Top 15 Male Anime Characters We Would LOVE To Befriend

**MAJOR spoilers so warning to the readers**

Notes before we start:  We will be using what age they seem to be for most of the anime for the ‘age’ category. For example, Tendou is labeled 18 in this article but is around 24 after the time-skip. We chose to say 18 because the time-skip is only the last 5-10 or so chapters of the manga to show how all the characters ended up in the future. Therefore, for most of the anime/manga, Tendou was 18.

*Also, it is important to note that most Japanese-sounding names are reversed, since in Japan, the last name is said/written before your first name. You are referred to by your last name in formal settings such as school, work, and with people you aren’t too familiar with, and are referred to by your first name by friends and family.

**Because of copyright reasons we are going to link pictures of said characters, but not display them on our website in an attempt to credit the animators, freelance artists, and people who just genuinely want credit for what they do!

1. Inumaki Toge from Jujutsu Kaisen

Birthday: Oct. 23

Age: 17 (non-prequel)

Height: 5ft 4.5in

First appearing on episode 5 of the first season of the show, Inumaki has since been a fan favorite, capturing the hearts of the watchers and readers with his shy appearance coupled with his surprisingly determined personality. Because of this, in an official character popularity poll by Weekly Shonen Jump, he was ranked 4th place in 2019 and 6th place in 2022. (It is important to note this was within the Jujutsu Kaisen characters, not the entirety of the anime). Audience members also think of him as cute because of the way he talks: with the flavors of onigiri, more commonly known as rice balls. This isn’t for a random reason; he can manipulate others using speech. For example, if he were to say ‘STOP’ to a group of people, those within hearing range would stop moving. (It works within phone calls as well!) Other examples of orders include ‘sleep’, ‘crush’ (or ‘get crushed’), and explode, and I’m sure you can imagine what those do. This ability has helped him defeat several enemies and gain relevance throughout Tokyo Jujutsu High School as one of its top students.

2. Tendou Satori from Haikyuu!

Birthday: May 20

Age: 18 (Before major time skip)

Height: 6ft 1.9in

He’s everyone’s favorite jokester and clown from Shiratorizawa, it’s Tendou! He is one of the most important characters in season 3 during the Spring Interhigh arc and is the main character of season 3 episode 3, rightfully titled ‘Guess Monster’. Guess Monster is his nickname created because of his monstrous foresight skills in his games of volleyball. He uses this to his advantage in his position as a middle blocker and blocks incoming spikes by inferring where it’s heading. In addition, his unusual bond with the iron-wall team captain, Ushijima Wakatoshi leads him to change the strategies and plans of the team. (He has a lot of influence on the team) Tendou has a funky but mysterious personality that allows him to open up to just about anyone, even though they might not trust him at first. (Like our dear main character!) Surprisingly, even with his standout red hair and unique personality, he isn’t exactly a popular character. (He wasn’t even in the top 30 in polls!) This confuses me because he gets quite a lot of screen time compared to other characters. In my opinion, it’s probably because of Haikyuu! has a TON of characters and he appeared later in the show.

3. Trafalgar Law from One Piece

Birthday: Oct. 6

Age: 26 (After time-skip)

Height: 6ft 3.5in

Law is the captain of the Heart Pirates and the receiver of the Ope-Ope fruit’s abilities. (The ‘Ope’ is short for operation). His nickname ‘Surgeon of Death’, comes from the fact that his devil fruit ability allows him to create ’rooms’ where he can swap, cut, and teleport entities within the zone without damage to the entity. He uses his katana to slice people in regular hand-to-hand combat and inside his ‘rooms’ where he rearranges their body parts so they become non-functioning. As you can imagine, these skills can be used in many ways in combat, such as teleporting to locations and saving the lives of his fellow pirates. (Although he needs something to swap within his place, so technically it’s not teleporting).

