So many choices. I just chose from what I've been watching lately. Male and female version, though I'm more likely to pick the guys.



HERO: Prussia (Hetalia Axis Powers). I'm only focusing on personality here.
While an aggravating person definitely, brash, rude, leering ect., he contains many strong qualities like high tactical ability, strong physical strength, he's not an idiot by any means. He also has something of a gentleman in him deep down. He has no problem teasing girls, but he knows when he goes too far, never hits on them and is fairly pure in that respect. He cherishes certain people and treats them like long lost buddies.

HERIONE: Sheryl Nome (Macross Frontier). A strong woman who works hard to achieve her success. She doesn't hesitate to jump off a building if the need be and is up for any challenge.



ANTIHERO: Kanba Katakura (Mawaru Penguindrum). Somewhat opposite to Prussia in that he's a total playboy. They are both similar in that they are pretty forthright and awesome action guys. He has a darker aspect to him (himari-love and terrorist parents) that makes him more villain than hero, nonetheless, the love he shows makes him a pretty good guy.

ANITIHERIONE: Envy Adams (Scott Pilgrim) Much like Sheryl, she works uber hard to make it in the music industry. She wows people with her mere presence and always looks fantastic. She's also an awesome fighter who (almost) bested Ramona, but she fights a little dirty. Her harshness makes her more of a villain though. But she seemed super sweet to me when she told everyone why her and Todd Ingam would be together forever.



MUSCLE: Reiji Azuma (Phantom - requim of the phantom). A sissy japanese tourist who got suckered into being an assassin. At some point he grew his hair out, sported a suit he couldn't figure out how to button all the way and the ability to kill without hesistation. The guy doesn't wear body armor and barely seems to try to run away. He uses the hand of god to achieve his means, obviously. (I should've chosen Cloud Strife here.)

MUSCLE: KOS-MOS (Xenosaga). Heap big gun. F-Sythe. Abdomen cannon. Awesome hair. Poker face. What else do you need?



KID: Kamile Bidan (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam). Although 17, he appears in a show dominated by adults. While a resistance group tries to spy on the enemy's resources, he's using such resources to dish out petty payback. His main angst revolves around his parents and their failing marriage, as well as not being taken seriously as a man. He whines around mature people trying to make a difference, he's the kid in this series. He becomes vital as his newtype skills kick in and he becomes an awesome Mecha Pilot.

KIDETTE: Anya (Code Geass). A chibi who can fly a huge cannon mecha? Score!



PRINCESS: Alto ( Macross Frontier). Dubbed 'Hime' by workmates, being called miss by shop attendants and have his love interest say she thought he was a beautiful girl - it makes it obvious Alto is a little too pretty to be the hero of this series. A tabuki actor that plays female roles, sporting a long blue ponytail and that gorgeous face... er, what does he do again? An awesome pilot, but i'm happiest seeing him pose.

PRINCESS: Lynn Minmei (SDF Macross). Little minmei has the love of an entire town and an alien race. A pretty thing with a cutesy voice, she single-handedly stopped a war with a song.

This reminds me of what TVTropes calls the Five-Man Band: the singer and guitarist as hero and antihero, the drummer as the big guy, the bassist or keyboardist as the -- okay, not the kid, but the nerd -- and the chick on the marimbas as the princess.  People apparently have tried to fit the cast of every anime ever made into the Five-Man Band model, even when it's obviously inappropriate.  But obviously it's completely appropriate to do the same to Utena's Student Council. 

Anyway!  Excluding SKU.  I had to make a lot of cuts   I struggled hard to find good male heroes, but in the end had too many and was sad to cut Yuzuru of Angel Beats!; it also broke my heart a little not to give Reki of Haibane Renmei the guitar and to deny both GITS's Togusa and Death Note's Matsuda their keyboards.  I was also sorely tempted to cast Oginome Ringo as my drummer, for reasons that should be obvious.  But in the end...

HERO / LEAD VOCALIST
FEMALE: Oscar Jarjeyes of Rose of Versailles
MALE: Simon of Gurren Lagann

I like strong heroes.  Not all anime accommodate them.  A strong hero has to have an unassailable determination to do good.  Not all protagonists draw stark lines between good and evil, and some of the ones that do are fooling themselves and know it.  But Oscar and Simon are heroes.  Simon is perhaps the more classical hero of the pair: his world is black versus white, tyranny versus freedom, death versus life, and resolving each of these conflicts in favor of the good guys is as simple as believing in oneself and charging forward with spiral energy roaring.  Oscar’s world is more complicated – a place where some good people side with evil, and some evil people fight for good causes – but her own moral compass is as true as Simon’s, and her determination is no less.  These are two kickass heroes, each of whom overcomes a different crisis of confidence to emerge fully forged from the inferno, and they belong at the front of their bands.

