~1995

Series: Slayers
Age: 21 years old
Height: 5'8"
Race: 1/3 Human, 1/3 Demon, 1/3 Golem
Eyes: Black
Hair: Turquoise
Dateable? If I could get him to open up, sure
Why He's On Here: Zelgadis has a very special place in my heart. I greatly admire his cool, level-headed logic, his maturity, and his skill. Plus he's my favorite colors! ^_^ There is much to be said about his rivalry with Xelloss, as many who focused on Zelgadis were lured away by the cunning priest's wiles in the second season of Slayers. But I am fiercely loyal to my chosen focuses, and when given the choice between an angsty loner and a mysterious trickster, I will typically go for the former. Zelgadis was the first character I ever truly obsessed over, inspiring much artwork and a whole website back in the day. Without that experience in HTML this website would likely not exist. I consider him to be a lot like myself, and this closeness prompted me to roleplay as him in Yahoo! anime chat for some of the most interesting years of my life. Through him I learned how to type. Because of him I had my first internet-based relationship (even if it was with a girl who thought I was a guy). Yes, I can honestly say that my life would be a lot different today had I not discovered Zelgadis. He is like second nature to me.

Related Links: Zelgadis 1, Zelgadis 2, Zelgadis 3, Zel Collage

~1996

Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Age: 15 years old (Shuuichi), 1000+ years old (Youko)
Height: 5'11" (Shuuichi), 7' (Youko)
Race: Human (Shuuichi) reincarnation of a Kitsune (Youko)
Eyes: Green (Shuuichi), Gold (Youko)
Hair: Red (Shuuichi), Silver (Youko)
Dateable? Very
Why He's On Here: Kurama has an intoxicating mystique that is irresistible to anyone with a pulse. I fell in love with him back when only the Poltergeist Report movie was out in the USA and the Yu Yu Hakusho series itself seemed like an exotic drug that would always be out of reach. As Shuuichi he is charming, intelligent, and kind. As the fox demon Youko he is the most stunning silver-haired creature I have ever seen. He is a strategic genius who you do not want to make angry because... well lets just say there's a lot of things you can do with demonic plant powers. Kurama's influence is important for three reasons. First of all, he is a genuinely nice, reasonable, considerate, mentally stable person - a rarity in anime, and rarer still for me to be interested in such. Second of all, I want his kitsune form as a guardian/guide/familiar spirit... as long as he doesn't try to kill me. Third of all, he bleeds a lot. And by a lot I mean he could start out in a bright yellow outfit and have it be dyed entirely crimson by the end of the fight. It matches his hair and makes me worry about him... ^^;;

Related Links: Youko Guardian, You Are the Weakest Link, Goodbye!, Favorite Pairings List, Top 10 Anime/Manga Fights
Song I Associate With Him: "Roses are Red" by Aqua

~2001

Series: Berserk
Age: 17~20 years old
Race: Human/God
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White
Dateable? Maybe if your name is Guts, and only if you never abandon him
Why He's On Here: Griffith is very easy to hate, so it can get very complicated to explain why I love him so much. There are few characters with whom I identify as strongly as I do with Griffith. No, he is probably the strongest. He is my dark side. I consider him a very important teacher... in that, given the same circumstances, I hope I would have the presence of mind to choose a different path. I loved him even back when I thought he was insane in that critical moment, but it was the acknowledgement that he made a conscious, rational choice that immortalized him in my mind. His ideals about destiny, dreams, and equality are very close to mine. Like him, I will not betray myself for anything or anyone, and if my sense of self is threatened, I would need to step back and analyze why. I greatly admire Griffith's purity of will to follow his dream to hell and back. I too have dreams that I would risk anything for. They may be outwardly noble, like "helping the planet," but how many hearts would I be willing to trample on to achieve them? At what point do the ends not justify the means? I wear a screaming Behelit to remind myself of the darker side of dreams. Griffith is what I can become if I'm not careful, and I am very invested in his path to redemption (if it ever happens).

Related Links: Runaway Dream, Top 7 Anime/Manga Villains List, Favorite Pairings List
Song I Associate With Him: "Map of the Problematique" by Muse, "Forever Young" by Alphaville

~2002

Series: Devil May Cry series
Age: 20's?
Race: Half-demon
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White
Dateable? As friends with benefits
Why He's On Here: My obsession with Dante sometimes frightens me. Other obsessions might go in intense bursts that fizzle out... I may easily be able to get back into them, but they nevertheless fizzle out. Dante has been steady for several years now and is only getting stronger. I can't explain it. I can't explain why I practically vowed to marry someone who has perfect control over him, and I certainly can't explain what would possess me to plan a costume around kissing a random guy dressed as him 2 weeks in advance. I never got frustrated with the Devil May Cry games because I knew that no matter what happened, I still got to watch Dante jump around onscreen. Watching DMC gameplay is hypnotic bliss to me. The way he moves is sheer poetry in motion! On the one hand it is pure unbridled lust, on the other hand I read into him a lot deeper than most people, probably a lot more than is even there. In the end, all that matters is what he means to me. Him and his twin brother Vergil represent vital primal archetypes that I work with closely. Dante is special because, as explained by my short fanfic, he is a key to my immortality. He is the only external character I actually want to create once I get off this planet.

