Everyone loves Shonen Jump protagonists. Characters like Goku have defined an era of shonen heroes for generations now, and Naruto and Ichigo have gone on to become legends in their own right. However, there are other shonen manga besides those in Weekly Shonen Jump. Both Weekly Shonen Sunday and Weekly Shonen Magazine have a pedigree nearly as long and resulted in series that are nearly as popular like Fairy Tail, Fire Force, and more.
And it's impossible to make a popular series without beloved protagonists. Shonen heroes are generally likable, having strong moral codes and wanting to stand up for innocents or the people around them.
10 Natsu Dragneel Supports The Other Members Of Fairy Tail No Matter What (Fairy Tail)
Introduced in Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel is an energetic protagonist who wants to learn what happened to the person who raised him, Igneel. Most of the time, he’s a laid-back guy who just likes going on missions and hanging out with the members of his guild.
He’s willing to do anything to protect other members of Fairy Tail, no matter what the enemy is capable of. Of course, he wants to fight with every person he meets, but that only means he respects everyone else’s strength.
9 Negi Springfield Is A Hardworking Young Mage Looking For His Dad (Mahou Sensei Negima)
People are used to loud, boisterous protagonists in the vein of a Goku, but some shonen protagonists are built differently. Negi Springfield is one such protagonist. Despite being so talented at magic he graduated at ten years old, he still doubts himself. And with good reason—his “graduation” was merely the first step, and he quickly finds himself overwhelmed by the large number of fighters and mages who are better than him.
But he’s still diligent and hard-working, and cares about all of his students at Mahora Academy.
8 Eikichi Onizuka Will Go To Any Lengths To Help His Students (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Eikichi Onizuka is from Tooru Fujisawa’s Great Teacher Onizuka series. He’s a former biker gang member who decides to become a teacher because he thinks it’ll get him more respect and make it easier to hit on women.
But while he sounds like a rather unpleasant person, in reality, he finds himself a better teacher than anyone responsible for hiring him could have imagined. He ignores the rigid expectations from the private school system and does everything he can to reach the students in his classroom. His determination leads to him getting a problem class on his side and becoming a permanent teacher.
7 Noa Izumi Loves Her Giant Robot So Much She Named It (Mobile Police Patlabor)
The original Patlabor was published in Weekly Shonen Sunday. The series ran for twenty-two volumes, telling the story of Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2. The group consists of a group of oddballs unlike any most anime fans have ever seen, including lead protagonist Noa, who’s obsessed with mecha to the point that it’s why she joined the police.
She’s a spunky young girl who names her Labor and refuses to do anything that might damage it in combat. There’s very little of the typical shonen protagonist in her—she just wants to help people and pilot a giant robot—surely some goals that most people share.
6 Shinichi Kudo Loves Solving Mysteries (Case Closed)
Considering Case Closed has been on television since the '90s, Shinichi Kudo happens to have one of the longest-running shows in anime history at this point. Formerly a genius high school detective, Shinichi spent much of his time solving cases and embarrassing both the cops and private detective Richard Moore.
But digging too deeply into a case involving a secret organization leads to Shinichi being attacked and turned into a young child. Still, despite this change, the irrepressible Shinichi continues to try and solve crimes even as Conan.
5 Kenichi Shirahama Will Outwork Anyone Even Though He Has No Talent (History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi)
By now everyone’s used to the protagonist who’s secretly good at fighting, or whatever the series is about. But Kenichi isn’t good at martial arts. His trainers constantly tell him he’s got no true talent, and the only way he’s able to get anywhere is through pure hard work.
Over time, his constant training elevates him to be able to compete with true geniuses. Of course, it also helps that his trainers are some of the most talented martial artists of all time...but it only means he has to train harder than anyone else.
4 Ginta Toramizu Helps The People Of MAR-Heaven Even Though He Doesn't Know How To Fight (MAR)
Introduced in MAR by Nobuyuki Anzai, Ginta Toramizu is a nerdy kid who doesn’t have any combat abilities. He’s so weak that he avoids any kind of conflict...until he finds himself in an alternate world where the lighter gravity makes him stronger. In this new world, despite having never been good at fighting, he decides to fight for the sake of a world he knows nothing about.
Ginta’s courage in the face of the King and Queen of the Chess Army makes him an inspiring leader and all-around likable guy.
3 Aladdin Becomes More Powerful Just So He Can Help His Friends (Magi: The Kingdom Of Magic)
When Magi begins, it’s easy to see Alibaba as the main protagonist. After all, Aladdin is tiny and behaves more like a comic relief character than a protagonist. He’s addicted to eating and doesn’t really seem to like fighting very much. But thanks to his status as a Magi, Aladdin is actually one of the strongest characters on the show.
He gains strength not to be strong, but to protect those he cares about, and no matter how much he learns or how strong he gets, he never looks down on everyone else. Aladdin’s near impossible not to like. Unless one just finds themselves frustrated with him stealing other people’s food.
2 Shinra Kusakabe Just Wants To Be Recognized As A Hero (Fire Force)
Shinra Kusakabe might seem fearless because of his smile, but he’s actually anything but that. Whenever Shinra is uncomfortable or nervous or scared he can’t help smiling in the face of it. And Shinra is smiling literally all the time, while he uses his incredible powers as a pyrokinetic to help Special Fire Force Company 8 in dealing with the truth behind the Adolla Burst phenomenon.
Shinra really only wants to become a hero, fighting to gain the respect and trust of everyone around him.
1 Shiki Granbell Is Aiming To Be Friends With Everyone In The Universe (Eden's Zero)
Shiki might seem like a carbon copy of Natsu Dragneel, but he’s actually a fairly different character. Shiki is much more of a sensitive guy, though he doesn’t look it. Natsu’s goal is to protect his guild above all else, while Shiki just wants to make friends with everyone he meets. And once he’s friends with someone, he’ll do anything for them.
Beyond that, it’s difficult to dislike someone who does RPG-style “class changes” in the middle of meeting someone, stealing top-secret stuff from villains because he’s decided to become a “thief”.