ANTIHERO / GUITAR
FEMALE*: Kino of Kino no Tabi
MALE: Tenma Kenzou of Monster

Sort of breaking the “rock band” theme here, as I expect that both Kino and Tenma prefer to play acoustic, but you take what you can get.  These two exemplify opposite approaches to antiheroism.  You can be an antihero by taking a dynamic role on the side of good, but embracing some of the tactics and ethics of evil; Dr. Tenma is this Batman figure, pursuing vigilante justice and ignoring the law when it suits him, but ultimately working on the side of life and dignity.  Or you can be an antihero by conspicuously lacking the passion that we normally associate with heroism, disbelieving in evil, approaching the world with a weariness matched only by the optimism you haven’t quite managed to kill – and that is the kind of antihero Kino is.  These are not only two of my favorite antiheroes, but also two of my favorite characters in anime, with poignant inner conflicts that paint their perspectives in such dark shades of gray.
* I can’t speak to Kino’s gender.  If Kino would identify as male or nongendered, Lalaru of Now and Then, Here and There can have this spot.

BIG GUY / DRUMS
FEMALE: Orihara Kaoru of Oniisama e...
MALE: The Tenchou of Yakitate!! Japan

Muscle is the easiest role to define.  The support character who kicks the most ass is the big guy.  I was sad to eliminate Batou from Ghost in the Shell from this list.  But ass-kicking doesn’t have to be literal; it can also emblemize a character’s approach to challenges, and that’s how both Kaoru and the Tenchou express their bigness.  Kaoru is almost a hero in her own right, with perhaps the strongest sense of righteousness of anyone in her show, but she expresses that righteousness by becoming her friends’ appointed defender, a role she executes with vigor and physicality befitting the big guy.  She would also look badass behind a set of drums.  The Tenchou, for his part, may be a comedy character in a comedy series, but he’s also a brick wall.  If you take him on you will lose, and if you are on his side he will make sure you do not fail.  Many characters in anime might fit this description, but the Tenchou is maybe the most archetypal – and he is so good at keeping the beat at disco that I have no doubt he can play the drums.

NERD / KEYS
FEMALE: Yomiko Readman of Read or Die
MALE: Shindou Hikaru of Hikaru no Go

I wonder why the keyboardist is the nerd.  I guess it’s because the person playing the keys fades into the background of the band, yielding center stage to the singer and guitarist, and nerds too are supposed to fade to the outside of social circles.  I’m relieved, then, to report that Yomiko and Hikaru each live in universes where they can take center stage and be the heroes of their own stories – though they would be nerds in anyone else’s.  Yomiko is a book otaku, Hikaru is a Go otaku, and we certainly see how the “normals” around them treat them with indifference or distaste or bemusement.  But paper is the source of Yomiko’s superpowers, and she uses those powers to save the world; Go gives Hikaru a sense of belonging and of competence that he had never had before.  In their corners, they rock out, and they will both make agile and passionate keyboardists.

PRINCESS / SOUND EFFECTS
FEMALE: Suema Kazuko of Boogiepop Phantom
MALE: Ikari Shinji of Shin Seiki Evangelion

Of all the roles, this is the one I understand the least – which is maybe unsurprising, coming from an Utena fan.  What is a princess, and how can we define one in such a way that you’d want her in your band?  I decided to answer that question by defining a princess as someone – perhaps a very strong someone – sitting at the fringe of another world, but someone who absolutely cannot confront what’s in that world on her own terms.  As a result, she is a bystander at best, a victim at worst – she needs protection – but if she’s a relatable character then her point of view will help us understand the world she’s caught up in.  For Shinji this world is a psychological one; he may barely pass at the work of piloting an Eva, but he’s a squashed frog under the emotional and social pressure, and without Misato and a few friends to stand up for him, he’d be dead.  Kazuko is approximately the only person without superpowers in her supernatural horror show, and the other characters carefully keep her in the dark about their talents, but Kazuko is drawn in both by prior traumas and by her own irrepressible curiosity.  Both Shinji and Kazuko are to my mind the main characters of their shows, and they’re the vehicles through which we appreciate the danger of their settings.