History EnsembleDarkhorse / AnimeAndManga

** August of the Spriggan Twelve has also gathered himself a sizable fanbase primarily for curb-stomping Jellal's guild all on his own. His TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that deconstructed Crime Sorcière's rigid belief that DarkIsEvil and LightIsGood with zero room for nuance definitely helped. There's also the fact that he is the only member of the Spriggan 12 who didn't suffer Badass Decay, making him one of the most dangerous antagonists in the series. TheReveal about his true identity in Chapter 526, served with an extra helping of HeartwarmingMoments and TearJerker, only intensified this, now tying him with if not surpassing Brandish as the most popular member of the Spriggan 12.

** The Oracion Seis overall (sans Brain), likely due to the fact they were the first dark guild that posed an actual threat to the heroes as well as being [[TragicVillain evil but also tragic figures]] given their past as slaves. They were so popular that they not only got a second arc as the villains, but also [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn became good guys with Jellal and Meredy]]]].

** And let's not forget [[spoiler:Mavis, the first Guild Master of Fairy Tail]], who manages to be [[BadassAdorable kind, cute, mysterious and hilarious]] at the same time, and [[LittleMissBadass badass]] enough to master and cast one of the most powerful protection spells in the Fairy Tail universe [[spoiler:''from beyond the grave'', [[SphereOfPower Fairy Sphere]]]]. On top of that she created and can probably cast [[spoiler: [[LightEmUp Fairy Glitter]] and Fairy Law]].
** Wendy as well. Enough to be considered a main character. Although she also gets BaseBreakingCharacter treatment for the same reason.
*** You can almost ''see'' the standing ovation Mashima is getting from the fandom for allowing Wendy to finally have a chance to truly shine -- on her own (okay, fine, [[TeamPet Carla]] is with her) -- for the first time since her fight with Chelia in the ''Grand Magic Games'' arc. [[spoiler:To clarify, it's not Natsu, Erza, or even Lucy who gets to defuse Face; it's Wendy. And she has to go through Ezel to do it.]] She [[ADayInTheLimelight did]] ''[[TookALevelInBadass not]]'' [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome disappoint]].

** Thanks to the ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'' anime, Saten and Harumi are very popular too. Saten has even taken over Mikoto herself on sites like Website/NicoNicoDouga.

* ''Anime/KamisamaMinaraiHimitsuNoCocotama'' features Yurano, the purple catlike Straytama. Fans have posted plenty of fanart of her on Website/{{Pixiv}}, and she is sometimes paired with Tokumaru in some dom[=/=]sub situations.

** During the initial launch of the show, Almost all of the fanart found on Website/{{Pixiv}} was of Meow exclusively. Even though other characters are getting their own pics, Meow still has the most in general.

* ''Anime/CrossAnge'' has [[{{Meido}} Momoka Oginome]]. No, not [[Anime/{{Penguindrum}} ''that'']] [[Anime/{{Penguindrum}} Momoka Oginome]]. We're talking about the inverse of the TeamNormal, who possesses UndyingLoyalty to her FallenPrincess and who can effectively resist the mind control of the BigBad, who has [[BrainwashedAndCrazy inflicted extreme]] FantasticRacism [[BrainwashedAndCrazy onto her kind.]] Even getting a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome of killing the BigBad ([[DeathIsCheap at least for once]]) and surviving against him [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments with a frying pan]].

* In ''Manga/WhisperedWords'', Kiyori's dry humor garnered her a significant fanbase, which got propelled by the way she is presented in the anime. This is an impressive feat for a straight female character in a [[GirlsLove yuri]] series, although her cute, laconic laugh ("ha-ha-HAAA") may have a lot do do with this.

** [[EvilIsSexy Ultear]]. She was the first established villain that went beyond just a one-off ArcVillain, and the fact that people tend to forget about how much of an evil biatch she was before Gray knocked some sense into her just goes to show how engaging her character turned out to be overall. She also brought Fairy Tail a vast majority of reasonable [[MsFanservice fan-service]] before Mashima went overboard after the TimeSkip.

** Seilah has reached this point, too. She had quite a fair number of fans right out of the gate (mostly because EvilIsSexy and her [[LesYay relationship with]] [[TheBaroness Kyouka]] was perhaps the most well done villainous romantic relationship yet), many fans [[HesJustHiding refused to believe]] she could have ''possibly'' gone down because of [[spoiler:one punch to the back of the head in one of the biggest AssPull victories in the entire arc]]. It reached the point where fans were lobbying Hiro Mashima over Twitter, demanding she come back... and she did, in perhaps [[NotQuiteDead the]] [[DyingMomentOfAwesome most]] [[HeroKiller badass]] [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning way]] [[LastRequest possible]], giving her the send-off many fans believed she deserved and had been previously denied. [[spoiler: This might explain why Mirajane now can take on her form in the Albareth Empire arc]].

** Chun Yan is only relevant for a single round, but is still fairly popular among fans, due her attractive design, kind personality, her role and [[UsefulNotes/QinShiHuangdi Qin]]'s backstory, and for being an ActionGirl in a series where the majority of fighters are men.

** [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Anne]], in spite of her brief role, is rather popular with fans, due to being the only person to treat [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper Jack]] with kindness when he was a child, as well as being one of the few people to root for him during his battle against [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Heracles]].
** UsefulNotes/JesusChrist makes a brief appearance cheering on [[spoiler:[[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} Buddha]]]] during the sixth round. He ''instantly'' became popular among the fandom, due in part to having already been a character many have been wanting to see in the series, so much so that his appearance pretty much overshadowed ''anything else'' that happened in the chapter.

