Welcome to the Anime Walk of Fame, a series of retrospectives on the many characters of the anime world. You'll see all your favorites along with a few that deserve more than their reputations give.

So sit back relax and enjoy the show.

Tomo Actually Suits Shorts

I've never been a fan of bike shorts as a fashion choice, especially when combined with a skirt, and it's not for the reasons you're thinking, I feel the same about a hood over a baseball cap and yet it strangely works for Tomo.

Tomo is treated like a bro by Jun for her tomboy personality, an environment in a Karate dojo with a large ham of a Dad can do that, it helps that she is the tallest girl in school and built like a powerhouse to boot but the conflict of the anime revolves around Tomo trying to convince Jun that she is a girl because she has a crush, as early as Episode 2, the subject of her bike shorts gets brought up and she tries a day without the shorts and she barely lasts.
Jun suggests she wears the boys uniform instead but this never happens, which turns her choice of wardrobe into a symbol of her conflicting hormones, the tomboy she's always been fighting against her ever growing love for Jun, it's not as though she can hide her assets either.
It's a common trope that the child who you treated as an equal suddenly grows and you realise they are definitely female or the friend who was your comrade in arms be it a goth, a chad or a sporting teammate is now fully transformed into a beautiful woman. Watamote's Yu Naruse being the best example.
I'm still in an early part of Tomo-Chan, but I am curious to see how this plays out.

Taiga's Rage Adds a Lot of Character

One of my biggest inspirations for Dawn Shriners is the Palm Top Tiger herself, in fact all my most rage induced characters come from Taiga.

In any other anime Taiga would be a delinquent but her small frame and her clumsiness combined with the fact that she can be adorably cute at times gives her more depth than your typical tsundere. Taiga's most definied character trait early on is her rage, a by product of her upbringing with lousy parents but it gives us an insight into her feelings and having Ryuji as a sponge for said feelings gives Taiga a chance to grow.
The only other character in animation who can get away with this level of tsundere is Helga Pataki of Hey Arnold fame, I'm sure the parallels between the two have been brought up before.
What helps Taiga is that her violent streaks have helped other characters open up which helps Ami early on, Toradora on paper should be an anime I hate but Taiga has shown a side of the tsundere that isn't explored enough as far too often, the vulnerability is ignored in favour of cartoonish violence for laughs, you have to wonder how a tsundere lasts in today's anime trends but Taiga proves they still have relevance.

Iketeru is Brilliant and Not Brilliant

The other character that inspired Dave Dreamer is Uramichi Oniisan's Iketeru Daga.

Iketeru is arguably the most put together of the broken adults of Uramichi Oniisan but not by his own admission, his crazy talent for singing and ability to learn something on just mere instructions alone, means he has a better time of things than most but there are moments where he can't function and his inability to read the room can make him extremely vulnerable, he has a meltdown over not being able to cut paper and his child like innocence makes him a giggling school girl at the mere thought of a dirty joke, he can't even win a proper argument without completely forgetting why it even happened.
The term for this is Savantism and that is pretty much Iketeru in a nutshell.

Kintaro's Last Impression Far Exceeds His First

It's a day early but I want to introduce Walk of Fame's special as I showcase characters who inspired my OCs, starting with one of the inspirations behind Dave Dreamer.

Kintaro is a very unassuming character, he acts dorky, he has a few unhealthy fetishes and can often go into each job with plenty of enthusiasm but no skill or ability to really achieve anything nor does he impress anyone, at least not to begin with, but his incredible capacity for learning got six women chasing him by the end of the series as each job he left, each of the women he worked with were ready to screw his brains out by the end, I'm not being crude, that's how each episode ends, in fact I'm almost quoting the motorcycle girl word for word based on the dub script.
They say first impressions matter as you only get one but your last impression matters as well as a good one can pay dividends later, the last episode of Goldenboy proves this.

Misty is Not a Real Tomboy

I wasn't intentionally going to talk anymore about Rachael Lillis voiced characters but when looking for inspiration for a tomboy for my story, It occurred to me that Misty really isn't much of a Tomboy.
In the first game, Misty was only really a tomboy by title only, in the anime it was more obvious especially in the first season as Misty became one of the trailblazers of tomboys and tsunderes, her gold and silver appearance gave her a more feminine appearance and she is caught dating near Bill's lighthouse.
In Pokemon Adventures manga, you think you're getting the Tomboy Mermaid until she turns up in this.

Not the only time she's shown more feminine as there are other instances in season 1 alone.
1. Ghost of Maidens Peak, she shows up in a yukata.
2. March of the Exeggutor Squad, perhaps a bit reluctant she appears in a Goldeen stage costume.
3. Misty Mermaid, pretty much signalled that she was way more feminine than her initial design as she performed a water ballet as a mermaid.
Throw in an appreciation for romance, a motherly instinct for Togepi, a love for cute clothing and actually making peace with her sisters who previously called her a runt.
In fact, growing out of her tomboy phase allowed her to become the best version of herself, my biggest criticism of Misty was that she was a terrible gym leader, by the end of her initial journey and follow up specials, she's now one of the best gym leaders in the Pokemon world; her battle with Ash in the Alola season gave us the battle we wanted from season 1 and shows us just how much all three of the original Pokemon party had grown, Ash's victory lap post world champion even reunited them for one last journey before retiring.
Many hated to see Misty leave so soon but it gave us the most complete character in the franchise and because of Rachael Lillis performance who can balance Tomboy and Feminine charm, Misty will always be the gold standard that every female character has followed since, even Cynthia.