There are a multitude of characters in Sword Art Online seasons 1 and 2. These various heroes and villains all have unique back stories making them people we care about as audience even if we don’t side with them personally. In season 2, during the Mother’s Rosario arc which focused on Asuna Yuuki, we meet one of the most intriguing females Sword Art Online II has to explore. Konno Yuuki starts off with a bang as she is introduced as a female swordswoman who defeats numerous duelists and even defeats Kirito! However, that isn’t what makes Konno Yuuki intriguing…it’s the fact that she is near death and plays virtual games while locked in a cube.

Yuuki, at an early age, was diagnosed with HIV. Thus, Yuuki’s parents attempt to keep her alive by having her sent to a research hospital where they use a device called the Medicuboid that allows people to live within virtual spaces while their bodies are treated and researched. When fans learned of Yuuki’s pains it caused them—including us—to want to rush to her side and take care of her for ourselves. Yuuki, unfortunately, does perish in the series but still remains alive in the numerous Sword Art Online games and within our hearts as a girl we’d gladly die for if we could.

Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii desu ka? —SukaSuka for short—is a show that centers around people living in a world that is constantly filled with danger and death. Numerous creatures trounce upon the land causing humanity to go extinct—except for one—and animal hybrids/leprechauns/fairies to flee to the skies above. While many of these characters in SukaSuka die horrible deaths or have worse things happen to them there was one character we hoped would escape that fate. In some ways she did, but her fate wasn’t what many expected would happen. This girl’s name is Chtholly and her story is a unique one.

Chtholly is a fairy warrior who—like many of the others at the orphanage—fights to protect her home in the sky and those she cares about. Chtholly, as the series progresses, begins to have weird effects happen as she fights. At one point, Chtholly begins to show signs of having another soul within her and it causes her to experience a strange dilemma. Fight one more time and risk losing herself or let the world and the ones she loves perish? Chtholly’s final choice we won’t spoil but know that we wished we could take up arms so she didn’t have to in SukaSuka.

In the world of anime, there are some strong females out there. You have Revy from Black Lagoon, Yoko from Gurren Lagann and the list continues. These various girls kick butt and rarely would you hear us say we’d take bullets for them because they don’t need that protection. Casca from Berserk was—keyword “was”—one of these women. Casca was never afraid to stand up to demons or enemies, regardless of her gender or how she was viewed. Unfortunately, after the “Eclipse,” Casca went from strong warrior to a girl who constantly needed protection.

The “Eclipse,” for many of the characters from Berserk, was the game changer of the series. Not only did numerous characters die during this event but the few who didn’t—Guts and Casca—were branded as targets to be hunted until they would eventually die. Casca though went through a worse ordeal after being tormented by Griffith and ended up losing her sanity. Now as a wandering woman with a child-like demeanor, Casca needs constant protection from Guts and his traveling comrades. We don’t think many would not want to join in protecting Casca as we remember the strong woman she once was long ago…

Death is absolute, we all know this. As depressing as it might seem, dying means we need to cherish each and every minute we have on this Earth. If you truly want to learn the meaning of this, watch Plastic Memories as it shows a concept of time being so precious indeed. One of the “female” leads in Plastic Memories is Isla and from episode one, we fell in love with this “girl”. Yes, we are using quotes as Isla isn’t exactly normal and we’re trying to convey that.

Isla is actually a Giftias. For those scratching their heads, Giftias are androids that look, act and are human-like but have a time limit to their operation. Once a Giftia reaches a specific time, they must be returned and reset losing their memories and personalities or they go into a berserk rage and become dangerous. When we learned of this fate for Isla, we felt just like main man Tsukasa Mizugaki. We wanted to hold Isla and keep her safe as long as we could till her end days finally came.

In a world full of ninjas and shinobi, you would think no one could possibly make our Top 10 Anime Characters that You’d Die for list. However, Naruto: Shippuuden fans would probably argue that is far from the truth. There are numerous characters from the Naruto world that we’d jump in front of kunai and shuriken for without batting an eye. Hinata Hyuuga is definitely one of these shinobi we’d die for. During the Pain Arc, Hinata was in a tough battle and we watched every second of it realizing our love for her and the desire to keep her safe.

Hinata, in the Naruto series, has had easily the most growth out of all the females. Originally very timid and shy as a child, Hinata began to grow strong and proud. Hinata would eventually become one of the strongest Hidden Leaf Village shinobi and even fulfill our ship of her with Naruto when the two tied the knot later in the series. Though, this never stopped us from wanting to keep Hinata safe as she faced so many hard fights and tough situations. We might not be ninjas but we’d train all day if that meant we could stand by her side and do battle with Hinata to keep her out of harm’s way.

