10. Edward Elric

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Edward Elric is the protagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga series. His missing limbs have been replaced with sophisticated prosthetics and called automail. Author Hiromu Arakawa integrated social problems into the plot. He was born in a small town Resembool and lived with his brother Alphonse and their parents. 

He believes in the alchemical concept of Equivalent exchange and also behaves childishly. Besides being an alchemist, he is a formidable fighter as a result of training with Izumi. His right arm and Alphonse’s body were taken for the human transformation, and Ed’s left leg connected Alphone’s soul to the armor. 

Final Words

Anime characters are famous worldwide. It has badass characters and is known for its popular characters. Like other industries, the anime is competitive and is constantly changing with the fans’ demand. 

We have shared anime characters and their characteristics. Which of the above characters is your favorite & why? Drop your comments below.