Anime has given us some of the most recognisable characters in fiction: a rubber-limbed pirate who wants to be king, a ninja nobody believed in, a schoolboy who decides to become god with a notebook. This page is the starting point for every anime and manga guide on Characters.biz.
Each series guide covers the full cast, grouped by faction, with real descriptions, voice actors and an A–Z name list. Below the guides you'll find a filterable grid of the most iconic anime characters across all series, a table of famous voice actors and their roles, and some help choosing what to watch first.
Every anime character guide
Choose a series to see its whole cast. Character profiles for individual favourites such as Satoru Gojo, Yuji Itadori and Tanjiro Kamado are listed here too.
The most iconic anime characters
These are the characters people search for most, from the long-running classics to the series everyone is watching now. Use the chips to filter by series, or type a name. Where we have a full guide to the series, the card links to it.
Son Goku
Dragon Ball · Saiyan martial artist
Goku is an alien Saiyan raised on Earth as a cheerful, food-loving country boy, and the template for nearly every shonen hero who followed. He fights because he loves getting stronger, and he keeps forgiving villains who later become friends. His Super Saiyan transformation is one of the most imitated images in anime.
- Japanese voice
- Masako Nozawa
Vegeta
Dragon Ball · Prince of the Saiyans
Vegeta arrives as a ruthless invader and stays as Goku's permanently frustrated rival. His slow change into a protective father, without ever giving up his pride, is one of the longest redemption arcs in anime.
- Japanese voice
- Ryō Horikawa
Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto · Ninja of the Hidden Leaf
Naruto is a loud orphan shunned by his village because of the fox spirit sealed inside him. He decides to become Hokage, the village leader, so everyone will have to acknowledge him. His refusal to give up on anyone, including his rival, is the whole spirit of the series.
- Japanese voice
- Junko Takeuchi
Sasuke Uchiha
Naruto · Last of the Uchiha
Sasuke is the gifted, cold survivor of a massacred clan, and his hunt for his brother pulls him away from Naruto and toward the villains. Their bond is the emotional spine of the series.
- Japanese voice
- Noriaki Sugiyama
Monkey D. Luffy
One Piece · Captain of the Straw Hats
Luffy ate a Devil Fruit that made his body rubber, and he wants to find the legendary treasure and become King of the Pirates. He's simple, stubborn and loyal to a fault, and he collects friends from every island he visits. He's the face of the best-selling manga in history.
- Japanese voice
- Mayumi Tanaka
Roronoa Zoro
One Piece · Swordsman
Zoro fights with three swords, one held in his mouth, and has sworn to become the world's greatest swordsman. He's the crew's stern first mate and is famously unable to find his way anywhere.
- Japanese voice
- Kazuya Nakai
Light Yagami
Death Note · Kira
Light is a brilliant student who finds a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it, and decides to purge the world of criminals. His slide from idealist to self-declared god is one of anime's great villain-protagonist studies.
- Japanese voice
- Mamoru Miyano
L
Death Note · Detective
L is the barefoot, sweet-eating detective who suspects Light almost from the start. Their battle of wits, fought while pretending to be friends, made Death Note a gateway anime for millions.
- Japanese voice
- Kappei Yamaguchi
Edward Elric
Fullmetal Alchemist · State Alchemist
Edward lost his leg, and then his arm, in a failed attempt to bring his mother back with alchemy. His brother Alphonse lost his whole body. Ed joins the military to find a way to restore them, and he's furious whenever anyone calls him short.
- Japanese voice
- Romi Park
Roy Mustang
Fullmetal Alchemist · The Flame Alchemist
Mustang is a charming, ambitious colonel who snaps his fingers to make fire. He plans to reach the top of the military to change the country, haunted by what he did in the Ishval war.
- Japanese voice (Brotherhood)
- Shin-ichiro Miki
Eren Yeager
Attack on Titan · Attack Titan
Eren swears to wipe out the Titans after one kills his mother, then discovers he can become one. His idea of freedom takes him somewhere few protagonists go, and fans are still arguing about it.
- Japanese voice
- Yuki Kaji
Levi Ackerman
Attack on Titan · Humanity's strongest soldier
Levi is the curt, clean-obsessed captain who kills Titans better than anyone and loses nearly everyone he fights beside. He's one of the most popular characters of the 2010s.
