My top 15 anime and manga protagonists of all time

So, this is a really big one for me, but, after all this time, I feel I can finally make my list of my top 15 anime and manga protagonists of all time. When I did my last entry talking about my review for part 4, 5 and 6 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, I mentioned how since I had finally made that, I felt I could move onto making a lot more other special entries as well and this is one of them. I've been thinking about this for a long time now because I've made a list like this before, but, at that stage, I hadn't watched that many anime or read too many manga's, but, after a long time has passed, I have and I've been able to experience a lot more of both of those. And I've wanted to do this list for a long time because I've watched and read so many anime and manga that I've been able to see a lot of different protagonists and so many of them have had different impressions on me and that's a fun thing to think about because anime and manga protagonists are some of the most interesting characters I've ever seen and some of the most entertaining and just some of my favourite characters ever period. I've also done lists like this on my YouTube channel in terms of my YouTube Community, but, now I want to go into more detail with all these and be able to make actual videos about them now too. Plus, it's just good to have this on here anyway. And so, let's get started and I hope you all like this.

15. Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach):

Starting us off is the Substitute Soul Reaper from Karakura Town, Ichigo Kurosaki. From the beginning, this regular high school student was able to see the souls of the dead but was still doing his best in life until he met Rukia and was forced to absorb her powers to kill a Hollow to save his family. While Bleach itself may have a good amount of problems, Ichigo himself is definitely a huge reason why Bleach stood for so long as one of The Big 3 alongside Naruto and One Piece. His super tough and bad attitude helped make him stand out from the usual Shonen personality of being super happy and optimistic. Plus, when I was younger and I first discovered Bleach and Ichigo himself, he really stood out as being super cool and different from Naruto since Bleach was the second real anime after Naruto I discovered, even if I didn't really understand what all that meant back then. And his journey through the series, mainly through the Soul Society Arc and his desire to protect those he cares for is very admirable. Sure, I do think Ichigo has some problems as a character like being kinda bland after a while and he does kinda become pretty stale towards the end, especially during the Fullbringer Arc, but the start of the series is where he was really in his prime and I have to respect that.

14. Gon Freecss (Hunter x Hunter):

Next up is the pro Hunter himself, Gon Freecss. After leaving his home to become a Hunter and find his dad, Gon becomes entangled in so many different adventures which makes him change in various ways. Gon is actually interesting when it comes to my thoughts on him because he does kinda feel like a fairly standard Shonen protagonist a lot of the time, but, what's interesting about him is towards the end of his story when we see just how dark he can really be because for a lot of the series, we're shown him being super happy and cheerful and optimistic, but we then see that he's really morally grey and that makes him even more interesting because you don't really know how to feel about him a lot since he does occasionally do some really bad things out of pure selfishness. But, even beyond that, I do love when he does do some really cool stuff because I do think he can be really cool a lot of the time. So, while he may be kinda standard and not all that special as a protagonist, there are still a lot of good qualities about him that make him stand out from time to time.

13. Josuke Higashikata (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise):

At number 13 is the first JoJo protagonist on this list, Josuke Higashikata. I was kinda debating if I wanted to have two JoJo protagonists on here, but I just decided to anyway given how much I love both characters, and the first one here is the protagonist of Diamond Is Unbreakable. Like I said in my review for this part, I really love Josuke as a character because he's so much fun and so likeable with his different actions. You could see him fighting to protect someone he cares about or doing some weird thing in Morioh that might not be all that special or taking revenge on someone who mocked his hair. And I don't think there was a single moment in all of Part 4 where I found him unlikeable or thought he was being overused, Araki used him perfectly and he created one of his best characters ever, and, I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that Josuke is actually his favourite character he's created as well, and it's not hard to see why. Josuke is just so fun to watch with his compassion for other people and his fun attitude towards other things as well. I personally wish we saw more of him in future parts before Part 7, but what we got of him anyway was still great.

