When you think of anime, many people think about boisterous, loud, and sometimes unlikable anime characters. They talk to everyone, make friends, and aren’t afraid to speak up or give a speech at a moment’s notice. Sometimes, it may seem like anime is directed towards extroverts with little to no care about the introverts in the world. But that isn’t true. If you look around, you will find plenty of anime that focus on introverts or have some amazing introverted characters.
Let’s take a look at couple of them.
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21 Hitori Gotou From Bocchi the Rock!
Crunchyroll
Introverts aren’t typically thought of as rockstars, but that is exactly what Hitori Gotou wants to be despite her debilitating social anxiety and awkward nature in Bocchi the Rock! You can really get a sense of mentally and physically draining it is for her to interact with others, even if they are the same age and gender. Fun fact, the names of each band member are based on the names of real-life people in the Japanese rock band, Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Not only that but the author managed to do some clever wordplay because Hitori’s name can be translated as “alone”, something that is painfully obvious about the character’s life, at least for the first episode. If you don’t relate to Hitori, you might be interested in other animes about forming bands like K-On or Given.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
20 Komi Shouko From Komi Can’t Communicate
Netflix
The titular character of Komi Can’t Communicate suffers from a communication disorder that makes it hard for her to connect with anyone she is not extremely familiar or comfortable. Just striking up a conversation with her is usually enough stimulus that she freezes up, which often results in hilarious situations since everyone around Shouko admires her beauty and seemingly graceful behavior.
Even so, her dream is to have 100 friends and with the help of the other main character, Tadano, she makes small steps every day. The show makes a point of letting viewers know that not everyone with a communication disorder wants to be socially distant, but sometimes it cannot be helped.
19 Megumi Tadokoro From Food Wars
Animax
Megumi is not wholly introverted as some people might point out, but she does deal with a large amount of stage fright and nerves. Being a slightly clumsy girl from the countryside, she tries her best to be polite and quiet so that others don’t make fun of her accent. As a culinary student, her forte is her comfortable and relaxing food but she often panics about going beyond her comfort zone and innovating.
As a viewer, you sometimes find yourself rooting for her even when she is clearly outclassed by better students and hoping that she will, someday, find her self-confidence. Just be careful if you start watching Food Wars after reading this article - there are a lot more exploding clothes than people often bargain for!
18 Tsukimi Kurashita From Jellyfish Princess
US FUNimation Channel
Also known as Princess Jellyfish, this anime features an interesting relationship between a socially inept girl who has an obsession with jellyfish and a boy who cross-dresses to avoid the critical public as the illegitimate son of a politician. Both of them have powerful formative memories of their mothers which explains their passions.
To make things even more complicated, Tsukimi lives in an apartment building that doesn’t allow men, so she has to keep the boy’s true identity a secret as they learn more about each and struggle with their individual lives. If you’re not one for the big, shiny eyes and other stylized features of anime, there is a live-action adaptation as well.
17 Kyou Souma From Fruits Basket
Some of you may know that the picture above is actually from the second adaptation of the manga series of the same name, Fruits Basket. Unlike the first adaptation, this one more closely follows the source material and covers more of it. The Souma family is cursed and is typically isolated from the public for fear that they transform into zodiac animals when hugged by members of the opposite sex and a few other circumstances.
Although he is short-tempered and sometimes outspoken, Kyou is still awkward with most people, especially girls at the school the main characters attend. This is because, without too many spoilers, he is isolated even from other members of the Souma family.
16 Wakana Gojou From My Dress Up Darling
Cloverworks
My Dress Up Darling took the anime scene by storm and many people quickly became fans of the heroine, Marin Kitagawa. However, the main character is actually a young man named Wakana Gojou. Traumatized and teased as a child about his passion for traditional hina dolls, he is happily lost in a world of his own where he can pursue his dream of becoming a maker of hina dolls.
Any time he happens to interact with anyone that isn’t his grandfather, he is extremely awkward and overly formal, but it is fun to see his growth, especially through the various kinds of cosplay he makes for Marin.
