Best Male Lead

[Tulkas]

Yoshina Ageha - Nothing special about him(imo)

Naruto, Gintoki - I dont like Naruto and Gintama, so i couldnt care less about the main chars

Guts - I have one big problem with Guts: Hes a very plain character.
He never learnt more than killing. Sure the times with the hawks and later with casca, puck and especially Schierke changes him, but there isnt a real character developement. Not that i dislike Guts, its just there isnt enough for best Male lead.

Onizuka - So i have to vote for the Great Teacher. Funny, pervert and superstrong. I like all three parts with Eikichii.

Imo i would prefer Myamoto Musashi, but he isnt on the list.

[BleachOD]

*is crushed* how come Kurosaki Ichigo is missing? When did Ichigo become the "Rodney Dangerfield" of the mangaverse?

My Boo just gets no respect....

[Googlez_kun]

*is crushed* how come Kurosaki Ichigo is missing? When did Ichigo become the "Rodney Dangerfield" of the mangaverse?

My Boo just gets no respect....

I always thought Ichigo was kind of plain and quite dimwitted.Never actually saw anything special in him that would make him a great character...

Maybe you as a Bleach fan could explain why you thought he should be on the list.

[BleachOD]

I always thought Ichigo was kind of plain and quite dimwitted.Never actually saw anything special in him that would make him a great character...

Maybe you as a Bleach fan could explain why you thought he should be on the list.

Because he's a complex character wrapped in simple package. When you look past the surface that is.

He's not dimwitted at all quite the opposite. His problem is instant gratification, because of this he rushes in before thinking sometimes

He's also amazingly bad ass, even when he's being emo. He can go from the straight man to the comedian. He's naive and his hero complex,(he overcompensates for his mother's death) makes watching his internal struggle against the "instinct to grind his foes mercilessly under his heels" is fascinating because it's a dichotomy. All of his sides are bad ass, Ichigo, Hollow Ichigo, Zangetsu, Tensa Zangetsu are all epic bad asses. He's got kick ass powers and bad ass character design. All his forms are EPIC. I am never bored watching Ichigo and I can't understand why anyone else would find him boring. I think too many people fail to look at what's underneath the surface. He's the one character I love most in this world (got three bad ass tatoos to prove it)

Ichigo is an enigma and is truly the most facisnating character out of all the manga's I have ever read

Besides KT wants him to kill and watching him fight against this is entertaining. Also he has failings that a lot tweens can relate to, imo

Ichigo is the fucking man, I don't know why you can't see it.

Don't I know you?

[Roflkopt3r]

Guts[/b] - I have one big problem with Guts: Hes a very plain character.
He never learnt more than killing. Sure the times with the hawks and later with casca, puck and especially Schierke changes him, but there isnt a real character developement. Not that i dislike Guts, its just there isnt enough for best Male lead.

I think you are underestimating the changes he went through severely.

1. Mainting a certain level of childish innonence in the harsh environment of a mercenary camp, battle and his stepfather
2. Beeing sold out for rape, turning into a super agressive boy who finds joy in taking revenge and killing. Maintaining a certain level of affection to Gambino
3. His relation to Gambino gets crushed by the truth after Gambino turns desperate in his crippled state. Losing all bonds after killing Gambino, turning into a stray wolf, severe desperation, only his instincts keep him alive.
4. Turning into a teenager who doesn't cherish live at all, death is normal to him, his past probably repressed.
5. Slowly finding a thing like "home" and friends in the band of the hawk. The ability of feeling emotions returns, and so does his traumatic past.
6. He turns into a sociable human due to having friendly relations with other Hawks. Specifically Judeau deserves to be highlighted here, as he helps Guts with integration as well as acknowledging his emotions. Developes something like a slight idea what love might be when he protects Caska.
7. After the contact with Griffith and hearing what he says to the princess, he starts an own dream, which, for starters, only is to find his own dream. Leaving the Hawks as an agreeable as well as strong man.
8. Deciding to return to the hawks, falling in love with Caska, deciding to rescue Griffith.
9. Positive reaction to Griffith's sad destiny: becoming even more attached to his friends, planning for a future.
10. Eclipse: Full reset to his childhood, remembering all the trauma from back then, probably losing a huge amount of faith as his best friend hurted him so much.
11. Losing all respect of life, both his own as well as that of others. Going totally berserk.
12. Slowly recovering due to his remaining bonds to Caska and Rickert's family.
13. Finding a purpose in caring for Caska, turning sane again. Becoming an even more extraordinary warrior in the process by now having a clean mind.

