Barakamon
When you're stuck in a deserted island in the middle of f**king nowhere trying to figure out your own identity as an artist, you've got little girls and kids trying to up and bust your ass all day. The only thing that's going to save you from going insane other than getting used to the kids, is to pay attention to the 2 middle school girls that are coming to see you everyday. They're probably the most colorful in terms of personality and aren't just plain old stupid like the kids.
Of course out of the 2 of them, we're going to pick the hardcore fujoshi, Tamako. How the hell a girl in an island in the middle of nowhere would get interested in fujoshi/yaoi material, I would never know, but she's pretty wack (and cute, let's not forget that). Always going out of her way to have Handa get into interactions with Hiroshi so that she can fantasize them being gay is pretty funny, and it works even more so that while Miwa is always so energetic, Tamako is usually more reserved.
There are quite a lot of characters to like in "Barakamon", but of course, since the majority of the characters are children, its always nice to see some "cliche" characters thrown in there. Sure Tamako's a middle schooler, but she's plenty interesting to like alongside the other characters, and I always did enjoy her sarcastic nature as she teased Handa differently than the other characters did. A good addition to an already great cast of diverse characters.
Btooom!
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| Every overpowered main character needs a worthy rival. |
I'm surprised we aren't seeing a season 2 of "Btooom!" yet, on a side note. "Btooom!" is a great show with a great concept and a surprisingly nice cast of rival characters for our protagonist. I can easily pick the sexy Himiko for her looks, but there are 2 characters that really stood out for me in the series. One is the crazy kid Kira, whose pretty freaking insane, but of course, if I had to pick a favorite, it'd easily be Nobuaka.
Nobutaka is one crazy hipster dude. Being Sakamoto's good friend back in high school, he'd always be the lead guy that was 1 step ahead in life. They found similar interests in one another and quickly became close friends, but Nobutaka simply seized the opportunity to completely crush Sakamoto's spirit by "doing" the girl that he had always admired. Nobutaka was expelled, and apparently he did pretty f**king good in life despite being a school dropout. Many years later Nobutaka shows up on the island as one of the favorites to win the survival game.
Its not known by just watching the anime whether or not Nobutaka played "Btooom!" while it was still a game, but this man is a genius when handling his bombs. Sakamoto is a world renowned player, and still got outsmarted by Nobutaka as he planned his mines all around. The 2 had a close fight towards the end of the series and Nobutaka emerged victorious as he left with the supplies. In the manga he's pretty much a beast, remaining as one of the final few survivors until the end, where he's currently going solo.
Cross Ange
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| Sexy, sexy, sexy! |
"Cross Ange" never did have that many likable characters. A few of them were pretty good, sure, but otherwise, some of them were either annoying or downright distasteful. There was one character that I definitely grew attached to during my journey with the show, and that's our female lead, Princess Angelise, or simply just Ange as she likes to be called after her being branded as a norma. This girl went through some serious shit, and her character changed drastically throughout the series. To me, this development in her character was what made me like her so much...other than her being sexy as hell.
Ange started off as a prim and proper princess. She quickly got subjected to torture and was treated as an inhumane object after being discovered as a norma, one who couldn't use the light of mana in a world where almost everyone could use it. Having her entire world come crashing down on her, she suddenly had to spend her time risking her life as she drove mechs and killed dragons, all while having to adapt to an incredibly different social environment where she was constantly despised upon by her peers. She quickly grew to become a no-nonsense, independent woman who would constantly scoff and ignore those around her...until she was exposed to those who cared.
Enter her allies known as Momoka and Tusk. If not for these 2, she would have drowned in despair a long time ago. She hung in there and remained strong, fighting to stay alive and to keep those around her alive as well. She was powerful enough to pilot the Villkiss to extraordinary levels, and it was amazing that she was spunky enough to repel the likes of Embryo...who was practically considered a god in her world. Despite the intense amount of nonsense she was subjected to, both sexually, physically and mentally, that all helped in her character building to become one of the most interesting and strong female leads in a long time.