12. Tanjiro Kamado (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba):

This is a pretty interesting one for me because I only just got into Demon Slayer just slightly over a year ago, in that timeframe, I came to love Tanjiro and love his role in the series. I love how kind and compassionate he is and how he's essentially the heart of his group with being the one to care for everyone and be super protective of everyone too, especially Nezuko. I also love how a lot of his character is based on potential because a lot of the series is spent on him training or trying to learn a new ability because he has the potential to do so much more and I love how he has so much determination for wanting to improve and get better but still have a kind-heart throughout the entire journey all to save Nezuko from turning into a demon and hopefully ridding the entire world of demons. Plus, I love how he impacts and interacts with so many people around him and because of his outlook on life, he's generally able to change others for the better and make a great impression on them. So I'm really excited to see where he goes in the anime because, although the manga may be finished, I can't wait to see the rest of Tanjiro's journey animated.

11. Saitama (One-Punch Man):

At number 11 is the hero for fun and one of the strongest characters in existence, Saitama. Though he may appear as a normal bald guy with nothing much to him on the surface, he's proven time and time and time again that he's pretty much undefeatable and it's amazing how we follow him through so many events but he's never once a boring character, despite being a super bored character. But I love how Saitama is almost treated as like an underdog by the world around him since no one recognises all the amazing feats he performs but he never really seems to mind or care enough to want to do anything about it. A part of that is kinda due to him being pretty stupid at times, but he does also acknowledge when to do the right thing when needed and he generally won't try to take credit for it. He's also just really fun and funny as well with acting super bored all the time but still having so many amazing and fun moments that makes him a great character. And, again, just with the level of how insane the situations he usually finds himself in just makes what he does and his outlook on it all so entertaining. Saitama's also just fun to watch with the other characters around him, especially Genos and seeing what the two of them will get themselves involved with next is really fun. I also like how Saitama is also just a good guy. He's nice and respectable and you do want him to succeed. So, I'm really excited to see exactly how he ends the series, whether people will acknowledge him or if he'll just continue on with what he's doing forever and that's just kinda how it'll always be.

10. Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Rebellion):

I know a lot of people would put Lelouch way higher on their list of their favourite anime protagonists of all time and, while I do love him as a character as well, I don't know if I can really put him that high myself. But still, Lelouch is an amazing character. Being born into the Britannian family, Lelouch saw the horrible things his family had done with taking over Japan and even thinking his own mom had been killed. After he and his younger sister Nunnally fled to Japan, he tried to take care of her while thinking of ways he could stop his family. And, after meeting C.C and getting the Geass, he finally gets the opportunity and takes on the persona of Zero with the Black Knights to stop them and free Japan, especially to make a better world for Nunnally in particular. Easily one of the greatest anti-heroes in anime, Lelouch's journey throughout the series is one of the best explored with his complexities since we see him do so many things that paint him as either a hero or not, especially since we are rooting for him, but there's no denying he has done some bad stuff too. But the different complexities help make it so that he's never a bland character and always super interesting and just fun to watch at times too. Plus, it's also interesting to watch his great intelligence impact everyone around him with him being able to have the leadership skills to command a whole rebellion. Not to mention the fact that he's voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch in the dub and I think Lelouch is his best performance, and a big credit for that is the great character writing Lelouch has.

9. Izuku Midoriya (My Hero Academia):

The future greatest hero in the world is at number 9, Izuku Midoriya, A.K.A, Deku. Being born Quirkless, Midoriya grew up wanting to be a hero like so many people around him, especially his idol, All Might, despite that not being possible for him. But, after meeting All Might and showing his courage and quick thinking, All Might chose him to inherit his Quirk and ever since, he and the other members of Class 1A have been through so much to stop The League Of Villains and save everyone they can. I just love Deku's ambition to be the best he can and his drive to prove himself as a great hero. He's definitely proven that time and time again from saving regular people and his friends many times and stopping so many villains like Muscular and Gentle Criminal. He's also just fun to watch a lot of the time with his fanboy personality and nerdy side as well and I love watching him do all these and seeing his views on various things change like his faith in the hero society and the world at large given how chaotic things can get in the series. I'm also just very curious to know where he goes from here, especially in the manga since he's begun to go solo to try to solve things on his own and do what he thinks is necessary and I'm really excited to see how the series ends since he said at the beginning that he does eventually become the world's greatest hero, so I'm very interested to see what happens to help him earn that title.