And much more afterwards.

There is more than just a little character developement. He goes through more changes than most other characters do way before meeting Shierke already (actually there is few developement afterwards, but even more before). Puck also doesn't really influence him either iirc, he's just a bystander while Guts recovers his mind.

Guts himself indeed does not have a very complex mind, he never was a philosopher. Yet he has deep emotions and a longer list of character developement stages than the large majority of other or comparable manga characters.
A lot of epics character don't have a deep mind by themselves, the interesting part is how they develope. I wouldn't say that any of the nominees in this category are specifically sharpminded and deep.

[benelori]

Guts - I have one big problem with Guts: Hes a very plain character.
He never learnt more than killing. Sure the times with the hawks and later with casca, puck and especially Schierke changes him, but there isnt a real character developement. Not that i dislike Guts, its just there isnt enough for best Male lead.

What kind of character development do you have in mind? I mean what you enlisted are pretty much the events and people who influenced him, but that's pretty much the entire story until now...

His development started as a young boy, then those events shaped his stay with the Hawks...then the time with the Hawks and the the first Eclipse shaped his dark violent character...then as a dark violent character he met all these people who induced some humanity back in him...
What I just said is identic with what you said, but I put the entire stuff in chronological order and pointed out how did Gutts evolve...this sounds pretty plain and uninteresting, but one has to read the manga to actually find out that all these changes carry a lot of substance

[Googlez_kun]

Because he's a complex character wrapped in simple package. When you look past the surface that is.

He's not dimwitted at all quite the opposite. His problem is instant gratification, because of this he rushes in before thinking sometimes

He's also amazingly bad ass, even when he's being emo. He can go from the straight man to the comedian. He's naive and his hero complex,(he overcompensates for his mother's death) makes watching his internal struggle against the "instinct to grind his foes mercilessly under his heels" is fascinating because it's a dichotomy. All of his sides are bad ass, Ichigo, Hollow Ichigo, Zangetsu, Tensa Zangetsu are all epic bad asses. He's got kick ass powers and bad ass character design. All his forms are EPIC. I am never bored watching Ichigo and I can't understand why anyone else would find him boring. I think too many people fail to look at what's underneath the surface. He's the one character I love most in this world (got three bad ass tatoos to prove it)

Ichigo is an enigma and is truly the most facisnating character out of all the manga's I have ever read

Besides KT wants him to kill and watching him fight against this is entertaining. Also he has failings that a lot tweens can relate to, imo

Ichigo is the fucking man, I don't know why you can't see it.

Don't I know you?

I don't mean stuff like him running into a battle without thinking,that's quite common for Shonen heroes.I wouldn't call that dimwitted.What i call dimwitted,though,is

Ichigo seeing everyone attack Hinamori and not saying anything for about half an hour(FKT-Arc,where Aizen trolled everyone) or being mind-f'cked by a random person with nearly baseless assumptions(Lost-Shinigami-Badge-Arc).Ginjou has no proof at all,but Ichigo believes him just like that.

Badass and epic is all i can read.I think you are the one who is not really looking under the surface,you should look underneath the underneath and you'll find what you are looking for,in this case,it is not much.Ichigo was always going to fights without developing at all.Well,sometimes he gets power-ups.He does not draw me into the story and i don't really care for him.It's not that i hate him,i'm indifferent to him.You are a big Bleach fan,so i thought you could mention some character traits,some interesting character developements or something that makes him a remarkable lead,but you only told me how badass and epic he is,so i guess there can't be much depth to his character...

Maybe we know each other from the manga art threads?

[CBlitz]

I voted Naruto although subjectively, Onizuka, Gintoki and Guts are probably better written characters. I admit that sometimes Naruto doesn't really act like I expect him to, and he's pretty bipolar, sometimes he's a complete idiot and sometimes Kishi makes him ponder about ideals waaaay more complicated than he should be thinking about. I felt that Kishi was aiming to deconstruct his entire character during the Pain Invasion but than he went back to his old routine of being a retard during the current arc. Not that him being stupid on-screen is bad, he's still entertaining and a cool character but it would've been a lot better if Naruto started a bit more mature at this point. Nevertheless, he's still one of my favorite characters and his attitude is something I find inspiring when he's not crying over Sasuke

[HegemonKhan]

a small comment of my own about Guts:

1. he goes through a lot of character development, struggle, love, tragedy, betrayal, and suffering. He obviously goes through a lot of emotional stuff too. he has much emotional development and/or change as well.