Did you think our list was going to be all females? Truth be told, we thought that might be the case as well here at Honey’s Anime. Most guys in anime—even the timid ones—aren’t people we’d die for too fast since they usually don’t face dangerous situations. Then it hit us! There is indeed one—well two but we’ll start with one first—dude we’d die for. He might have started off as a normal teenager in a world filled with political strife and issues but later he would rise up and become a leader. His name is Lelouch Lamperouge and he is the fifth on our list for a reason.

Lelouch might have the power to control people with his left eye but no matter what, he’s still very human. When in a gun fight or in a mecha battle, Lelouch can be taken down just like anyone else and that always made us pray for his safety in battle. Did we agree with all of Lelouch’s actions in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion? No, but that didn’t matter to us. We just wanted to keep Lelouch safe and while his fate is unknown currently, we still think he’s indeed alive and well…especially if the movies prove to be true canon.

Have you ever stopped and asked this question? What character’s death in an anime affected me the most? With all of our years in watching anime, there is and will always be one “hero” that we instantly think of and regret his passing. Known simply as Kamina, he was an anime death that left us shocked and awed when it occurred in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann—Gurren Lagann for short—back in 2007. Kamina dying made us rewatch the first half of Gurren Lagann and always think of one thought. Is there a way we could protect this dude?!

While Kamina was no weak or timid hero, he was someone who showed the anime world what it meant to stand for what you believe in. Kamina was all about fighting your destiny and never regretting the fight unless you stopped before it was completed. That made us dread the day he passed in Gurren Lagann, but we kept wanting to die for this shining beacon of a guy. Kamina will always be in our hearts here at Honey’s Anime. Though we know many of you out there also have a little Kamina inside there too.

Most of the anime characters from our Top 10 Anime Characters that You’d Die for list have been people in life or death situations. Some have perished but we never stop thinking we could have protected them while others have made it out unscathed. Taiga Aisaka from Toradora! has never faced a dangerous battle in her life, assuming you don’t count the battle of love which can be quite daunting and deadly. Taiga might be rude, tsundere to the core, and aggressive, but that doesn’t stop us from wanting to keep the palmtop tiger safe. Taiga has a lot of troubles in life that make her someone you just want to endure her pain so she doesn’t have to.

Taiga, in Toradora!, faced a love rectangle of sorts. Before falling in love with Ryuuiji Takasu, Taiga loved Yuusaku Kitamura. Meanwhile, Ryuuji was originally head over heels for Minori Kushieda. There original goal of helping one another find love in their crushes didn’t pan out the way they wanted it too but it did lead to their own relationship forming and that made us go aww and scream with joy. Though during that romantic warfare we kept feeling Taiga’s pain of wanting to be noticed. Love might not have killed her but it was still a danger we wanted to die for Taiga so she wouldn’t have to endure it.

We have to wonder how many of you saw Rem being on our list? While the cute maid might be part human and part demon, we know some of you knew Rem would make our list and be quite high on it. Though for others, maybe Rem being on our Top 10 Anime Characters that You’d Die for list was a shock. Again, Rem is a demon maid so she could protect herself, right? Well, Rem might be tough and strong, but that didn’t stop us from wanting to keep her safe and restart time just like Subaru from Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu had to do.

Rem is just one of those girls that screams, keep me alive and safe! Maybe it’s Rem’s cute personality when she finally opens up in Re:Zero. Maybe it’s the fact that Rem did die several times before Subaru’s restarts. We don’t know exactly what drives us to want to keep Rem safe exactly. All we know is that Rem is precious and need to be protected. That means that if we needed to die for Rem, we sure as heck would. Emilia, on the other hand though, might be a different story…

Yes folks, at number one on our list of the Top 10 Anime Characters that You’d Die for, we look at Nagisa Furukawa from Clannad. Cute, kind and just adorable, Nagisa is a girl you can’t help not fall in love with the moment you see her arrive on the screen. That’s why learning of Nagisa’s strange illness made us realize she might indeed need protecting in life. Though are the reasons above enough to warrant dying for Nagisa? Let’s examine Nagisa closer and really see if this number one girl is worthy of losing our own lives for in the process.

Nagisa starts Clannad off as an older student left back due to an illness she had afflicting her for some time. However, this illness never stopped Nagisa from wanting to go to school, love all things dango and fulfilling her dreams she had. Nagisa is a girl that instantly makes you want to hold her close and destroy all dangers around her any possible way you can. If we could take Nagisa’s illness and make it our own to spare her from the pains of it, you can bet we would in a flash. Now we’ll ask you out there, who disagrees with us that Nagisa is worthy of dying for?!