Best Male Lead

[destiny4ever]

Best Male Lead Announcement!

The results are in for the first Manga Awards Ceremony (2010) at long last! The moment you have been waiting for, has finally arrived! [Drum rolls]

But first, our thanks. We thank everyone for their participation in nominating, voting, discussing, critiquing, and suggesting ideas for future Awards Ceremonies. This wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of the staff and most importantly our cherished members and loyal fans of manga!

but secondly, let's review of how we got to the winner(s) of the Best Male Lead Category.

Spoiler: The nominations and their "vote counts"

Total "Votes" = 61

1. Guts/Gatsu from Berserk with 10 "votes"
2. Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto with 8 "votes"
3. Onizuka Eiikichi from Great Teacher Onizuka with 6 "votes"
4. Yoshina Ageha from Psyren with 6 "votes"
5A. Sakata Gintoki from Gintama with 4 "votes" (won the tie breaker)

5B. Allen Walker from D. Gray Man with 4 "votes" (lost the tie breaker)

Goku from Dragon Ball with 3 "votes"
Alucard from Hellsing with 3 "votes"
Miyamoto Musashi from Vagabond with 2 "votes"
Kenji Endo from 20th/21st Century Boys with 2 "votes"
Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail with 2 "votes"
Akiyama from Liar Game with 2 "votes"
Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken with 1 "vote"
Vash the Stampede from Trigun with 1 "vote"
Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece with 1 "vote"
Kei Kurono from Gantz with 1 "vote"
Tenma from Saint Seiya TLC with 1 "vote"
Light "Kira" Yagami from Death Note with 1 "vote"
Munsu from Shin Angyo Onshi with 1 "vote"
Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist with 1 "vote"
Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin with 1 "vote"

and now, the winners from the Staff's choices:

Spoiler: The STARs' (Manga Editors, Translaters, Artists, and Reviewers) choice of winner(s)

Onizuka Eiikichi from Great Teacher Onizuka

Spoiler: The Moderators' (Red, Blue, Green, and Pink) choice of winner(s)

It's a tie between Guts/Gatsu from Berserk and Yoshina Ageha from Psyren

and finally, what you all have been waiting for, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Members' winner choice [Drum rolls]:

Spoiler: The Winner of Best Male Lead

 

[zelllogan]

I'll gave my opinion on each character:

Berserk: Guts / Gatsu is a good character: strong in mind & body. He has gone through so much, it's hard to not at least sympathize for the guy

Naruto: I liked the character from the beginning of the manga: a dropout hated by everyone & a funny dumbass. He fought against destiny. But the character I like was destroyed by several things:
- He is the son of the hokage. So, in fact, his current power was his destiny from the start ...
- He cares way too much about sasuke.
- Rasengan ... rasengan ... & rasengan. His fighting style was ingenious at first (vs zabuza for example) ... now it's mainly raw power

Onizuka: the greatest teacher in history. One of the funniest characters of all time. And he is a true main character. The manga simply can not exist without him. It's just impossible to do even some chapters without him. So, my vote is for him

Yoshina Ageha: I don't know how he can be a finalist. He is just typical shounen material. Nothing wrong with that ... but nothing to make him a top-5 finalist. Ageha over Munsu or Alucard ... I have trouble to accept that

Gintoki: funny character ... I don't have much to say about him.

 

[Riku]

I'll give a short opinion on the characters I know too.

Guts - Okay, I've only read about 2 volumes, and I have heard the perception of him greatly changes after reader learns more of his past. This far however, I find him very boring. Just a dark berserker with a big sword who kills monsters.

Naruto Uzumaki - Now, early on I liked him. He was easy to symphatize with right from the start. He also has more charachter developement than an avarage shonen hero. But pretty soon he got annoying, I can't really say what it is. His obsession with Sasuke maybe, or the bad jokes. He just annoys me. And he the damn main character, but still there are dudes way more interesting and more attention stealing than him.

Onizuka Eiikichi - Now here is my vote. As said, he really is the lead, as the series wouldn't work at all without him. He is funny as hell, and has a great attitude on life. Never mind book smartness and high IQ's, this guy teaches what really matters. Greatest teacher indeed.

Yoshina Ageha - I don't dislike him, but I don't find him particulary fascinating either. He is a solid shonen hero, with a damn cool super power. His chemistry with Amamiya is great, but this is a solo contest.

