One of the most common questions I’m asked is, “Of all the video games you’ve played, of all the shows you’ve watched on Netflix, Disney+, or Paramount+, what’s your favorite, and what your characters from your upcoming webcomic series are modeled after?” It’s hard to pick. So I usually base my answer on the characters I liked/loved the most and are also modeled after.
This post is for entertainment only and the character images in this post are the property of their respective owners/companies and used under fair use as they are (1) used in a non-commercial website or blog (e.g. the webcomic production publication on Substack run by one person), and therefore are not used to generate profit, (2) the characters used here does not significantly impede the rights of the respective owners/companies to sell copyrighted materials and (3) are used in a largely unaltered state, where minor editing has been done for entertainment purposes only except for the top image from Unsplash. This list only has heroes, good guys, or major supporting characters and it does not include characters from Rumiko Takahashi’s works, films, or Western animation with few exceptions. This list also does not include anything owned by Arc System Works, Sony-owned or affiliated, Microsoft-owned or affiliated, or games that are exclusive to the PlayStations 4 and 5, or the Xbox Series X and Series S.
LGBTQ creators/voice actors key: No emoji = straight or straight ally; 👩❤️👩 = denotes lesbian; 🏳️🌈 = denotes gay; 💖 = denotes bisexual; 🏳️⚧️ = denotes transgender; 🎉 = denotes asexual; 🌟 = denotes non-binary or genderfluid (may include pronouns such as “she/they” or “he/they”); 🥳 = denotes pansexual, demisexual, or queer
Other key: 🪦 = denotes that the creator or voice actor is deceased; 🌸 = denotes that the creator or voice actor is retired; the “creator” part refers to the manga artist or character designer, and the “main owner” and “co-owner” parts refer to the company(ies) that own the characters
Also note: This list contains anime/manga/video game characters who are always barefoot as Substack is not a foot fetish site (this includes this newsletter), so please don’t try it here. The “Please see “(character name/origin)” for this character’s Japanese seiyuu/English voice actor/actress” will still be used.
20. Platelet Leader(-chan)
Japanese name: 血小板, Kesshōban
Origin: Hataraku Saibō / Cells at Work!
Companies: Akane Shimizu (creator), Kodansha (manga publisher, Japan), Kodansha USA (manga publisher, North America), Panini Group (manga publisher, Latin America except Argentina), Editorial Ivrea (manga publisher, Argentina), Aniplex of America (anime, NA licensor), David Production (anime, studio)
Japanese seiyuu: Maria Nakagawa
English voice actress: Xanthe Huynh (pronounced “Zan-thee Hwinn”)
When the younger tomboy characters aren’t enough, look no further for this cutie from Hataraku Saibō. Useful for younger tomboy characters who wear baseball caps backwards all the time.
19. Meliodas
Japanese name: メリオダス, Meriodasu
Origin: Nanatsu no Taizai / The Seven Deadly Sins
Companies: Nakaba Suzuki (creator), Kodansha (publisher, Japan), Kodansha USA (publisher, North America), JBC (Brazil), Editorial Panini and Editorial Ivrea (Latin America), Netflix (licensing/streaming rights for the anime series)
Japanese seiyuu: Yuki Kaji
English voice actor: Bryce Papenbrook
Notes: Pronounced “mel-EE-OH-das”. Pre-4KOA appearance is shown in this Medium story.
Meliodas bears the Sin of Wrath as a Dragon symbol on his left shoulder and is the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins. Despite his adolescent appearance, Meliodas is actually a demon who is over three thousand years old (which is far longer than actual humans). Meliodas is later revealed to be the son of the Demon King and original leader of the Ten Commandments, possessing the fragment of his father’s soul embodying Love. He and Aladdin (Magi) are “dirty” characters, though the latter is more extreme than the former (please don’t try this on Substack as I want to keep this post 14+).
