Have you ever noticed how many anime feature animal characters? Whether it’s a talking cat or a wolf that can take human form, anime animals have been delighting audiences for years. We’re not just talking about the cute animal characters that make you go “aww” when they do something funny or adorable. We’re talking about the ones who are just as well-developed as any human character and whose storylines involve them trying to find love, struggling with their identity, or fighting against societal expectations.
Beastars, the successful anime licensed by Netflix, is only the latest addition to the pot. It features a whole cast of anthropomorphic characters living their lives in a school where herbivores and carnivores try to peacefully coexist… until one of them gets killed.
The world of anime has always been filled with animal characters — but we’ve never seen so many shows with animals that actually play a vital role in the story as protagonists or significant sidekicks. If you’re curious about which animal anime characters won the hearts of Japanese animation fans, we did all the hard work and collected them here!
#1 Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
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#2 Jiji (Kiki’s Delivery Service)
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#3 Appa (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
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#4 Baron Humbert (The Cat Returns)
Considering his popularity in Whisper Of The Heart, it’s no wonder Studio Ghibli decided to give Baron a more prominent role in this spin-off. An anthropomorphic cat with a kind and generous heart, he’s the owner of the Cat Bureau and one of Haru’s most valuable allies, willing to risk everything to get her back home. His polite manners and polished outfits make him a pretty fascinating anime character.
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#5 Moro (Princess Mononoke)
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#6 Miyo Sasaki (A Whisker Away)
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#7 Ein (Cowboy Bebop)
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#8 Prince Lune (The Cat Returns)
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#9 Luna (Sailor Moon)
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#10 Heen (Howl’s Moving Castle)
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#11 Retsuko (Aggretsuko)
A hard-working and well-mannered red panda, Retsuko works as an accountant for a corporation based on a strict hierarchy. Her elders’ mockery and constant bullying lead Retsuko to dream of a better life, with screaming her heart out at karaoke being her only way to vent her frustrations. Aggretsuko is populated with interesting and cute animal characters, but none of them will ever be as relatable as Retsuko.
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#12 Black Hayate (Fullmetal Alchemist)
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#13 Eevee (Pokémon)
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#14 Hamtaro (Hamtaro)
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#15 Chuntaro (Demon Slayer)
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#16 Fenneko (Aggretsuko)
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#17 Kirara (Inuyasha)
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#18 Blair (Soul Eater)
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#19 Kimba ( Kimba The White Lion)
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#20 Sajin Komamura
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#21 Momo (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
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#22 Alexander (Fullmetal Alchemist)
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#23 Yuri (The Cat Returns)
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#24 Kiba (Wolf’s Rain)
Kiba is a ruthless loner whose only goal is to find the Lunar Flower and open the way to Paradise. He takes great pride in being a wolf and despises humans for mass killing his kind. This is why he feels irked when other wolves use their human disguises, even if he eventually realizes it’s necessary to survive.
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#25 Porco Rosso (Porco Rosso)
The most famous anti-fascist in anime, Porco Rosso was an Italian veteran pilot during World War I before a tragic event sent him into a spiral of guilt and led him to transform into a pig. His past and disillusionment with people drove him to become an incredibly cynical man. However, his encounter with Fio changed his mind and made him believe there’s still some hope for humanity.
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#26 Kyo (Fruit Basket)
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#27 Muta (Whisper Of The Heart)
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#28 Shao May (Fullmetal Alchemist)
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#29 Ame (Wolf Children)
The polar opposite of his older sister, Ame is a shy kid who struggles to embrace his half-wolf, half-human nature. Bullied throughout his childhood, he can’t seem to connect with humans, and growing up only makes him more distant from the civilized world and his family. The siblings’ path towards self-awareness is one of the movie’s central themes and contributes to making the story so much more remarkable.
