From Hollywood movies to sitcoms and anime, representation matters now more than ever.

Yet not all works of fiction show an earnestness.

Attempts at representation can instead feel like pandering if planning and execution are flawed. Or worse, it can reinforce negative stereotypes which is arguably one of the biggest problems of poor character representation.

But things are changing a lot these days. And changing for the better.

Thankfully, anime throughout its history has had many memorable, well-designed black characters — so let’s check out some of the memorable ones right here.

Top 25 Black Anime Characters

25. Kaname Tōsen

black anime characters

 

Series: Bleach
Created By: Tite Kubo
Voiced By: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Kaname Tōsen was the captain of the Ninth Division. Blind from birth, he hides this condition with visor glasses; his other senses, however, are very acute and allow him to easily perceive the presence of anyone.

Dark-skinned, he wears his long dark brown hair (dark purple in the anime) gathered in pigtails, which are themselves sometimes tied into a ponytail, and over his uniform, he always wears an orange scarf tied around his neck.

Inflexible, introverted, and extremely faithful to his personal beliefs, he is willing to do anything to defend his ideas; his philosophy of life, matured following the killing of a dear friend by her husband for futile reasons, is based on always following the path with less bloodshed: according to him, in fact, those who do not fear the sword they wield he has no right to brandish one, a phrase also repeated by his lieutenant.

 

 

24. Coffee

male black anime characters

 

 

Series: Cowboy Bebop
Created By: Hajime Yatate
Voiced By: Atsuko Tanaka

Coffee was a bounty hunter. On Io, Coffee followed a bounty head, Domino Walker, and started visiting a few places to learn about him. At a stop, a truckload of watermelons, she bought a melon to entice the shopkeeper to help her later. Unbeknownst to her, Edward and Ein, who were drooling over melons at the time, had slipped into the trunk of their car.

She drove into town and later, at a gas station, Coffee was approached by two police officers who were also looking for Walker. They wanted to search her car, which she didn’t mind. However, when they found Ed and Ein, they took them to the Io Police Department.

Despite her insistence that she knew nothing about the child, Sergeant Jeffly Frank questioned her. She saw Edward walk past the station again and, when he was distracted by a phone call, snuck out to follow him.

She quickly followed Ed and found Walker jumping on a train. She followed him closely and shot Walker, but couldn’t catch him. Edward caught up with her and got on the train, using Coffee’s car as a stepping stone. Soon Shaft, who was also chasing, fell from the train directly onto the car and fell. They both survived.

 

23. Kilik Rung

black anime character

 

 

Series: Soul Eater
Created By: Atsushi Ōkubo
Voiced By: Kenichi Suzumura

Kilik Rung is a pot meister, the weapons partner of the Fire and Thunder Twin Weapons, and is one of Death Weapon Meister Academy’s top three student fighters.

Kilik is described as hearty, passionate, hot-blooded and ambitious to be the one who thinks about countermeasures against witches. He tends to dress in a certain hip hop style.

22. Nessa

black anime character naruto

 

Series: Pokémon
Created By: Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda
Voiced By: Sora Amamiya

Nessa is the Gym Leader at Hulbury’s Gym, officially known as Hulbury Stadium. She specializes in Water-type Pokémon. She gives the Water Badge to the coaches who beat her. Nessa has been shown to suffer a Champions Cup loss to of Milo.

Subsequently, she was approached by Rose, who hinted that the loss had occurred because she had been distracted from her concurrent modeling career. This upset her and she expressed her frustration on Sonia.

Later, during a photoshoot, Nessa reunited with a Feebas she had met as a child, who was now a Milotic. After that, she decided to ignore Rose’s words and continue to be both a Gym Leader and a model.

She was working ta a model photography studio when she received an invitation letter for the Galarian Star Tournament. She was then spotted walking onto the grounds of Wyndon Stadium for the tournament’s opening ceremony.

 

21. Carole Stanley

Series: Carole and Tuesday
Created By: Shinichirō Watanabe
Voiced By: Miyuri Shimabukuro

 

Carole Stanley is an outgoing orphan trying to survive in Alba City by taking on several part-time (short-term) jobs while pursuing her dream of becoming a musician. Her official Instagram is “Carole Stanley Official”.

Overall, Carole is kind, welcoming and patient which has gone a long way in bonding with Tuesday. Carole doesn’t seem to have many friends, if any (other than Tuesday), which is a bit odd considering her bright and outgoing personality.

20. Bob Makihara

 

Series: Tenjho Tenge
Created By: Oh! great
Voiced By: Shin’ichiro Miki

Bob Makihara is a young man from South Africa, so most of the people on the show call him “the stranger.” Despite his heritage, Bob is portrayed with blue eyes and a Japanese-sounding surname (his surname could be African).

