Welcome to the Anime Walk of Fame, a series of retrospectives on the many characters of the anime world. You'll see all your favorites along with a few that deserve more than their reputations give.

So sit back relax and enjoy the show.

How Hululu Helped a Lonely Penguin Find Peace

A cute story from 2017.

In Tobu Zoo in Miyashiro, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, there is a Humboldt Penguin enclosure. One penguin known as Grape-kun had a rough time of things having been rejected by his partner of ten years for a younger penguin and was then isolated from the rest of the enclosure as a result, coming near the end of his life span come 2017 at aged 21 it seemed like Grape-kun would die alone but in April 2017, a collaboration with surprise anime hit Kemono Friends saw 60 or so cutouts of the cast placed in all the enclosures of the zoo, Hululu a Humboldt Penguin Girl was placed in Grape-Kun's enclosure and the little old penguin fell in love with the cardboard cutout becoming an internet sensation over night, the attachment so strong that the cutout was kept in Grape-Kun's enclosure long after the collaboration finished, even Hululu's voice actress would visit the enclosure; Grape-Kun would die in October from old age, among the shine to the beloved penguin is an illustration from Kemono Friends artist of Hululu and Grape-Kun together shown below.

I'd like to think Grape-Kun died no longer feeling lonely, even if Hululu wasn't real, his final year cuddling up to his cardboard waifu gave him thousands of friends and well wishers.

Minami Found the Darkside of Competition

A lot of what inspired the villain in the Shark House is the fact that he never can win against the main character, while Razzmatazz gave into the darkside, Minami didn't.

Minami is the go getter friend in the Tomozaki series who wants to beat Aoi Hinami, no matter how much she tries, she can't beat her at anything from athletics, academics to even politics.
This actually causes her to quit, even though it wasn't for very long it started to eat away at her to the point that it would cost her, her friendship with Hinami, she hated what she was thinking, it felt disgusting to think of her friend like that.
Some of what Minami said in the build up to her quitting have some sense to them, "no one remembers second place" being the standout.
We know that Hinami's drive to be the best comes from the need to beat Tomozaki at Attack Families, so the journeys of both characters run parallel to each other.
Competition stops being fun when you start thinking the winner should disappear, happens way too much in sport and gets even worse with content creation and even the working world, envy is a very dangerous sin and Minami had enough sense to stop before it corrupted her.

Tomozaki's Video Game Defence Doesn't Hold Water

For an anime that really isn't that good, Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki has given me a lot to talk about.

One thing I can give Tomozaki credit for is that he is very honest, he clearly knows the tropes at play and chooses carefully where to apply them but when he chews out the popular girl for bad mouthing Smash Bros copy Attack Families, keep in mind said girl has not played it, the argument comes across as a bit contrived from Tomozaki, the only thing I agree with is Tomozaki calling out the popular girl for her attitude.
Everything else, came across as a cringy Twitter rage post, neck beard included.
I don't see an issue with hating a game you've never played, you'll know instantly if the game is for you as there are more than enough videos showcasing what to expect, I easily accept that Smash Bros, the game Attack Fam is parodying can be very chaotic, hard to keep up with and full of people who take it too seriously.
I also accept it as a once in a generation title that cannot be repeated as much as everyone tries.
I'm not sure how Tomozaki's journey is going to play out, it's still hard for me to look pass the fact that he still takes Attack Fam way too seriously.

Trickywi Will Always Be Best Girl

Having gone through the VShojo talent, I mentioned that my favourite VTuber will get her own entry, that is Trickywi

Tricky started as a Pokemon Youtuber before deciding to take up VTubing to break out of her anxiety and quickly became a favourite among the community for her chaotic personality as the Egyptian Harpy Dragon taking alot of inspiration from Yu-Gi-Oh.
As gremlin like as Ironmouse.
As lewd as Projekt Melody.
Makes as much cute noises as Henya.
Has the vtuber model catalogue as gorgeous as Silvervale.
As off the wall as Nyanners.
And works on the same wavelength as Zentreya does with her chat.
She takes the best parts of Vshojo and creates the perfect personality I'm happy to watch everyday.
I'm simping at this point but Trickywi is worth simping over.
She's also one of only a handful of Vtubers that I know what she really looks like.

Fizzarolli Has Low Self-Esteem

One of the more phenomenal cartoons that has come out in the last five years is Helluva Boss, while I can fill a page for each character, I'd like to start with Fizzarolli. Spoiler warning is in effect.

Fizzarolli grew up with Blitzø in the circus and the two were best friends until a tragic accident cost Fizz his arms and horns. Both imps went their separate ways with Fizz under Sin Lord of Greed Mammon became a full time clown becoming a renowned mega star in the process, around the same time he fell in love with the Sin Lord of Lust Asmodeus, seeing his worth as a product of Mammon with massive insecurities about his broken horns, he slowly gets more scared of losing everything when he is kidnapped by Striker and forced to confront Blitzø about the incident in their past along with the risks of Fizz's relationship with Asmodeus becoming public among the higher class of demons; when tasked with winning the clown pageant against stiff competition against sexy circus twins as well as that one toxic fan that takes it too far with insulting him, Fizzarolli has a complete mental breakdown which forces Asmodeus to step in to save his sanity, reminding Fizz that he's not going to lose everything and that he is better than Mammon ever was.
With a new sense of worth with a song number called "two minutes notice" Fizz drops the ultimate fuck you to Mammon and quits.
The whole thing is sweetened by Asmodeus declaring his love for Fizzarolli publically while defending him from Mammon.
Anyone who has ever been a content creator having to navigate a dangerous web of constantly playing to a corporate puppet master all the time thinking that your achievements are the product of your employers and not your own talent and thinking that quitting is the end of everything will know all too well how Fizzarolli feels, it's not just YouTube or Twitch, it could be a toxic work environment in any job, a sports person fearing failure or a hobby that's stopped being fun, everyone who has ever felt that will grab a new perspective from witnessing Fizzarolli's mic drop moment.