Anime can be a cultural phenomenon; it has been increasingly recognized as a medium for artistic expression, storytelling, and rapid world-building. With this surge in popularity came an increase in anime focused on diverse ethnicities and genders, making the medium more accessible to those outside its traditional demographic.
Black anime characters have become increasingly popular over the years, but there are still some that just fall through the cracks. With anime getting a little more realistic and diverse year to year, we decided it was time to dedicate a list to the best and most memorable black anime characters ever created. So get your animation glasses on and get ready for 50 of the hottest black anime characters ever!
1. Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Anthy Himemiya is a childhood friend of Utena Tenjou and the Rose Bride of the Student Council in the anime Next Dimension. Anthy seems to be South Asian and perhaps of Indian ancestry. She wears a bindi mark or gemstone and is notably darker than the others. Anthy was once a happy child who cared deeply for her brother, Akio; she loved him so much that she even wanted to bear his children someday. However, as a teen, her personality changed drastically: She became submissive and nearly emotionless.
2. Nathan Seymour (Fire Emblem)
Character Nathan Seymour, alias Fire Emblem, appears in the Tiger & Bunny anime and manga. A fire-wielding effeminate warrior who frequently makes casual advances toward the male heroes. Nathan is demonstrated to be extremely knowledgeable and wise and has a stunning appearance. Owned by Nathan, Helios Energy serves as his business and superhero affiliate. Nathan attends the AWA Academy and is a member of Class 23 in the AWA fan fiction.
3. Atsuko Jackson (Michiko & Hatchin)
Atsuko Jackson, also known as The Beat or “Atch”, is an American-born Japanese character in the anime series Michiko and Hatchin. Atsuko is a DJ from America. She is a childhood friend of Michiko. Atsuko was found guilty of aiding in her mother’s death. Consequently, She lost her Japanese nationality. She has many tattoos on her body and cuts her hair very short.
4. Kilik Rung (Soul Eater)
Kilik Rung is a character in the anime Soul Eater. Kilik is one of the main protagonists and a black student at Death Weapon Meister Academy. He wields a large guandao, which he can turn into a chain and expand in length, from which he uses to fight. Kilik’s zanpakuto is named “Spartoi” (Spartan) after his homeland.
5. Carole Stanley (Carole And Tuesday)
Carole Stanley Of the black women anime characters, some are headstrong and ready to take on the world. For instance, Carole Stanley is one of these character types from the anime Carole and Tuesday. She is a no-nonsense woman who doesn’t take anyone’s crap, especially when it comes time for her to put her family first. During the series, we learn that she is a mother of four children and works as a police officer.
6. Kaname Tosen (Bleach)
Tite Kubo created the fictitious character Kaname Tosen for the anime and manga series Bleach. The media considers him one of the most powerful Shinigami ever; He is one of the earliest Arrancars to appear in the plot. He is a captain, a former lieutenant of the Gotei 13, and an ex-student of Kisuke Urahara. His weapon is his zanpakuto, which takes various forms depending on which hand it’s held in.
7. Misao Kusakabe (Lucky Star)
Misao is a character from the anime Lucky Star. Misao Kusakabe has bangs and short, crooked, smokey brown hair. She is showing off a noticeable sharp tooth in her mouth. She stands one centimeter beneath Minami. Her skin is tan, and her eyes are brown. She and Kagami, another student in her class, had been friends with Ayano Minegishi since kindergarten. She embodies the classic “tomboy” stereotype.
8. Mare Bello Fiore (Overlord)
Dark elf Mare Bello Fiore is one of the twin Floor Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick’s sixth floor. Aura Bella Fiora’s younger twin brother is Mare. He was developed by Bukubukuchagama, along with his sister. Mare is a little child with distinctive dark elf features of pointed ears and black skin. His left eye is green, his right eye is blue, and he has heterochromia with golden hair.
9. Canary (Hunter x Hunter)
Canary is a fictional character from the anime Hunter × Hunter and the manga series Hunter × Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi. She is a member of the Sparrows. Her last name is unknown due to being referred to as Canary, but she confirmed it comes from the Kurta Clan. She has large lips, a short nose, and a round face. She has dark brown skin. She wears the standard Zoldyck butler suit.
10. Afro Samurai (Afro Samurai)
Afro Samurai is a black samurai character in the video game Afro Samurai. He is in a semi-comic book style but with a cool theme. Afro’s fighting style seems to be based on mixed martial arts and Muay Thai. He has a large, fussy afro and is about normal height as an adult. His physique is slender, with a dark complexion, brown eyes, and a well-built frame.
