Our Number One’s are finally here! Will your favorite of all time make the list or will they be left out completely? If your character already made the list, will he or she show up again? This time, it’s the best of the best characters appearing for each of us. Some are obvious. Some will be a pleasant surprise. Again, we thank you all for sticking around for so long and paying attention to our countdown! Next season’s countdown will be lovely so please stick around for that. Thanks everyone and please enjoy our Number One picks~

Minnie’s Picks:

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Lelouch vi Brittania/Lelouch Lamperouge/Lulu/Zero
Series: Code Geass and Code Geass R2
Reasons Behind Pick: Lulu! I love you! *huggles* Seriously though, is anyone surprise AT ALL by my number one male pick? Nope? I don’t think so. Anyways, there’s a lot I love about Lelouch. Actually, there’s nothing I dislike about Lelouch and there’s usually something I dislike about every character, even my favorites on the rest of this countdown. Lelouch is just that perfect and yet, he’s so imperfect that it makes me laugh. Since I’m a writer, I’ll try to explain why I adore Lelouch with all my heart (to the point that if I were in the story itself, I would die for him and his cause) through a writer’s perspective.

Lelouch is a creation that should have failed. In other words, he’s a hit or miss character. If done correctly, everyone will love him. If done incorrectly, everyone will hate his guts. Sunrise took a huge gamble in shaping his character and miraculously, made it work. In life, when you take a risk, the pay off will be high when succeeded. This is the same with creating characters. Fandoms are unpredictable by nature- characters you write to be hated might be loved and vice versa. With Lelouch, he is walking on a thin tightrope throughout the airing of Code Geass. There is no original work to give the world a look at Lelouch beforehand after all. On top of this tightrope, with one bad move in the anime, he will fall and crash into everyone’s hate list. Many times, Lelouch nearly fell off. At the end of Code Geass season 1, he was literally holding onto that tightrope for me. But Lelouch always manages to get back up and keep going. This is the exact reason why I love Lelouch so much. He has done so many things that many other characters will be despised for and yet, everyone still loves him, including myself. Hell, I bet he can get away with rape and he’ll still be a God in my eyes! That’s how much we love him just for being himself!

There is one scene I can’t get out of my head… the one scene that made Lelouch so great in my books. How many characters manage to lose literally everything precious to them and then become the ruler of the world in the matter of one episode? One freaking episode. That is mind-boggling. Lelouch is a genius and his name will live on for years to come for being the courageous, risk-taking character that he is. If I can write a character as great as Lelouch in my books, I have accomplished something with my life.

ALL…

Sheryl Nome
Series: Macross Frontier
Reasons Behind Pick: This is going to be hard… you mean I have to summarize everything I love about Sheryl Nome in 2 measly paragraphs? That’s impossible! I guess the best I can do is start off with this statement and then, an analogy. How does that sound? There is one statement that Sheryl uses often (almost like her catchphrase) that pretty much summarizes everything I love about Sheryl’s personality: “Just who do you think I am? I’m Sheryl Nome!”

Say Sheryl, how did you become the Galactic Fairy? Duh. It’s because I’m Sheryl Nome. Say Sheryl, how did you manage to cause every anime music blog possible to use you as their mascot? Again, duh. It’s because I’m Sheryl Nome. Say Sheryl, how did you make May’N an unknown into one of the most famous Japanese solo singers now? No brainer. It’s because I’m Sheryl Nome. Say Sheryl, how did you convince the director to change the later half of Macross Frontier to favor you? No duh. It’s because I’m Sheryl Nome. How awesome would it be if you can use your name as your reasoning for everything and make it work? Sheryl did it and guess what? She did it by using the entire Macross Frontier anime as her character development. It took sweat. It took effort. It took every ounce of her body to make it possible. By the end of the anime, it’s hard not to cheer for Sheryl when she once again says her name confidently… as the greatest diva character to grace the anime stage.

“Strawberry pie” are the first words out of Sheryl’s mouth in Macross Frontier and I find that significant to her development and personality. Like a strawberry pie, Sheryl has the sturdy crust as well as the sweet strawberry filling. In other words, she is sweet (look at how cute she is at times!), determined (she can live with a firm head on her shoulders, even in the face of her illness), stubborn (a bit tsun tsun much?), and most of all, confident (from start to finish!). Oh that confidence <3 You know that saying about how confident men are attractive? Who said women can’t be the same? She’s Sheryl Nome after all.   I love you Sheryl!

Note: Both of my pictures were well over 1000 in width but of course, I have to resize them to fit the post.