18. Māmane / Sophocles
Japanese name: マーマネ, Māmane
Origin: Pokémon anime series (first Sun & Moon, later Journeys)
Companies: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (main owners), ShoPro, TV Tokyo, and JR Kikaku (anime series), The Pokémon Company, The Pokémon Company International, Satoshi Tajiri (creator), Netflix (anime streaming rights)
Japanese seiyuu: Fumiko Takekuma (link goes to Japanese Wikipedia)
English voice actress: Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (the same voice actress as Eureka/Bonnie in XY; link goes to Bulbapedia)
You’re thinking, “Why do you want to include chubby characters in your works?” Well, I want to make them friendly as the best friend of the main characters rather than being bullies. Sophocles is one of the students at the Pokémon School of Melemele Island who befriends Ash in the Sun and Moon series. He specializes in Electric-type Pokémon and is good with machines. He could be friends with Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog and Izzy Izumi from Digimon, as the three are the anime and video games’ resident “tech boys”. He is also Satoshi/Ash’s (then-)classmate during the Sun and Moon series who later reappeared in Journeys.
17. Mario
Japanese name: マリオ
Origin: Mario franchise
Companies: Nintendo (main owner), Camelot Software Planning (major affiliate of the main owner), Shigeru Miyamoto (creator)
Japanese seiyuu: Never used in video games with a few exceptions: Tōru Furuya (1986 to 1998), Kōsei Tomita (Japanese dubbing of SMB film) 🪦, Mamoru Miyano (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)
English voice actors: Captain Lou Albano (SMB Show!), Walker Boone (SMW cartoon and SMB3 cartoon), Charles Martinet (pre-2023), Kevin Afghani (post-2023), Chris Pratt (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)
Mario is the mascot of the Japanese video game giant Nintendo and also the main protagonist of the Mario franchise since 1981. Mario is an Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom with his younger twin brother, Luigi. Their adventures generally involve rescuing Princess Peach from the villain Bowser (“Koopa” in the Japanese version) while using power-ups that give them different abilities.
16. Mei Kamino
(please include the image of the character, do not use the English Wikipedia for the image except for the text)
Japanese name: 神野 銘 or カミノ・メイ, Kamino Mei
Origin: Godzilla Singular Point
Companies: Toei Animation (main owner of the Godzilla IP and trademarks) Kazue Kato (character designer, known for the Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist manga series), Netflix (streaming rights)
Japanese seiyuu: Yume Miyamoto
English voice actress: Erika Harlacher-Stone
You’re going to need something for meganekko or purely aesthetic glasses tropes (though I don’t wear glasses myself, but my relatives, friends, and in-laws do, and formerly, my father — but they are actually reading glasses), and I find Mei Kamino being my go-to. The character is a genius researcher and the primary protagonist of Godzilla Singular Point. She shares similarities to another glasses-wearer Inaho Misora (“Hailey Anne Thomas” in the English dub) from Yo-kai Watch (both have purple hair, both wear glasses, both wear Chuck Taylor-inspired sneakers, and both have the same English voice actress). And yes, I still have the T-shirt (I bought it from Amazon, though I wear it occasionally, and worn it for IWD 2024) and a Funko figure of her on my workstation since I started collecting figurines.
15. Diane
Japanese name: ディアンヌ, Diannu
Origin: Nanatsu no Taizai / The Seven Deadly Sins
Companies: Nakaba Suzuki (creator), Kodansha (publisher, Japan), Kodansha USA (publisher, North America), JBC (Brazil), Editorial Panini and Editorial Ivrea (Latin America), Netflix (licensing/streaming rights for the anime series)
Japanese seiyuu: Aoi Yabusaki (aka Aoi Yūki)
English voice actress: Erica Mendez 🎉
Notes: Pronounced “DEE-ann” instead of “DY-ann” in the dub, known as “Diana” in the Latin American Spanish dub
She is a giantess who stands 30 feet tall (914 cm) and bears the Sin of Envy, symbolized by a Serpent symbol tattooed on her left thigh. Diane doesn’t like to fight, but she can throw people like a baseball pitcher! I’m not big on pigtails, though she reminds me of Ling Xiaoyu from Tekken.