11. Blue (Wolf’s Rain)
Blue Wolf is a character from the anime series Wolf’s Rain by Mamoru Hosoda, voiced by Tarō Kashiwabara. Blue is one of the series’ main characters and one of the four protagonists. She has blue eyes and tan skin. When she was human, she had short hair and wore clothing similar to a monk’s robe.
12. Don Kanonji (Bleach)
Don Kanonji is a made-up character in Tite Kubo’s Bleach anime and manga series. Don Kanonji is one of the first Shinigami introduced in the storyline. He is a former co-leader of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute and a former Captain who now works as part of an SIA rescue squad.
13. Urd (Oh My Goddess)
Urd is a character from the popular manga series Oh My Goddess! She was one of the first five volumes’ main characters in the storyline and is usually depicted as a goddess. She has long blonde hair with pink tips connected by two wavy locks at the top. She wears a white, short-sleeved blouse with bangles on her wrists and dark-colored pants.
14. Yasutora Sado (Bleach)
Yasutora Sado resides in Karakura Town as a Human. He competes in televised fights as a professional boxer. He attended Karakura High School with Ichigo Kurosaki as a classmate. Teenager Sado is of Mexican and Japanese ancestry. He has wavy brown hair with bangs that typically falls over his brown eyes, dark skin, and prominent cheekbones.
15. Reg (Made in Abyss)
Reg is a character from the anime series Made in Abyss created by Akihito Tsukushi. One of Made in Abyss’s two protagonists is a synthetic humanoid robot. Reg has dark hair and lights brown skin. He has yellow eyes, with a black portion of them being covered by his hair. He wears a white shirt, black pants, and ankle-high boots. His physical capabilities are always active, making him faster and stronger than any human being.
16. Phichit Chulanont (Yuri! On ice)
Phichit Chulanont is a fictional character from the “Yuri!!! On Ice” anime series. He is one of the supporting characters in the series, and only appears in Episode 3. One of Made in Abyss’s two protagonists is a synthetic humanoid robot. Reg has dark hair and lights brown skin. Phichit is a figure skater who is quite popular at his local rink. He often wears pink clothing while skating and modeling.
17. Tsume (Wolf’s Rain)
Tsume is a character from the anime series Wolf’s Rain by Mamoru Hosoda, voiced by Tarō Kashiwabara. Tsume is one of the series’ main characters and one of the four protagonists. He has light yellow eyes and tan skin. He is tall and relatively muscular in human form, with cropped silver hair that he ties back in a small ponytail.
18. Muhammad Avdol (JoJo’s Bizarre)
Muhammad Avdol is a fictional character from the manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki. He is a man with a large nose and has white eyes, brown hair, brown skin, and multiple scars on his face. A former priest in the Vatican City Church, he becomes the Bodyguard to Jotaro Kujo after the death of his mentor Stray Cat.
19. Akira Hayama (Shokugeki No Soma)
Akira Hayama is the main protagonist in the manga series Shokugeki No SomaAkira has dark skin, long white hair, and usually wears a ponytail when she cooks. He is skilled at using spices and is renowned for having an extraordinary sense of smell.
20. Muru Muru (Future Diary)
Muru is a fictional character from the manga series Future Diary created by Sakae Esuno. She is one of the main antagonists in the series. She was Deus’s second assistant, and her task was to observe Yukiteru Amano. Muru Muru appears as a diminutive human girl with dark skin, purple eyes, and lavender hair almost as long as her entire body.
21. Aura Bella Fiora (Overlord)
Aura Bella Fiora is a fictional character from the Japanese light novel, anime, and manga series Overlord, created by Kugane Maruyama. She is one of the first people to discover the realm of YGGDRASIL and is one of the highest-level players in the game.
Aura is a young girl with a tomboyish appearance, black skin, and the distinctively pointed ears of dark elves. She has a blue left eye and a green right eye. She has heterochromia and golden hair.
22. Mr. Popo (Dragon Ball)
Mr. Popo is a fictional character from the anime and manga series Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama. He is Kami of Earth, the guardian of the Earth’s Dragon Balls, and an attendant to Kami’s Lookout. Mr. Polo has black skin, big lips, and a lack of visible teeth. Popo is portrayed as very serious, calm, serene, and powerful.
23. Phil (The Promised Neverland)
Phil is a character from the anime series The Promised Neverland, created by Kaiu Shirai. He is a gopher who works for the Grace Field House Orphanage, where he is one of its most trusted members. Emma thinks Phil is a cute little guy with brown skin and a sparkling, cat-like smile. He has pale blue eyes and short, cut, dark brown hair.
24. Kirche Von Zerbst (The Familiar of Zero)
Kirche Von Zerbst is a fictional character in the Japanese light novel, manga, and anime series The Familiar of Zero, created by Koushi Tachibana. She first appears in volume 1 of the manga. Kirche is a tall, attractive young lady with long red hair, big breasts, brown skin, and brownish-gold eyes.