15 Yuu Ishigami From Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Aniplex America
The student council in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is often revered by others at the school as the epitome of popularity and class. Fortunately for Yuu, this isn’t the case because he would probably hate all the extra attention. Yuu’s introversion stems from his desire to live a quiet life playing video games and an incident that ostracizes him from the other students.
Content to fade into the background, he loses a lot of his social skills despite being the son of a well-known toy company magnate. Okay, maybe that last part isn’t super relatable, but you can get kind of rusty if you haven’t gone outside in a while.
14 Hachiman Hikigaya From My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
KADOKAWA
In an era before Japanese light novel titles became absurdly longwinded and straight-up ridiculous, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU follows two socially distant individuals. Yukino Yukinoshita is more of a loner by choice than anything but Hachiman Hikigaya is more or less in the same boat for his pragmatic, often borderline pessimistic, outlook on many situations in life.
As unqualified as they are, they offer advice to other students at their school as part of their club activities. The whole show is interesting by presenting a variety of social scenarios that students can find themselves in and examining the psychology of their actions.
13 Legoshi From Beastars
Beastars
Anthropomorphic animals can sometimes be more relatable than we think and that is the case with Beastars. Legoshi is a teen wolf stuck in a world with a stigma against carnivores, even though eating meat has been outlawed for years. Constantly having to fight his desire to prey on other students, he is awkward and often finds that removing himself from most situations is the best solution.
Even when interacting with other carnivores, Legoshi isn’t particularly well-spoken or charismatic. He does, however, stick to his guns when confronted and that is something important for introverts - you don’t have to conform to every extroverted thing if you don’t agree with it.
12 Rin Shima From Laid-Back Camp
SHOCHIKU
Perhaps the individual closest to the definition of an introvert on this list is Rin from Laid-Back Camp. Rin isn’t really awkward or withdrawn like many others but definitely takes comfort in her own company in the form of solo camping trips.
She enjoys going camping with her newfound friends after joining the camping club at her school but still travels and camps alone from time to time to recharge her batteries. If you’re a fan of slice-of-life type anime or cute girls doing cute things, this is a must-watch. Luckily, there are already two seasons out and a third announced so you will have a decent amount to binge.
11 Rei Kiriyama From March Comes In like a Lion
Aniplex of America
The protagonist of March Come In like a Lion is probably the stereotypical depiction of what an introvert looks like. A lonely boy with glasses who happens to be a professional shogi (Japanese chess) player - an occupation some might consider nerdy or similar to match an introvert like Rei. His past is traumatic and devastatingly sad as we learn that his parents and younger sister all died in a terrible accident when he was young.
To make matters worse, his name means “zero” and some people treat him like he is a no-one with nothing and nowhere to go. We get to see him develop socially, professionally, and psychologically throughout the show, which is emotionally rewarding.
10 Haruhi Fujioka From Ouran High School Host Club
Funimation
Looking for the library or any place to study in peace, Haruhi stumbles upon the titular Ouran High School Host Club and accidentally breaks an expensive vase. Shy Haruhi is then forced to repay her debt by participating in the club and gathering a large enough clientele before graduation. Haruhi isn’t necessarily super introverted but is pretty timid, especially when thrown into the cast of crazy pretty boys.
The problem isn’t made any easier considering that she is a privileged student who attends the school on a scholarship since there was no way her family could pay the expensive tuition fees. It’s often this contrast between rich and poor cultures that lead to some awkward and comedic scenes in the show.
9 Kousei Arima From Your Lie in
Childhood trauma is featured again in Your Lie in April when the mother of piano prodigy, Kousei Arima, dies. He experiences a mental breakdown and finds that he can no longer hear the sound of his piano playing, a curse he believes has been placed on him by the ghost of his mother. As he coasts through life, he distances himself from the piano and fails to find passion or excel in anything.
His few friends that stick by him recognize that he is a shell of his former self. Naturally, Kaori Miyazono, an extroverted individual, cannot stand by and encourages him to play music again through different stunts and acts.