He’s known for his long dreads and muscular build (in fact, he’s one of the strongest characters in the show physically). Little is known about his past, except that his father was a first lieutenant in the United States.Navy and he met Souichiro Nagi in his second year of elementary school and called himself the Knuckle Bombs.

His girlfriend’s name is Chiaki Konoike and they really seem to be in love. Souichiro is his best friend and he also seems to respect Masataka Takayanagi.

19. Michiko Malandro

 

Series: Michiko & Hatchin
Created By: Sayao Yamamoto, Takashi Ujita
Voiced By: Yōko Maki

A strong, independent woman who has just escaped for the fourth time from one of the world’s most severely guarded prisons. Michiko frees Hana from the abusive treatment of her adoptive parents after entering their home on her scooter through a window.

She claims that she knows Hatchin’s father, that he was a good man, and that she fell in love with him at first sight. She has a mysterious tattoo on her stomach.

18. Nils Yajima

 

Series: Gundam Build Fighters
Created By: Kenji Nagasaki, Yōsuke Kuroda
Voiced By: Shin’nosuke Tachibana

Nils Yajima, earlier known as Nils Nielsen, is a supporting character who appears in the television series Gundam Build Fighters and Gundam Build Fighters Try.

During his first appearances, Nils only cared about science, he was never in the Gunpla battle for fun, but just to study Plavsky particles. After his battle with Sei and Reiji, he realized that he actually loved Gunpla.

17. Claudia Lasalle

 

Series: Macross
Created By: Shōji Kawamori
Voiced By: Noriko Ohara

Claudia LaSalle is a character that appears in the Super Dimension Fortress Macross television series, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? flim and The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012 OVA.

Claudia is an officer that works on the bridge of the SDF-1 Macross. She is best-known for being Misa Hayase’s best friend, and Roy Focker’s girlfriend.

16. Marik Ishtar

 

Series: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Created By: Kazuki Takahashi
Voiced By: Tetsuya Iwanaga

Marik Ishtar is a character from the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and anime. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Marik Ishtar is the owner of the Millennium Rod, which allows him to create shadow play and control an individual’s mind. It was thanks to it that he was able to create his secret villainous organization.

His goal is to take revenge on Pharaoh Atem (Yugi’s double) and to appropriate his infinite powers in order to replace him. For this, he must have in his possession the three Egyptian God cards: Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon and the Winged Dragon of Ra.

Marik, accompanied by his sister Isis and Odion, will later welcome Yugi and his friends, who have come to Egypt to help the Pharaoh find the memories of his past. After their victory against Zorc the Dark in the past of Atem (who has regained his memory), Yugi and his companions go to the place where the soul of the Pharaoh will be released. Marik and the others attend the duel between Atem and Yugi.

 

15. Darui

 

Series: Naruto
Created By: Masashi Kishimoto
Voiced By: Ryōta Takeuchi

Darui is a shinobi of Kumogakure and the right-hand man of the Fourth Raikage, whom he later succeeds as the Fifth Raikage. Darui was once a student of the Third Raikage.

During his apprenticeship, Darui learned, among other things, the Raikage’s unique black rai technique. Along with C, he also served as a support for the Third Raikage.

Darui is a highly skilled and capable shinobi: he was chosen as one of the bodyguards and right-hand man of the Fourth Raikage, and as the leader of the Allied Shinobi Forces First Division during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

His skills ultimately enabled him to almost single-handedly defeat the Gold and Silver Brothers who wielded the precious tools of the Sage of the Six Ways. Years later, Darui acquired a great skill that enabled him to become the Fifth Raikage.

 

14. Atsuko Jackson

Series: Michiko & Hatchin
Created By: Sayao Yamamoto, Takashi Ujita
Voiced By: Maki Sakai

She lived in the same orphanage as Michiko and seems to have a score to settle with her. She is now in the police force and was responsible for the arrest of Michiko twelve years before the start of the plot. Michiko likes to call her “Jumbo” to anger her.

(Jumbo is a Portuguese term for both syzygium fruit and a dark-skinned person.) She seems to harbor conflicting feelings for Michiko and is sometimes seen helping Michiko out of a bad situation.

13. Muhammed Avdol

Series: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Created By: Hirohiko Araki
Voiced By: Kenta Miyake

Muhammad Avdol is a key ally in Stardust Crusaders. Featured as an Egyptian friend of Joseph Joestar, he joins the group on their journey to defeat DIO, providing knowledge and advice on hostile pit users and local cultures in the process.

