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.

Anna is a Warning

In the current climate where anime is being tested on it's adult content as well as the horrifically bad attempts at censorship, it's probably best I bring up an extreme example of what rampant censorship can do to a person.

Anna started Shimoneta as a model student dedicated to keeping the values set by a country aimed at protecting it's people from the dangers of sexual content but an accidental kiss triggered a reaction overlooked by the system, Teenage Hormones.
In an over night change, she becomes a slave to her hormones desperate to trigger feelings and emotions that she doesn't understand but knows she wants more of as it's what her hormones want and it makes her feel good and because she was sheltered from sexual content including sex education, she's not been educated as to why and how to deal with it.
While a very extreme example, it serves as a warning, keep censoring the world and you end up with adolescent teens both male and female not knowing how to control their hormones because no one has educated them properly in the subject and I don't need to remind people of what could unfold next.
Educate properly and the populous will decide for themselves, we don't need someone to decide for us, Anna serves as a warning to that.

Izumi's Strange Behaviour has Tragic Undertones

To keep you guessing as to which characters will go on the top list let's throw a few more here.

Izumi compared to the other members of the Nadesico crew can be seen as probably the most overlooked character in the series, her appearance shouts goth girl, her voice certainly in the dub makes her sound like the type of person who could tell a good ghost story and her presence is felt through terrible singing, groaner puns and very deadpan humour that makes her laughing very strained as if she's forcing it at times.
In most cases you can write her off as just the strange one and move on, but in a mid season episode that has the crew confront their biggest insecurities, it becomes clear as to why Izumi acts the way she does and even why she's not that interested in the crew's men.
She lost her previous two lovers, one to illness, another to an accident, in the episode she came face to face with the image of one of her dead lovers and you can feel her break character in argubly one of the most tragic moments in the anime.
All her personality quirks are just a coping mechanism which I doubt she has the strength to break and return to normal, something which alot of people can relate to, certainly I can with what the pandemic put me through, if we want to admit it or not.

Miku Had Another Life as a Train Driver

You've probably recently seen anime clips of Hatsune Miku from an anime called Janshin Chan Dropkick, Black Rock Shooter not withstanding, this isn't the only time Hatsune Miku was an actual character in an anime.

For reference, the anime in question Miku is in is known as Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion.
The anime is about bullet trains that transform into giant robots operated by kids to defeat monsters, the franchise is in direct sponsorship from a toy train maker, so it's an obvious toy anime.
Hatsune Miku is portrayed as a much younger girl of 11 years old with her own Shinkalion train robot based on the H5 Hayabusa from Hokkaido, but her personality is far from the cute care free idol singer we all know her for but rather a cold, stoic, no nonsense character who doesn't really have time to entertain the wide eyed lead characters when they geek out, Miku is also lacking her electronic vocaloid accent as we see her regular voice actress speak normally.
Shinkalion is very much a Japan only anime so many people don't know this bar a few curious people who may have caught it while looking up the Janshin Chan Dropkick scenes where Miku acts closer to her regular personality and even comes with her own Crypton Future Media Manager.
This might not be the last we see of Miku as she may become a character in another project. A couple more anime to drop where Miku has appeared is Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei as a voiced cameo and Aware Meisaku-kun where Miku has her own episode to celebrate her singing the new ending theme at the time.

Roux Was a Decade too Early

Finding strong female characters in the 80s was tough and was never a popular choice with otaku at the time if the 80s female popularity list in Newtype is anything to go by.
The Dirty Pair, The Knight Sabers along with our next entry were all overlooked.

Roux Louka was the pilot who took over the Zeta Gundam seat from Kamille Bidan after he ended up comatosed at the end of Zeta Gundam.
Her role is exactly the same as Emma Sheen's, being the big sister mentor to the hapless Judau Ashta and his friends from the Shangri-La colony.
She easily put Glemy Toto in his place many times and while she can be abrasive, she's a little more laid back than Emma was, so why did no one take notice? She even has the 80s look down.
When you actually read who made the list to begin with, the majority are supporting Gundam ladies like Sayla Mass and Fa Yuiry, cute and adorable like Elpeo Ple and Minky Momo, evil is sexy like Haman Karn and Doronjo or outright iconic like Lum. The exceptions being Honey Kisaragi and Ple Two who are more in line with the 90s tastes but still made the list.
That's where the answer lies, Roux was a decade too early, in the 90s and 00s she'd be quite high on the list but in the 80s she's a non entity.
Otaku tastes in the 80s just boiled down to, would make a good girlfriend, make a cute little sister or again, evil is sexy; no space for strong females.

Nice Design Doesn't Equal Success For Itsuki

Quite often a nicely designed character comes along who is instantly remembered for better or for worse, ask the entire extended Pokemon cast. But for Itsuki that's not the case.

The Aestivalis pilot of Martian Successor Nadesico Itsuki Kazama was doomed from the start, in her only appearance she takes lead character Akito's place after he walks out on the crew for the umpteenth time; Itsuki is pretty, dependable and has a design that fits in nicely with the series but when she goes into battle she is killed instantly when her enemy teleports, crushing her as a result as her body couldn't stand the extreme forces involved in teleporting.
The definition of cannon fodder, but remarkably while researching her character, she does have her own figure, so she did stand out but when competing against a large cast of desirable women on the Nadesico crew, there's just no room for the straight A woman soldier.