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.

Maki is Too Good for Fire Force

Yeah you can tell I'm talking about a low grade shonen series.

Maki Oze is a former soldier and 2nd Generation who joined Fire Company 8, known as a witch for her aesthetic of a witches hat and using her flames to create sentient fire sprites much like a spell caster, not limited to fire, Maki is buff and is likely the strongest in Company 8 bar Captain Obi but her role in Fire Force is limited to being a butt monkey, maybe Maki gets treated better later on but Fire Force's opening 12 episodes did little for her character development.
A muscle bound fire witch is fantastic character design, it reminds me of Louie the Rune Soldier, a muscle bound wizard in more or less the same mold, Maki is wasted on a below average shonen series like Fire Force. Don't get me started on Shinra, he's a lost cause.

Airi is Too Good for the 90s

I want to see more characters from unknown shows shine and Airi is no exception.

Those Who Hunt Elves is a very underrated isekai from way back in the 90s featuring a misfit cast of a martial artist, an actress, a military obsessed school girl and an army tank that later gets possessed by a cat spirit, while much of the story is slapstick in an absurd environment, Airi stands out as being an exceptional character.
Master of disguise, can read any scenario, can emote on command and brings a presence that the other characters fail to achieve if they ever went solo, in fact it was Airi that first unveilved one of the anime's biggest plot reveals, she reminds me of the performers of the Takarazuka Revue even though her bio suggests mixed American and Japanese, also at aged 24 is the obvious adult of the group.
Way more capable than her era would suggest.

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.