Debuting in episode 392 of the anime, the calm and mature demeanor he brought to the table led him to be one of the fan favorites, even overtaking Zoro in popularity rankings one year. Since he appeared later in the show, he is only included in polls #4 and higher, but in order, he was 10th in poll #4 in 2008, 2nd in poll #5 in 2014 (the one where he overtook Zoro), 4th in poll #6 in 2017, and finally 5th in poll #7 in 2021. From this, we can see that he’s been pretty popular for quite a while now, especially since he’s been featured in most of the arcs since the meeting between him and the Strawhat Pirates at the auction house in Sabaody. (If you’re wondering who number 1 is every year, it’s Luffy!)

4. Nanami Kento from Jujutsu Kaisen

Birthday: July 3

Age: 27

Height: 6ft 0.5in

Introduced in the 8th episode of the first season, Kento Nanami is a well-liked, ‘that-older-gentleman’ side character. He is known for his deep voice and surprisingly handsome face when he sheds his peculiar pair of goggles from his face. (no shade there) Of the 2 polls conducted by Weekly Shonen Jump, he has successfully managed to keep his footing at 5th place both times. We can infer that his ranking will go down as he slowly becomes irrelevant after his death due to no screen time. He is sometimes referred to as ‘Nanamin’ by Yuji (student) and Gojo (friend/old classmate). The -min attached to the end of his name is making his name cuter, as it is usually used in Japan as a nickname tag for cute, small, girls. (It’s usually with each other and not so much with parents and others) This is used in a sort of mocking way by Gojo, but it also symbolizes their closeness and friendship. In battle, he is marveled at by juniors because of his abilities to make quick, educational decisions and his techniques involving his main weapon: the sword. (No, it is not a katana). He uses said sword and his curse ability to purposefully ‘produce’ a weak spot on the enemy at precisely where the ratio is 3:7. For example, if you had a line and divided it into 10 sections (meaning 11 partitioners placed), the weak spot would be the 3rd partition.

                                               ^the red x is the point of weakness

In addition, his ability to control, limit, and use his curse energy is nothing but incredible. It helps him conserve energy during battle and in his everyday environment so that he can use it in more dire situations in the future.

-Also, let me use this opportunity to say my condolences, you will be missed. Rip Nanamin <3

5. Kakyoin Noraki from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Birthday: July 28

Age: 17

Height: 5ft 10in

After being cursed and brainwashed by Dio in Egypt after a fight, this popular villain-hero was saved by his former enemy, Jotaro.  He is first mentioned in Stardust Crusaders (or season 3) episode 2 as a delinquint who would assault civilians just trying to do their everyday things. He became like this after a quite lonely and grey childhood, where he was isolated from others. While not particularly bullied, he himself distanced away from other kids at his school, feeling as though no one could understand him and his stand. Despite this distanced personality, it seems as though he isn’t shy; he hates being under people, and is prideful of himself and his work. He also holds loyalty to the highest standards, and showcases it when switching sides from Dio to Jotaro. The mastery he has of his stand, Hierophant Green is immense, having a connection with it from childhood, he is able to accurately communicate actions and fighting plans. This stand uses its tentacles travel long distances and launch an attack similar to a shotgun, which fires tons of bullets (in this case, emeralds) everywhere. Kakyoin uses this to his advantage with his quick thinking skills and his abilities to revise battle plans and formations.

6. Sano Manjiro from Tokyo Revengers

Birthday: Aug. 20

Age: 15-28 (There’s too much time traveling that it’s impossible to pinpoint).

Height: 5ft 4in

    Way more known as ‘Mikey’ by everyone around him, he is the leader of one of the most populous and powerful gangs in Japan, Toman, short for Tokyo Manji Gang. (Manji, if you couldn’t tell, is both from his last name and the Buddist symbol, ‘manji’.) Rising from a pretty rough childhood, Mikey grew into the cold, solemn, but playful personality he has for most of the show. As a person who has been affiliated with gangs and street crime for years, Mikey believes heavily in keeping one’s honor and pledging loyalty. If one of his friends, family members, or someone he cares about is tarnished, (reputation-wise or physically), he is always the one to speak up and give them payback for what they did. He has an abundance of fans when it comes to popularity polls, having nearly double the number of votes compared to the character in second place, Chifuyu. Interestingly enough, even with those qualities, it seems like many fans wouldn’t like him as someone close. From an official poll question that asked “Who would you want as your lover?” Mikey was ranked an astounding 1st place as the worst boyfriend, and in another asking “Who do you want to marry?”, he was ranked the second worst husband. 