- Japanese voice
- Hiroshi Kamiya
Mikasa Ackerman
Attack on Titan · Survey Corps
Mikasa is Eren's adoptive sister and the top soldier of her year. Her red scarf and her devotion to Eren define her, until the ending forces her to choose between him and everyone else.
- Japanese voice
- Yui Ishikawa
Izuku Midoriya
My Hero Academia · Deku
Izuku was born without a superpower in a world where almost everyone has one. The greatest hero, All Might, chooses him to inherit his power, One For All. His nervous note-taking and habit of breaking his own bones made him a new kind of shonen lead.
- Japanese voice
- Daiki Yamashita
Katsuki Bakugo
My Hero Academia · Explosion hero
Bakugo is Izuku's childhood bully, who sweats nitroglycerin and shouts constantly. His growth into a real rival and teammate is one of the series' best threads.
- Japanese voice
- Nobuhiko Okamoto
Satoru Gojo
Jujutsu Kaisen · The strongest sorcerer
Gojo is the blindfolded teacher who is so far beyond every other sorcerer that the villains' plan revolves around getting him out of the way. He's playful, arrogant and the series' most popular character. Read his full profile.
- Japanese voice
- Yūichi Nakamura
Yuji Itadori
Jujutsu Kaisen · Sukuna's vessel
Yuji is an athletic, good-hearted teenager who swallows a cursed finger to save his friends and ends up sharing his body with the King of Curses. See the full JJK cast.
- Japanese voice
- Junya Enoki
Tanjiro Kamado
Demon Slayer · Demon Slayer Corps
Tanjiro is a gentle charcoal seller whose family is slaughtered by a demon and whose sister is turned into one. He joins the Demon Slayer Corps to cure her, and he mourns even the demons he kills. See the full Demon Slayer cast.
- Japanese voice
- Natsuki Hanae
Nezuko Kamado
Demon Slayer · Tanjiro's sister
Nezuko is a demon who refuses to eat humans. She travels in a box on Tanjiro's back and fights to protect him, and her bamboo muzzle is one of anime's best-known designs.
- Japanese voice
- Akari Kitō
Gon Freecss
Hunter x Hunter · Hunter
Gon is a cheerful boy from a remote island who becomes a Hunter to find the father who abandoned him. His innocence is both his strength and, later, something frightening.
- Japanese voice (2011)
- Megumi Han
Killua Zoldyck
Hunter x Hunter · Runaway assassin
Killua is the heir to a family of assassins who runs away and finds his first friend in Gon. His fight to choose his own life makes him many fans' favourite character in the series.
- Japanese voice (2011)
- Mariya Ise
Saitama
One Punch Man · Hero for fun
Saitama can beat anything with one punch, and it has made him bored and a little sad. He's a parody of every overpowered hero, and also one of the most quietly human of them.
- Japanese voice
- Makoto Furukawa
Denji
Chainsaw Man · Devil hunter
Denji is a broke teenager who merges with his chainsaw devil dog Pochita and becomes a government devil hunter. His dreams are tiny (bread with jam, a girlfriend), which makes the horror around him hit harder.
- Japanese voice
- Kikunosuke Toya
Power
Chainsaw Man · Blood Fiend
Power is a selfish, lying, bath-avoiding fiend who becomes Denji's partner and, against all odds, his best friend. She's chaos in human form and a huge fan favourite.
- Japanese voice
- Fairouz Ai
Anya Forger
Spy x Family · Secret telepath
Anya is a small girl who can read minds, adopted by a spy who needs a fake family. She knows everyone's secrets and understands about half of them, and her faces became some of the most shared memes of the 2020s.
- Japanese voice
- Atsumi Tanezaki
Loid Forger
Spy x Family · Agent Twilight
Loid is a master spy who builds a fake family for a mission, without knowing his wife is an assassin and his daughter is a telepath. The longer he pretends, the more real it gets.
- Japanese voice
- Takuya Eguchi
Ichigo Kurosaki
Bleach · Substitute Soul Reaper
Ichigo is an orange-haired teenager who can see ghosts and is pulled into the afterlife's wars after receiving a Soul Reaper's powers. His giant sword and scowl made him one of the 2000s' defining heroes.