Sakata Gintoki - Haven't read/watch much Gintama. He seems like a fun and cool guy, with nice attitude to live. However, in comparison to Onizuka he seems shallow. Also I haven't seen him have any real flaws, expect lazyness which is pretty minor.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Guts - Okay, I've only read about 2 volumes, and I have heard the perception of him greatly changes after reader learns more of his past. This far however, I find him very boring. Just a dark berserker with a big sword who kills monsters.

It's a legitimate opinion after the first two volumes indeed, even I have to agree with this (though I think he's not that boring with such an amount of twisted evilness as a protagonist at that point of time ), but as you said, the interesting thing is how he became that way and what happens to him later on.

I have to admit that I do not know three of the nominees, but I still vote for Guts. In comparison of all the stories I've read, he's still an exeptional protagonist.

 

[Nii]

I'll gave my opinion on each character:
Yoshina Ageha: I don't know how he can be a finalist. He is just typical shounen material. Nothing wrong with that ... but nothing to make him a top-5 finalist. Ageha over Munsu or Alucard ... I have trouble to accept that.

well Psyren ended recently and some people may still be hyped about the manga (nothing wrong with that). I agree with you, Yoshina shouldn't be in here. He's a solid shonen character in a solid shonen manga but both are nothing special.

My vote goes to Guts because I can't imagine the manga without him and because he's just epic he has changed so much over time and it's fascinating to see his development.

 

[Castriota]

wow yoshina actually made it as a finalist in the best male lead? thats awesome. he was pretty cool but since the manga was rushed to a finish, his development was kinda crappy on how he jsut had to mass power.

my vote like others has to go for guts. hes the go to guy in tough situations without regard for his own body. after most of the trauma, physically and emotionally, he had to go through, he started to develop from that dark berserker.

 

[benelori]

Guts all the way...waaaay more fit for the description of Male Lead, then any other character...he has a strong start, but even when he becomes the underdog, he still prevails in the end, but right after that he falls back to being the underdog again...

So solid character development, though a bit boring when fighting...even if he had a power boost recently...

 

[jorped]

Naruto , people that say that naruto is annoying is people that dont really understand nothing of the history , Naruto was like Sasuke , but he resisted to go to the dark side. Althought he was always competing with him and the 2 didnt seem to get along he always loved Sasuke as a brother and he wanted to be like him. Sasuke went to the bad side and Naruto cant simply just walk away from it, he likes Sasuke to much so he wont do that.

So plz dont call him annoying i would just hate if naruto had give up on sasuke.

 

[coolerthanzerok]

I'm shocked Goku didn't make it in here, he's a prototype for the dumb, happy-go-lucky, morally invincible protagonist, like Naruto, Luffy, Natsu, and a couple others. I'm going to go with Guts, I guess... he just oozes BA.

 

[Darkp]

Guts all the way , there is not many protagonist who lost "his one eye , hand , girlfriend ,his comrades to his best friend" and stand against freaky demons without any kind of special power (well yea he has a armor now but that is just working like pain killer : D ).

Edit : On second thought ,I had to give my credits to onizuka too , he is one of hell character he is second in my book at this list .

 

[HegemonKhan]

Guts all the way , there is not many protagonist who lost "his one eye , hand , girlfriend ,his comrades to his best friend" and stand against freaky demons without any kind of special power (well yea he has a armor now but that is just working like pain killer : D ).

*(off-topic)*

Clare from Claymore, cough cough... though she's a female and not a male, lol

(see Best Female Lead Category Thread, if interested in voting for her, hehe)

her list of "losses" and "sufferings" far exceeds Guts' and she's up against far more powerful "demons" than Guts ever was as well

Spoiler: Clare's "losses and sufferings"

as a human child:

