The List

7 Biggest Crybaby Heroes

With all the stress anime characters go through; death, violence, giant robots, destruction, sometimes letting out a good cry makes everything better. It's a miracle many don't ball themselves up in a corner and cry.

7. C-ko (Project A-ko) Best friend and love interest (?) C-ko Kotobuki is the adorable sidekick to kick-ass fighter A-ko. She's the "girly girl" of the two, displaying a child-like innocence, horrible cooking skills, and crying at the drop of a hat. This only endears A-ko in her quest to protect her from her enemies all the more, even when it includes space invaders looking to retrieve their lost princess.

6. Chihaya Ayase (Chihayafuru) Chihaya is a master karuta card player and founder of her high school team. Through her pursuit of becoming the karuta "queen" the game also delves into a lot of emotional history for herself, and her opponents. The right combination of cards can set Chihaya into an emotional tailspin, leading to many tears on her part, and the audience too.

5. Sakura Kinomoto (Card Captor Sakura) You have to cut Sakura some slack, the poor girl is only in the fourth grade and already dealing with the loss of her mother and magical creatures to boot. Throw the kid onto a flying staff with orders coming from essentially a stuffed lion and it's no wonder she gets so out of sorts. There's the added embarrassment of her best friend insisting on recording her face-offs and immortalizing them on film. It's kind of amazing she doesn't have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and should count herself blessed that YouTube didn't exist yet.

4. Mikuru Asahina (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) Asahina is just...so...embarrassed! The constant ribbing by Haruhi as the club's "mascot" and the fetish outfits turn her into a blubbering mess. Asahina's real purpose, beyond the day-to-day activities of the SOS Brigade, is to fulfill her top-secret mission as a time-traveller (which is totally "classified information.") In reality, versions of Asahina are pulling more strings than her crybaby counterpart would ever let on.

3. Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) It wasn't until viewing the edited together Madoka Magica movies that I realized how much time everyone, Madoka especially, spends crying. That's not to say a lot of crappy things don't happen to magical troupe. A lot of violent, live-changing, horrible things. Madoka's own helplessness to the events around her as a normal, human bystander warrants the tears and makes her more relatable to the audience (who likely also consist of normal, human viewers). If Homura's journey proves anything, its that there was no avoiding the sad moments Madoka went through.

2. Usagi Tsukino (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon) Is there any female super hero more well known for her crying? In the first manga chapter, Sailor Moon's wails are so piercing, they resound off her hair plates and manage to stun the enemy. This probably the only time those things were shown to have any kind of purpose. Otherwise, Usagi cries in daily life on a regular basis. Her test scores are bad, she's hungry, she trips, Mamoru makes fun of her test scores...the list goes on. In all fairness, she does buck up and gain a stronger resolve the more experience she gains, without losing her gentle heart.

1. Shinji Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion) Shinji Ikari is one of the most divisive anime protagonists. The audience either relates to his hormonal, depressive teenage angst or they loathe him for his non-committal pity party. In Shinji's defense, piloting a giant robot on a moment's notice for your estranged father isn't something I'd jump up an down to do, especially after seeing it almost kill him. The people of Tokyo are also getting stomped left and right, his classmates beat him up at school, his adult roommate/guardian sends him sexual signals, and his fellow pilots loathe him or outright ignore him. Maybe its an inner desire to see him prove everyone wrong that makes his boo-hooing so frustrating.

The new poll: Of the following gentle giants, which is your favorite?

The old poll: Last week's poll asked what anime clown was the scariest?. The child-like psychotic clown from Cowboy Bebop episode Pierriot le Fou took the top spot, justifiably. *shivers*:

1. Mad Pierrot (Cowboy Bebop) 35.2%
2. Hisoka (Hunter × Hunter) 23.1%
3. Millennium Earl (D.Gray-Man) 17.0%
4. Piemon (Digimon Adventure) 8.8%
5. Alan Gabriel (The Big O) 3.6%
6. Trowa Barton (Gundam Wing) 2.7%
7. Maze Landsborough (Dream Eater Merry) 2.4%
8. Lafitte (One Piece) 2.1%
9. Pierrot Bolneze (Yakitate!! Japan) 1.3%
10. Tommyrod (Toriko) 1.3%
11. Penchinon (GaoGaiGar) 1.0%
12. Orgel (Violinist of Hameln) 0.7%
13. Romario Monini (Mobile Fighter G Gundam) 0.5%
14. Pierrot (Hell Teacher Nube Film 2) 0.3%

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Alright everybody, see you all next week! I look forward to your input in the comments and feel free to follow me on Twitter @ANN_Lynzee or e-mail me at [email protected].