15. Kyo Sohma ('Fruits Basket')
My favourite bad boy for years. Kyo is amazingly short-tempered, violent, competitive, and should be the poster child of how a tragic past does not excuse shitty behaviour in the present. And yet, I still have feelings for this anime male tsundere. Not just because his Chinese Zodiac cursed spirit is the Cat. For one, Kyo has the decency to be aware of why his outbursts are wrong and don't help anyone, least of all himself. Throughout the 'Fruits Basket' series - the manga especially - he learns and develops slowly but surely. He cries! He has emotions other than anger and aggression. He's had the shittiest life possible - only a handful of people actually care about him (including his mother, who is dead before the series begins). He's been hated by his family all his life for something he can't control or change. And his outbursts are mostly due to other people being shitty to him - forcing him to act and do things he doesn't want to, and with the case of his treatment at the hands of Kagura, physically assaulting him because she "loves him". His whole existence is nothing but abuse - and blaming him, the victim - with the lovely, saintly Tohru Honda being his knight in rice bally armour. She never gives up on him, never abandons him, always coming back for him when he clearly needs help. Their love is of a Beauty and the Beast kind, which takes years to develop into a proper romance, what with their other, individual issues to press through first. Sometimes you need to help and heal yourself as much as have other people support you as well - love yourself, no matter what your abusers say - and Kyo Sohma is the true poster child for this. Poor, poor cat. Brave, loving man. He ends up proving after all that he is not deserving of scorn or pity, but of the right kind of love.
14. Aladdin ('Aladdin')
I'm fairly sure everybody has had at least one cartoon crush growing up - crushes on cartoon characters when you're young enough to not care that they're just drawings on paper. Mine was Aladdin, the main lead in one of my all time favourite Disney movies. It's not just his looks - his tousled dark hair and big Bambi eyes - it's his story, typical underdog one though it is. He's a street rat and a thief - the only way he knows how to live due to his poor circumstances, and he is good at it, you have to admit. It's clear from the beginning Aladdin has a heart of pure gold, when he gives away the bread he risked his life stealing to starving street children, like himself. He has big dreams, and gets way over his head a times and acts foolish when it comes to his love for Princess Jasmine, whom he saves, courts and then lies to for the majority of the film, even though it's obvious Jasmine would love him no matter his identity. But he is a poor boy in more ways than one, and he feels bad for hurting the people close to him. Aladdin is smart and witty when it comes to survival - hence how he keeps escaping dangerous situations, even by accident. Like in all Disney fairy tales, this man is so brave he can battle giant reptiles like it's nothing. While nowadays the unlikely hero archetype is so cliched it's annoying, Disney's Aladdin has the original charm. The rugged, kind, rags-to-princely charm - my nostalgia fantasy prince.
13. Rorschach ('Watchmen')
One of the better-written antiheroes I've seen. Rorschach is, unrepentantly, a sociopath. A remorseless killer who thinks he is doing justice the right way. Indeed, the word "justice" in 'Watchmen', and all the "superhero" characters' association with the word, is sordid at best. Everyone seeks justice in their own way, or just don't believe in it at all, that the human race is beyond saving. Rorschach represents this mindset in an ironic sense - he thinks the majority of humanity is sick and monstrous, but he can't really see that he himself might be beyond saving, too. Or he does, and wants revenge on terrible people because, well, what else is a broken man to do? The world is black and white to him - he's had a traumatic childhood, and he hasn't grown up beyond who he perceives as evil, with little self-awareness and self-reflection. Rorschach believes in the truth above all - that the world is a dark, sick, twisted criminal hive-mind and he is its light. He cares about what is right and wrong, but not about people - he kills criminals, but ignores straightforward cries for help. He is psychologically disturbed, damaged, a contradiction in a shifting, black and white mask. Rorschach is like the male equivalent of Lisbeth Salander, only he has a hero/god complex; Lisbeth is down-to-earth enough not to have such delusions. In a world where people putting on costumes to fight crime is a normal occurrence, a person like Rorschach is bound to come of that - someone with mental health issues with delusions of grandeur killing people in his own "legal" way, thinking that a society of sick individuals needs cleansing. His longing for truth and a simple good-vs-evil reality - his refusal to adapt and to think on the consequences of his actions - might become his downfall. A dark, tragic figure written in a fascinating fashion, Rorschach is a film noir antihero intended to be a deconstruction of male wish fulfillment fantasies and heroes with no-grey-areas morality.
12. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov ('Crime and Punishment')
Another antihero, except this one actually learns his lesson and seeks redemption. 'Crime and Punishment' is one of my favourite novels, and Raskolnikov is an amateur philosopher and a murderer. But he isn't pretentious, and he eventually comes to realise there is no excuse for his actions. No reason at all beyond his poor man's ramblings. An ex-university student, he has a loving and supportive family - and meets supportive and innocent people along his "intellectual" journey - so there's no tragic past to excuse his mental state and strange outlook on reality. You feel sympathy for him, not really pity, because as a poor student with seemingly nothing to look forward to in life, you understand where he's coming from when talking about his view of "justice" and who deserves it. Who deserves riches (the great thinkers of history, like himself!). Who deserves to live and die. Raskolnikov suffers for his actions and stale philosophizing throughout his story. I've talked about this in great depth in my review of the book, and I won't mention anything else. I'll leave it here. Raskolnikov and his brain are terrifying but intriguing insights into society and the human condition.
11. John Luther ('Luther')
I'm not a fan of British crime dramas, or any TV drama, for that matter. I've watched a lot of detective shows over the years because my dad loves the genre at any time of the day and night. And Luther is as broody and dark as a cop antihero can be, the series being more grim than your typical tea time telly. But generally 'Luther' wins my love because of one, solid reason: Idris freaking Elba. He is one of the coolest men on the planet and I will fight anyone who suggests otherwise. Before Hollywood, Elba won his claim to fame with 'Luther'. It is through his performance that his character is strangely charming as a modern film noir detective (DCI) who deals with the worst of the worst - serial killers who cut people up, paedophiles, rapists, you name it - Luther unhesitatingly gets on the case with these scums of the earth. Luther keeps his calm and cool, but he has a distinctly violent side - the darkness of the show becomes too much even for him, overtaking whatever better nature he has in contrast to the criminals he brings to justice. He is level-headed and takes his job seriously - it comes first - but he has a personal life and cares about the people around him, in his own questionable way of showing it. His solutions to getting to the bottom of a case are highly, morally dubious in most episodes, and he remains stoic throughout. It is Elba's onscreen charm and the show's serious treatment of sensitive issues that combine to make Luther still likable. Plus it is rare to see a morally-divisive and complicated black protagonist on television: A human representation, so often portrayed by white men who are repeatedly excused for their horrible actions because they're the main character. John Luther's outlook on his job and on people is shifted and constantly put to the test with each case he is given, each more repugnant than the last. He may be cynical, but he believes the positive ends justify the means. In his show about menaces, you understand where he is coming from. Luther - a modern take on conflicted antiheroes, and on the human justice system.
To be continued in Part 3.
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