witnessed her family killed and eaten by a Yoma; her father, mother, and brother. She was pounced on by the Yoma (possibly intending to rape her) only to witness a Claymore slice its head open and its blood and brain matter splattering on her face. she was abandoned by humans. she got "picked up" as a "Toy/Pet" for another Yoma, and dragged from town to town getting at least physically abused by it, as seen by her lashings-welted scars on her back. she was so traumatized she stopped speaking, going mute. she was dead and lifeless. she witnessed this 2nd Yoma sliced in half by Teresa, and each half of it fell to her sides, splattering her with its blood and guts. she is unphased by it. she clings-hugs Teresa, who kicks her 3 times. she witnesses a near, never actually happened, gang rape of Teresa by bandits, as/but Teresa's hideous Claymore body turns them off, after Teresa laughs and flashes them, lol. She steps off a cliff to continue to follow Teresa, splating once on a ledge and then on the ground below. she was flung into a pool of water by Teresa, who saying how she stunk with Yoma odor, lol. she then starts to cry as when she woke up, Teresa was not there, thinking Teresa had left her, but then Teresa appears with a rabbit for her to eat, lol. she nearly falls off the cliff to her death, but Teresa catches her and then roughly pulls her up and slams her hard into the ground back up on the ledge-path their walking on, lol. she tries to protect Teresa from getting raped by one of the bandits who had followed them and who had previously had his hand cut off when he had grabbed Clare's shoulder in their earlier encounter with the bandits. she whacks the bandit who's on top of Teresa ripping her clothes open with a stick and blood runs down his forehead. he gets up and punches Clare hard in the head knocking her down and then starts to brutally stomp on her. she's saved by Teresa. finally she speaks, as she hugs teresa, revealing that she was saw through teresa, seeing the same deadness in teresa that was in herself, and thus selflessly trying to comfort teresa, even though no one would nor did the same for her. and teresa starts to cry, and says one of her famous quotes, "a little girl half my size, taught me that tears can flow from even silver eyes". Teresa goes to a town, and buys Clare some nice clothes and shoes, intending to leave her with one of the townspeople, and after killing a Yoma there, she does so. thinking that it was best for Clare, to "live as a human, live among humans, and die as a human", then to live a hard life with herself, a "monster". However, this was NOT what Clare wanted! Clare didn't want a "human life", as she already had that "human life" and it was awful! No, instead, Clare strips naked in front of the townsfolk as Teresa is about to leave her, and expresses what she wanted: "I don't want nice shoes. I don't want nice clothes! I just want to be with Teresa forever!". But, Teresa still leaves Clare, who's desperately trying not to cry. poor clare! well, Teresa is moving away from the town she sees the bandits racing towards the town! Oh SHIT, those bandits were targetting that town from the beginning but couldn't due to the Yoma there, which she had just now killed... Teresa races back to the town, but it is already in flames. the bandits had killed all the men, and taken the boys, girls and women to sell or use as slaves or sex slaves. Teresa is looking around for Clare... and then she happens to see that same bandit... dragging Clare behind him on the ground unconscious. he sees Teresa and fatally teases Teresa, saying how Clare had screamed "Teresa, teresa!", possibly suggested.. he had raped her... well, that teasing, brought out the old "Teresa the MONSTER", she disappears and then re-appears behind the bandit (Rig is his name), with Clare in her arm, and Rig is missing his other hand now too, and then seconds later half of his head is sliding off at a diagonal. hehe. Teresa then proceeds to KILL EVERY HUMAN there except Clare of course, saying MONSTEROUSLY ENRAGEDLY: ~"Say your prayers you bastards! You're worse then Yoma, I'll kill each and every one of you!". Clare finally awakens up, finding herself held in Teresa's arms, and being surrounding by a "beautiful flower ring" of dead, bloodily-killed bandits and townsfolk, hehe. Clare is forced to watch Teresa's execution, but Teresa decides to live instead, thankfully for Clare. Teresa takes Clare with her, however anotehr execution team is sent after Teresa. But, Teresa easily defeats them as well. Clare then witnesses Priscilla snapping, and releasing her yoki uncontrollably, becoming "Orcish" as she nears Awakening. Teresa gets cut across the forehead. And then Teresa is finally killed, getting decapitated by Priscilla, who then Awakeneds, and kills the 3 other Claymores. Poor Clare had to witness her beloved Teresa's head severed and headless body fall to the ground, and then the aWakening of Priscilla and deaths of the 3 other Claymores. filled with self-loathing, Clare sets on her path of revenge against Priscilla. picking up her beloved Teresa's head in her arms, being unable to part with the dead Teresa, and searches for a Black coat, finding Rubel. Clare becomes the first and only person to "come knocking on the Organization's door", the first and only to want to become a Claymore. Clare to Rubel, holding up Teresa's head: ~"Give me! Put inside my body! TEresa's flesh and blood!".