8. Jotaro Kujo (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise):

This is what I meant by having another JoJo on this list. I don't really think that's a spoiler because I mentioned this a lot, but, I think Jotaro is the best character from this whole franchise and Araki's best character he's ever created. Originally just a delinquent, Jotaro is willing to team up with Joseph and the others to find and kill Dio to save his mom. And what I love about him is his tough and stoic personality but still having more than that like knowing how to be calm and kind and friendly as well. And I think what cements him as the best character in the franchise for me is the fact that he's in every part after he's introduced in various ways before Part 7 and so it's great to see his impact as the most prevalent JoJo with him appearing in Stardust Crusaders, Diamond Is Unbreakable, Golden Wind and Stone Ocean. Overall, I just think Jotaro is the perfect character for this franchise, not to mention he's just a cool character too either on his own or with Star Platinum.

7. Yusuke Urameshi (Yu Yu Hakusho):

At number 7 is Yoshihiro Togashi's original protagonist and his better protagonist in my opinion, Yusuke Urameshi. This is actually pretty interesting too because a lot of people say Hunter x Hunter is Togashi's better story, but everyone I see on YouTube and so on usually say Yusuke is a better character than Gon, and I agree with that. Another delinquent character originally, Yusuke was then willing to sacrifice his life to save a small child from getting run over which led to him being able to come back to life and as a Spirit Detective. With this, he's able to befriend some old enemies like Hiei and Kurama and forms a team with them and Kuwabara to take down demons and save the living world. And what's really great about Yusuke is, for one, his fun personality with doing nothing but having a trash talk way of speaking which leads to a lot of fun interactions, but also just his regular mentality where we really start to uncover what he's really about and what everything means to him and why he really is the way he is. I love how we focus a lot of time exploring how he takes out a lot of his anger on people because of the way he was raised and how he views things. But he also is extremely loveable with wanting to protect those he cares for and knowing when to take things seriously. It's also a lot of fun seeing how he fights and his different spirit attacks like the Spirit Gun. It's also fun to follow him through the series and seeing how he gets in and out of a lot of the dilemmas he finds himself in. In my opinion, his character was at his best during The Dark Tournament where we see him grow exponentially as a character and we see how he and the others navigate themselves through each fight and how they get out of them and it's really inspiring when he takes on Genkai's challenge to become stronger with him growing a huge amount of respect for her and then deciding to avenge her by defeating Toguro after he kills her. And, really, I think Yusuke is a better version of Ichigo because I think Tite Kubo did take a lot of inspiration for Bleach from this series.

6. Atem/Yusei Fudo (Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise):

The reason I'm putting these two together is because I'm not really sure who I like more as a character because Atem is technically the main character of the whole franchise alongside Yugi himself, but I also really love Yusei as a character. If you were to ask me who I liked more as a character with Yugi and Yusei, I'd probably go with Yusei, but when it comes to Atem and Yusei, I couldn't tell ya. But, anyway, I just love these two characters equally. While I enjoy every protagonist in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise like Yugi, Jaden, Yuma and so on to varying degrees, Atem and Yusei are the ones that stick out the most to me. What I love about them the most is their seriousness and mature personalities with Atem being a 3000, or 5000, year old pharaoh who awakened in modern day after Yugi put together the Millennium Puzzle with Atem having no memory of his life so he decides to help Yugi until he eventually manages to get his memory back and is able to move on to the afterlife. And with Yusei, he's had to go through a lot of hardships in his life with never knowing his parents, being treated like garbage for most of his life by the people in New Domino City and having two of his best friends betray him. But, in the end, he still manages to put other people ahead of himself and be a real hero by saving everyone many times and even being able to fix the city the way it should be all while almost never losing his way. And, again, I just love how mature they are and how they value other people so highly, and all that and a lot more reasons is why I consider the other Yu-Gi-Oh! series after the original to be very underrated.