Garrick’s Picks:

Welkin Gunther
Series: Valkyria Chronicles
Reason behind Pick: Only from one person in the world will you hear this line: “I promise never to sketch light trout without permission.” That person is Welkin. Combining biological knowledge (and fanaticism) with military prowess not only makes for some rather… funny… and idiotic scenes… it also makes for some very… VERY awesome ones. And funny ones. But awesome ones, too.

Suzumiya Haruhi
Series: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
Reason behind Pick: They say there’s only one manmade object you can see from space. That’s the Great Wall of China. That’s wrong. There’s two. The second: me choosing Haruhi as my number 1 girl. If you couldn’t see that coming from 5000 miles away… you don’t know me very well. If you want a reason… I’ll give you three words. She. Is. God.

Ric’s Picks:

Kamina
Series: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Reason Behind Pick: Who better for the top spot than the king of GAR (No, not Harlock.), I ask you? Kamina is easily my favourite for the most entertaining, most fun and most…you get the idea, Kamina is an amazing character and is easily deserving of the top spot in this list because, c’mon. He’s Kamina. Anyone who has ever watched Gurren Lagann will know exactly why.

Yuuko Ichihara
Series: xxxHolic/ Tsubasa Chronicle
Reasoning Behind Pick: Well, as the blogger for xxxHolic, as well as my reaction to her “death”, is anyone really surprised at her ranking this high? As for my reason, well; Yuuko has and is everything. She’s funny, strong, and especially mysterious, what with xxxHolic/Tsubasa having gone on for so long and us STILL knowing very little about her back story. Compounded, this makes her a compelling, entertaining and fun character to watch or to read.

Katt’s Picks:

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Natsume Takashi
Series: Natsume Yuujinchou + Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou
Reason Behind Pick: I went really recent with my number one picks, but honestly, these characters have completely won my heart. Natsume… ah, how to explain why I picked him? I just…I want to marry him! I don’t think I have loved a fictional character so much since high school. He is just a total sweetheart. Aaah, I love Natsume~

Okay, okay, let’s be rational about this. I’ve make it clear up until now that I love the nice guy characters, and Natsume is the ultimate nice guy to the point that he suffers for his own kindness. Natsume could turn his back on the youkai he sees and attempt to live a normal life; however, he cannot bring himself to ignore their problems and instead goes out of his way to help them. It leads to a serious struggle to conceal his powers and thus avoid becoming an outcast. His uncertainty of his own belonging is such a relateable feeling, even if you personally can’t see youkai, and that is a fabulous thing about Natsume’s character. He gives people hope, because despite being a strange guy in many ways Natsume manages to fit in with a group of friends anyone would love to have. His selflessness is appreciated by the people that he meets, and it just makes me so happy for him. When Natsume is happy, I am happy–I am even more invested in his effort to belong than in Zero getting a pleasant ending, and that says a lot. Any time you want to get married, Natsume, just say the word. ;D

Erin
Series: Kemono no Souja Erin
Reason Behind Pick: Erin is my hero! She is friggin’ ten years younger than me and I want to be her. That in itself is a reason for her to be my number one girl.

Why do I admire her so much, though? From the first episode, Erin has impressed me with her resoluteness. As she quickly finds herself no longer shrouded in childhood innocence, Erin perseveres and tries to learn more about the ways that the world works instead of reverting to ignorance. When she finds things that she disagrees with in the world–namely the treatment of the toudas; yay animal rights!–she makes her opinion heard and does what she can to stop it. Even as a child, she stands up to anyone she feels is being unjust, no matter age or class or gender. Did I mention that I love that she has such a strong opinion on the treatment of animals? Erin, I am so rooting for you as you keep working towards becoming a compassionate and competent vet!

Steve’s Picks:

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Himura Kenshin
Series: Rurouni Kenshin
Reason Behind Pick: This is hard. How can I describe into words how  much I love this man? Haunted by the darkness of his past, he not only picks himself up, he repents for what he has done. He repents to the point that he is almost pure-hearted but not really; Kenshin is far from perfect. However, with every new step in his character development, I feel like he is striving toward perfection. This in itself makes him an unforgettable hero. Without Kenshin, Rurouni Kenshin wouldn’t be my favorite anime of all time today. Kenshi, you have found your true peace in the anime and in me. Thank you.

Sakura Kinomoto
Series: Card Captor Sakura
Reason Behind Pick: My reasoning for Sakura is simple really. Sakura is the reason why I like lolis. Sakura is the reason why I got into anime. Sakura is the best thing about my childhood. That’s enough to place her as number one right?