as Trainee Claymore:

an older and stronger trainee Claymore is jealous of Clare, and challenges her to a spar match. Clare engages, but she's still not strong enough to wield the huge claymore sword, and she pops her arm right out of her shoulder socket! the older Claymore laughs... but it's cut short, as Clare smashes her dislocated shoulder into the wall, re-connecting her arm into her shoulder socket... and is ready to continue the sparring match! the older Claymore's mouth is resting on the ground in shock! Rubel then steps in, and puts a stop to it. Clare ends up saving this older Claymore in their final test/trial as trainees, and is the only one to kill the Yoma they are faced against in it, becoming an official-active ranked Claymore now.

as a ranked (active-Official) Claymore:

she nearly kills Raki, lol. she gets punched through the stomach by a Yoma. She kills her only friend Claymore as she was Awakening, that helped her while they were trainees. She herself nearly dies and Awakeneds, becoming a Half Awakened with Raki's help, when against the Yoma in Rabona, and while still weakened from the pills. she is tentacle pierced through her stomach and tongue-smashed into the cliff by the male Awakened. she gets her legs cut off by Ophelia. she gets her sword arm cut off by Ophelia. she gets her non-sword hand cut off by Ophelia. she is slived through her torso. her shoulders are sliced open. Irene gives Clare her own sword arm, to replace Clare's destroyed-missing sword arm. Clare has her feet+legs crushed by Dauf's rod. Clare strike the fatal blow into anotehr friend of hers, Jean, though Jean was already dying. Clare nearly Awakeneds again in her Partial Awakening, but Jean had helped her not do so. Clare gets her head decapitated in the strange mind-ilussion battle against "rafaela"/Destroyer. Clare gets pwned by Priscilla. Clare is restrained from killing Priscilla and can no longer Partially Awaken because of this. Clare's entire lower body is destroyed by the Destroyer. Clare ends up "merging" with the Destroyer, and entraps Priscilla with them in a "blob" like state of the 3 of them.

Raki, Clare's love, was possibly seduced into sex or even raped by Clare's arch enemy, Priscilla, and he was (debatably) nearly killed by Priscilla much later on, and he could possibly now become a Yoma himself with the Destroyer's Hellcats' projectiles in his shoulder and/or from the Org experimenting on him as they have him captured/chained up at their HQs.

and that's about it. I might have left out some sutff though, meh.

 

[zelllogan]

*(off-topic)*

Clare from Claymore, cough cough... though she's a female and not a male, lol

(see Best Female Lead Category Thread, if interested in voting for her, hehe)

her list of "losses" and "sufferings" far exceeds Guts' and she's up against far more powerful "demons" than Guts ever was as well

Spoiler: Clare's "losses and sufferings"

as a human child:

