My Favorite Bishonen

Okay, I promised I'd do a rundown on Crispin Freeman characters and why I like them. Obviously, I like them because they tend to be incredibly hot and more or less nice guys who will mess up anyone who crosses them. And there's something rather comforting about Crispin Freeman's voice. Now, I do not necessarily like all his characters, nor have I seen everything he is in; I am not so hardcore as that. But I generally approve of most of them. So here is my top ranking. Also, I will be giving my secondary bishie from each series because you should always have a spare in case something happens. Be prepared!

1. Zelgadis Graywords (Slayers) - He's the first major character CF ever dubbed; if you watch the second half of the first season of Slayers, you'll hear CF do some minor guys in the filler eps, but he was then brought on to take over for Daniel Cronin. And it was an improvement. Zel's not entirely human, but that does give him some advantages that come in very handy for the situations he and his friends/allies find themselves in. Back-up bishie: Gourry Gabriev

2. Straight Cougar (S-cry-ed) – If there had been any true justice at all in this series, Cougar would have been the main male. Heaven knows he’d’ve gotten more done than the other two and in less than half the time. And frankly, I love him because he’s just slightly nuts; makes him very human. I love how he’ll rattle on; in another life, he’d either be a NASCAR driver or an auctioneer. Back-up: Asuka Tachibana

3. Amon (Witch Hunter Robin) – This series gets little to no attention, but I like it. And I like Amon: he’s a lot nicer than he seems, he just doesn’t show it. He’s the field-leader for his group of people that hunt witches. And, along with several of the other characters, he is a witch himself, we just never find out what his powers are; it’s explained that he hasn’t ‘awakened’. In the meantime, he’s a good hand with hand-to-hand combat and gun play. And he occasionally has some fun picking on the other two guys he works with, so good times there. Back-up: Michael Lee

4. Haji (Blood Plus) – Cutest band geek EVER. He’s in about one of the most committed relationships you’re ever going to find on Earth which means that he’s got the devotion and sweetness any girl would dream of in a guy. Very quiet; at first, we’re lucky to get him to say more than two sentences an episode. But he doesn’t need to talk; he just plays his cello and, in a fight, will pitch his instrument case at the opponent’s head. Never fight with someone who can take you down with one of the largest members of the string family. Back-up: Joel the 6th (Bonus: he’s also a CF character! And he’s cute and sweet and apparently ridiculously rich.)

5. Tsume (Wolf’s Rain) – Probably the series that did anthropomorphism best; Tsume is a big, mean gray wolf, but he’s a bit of a softie on the inside, mainly to younger wolves and humans that can’t seem to take care of themselves. You might think that as a wolf in human form, he’d want to wear an outfit that less . . . er, attention-grabbing, but since he is a wolf and wolves don’t need to wear clothes, he could wear a lot less. (I’m on the side of modesty myself, so as far as his outfit goes is just right.) Back-up: Hubb (not that having a back-up in this series made any difference.)

6. Togusa (Ghost in the Shell) – If not for Togusa, this series wouldn’t exactly have any bishonen factor; yes, Batou is awesome, but not exactly pretty. Togusa is very human, which is kind of a switch, both in this line-up and in the series. And one of my favorite things is that he’s a family man: he’s married and has two adorable kids that he would take a bullet for to protect. (Watch Solid State Society and you’ll know exactly how far he’ll go; scared the heck out of me there for a moment.) Back-up: the Tachikomas COUNT, OK?

7. Alucard (Hellsing) – Best vampire ever, anywhere. In fact, as I’d hope we all know, he is THE vampire. He’s not necessarily a nice guy; if he were, he’d probably be dead by now. Permanent dead, I mean, because he’s already dead, in a sense . . . Oh, never mind. He’s also got the same loyalty factor of Haji, just he makes more light of it. I could watch him fight for a long time and not get tired (unless by some accident I died first.) Back-up: um, well, maybe Walter? Okay, don’t really have one. Don’t really need one; it’s not like anything’s going to happen to Alucard.

8. Shannon Casull (Scrapped Princess) – Another kinda underrated series, but pretty enjoyable for the story and nice art style. And everyone’s named after guns; how fun is that? (By the way, ‘Casull’ is the make of gun Alucard carries so that’s kinda funny.) Shannon is a great older brother, very caring about others, and he has no problems doing household chores like the laundry. In fact, in the first episode, he takes down some bandits with a laundry basket so he’s also a quick thinker, which is good because he and his come into some very close situations several times throughout the series. Back-up: Christopher

9. Shizuo Heiwajima (DRRR!) – I think everyone kinda likes this bundle of pent-up irritation and strength. But that’s not all there is to him; he’s apparently quite smart from the statistics he can throw out in a fight and he’s great about standing up for someone who’s really in trouble. And he’s clearly a good brother; yeah, I do like a solid family man. What I do not like is people wanting to set him up with Izaya. Explain to me exactly how going into a murderous rage at the idea that someone might even be in the general vicinity constitutes any good feelings toward that person at all. Yeah, didn’t think so. Back-up: I’ll take Simon on this; I rather like accents. And what a sweetheart.

10. Jeremiah Gottwald (Code Geass) – Got an unfortunate fruity nickname, but he’s really tough as heck. He’s very stubborn about whatever cause he chooses to side with at the time, so you have to give him the loyalty factory. And after he’s cyborg-ized or whatever you wanna call it in season 2, he’s got the whole anti-Geass and the blades that come out his arms; how cool is that? And in the end, he tames down nicely. Back-up: Suzaku. Not Lelouch; I disapprove of megalomaniacs.

11. Holland Novak (Eureka 7) – He’d just be a lot of fun to hang out with; he’s like a slacker beach bum but with a purpose in life. That purpose being to go after his older brother for being a bit of an evil overlord, but I can work around that. It was a good episode when he strips down to his boxers and puts on the all-over body paint to go after the ones that wanted to kill him; yep, I like that. Back-up: I’ll get back to you on this one; no one else from this series stands out. And Renton’s too whiny.

12. Kyon (Haruhi Suzumiya) – I find it incredibly funny that a character who doesn’t initially believe in the supernatural got dubbed by CF. I don’t know; does that qualify as irony? Anyway, I like Kyon because he’s got brains and, despite not quite understanding what the heck is going on around him, he manages to cope very well. He’s not particularly strong, fighter-wise, but he’s only in high school; give him a couple years and I’d have to guess he’s going to turn out to be a lot like Togusa. Back-up: again, none really. Itsuki’s too much of a sneaky guy for me; he and Kyon seem to me to harp back to the alliance between Zelgadis and Xelloss in Slayers.

Wow, this was a long post.