30 Day Anime Challenge #7 – My Anime Crush

It’s Valentine’s Day! While I don’t tend to do too many corny holiday-related posts on this blog, the stars aligned this year when I realized I’d left off on this particular “30 Day Anime Challenge” prompt. As a long-tenured anime fan, I’ve had my share of anime crushes. While it might seem strange to some folks to be attracted to drawings, I think most anime consumers have gotten that warm, fuzzy feeling a time or two. To me it’s not different than crushing on a popular actor or a character in a live-action TV series or movie – you have just as much likelihood of dating Idris Elba or Jennifer Lawrence as you do hanging out with your favorite waifu or husbando. I’m certainly no different. While my passions have cooled somewhat, I do occasionally feel that “spark” when I’m watching my favorite anime series. I wanted to talk about a few of my important favorites.

To come up with an original anime crush, I have to go way back. It was the mid-1990s, I was in middle school, and I’d just discovered a new anime series showing in syndication on a local TV station. The show was called Ronin Warriors in English-speaking territories, and riding on my anime high brought about by Sailor Moon‘s English language release, I immediately started following the adventures of these supernatural samurai. By today’s standards, the series is nothing all that notable. Because of its serialized story and its cool anime aesthetic, however, I was totally hooked on it.

While I don’t remember much about the bulk of the plot, I do recall quite clearly that the series features a redemption arc for one of its antagonist characters – Anubis, one of the enemy generals the heroes encounter on a regular basis. Those kinds of redemptive storylines have always fascinated me, especially because they speak to something so central to my personal beliefs – that humans, should they choose to do the personal, introspective work that comes along with it, can atone for their harmful actions and become better people. Anubis began his life as a typical shounen anime baddie – a vaguely attractive male character design coupled with a gnarly “evil” English-language dub voice and brutal personality. In the second half of the story, though, he transforms into an aid to the Ronin Warriors and takes on the gentle persona of a supernatural Buddhist priest. It’s this story arc that propelled him from forgettable bad guy to formative anime crush. My confession of said crush was unfortunately also my first experience of being made fun of for having “feelings” toward a cartoon – ah, the curse of being an otaku!

Many of my other “crushes” came about much later on and represented a dramatic change in my own tastes and ideals over the years. Rather than powered-up bishounen, I became drawn towards people who I began to call “dad” characters – men who presented themselves as ethical, caring, and nurturing toward others. In short, individuals who exemplified the sort of masculinity I now find attractive in my fandom old age. Characters like Makoto Tachibana (Free!), Prince Zen (Snow White with the Red Hair), and Takeo Gouda (My Love Story!!). I realized that this was my “thing” while I was watching the first season of Free!!, because I was drawn in by the anime’s portrayal of Makoto and Haru’s friendship – especially Makoto’s kind-hearted (and worry-wart) attitude toward the well-being of his single-minded best friend. Later on, it was Takeo’s physical strength, coupled with his immense strength-of-character that filled my world with shoujo bubbles. While I rarely think that violence is the answer, watching Takeo make short work of Yamato’s groper always makes my heart grow three sizes. And I’d be neglecting my duties if I forgot to mention Prince Zen’s heroism, sense of justice, and surprisingly-decent grasp of consent (for a fictional character). There are a couple of times throughout Snow White with the Red Hair where Zen asks Shiroyuki directly if he can kiss her, before he actually does it. Even such a small action can make a huge difference in character perception, and those are definitely the type of details that appeal to me.

Aside from those few examples, I wouldn’t say I have a specific anime crush anymore, though; my “crushes” are more based around vague sets of ideals and character traits that remind me of the things that I love about people in real-life. I’m very lucky that my real-life crush, my husband, is probably as realistic an example of these traits as I’ve been privileged to come across – his strong focus on legal and social justice and his gentle personality (and great taste in women!) are a combination of things unlikely to manifest in any one anime character.

Do you have a current or a favorite anime crush? Let me know in the comments!