#I appreciate the challenge but also my brain is tired lmfaoooo

[emeryleewho]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Hello!

So I know you sent this awhile ago and I took ages to get to it, but I just really wanted to do this justice because this is such a big ask and I take my responsibilities as a fan very seriously. I'm also going to have to caveat the fact that "all of the media that I have loved" is too many media to be able to truly answer this question with 100% accuracy, so instead, I opted for

My Top 10 Favorite Characters (In Recent Memory) That I Feel Best Portray What I Love In Characters (But I'm Very Sorry To Anyone Who Should've Been On This List But I Just Kind of Forgot) in no particular order:

Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen)

I am sorry to be a basic bitch, but Gojo may be my favorite character in anything ever. I hate that I am so predictable, but the white haired anime character trope absolutely kills me. Also, I am obsessed with a character who is like... too op to function, but also still very flawed. Also characters who are Sunshine Silly Goofs on the surface but so haunted and devastating under the surface. I admire the way he's The Great Protector of everyone but also makes sometimes callous choices, and I am obsessed with the fact that he is essentially the god of their world, but is still just... so very fragile and human. Also, like, he's so hot. Just so hot. That's also important.

2. Daddy Nanami (Jujutsu Kaisen)

I literally cannot stand watching this show. Like I want to throw up watching it because I love these bitches so much. Anyway, I tried REALLY hard not to like Nanami. Like I fought it so hard because he was obviously a doomed character from his intro, but I could not stop myself because I love the Sulky Blonde anime character trope for some reason, but also like... he's so hot. I want to watch him do my taxes. Also like... he's so relatable. Doesn't want to work overtime. Doesn't want to keep playing this shitty game where everyone dies young and bathes in the blood of teenagers, but also like, what? You expect him to work in corporate hell? Just let people die? He's not gonna fucking do that. He's that voice of reason every anime group probably needs, but he's also so hot, and like so grumpy but so kind, and so Responsible and Mature, but also so soft, and I love the way he takes care of those damn kids, okay? I just... *runs away sobbing*

3. Kurapika (HunterxHunter)

My favorite trope when I was younger was the "looks like they could kill you but is actually a sweetie" thing, but as I've gotten older, I've really come to appreciate what it is to be fully capable of being an all-powerful, cold-blooded killer and just... choose not to do that. Kurapika is the epitome of "character I just want to hug and protect forever" because he's been through so much and it's only made him stronger, but also like he shouldn't have to go through all that? And I adore that he's so mature and so strong and so capable and he protects everyone and puts villains in their place and all that jazz but he's also just a sweet kid who loves his friends and I love him so much oh my god.

4. Gao Yizhi (Iron Widow)

(See above regarding Kurapika) I have talked about Iron Widow as one of my favorite books of all time, but while Li Shimin is just a fabulous fucking character who once upon a time definitely would've been my favorite, Gao Yizhi stole my heart by just... being pretty... like soft pretty boy but also don't look at him too long because the devil burns behind his eyes and he will kill you. That is the finest of aesthetics, but also like... this man is so concerning. I would not trust him for a moment. And yet, he is just whipped for Wu Zetian, and that is literally what everyone should look for in a boyfriend.

5. Dazai (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Speaking of concerning, I first fell in love with Dazai because I loved how much he wants to die (don't call the cops, this was like a decade ago, and I am better now), but tbh I love how cute and silly and flirty he is on the surface to cover up the fact that he is just a downright nightmare of a human being. This man is a menace. He could kill literally anyone. And in another life, he probably would have, but now he's just chilling, taking care of his kids and fucking with his ex, and I love that for him. He is literally the perfect villain, and yet... he's not really doing anything that bad anymore. Go figure.

(Also, sidenote, I recently read No Longer Human, and not only did it give me a profound appreciation for Osamu Dazai as a person, but it really put his character into context that makes me adore this show even more, so yeah.)

6. Shinobu (Demon Slayer)

She is so mad. She is so angry. Yet she is a cutesy little girl in butterfly garb floating around saving people, I--yeah, it's very clear from this list that I have a type, but whatever. I love Shinobu because she's small and tiny and sweet, but she's also a major badass who can and will kill you. She's the only hashira who's physically too weak to decapitate demons so she kills them with poison, like??? This girl said "the gods didn't make me powerful, so I made me powerful", and that is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. She's surviving on spite alone, and she's whooping everyone's asses that way. An icon. A true hero. I adore her.

7. Vanitas (The Case Study of Vanitas)

This one's back to my roots, but I love a tragic character like Vanitas. I just... I love a man so broken you have to wonder if he's even a person anymore. I love how wretched and painful and horrific his past is and how divorced he feels from humanity, and also like those little claws get me every time. Idk. I know, I'm weird. Whatever. The flippant, antagonistic, flamboyance on the surface to cover an empty, wretched, devastated soul underneath just struggling to survive? *chef's kiss*

8. Scorpion King (Word of Honor)

Scorpion King is basically the opposite of all my above examples, but I love him for the same reasons. This is a man who is heartless, ruthless, an absolute murderer. He kills for fun. He has no regard for human life... EXCEPT HIS FUCKING GODFATHER. Like this is a villain who could easily have burned the entire world with his cunning and power and literally all he wanted was for his dad to fucking love him??? He would have broken himself down day in and day out just for that affection, and that's the sort of sick, twisted, vile love I want to see in a villain. Just the sort of absolutely poisoned, twisted, abusive affection that makes me absolutely feral. He could have been the ULTIMATE villain, and he was absolutely DESTROYED because he just wanted to be LOVED. Delicious.

9. Muichiro (Demon Slayer)

This is a BABY. Just... A BABY!!! Literally a tragic character, but what I love about him is just how casually perfect he is. He's supposed to be weak, pathetic, useless. He is NOT. He comes off kind of airheaded at the beginning, but he is truly just... the most impressive. I want to protect him always, but also, everyone should be scared of him. (Except me, I am good to him so he will be kind to me in turn :))

10. Crowley (Good Omens)

Once again, an exceptional villain. Or, you know, could be, except he fell in love with an annoying fucking angel so now he's barely a menace, mostly just kind of a fool who wastes his time around a bookshop all day (both relatable and kinda aspirational, ngl). I love Crowley both because he is so not evil that it's actually kinda funny despite having all the evil energy and aesthetic, but the thing I love MOST about him is the way he just absolutely spits in the face of gender. Gender who? He wouldn't know. He is all gender. He is no gender. He is the divine lord of gender, and I worship at his feet in the hopes that he'll give me a little gender as a treat. Just truly a trans icon AND a menace at the same time, and I can think of nothing better. (Also, I have a thing for David Tennant. Always have. His accent does things for me so this doesn't help. Whoops.)

Anyway, yes, this concludes my Top 10 Characters [blah, blah...] List. If you are not familiar with any of the above media, I highly recommend them, but also like... these are not Wholesome(tm) and simple media. I like weird shit. If that was not obvious from my talking about these freaks, now you know. Be warned.

Also thank you for the ask!!!