Cyberpunk Review » Favorite Anime Character? Motoko Blows’em Away!

November 11, 2006

Favorite Anime Character? Motoko Blows’em Away!

Ghost in the Shell  Screen Capture

In Cyberpunk Review’s most recent poll question, cyberpunk anime fans have spoken loud and clear - Major Motoko Kusanagi wins hands down! Starting off as a 10 member list, after a whopping 486 votes, the results are as follows:

 

Who is your favorite cyberpunk animated character?

  • Major Motoko Kusanagi - Ghost in the Shell: 41% (198)
  • Batou - Ghost in the Shell: 17% (84)
  • Lain Iwakura - Serial Experiments Lain: 8% (40)
  • Gally (Alita) - Battle Angel: 6% (27)
  • Tetsuo Shima - Akira: 5% (26)
  • Æon Flux - Æon Flux: 5% (26)
  • Togusa - Ghost in the Shell1: 4% (19)
  • Priscilla S. Asagiri ‘Priss’ - Bubblegum Crisis: 3% (17)
  • Deunan Knute - Appleseed: 3% (16)
  • Real Mayer - Ergo Proxy1: 2% (12)
  • Armitage - Armitage III: 2% (11)
  • Taarna - Heavy Metal: 1% (6)
  • Saito - Ghost in the shell11: 0% (1)

Total Votes : 486

1 = Added by a guest


Ghost in the Shell  Screen Capture

 

Major Motoko Kusanagi - Ghost in the Shell: 41%

Major Motoko Kusanagi has been a cornerstone of manga and anime since the early 90s. Starting out as a manga character in Masume Shirow’s highly influential Ghost in the Shell, she was transformed to the big screen by Anime master Mamoru Oshii in an anime of the same name in 1995. Since then, she’s played a cameo in GITS: Innocence, and more recently has starred in the GITS: Stand Alone Complex OAVs. Motoko, an extreme mechanically enhanced cyborg secret operative working for Section 9 - Japan’s anti-terrorism division, is one of the most recognized characters in cyberpunk. She’s hawt, highly intellectual and a badass besides. Her musings concerning the merging of man and machine are among the best discussions in cyberpunk. Probably just as important for this poll, some people LOVE the movie, while others are just as in love with the GITS:SAC series - no doubt both voted for this choice in garnering a whopping 198 votes!

 

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence  Screen Capture

 

Batou - Ghost in the Shell: 17%

Surprisingly, our #2 choice, Batou comes in with a stron 17% vote finish. This means that the Ghost in the Shell series took in 58% of all votes cast - 62% if we add in user-added Togosa’s score! Talk about domination! Batou is also a serious badass with a complex history, but he also has an intellectual side. While he is a co-star in the first GITS movie and in GITS SAC, he is the star of GITS: Innocence. If you’ll looking for one of the finest visual feasts in anime coupled with some truly deep and interesting philosophical examinations, look no further than Batou in GITS: Innocence.

 

Serial Experiments Lain  Screen Capture

 

Lain Iwakura - Serial Experiments Lain: 8%

For our #3 choice, Lain Iwakura is another of the mammoths in cyberpunk anime. If you’ve seen more than 3 cyberpunk animes, chances are you’ve seen Serial Experiments Lain. Written by post-modern scriptwriter-extraordinaire, Chiaki Konaka, Lain is a character who’s mind is slowly merging with cyberspace. The series itself is one of the first post-modern anime series, and is anything but straightforward. Like most of Konaka’s stories, it will take you more than a few episodes to figure out what’s going on, but the wait is worth it! Lain is both cute and vulnerable, but also represents the cyberpunk story of a normal person thrown into technological circumstances far beyond their control. Lain’s response, and the story itself provide some wonderful grist in thinking about the influence of cyberspace on the global consciousness.

 

Battle Angel Screen Capture

 

Gally (Alita) - Battle Angel: 6%

One of the all-time greats in manga, Battle Angel Alita, is also a favorite in anime. While difficult to get your hands on, if you can find a copy of Battle Angel (think “Ebay”), chances are you’ll love it. Alita is one of the all-time cool anime cyberpunk chicks. Set in a dystopic world, Alita is literally put together from spare parts in a trash heap. It turns out, however, that she’s the farthest thing from a piece of junk. Battle Angel, which is highly influenced from the trail blazed by Akira, has some terrific post-human interest stories coupled with top-quality fight scenes.

 

Akira Screen Capture

 

Tetsuo Shima - Akira: 5%

Tetsuo is one of the most influential characters in one of the most influential animes of all time - Akira. In true punk form, rebelling against the system, Tetsuo is transformed into a post-human powerhouse. The visual style provided by Katsuhiro Ôtomo and company forever transformed anime. In fact, most trace modern anime to this movie.

 

Æon Flux Screen Capture

 

Æon Flux: 5%

Created by Peter Chung, Æon Flux is one of the sexiest animated characters around. If you haven’t seen it, Æon Flux is completely post-modern cyberpunk, with seriously inverted storylines, massively wierd technological impacts, and truly strange circumstances. More interesting, in season two, Æon ends up dying virtually every episode - and the deaths are spectacular! If you’re looking for a true “don’t give a shit” sexy badass anti-heroine, nobody comes close to Æon Flux.

