As for the OG of rich anime characters, it is without a doubt Mendou from Rumiko Takahashi’s breakout hit, Urusei Yatsura. Lets just say that whatever wealth his family has puts real life one-percenters to shame. He’s not just part of the 1%, he’s part of the 0.01%! His family owns half of Japan, has their own private security force, and Shuutarou parachutes out of a private jet to get to school! However, he’s also a total douche bag and he may remind you of such classmates you had back in high school who looked down on others because they were the star football player or their daddy bought them a BMW. When he’s the slightest bit insulted by Ataru, the main character, he’s rather petty to the point that he draws a katana and swings it at him. When it comes to Mendou, especially when trying to earn the affections of Lum, he is proof that money can’t buy certain things such as love.

Like many characters on this list, Satsuki is the child of a big conglomerate, but she is also the president of her school’s student council. And she doesn’t go to just any school but a school full of students who wear performance enhancing school uniforms as they learn to use its unique fibers to harness super powers. Though student councils in real life are just popularity contests where nobody has power; with Satsuki, she has the power to mandate student combat competitions, and can annex rival schools! Through her privileged upbringing, Satsuki has authoritative leadership capabilities, an unorthodox charisma, and is a formidable warrior. Upon her introduction, Satsuki is the manipulative type of rich kid but as the series progresses, she comes to learn the value of friendship, another quality money can’t buy.

Akira Ono has it all, wealth and popularity. She’s multi-talented and other than humming, she NEVER speaks (due to storytelling purposes)! In addition to her regular schooling, she has a nanny/tutor at home and so she’s well-rounded in the arts and academics. So, what is one of her hidden talents? Akira happens to be talented at arcade games, something that is demonstrated when she beats Haruo, her classmate, at Street Fighter II. Despite Haruo’s initial frustration, they become friends. Akira on the outside seems reasonably intimidating due to her background and how she comically gets violent with Haruo. So, what makes her a worthy addition to this list? Through Akira, we see that there are some pressures to being the child of a wealthy family and those high expectations can get to you if you don’t take it easy. Thanks to her past-times such as arcades (since she doesn’t own a home console), she can unwind, have some fun, and make some friends. Through her relationship with Haruo, an average boy, she learns the value of friendship and enjoying the simple things in life.

From this romance anime, we have Kaguya Shinomiya, the Vice President to her school’s student council. In addition to her role, she’s the daughter of one of Japan’s richest men. She is academically gifted, but due to her sheltered upbringing, she has trouble interacting with people and expressing her feelings, and she can be very manipulative due to her family’s influence. However, audiences have to give her credit for actually trying to find a way to express her feelings. Due to her trying to navigate general social circles, her presence on this list shows that just because you have all the money in the world, it doesn’t mean you know how to truly survive in it. When you don’t have enough exposure and/or interaction with your peers, things can get awkward and no period gets any more awkward than high school. Still, Kaguya is very honest with herself and she genuinely wants to correct her flaws, but just doesn’t know how. When you look at things from her experience, audiences can learn that there are some things that money can’t buy.

At only 13 years-old, Ciel already owns the Funtom Corporation, and is the Aristocrat of Evil. It’s a recipe for crazy rich. Plus, he’s tight with Queen Victoria due to his unique position. At 13, he doesn’t want to dress up like today’s rappers (or the 19th century equivalent) and put his feet in a pair of Jordans, he wants to dress like a genuine English gentleman and has a wardrobe that defines that. Due to his spoiled upbringing, he’s appropriately acts that way while trying to claim he’s mature despite not being able to dress himself or doing simple chores. With his standards, he hates being in places that he considers not worthy of him for even the shortest periods of time. Putting aside some of his immature aspects, he is pretty good at being a CEO and has made more bank with Funtom Corporation. But to put in a nutshell, try to imagine a 13-year-old British version of Gordon Gekko from Wall Street and that’s what you get with Ciel.

Akane lives in a pretty big house and can collect all the kaiju figures a hardcore tokusatsu otaku could dream of, and she’s one of the most popular girls at school. But deep down inside, she’s lonely and puts up a front where everyone believes she’s an ordinary school girl. When you see her in her room, it is filled with trash and you don’t see any adult supervision which is (probably) why she turned out to be a petty and homicidal sociopath. Some people like to say people commit crimes because they were raised in ghettos or in a poor environment, that may be true to some extent, but just because someone grew up privileged, doesn’t mean that they’re going to turn out to be like Mother Teresa, and this is seen with Akane. She’s not just willing to kill people over lets say stepping on her shoe, she’s willing to destroy her own town over it! It’s not just the wealth that emphasizes her negative qualities, but the god-like power she is given that shows that not everybody is equipped to handle such responsibilities.

Haru is another example of the (possible) negative aspects to being rich, and we feel that should be acknowledged on this list. In addition, her role also speaks to gender roles of modern Japanese society as she is already engaged to an older man of an influential political family arranged through her father. Due to her father forcing so much on her, and the influence her father has on the nation, people treat her differently just to keep in-favor with her father. Since this is the only way she has been interacting with people, she tends to keep to herself at the school garden. Once she becomes a member of the Phantom Thieves, Haru starts to open up and see that people want to be friends with her. Though the function of her role as a rich daughter can be considered outdated in context in a Western setting as to how everything was given to her, or with a life planned out for her, Haru does have some obstacles with how she wants to express herself and that she wants to make her own decisions. She shows that growing up wealthy doesn’t always equal having freedom. As she learns the truth about her family’s wealth, Haru does what she can to make the culprits take responsibility and start from scratch.

Like other characters listed here, Arslan’s wealth is also inherited but he comes from royalty. Though his home kingdom of Pars has been taken over by a rival nation, it hasn’t hindered whatever riches he happens to possess, and it’s enough for him to set out on his journey to reclaim his kingdom. Whenever Arslan has to broker alliances with neighboring nations and armies he meets on his quest, he still manages to have the cash to pay. If someone is in need of money, he’s willing to give a bag of gold to that person. The fact that he can still pull off a successful military campaign from a losing end proves not only his wealth, but how he uses it. He’s proof that even when the rich go broke, they never go broke. If Donald Trump can still be filthy rich after numerous bankruptcies, so can Arslan with the brief loss of his kingdom, make a triumphant comeback and make the country great again!

Despite her silly accent in the Japanese version, Arisa is almost a perfect example of how people should use wealth (or in this case, inheritance) to invest in themselves (and their children) instead of just mooching. Unlike some other characters on this list, Arisa is not so sheltered and she uses her wealth to travel the world and she already has a college education when most people her age are just barely out of high school. Arisa wants to prove her self-worth and that she is worthy of her inheritance. Not only is she highly educated and has great business sense, but she is proficient in martial arts to the point that she can fight the bugged ones without any enhanced abilities. Arisa is very friendly and supportive, and she can relate to Akihabara’s otaku culture just like the writers and readers here. However, she just happens to be able to afford a lot of the expensive rare figures you can get there.

When you’re the queen of all vampires, you got it made and still look like jailbait. Considering Mina’s upbringing, she naturally acts like a Kardashian as if she were immortal but with actual political influence. So, how does she use her wealth? First, she bought an island off the coast of Japan and uses it as her personal kingdom of vampires, and actually boosts Japan’s economy by paying off its national debt and brings in some vampire-owned businesses into the country. The fact that she has economic dominance over Japan shows pretty much how rich she is to the point that the government has to bend to her will at times (TAKE THAT ABENOMICS!).