8 Touko Fukawa From Danganronpa: The Animation
Touko Fukawa is an interesting character in Danganronpa: The Animation, a classic whodunit anime. She isn’t really a main character but her reclusive nature and the way she handles interacting with the other students point toward an introverted personality type. Don’t expect too much character growth from Touko personally but be prepared when there are some interesting twists and reveals that deepen each character’s backstory.
If you want to experience the story in a different way, the anime is actually based on a visual novel game by Spike Chunsoft called Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. There are several other games in the series too, in case you can’t get enough mystery.
7 Giyuu Tomioka From Demon Slayer
Toho Co., Ltd.
Demon Slayer (the full title being Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) has received many awards in recent years and has been recognized for some amazing animated scenes. One character we have yet to see more of is Giyuu, the Water Hashira, and one of the elites among the Demon Slayer Corps.
He keeps his own company most of the time and is a man of few words, even when talking with other Hashira. Ufotable, the studio producing the anime, will almost certainly see the story all the way through, and we hope that we can get more of Giyuu to understand his introversion. If not, there is always the manga to read.
6 Miku Nakano From Quintessential Quintuplets
Everyone knows that siblings can have different personalities, and that’s true even of the Quintessential Quintuplets. All born within minutes to hours of each other and sharing much of the same DNA (or even all of it!) you’d think that the five girls would be exactly alike. Miku, the third oldest sister, is the most bashful and reserved of the girls.
She often belittles herself and has no self-confidence in her appearance, even though she looks remarkably similar to her sisters who she claims are cute. We don’t really know why Miku is so introverted compared to the rest of the quintuplets but seeing her character grow as the show goes on leaves your heart feeling a little bit warmer.
5 Keima Katsuragi From The World God Only Knows
Sentai Filmworks
The World God Only Knows is certainly an interesting title, and you’d be forgiven if you thought that it had a lot to do with a fantasy world. In reality, the “world” that the “God of Conquests” Keima Katsuragi knows is the unending supply of gal games and dating sims.
Keima isn’t exactly awkward or shy when it comes to social interaction, but he often gets in trouble because of his attitude and prefers the company of his fictional, 2D girls. Keima’s voice actor carries the show as it makes fun of a lot of cliches and tropes of other rom-com or harem animes.
4 Yukiteru Amano From Future Diary
Do you keep a diary or journal? For Yukiteru, it is the one joy in his life, and he spends most of his waking moments documenting everything happening around him as a shy loner. That is until a deadly battle royale game begins, and he is gifted the titular Future Diary that details events before they happen around him.
You can easily see how little social interaction Yuki gets because of his introverted past when he naively believes that other participants in the game have his best interests in mind. It can be hard to root for Yuki for much of the show because he is often paralyzed by indecision and naivety, but it is impressive how the author can manipulate the viewer’s feelings toward Yuki’s character.
3 Kusuo Saiki From The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
In the world of The Disastrous Life of Saiki K where people don’t immediately recognize you as a main character for your alien appearance, Kusuo is born with rare psychic powers. His attempts to hide his abilities make him somewhat socially awkward as he navigates everyday situations. We actually learn that he was not always the reserved and quietly responsible person he is today in the show.
Much of his personality was formed after a variety of incidents where his psychic powers began to ruin his experiences, so he closed off himself and his powers to protect himself and those around him. That being said, he is still quite emotionally intelligent and often knows what people want before they say it.
2 Shinichi Izumi From Parasyte: The Maxim
Parasyte: The Maxim focuses on Shinichi Izumi after he is infected by a parasite from outer space. Before this, Shinichi lived a quiet life and flew under the radar of most people except for his love interest Satomi Murano.
His portrayal as an introvert is dynamic and, after being infected with the parasite he calls Migi, we see his personality and appearance subtly change as he interacts more and more with the alien visitors. Perhaps this is part of Migi’s influence on Shinichi’s body and subconscious, or it could simply be that he just didn’t have much social experience because he chose not to.