2. but he's still a very simple/dull character himself. he's a "brainless brute" warrior/fighter/killer type of character and that's all he is. for the more old timers, he's like He-Man, an old american cartoon tv show series and action figures too

so, there's two ways to judge Guts, as I've tried to explain. if you're judging by #1 than Guts is very deserving to be choosen. if you're judging by #2 than Guts is not very deserving to be choosen.

3. or, there's a 3rd way to judge for the Best Male Lead, and that's by how badass/powerful they are. So, if you feel that the Best Male Lead should be about this aspect, then Guts is most certainly very deserving to be choosen. though so are others as well, hehe.

[M3J]

I voted for Ageha, but I actually wanna choose Naruto now. <_< He's had one of the best character changes throughout the manga, being originally a stupid prankster who amounted to nothing and slowly developed into a strong shinobi with a strong mind and will who showed more than he let on. Naruto's a complex character, driven first by desire to be recognized, and then desire to protect the ones he loved. Naruto's matured after that fight with Pain; I seriously squee'd and got chills when he finally admitted his weakness and said he needed to stop running away from his fate as the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi. He recognized his own weakness, he sought to improve it.

[ashher]

All right i've been waiting to do this post for a long time:

I don't know very much about Ageha and Gintoki. As far as i do know, i don't think they can really sit in the same line with the rest 3.

The rest 3 are good,so good that i actually couldn't compare them directly. So what i did was to consider what those characters were tailored for in their respective works.

First Gutts...the undoubted favorite in this category. I've not voted for him...so i'll give reasons for that. As a character Gutts deserve all the praise given to him. But Berserk aims to be nothing sort of epic,not the 'internet epic' but the real one. And no lead character can be completed in an epic without his hubris. Flaws are important,very important in this type of character. And a most important thing to remember in determining what is really a flaw is to understand what sort of emotion that particular aspect evokes in readers. Uncertainty, bloodlust, folly, greed, fear....whatever you say,unless it evokes negative feeling to the character,it doesn't count as flaw. Gutts have a few, but they are so obscure that its hard to count them as worthy of epic.

Second is naruto. I would've loved to vote for him. What the author tried to do with him is equally ambitious. He tried to make him a representative of an ideal,or almost a philosophy. He has perfect flaw,unlike other shonens where supposed drawbacks are hardly anything other than cool or cute. His development is noteworthy. His greatest strength is at the same time his greatest weakness(not to give up). The idea behind his character is brilliant...but the problem is with execution. Execution itself is good....but it still leaves a lot of room for improvement,specially when it comes to balancing some of the traits.

The one i voted for is Onizuka. He fits the role perfectly in his manga. However one could question that the role that he was tailored for was much easier. Indeed its one character that doesn't even require building up of negative sides. I mean if there is one character in a porn that suits it best, and there is another that is in a real novel that left room for improvement...would you normally say that the porn character is better?I know I've taken the example to extreme...but the basic question was same when i had to compare onizuka with others.

The reason why i still chose Onizuka is the same reason as to why Santa Claus is a great character, Cinderella is a great character and Alice is a great character.Once again i've taken the analogy to extreme i suppose,but the point is that sometimes simple things can be oh-so-great. Great Teacher Onizuka is almost like a modern day fairy tale....and Onizuka,despite all his simplicity compared to characters like Gutts and Naruto,shines with true greatness.

[Zeltrax]

Gintoki.
Reason? Simple.
His part time job is kicking villains asses whenever and whoever.

