Given that this is a long weekend for Presidents Day for those of us in the US and I was itching to do a new post I've decided to do a Top 10 List paying tribute to the leaders in anime. What I mean by leaders is pretty wide-spread here, just any character who's first/tied for first in command of any given group or organization. For example it can be anything from head of an army to student council president and everything in between. However second in command or vice-captains don't apply here. I'll be ranking them not only on how much I like them as characters (as per usual) but their quality as leaders as well.
I know I often seem to forget that Katsura is the leader of anything at times, given his ridiculous antics and the fact that he most commonly shows up without any followers. However he is in fact the leader of the Joi Faction against the Amanto race that has taken over Edo, leading the fight to put Edo back in the hands of humans and restore Samurai to their previous rights...or at least in theory thats what he does, we rarely see it. He's most commonly just goofing around with the rest of the characters...and showing up pretty-much everywhere with his...actually I don't really know what to call
Elizabeth she's sort of a human in a duck costume so I can't very well call her his pet now can I? Well whatever, he goes around everywhere with her being a complete weirdo in strange costumes. However on a few occasions you do see that he is dedicated to his cause and has definite character growth in that area going from resorting to terrorist activities, to realizing he wants to achieve his goal without causing harm to Edo and its people.
Number 9: Sakurano Kurimu (Seitokai no Ichizon)
Kurimu isn't the most commanding leader around...well, except for when it comes to her height in which case she is very adamant that people don't taunt her about it (I know how she feels), but as Student Council President she does know how to handle a situation when she needs to. She often tries to divert the Student Council from their normal time-wasting antics and to do something productive and serious...however she is generally over-ruled or bribed into submission by somebody offering her sweets. Although constantly teased by the other Sudent Council Members she can take charge and organize things when needed and can in fact excel in her Presidential duties to the school...all except for paperwork which she usually winds up passing off to Ken. Which brings me to another point in saying that she is in fact genuinely caring, especially when it comes to Ken and has helped him in many cases...even if she is constantly teased by him, she knows how to work as a team. She's not so arrogant that she refuses to ask for help either, much unlike most leaders who think they can do it all, Kurimu actually has some humility. Well liked by the student body and having just the right mix of serious leadership and rediculous antics (as well as major moe points) it's no surprise that she's the Student Council President...even if she doesn't appear very commanding in the least.
Number 8: Shino Amakusa (Seitokai Yakuindomo)
Only slightly more serious of a leader than Kurimu, but also a Student Council President Shino has fewer people along side her, but also cares a bit more about her position. Most of the time she is an obsessive pervert making non-stop sex jokes and references throughout the entire anime...sort of reminds me of myself actually, and along with other characters has the interesting ability to spontaneously turn chibi at any moment! Despite being such a pervert and rarely thinking of anything other than sex jokes and her fascination with the male body that is "not taught in health class", she does her job well, even helping a fellow student get a club started..or keep it going...I can't quite remember. She also seems to have a blatant disrespect for authority in the way that she is constantly making fun of the Student Council supervising teacher. And while others may disagree, I personally think it was smart of her to get a guy in the Student Council, to understand the point of view of the new male student body that had never previously existed in their school. She is also very strict about the dress code, nearly choking Tsuda with his tie for failing to keep it properly tightened.
Number 7: Kirino Chiba (Bamboo Blade)
Not exactly as large scale as Katsura, but she's much more dedicated to being a leader. Kirino is the captain of her schools Kendo Club and while she may not be the best on her team, she has probably the most spirit and the most heart for the sport of anyone on her team...which is saying a lot given the dedication that Tama shows. Kirino takes the Kendo Club from a 1 person team (with two delinquent members who sporadically show up to beat on people) to the 5+ people necessary to compete in tournaments. She gets excited over the hard work that being captain requires and puts her all into it all the time, and she's always there to raise the teams morale even in the hardest of times. However over the course of the anime it's very easy to forget that she's captain as she is often over-shadowed by Tama. Though even when it was just her in the Kendo club, she refused to quit and was determined to restore the team to full members.
Number 6: Shinigami-sama/Lord Death (Soul Eater)
I guess it's sort of strange that I put the principal of a school on this list considering that most of them probably don't deserve much credit as leaders (I know mine doesn't), but Shinigami-sama is a great leader none the less. He sacrifices so much, his mobility for one, to save Death City and his students not once, but twice, and is crazy-strong. He is kind to all his students and seems to care about them individually judging by how involved he is and the fact that his students approach him readily.
What I'm quite curious about though, is how in the hell can this guy procreate? I mean seriously, he's not even human, how in the hell does he have a human son? I don't get it, even if his wife was human...how could he possibly have sex? He's some sort of black sheet non-human thing, it makes no sense!
