The Greatest Anime/Manga Protagonist Ever Tournament

[LumRanmaYasha]

Astro Boy. Joe Yabuki. Jotaro Kujo. Kenshin Himura. Monkey D. Luffy. Ryuko Matoi.

There have been a lot of iconic, well-written characters in anime and manga over the years. But which one deserves to be called the best? In this competition, nearly 300 character will vie for that honor, but only one will be crowned...the greatest.

We have a lot of matches to get through, so I'll try to get one done every day. When matches will end will of course be dependent on whether enough people vote on the match/if the people I expect to vote on the match all vote on it, so they can move faster or slower depending on the circumstances. So without further ado, let's start the competition...

Round 1: Match 1


Naga the White Serpent (Slayers)

VS.


Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star)

VS.


Sanosuke Sagara (Rurouni Kenshin)

VS.


Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood/manga)

A good match to start this competition off with. I'll go with:

Naga the White Serpent - As much as I love the Slayers tv anime, I have to say I love the movies and OVAs even more. Naga is the reason why. More than Gourry or any other character in the tv series, Naga is the perfect comedic foil for Lina; a proud, egotistical woman who thinks too highly of herself and causes a ruckus wherever she goes while taunting her enemies with her iconic, distinctive laugh. Much like Lina she's money obsessed and self-centered, but unlike Lina she's also fearless, charismatic, and seemingly nigh-invulnerable against obstacle that gets put in her way. She and Lina share a hilarious frenemy relationship and are unafraid to betray each other for their own interests at the drop of a coin, which leads to some amusing situations and several cases where the two are pitted against each other...with hilarious results. Crazy and unpredictable, Naga never ceases to be a fascinating and entertaining character to watch, and her banter with Lina is always priceless, witty dialogue. If we ever get more Slayers anime, I'd want it to be about Lina and Naga, because there seriously needs to be more animated adventures featuring the shenanigans of Lina's self-proclaimed best friend and rival.

Sanosuke Sagara - Sano made for a solid best friend/hot headed sidekick to Kenshin. While I don't think I found his character arc or role in the story more interesting than other members of the RK cast, I did always enjoy seeing him shine in several situations, especially in the Kyoto arc where he desired to get stronger in order to fight beside Kenshin and prove himself to Saito and in the 7 chapter mini-storyline in the Revenge arc where he returned to his hometown and visited his family. Overall, a very enjoyable character.

Edward Elric - Edward has never been my favorite character from either version of FMA, but I do like his Brotherhood/manga version the best. Though the story works out too conveniently to really pay off on his character development (another reason why Silver Spoon>>>>>>>>>>>>>FMA), Edward does mature well through the story and his characterization of being a wiseass, stubborn, and temperamental but kind and clever kid with a strong desire to make things right is fairly endearing, though his comedic moments can be tiring at times.

Kenshiro - One of the most iconic characters from one of the most iconic anime/manga series to come out of the 80's (which is really saying something, considering), Kenshiro embodies the 80's macho badass persona, going around place to place crushing every schmuck who just happens to get on his bad side with a "YA TA TA TA." Now, I can like some of those characters, like Jotaro Kujo, but only when I have a good understanding of their character beyond just "he's badass" or "he's strong." I haven't read or watched enough FOTNS to get any more sense of Kenshiro's character outside of the standard "badass who beats up bad guys to protect weak people," while I have a good understanding of the other three characters, and like them more. So, unless I miraculously manage to read more of FOTNS and understand Kenshiro as a character better in 24 hours, I'm going to have to put him last here.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Sanosuke Sagara- Not one of my favorite RK characters, but still a memorable one, nonetheless, and his mini-arc was great

Naga- I haven't seen The Slayers, but the character sounds interesting enough

Edward Elric- Not a favorite of mine, but still a solid lead

Kenshiro- An iconic character from an important manga, but to be honest I find him a bit too shallow and lacking in personality, for my taste (I think that Joseph Joestar is a better version of this type of character, personally)

[gunswordfist]

ed, sano, kenshiro and korra's dog.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

korra's dog.

I was thinking of using that joke, myself, but avoided it because I couldn't come up with anything for the other 3 characters.

[VLordGTZ]

Naga the White Serpent
Sanosuke Sagara
Kenshiro
Edward Elric

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

Naga the White Serpent (Slayers) - 12
Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star) - 6
Sanosuke Sagara (Rurouni Kenshin) - 13
Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) - 9

Sano and Naga move on to round 2.

Round 1: Match 2


Shoot (Hunter X Hunter)

VS.


Kuranosuke Koibuchi (Princess Jellyfish)

VS.