Taan’s Picks:

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KAAAAZUUUUUMAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Series: s-CRY-ed
Reasoning: Screw everything! More Power! Protect what you want with your power alone! MORE POWER!!!!!!! Kazuma is probably my favorite character of all time. Why? His obsession for power, his incredible strength, his awesome Shell Bullet, his role as the lead in one of the best anime ever, his insane character development (he almost literally forces himself to develop), and and and …Right. Aside from that, I love evolving powers, his short lived double life, and his epic rivalry. I also like a bunch of the other characters in Scryed, all of which help make Kazuma all the better. Yes he’s overpowered, but he also fights overpowered foes, and wins with SHEER PERSISTANCE, WILLPOWER, and AWESOME SHELL BULLETNESS. No crappy loophole strategies, no annoying “look for weaknesses in opponent’s power due to definition,” just bust your way through and keep fighting or die trying.

KIRBY AGAIN! Yuki Nagato
Series: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Reasoning: Yuki Nagato is a representation of the Integrated Data Entity. Because of this, she is able to access and modify the data of the universe at will. Being as such, her existence seems to prove that the universe is merely an abstraction of self sustaining data, a complex system that abides by set rules eternally running merely due to the fact it exists. Even so, all data is living, and it is inevitable that self sustaining data would settle into a form that ensures it’s persistant existance. It appears that by this principle, Yuki’s existance was created, and to ensure the continuation of the universe by protecting Haruhi, she was allowed access to the data around her. That, is godly.

Marissa’s Picks:

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Lelouch vi Brittania/Lelouch Lamperouge aka Lulu/Zero
Series: Code Geass
Reason Behind Pick: Since Minnie wrote a LOOOOONG essay for Lelouch, I don’t have to write AS MUCH?????? LOLLLLLLLL ANYHOO, Lelouch is MY ANIME HERO!!!!!!!! He embodies EVERYTHING I love in DARK characters and also EVERYTHING I love in LIGHT characters~~~~~~~~~ He’s so magnificent with his HAND GESTURES <333333 LULU <3 I LOVE YOU! And after THAT ending, I want you back in my arms forever and ever~~~~~~~~~~ LONG LIVE LELOUCH VI BRITTANIA!!!!!!!! *________________* MY SECOND FAVORITE ANIME CHARACTER OF ALL TIME ^0^

…HAIL…

Noda Megumi aka Nodame
Series: Nodame Cantabile and Nodame Cantabile Paris
Reason Behind Pick: There is only ONE character in anime history… CRAZY ENOUGH, FUNNY ENOUGH, MOE ENOUGH, LOVESTRUCK ENOUGH, THREE-DIMENSIONAL ENOUGH, MUSICALLY TALENT ENOUGH, STRONG ENOUGH, INTERESTING ENOUGH, STRONG ENOUGH, CLINGY ENOUGH, LOVABLE ENOUGH and DARK ENOUGH to be my FAVORITE character of ALL TIME as well as MY anime counterpart aka CLONE. That lady is none other than NODAME <33333333333333333333333333333333333333

GYABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Duke’s Picks:

Yami Yugi
Series: Yu-Gi-Oh
Reason Behind Pick: Believe in the heart of the cards and in Yami. He is my God.

Usagi Tsukino
Series: Sailor Moon
Reason Behind Pick: A goddess like none other… the Goddess of the Moon. How sexy.

Miken’s Picks:

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Domon Kasshu
Series: G Gundam
Reason Behind Pick: One of the first anime other than Pokemon that I watched was G Gundam — I grew up watching Domon fight the Dark Gundam, and even now, I marathon the series for no other reason than just to get a shot of nostalgia, Domon doesn’t disappoint. Sure, he has his faults, and sure, he doesn’t ~bishie splarkle~ quite as much as the more recent heroes, but he develops as a character and a fighter to become one of the most awesome characters I’ve ever seen…and I dare say he can pull off even the corniest lines with a ~flair~! Also: this

Kaoru Kamiya
Series: Rurouni Kenshin
Reason Behind Pick: I dare say that my very first manga holds a special place in my heart, and Rurouni Kenshin happens to be the one series. Kaoru, while often placed in the “distressed damsel” position, has a strong heart and believes deeply in Kenshin even though her relationship with him is the source of 99% of the kidnappings. Despite being portrayed as helpless, she’s still a strong fighter, though obviously overpowered by most of the other fighters in the series. The pure nostalgia of her character and the inner strength she harbors are the reasons why she’s my number 1 favorite female~<3

