My Top 5 Supporting Anime Characters

Anime, Houseki no Kuni

This week’s topic was chosen by Karandi from 100 Word Anime. She does episode reviews, she writes series reviews, she whips up Top 5 Lists, she posts consistently interesting topics that provide some real (delicious) food for thought, she shares great aniblogging she comes across every week, and she is, in short, awesome. Check her blog out! You’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t. Her 2nd anniversary is coming up and she’s looking for contributors and I highly recommend you join in!

Okaaaay, so here are 5 supporting anime characters I really like for various reasons. I tried to include how they could be considered supporting characters (they’re usually helping at least one of the main protagonists), but this is an incredibly biased list that’s only working off personal preferences. Please don’t get mad if I didn’t include your favourite supporting characters, okay?

Here we go!

Diamond (Houseki no Kuni)

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They are overly stubborn, resentful, and self-depreciative, yet they are also brave and caring and pretty awesome for defeating Shiro’s first form by themself (themselves?). The way they encourage and try to help Phos change by giving advice is just…nice. Even the way she runs around trying to help Phos despite a huge misunderstanding is great. Nothing less from the prettiest and perhaps the kindest character in the series!

Furukawa Akio (Clannad)

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The loudest, goofiest, and craziest anime dad never fails to make me laugh. But the lengths he and his wife will go to make sure Nagisa is safe and happy also causes me to start ugly-crying. What an amazing guy.

Ashiya Shirou / Alsiel (Hataraku Maou-sama!)

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The way he can stretch out a limited budget to put food on the table and take care of laundry is fantastic. Without him, Maou totally would have died long ago. That’s the Demon Lord’s number two for ya.

If you’re a house husband, then you’d better learn from Alsiel and become best boy like him, too.

La Pucelle / Kishibe Souta (Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku)

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Boys can be magical girls, too, and it’s okay for boys to like magical girls. Noble and kind, Souta is living proof of both statements and looks so cool while doing so. While his time with Snow White was depressingly brief, La Pucelle really tried his best protecting her and helping her out.

Anzai Chiyomi / “Anchovy” (Girls und Panzer)

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Okaaaay, so Anchovy didn’t get much characterization in the original series. Turns out she’s also kind of a mean girl in the manga.

BUT IN THE FILM, she’s a charismatic glutton who likes to have fun! The way she gives her crew crazy yet awesome commands as she helped out the protagonists by making use of a roller coaster really won me over. Happy-go-lucky girls are so hard to resist for me.

That’s all from me! Now it’s your turn. Who are your favourite supporting characters? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you for reading.

16 thoughts on “My Top 5 Supporting Anime Characters”

  2. Some supporting characters that came to mind for me:

    Yasuko (Toradora): There’s a series of radio commercials that say you don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. Yasuko is far from perfect, but she’s a wonderful Mom for Ryuuji.

    Sayuri Kurata (Kanon): Mai’s is my favorite arc in Kanon, and Sayuri is a big part of the reason why. Since Mai is so taciturn and outwardly emotionless most of the time, it’s necessary to have another character who can speak effectively for Mai when she won’t speak up for herself, and Sayuri just gets her better than anyone. Also, her cute little “ahaha” laugh is gold.

    Gaara (Naruto): Such a sad backstory. Gaara is a great foil for Naruto, since both of them had similar backgrounds as orphans and outcasts, but the way they reacted to their circumstances was so different and ended up leading Gaara down a much darker path.

    Yuuko (Euphonium): Lots of people hate Yuuko, and that’s totally understandable. Frankly I didn’t like her at first either when she was causing all that drama. But I always appreciated the fact that she’s a complex character, not just a black-and-white antagonist in season 1 but a basically good person driven by selfish but still understandable motives, which makes her feel so much more human than a character who’s just mean for the sake of being mean. And then season 2 went and rounded her out and made her even more interesting.

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    1. I do love how Yasuko tries her best to care for Ryuji. She just seems a bit helpless with housework, haha. But think of how happy Ryuji is when he gets to clean things!

      Sayuri’s laugh haunts me to this day. Great tic, great character, great arc. Kanon was just wonderful!

      Mmm poor Gaara. But at least he found a true friend in Naruto later on.

      I also initially disliked Yuuko, but she didn’t deserve the hate. And she got way better after the whole incident in S1 and in S2!

      Thanks for sharing your favourite supporting characters!

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  6. That’s a good topic to talk about. I have a few in mind and this would be in no particular order…

    Sakura from Key the Metal Idol: She’s Key’s best friend who is so kind, but doesn’t take crap from anyone who would dare hurt her or Key. She tries to help Key’s goal to make 30,000 friends by being her agent as she breaks into the music business. I also find her relatable by her ability to work multiple jobs at once to support herself.

    Reki from Haibane Renmei: okay, she’s technically one of the main characters, but come on…Rakka was obviously the main one. She is an awesome big sister figure, but she struggles with her self-hatred issues. Her character development was phenomenal and I will admit to tearing up a bit during the last arc when her backstory was revealed.

    Isumi from Hikaru no Go: He’s an underrated character in that series. I liked how he was a big of a mentor to the younger Insei competitors while he wants that last shot to become a pro despite his age.

    Konakawa from Paprika: That Detective was a dark horse favorite of mine from that movie. I liked how competent of a character he was as he does law enforcement for the right reasons. Also, his backstory and reason for not liking movies was just tragic as it’s revealed in the dream world via the DC Mini.

    Dan’l from Kimba the White Lion: Here’s a blast from the past. Dan’l is this baboon who becomes Kimba’s mentor and at some points an unintentional father figure to the lion cub. He’s extremely eccentric, but he’s very wise and he can kick butt whenever he has to. Also, I have two more words to describe him: Original Rafiki!

    I’m sure I can think of more, but those were the first 5 that came up in my head. Great job in the list, Remy.

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