14. Blaze Fielding
Japanese name: ブレイズ・フィールディング
Origin: Bare Knuckle / Streets of Rage series (SOR 4 + Mr. X Nightmare artwork shown)
Companies: Sega (main owner of the series’ IP), Dotemu (SOR 4 + Mr. X Nightmare), Lizardcube (SOR 4 + Mr. X Nightmare), Guard Crush Games (SOR 4 + Mr. X Nightmare)
Japanese seiyuu: Never used with a few exceptions before the fourth game.
English voice actress(es): Hitomi Farrell and Barbara Weber-Boustani (SOR 4 + Mr. X Nightmare only!)
Blaze Fielding is “the first lady of beat-em-up games”, and has been a favorite of many since Streets of Rage 2 (though in the first game, she was a weak character). She is a Judo expert and former cop who was dishonorably discharged after cold-clocking the commissioner over ethical matters and then refusing to participate in anger management. Her occupation in the fourth game is listed as “Dance Instructor”, though she didn’t wear a black jacket before the fourth game.
13. Tricky (Beatrice Fairchild)
Japanese name: ベアトリス・フェアチャイルド / トリッキー, Beatorisu Feachairudo / Torikkī
Origin: Subway Surfers
Companies: SYBO Games (Copenhagen, Denmark; main owner), Kiloo Games (co-owner, shut down in 2023)
English voice actress: Karen Strassman (animated series only!)
I love having characters wearing ultra-baggy jeans (including ultra-baggy jorts) as they sometimes sag their jeans so the audience can see their cycling shorts or boxer briefs to indicate they want to look cool and also wear oversized sneakers (for female characters, they want to be more tomboyish and less feminine), and Tricky wears them. She is an intelligent blonde girl who strives for perfection. The character’s real name (according to the SYBO YouTube channel’s character dossier) is Beatrice Fairchild, though I don’t wear glasses.
12. Yoko Littner
Japanese name: ヨーコ・リットナー, Yōko Rittonā
Origin: Gurren Lagann (or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)
Companies: Gainax (creator/owner, original; later shut down in 2024 and IP rights later transferred to Khara)
Japanese seiyuu: Marina Inoue
English voice actress: Michelle Ruff (Bang Zoom! dub only!)
You need sexy redheads for your projects, and I find Yoko Littner my go-to. I refused to portray redhead female characters in my works as tsundere, but I want them to become a friendly companion to the main character (either the main character’s female best friend or the main character’s younger sister). Yoko is a teenager from the village of Littner. She has considerable combat experience even before her chance meeting with Kamina and Simon (pronounced “SEE-mohn”).
11. Julia Langley
Japanese name: ジュリア・ラングレー, Jyuria Rangurē
Origin: Easy Come Easy Golf (aka “Itsudemo Golf” in Japan)
Company: Clap Hanz Limited (Rumiko Shinoda for the character designer of the game)
Japanese seiyuu: Never used. Might get an update.
English voice actress: Never used. Might get an update.
Another sexy character I want to model for the characters, though I’m not planning to purchase the game for my Switch, unfortunately. The character is a sweet summer child who is all smiles in the rough, according to the game’s official website, as she is great for intermediates (and possibly a fan favorite).
Look at her sneakers! … yeah, that’s what we’re looking at, we’re looking at her sneakers (though I still have the red Chucks myself). You know what you say, “Hey Julia, nice sneakers!”, and she looks somewhat similar to Kasumi/Misty from the Pokémon franchise (both wear red sneakers, and both wear denim short shorts, but the latter doesn’t wear any socks in the original series).