Avdol is a Stand user and runs the fire-handling Stand, Magician’s Red. Avdol generally comes across as a serious, responsible and generally fair person. As a result, it is very important for him to maintain his “image” (as he repeatedly points out in the fight against Mariah) as a responsible and responsible person.

12. Kaz Kaan

Series: Neo Yokio
Created By: Ezra Koenig
Voiced By: Jaden Smith

Kaz Kaan is a magistocrat, a decent bachelor, Caprese’s official boy, and an occasional demon slayer. He is a main character in the Netflix animated series Neo Yokio. Kaz is a “polite” and “elegant” man.

He is usually very outspoken and will not hesitate to do or say anything, even if it would hurt someone. He can also be very selfish and selfish at times, like using Lexy to make Cathy jealous when he was turned into a woman because his cousin Jeffery cursed his uncle’s swimming pool.

11. Edward

Series: Cowboy Bebop
Created By: Hajime Yatate
Voiced By: Aoi Tada

Originally from Earth, Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, mostly called “Ed”, is a somewhat androgynous young hacker who says she is 13 years old. Ed can be seen as a “free spirit”; she likes to exclaim for no reason and childish rhymes.

She’s often distracted and she’s the show’s primary source of physical humor. She rarely walks but prefers to run, crawl, jump, roll, walk on her hands and can’t stand having something on her feet, they are always naked. She often speaks for herself in the third person.

Not much is known about her origins except the fact that she grew up in an orphanage after being abandoned there by her father, a man named Appledelhi Siniz Hesap Lütfen.

In the manga, we learn that she was friends with a rather shy young boy known as “Tomato” (which turns out to be the name scribbled in katakana on the front of his computer) who, like Ed, s he knew a lot about computers and it was probably him who allowed Ed to become the genius hacker that she is.

10. Andrew Gilbert Mills

Series: Sword Art Online
Created By: Reki Kawahara
Voiced By: Hiroki Yasumoto

Andrew Gilbert Mills, known as Agile in Sword Art Online (SAO), ALfheim Online (ALO), and Project Alicization, is a supporting character in the Aincrad Arc and a recurring character throughout the Sword Art series. Online.

He was one of 10,000 players trapped in Sword Art Online (SAO), where he was a skilled crook and merchant who owned a shop in Algade, a town on the 50th floor of Aincrad. After returning to the real world after the Sword Art Online incident, Andrew started playing ALfheim Online (ALO) as a gnome. In real life, Andrew runs the Dicey Café with the help of his wife.

9. Mr. Popo

Series: Dragon Ball
Created By: Akira Toriyama
Voiced By: Toku Nishio, Kawazu Yasuhiko

Mr. Popo is the servant of the person who finds himself in the role of God of the Earth. He is an overweight humanoid with black skin, round eyes and large red lips, and has no nose or hair. Mr. Popo is totally devoted to God and Dende, going so far as to protect them at the cost of his own life.

He is in charge of training Goku and his companions in anticipation of the clashes with Piccolo, Nappa and Vegeta and later retrieves the Earth Dragon Balls and asks Shenlong to resurrect Frieza’s victims.

8. Kuzan, a.k.a. Aokiji

Series: One Piece
Created By: Eiichiro Oda
Voiced By: Takehito Koyasu

Kuzan, better known by his old nickname Aokiji, is a former Navy Admiral and the first to be revealed. He was appointed by Sengoku for the post of Fleet Admiral. However, after losing the post to Sakazuki, he resigned from the Marines.

He currently joined the Blackbeard Pirates for reasons unknown. He is a minor antagonist of the Long Ring Long Land Arc (one of the main antagonists of Foxy’s Return Arc in the anime), and along with the other Marines, he is one of the main antagonists of the Marineford Arc.

7. Katara

Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Created By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Voiced By: Mae Whitman, Eva Marie Saint

Katara is a fictional character and one of the main characters in the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender of Nickelodeon. At 14, Katara is a Waterbender of the South Pole Water Tribe, who along with her brother Sokka found Aang, the last Airbender and Avatar in this series. The latter had been missing for 100 years.

Katara and Sokka accompany Aang in his quest to defeat the Fire Nation and restore peace between the four nations of the globe. The name Katara could be derived from the Spanish or Portuguese catarata which means waterfall or waterfall.

Since the start of the series, she has had the gift of Waterbending. She is initially only an apprentice and over the course of the episodes she learns to better control her power. She is learning to heal people through her mastery.

In the eighth episode of the third and final season, Hama teaches her how to perfect her Waterbending and teaches her “Bloodbending”.

