Tearing off the blogger mask to reveal the grinning, giddy, arms-flailing anime nerd within.

Long-time online friend tsundemerica tagged me to list my top 10 anime/manga crushes a while back (she technically tagged me from my personal account but hey, it’s anime-related, so I might as well give you guys a good giggle, too). At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to have time to do it… and then I realized my Utena off-week was the same weekend as Valentine’s Day, and I knew we had ourselves a holiday post. Oh, this is gonna be fun.

I really only “crushed” on a few anime characters when I was in my teens, so consider these more like my fangirlin’ characters – i.e., the fictional people with whom I became far too emotionally invested. And yeah, there are a couple ladies on the list. I identify as asexual/hetero-romantic (so, uh… that’s public knowledge now, I guess), but that doesn’t mean I don’t fangirl over the occasional awesome female character, too.

So here we go, in more-or-less chronological order:

1. James/Kojiro (Pokemon) – Okay, I definitely crushed on this one. I also ‘ship him and Jessie harder than any anime couple I have or ever will ‘ship. Oh, the fanfiction I used to write…
2. Ryoko (the Tenchi franchise) – I really wanted her to get with Tenchi, and in retrospect, this had more to do with my love of her than of him. I guess I appreciated her straightforwardness and DNGAF attitude, since (at the time) it was rare to see that in a female TV character, and especially a serious romantic interest (who, if Tenchi Forever is any indication, even winds up with the MC in the end). The last few episodes of Tenchi Universe also mark the first time an anime ever made me scream at my TV.
3. Chichiri (Fushigi Yuugi) – My favorite character of all time in any medium, and you’re damn skippy I crushed on him. This is also when I discovered that I have favorite character “types”: Cheerful badasses with complicated pasts and/or people with eye injuries. Bonus points if you’re both!
4. Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) – Obviously. (Although if I’m being perfectly honest, I freaking loved Touga during my first viewing. Cut me some slack, I was 13 and stupid!)
5. Zelgadis (Slayers) – Cementing my love of voice actors Midorikawa Hikaru and Crispin Freeman, and also of grumpy antiheroes with hearts of gold. “I’m only doing this so I can find a way to turn my body back to normal.” Surrre you are, Zelly Bean.
6. Hakkai (Saiyuki) – Who is basically Chichiri with a monocle. Like I said. I have a type.
7. Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) – I loved him way more in FMA:B than in the original FMA, partly because of his character arc and partly because he is played by the great Shinichirou Miki (who made this list twice! Hey, maybe I have a vocal “type,” too). I maintain that his fight versus Lust is the most GAR thing I have ever seen in an anime. And I watch a fair amount of GAR anime, you guys.Truthfully, I could have put about half the cast of FMA:B on the list, including Olivier, Ling and Lan Fan, and even that magnificent bastard Kimblee. It’s a show full of characters I fangirled over for a whole mess of reasons, most of which had to do with sheer badassitude. But Roy is still my fav, so he makes the list.
8. Durand (Le Chevalier d’Eon) – Who did the second most GAR thing I’ve ever seen in an anime, if you were wondering. I don’t want to spoil anything, but for those of you have seen it: It involves an arm, and damn, dude.
9. Xerxes Break (Pandora Hearts) – I’d been reading the manga and imagining Ishida Akira as his voice actor, and then I watched the anime AND THEY CAST ISHIDA AKIRA AND IT WAS SO PERFECT I ALMOST WEPT. Also, remember that thing I said about cheerful badasses with complicated pasts? WELP.
10. Taichi (Chihayafuru) – The best character arc of the series, and one of the best in any anime/manga I’ve seen or read recently. If Suetsugu-sensei doesn’t find a way to give him a happy ending, I will go Roy Mustang on those manga pages.

I feel like I’m forgetting someone important, but this is who immediately came to mind, so we’ll go with it.

Happy V-Day everyone! May you spend it with the ones you love most, be they a significant other, a family member, a group of good friends, a cuddly pet, or a basketball team!