witnessed her family killed and eaten by a Yoma; her father, mother, and brother. She was pounced on by the Yoma (possibly intending to rape her) only to witness a Claymore slice its head open and its blood and brain matter splattering on her face. she was abandoned by humans. she got "picked up" as a "Toy/Pet" for another Yoma, and dragged from town to town getting at least physically abused by it, as seen by her lashings-welted scars on her back. she was so traumatized she stopped speaking, going mute. she was dead and lifeless. she witnessed this 2nd Yoma sliced in half by Teresa, and each half of it fell to her sides, splattering her with its blood and guts. she is unphased by it. she clings-hugs Teresa, who kicks her 3 times. she witnesses a near, never actually happened, gang rape of Teresa by bandits, as/but Teresa's hideous Claymore body turns them off, after Teresa laughs and flashes them, lol. She steps off a cliff to continue to follow Teresa, splating once on a ledge and then on the ground below. she was flung into a pool of water by Teresa, who saying how she stunk with Yoma odor, lol. she then starts to cry as when she woke up, Teresa was not there, thinking Teresa had left her, but then Teresa appears with a rabbit for her to eat, lol. she nearly falls off the cliff to her death, but Teresa catches her and then roughly pulls her up and slams her hard into the ground back up on the ledge-path their walking on, lol. she tries to protect Teresa from getting raped by one of the bandits who had followed them and who had previously had his hand cut off when he had grabbed Clare's shoulder in their earlier encounter with the bandits. she whacks the bandit who's on top of Teresa ripping her clothes open with a stick and blood runs down his forehead. he gets up and punches Clare hard in the head knocking her down and then starts to brutally stomp on her. she's saved by Teresa. finally she speaks, as she hugs teresa, revealing that she was saw through teresa, seeing the same deadness in teresa that was in herself, and thus selflessly trying to comfort teresa, even though no one would nor did the same for her. and teresa starts to cry, and says one of her famous quotes, "a little girl half my size, taught me that tears can flow from even silver eyes". Teresa goes to a town, and buys Clare some nice clothes and shoes, intending to leave her with one of the townspeople, and after killing a Yoma there, she does so. thinking that it was best for Clare, to "live as a human, live among humans, and die as a human", then to live a hard life with herself, a "monster". However, this was NOT what Clare wanted! Clare didn't want a "human life", as she already had that "human life" and it was awful! No, instead, Clare strips naked in front of the townsfolk as Teresa is about to leave her, and expresses what she wanted: "I don't want nice shoes. I don't want nice clothes! I just want to be with Teresa forever!". But, Teresa still leaves Clare, who's desperately trying not to cry. poor clare! well, Teresa is moving away from the town she sees the bandits racing towards the town! Oh SHIT, those bandits were targetting that town from the beginning but couldn't due to the Yoma there, which she had just now killed... Teresa races back to the town, but it is already in flames. the bandits had killed all the men, and taken the boys, girls and women to sell or use as slaves or sex slaves. Teresa is looking around for Clare... and then she happens to see that same bandit... dragging Clare behind him on the ground unconscious. he sees Teresa and fatally teases Teresa, saying how Clare had screamed "Teresa, teresa!", possibly suggested.. he had raped her... well, that teasing, brought out the old "Teresa the MONSTER", she disappears and then re-appears behind the bandit (Rig is his name), with Clare in her arm, and Rig is missing his other hand now too, and then seconds later half of his head is sliding off at a diagonal. hehe. Teresa then proceeds to KILL EVERY HUMAN there except Clare of course, saying MONSTEROUSLY ENRAGEDLY: ~"Say your prayers you bastards! You're worse then Yoma, I'll kill each and every one of you!". Clare finally awakens up, finding herself held in Teresa's arms, and being surrounding by a "beautiful flower ring" of dead, bloodily-killed bandits and townsfolk, hehe. Clare is forced to watch Teresa's execution, but Teresa decides to live instead, thankfully for Clare. Teresa takes Clare with her, however anotehr execution team is sent after Teresa. But, Teresa easily defeats them as well. Clare then witnesses Priscilla snapping, and releasing her yoki uncontrollably, becoming "Orcish" as she nears Awakening. Teresa gets cut across the forehead. And then Teresa is finally killed, getting decapitated by Priscilla, who then Awakeneds, and kills the 3 other Claymores. Poor Clare had to witness her beloved Teresa's head severed and headless body fall to the ground, and then the aWakening of Priscilla and deaths of the 3 other Claymores. filled with self-loathing, Clare sets on her path of revenge against Priscilla. picking up her beloved Teresa's head in her arms, being unable to part with the dead Teresa, and searches for a Black coat, finding Rubel. Clare becomes the first and only person to "come knocking on the Organization's door", the first and only to want to become a Claymore. Clare to Rubel, holding up Teresa's head: ~"Give me! Put inside my body! TEresa's flesh and blood!".

as Trainee Claymore:

an older and stronger trainee Claymore is jealous of Clare, and challenges her to a spar match. Clare engages, but she's still not strong enough to wield the huge claymore sword, and she pops her arm right out of her shoulder socket! the older Claymore laughs... but it's cut short, as Clare smashes her dislocated shoulder into the wall, re-connecting her arm into her shoulder socket... and is ready to continue the sparring match! the older Claymore's mouth is resting on the ground in shock! Rubel then steps in, and puts a stop to it. Clare ends up saving this older Claymore in their final test/trial as trainees, and is the only one to kill the Yoma they are faced against in it, becoming an official-active ranked Claymore now.