10. Morgiana
Japanese name: モルジアナ, Morujiana
Origin: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Companies: Shinobu Ohtaka (creator), Shogakukan (manga publisher, Japan), Viz Media (manga publisher, North America), A-1 Pictures (anime studio), Editora JBC (manga publisher, Brazil), Editorial Planeta-DeAgostini (manga publisher, Latin America except Brazil)
Japanese seiyuu: Haruka Tomatsu
English voice actress: Cristina Vee
You’re going to need barefoot characters for this one, and I find that Shinobu Ohtaka’s works could rival Rumiko Takahashi (as both have a set of barefoot characters). Whether the character is practicing Kyokushin karate or capoeira, walking barefoot at home, or giving the characters the ashiatsu massage, Morgiana is my go-to. Although she looks like a normal girl, as a Fanalian she possesses superhuman strength, speed, and senses, able to carry several people at the same time, jump dozens of times her height, and defeat opponents far larger than her with powerful kicks.
9. Aladdin (Magi)
Japanese name: アラジン, Arajin
Origin: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Companies: Shinobu Ohtaka (creator), Shogakukan (manga publisher, Japan), Viz Media (manga publisher, North America), A-1 Pictures (anime studio), Editora JBC (manga publisher, Brazil), Editorial Planeta-DeAgostini (manga publisher, Latin America except Brazil)
Japanese seiyuu: Kaori Ishihara
English voice actress: Please see “Diane (Nanatsu no Taizai)” for this character’s English voice actress
This precocious 10-year-old (11 and 12 during the Magnostadt arc, then to 15 in the final) traveler enters the world with a pure and innocent, yet a wise and optimistic personality that dislikes fighting. Both characters (this and the rather crappy Disney version) share similarities (both wear vests, both wear sirwals, and both walk barefoot). This Aladdin is voiced by women in both languages (original Japanese and English dub), is not a street rat, has a magic flute, has blue hair and eyes, and has a magical turban when unwrapped, acts as a magic carpet, as opposed to the rather crappy Disney version (don’t click that!) as he is voiced by men in both languages (the other way around), wears a red fez, has black hair and either black or brown eyes, wears a purple vest, his sirwal has a patch covering a hole and uses an actual magic carpet. I wanted to have my protagonists to be precocious with very little to no adult supervision. If you ask him nicely and do not insult his bare feet, he’ll give you an ashiatsu massage using his bare feet if you have been working on projects for 6–8+ hours.
8. Sonic the Hedgehog
Japanese name: ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ
Origin: Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (first appeared in Rad Mobile and later his own title)
Companies: Sega and Sonic Team, Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima (creators; latter of which is pre-1998), Yuji Uekawa (redesign, post-1998)
Japanese seiyuu: Takeshi Kusao (pre-1998), Jun-ichi Kanemaru (since 1998), Taishi Nakagawa (live-action film series and Knuckles miniseries)
English voice actors: Ryan Drummond (Dreamcast era), Jason Anthony Griffith (4Kids era), Roger Craig Smith (since 2010), Ben Schwartz (live-action film series and Knuckles miniseries)
Sonic has been on the run since 1991. He races through levels, collecting rings and avoiding obstacles, as he seeks to defeat his archenemy, Doctor Eggman. He is accompanied by supporting characters, such as his sidekick Miles “Tails” Prower, self-proclaimed girlfriend Amy Rose, and friendly rival Knuckles the Echidna.
7. Miles “Tails” Prower
Japanese name: マイルス “テイルス” パウアー
Origin: Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2)
Companies: Sega and Sonic Team, Yasushi Yamaguchi (creator/designer of this character, pre-1998), Yuji Uekawa (redesign, post-1998)
Japanese seiyuu: Atsushi Murata (Dreamcast era), Ryō Hirohashi (since the post-Dreamcast era, including the live-action film series and Knuckles miniseries)
English voice actors/actresses: Corey Bringas (Dreamcast era, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Shuffle), Connor Bringas (Dreamcast era, Sonic Adventure 2), Willam Corkery (Sonic Heroes only), Amy Palant (4Kids era), Kate Higgins (2010 — 2014), Colleen O’Shaughnessey (since 2014, including the live-action film series and Knuckles miniseries)
This 8-year-old two-tailed fox is Sonic’s best friend and I’m a frequent user of him (only in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and Team Sonic Racing), appearing in nearly every mainline and spin-off since his debut. The name “Miles Prower” is a pun on “miles per hour”, a reference to the famed speed of Sonic the Hedgehog. The character of Tails is portrayed as a very gentle, kind, comforting, and humble fox. As a longtime friend, he admires Sonic and dreams of being just like him. Tails was originally voiced by young boys between 1998 and 2004 before he was voiced by women.