- Japanese voice
- Masakazu Morita
Usagi Tsukino
Sailor Moon · Sailor Moon
Usagi is a clumsy crybaby who transforms into Sailor Moon and leads the Sailor Guardians. She shaped the magical-girl genre and introduced anime to a generation of viewers outside Japan.
- Japanese voice
- Kotono Mitsuishi
Inuyasha
Inuyasha · Half-demon
Inuyasha is a short-tempered half-demon in feudal Japan, bound to a modern schoolgirl named Kagome as they hunt the shards of a shattered jewel.
- Japanese voice
- Kappei Yamaguchi
Kirito
Sword Art Online · Black Swordsman
Kirito is a solo gamer trapped in a virtual-reality game where dying means dying for real. He helped define the isekai and game-world boom that followed.
- Japanese voice
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka
Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail · Fire Dragon Slayer
Natsu is a fire-eating wizard raised by a dragon, and the loudest member of the Fairy Tail guild. He fights for his friends and, mostly, for the fun of fighting.
- Japanese voice
- Tetsuya Kakihara
Shoyo Hinata
Haikyu!! · Middle blocker
Hinata is a short volleyball player with an enormous jump. His partnership with the prickly setter Kageyama turns Karasuno High into contenders.
- Japanese voice
- Ayumu Murase
Yoichi Isagi
Blue Lock · Striker
Isagi is an ordinary high school forward selected for a brutal programme to create Japan's best striker. His talent is reading the field faster than anyone else.
- Japanese voice
- Kazuki Ura
Spike Spiegel
Cowboy Bebop · Bounty hunter
Spike is a relaxed, broke bounty hunter drifting through the solar system, and a former syndicate killer who can't escape his past. He's often named the coolest character in anime.
- Japanese voice
- Kōichi Yamadera
Lelouch Lamperouge
Code Geass · Zero
Lelouch is an exiled prince who gains the power to command anyone once, and leads a masked rebellion against the empire that threw him away. He's a classic strategist anti-hero.
- Japanese voice
- Jun Fukuyama
Frieren
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End · Elf mage
Frieren is an elf who helped defeat the Demon King and then realised, decades later, how little she knew about the humans she travelled with. Her slow journey to understand them made the series a modern favourite.
- Japanese voice
- Atsumi Tanezaki
Rintaro Okabe
Steins;Gate · Self-proclaimed mad scientist
Okabe plays at being a mad scientist until his lab accidentally invents a way to send messages to the past. The consequences turn a comedy into a tragedy he has to live through over and over.
- Japanese voice
- Mamoru Miyano
Rimuru Tempest
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime · Slime
Rimuru is a salaryman reborn as a slime in a fantasy world. He absorbs abilities and builds a nation of monsters, and he's one of the faces of the isekai genre.
- Japanese voice
- Miho Okasaki
Famous anime voice actors and their roles
Japanese voice actors, called seiyū, often play several iconic characters across different series. Once you recognise a few voices, you'll start hearing them everywhere.
| Voice actor | Best-known roles |
|---|---|
| Masako Nozawa | Goku, Gohan and Goten (Dragon Ball) |
| Mayumi Tanaka | Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece) |
| Junko Takeuchi | Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto); Gon in the 1999 Hunter x Hunter |
| Mamoru Miyano | Light Yagami (Death Note), Rintaro Okabe (Steins;Gate), Chrollo (Hunter x Hunter), Sonic (One Punch Man) |
| Kappei Yamaguchi | L (Death Note), Inuyasha, Usopp (One Piece) |
| Yuki Kaji | Eren Yeager (Attack on Titan), Shoto Todoroki (My Hero Academia) |
| Hiroshi Kamiya | Levi (Attack on Titan), Trafalgar Law (One Piece) |
| Romi Park | Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist), Hange Zoë (Attack on Titan) |
| Yūichi Nakamura | Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen), Gray Fullbuster (Fairy Tail) |
| Natsuki Hanae | Tanjiro Kamado (Demon Slayer), Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul), Falco Grice (Attack on Titan) |
| Yoshitsugu Matsuoka | Kirito (Sword Art Online), Inosuke Hashibira (Demon Slayer) |
| Hiro Shimono | Zenitsu Agatsuma (Demon Slayer), Connie Springer (Attack on Titan) |
| Atsumi Tanezaki | Anya Forger (Spy x Family), Frieren |
| Daisuke Ono | Erwin Smith (Attack on Titan), Jotaro Kujo (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) |
For English dub actors and how casting works on both sides, see our voice actors guide and the voice acting guide.