Related Links: Blood Fetish: Dante & Vergil Shrine, Devils Never Cry, Sibling Rivalry, Final Battle, Dante's Awakening, Vergil x Dante Cosplay, Mission Accomplished!, Favorite Pairings List
Song I Associate With Him: "The Perfect Drug" by Nine Inch Nails, "One (Always Hardcore)" by Scooter

~2004

Series: Bleach
Age: 15 years old
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 96 lbs.
Race: Human/Shinigami/Hollow
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Orange
Dateable? Probably
Why He's On Here: More than any other reason, I love Ichigo because he reminds me of my favorite person from my own world: Maedjoe. His intensity, his determination, his loyalty, his dual nature, his excessive bleeding, and his ultimate indestructibility are all things they have in common. Ichigo does not know when to give up, he will keep going even if his body gives out, and perhaps that is the kind of willpower that separates the living from the dead. That an entity's lifeforce is not measured in drops of blood but the will to exist. Ichigo finds power in testing his limits and whatever doesn't kill him makes him stronger. Several times he has met the annihilation of his body, his mind, his soul head on and managed to find the spark inside himself that refused to disappear. And that is what he means to me: the knowledge that in the end we face all things alone, and the courage to save ourselves, to grow stronger, to own our darkness, and to overcome any challenge. He is the only external character I have fully integrated into myself (because I identify him with Maedjoe).

Related Links: Strong Enough (Fan Art), Ichigo Trinity, Versus, Strong Enough (AMV), Top 10 Anime/Manga Fights, Ichigo vs the Top 10 List
Song I Associate With Him: "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler

Wherever you find Kurama you'll find Hiei, and vice versa. They're the most famous ambiguously gay duo in anime and they complement each other perfectly. Hiei is cold and aloof, Kurama is warm and friendly. Hiei is very protective of Kurama, and Kurama tends to Hiei's wounds when he's hurt. Kurama is Hiei's only friend, the only one he respects, the only one who can make him laugh, and the one who managed to rescue him from a hollow, suicidal existence. They fight together, depend on each other, and trust each other completely. I love, loove, looove everything about this couple!

What mesmerizing eye candy the half-demon Sons of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda are! One dresses in blue, the other in red; one has his hair slicked back, the other has it down; one uses a stylish katana, the other uses anything he can get his hands on. They endlessly fight over who gets to wield their daddy's power, but deep down they still care for one another. Trying to reinterpret their sibling rivalry might be incestuous, but that's fine by me so long as no offspring are involved. I mean, come on, who hasn't swooned over that "how about a kiss from your little brother" line in Devil May Cry 3?

Related Links: Blood Fetish: Dante & Vergil Shrine, Vergil x Dante Cosplay
Song I Associate With Them: "Shall Never Surrender" by Jason 'Shyboy' Arnold of Hyono, "Just Like You" by Three Days Grace, "Bye Bye Bye" by N'Sync

It's amazing that in a series as macho as Berserk, you can find something as silly as a homoerotic waterfight! Griffith was a little boy with a big dream. He had the charm, the intelligence, and the drive to get anything he wanted. Yet when Griffith decided he wanted Guts in his army, Guts refused. It was love at first fight! Over time, Guts came to see Griffith as his best friend and mentor, but Griffith saw in Guts... something more. He constantly lost his cool whenever Guts was in trouble, and treated him differently from his other soldiers. One day Guts decided he wanted to leave on a quest to find his own reason for living, and this sent Griffith on a downward spiral of insanity, jealousy, and self-destruction that eventually led to Hell on earth. Oops!

Related Links: Runaway Dream
Song I Associate With Them: "Map of the Problematique" by Muse, "What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts

There is no one in the world better suited to torture Kamui than his ex-best-friend turned arch-nemesis, Fuuma. It's heart-wrenching to watch their relationship fall apart and become so warped, but that is what makes it so fascinating. As the twisted, mean, sadistic bastard that he is, Fuuma takes great pleasure in playing with his prey. He mercilessly teases Kamui with tender hints of past closeness to make him drop his guard before slamming him into a wall or electrocuting him, and knows all the right buttons to push to make Kamui have a mental/emotional breakdown.

Lets face it, Jarlaxle heads a band of male Amazons, dresses like a pimp, speaks with eloquent wit, and is peculiarly fixated on Artemis Entreri. Artemis is the closest Jarlaxle has to a friend and the only thing in the world he appears to care about besides himself. He has saved Artemis on numerous occasions, and even helped the assassin break his maddening obsession with Drizzt (presumably hoping Artemis' attention would then turn to him). It is true that Jarlaxle seeks to use him for personal gain, but he also realizes that Artemis is the one person he can not control. Their sharp-tongued banter is a neverending source of amusement for me.

Related Links: Drizzt Do'Urden's Corner

Congratulations to Sousuke and Kaname for being the only heterosexual pairing on here! Everybody give them a big hand! Their everyday relationship of Sousuke's paranoia and Kaname's browbeating is adorable enough, but what I love most is how Sousuke's stoic military priorities fall apart whenever Kaname is in danger. Nowhere is this more evident than in episode 7 of the third season (Second Raid) where Sousuke is ordered to abandon Kaname.