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#30 Shirokuma (Shirokuma Café)
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#31 Artemis (Sailor Moon)
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#32 Kisa (Fruit Basket)
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#33 Legoshi (Beastars)
Legoshi is that character you can’t help but relate to. Born as a wolf with a heart of gold, the stereotypes associated with his species make his life more complicated than it should be. Having to live in a society where herbivores and carnivores try to coexist and consuming meat is strictly prohibited, he struggles on a daily basis with his internal battles to suppress his true nature and avoid messing up the few relationships he was able to build over time. He’s definitely one of the best-written animal protagonists in anime.
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#34 Pikachu (Pokémon)
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#35 Panther Lily (Fairy Tail)
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#36 Hawk (Seven Deadly Sins)
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#37 Yuki (Wolf Children)
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#38 Den Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist)
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#39 Kuroneko (Trigun)
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#40 Kasugaigarasu (Demon Slayer)
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#41 Michiru Kagemori (BNA: Brand New Animal)
Similar to Beastars, BNA: Brand New Animal is another refreshing take on how animal main characters are portrayed in anime. Michiru Kagemori is your usual teenager, but one day gets transformed into a tanuki-like creature under mysterious circumstances. She barely makes it to Anima City, where she hopes to find some sort of remedy for her condition. Focused on turning back to her human form, she doesn’t want to be associated with beastmen at first, but as the series progresses, Michiru starts to develop respect and gratefulness for the beastmen living in Anima City.
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#42 Yuki (Fruit Basket)
Yuki embodies the Rat of the Zodiac, and the 2019 Fruits Basket adaptation finally gave this character some well-deserved justice. Not only does the new adaptation show us a more easy-to-like version of him, but it also goes deeper into his motives and actions that were not so clear in the first series. A chick magnet, Yuki looks like the type of guy with no self-esteem issues, but he’s actually profoundly affected by his past, to the point of being terrified of rejection, and keeps most people at a distance.
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#43 Pakkun (Naruto)
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#44 Ryo-Ohki
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#45 Hatsuharu (Fruit Basket)
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#46 Agumon (Digimon)
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#47 Tonton (Naruto)
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#48 Haida (Aggretsuko)
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#49 Antoinette (Ouran High School Host Club)
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#50 Washimi (Aggretsuko)
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#51 Cerberus (Cardcaptor Sakura)
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#52 Carla (Fairy Tail)
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#53 Nezu (My Hero Academia)
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#54 Zeke (Highschool Of The Dead)
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#55 Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga (Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga)
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#56 Shenlong (Dragon Ball)
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#57 Korin (Dragon Ball)
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#58 Mokona Modoki
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#59 Mimi (Children Who Chase Lost Voices)
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#60 Haru (My Roommate Is A Cat)
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#61 Chobi (She And Her Cat)
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#62 Akamaru (Naruto)
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#63 Chi The Cat (Chi’s Sweet Home)
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#64 Yoruichi Shihouin (Bleach)
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#65 Nyanko Sensei (Natsume Yuujinchou)
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#66 Grimmjow Jaggerjack (Bleach)
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#67 Kagura (Fruit Basket)
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#68 Tokoyami (My Hero Academia)
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#69 Hiroshi Odokawa (Odd Taxi)
Odokawa is a middle-aged standoffish taxi driver disinterested in almost everything around him and thus lets his customers do all the talking. Thanks to his job, he learns about the mysteries and oddities occurring in Tokyo, including the puzzling disappearance of a teenager. His incredible photographic memory leads him to piece together the intrigue happening in the series, just from clues and tidbits of conversations with his clients.
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#70 Menchi (Excel Saga)
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#71 Owner (Blend S)
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#72 Ayame (Fruit Basket)
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#73 Jibanyan (Yo-Kai Watch)
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#74 Wanta (Elfen Lied)
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#75 Frosch (Fairy Tail)
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#76 Arthur (Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Rebellion)
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#77 Katsuyu (Naruto)
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#78 Shamisen (Melancholy Of Haruhi-Chan Suzumiya)
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#79 Babu (Sankarea)
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#80 Tama-Chan (Love Hina)
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#81 Calico (Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They?)