–  I just want to say, if you didn’t read the manga, now is your chance! It ended just in November, so you have no excuse for saying ‘I don’t read incomplete stories’!

7. Edogawa Ranpo from Bungou Stray Dogs

Birthday: Oct. 21

Age: 26

Height: 5ft 6in

    Ranpo is the smart nut of the Armed Detective Agency and is the main source for intelligence-centered missions, such as tracking down people, locations, and potential crime hot spots. He claims to have this “ability” called Super Deduction that allows him to solve cases, but unfortunately, it’s just his intelligence and has nothing to do with an ability at all. This “ability” can solve any mystery in a matter of seconds, allowing him to uncover the truth in any crime by giving him every piece of information he needs. This “ability” is highly important to his life, as he is often unable to do simple tasks like finding his way home or riding on a train without it. (This ‘ability’ is more of a switch than something that is on all the time). In the agency, he has a reputation for being childish and often teases the other detectives at work. He is also known to be extremely lazy, declining cases just because he was too annoyed to think about them.

8. Hayama Akira from Food Wars

Birthday: July 7

Age: 15

Height: 5ft 9.7in

    Introduced as the main character’s rival in episode 19 of the first season, Akira is a connoisseur of spices. Known as the ‘Spice King’ by many of his competitors and fans, his ability to sniff out various aromas within his cooking has helped him become one of the most notorious students at Totsuki Culinary School. To further improve his techniques, he spends most of his days at the Shiomi Seminar, a club he runs with his best friend and savior Jun. (They’re the only members). There, they research and grow various spices, finding out the best ways to cultivate and use them to heighten the quality of their dishes. Most of the time, he is a collected individual who often thinks things through, but when put up against an opponent he is particularly passionate about, all of his rationality goes flying out the window. Combined with his personality is the fact that he is a pretty major character in the anime, which explains why he is ranked pretty high in character popularity polls. In a character popularity poll Weekly Shonen Jump conducted in 2014, he was ranked 9th, and in 2015, he clocked in at 8th, and in 2017, he dropped down to 10th place.

9. Sohma Hatsuharu from Fruits Basket

Birthday: N/A

Age: 14-17

Height: 5ft 7in

    After the remake version of Fruits Basket was announced at the end of 2018, many old fans of the show slowly crept back and stood on their tippy toes, waiting for the updated character designs. Sure enough, many fans were surprised by his glow-up in episode 8 of season 1 where he showed off his shiny jewelry and epic haircut. As one of the 12 zodiac animals of the Sohma family, he represents the ox/cow in the lunar cycle. Many sources state that people born in the year of the ox are persistent, patient people who work towards their goals until they’ve completed them. Despite this, they have trouble communicating with others about their feelings, which is almost a foresight to his personality. He demonstrates all of these virtues with his future spouse, Rin (formally known as Isuzu), when he waits for her acceptance of herself and has trouble communicating his love to her. He is fangirled over in the Fruits Basket fandom and is ranked 5th on myanimelist, a popular site for fans to rate critique, and praise anime, manga, and their characters.

10. Gokudera Hayato from REBORN!

Birthday: Sept. 9

Age: 14

Height: 5ft 6-9in

    Known as the 10th Vongola Storm Guardian, Gokudera Hayato carries the show while assisting the main character, Sawada Tsunayoshi. While doing so, he shows off his loyalty, courage, and a sneak peek into his egotistical side. Showcased as the popular kid while bullying his future boss in episode 1, he challenges Tsuna to a volleyball match and loses, becoming his disciple after being inspired by his work ethic. He belongs to a famous Italian Mafia family, in which he was known as the illegitimate child alongside his half-sister Bianchi. Due to being unlawful, he was taken away from his mother at a very young age and was told he was the actual child of his actual father and his wife. Being very proud of his mafia background, he came to Namimori Middle School to find the Vongola boss and ‘take him out’ so he could overtake the legacy. His abilities are centered around bombs, explosions, projectiles, and the storm element. Most notably in the beginning of the anime, he is shown attacking enemies with sticks of TNT, automatically lighting them on fire whenever he wishes. Later on, he takes on the identity of the storm guardian and starts using the skill ‘Gatto Tempesta’ (which just means ‘storm cat’ in Italian) to summon a cat familiar named Uri who can shapeshift into a crossbow. In popularity rankings, he was ranked in a range of 1st to 5th and was deduced as the 15th strongest character in the whole show.

