Characters Who Exceeded Expectations

[Kouji Tamino]

Ever started watching a series, a character shows up with a familiar set-up and you're all ready to speculate, but then the charactacter ends up completely surprising you?

For me, one of these characters was Shizuru Fujimura from Godannar!! as soon as I saw ADV's trailer, I thought "Great, another girl who has feelings for the main character and makes her jealously painfully obvious..." I almost facepalmed when she slapped Anna in an early episode.

However, she quickly nullified my fears and went on to become of of my favorite characters in the series. She got the job done, didn't let her feelings for Goh cloud her judgement, and seriously kicked some ass. She even put her body on the line while recovering from injuries to ensure that the Go-Okusaer was ready to be piloted when Anna returned because she had faith in her. Sure, she's a little rough on Anna early on, but only because she wants to make sure Goh has the best partner possible. She's nothing but supportive of the younger pilot once she's proved herself and never lets herself grow envious or petty towards her.

[The Great Bear]

Interesting question.

One who comes to mind for me would be Mio Hio from DNAngel. When she first appears, I was wondering what was up. She seemed like she'd be some typical rival for the male lead's affections, while secretly being a tool of the "bad guys," but then she turned out to be quite surprising in how her actions and role developed---as well as what she actually was.

[nakimushi]

Taiko - Kosuna from Desert Punk - First, she doesn't even appear until episode 4. Then, she doesn't reappear until episode 7 (of a 24 episode series), I never even considered that she would become more than just the comic relief sidekick.

However, she becomes IMO, the heart of the entire show. She eventually starts to provide a thoughtful balance between the ruthless realists like Kanta (Sunabouzu), and the seemingly impractical idealists, and very surprisingly in episode 21 she even becomes the main character of the show!

All in all, she turned out to be a great character.

[DiRF]

Kintaro Oe from GoldenBoy - Took him for a lovable loser who can't do anything right but still gets the girl in the end, but holy crap he was the complete opposite... a master of all trades who actually DOESN'T end up getting the girl in the end, always leaving before she gets a chance to jump him.

Fujiwara Takumi from Initial D - I swear to God I knew NOTHING of this series when I started watching it. So I thought he would be a guy who starts out as an amatuer who gets beaten, but then trains hard, improves and finally starts winning near the end... boy was I shocked.

[Talyn]

Ayato Kamina; RahXephon - He seemed a bit like like Shinji in Eva... oh shit did he break that notion before too long. He actually welcomed his destiny, took it into his own hands and sang the forbidden song. I need to watch this again soon...