25. Hinata Hino (Future Diary)
Hinata Hino is a fictional character from the manga series Future Diary created by Sakae Esuno. She is one of the series’ main characters and one of the four protagonists. She has Ginger-Brown, brown eyes, and tan skin. Hinata starts with a timid personality, which gradually evolves into a more outgoing and devil-may-care attitude with time.
26. Karako Koshio (Deadman Wonderland)
Karako Koshio is a fictional character from the anime series Deadman Wonderland created by Ganta Igarashi. She is a central figure in the show, and Sora Tokui provides her voice.
Her curling, silver-tinted white hair is short and curly; She has a slim, toned, yet curvy figure and her eyes are a golden honey color. Karako is an attractive woman with a dark complexion.
27. Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)
The scar is one of the main antagonists in the Fullmetal Alchemist anime series. He is a homunculus who was born with a deformed face and thus had to attend State Alchemist classes along with Edward Elric. As his birthname shows, his scar has been twisted and contorted into a form resembling an ape’s face. The scar is one of the few homunculi that can survive outside a suit, although he must wear it outside his castle cell.
28. Apachai Hopachai (History’s Strongest disciple Kenichi)
Apachai Hopachai is a fictional character from History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi. He is a normal human and one of the supporting characters. He owns and runs a dojo with his wife, an expert in Chinese martial arts. He is extremely tall and powerfully built, has tanned skin, short spiky silver hair, and is usually seen wearing a yellow tank top, red shorts, and a Mongol around his head with bandages wrapped around his hands and feet.
29. Rakshata Chawla (Code Geass)
Rakshata Chawla is a fictional character from the anime series Code Geass created by Goro Taniguchi. She is the director of the Black Knights’ research and development department and an Indian scientist. Rakshata is a striking, tall woman with blonde hair almost as long as C.C. She has a purple bindi on her forehead and a light brown complexion. She also has small, slanted eyebrows and lips.
30. Sid Barrett (Soul Eater)
Sid Barrett is one of the characters of the anime/manga series Soul Eater. Sid Barrett is a three-star meister partner of Mira Naigus, a senior official in the DWMA Central Intelligence Agency, and a teacher at the Death Weapon Meister Academy. Shaula Gorgon initially kills him but is later revived as a zombie by Franken Stein. Sid was a muscular, dark-skinned young man with cornrows when he was alive. His skin has a bluish hue now that he’s a zombie.
31. Villetta Nu (Code Geass)
Villetta Nu is a character from the Code Geass series created by Goro Taniguchi. Although introduced as the “second princess”, she is later revealed as a political hostage of Britannia named “Villetta Nu”. Tall and with bluish-gray hair, yellow eyes, and dark skin, Villetta is a young woman. Usually, she wears a tiny bit of hair to the right of her face, and the remainder is wrapped in purple fabric and secured with golden ribbons.
32. Kakuzu (Naruto)
Kakuzu is a character from the anime and manga series “Naruto”, the Anbu member of Akatsuki. Kakuzu was an extremely tall, tan-skinned man with long, dark-brown hair who easily ranked as the second tallest member of the Akatsuki.
33. Casca (Berserk)
One of the primary characters in the Berserk manga and anime is Casca. She is a companion of Guts and the leader of his mercenary group. Casca has a slender frame and an aquiline nose. Her chin is rounded, unlike Guts, who has a jawline. Her skin is lightly tanned, as well as her arms and legs. Casca’s hair is black, and she has brown eyes.
34. Road Kamelot (D-Gray Man)
Road Kamelot is a fictional character and an anti-villainess in the manga/anime series “D-Gray Man”, created by Katsura Hoshino. Road Kamelot is the current incarnation of Road and the ninth disciple of the Noah Family. She has dark eyes that turn amber when she assumes the shape of Noah, along with purple-blue, spiky hair. Her complexion is very pale when she is not in her Noah form.
35. Aoi Asahina (Danganronpa)
Aoi Asahina is one of the supporting characters in Danganronpa and the leader of Ultimate Despair. She has an even temper and is not afraid to tell others off when they are being rude toward her or her friends. Aoi has brown skin and blue eyes and wears her brown hair in a high curled ponytail accessorized with a paperclip-style barette.
36. Ikumi Mito (Shokugeki No Soma)
Ikumi Mito is a character from the manga series Shokugeki no Soma. Mito Ikumi Ikumi, who was once a friend of Erina Nakiri, competed against Sma Yukihira until she lost a Shokugeki to him. After the duel, she eventually joined Sma’s side. Ikumi has dark skin, turquoise eyes, and short blonde hair with an ahoge, or a hair that stands out.
