Top 20 Lazy Anime Characters You Can Sympathize With

Anime
(C) 2015 サンカクヘッド/集英社・「干物妹!うまるちゃん」製作委員会
Anime

Laziness is frowned upon by many but is cited as great by Bill Gates himself. This characteristic is something we can all relate to, even the biggest workaholics get lazy. In this article, we hand-picked 20 of our favourite lazy anime characters with which you may find a connection.

Some characters are lazy in general, but some are lazy and super smart (hence why they laze around). Some characters are OP and choose to be lazy for the hell of it.

Umaru’s ‘outdoor’ mode often draws the attention of those who pass by her due to her attractiveness. She has pale skin with a slender figure, a small face with rosy cheeks, and round, dark brown eyes. Her true form – her ‘Indoor’ mode – is the form of a toddler (and her voice and behaviour are also like a toddler’s), and is drawn in a chibi-like manner. This form is a representation of her childish, lazy, and messy, personality.

In her ‘Indoor’ mode, she is the exact opposite; she reverts to her true, chibi form, lets out her secret otaku side, and barely contributes to doing household chores (even taking care of her hamsters), all of which she leaves to her older brother, Taihei. She is very messy, and lazy, eats junk food, drinks very large amounts of cola, and is obsessed with stuffed cat dolls, playing video games, reading manga, and watching anime; she usually refers to herself in the third person; she is also prone to whining/crying when things don’t go her way, and behaves very strangely when not in public.

2. Shikamaru Nara/Naruto

Shikamaru is the only child of Yoshino and Shikaku Nara. When he was young, he once played “ninja” with other children his age. Shikamaru Nara is a shinobi of Konohagakure’s Nara clan. The responsibilities that these successes leave him with cause him frequent annoyance. Still, he gladly accepts them so that he may serve his fellow Team Asuma members, and prove himself to generations of the past and future.

Shikamaru is an extremely unenthusiastic person and, as such, lives his life avoiding work. This is partly due to him seeking paths of least resistance, as he often chooses to do things he would otherwise not do if people nag him enough. In his free time, he typically takes naps, watches clouds, and plays strategy games such as Shogi and Go.

When put into a situation where he potentially needs to put effort into something, he tries to find a way to avoid it, such as forfeiting a battle or pretending to be preoccupied with something else. When he can not avoid these situations, Shikamaru tends to remark, “how troublesome.”

3. Gintoki Sakata/Gintama

©空知英秋/劇場版銀魂製作委員会

Gintoki is a samurai living in an era when samurai are no longer needed. To add to his troubles, oppressive aliens have moved in to invade planet Earth. Gintoki works, taking on odd jobs alongside two kids: Kagura and Shinpachi. In the Joui war, he was known as the “White Devil” (Shiroyasha) due to his silver hair and white clothing he wore in battle, which, combined with his impressive capabilities as a swordsman, made him famous among his comrades and struck fear in the hearts of the Amanto.

Gintoki is extremely lazy. He is often seen wearing a dumb expression on his face and spends his days lounging around reading Shounen Jump while imparting wise and sage-like advice to his younger employees, even though he doesn’t know what he’s talking about most of the time. Due to his poverty and unwillingness to do mostly anything, he is always behind on his rent and often runs away when Otose, his landlady, comes to collect the payment

4. Kenma Kozume/Haikyuu!!

Kenma Kozume was previously a second-year student at Nekoma High. He was the volleyball team’s setter and was referred to as the “heart” and “brain” of the team by his teammates.

Kenma has a very relaxed and laid-back personality. He hardly ever loses his cool, and he usually never gets excited about anything (except Hinata and video games). He is quiet, reserved, and does not voice his opinions often since he fears how others think of them.

He isn’t the type who can make friends easily; his only friend back when he was younger was Tetsurou Kuroo. Despite his modest personality, Kenma is quite skilled in volleyball, with his extraordinary game sense and technique, which makes up for his power, speed, and stamina.

5. Atsushi Murasakibara/Kuroko’s Basketball

(C)藤巻忠俊/集英社・黒子のバスケ製作委員会

Atsushi Murasakibara was the Generation of Miracles’ center who now plays for Yousen High. Formerly playing center for Teikou Middle School’s basketball team, he does the same now for Yousen High School. Beyond possessing shoulder-length, purple hair, Murasakibara is immediately recognizable for his great height, at least ten centimetres taller than any currently revealed member of the Generation of Miracles.

Contrary to the impression his height gives, Murasakibara acts very lumpishly. He fools around at serious times, which is not always well received. He is mildly sadistic and childish. He claims that he only plays basketball because he’s good at it; he doesn’t care for the sport at all. He has always told others that he dislikes, is bored by and even hates players who play basketball passionately, even when losing.