Number 5: Hiyori Sarugaki
Now it has recently been brought to my attention that there is no
official Vizard leader, and that there is some controversy between the so-called leader being Hiyori or Shinji, well quite honestly screw controversy for the purposes of this list because I for one consider Hiyori the leader and have support to back up that claim. Hiyori is the one that orders Shinji around from the beginning, she is the one who tells him to recruit Ichigo and is not satisfied until he does. She also has this nasty habit of beating Shinji with her sandal...which I don't think she would do if she was below him in rank. She's also just extremely bossy.
Well enough justifying
why I say she's leader, as for why she's a
good leader now. Yes she is fairly abusive, but honestly, how many people would take her seriously if she wasn't? She's serious and gets things done and doesn't take shit from anyone. She's also the one who took it upon herself (mostly) to train Ichigo, while the other Vizards do help and battle him in rotation, it is mostly Hiyori who's his coach.
Number 4: Date Masamune (Sengoku Basara)
He's probably leader on the largest scale out of any of the characters on this list, he's leader of the Oshuu Army, known far and wide as the Dokoganryuu (One-eyed Dragon). He is extremely respected by his allies and feared by his enemies and is quite possibly one of the craziest fighters in the entire anime. Even in real life as well as the anime he's an expert strategist. On that note, the character is actually very historically accurate for anyone who's interested. But he's very level headed and a flexible leader at that, for example when his right-hand-man is about to commit seppuku for betraying Masamune, he was the one to talk him out of it and tell him that seppuku isn't necessary. In that situation he could've just decided to be a complete dick and let him go through with it like tradition and honor dictate, but he's smarter than that and knows when he can't afford to lose a single comrade. He doesn't treat his followers as if they're below him, they're his friends, comrades and all on the same plane (save for fighting ability).
Number 3: Zero (Code Geass)
Ok Ok I know he
SPOILER!! goes pretty psychotic at the end, however I think he redeems himself as well using his plan with Suzaku
END SPOILER!! but through most of the series he's a great leader for the Black Knights for a great cause. He starts out this world-changing cause all because he wants to help his little sister, and he goes against the largest country in the world and his own family to do it. He gathers many loyal followers who have the utmost respect for him, most of which follow him without question. He is one of the most genius strategists in anime that I've ever seen and plays out his battles like a game of chess. He knows when to fall back and when to go all out, the only thing he particularly lacks is a connection of friendship to his followers, and he treats them like just that, followers...all except for Kallen. Though his cause is definitely a noble one and he follows it through to the bitter (?
*) end.
*SPOILER!! Personally I don't think he really died at the end, he's far too smart for that and theres much evidence suggesting that he didn't, but I wont get into that
END SPOILER!!
Number 2: Master Makarov (Fairy Tail)
As the master of the Fairy Tail Guild, Makarov is the typical patriarch leader, similar to the wise old shaman type. That being said, he's extremely wise, powerful and cares about his guild immensely. Oh and don't let that picture fool you, he is in fact
very short, which like a lot of other characters on this list, make them seem not very leader-ish. However he realizes how much his guild needs him, and he sees the members as his own children and he beats the living hell out of anybody who tries to mess with his 'children', take the Phantom Lord Guild attack on Fairy Tail for one, he went nuts and gave them hell. However along with his wise persona, he also knows when to forgive and forget, even letting two former enemies into the guild given that they truly mean to repent for what they'd previously done to Fairy Tail; he's simply too wise and too strong a leader to stay hooked on something so trivial as a mere grudge.
Number 1: Joi Touma (Psycho Busters)
Please note there will be spoilers for the end of this manga, so if you haven't finished or plan to read this manga (which I highly recommend) and you're the type to whine about spoilers, you've been warned. Joi is extremely wise beyond his years, he stays cool in all situations, even at the prospect of losing his own life for the sake of killing their enemy and saving the world. He cares immensely about his group of friends that he leads, even so much so to the point where he would trick them into believing he turned against them so they would have no qualms about killing Ikushima which would also kill Joi in the process, just to save them. He knows his friends well enough to know that they would never kill Ikushima if it meant killing him as well, but Joi is strong enough to make that sacrifice for everyone, and throughout the entire series he knew it would come to that, however went along with the plans anyway. And throughout the whole manga, Joi leads his friends with a level head at all times and they all respect him. His power is clairvoyance and with that he is an extremely strong and knowledgeable psychic, and mature to boot. As a great leader, Joi really has no flaws.
So there we go, Top 10 Anime Leaders. Agree? Disagree? Other opinions? I'd love to hear comments if you guys have any. And to everyone who comments and my regular readers, thanks so much for making my blog more popular than I thought it'd
ever be in under a year, to the point where with certain search terms/character names I show up on the first page of Google. And that could never have happened without getting the amount of hits that I do so thanks a lot =D. My next post should be the upcoming Spring 2011 Anime, and if anybody has suggestions for a Top 10 List, Rant or any sort of post they'd like to see me do in the future let me know and I'll definitely consider it.
Zero for president! <3
ReplyDeletethis has a severe lack of Bankotsu
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