Angel’s Picks:

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Lelouch vi Britannia/Lelouch Lamperouge/Lulu/Zero
Series: Code Geass and Code Geass R2
Reason Behind Picks: Wow, are my #1 choices biased? NOOOO. Code Geass is the only show where I wanted to wake up early Sunday morning just to see what happened! I was enthralled every moment, from the first episode where he issued his first command (the guards shall die) and then he devilishly smiled about it to the last episode where he jfrbfkjur.. WELL, I would not like to spoil it, but if you haven’t seen Code Geass, shame on you because I’ll spoil it anyways. Code Geass ends full circle and it’s truly spellbinding. The world seems to screw up Lelouch’s life, well, he tells God to go screw off. The mother he most admired and wished to learn the truth about, well, he kills her, along with his immortal father. The icon he creates (Zero) is betrayed because the Black Knights think that they were pawns, well, he establishes a new army of Geassed soldiers in minutes only to arrive in a cloud of purple smoke to unleash a monologue and trap his father. The sexy girl he establishes a contract with may seem like just an accomplice, but he loves her but he realizes her true wish and snatches her away from death and Charles in such an epic flight. Ultimately, Lelouch focuses all of the hatred on him, so his death would bring peace, but honestly, could anyone here hate Lelouch? I love Lelouch because in addition to being charming, intelligent, and a weak but funny noodle, Lelouch is consistent (unlike a certain childhood friend :<) in a wild train wreck of a series because he accomplishes his goal – to create a safe world for his little sister and he sacrifices himself to do this. I totally did not expect to type this much, but…

…LELOUCH!!!

C.C.
Series: Code Geass and Code Geass R2
Reason Behind Pick: Yay for C.C. loving pizza as much as I do and looking fine in anything she wears. We both have the pizza butt, though. :^D Anyways, despite all of the crazy events in Code Geass, C.C. is simply chilling on the sidelines with Cheese-kun. C.C. has such a cool personality and she isn’t so exaggerated or unoriginal like the lolis and whatnot running around in the anime industry today (dun hurt me, I have kids to feed! o3o;). I love a calm, mature, sophisticated woman, kthx. She’s immortal too, and even when you think she will go down, she will not die and ironically, she survives in the end. C.C. has been through a lot of bull (i.e. burned, tortured, beheaded wtf) , but she’s not weak at all. She’s never pushed around, and she says and does whatever she wants to. In the last episode of the first season, she drags Jeremiah into the ocean. Even if the water’s pressure must have destroyed her body, she comes back for more pizza to kick more ass with Lelouch.

Miina-Ni’s Picks:

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Tamaki Suoh
Series: Ouran High School Host Club
Reason Behind Pick: I chose Tama-kuu for my #1 simply because I LOVE HIM!!!!!! ^_^ And who doesn’t come on!! His character is amazing! Yeah, he’s obnoxious and a bit in-your-face and highly annoying at times, but his love for Haruhi is undeniable and he will do anything and stop at nothing to keep her safe. He knows what he’s doing as the Host Club’s prince, even if it doesn’t seem like it, and his charm is just to die for!!

Haruhi Fujioka
Series: Ouran High School Host Club
Reason Behind Pick: Well. What can I say about Haru-chan? She is AMAZING!!! All those guys bullying and seducing her and her attitude towards it all is just so cool!! I mean, come ooooooon; how many guys out there would like a group of amazingly hansom guys fawning over you? *waves arms about* MEEEEEEE!!!!!! It’s just so not fair but at the same time I love her to bits for it!!! And her relationship with Tama-kuu TT_______TT I love the episode when she’s afraid of the lightning and he holds her and OMG I could have cried… It’s just so so so beautiful!!!!!!! Haru-chan for the win people. Haru-chan for the win.

Octavia’s Picks:

Alucard
Series: Hellsing
Reason Behind Pick: I have to admit that I had a great deal of difficulty in choosing my number one anime male character (it was down between Kyon from Haruhi and Alucard) Alucard is one of those male characters that holds a sexy badassery side that I love in characters BUT he’s a vampire, so that gives him infinite points. He is quite a classy vampire and his character is super fun, you laugh at the things he does that are super sacrareligious and swoon over his fartherly moments with Victoria. He makes the anime fun and will always hold a special place in my heart. (psttt also, the fact that Crispin Freeman voice acts as him did not alter my view on my number one character at all…if this was the case I would’ve chosen Turnip head )

Kaoru Kamiya
Series: Rurouni Kenshin
Reason Behind Pick: I have been re-reading the Kenshin series and trying to find episodes on line and have realized something, Kaoru is simply amazing. Yes, she is the damsel in destress character but she does it well. She is a strong, proud female character that despite how bad things look she puts a positive light on things.  Also, the Kaoru/Kenshin relationship is super cute and horribly depressing for those who had watched the OVAS. She’s beautiful, strong and awesome all put together that makes Kaoru my number one female.