11. Roronoa Zoro from One Piece

Birthday: Nov. 11

Age: 21 (After time-skip)

Height: 5ft 10in

    Luffy’s right-hand man and arguably one of the most popular One Piece characters, Zoro, is the first member to join the Straw Hat Pirates. Zoro was formerly a bounty hunter before he joined the Straw Hats, thus his previous title ‘pirate hunter Zoro’. He has been training with the katana for most of his life, attending a dojo with his childhood friend Kuina until she got into an accident and died. He is a serious character who’s both stern and distanced, but when it comes to his captain, he gives him full loyalty, even taking on Bartholemew Kuma’s bubble and inheriting Luffy’s pain. However, due to the nature of the show, most of his reactions are in an exaggerated comic style. Zoro is a master of the Three Sword Style, in which he weields Enma in his left hand, Sandai Kitetsu in his right hand, and Wado Ichimonji in his mouth. His skill level with the addition of Haki makes Zoro one of the three most powerful crewmates in the Straw Hats. (the others being Luffy and Sanji) He is also known as one of the twelve pirates who are called the Worst Generation. It consists of Luffy, Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard), Eustass Kid, Trafalgar D. Water Law, etc. He has also been consistantantly popular with fans forever, being second place in every character poll with the exception of the previously mentioned time where Law overtook Zoro once.

12. Hashibira Inosuke from Demon Slayer

Birthday: Apr. 22

Age: 15

Height: 5ft 4in

     Inosuke debuts in the 11th episode of season one, and is immediately known for his proud and short-tempered personality. He loves to challenge himself with high-level enemies, but at the same time, likes to think of himself as the strongest fighter in any situation in an attempt to confirm that he indeed, is the best.  However, because of said personality, he often gets into unnecessary danger, like taking on enemies that are too difficult for him, and not being able to admit defeat. He also has quite a on and off personality due to being raised by boars, (as his name indicates) leading to his instincts and emotions being similar to that of an animal. (Including his education status unfortunately) He is also an emotional person though, and takes it very personally if another being were to attack people he cares about. Inosuke has many abilities, most of them related to him being an ‘animal’, such as immense speed and reflexes, superhuman strength, stamina and endurance, and even poison resistance! His abilities as a swordsman are no joke too! He learnt Total Concentration Breathing entirely on his own, and developed his own breathing called Beast Breathing, which is based on his instincts. For his weapons of choice, Inosuke possesses two Nichirin katanas that are chipped with many gashes on the blade’s edge. Inosuke prefers them this way so they rip and tear off the demon’s flesh instead of just a clean slice.

13. Dazai Osamu from Bungou Stray Dogs

Birthday: June 19

Age: 22

Height: 5ft 11in

    Dazai is quite a mysterious guy, to the point where not even his coworkers can guess what his intentions are until he reveals them. Despite having a sharp wit and outstanding confidence, most people in his agency regard him as lazy because he often just lies around in the office. He is a pretty overly dramatic guy and considers most things a joke. He LOVES teasing people around just for the heck of it. Additionally, he is a suicidal maniac. He often attempts to kill himself, however, fails or gives up because the methods are too painful. Although his suicide attempts are made for comedic purposes, it reveals a dark truth within him. As Dazai grew up, he questioned if there was any point or value in life.

No Longer Human is an ability that Dazai possesses. This allows him to nullify other people’s abilities on contact. So basically, if someone’s ability touches him, even if he just poked them, it would contradict their ability. Even though he doesn’t seem all that smart, Dazai’s intelligence is a primary source of expertise as an executive of the Mafia and as a detective currently. Dazai is also known as one of the Agency’s sharpest detectives. Other skills that Dazai holds are his negotiation skills. He can negotiate with others and in the end acquire his essential outcomes. Dazai is skilled at lock picking too. He also was able to steal Chūya’s knife without being seen by anyone.