6. Jet Black

Series: Cowboy Bebop
Created By: Hajime Yatate
Voiced By: Unshō Ishizuka

Jet Black, known on his native satellite as Black Dog for his tenacity, is a 36-year-old former police officer from Ganymede (a satellite of Jupiter). Physically, Jet is very tall and very muscular. He wears a beard without a mustache and he is completely bald except the back of his head.

Spike is lazy and selfless while Jet is a brave man with an interest in many subjects. Jet was formerly an inspector with the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) for many years until he lost his left arm in an investigation that went wrong when his corrupt partner (and friend at the era) betrayed him.

His arm was replaced by a cybernetic limb, despite the possible biological prostheses, which he kept so as not to forget what happened. This injury and the corruption that rotted the ISSP ended up disgusting Jet, who became a freelance bounty hunter. Jet considers himself a “man of the renaissance”.

5. Killer B 

Series: Naruto
Created By: Masashi Kishimoto
Voiced By: Hisao Egawa

Killer B is a shinobi from Kumogakure. He is the most recent of the eight-tailed Jinchūriki, although unlike his predecessors, he was able to befriend him and improve his power to Kumo’s advantage. Although B is responsible for protecting the village, he aspires to become the best rapper in the world.

As Kumo’s guardian who has long before mastered his unique powers, Killer B is an extremely powerful shinobi able to single-handedly overpower Taka’s entire team of other dangerous fighters. As a child, he accomplished alone missions to be carried out as a team with his partner A, which made him realize that his little brother was more talented than him.

Even Minato Namikaze has stated that B is a ninja of great strength, and not just a Jinchūriki. B was able to stand up to Akatsuki’s Kisame Hoshigaki and later the Two-Tailed Beasts during The Second Shinobi World War.

4. April

Series: Darker than Black
Created By: Bones, Tensai Okamura
Voiced By: Takako Honda

April was an MI-6 agent assisting November 11. Not much is known about April’s history, but it can be assumed that she has been working with November 11 and July for quite some time, as they seem to know each other well and work perfectly as a team.

April and her team have a bond because each of them depends on each other to complete a mission.

She gets along well with the rest of her team, with November 11 as the leader. April has a penchant for alcohol and therefore takes advantage of it as her compensation, which is to drink beer. She is a heavy drinker and can even outdo bar owners.

She acts on her own when needed, as shown when she tried to hunt down Amber. After the death on November 11, she returns to where he died in July and shows some emotion about his death.

3. Canary

Series: Hunter × Hunter
Created By: Yoshihiro Togashi
Voiced By: Reiko Kiuchi (1999), Motoko Kumai (2011)

Canary is the Zoldyck family’s apprentice butler. Anyone who attempted to relinquish her position on the property will be forcibly removed. Canary is very loyal to the Zoldyck family.

She was initially presented as a ruthless guardian who doesn’t hesitate to attack intruders, but as Gon noted, she isn’t as heartless as she claims, etc., although she tries to deny it.

She was deeply moved by his attempts to reach Killua as she felt affection for her young master. Killua was nice to her and opted that they should be friends, but she refused because of her position. Her loyalty to Killua has more than once caused her to ignore his orders to varying degrees.

Canary is in her early teens. She has gray eyes and dark purple hair tied back in thick tufts, each tied at the tip with a string that vaguely resembles stars. She has a round face, a small nose, and thick lips. Your skin is dark brown. She wears Zoldyck’s usual butler uniforms.

2. Afro Samurai

Series: ΛFΓO SΛMUΓΛI
Created By: Takashi Okazaki
Voiced By: Samuel L. Jackson

Afro or better known as Afro Samurai is the main protagonist of the Afro Samurai (ΛFΓO SΛMUΓΛI ) series. Afro is an incredibly talented swordsman whose father was beheaded in front of his eyes when he was but a child.

This traumatic experience left an innocent little boy bowled over for revenge and Afro turned into a cold-blooded murderer ready to kill anyone to get number one. As number two, Afro killed many in defense and revenge to avenge his murdered father.

1. Yoruichi Shihōin

Series: Bleach
Created By: Tite Kubo
Voiced By: Satsuki Yukino

Yoruichi Shihōin is a longtime friend of Kisuke Urahara and one of the first allies of Ichigo and companions, helping them discover and develop their powers in anticipation of the clash with the Shinigami to free Rukia.

She initially presents herself in the guise of a black cat, in which she can transform at will, while in human form she is a woman with curvy shapes, dark skin, and purple hair.

She is very easy going and she loves to amaze others by transforming when they least expect it or to take on a manly tone in her form as her cat, so that no one understands that she is really a woman.

Tite Kubo has stated that Yoruichi is one of his two most beloved female characters, along with Rangiku Matsumoto, stating that he enjoys “drawing her and creating stories with her”.

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