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.

You Are (Not) Shinji

Anyone who pays attention to my updates on old lists will notice I took Shinji Ikari off the worst list. Here's why.

Most people know who Shinji Ikari is, a woobie, self loathing sorry excuse for a human being, but rather than make the millionth joke about him not getting into the robot, I actually found him more sympathetic, this isn't the first time I've forgiven a character from an old anime I used to watch as I did the same for Quatre and Relena in Gundam Wing, it is also why I'm struggling to finish the best characters list project because some characters fall out of favour.
Shinji Ikari is written into a world where he has no mother, his father is a terrible person and the fate of the world rests on his shoulders, but by his own admission he's a coward, wimpy and underhanded but this design is on purpose.
Creator Hideaki Anno set out to create an unforgiving world as a way of showing how unprepared teenagers were for adult life, something that has been shown in his other works as well, Anno by his own admission has a history of depression and mental breakdowns, whether it be from his own studio, TV companies, fans or people he used to call friends.
I remember my teenage years and how I was bullied for daring to like anything that wasn't the norm, I used to hate myself for being that way and it's only now that I'm able to make peace with that past.
Shinji shares that level of self loathing and where the hate of his character comes from is a reminder that some of your past self is in Shinji. I've always said that I find it difficult to watch anime that remind me of myself, Welcome to the NHK, Watamote and Comic Party being good examples.
Age brings better wisdom and there will be a point where you can make peace with your former self, a number of famous youtube reviewers have gone through the same journey.
Shinji will always be polarising and I don't blame you for not liking him but I no longer consider him a bad character.

Why is Akira Dumb?

While last entry Ryu could be considered an improvement to a normally boring character, Akira's transition into anime just made him a complete dumb ass.

In Virtua Fighter, Akira is a dedicated martial artist, proud of his heritage and eternally stoic in his pursuit of mastering his fighting style, his design even helped give some life to other Sega properties Shenmue and Yakuza.
In the anime, he's really, really dumb.
While he can turn up the wick and actually fight when he needs to, it's hard to really take him seriously when he's stuffing food into his system like a squirrel and giving such a dorky smile, it makes for a character that can be infuriating to watch at times especially when Virtua Fighter is considered one of the better fighting game anime.

Ryu Wasn't Always Stoic

Mario wasn't the only video game character to go through a weird transition into anime, here are some more starting with default fighting game hero Ryu.

You'd be forgiven for thinking the above image is someone else, even Google isn't 100% convinced that the picture is Ryu from Street Fighter on lens search.
The anime series Street Fighter II V was an unusual beast of an anime, gone are Ryu's trademark karate gi, headband and gloves for several selections of casual clothing throughout the series, Ryu is defined as more laid back in personality and a country bumpkin with a more light hearted personality, his hair is also the default spiky anime protagonist rather than his default brush like cut.
This version does eliminate alot of Ryu's more bad ass elements but it does however give Ryu's brother like relationship with Ken alot more weight as they both travel the world in search of Street Fighters to battle against, which is so much better to understand than the tiresome, tournament is really a front for an evil organisation.
Now that I think about, pretty much all spiky hair male protagonists of the 90s were ripping off Goku even if they weren't originally meant to be like that.

Mario is an Isekai Protagonist

The Isekai anime has a bigger history than most people realise but did you know that one of them is Mario.

Back in 1986 while Mario was still finding it's audience with the fledgling Famicom system, an OVA was produced entitled, the Mission to Save Princess Peach, Mario isn't even a plumber, instead being a convenience store worker; the OVA really gets going when the Famicom he's playing spits out Peach and Bowser, after a skirmish, Peach leaves behind a pendant so the Mario Bros following a canine companion enter the Mushroom Kingdom through the TV.
This predates many well known Isekai, even ones like Rayearth, Digimon and Monster Rancher who are not normally associated with the genre but their plots suggests otherwise.
Mario's anime plot plays into the western cartoon series as the Super Mario Super Show has the plumbers originate from Brooklyn and enter through the warp pipe into the Mushroom Kingdom, in fact Nintendo built much of it's identity on Isekai as the end of the 80s brought in Captain N the Game Master where a teenager enters the video game world packed full of Nintendo properties like Zelda, Metroid and Kid Icarus.
The funny thing about all this is that Nintendo never really stopped with the Isekai, re-emerging in the Pokemon Legends Arceus late last year.
It's interesting to see how frequently this well known plot turns up.

I Wouldn't Advise Copying Kae's Weight Loss

While Saitama's training has at least got some decent real life applications, Kae's weight loss sadly doesn't.

Kae Serinuma is the very definition of an otaku, such dedication doesn't really come with decent exercise, a good diet or sleeping habits, so she has a much larger build than most anime protagonists, that is until her favourite anime character is killed off, the shock so bad that she locks herself in her room out of sheer depression wrapping herself in her bed sheets and not even changing her clothes.
When her mother and brother finally get her out of her room after a week, they are greeted with the shock of their life as Kae has lost all the weight and bulk she used to have and for some strange reason can see better. (Kae's reaction is better)
When she does return to school, Kae becomes the prettiest girl in school.
Don't ever try this to lose weight, unless you're raised in a culture where fasting is a regular practice, not eating for that long is going to make you extremely ill, add to the fact that she likely lost alot of fluids wrapping herself in thick bed sheets while wearing lounge clothes through sweat. So starvation, dehydration and malnourished isn't the way to go.
As much as a cop out I found the ending to this series, I'm glad her personality doesn't change with her shape.
Mind you Kae's reaction to her favourite anime character dying is way tamer than any reaction to Katsuki Bakugo dying.