5. Guts (Berserk):

Now we've arrived at the branded Black Swordsman himself, Guts. There's so much I could talk about with Guts that just knowing where to begin is really difficult, but Guts is easily one of the greatest anime and manga characters to have ever been created. I love basically everything about him with his amazing character development and other great aspects that showed exactly why Kentaro Miura was an absolute genius with writing. Being born from the corpse of his mother and raised by an abusive and monstrous adoptive father, and after Griffith betrayed him and the rest of the Band Of The Hawk, Guts made it his life's mission to hunt Griffith down and murder him. But, along the way, he begins to lose his humanity with all the terrible things he does to get revenge that he then begins to reflect on everything and decides that, even though he's gonna hunt down Apostles and get revenge on the Godhand if he can, he's gonna dedicate himself to protecting his loved ones and make sure he never loses another group he cherishes ever again, especially Casca. And following him through his journey as he develops in each story arc is some of the most fascinating storytelling in a manga or anime, or even just in general, you'll ever see. But even beyond that, there's no denying the fact that Guts is easily the most awesome and hard-core anime protagonist ever. And, again, just constantly following him through the story is never once boring or patronising. I'm very curious to see what happens with him for the rest of the story, especially since the last time we saw him in the manga, he looked absolutely defeated and distraught.

4. Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist):

At number 4 is the short statured and short tempered Alchemist, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. While Ed has been portrayed in various ways over the years like in the manga and the 2003 anime and in Brotherhood, I think I'm mainly going with his Brotherhood version, but I'm still referring to every iteration of him. Anyway, Ed is easily one of the most different anime and manga protagonists out there with a fun and unique personality, a fantastic character arc and character development. After his mom dies, he and Al try to bring her back but it ends horribly with both of their bodies being taken in various ways and now he's determined to make things right to fix his brother's body and make sure nothing like this happens to them ever again. Pretty much everything about Ed is perfect with Hiromu Arakawa's amazing writing with his fun personality of being really short temper and having a really snarky and bad attitude but also having a really touching brotherly bond with Al. He's also just a great hero too with having a good sense of morality and knowing exactly how to help people and he's also one of the funniest protagonists ever as well in my opinion. But I think what I love the most about him is his resolve and stubbornness to do what he feels is necessary at any given moment. His maturity is something that's on full display a lot of the time too and that just makes him stand out a lot of time too and his desire to protect Al and the others from anything is really something to admire as well as well as his huge intelligence.

3. Goku (Dragon Ball franchise):

Easily the most iconic anime and manga protagonist of all time, we have the Super Saiyan himself, Goku. After being sent to Earth by his parents to avoid the extinction of the Saiyan race, Goku was raised like a human until he met Bulma and began to learn about the outside world, and ever since, we've seen him through so many different adventures, whether that's taking down the Red Ribbon Army, stopping Piccolo from destroying the planet and turning him into an ally, becoming a Super Saiyan for the first time and avenging the Saiyans, sacrificing his life for the Earth, fighting a God Of Destruction and fighting in so many tournaments, one of them in particular designed to determine the fate of every universe in existence. While Goku's character may have taken a slight dip in Dragon Ball Super with his occasional selfishness to have a fight, there's no denying just how much of an icon he is in the world of anime and manga with his heroic and fun and optimistic personality. Me and pretty much everyone else just love his happy outlook on life and his drive to always improve himself and always reach newer heights. Even if he does have super low intelligence, you have to admire his intelligence for combat and martial arts as well as his maturity when the situation calls for it. Not to mention all the transformations he's gotten over the years have become just as synonymous with his character like Super Saiyan 1, 2, 3, Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan Blue and Ultra Instinct. So I'm very interested to see where he goes from here and just how much farther he's gonna get, especially if he keeps the same loveable personality we all know and love.

2. Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece):

Coming in close to number 1 is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and the future King Of The Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy. After being inspired by Shanks to become a pirate himself, Luffy set off on a huge journey to assemble his own crew to find the legendary One Piece to become King Of The Pirates and be crowned as the freest man in the world. I feel like Oda is able to achieve with Luffy what a lot of other manga artists and anime writers try to do and don't always succeed which is have the protagonist be super fun-loving and crazy and stupid and loud a lot but knowing how to be written with so much charisma that they're impossible not to love, and that's something I absolutely love about Luffy. The fact that he always just does what he wants and never cares about other people's opinions about him but he still treasures all the people he befriends and has a strong sense of morality to know when to do the right thing. And I love how he can act selfish and gluttonise but it's all part of what makes him such an amazing character. Not to mention the fact that doing whatever he wants leads to him being put in some incredibly fun situations like declaring war on the world government to save Robin, taking on the entire navy to save his brother and marching straight into a dangerous land just to take down some of the strongest people in the world. Plus, even if he'll never admit it himself, he's still an incredible hero with being able to take on absolutely anything to make things right either for someone he cares about or just to save a kingdom. There's also the fact that his thirst for adventure and determination to explore the world as much as he can, as well as his commitment to his friends and crew, are all so infectious that it's impossible to be bored or annoyed around him and I just love his unpredictability and the fact that you never really know what he's thinking or what he's gonna do next and I can't wait to see what happens to him at the end of the series.

Honourable mentions:

Vash The Stampede (Trigun),

Towa Higurashi (Inuyasha franchise),

Joseph Joestar (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise):

Meliodas (The Seven Deadly Sins):

And my number 1 favourite anime and manga protagonist is... Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto franchise):

And finally at number 1 is the orange wearing, number 1 hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja and Seventh Hokage himself, Naruto Uzumaki. I know I've talk about Naruto so many times on here and I've probably overdone it a lot, but I really can't help it. When it comes to an anime or manga character that just encompasses everything I love about a character and stands as a huge inspiration for me as a person, I really can't put anyone above Naruto. For the longest time, Naruto really has stood as a huge role model for me. After having the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside his body and spending the first twelve years of his life ostracised in the village, Naruto learned the truth and began to improve himself enough to gain the respect of everyone in the village and become the Hokage, which he was eventually able to do and making a vow to protect everyone he cares for so he'll never feel lonely ever again. And I just feel like Kishimoto really delivered big time when it came to Naruto's character writing in terms of his personality, his character growth and development and everything else. I love how Naruto always wants to improve and get better and how literally everything he does in each arc helps him work towards becoming Hokage as he learns more about the world and just how life works and all that as well as just gaining more knowledge and maturity. Whether or not you could really say he is mature is kinda hard to say, like lot of the other protagonists on here like Luffy and Goku, I do love when he does get serious and does act mature when the situation really calls for it. And even smaller stuff just helps make him more like a real character like his obsession with Ramen, his commitment to all his friends, his respect for all his different teachers and mentors, how he can connect with so many people, even if they were once an enemy and so much more. I will admit, recently, kinda like Goku, I feel like his character has taken a little bit of a dip after he became an adult, and I'd be lying if I said him and Luffy don't occasionally go back and forth these days briefly over which one is really my favourite protagonist since I don't think Luffy has ever once dipped in quality, but nothing can take away from his character during his teenaged years and that's why I would more often than not say Naruto is still my favourite. I do also love how Naruto in the first part of the series started off super braggadocious and, while he does keep that in different ways throughout the series, he also does get more humble later on and knows when to be empathetic and compassionate too, again, especially when it comes to having faith in his friends and other loved ones. Really guys, I just love Naruto's growth and evolution through the series and how he develops to become what he does at the very end. Also, I'm not gonna lie, I know some of these other protagonists are probably more generally liked and better written and better developed as characters, but, personally I'm just always gonna be on Naruto's side when it comes to picking my favourite out of all of them. And all that is why Naruto Uzumaki is my favourite anime protagonist of all time. And so, everyone, those are my picks for my top 15 anime and manga protagonists of all time. Thank you all so much for reading, I was looking forward to doing this for a long time and I had so much fun talking about all of these. Please comment down below to tell me what you think or tell me who you're favourite anime protagonists are.