Ochiai (20th Century Boys)

VS.


Captain Kraft (Level E)

My Picks:

Kuranosuke Koibuchi -  A bored and effeminate rich son of a major politician and obsessed with beauty, fashion, and crossdressing, Kuranosuke has in fact a heart of gold and is a kind, if not pushy friend that helps Tsukimi break out of her shell and appreciate herself more. Moreover he gives confidence and willpower to the rest of the Amamizukan residents, pushing hard for them not to give up on the place and coming up with plans to help protect it, genuinely desiring to keep it alive for not just it's rustic charm but also in recognition it is the only place it's residents, Tsukimi included, feel at home in the bustling metropolis of Tokyo. A hilarious, eccentric, and intriguing character, Kuranosuke is always a fun character and see develop as the story progresses.

Ochiai - My second favorite character in 20th Century Boys, after Yoshitsune. A cool guy with an interesting backstory, capable of some awesome things and always one of the most interesting characters to follow around in the story.

Shoot - A character who first appeared to be the cautious, weak-willed type at first but proved his guts and mettle in an awesome manner in the battle with Menthuthuyoupi, which another great element of that fight.

Captain Kraft - I found his frustration with the Prince and attempts to keep him in line/undermine his schemes always enjoyable.

[VLordGTZ]

Shoot
Ochiai
Captain Kraft
Kuronosuke Koibuchi

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Ochiai- By far my favorite 20th Century Boys character; he also had the greatest backstory

Captain Kraft- The greatest comedic foil for the greatest comedic villain that I've seen in any manga/anime

Shoot- While I prefer Knuckle, I think that Shoot was still a fun character

Kuronosuke- I haven't seen more than an episode of Princess Jellyfish, and that was years ago, so I really don't know anything about this character

[Spark Of Spirit]

Same as VLord.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Same as VLord.

A Togashi character over an Uraswa character? That's surprising coming from you.

Not that I have a problem with it. They are both among my favorite mangaka.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I like to mix it up.

[gunswordfist]

same as vlord. shoot might be the best protagonist chimera ants introduced. it is either him or ikalgo.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Results:

Shoot (Hunter X Hunter) - 16
Kuranosuke Koibuchi (Princess Jellyfish) - 8
Ochiai (20th Century Boys) - 16
Captain Kraft (Level E) - 10

Shoot and Ochiai move on to round 2.

Round 1: Match 3


Son Goku (Dragon Ball)

VS.


Heiji Hattori (Detective Conan)

VS.


Nagate Tanikaze (Knights of Sidonia)

VS.


Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi (Digimon Adventure)

My Picks:

Heiji Hattori- The great detective of the west and Shinichi Kudo's greatest rival and ally, Heiji is a smart and witty foil and partner to Conan/Shinichi. Totally on his level in terms of deductive capabilities, but with a more playful sense of humor and hilariously clueless when it comes to romance (the "follower" scene has got to be one of the funniest moments in the entire series), Heiji is a total scene stealer and always entertaining. It's no wonder why he's Vlord's favorite Conan character.

Son Goku - Though Goku is a simple character, his naivety and earnest devotion to improving his fighting prowess and helping his friends and innocent people is an endearing characterization that has inspired a plethora of similar, albeit less effective, protagonists in modern battle shonen manga today. I prefer Goku in the early parts of the series to when he's an adult, where other characters steal spotlight from him and are just more interesting, but he's a good character and protagonist throughout the story.

Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi - Admittedly, it's been over a decade since I've seen all of Digimon Adventure (outside of a few random episodes on Nicktoons and Our War Game), but I remember Izzy being my favorite character from it, as I've always liked smart/technologically savvy characters.

Nagate Tanikaze - Nagate is a solid protagonist, but I can't say I found his characterization anything particularly notable, especially among other characters from the series. The other characters in this match just are more memorable and left a stronger impression to me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Izzy- My favorite Digimon character in the franchise, for the most part, though Beelzemon (Tamers iteration) may be a tie with him for me

Son Goku- I prefer kid Goku over him as an adult, but this character is one of the consistently good things about Dragon Ball, with the exception of maybe the Cell arc where his behavior was questionable, but really, I have seen few simple-minded characters who come off as legitimately fun and engaging, rather than just flat-out annoying, and Son Goku is one of those characters

Heiji Hattori- Admittedly I don't know the character, but I at least like what I've seen of the show

Nagate Tanikaze- And I haven't seen Knights of Sidonia at all, so sorry about that

[Spark Of Spirit]

Same as the doctor, for much the same reasons.