Last Updated on March 19, 2022
In anime, wearing glasses is almost always a sign of intelligence. Some might argue that the one and sole function of glasses is to improve the wearer’s vision, which is absurdly incorrect. The truth of the matter is that, depending on the context of which glasses are worn in, they will make the user either look nerdy, or, contrarily, make them look cool, and we imagine that nine out of ten anime fans would agree with this statement.
Glasses in anime can do different things for different characters. Whether it’s a man or woman, they often make the character look smarter and more confident. It’s not uncommon for villains to wear glasses, as it gives the character a more sinister look. Examples of this include Gengo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Aizen from Bleach, and Kabuto from Naruto. When a powerful statement is being made by both heroes and villains, glasses in anime will sometimes shine a reflective light from them that is just downright terrifying. For female characters, glasses always make them look really cute, giving them that innocent geek looks that so many men love.
So, without further ado, here are a few iconic characters that bring out the utmost of specs.
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10. Keima Katsuragi From The World Only God Knows
Whenever the harem genre is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is, well, the harem. But, the second thing that comes to mind is the harem protagonist and their gravity-defying, physics-challenging cliches. These tropes—more like forced fanservice—shed a negative light on harem protagonists, as well as the harem genre as a whole.
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There’s plenty of awesome harem protagonists out there, and Keima Katsuragi is one of them. Keima is an out-of-the-grid harem protagonist that does not operate by the norm. He might as well be one of the best-written harem protagonists in the anime platform.
9. Shinpachi Shimura From Gintama
Despite being one of the most underrated Shonen anime, Gintama still holds a loyal fandom. The series is a mashup of genres with the Shonen genre getting the short part of the stick—the comedy elements are that overly-prevalent.
That being said, Shinpachi is the exact opposite of comic relief; he is the series’ reality check. Being the unconventional series it is, Gintama’s entire main cast is comprised of comic relief characters. The only person keeping this nutjob of a cast connected to reality is Shinpachi.
8. Tenya Iida From My Hero Academia
There’s a weird connection between anime characters who wear glasses and responsibility. The Shonen genre always portrays these characters as the most level-headed.
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While Shinpachi’s job is to keep an entire series in check, Tenya’s job might seem much easier in comparison, but it’s just as important. He is responsible for keeping Class 1-A in check. This class president takes his job incredibly seriously; you can forget about running on the hallways on his watch.
7. Yukio Okimura From Blue Exorcist
Yukio Okimura is the secondary main character of Blue Exorcist. He is Rin’s younger twin brother, and—ding ding, you’ve guessed correctly—his babysitter. Throughout their childhoods, Yukio has always been looking after his rash older brother, and that didn’t change much after reaching adulthood.
Not only did Yukio not resent his older brother for his nuisance, but he worked hard and became an exorcist at the young age of seven, all for the sake of protecting his useless older brother. Talk about brotherly love!
6. Hange Zoe From Attack On Titan
In the first half of Attack on Titan, we haven’t seen much action from Hange. But, after the start of the latter half, we became more and more aware of her presence until, unknowingly, she became a fan-favorite character. Hange’s strategies contributed heavily to the survival of the gang and humanity, and they will continue doing just that.
5. Silvers Rayleigh From One Piece
Glasses in anime are not always there to improve vision. Sometimes, they are just there for the sake of it. Rayleigh does indeed wear eyeglasses, but we both know that they are absolutely uncalled for. Heck, it doesn’t even matter if Rayleigh was legally blind, he will be able to do just as fine with zero vision. When you reach Rayleigh’s level of observational Haki, vision becomes irrelevant.
4. Maes Hughes From Fullmetal Alchemist
Most of the time, eyeglasses symbolize seriousness and smarts, but, in Hughes’ case, it stands for more than that. Hughes was a funny and amusing man as much as he was smart and observing. He served as an uncle figure for the young Elric brothers and a pivot for the military. His death was one of the saddest moments in the series.
3. Uryu Ishida From Bleach
Ishida is one of the main cast of Bleach and the first Quincy to be introduced. He is a solitary, level-headed man who truly lives up to all of the things his glasses imply about him. He always served as the brain of the squad. Without him, Ichigo and the gang would’ve had a much harder time doing whatever reckless things they were doing.
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2. Shiroe From Log Horizon
When the Isekai genre suddenly exploded in the first half of the previous decade, lots of Isekai anime came flooding in. Log Horizon was one of these pioneers, and, ironically enough, it was among the most unique. The series doesn’t follow the conventional Isekai route, especially in the way it handled its protagonist. Shiroe is easily the crème de la crème of Isekai protagonists.
1. Kabuto From Naruto
At his debut, we thought he would amount to nothing more than what he already was: a lackey. And, boy, oh boy, were we proven wrong time and time again. Kabuto spent the better part of his life as a spy. He lived the life of a snake until he truly, and he ultimately transcended to a dragon. Naruto is a series infested with greatly-written villains, which, unfortunately, means that great villains such as Kabuto are often overlooked.