6. Houtarou Oreki/Hyouka

©米澤穂信・角川書店/神山高校古典部OB会

Oreki is a high-schooler with messy brown hair and green eyes. Due to his very lazy lifestyle, he almost always has a tired or bored look. His hair is especially very messy when he wakes up. He is shown to be a quiet student, and never concerned about things that happen around him.

Despite being shown as an average high school student, he is quite intelligent and perceptive. His usual laziness is because he wishes to “save energy.” Even though he is shown to be quite lazy, he never leaves his homework undone, as pointed out by Satoshi. He’s considered lazy and apathetic, always living on the “gray” side, and is not interested in any activities that might waste his time and energy.

He never intended to join any club, but his sister ordered him to join the Classics Club to save it from being disbanded. Even though he might not seem like it, he’s unbelievably good at solving mysteries and seems to be able always to find a solution if he gives it a thought. He has a habit of holding his bangs whenever he’s thinking about a mystery.

7. Tanaka/Tanaka-kun Is Always Listless

©ウダノゾミ/スクウェアエニックス・製作委員会はいつもけだるげ

The manga’s main character and a textbook example of a listless guy. He goes through life constantly sighing and refraining from tiring work, accompanied by his friend, Oota.

Tanaka is a listless teenager who always dozes off and acts exhausted when awake. He often sighs and avoids putting effort into things, all while being accompanied by his friend, Oota. Due to his disdain for hard work, he often relies on his family and friends to assist him.

Tanaka is apathetic and hardly ever outwardly expresses how he feels. When he does, it’s normally done lazily, thus making him seem mature at best and uncaring at worst.

8. Glenn Radars/Akashic Record of Bastard Magic Instructor

Glenn becomes the substitute teacher for Sistine’s and Rumia’s class after her favourite teacher retired. He was once a famous assassin and was the one who saved Rumia Tingel before the series. He was once known as ‘The Fool’ said to be a fantastic magician killer working for the Alzano Imperial Court Magicians.

Glenn is lazy and constantly bored by everything, with his primary focus being sleeping. After the retirement of her favourite teacher, he becomes the substitute teacher in Sistine’s class. While he may seem incompetent, he is skilled in magic, but not in the traditional sense. Glenn used to be as passionate about magic as Sistine. However, he became disillusioned by it due to his former partner Sara Silvers’ death and his past as the infamous military assassin known as “The Fool”.

9. Konata Izumi/Lucky Star

© 美水かがみ

Konata Izumi is, more by default than anything else, the “leader” of the main characters. Nicknamed “Kona-chan” by her friends, she is an eccentric but friendly and outgoing girl, with a mischievous but good-natured sense of humour.

She can be smart, but she hates studying, thus her grades are a bit uneasy. However, she is an expert in pulling an “all-nighter.” In contrast to her studying habits, she loves video games, to the extent that she can compete against Kagami Hiiragi in trivia games (by remembering the question orders, not by knowing the actual answers).

She has a very strong passion for anime, manga and adult video games due to her father’s influence on her growing up. Konata’s room is filled with anime merchandise, such as a Haruhi Suzumiya poster, figurines, and a large stack of manga beside her bed.

10. Shota Aizawa/My Hero Academia

Shota Aizawa, also known as the Erasure Hero: Eraser Head, is a Pro Hero and the homeroom teacher of U.A. High School’s Class 1-A.

Shota is a very stern and reserved man with lofty expectations of his students. He is motivated by logic and does not believe in maintaining a clean-cut appearance or filtering his words or ideas for others. He often comes off as cold, apathetic, and impatient, exerting very little energy in most situations, preferring to take naps in his sleeping bag instead.

Due to Aizawa doing his heroic deeds at night, he is always tired throughout the day.

11. Hachiman Hikigaya/My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected

©渡 航、小学館/やはりこの製作委員会はまちがっている。完

Hachiman is the story’s main protagonist, an isolated, friendless boy who is pragmatic to a fault. His most prominent feature is his set of “dead fish eyes.” He firmly believes that “youth” is simply an illusion created by hypocrites, for hypocrites, are born from the ashes of past failures. In this state of apparent corruption, he is coerced into joining the Service Club by his futures advisor in the hopes that exposing him to the world will change his personality, and ultimately make him a “better person.” He is called “Hikki” affectionately by Yui.

His hobbies include reading, watching TV, and sleeping – anything that prevents interaction with others that may result in ridicule or gossip targeted at him.

12. Nobita Nobi/Doraemon

Nobita is one of the main characters of the Doraemon series. A fourth grader in Tokyo and an only child, he is the quintessential flawed protagonist. He is lazy, bad in sports, misbehaving in school, plain as a gray rock, and all too unlucky in his (mis)adventures with Doraemon. However, his struggles to overcome his flaws are what drive the storyline.

