It’s nearing the end of the year, and 2022 has been a big year for anime — and its fans. With works like Spy x Family and Chainsaw Man and surprise sleeper hits like Bocchi the Rock! and Lycoris Recoil, there are a lot of characters in contention for the “Best Waifu” title.
“Waifu” is the Internet slang for a fictional character that viewers are romantically attracted to and consider their ideal partner. Ranked by the writers of J-List Blog, with a warning that this is a “very subjective list,” some of these characters come as no surprise. Spy x Family’s Yor, Urusei Yatsura’s Lum, My Dress-Up Darling’s Marin Kitagawa and The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious’s Lilith all made the list, as expected. Surprisingly, Bocchi the Rock!’s Hitori, Chainsaw Man’s Power and Lycoris Recoil’s Chisato Nishikigi were also mentioned as best waifu material.
All the Characters Are Best Girls
All of these characters are attractive and beautiful in their own way. Lum and Yor are actual wives, albeit the former is still in the fiancée stage, and the latter is a “fake” wife. Other characters fit in the category of “scary dangerous waifus” like Yor, the Blood Fiend Power and the assassin Chisato. Hitori is an extreme introvert, but her “pink hair, the silly moments [and] her ability to shred on the guitar” lands her on the list.
J-List Blog also asked their readers to give their thoughts on who they believed were best waifus. Some of the readers’ choices were the same as the editors, such as Yor, Chisato, Lum and Marin. The readers also chose the potty-mouthed, and trigger-happy Rebecca from the breakout hit Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Akebi from the fan service-heavy Akebi’s Sailor Uniform and Isekai Ojisan’s Tsundere Elf who, as the name implies, is a total tsundere. Among their choices, readers also chose Gundam: The Witch of Mercury’s Suletta Mercury, the shy but courageous protagonist, and, surprisingly, picked Kobeni from Chainsaw Man, the terrified Devil Hunter forced into the profession by her family. Her relatability made her a strong contender.
Aside from best waifu, the J-List Blog staff also picked their favorite anime series of the year. Spy x Family, Chainsaw Man, My Dress-Up Darling made the list once more with one editor praising Spy x Family for taking the concept of “found family” and “[dialing] the charm up to eleven,” and another writing that My Dress-Up Darling was “a love letter to otaku fans.” Other staff members chose Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners for “spotlighting memorable characters and delivering a strong execution,” Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Season 2 and Mob Psycho 100: III for exploring “some deep psychological areas, such as anxiety, self-doubt, and acceptance.”
All the aforementioned anime series from J-List Blog’s editors’ best waifu list are available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Source: J-List Blog
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