BEST MALE CHARACTER
Laios Touden (Scrumptious in Dungeon)
Discovering characters you may relate to is a part of the enjoyable of fiction. Over time, I’ve discovered a good many who I might connect with, however exceedingly few have spoken to the core of my very being in the identical manner as Laios Touden.
Laios lives in a fantasy world full of magic and the supernatural, the place he has the bizarre passion of consuming monsters, however there are layers to that zeal. Positive, he desires to know the finest methods to cook dinner the beasts that populate the dungeon, however he’s not like his journey companion Senshi, who desires to seek out the height of labyrinth cooking. As an alternative, what drives Laios is culinary discovery and exploration. Extra vital than determining what tastes finest is the will to style flavors he’s by no means come throughout earlier than, and to eat issues which may not even be thought-about edible to most others. If I have been in his sneakers, I might be the identical manner. He and I share an analogous philosophy: “You don’t know the way it’ll style till you truly eat it.”
And if Laios have been only a goofy, relatable man, that will be sufficient. However there’s a depth to his foolish appeal. He’s principally by no means misplaced his childhood curiosity, and his enthusiasm is each infectious and a optimistic pressure on everybody who will get to know him. I might solely hope to be so fortunate to do the identical for the individuals I do know.
BEST FEMALE CHARACTER
Frieren (Frieren: Past Journey’s Finish)
Over the previous fifteen years, it’s typically felt like anime has been missing extra conventional fantasy collection. Then in comes Frieren: Past Journey’s Finish to point out that one thing extra classical-feeling nonetheless has a spot. It feels refreshingly new but orthodox, and central to that success is the protagonist herself.
Frieren is an elf mage who has principally already achieved her largest quest ever, and is now on a journey to retrace her previous steps, bask in her passion of amassing obscure and delightfully frivolous spells, and assist information a brand new technology of adventurers. Her lengthy years imply she has lived expertise of issues misplaced to time to most, but she neither places inventory within the previous or the brand new simply because. To her, every part is a helpful studying expertise. In a manner, she jogs my memory of a earlier Finest Character of the Yr, Yang Wen-Li from Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
There’s one thing that I feel sums Frieren (and by extension the themes of the collection) very nicely: How the character Serie sees her. To most, Frieren is sort of a strolling delusion and impossibly highly effective, however Serie is definitely even older and stronger. In her eyes, the youthful elf has squandered her years and is nicely beneath her magical potential—like somebody with 30 years of expertise in a international language solely being as fluent as somebody who’s been learning for 20. Nonetheless, Frieren sees worth in pursuing issues on the tempo you need for the belongings you worth, and it’s a lesson I always attempt to take to coronary heart.
BEST ROBOT BRO
Bravern (Bang Courageous Bang Bravern)
There’s presumably no character who flips his complete world on its head extra completely than Bravern. If you first enter the story of Bang Courageous Bang Bravern, you suppose it’s this gritty, comparatively lifelike mecha story. Colours are darkish and subdued. Then, when a fearsome enemy assaults that overwhelms standard human militaries, in comes a mysterious and bright-red tremendous robotic harking back to 90s Yuusha anime with no use for an indoor voice, however he actually performs his personal fiery, trumpet-filled theme music!
Bravern isn’t just a enjoyable character—he’s a consultant of a method of big robotic and big heroics misplaced to time. And he’s the huge unit you need by your aspect, whether or not for the bro friendship or the bromance. Or, you understand.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Laios and Frieren have quite a bit in frequent. They’re each protagonists of fantasy collection which have garnered unbelievable acclaim amongst followers and critics alike. The 2 are so well-liked that you simply would possibly nicely accuse me of constructing probably the most boring and apparent decisions. But, whereas it’s typically mentioned that “well-liked doesn’t imply good,” that doesn’t imply well-liked issues are mechanically dangerous both. With Scrumptious in Dungeon and Frieren: Past Journey’s Finish alike, you’ve gotten titles that present the way you don’t must enchantment to the bottom frequent denominator to garner love on a wider scale.
However extra vital than all that stuff is that this: In the event that they met, Laios and Frieren would in all probability find yourself being unbelievable mates for one another. Their sense of surprise at amazement at issues others overlook would in all probability get them speaking for hours to one another. The 2 symbolize not simply kinds of fantasy fiction that aren’t as sport/isekai-coded, but additionally approaches to heroes who don’t prioritize energy or progress.
And as for Bravern, nicely, he’d in all probability be good pals with them too, don’t you suppose?
