Who are your top five favorite anime characters?

[Vance]

Male
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1. Vash the Stampede (Trigun)
2. Allen Schezzar (Escaflowne)
3. Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)
4. Lupin (Lupin III)
5. Jet Black (Cowboy Bebop)

Female
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1. Chihiro (Spirited Away)
2. Misato (Evangelion)
3. Lina Inverse (Slayers)
4. Edward (Cowboy Bebop)
5. Millie and Merril (Trigun)

Yeah, those lists are kind of arbitrary. People that easily could have swapped out for some positions are:

Folken (Escaflowne)
Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)
Asuka (Evangelion)
Excel (Excel Saga)
Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)
Inu Yasha (Inu Yasha)
Aisha Clanclan (Outlaw Star)
etc etc.

Man, there are a ton of good characters in anime, in fact it's one of the genres primary strengths.