Men of Power

What, exactly, makes an anime guy a "man of power"? These Leading Men are the strongest characters, the fighters extraordinaire, always ready for a fight (to save the universe, or their girl, lucky, lucky!)---but that's not all they do. These guys light up the screen with their unbelievable confidence, strength, determination and, yes, looks. They're what my sister terms "to die for."

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.

Nemesis says:
          Shuten Douji (Sh'ten) has been described by the anime fans of Penn State Capital Campus as THE MAN by men as well as women. The most complicated character in the Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (Ronin Warriors) series, Sh'ten starts out as a bad guy only to see the light and join the side of good. Beyond just being incredibly gorgeous, he is an excellent fighter and intelligent scholar. When Sh'ten sided with the evil dynasty he was so bad he was good, stealing the show from the heroes. As a good guy, he made his former compatriots look even more like idiots than they already did. Sh'ten was so vital to the series that his character development is brought to the fore. Many Samurai Trooper fans were royally peeved when his character died in the end of the series. We were even more ticked when he wasn't brought back for the OAVs.

Lillith found this image for me. Thanks a lot!

Jessica says:
          Rowen is absloutely gorgeous, and smart too. He's supposed to be the smartest among the five Ronins, but they kinda gave that to Sage (Seiji), which I grrr at. Rowen is just all around cute, his hair is totally awesome, sometimes I just want to yank that forelock! And he's always gotta be the cooler of the group, once again he got ripped off by Sage. But oh well, if you haven't seen Ronin Warriors yet, maybe you ought to. It's awesome, it's my all time fave!!

Shin-Chan sent me the picture as an attachment, saying I...noticed that you did not have a picture of Touma/Rowen. That is tragic. I do have a picture you can use...from Estheria Krystal's page, and it is rather nice.

Tarra says:
          Shoujo Kakumei Utena is one of the best new animes for seeing bishounen babes, but Touga tops them all. Sure he's a bit of a player, but he makes it all up in looks and attitude! He is H-O-T! Long sexy red hair.... smooth muscular abs... he just oozes sexuality! Not only that but he's the student council president, and he's a great fighter! Ooohhh, and the way he says "Sekai kakumei suru chikara o...(The power to revolutionize the world...)" just makes my body shiver! Utena doesn't know what she's missing!

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything about this anime, either good or bad. Tarra also donated the image you see here...

Lillith says:
          Leon is gorgeous. AND he is constantly putting his job and life on the line for the Knight Sabers. Talented, tough, plenty of attitude and style. And don't forget a sense of humor, intelligent. He's as close to perfect possible!

I've never seen the bubblegum set (Crash/Crisis and heaven knows what else!) but I trust Lillith's taste. This picture-happy otaku also sent me the picture...

Stella says:
          A guy like him needs to be on your list, he's the newest character on Yuu Watase's manga Ayashi no Ceres. He sort of looks like Tamahome, but much better every time I look at him, he is definitly the guy!! So sweet, mysterious and fine too. It's so hard for me to see how he struggles to find his past since he's forgotten it all. He would risk it all for one girl too...he's just too cool! There's no words to describe him...I'm left speachless. I just wanted this fine guy to be on your list since he's really the guy for it.

I have no experience with Yuu Watase's manga, but any guy who reminds anyone of Tamahome deserves to be on this page! I found the image somewhere on this site--thanks to Stella for pointing it out!