How to pick a series to start
The biggest anime are often the longest, which can be intimidating. A better approach is to start with something short and finished, then decide whether you want a several-hundred-episode commitment.
| If you want… | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A short, complete thriller | Death Note | 37 episodes, a tight cat-and-mouse plot, no filler |
| A complete adventure with a real ending | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood | 64 episodes, a beloved cast, follows the manga to the end |
| Dark, twist-heavy war drama | Attack on Titan | Finished in 2023; every season reframes the last |
| Modern supernatural action | Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer | Spectacular animation, shorter seasons |
| Comedy and warmth | Spy x Family or One Punch Man | Easy to dip into, funny from episode one |
| Sports and team spirit | Haikyu!! or Blue Lock | No powers needed; big emotional payoffs |
| A long journey with a huge cast | One Piece or Naruto | Hundreds of episodes and characters to grow up with |
| Character-driven classic | Hunter x Hunter (2011) | Each arc changes genre; the Chimera Ant arc is a landmark |
- Check the length — a 12-episode season is a weekend; a 1,000-episode series is years. Our watch order guide covers seasons, films and filler.
- Decide on sub or dub — most big series have good English dubs now. Try an episode of each.
- Give it three episodes — many series take a few episodes to show what they are.
- Consider the manga — if an anime has stopped or is between seasons, the manga is usually ahead. See manga vs anime for the differences.
Character types you'll meet everywhere
Part of anime's appeal is a shared vocabulary of character types. Learn a few and you'll spot them in every series:
- The underdog hero who is mocked and works harder than everyone: Naruto, Izuku, Hinata.
- The cool rival who is better at first and slowly becomes a friend: Sasuke, Vegeta, Bakugo.
- The overpowered mentor who has to be removed from the fight so the students can grow: Gojo, Netero, All Might.
- The genius strategist who wins by thinking: L, Lelouch, Armin.
- The tsundere, kuudere and yandere, shorthand for characters who are cold, distant or dangerously devoted on the outside.
Our anime archetypes guide explains each type with examples, and female protagonists covers series led by women, from Sailor Moon to Frieren. For how the genres themselves are divided, see anime genres explained.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the most iconic anime characters?
There's no single official ranking, but a few names appear on almost every list: Goku from Dragon Ball, Naruto Uzumaki, Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, Light Yagami and L from Death Note, Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, Sailor Moon, and Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. Among recent series, Satoru Gojo, Tanjiro Kamado, Anya Forger and Levi Ackerman have become just as recognisable.
Who is the strongest anime character?
It depends on the rules of each world, which is why the argument never ends. Saitama from One Punch Man is written to win every fight in one punch. Goku and the gods of Dragon Ball operate at a universe-destroying scale, and in their own series Satoru Gojo and Meruem from Hunter x Hunter are presented as nearly untouchable. Our power scaling guide explains why cross-series comparisons are so hard.
What anime should I watch first?
Pick something short and complete. Death Note (37 episodes), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (64 episodes) and the first season of Spy x Family or One Punch Man are popular first choices. Start the long-running series like One Piece or Naruto once you know you enjoy the format.
What's the difference between shonen, shojo and seinen?
They describe the audience a manga magazine targets, not a genre. Shonen is aimed at teenage boys (Naruto, One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen), shojo at teenage girls (Sailor Moon), seinen at adult men and josei at adult women. Plenty of people outside each group read them. See our anime genres guide for more.
Who are the most famous anime voice actors?
In Japan, Masako Nozawa (Goku), Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy), Junko Takeuchi (Naruto), Mamoru Miyano (Light Yagami), Yuki Kaji (Eren Yeager), Hiroshi Kamiya (Levi) and Kana Hanazawa are household names. The table on this page lists the actors behind several iconic roles each.
Is there a searchable anime character database here?
Yes. The character grid on this page can be searched and filtered by series, and the site search in the header covers every character named in our guides. Each series guide also ends with an A–Z list of names.