Top 10 Light Novel Characters 2010: BiriBiri, Trap Top Rank

The annual “Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!” ranking has been published, definitively ranking the characters of the latest crop of light novels. The results see Mikoto seizing the top female spot, but even she is no match for the powerful charms of ambiguous gender…

The ranking, in the format “Name / Title (Gender Ranking)”:

1. Hideyoshi Kinoshita / Baka to Test to Shōkanjū (♂1)

2. Araragi Koyomi / Bakemonogatari (♂2)

3. Touma Kamijou / Index (♂3)

4. Mii-kun / Usotsuki Mii-kun to Kowareta Maa-chan (♂4) [Mii-kun is undrawn so Maa-chan is substituting for him in the illustration]

5. Ken Sugisaki / Seitokai no Ichizon (♂5)

6. Mikoto Misaka / Index (♀1)

7. Ryuji / Toradora (♂6)

8. Tooko Amano / Bungaku Shoujo (♀2)

9. Nanase Kotobuki / Bungaku Shoujo (♀3)

10. Konoha Inoue / Bungaku Shoujo (♂7)

Other characters of note are Bakemonogatari’s Hitagi at 12, Toradora’s Taiga at 15, Index’s Accelerator at 17 and Kino no Tabi’s Kino at 18. Horo scrapes in at 20, a spent force it seems.

Baka to Test to Shōkanjū actually came in as the number one novel overall, so doubtless we will be seeing more of this franchise later. Hideyoshi actually came first in the last male ranking and tenth in the last female ranking (second overall), quite an achievement in more ways than one, and not just figuratively speaking.

Aside from a very obvious fascination with the charms of ambiguous gender, the most interesting aspect of this ranking is the gratifying failure of insubstantial moe characters to dominate the list, with certain tsundere icons and their respective works all but banished from the rankings, despite strong showings last year.

If these results are any predictor of the direction of the anime they so often spawn, the industry may be heading out of the moe/tsundere boom and into the era of cross-dressing shota…