37. Rika Minami (Highschool of the Dead)
One of Highschool of the Dead’s key characters is Rika Minami, a sniper within the prefectural police and the best friend/roommate of Shizuka Marikawa. She has red eyes, purple hair, and brown skin.
38. Dutch (Black Lagoon)
Dutch is a character and a main protagonist from the “Black Lagoon”. Dutch, the head of the Lagoon Trading Company in Black Lagoon, is a former US Marine Corps patrol boat crewman. He is a heavily muscled African-American, completely bald, wears a flak jacket, military fatigues, and U.S. military jungle boots, and has sharp brown eyes.
39. Tetsudo Hisakawa (Anohana)
Tetsudo Hisakawa is a supporting character in the anime/manga series Anohana. Hisakawa is a high school student that wants to be an animator when he grows up. Tetsudo is a tall, well-built young man with brown eyes, mid-length hair, tan skin, and a medium-framed build. He usually wears a lilac scarf on his head, a white shirt, and a blue one.
40. Tia Harribel (Bleach)
Tia Harribel is a character from the anime/manga series Bleach, created by Tite Kubo. Tia Harribel was the former 3rd Espada of Sōsuke Aizen’s army of Arrancar and a redeemed villain from the manga and anime Bleach. Harribel has olive skin; She has brown eyes, long eyelashes, and short golden blonde hair that is normally cluttered and braided into three sections.
41. Soma Asman Kadar (Black Butler)
Soma Asman Kadar is a character from the anime series Black Butler by Yana Toboso. The 26th child of the Bengali Raja, Soma, is the prince of Bengal. Soma is a young man of Indian heritage with dark brown skin, gold eyes, and wavy, shoulder-length plum hair, with some of it, pulled back in a ponytail.
42. Agni (Black Butler)
Agni is a character from the anime series Black Butler created by Yana Toboso. Agni, a Brahmin, has given up his former rebellious ways to serve Soma Asman Kadar, whom he holds in the highest regard. Agni is a tall, dark-skinned man of Indian heritage with short, stark-white hair and slate-gray eyes.
43. Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing (Hellsing)
As the Bengali Raja’s 26th child, Soma is the prince of Bengal. A young man of Indian heritage named Soma has dark brown skin, gold eyes, and wavy, shoulder-length plum hair parted in a ponytail. Integra has creamy brown skin, blue eyes, and long blonde hair.
44. Simon Brezhnev (Durarara)
Simon Brezhnev is a character from the anime series “Durarara!!” by Ryohgo Narita. Along with his longtime buddy Denis, he owns Russia Sushi and is a Dollars member. Simon is a tall, black man with American parents born and reared in Russia. His towering stature and peculiar accent are his most distinguishing characteristics.
45. Elfman Strauss (Fairy Tale)
Elfman Strauss is a character from Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail anime and manga series. He is a Fairy Tail Guild Mage and the brother of Lisanna and Mirajane Strauss. Elfman is a big, muscular man with a brown complexion who towers above most of his guildmates due to his height.
46. Killer B (Naruto)
Killer Bee is a character in the manga/anime Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a shinobi from Kumogakure. B wants to be the best rapper in the world despite being in charge of the village’s security. Killer B has a goatee, white hair that is blond in the anime, a muscular frame, and black skin.
47. Sakura Oogami (Danganronpa)
Sakura Oogami is a supporting character from the Danganronpa series created by Kazutaka Kodaka. She is a student in Hope’s Peak Academy’s Class 78th and a participant in the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. She has long white hair, reddened-dark skin, pale blue eyes, and a scar on her face and right shoulder.
48. Brock (Pokemon)
Brock is a character from the anime/manga series Pokemon created by Satoshi Tajiri. Brock used to be the Pewter City Gym’s gym leader, but he left to pursue his goal of becoming the best Pokémon breeder. He is one of the series’ central figures. He also has brown hair that is spiked and tan skin that is noticeably darker than the skin of any other significant anime character.
49. Agil (Sword Art Online)
Agile is a character in the anime series Sword Art Online created by Reki Kawahara. He was a seasoned axe-wielder and business owner with a store in Belgrade, a city on the 50th Floor of “Aincrad,” and one of the 10,000 players stuck in “Sword Art Online” (SAO). The large, hefty African-American man known as Andrew has brown eyes and a beard.
50. Michiko Malandro (Michiko & Hatchin)
Michiko Malandro is a character in the manga/anime series Michiko & Hatchin by Juzoh Hosoi. She is a previous lover of Hiroshi Morenos, who have resorted to crime. She breaks out of jail to help them locate Hiroshi and saves Hana from an abusive family. Michiko is a tall, slender woman with an enormous chest and a slim, curvy physique. She has straight, dark brown hair that falls to her waist, gray eyes, and a light brown complexion.