Who are your favorite non-Japanese anime characters?
Anime may be Japanese, but not all series take place in the Land of the Rising Sun, and not all characters are of Japanese ethnicity.
Include only humans. You may include characters from alternate Earths, but they have to be human and not alien. So Sayans do not count. So in no particular order, my choices:
Henrietta from Gunslinger Girl. Henrietta is an orphan in Italy, taken in by the Social Welfare Agency, which takes in other orphans. After augmenting them, the girls are trained as assassins. Isn’t that nice of them? The augmentation seems to shorten their life span, but the girls are OK with that. Henrietta does remain the series’ focus, though we do get to know the other girls. This one is dark and depressing. Stay away from the second season, which is more in line with the manga. They change the ending of season one, only to make it weaker. Well, season two was done by a different production team.
Revy from Black Lagoon. Revy takes crap from no one. Though I do think she has a soft spot in her heart for “Rock.” Revy is half-Chinese, half-American, and all one-tough-b****.
Lelouch from Code Geass. Code Geass takes place on an alternate Earth where Japan is forced to become part of the Britannian Empire. So we can assume that Lelouch, a member of the royal family, is Britannian, or British. Still he fights for Japanese independence as Zero, with the aid of his trusty pizza-loving sidekick and the power of Geass.
Violet Evergarden from Violet Evergarden. Again, an alternate Earth where peace has finally come ending a long bloody war. The series seems to take place in a European setting, though that is not directly stated. Violet is a former soldier/killing machine, disabled by the war, and who now must learn what it is like to be human in a world at peace. She ends up teaching others about humanity and human connections.
Saya from Blood+. Definitely European, we are just given enough information on Saya’s past to know that much. Now she must fight Chiropterans, avenge herself on Diva, and be a good sister to Kai and Riku. Some just have it so easy.
Seymon Brezhnev from Durarara. Others would pick Celty, but Seymon is an even greater mystery. This Russian sushi chef speaks with a Russian accent, but he is black. This is not what they mean by a black Russian. Anyway, bad drinking jokes aside, in DurararaX2, Seymon has a smaller role to play, but we do get hints of a secret and violent past showing us he is not what he appears to be.
Isaac and Miria from Baccano. You can’t name one without the other. All the characters in Baccano are non-Japanese. They are either Americans or with a European background. Isaac and Miria are only supporting characters in the stories of everyone else, but they are there present in each sub-plot. They hold the show together. They are also so stupidly inept that you can’t help but love them.
More later? Maybe. But now you contribute.
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