Despite Naruto being such a popular show, the anime possesses one of the most disliked, and most unsuccessful, sidekicks. At number 2 on the list, Haruno Sakura is altogether untalented and incapable of achieving what a good sidekick should accomplish. She manipulates Naruto and abuses him, dwelling only on her love of Sasuke as her main motivation in life. A good sidekick should not utilize the main character as a means for pursuing their own goals, especially a goal as frivolous as a one-sided crush.

Unable to let anyone approach her, Sakura often can be seen punching people who make any advances or offers of help. Her distasteful behavior is not given the proper character development that it deserves, making her actions seem one-dimensional and gone without a proper purpose. She is given little chance to prove herself as something other than a character who vows to be stronger and unconditionally loves someone of bad taste. Due to the fact that she does not have a good personality, proper background motivations, and is incapable of helping out the main character, Sakura proves herself to be one of the worst sidekicks in anime.

Now Brock isn’t really a bad guy. He’s a dependable guy (he does, after all, specialize in Rock-type Pokemon) who leaves his position as a Gym Leader to travel alongside Ash. On many occasions, he appears wise and mature, especially compared to how Ash acts. Similar to his trusted Onix, Brock remains solid, and can be level-headed in a variety of situation, dispensing advice. Which is the reason why Brock is only number 10 on the list of worst sidekicks.

However, Brock spends most of his time doing nothing but chasing after the resident Nurse Joy in every town the team enters. Slow to battle, despite being a former Gym Leader, Brock truly offers nothing but unsuccessful flirting techniques. He’s a nice guy, but in terms of contributing to the show, he doesn’t amount to much. Occasionally, Brocks takes care of the domestic chores, such as cooking and cleaning for the group, and because of that he gives of an older brother-vibe; however, as his main contributions are mostly only a pleasant smile and an attempt to talk to a girl, Brock fails in his role as being a truly successful sidekick.

She makes her first impression by convincing other characters to target and physically harm Tenshi; despite discovering that she possesses a sense of humanity, and is not merely an NPC (non-playing character) like the rest of the mindless students at the purgatory high school, Yuri still continues to amass weapons aimed towards Tenshi’s destruction. She dictates over the other students, who listen to her authority, even when it harms others.

Headstrong, vocally dominating, and incapable of relenting in her opinions, Yuri is a demanding leader and an unsatisfying sidekick. She proves to be detrimental in assisting the other students peacefully move on and she remains until the very end, desperate not to give up the world which she has grown accustomed to. It is precisely because of this unwavering behavior and lack of understanding for other characters that causes Yuri to be an awful sidekick, and reach the level of infamy needed to be placed on this list.

There’s a lot more unnatural about Sunohara other than his dyed hair. Coming in at number 7 on the list of 10 worst anime sidekicks, Sunohara consistently displays bad behavior and a flagrant sense of humor that can, at many times, be too much to handle. A good sidekick should either support the main character’s goals and motivations, or contribute something important to the storyline. Sunohara does neither; rather, his loud interjections detract from focus on more central relationships, such as between Tomoya and Nagisa.

By providing nothing but attempted comic relief, that is often repetitive and hit-or-miss, his use as a character is never shown to be necessary. His role, in attempts to create humor, often lead to the overworn gag of him either getting beaten up by other characters, or rejected by women. It is rare for his character progression to move beyond this level of one-dimensional behavior and support other people. He makes very little influence on the series and because of this lack of contribution, he proves to be useless as a side character.

A girl should always keep her promises. Taiga, embarrassed from revealing her own confession regarding Kitamura, promises to help Ryuuji win the affection of her own best friend, Minori. The two form an unlikely pair dedicated to assisting the other person with their love life, and this ambition forces the two characters into becoming much closer with each other than they had anticipated.