6. Arle Nadja
Japanese name: アルル・ナジャ, Aruru Naja
Origin: Puyo Puyo series (Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 artwork shown; first appeared in Madou Monogatari 1–2–3)
Companies: Sega (main owner since 1998), Compile (original, pre-1998), Tetris Holding (licensor), Sonic Team (co-owner since 1998)
Japanese seiyuu: Reiko Kurusu → Kotono Mitsuishi → Mami Inoue → Minako Ozawa → Emi Motoi → Hiromi Miura → Mie Sonozaki (current)
English voice actress(es): Ali Johnston (Puyo Pop Fever only) → Please see “Diane (Nanatsu no Taizai)” and “Aladdin (Magi)” for this character’s current English voice actress
You need something to wear blue for the characters, which is my favorite color, and Arle is my go-to. I still need to learn Puyo Puyo at some point to finish the first and second Tetris games. In the first Puyo Puyo Tetris, it’s been stated she hates proper etiquette such as hand sanitation and being told not to play with your food. Her tomboyish traits are occasionally touched upon, the leading trait being that she uses the masculine pronoun, “ボク (boku)” to refer to herself. I also love her boots, though I’m not a boot person, but more of a sneakerhead.
5. Liko
Japanese name: リコ, Riko
Origin: Pokémon anime series (Pokémon Horizons: The Series)
Companies: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (main owners), ShoPro, TV Tokyo, and JR Kikaku (anime series), The Pokémon Company, The Pokémon Company International, Satoshi Tajiri (creator), Netflix (anime streaming rights)
Japanese seiyuu: Minori Suzuki
English voice actress: Alejandra Reynoso (link goes to Bulbapedia)
We all miss Ash Ketchum (“Satoshi” in Japan) and his Pikachu a lot since they left us, but this young girl who attends the Indigo Academy in the Kanto region will be there for us. Liko’s introduction to the series has been met with a positive critical response. Due to being the first time a new protagonist appeared in the show, she has frequently drawn comparisons to previous series protagonist Ash Ketchum. She also wears blue like Arle Nadja and Aladdin (Puyo Puyo series and Magi, respectively).
4. Homura Kōgetsu
Japanese name: ホムラ・コウゲツ, Homura Kōgetsu
Origin: Edens Zero
Companies: Hiro Mashima (creator), Kodansha (publisher, Japan), Kodansha USA (publisher, North America), JBC (Brazil), Editorial Panini and Editorial Ivrea (Latin America), Netflix (licensing/streaming rights for the anime series; first season only)
Japanese seiyuu: Shiki Aoki 🏳️⚧️🥳 (initially 🌟)
English voice actress: Laura Stahl
This young swordswoman is a much calmer version of Fairy Tail’s Erza Scarlet. Homura1 has the habit of voicing her inner thoughts by mistake, stemming from Valkyrie’s encouragement for Homura to overcome her quiet nature as a child. If you don’t place anything hot on her, she’ll take you anywhere… or have a swordfight (use the bokutō, sorry, real swords are an absolute no-no).