Kaitlyn’s Picks:

Kaitani Riku
Series: Eyeshield 21
Reason Behind Pick: Of all the people in the story of Eyeshield 21… Riku is the person closest to Sena. You can’t even compare Shin with Sena because they play different positions… And the way Riku coaches Sena as a kid is adorable and awesome! And when they play each other in a match, he’s got the same skills as Sena, which is totally awesome too!

Haruhi Suzumiya
Series: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Reason Behind Pick: I love Haruhi because she’s not afraid of what other people think of her…. and if she does get affected by it….. she can just change their mind… because she controls the world! And, the way she can order Kyon around in such hilarious ways…. makes Haruhi the awesomest anime girl in the world.

To go back and see our Number Two picks, click HERE.

Conclusion From Minnie

Oh wow. The last post is a really a major fight between Code Geass, Haruhi Suzumiya, and Rurouni Kenshin characters, isn’t it? For Code Geass, both CC and Lelouch appear for their final stance. For Haruhi Suzumiya, both Yuki Nagato and Haruhi appear for their final stance. For Rurouni Kenshi, both Kenshin and Kaoru appear for their final stance. Who would have thought so many characters will be duplicated in this round? Actually, how many characters are lucky enough to be duplicated throughout this whole countdown? Let’s see… in order of number of appearances…

Five Appearances
Lelouch vi Brittania from Code Geass (Minnie’s #1, Marissa’s #1, Angel’s #1, Steve’s #2, Taan’s #4)
Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club (Miina-ni’s #1, Marissa’s #3, Minnie’s #6, Duke’s #8, Katt’s #9)
Four Appearances
Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Garrick’s #1, Kaitlyn’s #1, Angel’s #4, Minnie’s #8)
CC from Code Geass (Angel’s #1, Marissa’s #3, Minnie’s #4, Miina-Ni’s #7)
Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Ric’s #1, Angel’s #3, Steve’s #5, Garrick’s #7)
Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran High School Host Club (Miina-ni’s #1, Minnie’s #7, Duke’s #8, Katt’s #8)
Three Appearances
Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier (Minnie’s #1, Ric’s #2, Marissa’s #5)
Sakura Kinomoto from Card Captor Sakura (Steve’s #1, Ric’s #5, Duke’s #12)
Kyoko Mogami from Skip Beat (Minnie’s #1, Taan’s #4, Marissa’s #4)
Tomoya Okazaki from CLANNAD (Garrick’s #3, Ric’s #4, Steve’s #7)
Sebastian from Kuroshitsuji (Angel’s #4, Miken’s #6, Marissa’s #12)
Nozomu Itoshiki from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Ric’s #8, Katt’s #8, Minnie’s #10)

There are many surprises this countdown. One of the most noteworthy surprises are the appearances of characters from more recent anime such as Erin from Katt’s list above as well as Sebastian and Mariya from a few seasons ago, making their way into the list. Of course, despite the number of recent characters, some old classics never disappear it seems. One of which is good old Kenshin and Sakura Kinomoto. Let’s not forget Onizuka and Sagara either!

Another thing that has caught my attention is the huge number of Yu-Gi-Oh characters as well as ToraDora characters. Who would have thought that Ami, Minorin, AND Taiga make the list? It’s like the new Mikuru, Yuki, and Haruhi Suzumiya combo (all three made the list at least once with the addition of Tsuruya). As a dieheart NANA fan, I can’t help but smile to see two of NANA characters appearing. It’s also nice to see the appearance of both Sheryl and Ranka from the infamous love triangle from Macross Frontier. I can’t help but notice that this blog is really Ouran/Haruhi/SZS-centric but it can’t be help right? Great anime are great anime after all. This also applies to oustanding characters who are popular everywhere, including here. Examples? The female characters Konata, Shana, and Tomoyo are well-loved here as well as the male characters Kamina, Tamaki, and Tomoya.

However, for the most unique picks, I can’t help but applaud Miken for her variety in characters. Bravo Miken bravo. Anyways, we are currently working  on another post for the countdown so please stay tune for that as well as the new countdown coming up. Thank you all for your support! Come again next time~