[destiny4ever]

Before the voting process started, I had no doubts about who I was going to vote for in this award category, I was going to vote for Guts from Berserk. However, during the nomination process I read the posts of various members about how they were supporting Onizuka Eiikichi and their reasons for doing so. Their posts made me curious enough to check GTO out, that is why I began watching the anime (which is based on the manga) a few days ago and all I have to say to those members is “Thank you!!” Thank you so very much for introducing me to this awesome character and to this great series. If the anime is this good, then I’m sure the manga is even better!! I’m enjoying watching GTO very much and my fav character from the series is none other than Onizuka Eiikichi. So my vote for this category goes to Onizuka Eiikichi from Great Teacher Onizuka. Guts is a fantastic character there is no doubt about that, but Onizuka has something that feels refreshing in a way. He is a crazy, idiotic, hilarious character with a heart of gold whose teachings and lessons go way beyond of academics; he teaches his students the real important things in life. Yes, his methods are very unconventional, but they are very effective. It is really nice and cool to see how Onizuka’s personality and actions have a positive effect on the lives of his troubled students as the series progresses. He is a great teacher indeed.

[kamiwoo]

My choice is Guts from Berserk, him and Onizuka Eiikichi are my favorites, naruto would be too, but like a previous poster said, they ruined the character, being the son of the hokage was the last shot, i liked his atitude, how he fought harder and harder, it was like he was saying that everone can win if they work hard, the problem is, not everone is the son of a hokage.( maybe this sound weird, but I guess I made my point)

About ichigo,(Bleach) well, i like him, i like how he "kick ass"( well, almost 90% of male leads in anime Kick ass, so what makes ichigo different from the others? nothing), but to tell the truth, in terms of development, well, the ichigo from the new arc(after aizen defeat) is the same ichigo from chapter 1, he didn't develop at all, the problem with ichigo(and many male leads in anime) is that he lives in a black and white world, he is always right (at least for 99% of the time) and almost never make mistakes, and go on lecturing people like is "nothing", i was inclined to give him some respect after he chose to give up his power to stop aizen, but now his power will be restored, well, then what was the price he paid to stop aizen? nothing, he never pay any price for his power, his hollow never go out of control and kill someone (just hurting a little don't count), nothing ever happen to him, is like his choices don't have consequences, he never make a "morally wrong" choice, and this make me feel disgust for the character, also the getsuga tenshou is already over used, I was expecting a mind blowing strategy to kill aizen, something that makes me think for weeks after " that thing was epic, why i never didn't think of something epic like that? ", but what i get? a bigger getsuga tenshou, he didn't grow mentally, if the next villain is defeat by a "bigger getsuga tenshou" i quiting bleach.

Don't get me wrong, I like ichigo, the fights in bleach are epic, but as a person who is growing, ichigo appear to be like he is still five year old, someone who Isn't ready to handle a situation that demands a person with a mature mind, capable of making hard choices.
I know we are talking about characters from anime here, but there two character who i consider my best male leads, one is Taichi from Cross channel( a eroge), and the other is jon snow from a song of fire and ice(a book).
Lately when i begin to read a book/mangá, or watch anime, most of the time i begin to fell sympathy for the sidekick or the villain, and to feel disgust for the lead character, at lest the sidekick/villain have to work hard(most of the time) to reach the place where he is now, some animes make me feel sad for the villain, who (surprisingly is a ok guy) worked hard to gain his power, only to have a kid come out from nowhere, receiving help from almost all the planet, and kill him, they say hard work pay off, guess not.
I find funny how some of the male leads say they never cheat in a fight, but five(heroes) against one villain sound suspicios like cheating for me.

[Roflkopt3r]

he didn't develop at all, the problem with ichigo(and many male leads in anime) is that he lives in a black and white world, he is always right (at least for 99% of the time)

I think that's stronger the case of Shonen. Seinen -not all, but in tendency many more- show more complex world with any shade of gray between the extremes. Shonen also do, but almost exclusively for antagonists imo. Protagonists like Naruto, Ichigo, Luffy? No black detectable, it's almost (or, depending on the reader, truly) boring. Antagonists get a little more room on the black-to-white scale, like Haku and Zabuza of Naruto.

However, Guts himself certainly can be considered as a character who is not always right and definitly wasn't really "white" for a long time. Even more so, I'm a little sad that he's not nominated (but hey, this category could have two dozen worthy nominations without problems, it had to be reduced), Miyamoto Musashi of Vagabond. No black-and-white obvious moral stuff anywhere, the manga completely deals without it and makes the protagonist even more interesting as he wonders what the right way might be or if it matters at all. In this category it goes way further than Berserk which still offers a basic good-and-evil spectrum (although some characters, like Griffith, are not easily measurable on this).

Another protagonist with an interesting relation to such questions is Thorfinn of Vinland Saga.