Moments of Glory

These guys we originally did not think of as being particularly hot in any special way, but they grew on us. At first glance, they're fairly ordinary--or so you'd think. Then the character starts to unfold the deeper you get into the anime, till at the end you wonder why you didn't like him to begin with! There's more to these guys than meets the eye. Then there are other guys wouldn't have been considered eliglible for the ranks of the Leading Men at all if it weren't for one shining moment that catapulted their otherwise average looks, skills and personality onto the level of WOW!

That's why this category is called "Moments of Glory"--there was one moment of clarity, a flash of intuition that hit you at some point in the anime, making you realize, "Hey, he isn't half bad..." That one redeeming quality led to the appreciation of these Leading Men. I just couldn't leave them out.

Not Quite Standard Disclaimer:
The images here were gleaned from many different sites--wherever I happened to see a good picture of the Leading Man in question...In some cases I had to chop him out of a bigger picture, brighten the image itself--anything to get HIS solo mug up there. If I'm using your image and you don't like what I've done to it, tell me about it and I'll take it out. Remember: all images here belong solely to their creators.

All guys are plugged in ALPHABETICALLY per page, and in the order I received the suggestions, to avoid the reams of hate-mail I can imagine for inadvertently maligning *your* Leading Man.

Lauren says:
          ....he's just a lady killer in Jr.High. (I mean....I think he's a cutie!!!!!)...He is a very sweet person that sometimes doesn't think his actions through before talking to Himeko^_^ Which usually ends up in him being kicked or slapped. The best page on the series is Edward Yim's Hime-chan no Ribon page.

Heheheheh...my apologies. Daichi was suggested by Lauren, but Dragon (her sister) was the one whose address was used. Sorry for the mix-up!

In a four volume OAV, this ace test pilot only began scoring Leading Men points at what was practically the end of #2. His character rapidly picks up though, and in the end we were rooting for the guy we had at the beginning termed "that b*st*rd!" In fact, his arrogance and foolhardy ways had my sister and I constantly yelling "STUPID!" at his antics.

All that exuberance was merely because of the high he gets while flying, not to mention the escape he gets from all the problems trailing him. By volume 4 he's not detestable at all; in fact, true friendship like that is pretty rare...

Major Katsuragi says:
          Kaji is an ex-boyfriend of Misato back from their schooldays...Sure, he may be a cad at times and he dresses sloppily, but there are times when he's just irresistible because he knows what he wants! He's definitely a handful though...he knows exactly what to say at moments and yet maintain that sense of mystery! Definitely a man with that unrefined roguish charm that always takes you by surprise.

I must admit, I was intrigued by this undercover operative. I especially liked the way he manages to be both 'wise councillor' and comic relief at the same time. His thoughtfulness cannot be denied, although at times he is too concerned with getting what HE wants, above all.

So his father is one of THE Men of Power--that doesn't mean he inherited the position! Kidding aside, he was almost in that category, because he's so cool and cute, cute, cute!!! Unfortunately, (in my opinion) he was all that and more when he was younger, i.e. during Cell Saga or thereabouts. Not a moment before and definitely not after.

After that, he turned into that pathetic high school idiot with the stupid Videl for a girlfriend. You wouldn't believe how depressed my sister was when she saw his later incarnations. He should never have grown up. Why, oh why did they have to use Gohan to satirize the 5-man teams? He was an ultra-cool looking guy. It was just his attitude that sucked. Wotta waste...

This image came from Wuken's fantastic gallery. Long live--his scans are incredible!

v^v^v Egao ^v^v^v says:
          Trowa Barton is from Gundam Wing and he is soooo hot! He's the broody, bottle-it-in type, and he hides behind a mask. A clown mask in fact. You've got to give him credit for that...you know how many people HATE clowns? Well here's the best looking clown that everyone can love (I know I do) I'm sure deep down he's really sweet and sensitive...well maybe not super sensitive, but sweet at least.

Ahh--another guy from the inestimable Gundam Wing. I should really see at least some of this anime! The image is courtesy of Mihoshi!