Anime archetypes when it comes to male characters is an unavoidable part of watching and experiencing anime.
After all, when you:
- Watch something enough.
- And something is made enough times.
You’ll eventually come across cliches, stereotypes, commonalities, and in the case of this post archetypes that are common, popular, and well known regardless of whether it’s liked or not.
Let’s about male archetypes that are most often seen.
Male Archetypes in Anime:
1. The shy virgin
Jirou from More Than A Married Couple, But Not Lovers fits this type of archetype. He’s a virgin, he’s shy, and not the most confident man in the slightest with
This is obvious. This is completely different for the girl he ends up liking since she’s good at playing the part and “acting” more confident than she sometimes seems.
My Girlfriend Is A Gal has a male protagonist who’s like this as well.
Related:Â How Anime Can Help With Self Confidence And Boost Your Self Esteem
2. The depressed character
You see this a lot in anime shows. The depressed student or character who may go to school but is depressed, sad, bears their burden in silence and doesn’t talk to people too much.
Or they’re depressed characters for other reasons (due to their power, curse, life circumstances, etc).
Zeref is one of the most depressing characters of all time in anime and among male characters.
The same is true for Asahi Kobe from Happy Sugar Life.
3. The quiet, smart guy
There are 3 characters that can be mentioned here. Sousuke Sagara from Full Metal Panic. He’s diligent, smarter than he seems, but isn’t the most talkative unless he’s passionate about a topic.
There’s DEKU from MHA. Quiet, shy, but very intelligent, intuitive, and a thinker who’s good under pressure.
Third, there’s Yoshino Takigawa from Zetsuen No Tempest. He’s Leloucl level smart, but is so quiet and laid back and doesn’t attract too much attention to himself.
4. The kuudere
Houtarou Oreki from Hyouka is a Kuudere, through and through. These types of characters are emotionless, cold, but this is mostly a barrier they put up.
Once you get to know them they’re more warm, nice, and pleasant than they first appear.
Homura Akemi is a character who fits this archetype, but she’s a female character so it doesn’t count here.
5. The loudmouth
Asta from Black Clover is a good example, but so is Bakugo Katsuki from
Bakugo runs his mouth too much and thinks the world revolves around him. He’s not one to tone it down for anyone, no matter who the person is or the position he finds himself n.
On one hand, this makes him believable and genuine, but also irritating and overly dramatic.
6. The “justice” archetype with strong morals
Touma Kamijou is a character who fits this role perfectly. He comes across as naive, morally correct, ethical, and overly desperate to serve justice or help others even when he’s not asked to do so.
This makes Touma, more so because of how he thinks and acts, an interesting character who you want to cheer for because he’s relatable and has his heart in the right place.
Few anime characters with the justice archetype can be compared to the quality of Touma.
7. The anti-hero type
Accelerator is a good example of this male character archetype. He’s someone who grew up with immense power. The power to control vectors makes him an impossible opponent to beat for 99% of anime characters or otherwise.
Two types of people approach him. People who want to claim the #1 spot for defeating him, or people who wanna use him for his power.
This shapes his personality as he sees people for what they are, their darkest desires, the dark side of humanity, and morphs him later into an anti-hero type of character thanks to his experiences.
Lelouch is also a good mention.
8. The guy who wears their heart on their sleeve
Naruto Uzumaki can be classed as this type of character. Naruto has no problem sharing his feelings out loud, letting people know how he feels, and even taking it out if he has to (Talk No Jutsu).
This is how he talks a lot of villains out of their ways because he fundamentally understands the deeper aspects of other people, even if they’re “evil”.
Naruto told everyone he’d become something special, and put in the work to make it a reality. That’s the type of guy he is.
9. The sarcastic savage
Glenn Radars is the perfect example of this male character archetype, and these ones are common as well somewhat. Just not as common as others.
Glenn never takes much seriously, comes across as lazy, too laid back, and disinterested in most things. And more than anything – he makes fun of everything, even when the topic is tense or serious.
He’s the type of person people see as childish, not serious enough, and even doubtful of their seriousness because they’re so sarcastic a lot of the time.
10. The “masculine energy” type
An anime character like Kenpachi Zaraki would fit this archetype. The man’s man type of male character. He loves to fight, loves battle, loves to test his strength, and loves the pursuit of growing stronger.
It’s what he lives for.
Another character who fits this archetype would be someone like Vegeta. He’s a masculine type of character through and through.
Gray Fullbuster and Elfman, both from
11. The man of few words
Male anime characters like Byakuya Kuchiki, who happens to be in the “long hair” category, is a man of few words. He fits the archetype perfectly.
He acts cold or comes across as cold. He has few words for people, even his enemies or those who get on his nerves. And he’s always composed, and calm, and never acts out of character or leads by emotion or impulse.
For this reason, he’s also hard to figure out since his mind can’t be read so easily.
12. The overly excited character with a simple outlook
Natsu Dragneel is the obvious character here. He’s always excited, happy, cheerful, and someone who’s good to be around because they uplift your energy.
He has a simplistic outlook on life that works for him but might seem annoying to some people because it comes across as naive and foolish. And even childish.
This can also be classed as a
13. The “asshole” type of character
There’s always this type of anime character in anime, and this is true with male character archetypes.
One example is Naru from Ghost Hunt. He’s the main protagonist along with Mai Taniyama, the female character. But Naru is arrogant, has sharp words, doesn’t hold back, and can be dismissive of other people.
He comes across as an asshole and is nicknamed “Naru the narcissist”.
There are many other male anime characters who fit this archetype.
–
Recommended:
22+ Shonen Female Characters Who Break Stereotypes