Although enjoyable as a character, Taiga ultimately fails at her single task as a sidekick: to assist the main character with their goal. In the case of Taiga, her own friendship with Ryuuji interferes with his pursuit of Minori. Despite being keenly aware of how Ryuuji feels, the pursuit of Minori seemingly leads nowhere, and instead, continues on to the two characters developing feelings for each other. Which is sweet and the charm of the anime, but altogether the worst thing for a sidekick to do. While a charming character who contributes to the anime with her depth and character, she breaks the one promise she intended to keep, placing her at number 7 on this list.

It’s commonly agreed upon that Prince of Tennis is an anime of outstanding quality, which only makes it all the more upsetting when a poor character taints the high standards the anime sets. Sadly, this the unfortunate case for Prince of Tennis. An otherwise remarkable anime, the meek and noisome behavior of Sakuno Ryuzaki sours the entire season.

Her personality remains transparent, existing only to try and offer support to Ryoma, who she attaches to far too intensely. On top of offering nothing of interest in terms of her own behavior, she also detracts from the focus on Ryoma with unnecessary
As a sidekick, her job is to support the main character, which she attempts to do, but in actuality only seems to cling towards him and suffocate him, which is ultimately detrimental in the end.

Perhaps the creators thought that with the love for the original Sailor Moon, introducing a cute, smaller Sailor Moon would be a certain way to win the viewers’ hearts and reach a broader fan base. Unfortunately for them, Chibi Moon, Sailor Moon’s daughter from the future, is almost universally deemed to be annoying as a sidekick and an overall waste of space.

Chibi Moon craves attention and demands it by reaching out in selfish manners, thinking only of herself. While her childish behavior can be excused since she is still young, often times Chibi Moon acts like a brat and does not contribute to assisting with the main characters. Therefore, due to her grating attitude and immature actions towards the other more important characters in the anime, she fails at being a good sidekick.

The main role of a sidekick is to support the other characters. In the case of Carla, all she offers is criticism. Even to Wendy, Carla does a poor job of helping. Happy sets the example for what a successful sidekick should strive for; supportive, comedic, and capable of contributing to the storyline. Carla, in contrast, simply does not measure up. She ridicules Natsu for his inability to travel fast due to motion sickness, an endearing flaw that he possesses, and even berates Happy, as well, for not being aware of his own overarching mission.

At many times, Carla proves to be unnecessary for overcoming obstacles, and her acidic personality never seems to improve. Her entitled behavior and judgement for others contrasts directly with the optimistic attitude of the rest of the Guild, making her seem even more out of place than she already is. Additionally, she places too much importance on her own abilities, which constructs a massive superiority complex that Carla never bothers to tone down. Her entire presence in the anime appears to be irrelevant at best and, at the worst, distasteful to most fans.

A sidekick exists to support the main role. That is always the case, whether it is through verbal support or acting as a personality foil or by engaging directly with the plot. Sadly, Raki, from the anime series Claymore, does none of these, putting him at number 3 of the 10 worst sidekicks.

Ignoring the fact that Raki acts weak and is seemingly incapable of achieving anything other than cooking, he also inhibits Clare from achieving her sole ambition; to kill Priscilla. Consistently, Raki impedes Clare in important tasks, and in turn accomplishes nothing himself, despite continuously declaring he wants to be strong and help others. As he impedes the main character and does not fulfill his goals as a sidekick, Raki places high on the list of worst side characters.

Death Note is acclaimed and beloved in the anime community. With a show as top-notch as Death Note, one might expect that all of the characters would be compelling and enrich the show in an intricate way. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Coming in at the top of the list for the worst sidekicks in anime is Misa Amane, from Death Note.

There is nothing worse than a one-dimensional character; Misa Amane is entirely defined by her naive, one-sided obsession with Light, the sociopathic and charismatic owner of a notebook that can kill whoever’s name is written in its pages, and that is the only facet of her personality that she represents in the entire anime. She is represented in the anime as a ‘dumb blonde’ character; if a sidekick cannot truly enrich the show, then they should be included in the first place.