3. Videl
Japanese name: ビーデル, Bīderu
Origin: Dragon Ball
Companies: Akira Toriyama (creator) 🪦, Shueisha (manga publisher, Japan), Viz Media (manga publisher, North America), Crunchyroll (licensor, anime series), Panini Group (manga publisher, South America except Argentina), Editorial Ivrea (manga publisher, Argentina)
Japanese seiyuu: Yūko Minaguchi2 (main, including video games), Shino Kakinuma (temporary)
English voice actress: Kara Edwards
Her name is an anagram of devil as her father's name is Mr. Satan (Hercule in the English dub and Viz Media manga). Within the series, she is adept in martial arts like her father and using her abilities to fight crime in the city. She is the love interest of Gohan and plays an important role during the story arc where he is the lead character of Dragon Ball. Videl's reception has been generally positive with series fans, whereas commentators have mixed views about her relevance as a character. As one of the few major female Dragon Ball characters, her role in the series as well as other Dragon Ball media has been variously described as important or inconsequential by commentators. It also allows the female characters in my works to wear a baggy T-shirt (or oversized hoodie) with cycling shorts.
2. Ryu
Japanese name: リュウ, Ryū
Origin: Street Fighter series
Company: Capcom
Japanese seiyuu: Katashi Ishizuka (mid-to-late 1990s to 2000, except SFA3), Toshiyuki Morikawa (late 1990s to 2001, including Namco × Capcom), Wataru Takagi (SF3: New Generation and SF3: Second Impact only), Tōru Ōhawa (SF3: Third Strike only), Hiroki Takahashi (since 2008)
English voice actor: Kyle Hebert (since 2009, except Puzzle Fighter)
Ryu appears as the game’s lead character alongside his best friend and friendly rival Ken Masters since the first Street Fighter game for the arcades in 1987. Other games in the series show Ryu to be highly focused on his training, aiming to become the strongest he can be. He wears a white gi, as a symbol of his Japanese heritage, with the Japanese symbols for the Fūrinkazan (風林火山 (lit. “Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain”)) on his belt as well as a stylized version on his gloves. He normally fights barefoot before the sixth game, where he does wear sandals and grows a beard.
Honorable Mention: Hibiki Ganaha
Japanese name: 我那覇 響, Ganaha Hibiki
Origin: The Idolmaster
Companies: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Japanese seiyuu: Manami Numakura
English voice actress: Since The Idolmaster cannot be exported outside of Japan, she will not have an English voice actress.
The highly energetic and cheerful tomboyish girl from Okinawa prefers sandals instead of sneakers. Despite rivalries with the other idols, she is friendly and happy-go-lucky, without becoming overly competitive like Takane. Hibiki has an outstanding number of pets, which she happens to lose quite frequently — her pets include a mouse, a hamster (named “Hamuzō” in the anime), a gerbil, a parrot, a rabbit, a cat, a dog (a female St. Bernard named “Inumi” in the anime), a pig, a flying squirrel and, oddly enough, a crocodile. As of The Idolmaster Dearly Stars, Hibiki has become part of 765 (Namco’s goroawase number) Pro. Her three sizes also shrank, since she is the only character that happens to, leading some fans to theorize that President Kuroi had lied about her measurements.
1. Goku
Japanese name: 孫悟空, Son Gokū
Origin: Dragon Ball
Companies: Akira Toriyama (creator) 🪦, Shueisha (manga publisher, Japan), Viz Media (manga publisher, North America), Crunchyroll (licensor, anime series), Panini Group (manga publisher, South America except Argentina), Editorial Ivrea (manga publisher, Argentina)
Japanese seiyuu: Masako Nozawa
English voice actor(s)/actress(es): Sean Schemmel (teen/adult since 1999), Stephanie Naldolny (young 2001-2009; 2024), Colleen Clinkenbeard (young since 2010)
Goku has been on the screen… and in your manga since 1984, three years before Street Fighter came along. I often spike the main characters’ hairstyle to look like him. Due to the series’ international popularity, Goku became one of the most recognizable and iconic manga/anime characters worldwide.
1
Also written as “Homura Kogetsu” due to the lack of macrons on most North/South American keyboards.
2
Also written as “Yuuko Minaguchi” or “Yuko Minaguchi” due to the lack of macrons on most North/South American keyboards, since many of the Japanese seiyuu, when romanized, will have a macron.
