While the activity may vary, anime’s sports genre tends to stick to established conventions. More often than not, the focus is on a high school club that is either newly formed or has fallen on hard times, firmly establishing the main characters as the underdogs. The protagonist is often a genius at the activity but is let down by their personality or lack of experience.
Protagonists might not always be the most popular characters of a show, but they are crucial in keeping audiences glued to their seats. As they grow as athletes and people, viewers live vicariously through them. Here are the best sports anime protagonists of all time, ranked.
Honorable mentions go to Run with the Wind's Kakeru Kurahara, Ace of Diamond’s Eijun Sawamura, and Prince of Tennis’s Ryoma Echizen. There are a lot of great sports anime protagonists.
10 Initial D – Takumi Fujiwara
Alongside his Eight-Six, Takumi Fujiwara went from delivering tofu to engaging in street races with some of Japan’s greatest racers. Takumi does not have much of a presence, often coming across as relatively passive, but his demeanor changes once he is behind a wheel.
Takumi becomes a force of nature, a masterful and instinctive driver who is forceful and powerful. The driver might not have the most attention-catching personality but Initial D’s protagonist is an icon of the sports genre.
9 Major – Goro Shigeno
Goro Shigeno might not be the most original anime protagonist of all time, but Major is one of those rare series that chronicles a character’s entire career. Starting out from when he was 5 years old, Goro goes from a hopeful pitcher trying to honor his father’s legacy to a professional baseball player who competes in the World Cup.
As a personality, Goro is competitive, dense, and quick to anger. These traits change as he grows older, as the audience watches the ambitious but immature boy grow into a family man with his own children.
8 Chihayafuru – Chihaya Ayase
Karuta might be a card game rather than a conventional sport, but Chihayafuru has all the elements of a standard entry in the genre. The key component that sets it apart from its peers is Chihaya Ayase, the endearing protagonist with a passion for competitive karuta and a desire to reconnect with a childhood friend.
Beautiful but ungraceful, Chihaya is blunt, honest, somewhat naive, and explosive, traits that are reflected in the way she plays karuta.
7 Kuroko’s Basketball – Tetsuya Kuroko
Regardless of whether it is a solo or team sport, the genre’s protagonists tend to take center stage. As such, Tetsuya Kuroko – the phantom sixth player – is quite an anomaly, as his whole playstyle involves him acting as the shadow that enables other players to shine brighter. He is the ultimate team player, and this is reflected by his unassuming and quiet personality.
Kuroko juxtapositions his predominately calm demeanor with sporadic angry outbursts and brief moments of hilarity, scenes that only serve to enhance the character’s appeal.
6 Ashita no Joe – Joe Yabuki
Ashita no Joe’s importance is undeniable, as it paved the way for other boxing series like Hajime no Ippo and Megalo Box, with the latter being directly inspired by Asao Takamori’s manga. A street urchin who learns to fight as a means of survival, Joe is generally abrasive, especially in the anime’s first season; however, things begin to change significantly following the character’s ill-fated fight with Rikiishi.
There is no sports anime protagonist more influential than Joe Yabuki, even if his character can feel a bit conventional by this point.
5 Cross Game – Aoba Tsukishima
Kou Kitamura deserves an honorary mention, as his relationship with Aoba serves as the heart of Cross Game. A very talented pitcher unfortunately limited to unofficial games due to being a girl, Aoba is a complex character who struggles with anger issues, jealousy, and grief, which constantly puts her at odds with the similar Kou.
Cross Game is primarily a drama that just happens to feature baseball as a major plot element; consequently, Aoba and Kou are both realistic characters who show significant growth throughout the anime.
4 Ping Pong: The Animation – Makoto Tsukimoto
Also known as Smile, the stone-faced Makoto Tsukimoto was a bullied kid who was saved by Peco, and the two would eventually become ping pong players alongside each other. Although both are skilled, Smile becomes disenchanted with the sport while the naturally gifted Peco continues to grow; however, when the latter begins to drift astray following a few losses, the former raises his game to get Peco back on the court.
Ping Pong: The Animation is all about its characters, serving as a coming of age story for Smile and especially Peco. Their friendship is the heart of the series, and Smile is an especially strong and unique character for the genre.
3 Haikyuu!! – Shouyou Hinata
The short but athletic Shouyou Hinata is the ultimate underdog. After spending middle-school as the only member of the volleyball club, he joins Karasuno’s team as a spiker, a powerhouse school that has seen better days. Hinata forms a partnership with the highly talented but unapproachable Kageyama.
Along with being frequently hilarious, Hinata’s determination to excel in a sport that does not accommodate his stature is nothing short of inspiring. Throughout the anime’s run, Hinata is constantly developing as a player, while his personality lifts up those around him.
2 Slam Dunk – Hanamichi Sakuragi
While Hanamichi Sakuragi has no interest in basketball, he is interested in Haruko Akagi; therefore, he agrees to join Shohoku High School’s basketball club when he is invited by her. Sakuragi is loud, arrogant, and a delinquent. He is confrontational to the point of obsession and his antics often lead to embarrassing situations for everyone involved.
Unfortunately, the anime ends before it could complete Sakuragi’s arc. Even then, the character still undergoes a great deal of development as he slowly grows to love basketball, which gives him some direction in life.
1 One Outs – Toua Tokuchi
Although revolving around baseball, One Outs is an entirely different beast to most of its genre counterparts. The gambling series follows Toua Tokuchi, an enigmatic pitcher who joins the Lycaons professional baseball team after psyching out their star batter in a street game.
Once in the big leagues, Tokuchi uses mind games and psychological warfare to destroy opposing players while also accepting progressively bigger bets with the Lycaons’ owner. Tokuchi is vicious, cold, and calculating. In a genre that generally dishes out protagonists who are wide-eyed teenagers, Tokuchi comes across as a grown man.