Anime Character with the most depth?

[Roflocopter]

[size=1][color=darkred]Which character, in any anime, do you think has the most depth? In my opinion I am saying Asuka, from NGE. Spoilers regarding Asuka from NGE below.

[spoiler]Asuka's life is based soley around piloting the Eva, and looking good. Even when out of the Evangelion her hairclips worn inside the Eva, are worn almost constantly. She, like most teenage girls, go after older men, Asuka had a thing for an older man named Kaji. Asuka is stubborn, self centered, and spoiled. When aggitated or angry, she often times speaks randomly in german. She is very sexually attractive and is very competitive. Asuka does not really like Rei. She does not hate rei, they fight along side eachother, but she does not like her.

Asuka's mother replaced Asuka wit ha doll, treating and caring for it like it was Asuka. This may be the reason Asuka does not care for Rei. Because her emotions are like that of a doll. Asuka pilots Evangelion unit 02. She is from germany and has an American father and A half German Half Japanese mother. Her mother was in fact, actually the head pilot of nervs Evangelion unit. Her mother commited suicide, in front of Asuka and hung her self from the ceiling. Asukas father was unable to bear with Asukas mother and divorced her to marry a new woman who Asuka only calls, mama. Asuka does not like her. She is often times violent, especially toward Shinji. Her feelings for him, though sometimes noticable, can rarely be seen due to the battering of his ego which she is so good at.[/spoiler]

Thats some depth right there, kids.[/size][/color]

[Dagger]

(FYI, I added spoiler tags to your post. If you have any questions about spoiler tags, just read [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=46199][u]this[/u][/url] thread. You're not in trouble or anything, but it's a lot better to use tags than to warn people in the body of your post.)

As for the character with the most depth, the best example I can think of is [b]Anthy Himemiya[/b] from Revolutionary Girl Utena. I'm also tempted to mention a couple of characters from Brother, Dear Brother (such as [b]Miya-sama[/b], but I kind of hate her anyway).

And while I'll probably get laughed out of town for this one, I firmly maintain that [b]Eiri Yuki[/b] (from Gravitation) is one of the most complex characters around. The issue in this case is that understanding him requires carefully reading the manga, watching the anime at least a couple of times and being able to look past the surreal comedy that permeates the series--especially in the manga.

Anyway, back to Anthy. [spoiler]The problem with Anthy is that it's very easy to see her in inappropriately stark terms--that is, as either an innocent martyr (the adoring sister, the repressed feminine, the princess without a prince) or a masochistic manipulator (the evil witch). Yet she is in truth both a victim and malicious. One cannot possibly comprehend--or begin to comprehend--her motives without seeing the whole show at least twice (the movie is a somewhat different animal, and I'm not accounting for it in this post).

Some people are able to perceive her venom even after watching just a few episodes of Utena. I wasn't one of them. I did notice how she always ended up innocuously thwarting or confounding the characters; what I failed to recognize was that this was wholly deliberate on her part. She not only enjoys toying with the other characters' emotions--she does it for the sake of entertainment alone. To kill time, if you will; it's like a child poking at a line of ants. It isn't the most attractive aspect of her personality, but it's one of the most obvious, once you get past her her incredible passivity.

Anthy has utterly lost faith in humanity (and who could wholly blame her? She's been her brother's slave for heaven knows how long). She thinks Utena is a complete and utter idiot (and Utena is indeed quite stupid, but that's a different story). Yet Utena's blind, stupid courage and idealistic naivete stirs something in her that was buried since she tried to save her brother from being a prince. So Utena simultaneously intrigues and frustrates Anthy. The tension between them heightens as the series goes on. The "poison" scene is one of the points at which it culminates, but there are other places as well--like Anthy's betrayal of Utena at the very end of the show.

Speaking of which--why does Anthy betray Utena? Does she truly enjoy being subjugated and playing the victim? Has she in fact chosen Akio over Utena? I'd say that the answers to those questions are yes and yes, but this still doesn't mean that she [i]deserves[/i] her current fate. There's a difference. Whether Utena recognizes this (or is simply determined to save Anthy and be princely regardless of whether Anthy actually wants to be saved) could be up for debate--but this isn't about Utena, anyway.

One of the remarkable things about Anthy is that she turns her passivity--her very lack of power--into a weapon. She infuriates Saionji with her inability to love, and taunts her brother with the ease with which she submits to him. Anthy is an extremely twisted character, and because she is essentially a captive throughout most of the show, it's hard to know which actions (if any) really come from her heart.

There are so many layers to her character--parts of her that have been buried since she took the people's wrath for the sake of her brother, parts of her that may have been lost forever. I can only remember three times in the series that she shed tears; these are extremely important moments because they're one of the few times that the viewer can trust that her visible emotions are a genuine manifestation of what she's truly feeling.[/spoiler]

I think I just confused myself, haha. In any case, that's it... for now.

~Dagger~

[Pumpkin]

[SIZE=1][COLOR="#CC3366"][b]Wow. All I have to say is awesome job at describing Anthy, Dagger. I too think she is the most intense character ever, and I didn't even understand her personality (I guess I'm dumb for I didn't see it and thought she was the stereotypical feminist).

The ending of Revolutionary Girl Utena left me quite confused. I guess I should have watched it twice. Anthy [SPOILER]I think wanted to be saved from death, because from what I remember, (When the swords were flying towards her) Utena had tried to save her, she had reached out her hand but they missed. I don't know if that was intentional, but it didn't seem like it. I had no idea at the beginning of the series of Anthy's Betrayal, but after it showed the scene of her and Akio becoming "close" I had suspicions. What I don't get is why Anthy killed her brother's fiance and why did Akio want Utena dead? I guess I have to re-watch it because I got lost in the whole thing. Akio was the prince that told Utena to become a prince one day, and he shattered her dream. She did not bring revolution to the world. It was the first anime where the goal that was meant to happen, infact did not. Everything stayed the same. I don't get why Anthy would stay with her brother after he slept with Utena and someone else, its a very twisted wierd anime that just excludes someone with a simple mind as me. Oh well...anyways just wanted to say I liked how you analyzed her personality.[/SPOILER]

That is why I have to agree with Dagger. [/SIZE][/COLOR][/B]