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#82 Kumoko (Yes I’m A Spider)
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#83 Natsu (Kumamiko: Girl Meets Bear)
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#84 Gamabunta (Naruto)
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#85 The Happy Cat (Fairy Tail)
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#86 Tony Chopper (One Piece)
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#87 Makkachin (Yuri On Ice)
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#88 Shigure (Fruit Basket)
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#89 Puar (Dragon Ball)
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#90 Ao (Yona Of The Dawn)
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#91 Manda (Naruto)
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#92 Hawks Mother (Seven Deadly Sins)
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#93 Kazuhito (Dog & Scissors)
A once bookwormish high school student, Kazuhito reincarnates into a dog after getting killed while trying to protect a girl during a robbery. That same girl ends up adopting him and is revealed to be Shinobu Akiyama, Kazuhito’s favorite novelist! Getting a second chance at life and the opportunity to meet your idol sounds like heaven if it weren’t for the fact that Akiyama is a sadist with a peculiar habit of terrorizing Kazuhito with a pair of scissors.
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#94 Kaiman (Dorohedoro)
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#95 Ryo-Ohki
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#96 Genma Saotome (Ranma ½)
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#97 Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
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#98 Haru (Beastars)
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#99 Doraemon (Doraemon)
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#100 Potato (Air)
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#101 Inko (Toradora!)
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#102 Tetsuya Number 2 (Kuroko’s Basketball)
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#103 Pen Pen (Evangelion)
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#104 Carue (One Piece)
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#105 Wiz (D.N. Angel)
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#106 Chimaera (Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!)
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#107 Loser (Tokyo Ghoul)
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#108 Leon (Reborn!)
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#109 Sketchy (Sk8 The Infinity)
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#110 Rilakkuma. Kiiroitori. Korilakkuma (Rilakkuma And Kaoru)
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#111 Sadaharu (Gintama)
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#112 Laboon (One Piece)
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#113 Nero (Black Clover)
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#114 Bubbles (Dragon Ball Z)
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#115 Panda (Shirokuma Café)
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#116 Mokona (Magic Knight Rayearth)
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#117 Kuro (BNA: Brand New Animal)
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#118 Momiji (Fruit Basket)
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#119 Juno (Beastars)
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#120 Monokuma (Danganronpa)
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#121 Guts (Kill La Kill)
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#122 Nagoya (My Little Monster (Tonari No Kaibutsu-Kun))
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#123 Boota (Gurren Lagann)
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#124 Fukasaku (Naruto)
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#125 Hibird (Reborn!)
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#126 Turtle (Dragon Ball)
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#127 Burupya (07-Ghost)
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#128 Natsu (Reborn!)
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#129 Danny (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)
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#130 Meow (Space Dandy)
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#131 Memine (Death Parade)
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#132 Suu (One Piece)
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#133 Kohaku (In Another World With My Smartphone)
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#134 Beck (Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad)
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#135 Kuro The Vampire (Servamp)
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#136 Madarao (Kekkaishi)
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#137 Terry Cloth (Toriko)
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#138 Umagon (Zatch Bell)
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#139 Bill (Beastars)
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#140 Riz (Beastars)
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#141 Ebichu (Oruchuban Ebichu)
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#142 Maru (Kimi Ni Todoke)
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#143 Usamaro (Kamigami No Asobi)
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#144 Taroumaru (Gakkougurashi)
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#145 Chip (Rio: Rainbow Gate)
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#146 Taurus (Fairy Tail)
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#147 Hamsuke (Isekai Quartet)
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#148 Kedama (Given)
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#149 Uri (Reborn!)
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#150 Chomusuke (Isekai Quartet 2)
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#151 Wanpo (Hajime No Ippo)
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#152 Morgana (Persona 5)
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#153 Louis (Beastars)
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#154 Oolong (Dragon Ball Z)
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#155 Tokugawa (Miracle Train: Oedo-Sen E Youkoso)
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#156 Iggy (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)
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#157 Mieu (Tales Of The Abyss)
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#158 Rak Wraithraiser (Tower Of God)
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#159 Sonic The Hedgehog (Sonic The Hedgehog)
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#160 Tails (Sonic The Hedgehog)
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