as a ranked (active-Official) Claymore:

she nearly kills Raki, lol. she gets punched through the stomach by a Yoma. She kills her only friend Claymore as she was Awakening, that helped her while they were trainees. She herself nearly dies and Awakeneds, becoming a Half Awakened with Raki's help, when against the Yoma in Rabona, and while still weakened from the pills. she is tentacle pierced through her stomach and tongue-smashed into the cliff by the male Awakened. she gets her legs cut off by Ophelia. she gets her sword arm cut off by Ophelia. she gets her non-sword hand cut off by Ophelia. she is slived through her torso. her shoulders are sliced open. Irene gives Clare her own sword arm, to replace Clare's destroyed-missing sword arm. Clare has her feet+legs crushed by Dauf's rod. Clare strike the fatal blow into anotehr friend of hers, Jean, though Jean was already dying. Clare nearly Awakeneds again in her Partial Awakening, but Jean had helped her not do so. Clare gets her head decapitated in the strange mind-ilussion battle against "rafaela"/Destroyer. Clare gets pwned by Priscilla. Clare is restrained from killing Priscilla and can no longer Partially Awaken because of this. Clare's entire lower body is destroyed by the Destroyer. Clare ends up "merging" with the Destroyer, and entraps Priscilla with them in a "blob" like state of the 3 of them.

Raki, Clare's love, was possibly seduced into sex or even raped by Clare's arch enemy, Priscilla, and he was (debatably) nearly killed by Priscilla much later on, and he could possibly now become a Yoma himself with the Destroyer's Hellcats' projectiles in his shoulder and/or from the Org experimenting on him as they have him captured/chained up at their HQs.

and that's about it. I might have left out some sutff though, meh.

I like claymore. I liked it so much that I read a manga from the same mangaka (story about a extremely nice guy with really evil looks , I don't remember the name) just because the mangaka did claymore afterwards.

BUT Even though a lot is happening to Claire, she don't seem to be fucked up mentally. Guts is a lot more affected & it feels more real when you read it.

[mod=HegemonKhan]Clare is the most "disturbed" of all characters, though Priscilla is obviously the most "crazy", imo - Priscilla's "mad/insane" or just outright uber cruelly evil, lol. Galatea's own words about Clare: ~"No, wait, the one with the tiniest yoki is the most disturbed of all, something uber traumatic must have happened to her in the past". Irene's own words about Clare: ~"You're so calm and expressionless on the outside, but your heart is a raging inferno, you'll never be able to fully learn the Quick Sword because it requires a calm heart".[/mod]

And again, there isn't that many readers who cares about raki. Raki is the weakest link in the manga. Casca on the other hand ...

[mod=HegemonKhan]He has some positive points, but they are "drowned out" by his annoying crying and helpessness while as a child, well at least until the Ophelia incident anyways. However, he's now an adult, and no longer that annoying and helpless child that he was earlier in the manga. Well... he's in another bind now... hehe[/mod]

Edit to answer HegemonKhan: 'calm and expressionless' , the two words used to define Claire. That's exactly why it's much more easy to relate to Guts. Guts feels human: anger, distress, ... About raki, he can do what he want: he will always remain that annoying kid to me.

 

[Googlez_kun]

I voted for Gintoki,but i'm somehow regretting it.He always seemed to perfect and goes from chapter to chapter lecturing people like it was nothing.

I'm still dissapointed in the fact that Kenji from 20th Century Boys didn't make it into the final round

 

[benelori]

I voted for Gintoki,but i'm somehow regretting it.He always seemed to perfect and goes from chapter to chapter lecturing people like it was nothing.

I'm still dissapointed in the fact that Kenji from 20th Century Boys didn't make it into the final round

Well he wasn't really a lead...I mean he did start the war against friend and he did solve it all, but I think the fact that he went missing makes him forgettable as a Lead character...Shogun strikes more as a lead character, than Kenji...at least for me

 

[Riku]

I voted for Gintoki,but i'm somehow regretting it.He always seemed to perfect and goes from chapter to chapter lecturing people like it was nothing.

I'm still dissapointed in the fact that Kenji from 20th Century Boys didn't make it into the final round

I voted for Onizuka, he's far from perfect, but acknowledgeds that himself. That's a lot. He still always manages to save the day and lecture people, but not like it was nothing. His teachings really carry positive messages.

I also miss Kenji on the list. He was great, I think he shared some similar traits with Onizuka, the latter just being wilder, extreme and simple. Kenji really is also very admirable.

Edit:

Kenji is the lead of part I, Otcho of part II and Kenji comes back for the title in part III. I consider them both lead characters of the manga. Also,

Spoiler

what Friend did, he did because of his (at first, one-sided) rivalry with Kenji. He himself made Kenji his antagonist. Now Friend is the real antagonist, so logically Kenji then is a protagonist.

 

[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.

Spoiler: Berserk/Some stations of Guts developement

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.