** More recently, [[spoiler:the original Thirteen Court Guard Captains]] all became very popular with fans despite the minor appearance they received. [[spoiler:Furoufushi Saitou and Batsu'unsai Katori]] in particular became quick favorites due to their [[GirlishPigtails attrac]][[EyepatchOfPower tive]] [[{{Meganekko}} desi]][[BoobsOfSteel gns]].

** In a more traditional example, Klan-Klan from Anime/MacrossFrontier seems to enjoy consistent popularity with the fandom, even though she is a bit player at most. It certainly helps that she is both a [[BoobsOfSteel busty giantess]] ''and'' a cute {{Tsundere}} (depending on whether she is macronized or micronized), but what firmly cemented her as a fan-favorite is the [[Heartwarming/MacrossFrontier heartwarming]] ChildhoodFriendRomance with Mikhail.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Sabito and Makomo only appear in three chapters (and a single anime episode) before it's revealed that [[spoiler:they were [[DeadAllAlong ghosts of demon slayer trainees]] killed by the Hand Demon years ago.]] Despite this, they are popular among fans, with Makomo making it into the top 10 of a popularity poll and Sabito being ranked 13th.

* ''Literature/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'' has Hideyoshi Kinoshita himself. [[DudeLooksLikeALady There's]] [[StupidSexyFlanders a]] [[ViewerGenderConfusion reason]] [[AttractiveBentGender why]] [[UnsettlingGenderReveal he's]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim popular.]] Heck, on one of the polls, he's ranked '''THE MOST''' popular LightNovel character, beating out [[LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}} Araragi]], [[Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex Touma]], and [[Literature/StudentCouncilsDiscretion Ken]]. Just like Taniguchi and Misao, Hideyoshi also got his own solo ImageSong after the series. All three series were produced under Lantis, so this may be the case for any future Ensemble Darkhorses from a series they sponsor.

* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist''

** Fujiwara is an interesting example. She started as the most popular character in the series, but as those around her became better developed she more or less stayed the same and fell to the wayside. This can best be seen by contrasting those who are up to date on the manga and those who only watched the anime (which covered the earlier sections of the series), [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/458/676/fe6.jpg as summed up in this image]].
** Ishigami. He's very popular for the running gags connected to his character, his pitiful nature, being a good friend to Shirogane, being rather similar to the fanbase and his tendency of shutting down Fujiwara. The reveal of his backstory shot his popularly through the roof.
** Ai Hayasaka: She has many fans due to her attractive character design, being a top DeadpanSnarker, chapter 59 revealing she's a bit of a geek, [[CoolBigSis and being like a sister to Kaguya]].

* Thanks to the SoBadItsGood, [[MemeticMutation meme-spawning]] nature of the show, ''Anime/ChargemanKen'' has many of these. The most notable case would be Hoshi - he only appeared in the 4th out of 65 episodes, and still has more fanart and time in [=MADs=] (Japanese [[WebAnimation/YouTubePoop YTPMV]]s) than the main character.

** Despite not having much screen time, Bear Walken is fairly popular as well. This may be justified because he is both a [[AFatherToHisMen charismatic leader]] to his squad of hitmen and a loving [[PapaWolf (if perhaps, overprotective) father]] to his daughter, Sherry.

** Despite not having much screen time, Bear Walken is fairly popular as well. This may be justified because he is both a [[AFatherToHisMen charismatic leader]] to his squad of hitmen and a loving [[OverprotectiveDad (and perhaps, overprotective)]] [[PapaWolf father]] to his daughter, Sherry.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''
** [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Sasha Blouse]] quickly became this after her [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments potato scene]] and for her many comedic facial expressions. [[spoiler:Her going BadassNormal on a Titan in the ''Breach Arc'' with a bow and arrows only cemented her popularity.]]
** Levi's squadmates have gotten a lot of respect from fans, [[NiceGal Petra]] especially. [[spoiler:They all end up being killed off, however.]]
** Bertolt is pretty popular for someone with [[TheQuietOne not many lines]] and notably less screentime than the other trainees. Especially on certain imageboards, where he is hailed as some sort of {{moe}} [[MemeticMutation Memetic]] [[TheWoobie Woobie]] due to his sweating and his awkward and distressed facial expressions. [[spoiler: And then it turns out he's the Colossal Titan that kickstarted (no pun intended) the plot and thus one of the most relevant characters]].
** [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] and PlayedForLaughs with the so-called "[[http://i.imgur.com/cfXLLFbl.jpg Kawaii Titan]]". People keep making it out to be a marvellous, beautiful, innocent creature that had its life horribly cut short by Mikasa in the Warehouse battle, despite the fact that it was responsible for killing Mina Carolina and came scarily close to killing Sasha as well.
** Speaking of, Mina as well. She's a simple MauveShirt with only about a page's worth of dialogue before she's munched by the Kawaii Titan during the squad's [[CurbStompBattle ill-fated First Battle of Trost]], but she's got a surprising amount of attention from the fandom.
** Hange, Levi's [[TheLancer Lancer]], is extremely popular among Western fans for being ''crazy''.
** Rico as well, [[spoiler:[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome especially after that time she gouged a Titan's eye out]]]].
** Marco gained a lot of respect [[spoiler:after his death in Trost]].
** [[ThoseTwoGuys Marlo and Hitch]], Annie's squadmates from her ADayInTheLimelight subplot seem to be pretty popular, being dubbed 'unicops' by the fandom. [[spoiler: [[TheBusCameBack Turns out they're not just one-off characters, either.]]]]