 

Ergo Proxy  Screen Capture

 

The Rest: 15%

Color me surprised, but I really expected Priss from Bubblegum Crisis and especially, Real Mayer from Ergo Proxy to do much better. In Real’s case, perhaps most haven’t seen Ergo Proxy. For Priss, perhaps someone else here has a good theory. While I love Deunan Knute from the Appleseed animes (first & second), and especially love Armitage from Armitage III, I doubted these were going to generate much interest. But Togusa? Wow! He wasn’t even on the list, but ended up garnering 4% after being added!

This post has been filed under Poll Results by SFAM.

Comments

November 12, 2006

Tony said:

What? No votes for Aika?

Vesper said:

w00t for the Major :) Still, I expected that male chars would do a bit better - the results make me think that cyberpunk fans are sexist otakus ;)

November 13, 2006

End_of_Eternity said:

I don’t think it’s anything to do about sexism. I think it’s more to do with the fact that that GITS literally dominates the cyberpunk anime world. And Kusanagi is the main character in GITS.

Maybe if we had some other cyberpunk animes as good as GITS (IMHO GITS is unrivaled - especially in the cyberpunk/action anime section) then we would see less GITS domination.

SFAM said:

Hi Guys, I definitely agree that Motoko dominates cyberpunk, so this isn’t that surprising. But I do sort of agree with Vesper as well - hawt cyberpunk chicks kicking butt is definitely a major trend in cyberpunk. I even have a category for this:

http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/hot-cyberchicks-kicking-butt/

Zyro said:

Hi.

I agree with must of the things said here.
But don´t forget the possibility that the voters only knew 1 or 2 animes, maybe the more commercial…
This is an excelent place .Congratulations SFAM.

SFAM said:

Hi Zyro, this is a terrific point. I might want to craft a multi-choice poll that asks people which animes have they seen or something. But I agree with you - I’m sure this scews things.

December 2, 2006

Zyro said:

Hello there.

If you like Ghost in the Shell go http://zyro-ghostintheshell.blogspot.com/.

Give suggestions.

Thus

December 8, 2006

wiseBoy said:

Hey, that is not Tetsuo, he is Kanedaa…
Do not promote chaos, plz, we have enought outside..
very nice place, tihs..

December 9, 2006

Zeonic Freak said:

I voted for Priss… and proud of it!!!!

February 9, 2007

mike said:

Hey, If I came to this poll earlier and cast my vote, I would have voted for Togusa too!

April 29, 2007

shelley said:

ghost in shell is it !!!!!!

August 16, 2007

Lou Vacant said:

Essential…..!

August 17, 2007

randomrob said:

Mmmmmmmmotoko…. :)

August 19, 2007

Ak!mbo said:

As much as I agree GitS dominates Cyberpunk anime, I don’t think it’s very fair.
Akira, though hardly as great animated as in book form, is still an incredibly vividly animated feature, which depicts an oppressive post disaster Tokyo and its low life inhabitants. I haven’t seen much of the GitS series, but I’ve seen the movie quite a few times and I’ve read both the mangas.

August 25, 2007

Bullet Fiend said:

wiseBoy’s Right!

And speaking of which, why wasn’t Kaneda a candidate? I would’ve voted for him. Nothing against GITS but I wish Akira and BLAME! dominated cyberpunk…

September 9, 2007

eneve said:

motoko and lain are by far my favorite cyberpunk anime characters… i also just saw ergo proxy which i agree was great, but her character doesn’t embody as many of the cyberpunk qualities as motoko and lain do

September 19, 2007

brat said:

this pic are mad dop and i like um

September 21, 2007

Insomanic said:

It’s worth noting that I only liked Motoko in her original movie iteration… outside that, I think she’s portrayed as a “Mary Sue” character. Stand Alone Complex… ugh.

June 4, 2008

sital said:

hi

Anchor said:

Spike and Faye are missing there? whyyyy?

June 9, 2008

werner kajal m. said:

yes, where´s spike spiegel? :) is cowboy bebop also kind of cyberpunk? i think yes, because at least the atmosphere and the visuals are heavily influenced by bladerunner….

June 10, 2008

Anchor said:

Of course its cyberpunk,living in the space,spaceships,chips in everything..holograms..only robots are missing..

ok… cyberpunk… it is then… yes, there a no cyborgs… but who cares…. cowboy bebop is great; but i think space-setting is no criteria or definition for cyberpunk… however great anime and story…. and yes: kaneda should been voted as charakter… he´s cool cyberpunk chara… ok… anything else? :)

artgeek707 said:

re-l (real?) is my personal favorite as is lain. I would have voted for them

June 28, 2008

Megan Sonoda said:

I figure it has to do with not too many people having seen Ergo Proxy, and GiTS is an active franchise, while the original BGC hasn’t been active since BGCrash (yech!).

June 4, 2009

yoann said:

coollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!

June 5, 2009

kabukiman said:

Yep, I would voted Real or Lain.

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