@TimeChaser:

I'll use my Astro Boy example again. To some of the younger folk, he's not exactly popular, but he nevertheless influenced many genres and fanbases. So I think popularity isn't the sole factor at work in determining greatness (and, by the way, I'm not accusing you of reducing everything to some popularity contest). Sure, it's an ingredient, but sometimes being great doesn't always include being popular at every given instance of time.

But if I had to pick someone who influenced me, it's more of a conglomeration of moody loners, haha.

@Pleiades Rising:

That's the problem with voting for "greatest anime character", because if you logically try to find one that's hugely influential on the genre or the fanbase, it'll likely end up being one that's really popular, so your results will be very limited.

Frankly, I don't really care about a character being influential on the genre or fanbase, but I went with Sei from Marimite because she's very influential on me personally.

@TimeChaser:

I felt that since it was worded quite broadly, I had to make some distinctions in what it was asking for. As such, I interpreted it as more or less asking, "who had the greatest influence not only in anime but also outside the genre or medium itself?" With that in mind, I don't think I could pick Asuka or any single character from Eva. They're terrific characters, but certainly not outstanding characters (which, if they were, then it wouldn't be Eva at all).

I think the distinction was fine enough for me to make it, and then vote with that in mind. I think that given some definitions most people would agree with, we could come up with a rough idea of who the greatest (having defined what that meant) character is. I don't think it would necessarily lapse into some sort of "subjective" argument at all.

@Shinmaru:

Well, I don't think anyone would need an extensive knowledge of, say, hundreds of anime to make a reasonable claim on how influential some character is. It doesn't take too much anime viewing to asses how influential someone like Sailor Moon (character and show) had been not only on certain genres, but also in popular Western culture. Heck, depending to some extent on age, some people don't even have to be anime fans to know Astroboy when they see him. With these basic ideas and observations in mind, I think someone could make a plausible (i.e. not definitive) argument about who is the greatest anime character ever.

Of course, most of this would have to be qualified (e.g. define "greatness"), and even then it would still be a rough map to work with.

One of my fav chars also ,Azuka is just a char you can never forget.Well I also didn't send my character because I need to think who is my fav char.It will be like between Miku , Haruhi , Reimu,and Azuka counts in my list.

Angel

I picked a favorite though he probably isn't my fave. Wonder who will win? Please not Naruto.....

Like Shin, I picked my favorite, the one character I've always remained a fanboy of.

Nah, I just picked my favorite, because I don't think I have the knowledge to pick the most influential character on anime. (Although if I had to hazard a guess, maybe Char Aznable?)