Have you ever encountered a character who was so kind and good you couldn’t believe they were real? (Well, real in the story.) Me too. I’ve come across several of those in manga. Allow me to show you (in no particular order).
Wendy Marvell from Fairy Tail
Wendy is one of my favorite characters from the series. When she was first introduced, she only knew healing magic, and she could boost someone else’s power, defense, etc. She didn’t want to fight because she didn’t want to hurt anyone. Even after she learned to fight and became powerful, she didn’t lose her kindness. She wanted to protect those she loved, like during her fight with Ezel during the Tartaros Arc. She didn’t want to fight, but she did because she wanted to protect her friend Carla, and to help save the world.
She is generous with her natural healing talents. She used it to help alleviate other Dragon Slayers’ motion sickness, and she was always the first to step in when somebody had been hurt. She didn’t go so far as to heal enemies, but she would help former enemies and allies, whether they had been kind to her or not.
Uzumaki Naruto from Naruto
Poor Naruto was dealt a terrible hand in life, but he took it on and never turned evil. Despite everyone hating him, Naruto still tried to reach out and make friends and understand people. I think his kindness came from experiencing some of the worst of humanity while remaining optimistic and good. He wanted to help people who had also been hurt and bring them back from their pain and misery. This is what fans call Naruto’s most powerful technique — Talk no Jutsu.
Naruto was extremely empathetic, which was how he could change people’s perspectives. He genuinely wanted to understand them. It didn’t matter who it was: Zabuza, Gaara, Nagato, Neji, Tsunade, hell, even Kurama and Sasuke. Once he understood why they were cruel, misguided, on the wrong path, etc., he would tell them why they were wrong. With Neji, for example, Naruto told him that his destiny, as well as everyone else’s, was not set in stone. Because he understood where his enemies were coming from, he could tailor his monologues to fit their situation and their pain.
Uraraka Ochako from My Hero Academia
Uraraka’s primary reason for becoming a hero was to financially support her parents because they were poor. (But she did want to help people as well.) She didn’t want fame or glory, for people to know her name, to be celebrated as a hero — she just wanted to help her parents. That, to me, is a noble reason, and it speaks to her kindness that she did it for them. After all, being a hero is a dangerous, sometimes traumatizing job that isn’t for the weak-hearted.
Uraraka was also accepting of others, and she befriended much of her class. She didn’t want others to be alone or lonely. Even those she didn’t — or couldn’t — be friends with, she would still interact with them and have positive things to say. And she would fight to protect her friends and classmates, even when she was scared. For instance, she fought off Toga to protect Tsu during the training camp arc.
Kamado Tanjirō from Demon Slayer
Tanjirō’s family was killed by the Demon King, except his younger sister Nezuko, who turned into a demon. Tanjirō fought to protect her from demon slayers and other demons and to keep her alive. He also became a demon slayer, as he wanted to avenge his family and destroy demons so they couldn’t hurt anyone else. He decided to dedicate his life to his sister and to protect others from demons, no longer living for himself.
However, Tanjirō was still kind, both to humans and even to demons. Perhaps his kindness and sympathy for demons stemmed from Nezuko being a demon who refused to eat or harm humans. He believed there was something in demons that was still good and human, that they were redeemable despite any evil acts they had committed. Because of this, Tanjirō never tortured demons or prolonged their deaths. He killed them as quickly as he could and still wished for their souls to rest in peace.
Honda Tōru from Fruits Basket
Honda is Shoujo’s best girl. She was always ready to help someone out and rarely thought of the consequences. She saw the good in everyone, regardless of how they treated her or others, and she didn’t hold grudges, either. This led to her getting stuck in sticky situations, but she never stopped trying to reach out to people and offer them a smile and her hand.
She was kind to a fault and sometimes kind at the expense of herself. When she had to temporarily move out of her grandfather’s house, she slept in a tent for months rather than ask her friends if she could stay with them and their families. Her kindness, however, was also a way for her to cover up her own trauma and emotions. It doesn’t make her any less genuine, but it made me look at her kindness — and her — in a different light.
Emma from The Promised Neverland
In a world where children were raised to become demon food (though the children didn’t know), Emma stood out. She was one of the smartest kids at her orphanage but also one of the kindest. She was one of the masterminds behind their escape plan, and while the children who were four and younger had to stay behind, she promised to come back for them and to free children in the other orphanages. She wouldn’t leave them behind for good, even if it cost her everything.
Emma, like the other humans, thought all demons were evil because they forced humans to raise children as cattle. After meeting a demon named Mujika, who didn’t need to consume humans, Emma changed. She felt compassion and sympathy toward the demons, and she wanted to find a way for humans and demons to coexist. This was unrealistic and a fool’s errand to nearly everyone else. But after seeing the demons’ suffering when they didn’t eat human flesh, seeing that they had families and loved ones as well, Emma couldn’t kill them. She wanted to find a way to save them, and she eventually did.
Kazehaya Shōta from From Me to You
Kazehaya was the kindest male character and the second-kindest character in the series. He was open and friendly to everyone, regardless of their popularity, personality, appearance, etc. He tried not to judge people before getting to know them, and he would greet everyone with a cheerful smile. He was the first to reach out to Kuronuma Sawako, his love interest and the kindest character. Everyone else avoided her because she looked like, and had a similar name to, a famous horror character.
Kazehaya did have negative traits, too, such as selfishness and a short temper. He acknowledged these and would apologize when they inconvenienced others. Kind people still have flaws; they can also be selfish, lazy, weak-willed, stubborn, etc. But being aware of their flaws, like Kazehaya, also makes them kind. Kazehaya talked about his flaws and tried to keep them under control as best as he could.
There are far more kind characters than the ones who fit on this list. But it’s a great start.
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