14. Undertaker from Black Butler

Birthday: July 13

Age: Not revealed but speculated to be around 800, he’s practically immortal though

Height: 6ft 1-3in

First appearing in episode 4 of season one, Undertaker is known for having an eccentric personality. He loves frightening people, appreciates laughter, and enjoys provoking others with his unusual mannerisms. He is a retired grim reaper and has served as one for a long time, repeatedly and peacefully gathering souls over the years. Because of this, he achieved the title of “The Best Grim Reaper in the Retrieval Division”. However, he eventually grew tired doing such things for so long that it lead to him attempting to abandon the dispatch. Alas, he failed, and ended up destroying half of the division’s headquarters. In his second attempt, which was 20 years ago, he succeeded, and as we know, he established his funeral parlor and began to experiment on human life. His job consists of removing organs from corpses to use for research and to acquire useful information. These corpses delivered to him are usually victims of the underworld, and he refers to them as his ‘guests’. He has a skill that allows him to revive the dead but leaves him with a ‘living doll’ with practically no personality. It allows the body to live again but without consciousness or a brain.

15. Genos from One Punch Man

Birthday: Oct. 10

Age: 19

Height: 5ft 10in

    Famous in the AMV and homemade rap community, Genos is an extremely relevant side character in One Punch Man. I still have no clue why he’s so famous in those communities, but maybe it’s because many fans are attracted to his appearance. He presents as a cyborg with a relatively untouched face, voice, and personality, which is pretty uncommon when you think about it. (When we imagine cyborgs, we imagine more chunky, robotic beings that we can barely call human, think Cyborg from Teen Titans Go!, but Genos looks… more human. His figure looks like a regular person, particularly his torso and lower body, even though they may be packed with machinery) In popularity polls, he is ranked 3rd twice and 5th twice over 7 years. Being a cyborg, of course, he has manmade powers to assist him in fighting. He mostly uses the palms of his hands to create blasts of fire, and as a bonus, uses them as jetpacks to fly to places asap. In dire situations, he has the option to use his core, which is also the core of his life. Exploding said core would lead to his life’s end, which is why he has only attempted to use it once when a meteorite threatened to put humankind to extinction.  Introduced as a cold-hearted but kind cyborg in the first episode of season 1, we soon find him to be the crazed disciple of Saitama, hungry for his secrets to become more powerful. But once more time passed, he began to settle into a casual lifestyle and peacefully lives with his master in a Z city apartment. (Later in the manga he settles into a dorm made by the Hero Association to keep the heroes closer to the main building)

Sources:

A huge thank you to Katie Becker, the artist for our thumbnail! It turned out really great! 🙂

Pages that aren’t blocked:

https://jujutsu-kaisen.fandom.com/wiki/Popularity_Polls

https://haikyuu.fandom.com/wiki/Haiky%C5%AB!!_Popularity_Poll

https://shokugekinosoma.fandom.com/wiki/Popularity_Polls

https://jujutsu-kaisen.fandom.com/wiki/Toge_Inumaki

https://haikyuu.fandom.com/wiki/Satori_Tend%C5%8D

https://jujutsu-kaisen.fandom.com/wiki/Kento_Nanami

https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Noriaki_Kakyoin

https://bungostraydogs.fandom.com/wiki/Ranpo_Edogawa

https://shokugekinosoma.fandom.com/wiki/Akira_Hayama

https://fruitsbasket.fandom.com/wiki/Hatsuharu_Sohma

https://bungostraydogs.fandom.com/wiki/Osamu_Dazai

https://kuroshitsuji.fandom.com/wiki/Undertaker

Pages that are blocked:

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https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Popularity_Polls

https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Trafalgar_D._Water_Law

https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Roronoa_Zoro

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Manjiro_Sano

https://kimetsu-no-yaiba.fandom.com/wiki/Inosuke_Hashibira

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Genos_(One_Punch_Man)