Nobita is a rather lazy person who has a cycle of constantly napping after school, keeping him up late when he wakes up late for school. This cycle of laziness occurs almost every day, keeping him up late at night and waking up late the next morning, hindering him academically.

13. Kazuma Sato/KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!

(C)2016 暁なつめ・三嶋くろね/KADOKAWA/このすば製作委員会

The main protagonist of KonoSuba. A sixteen-year-old Japanese teenager who became a game-obsessed shut-in after having his heart broken over his childhood friend during middle school. He is sent to the parallel reality after dying from an acute stress reaction, forcing Aqua to come with him after she irritates him with her attitude. Kazuma is an Adventurer, which, despite being the lowest-ranked class, allows him to learn various skills from other classes, albeit at an increased cost. With his ability, Kazuma learns basic skills such as stealing, archery, monster detection, and basic magic.

Though the most unassuming member of the group, Kazuma is often described as “reliable at critical moments.” As such, he can be surprisingly intelligent and a good leader, often the one who comes up with the plans or leads the group. Megumin describes him as hardworking when he’s poor, and lazy when he’s rich.

14. Ryner Lute/The Legend of the Legendary Heroes

(C)鏡貴也/伝勇伝製作委員会 (C)角川コンテンツゲート

Ryner is the Protagonist of the show. He possesses the Alpha Stigma, a power that allows him to analyze and copy any magic he sees used. He is known as the “Deadliest Magician of Roland”.

Frequently appearing to be lethargic, sleepy, and unmotivated, Ryner is the protagonist of the story. He has brown eyes and hair and is of a slender build; is naturally talented in magic, hand-to-hand combat, arts of assassination, ancient lore, languages and symbols, and is the bearer of Alpha Stigma. This ocular ability grants him the ability to analyze various forms of magic.

Alpha Stigma bearers have a pentagram with a reddish hue over their pupils when activating their powers. Because of this ability, in a world where magic forms differ from country to country and is a closely guarded secret, he has learned and acquired magic from different countries through battles with their mages.

15. Yui Hirasawa/K-On!

Yui Hirasawa is one of the 5 main characters in K-ON! She’s also the main protagonist. She is the air-headed lead guitarist and vocalist of the band Ho-kago Tea Time.

As a musician, Yui has absolute pitch. She can tune her guitar perfectly without a tuner, which greatly impresses Azusa, who has far more experience playing guitar than Yui. She has a very easygoing nature but has incredible focus and retention when she has a clear goal. Yui is still devoted to her band and will always practice hard enough for the club.

Yui is rather lazy, so her grades, except for fine arts, are always on the verge of failing; sometimes, she is the only person in her class who needs to retake a test, while other times, she manages to avoid failing all of her subjects by a one-point margin.

16. Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon

The series’s main character is Serena in the English dub (nicknamed Bunny in the manga). Usagi is a carefree schoolgirl with an enormous capacity for love and transforms into the heroine called Sailor Moon.

At the beginning of the series, she is portrayed as an immature crybaby who hates having to fight; however, throughout the series, you come to know her sweet and selfless side. Usagi is selfish, lazy, clumsy, and an academic underachiever. She’s also not very good at cooking. However, she cares deeply about her friends and family.

Her full name, when said in the Japanese naming order, Tsukino Usagi, gives two additional puns: No-Usagi (野うさぎ), meaning “wild rabbit,”; and Tsuki no Usagi (月のうさぎ), meaning “Rabbit of the Moon”. The latter derives from an Asian folktale about a rabbit that is said to reside on the Moon.

17. Aokiji/One Piece

Kuzan, better known by his former alias Aokiji, was one of the three Marine admirals. Sengoku nominated him for the position of fleet admiral. However, after losing the position to Akainu, he resigned from the Marines.

Aokiji is very laid-back, showing no shock or surprise from almost anything. His lack of interest and “Lazy Justice” (as he describes his motto himself) often leads others to believe he cannot possibly be a marine of such a high ranking, which causes them to underestimate him, making him all the more dangerous (it is unknown whether this is a facade or if he is genuinely lazy). However, if he deems a situation worthy, he will take action.

18. Kuro/Servamp

©田中ストライク・KADOKAWA

Kuro is a servant vampire or a Servamp, who made a contract with Shirota Mahiru. He can turn into a cat in the daylight and is the oldest brother of the seven vampire brothers.

Being the Servamp of Sloth, Kuro spends his time sleeping, lazing around or playing video games. He feels no shame in running away to avoid trouble and refuses to make decisions, since he doesn’t want anything to be his fault, and doesn’t want to disappoint anyone. Kuro is a ‘shut-in’ pacifist vampire, and rarely drinks Mahiru’s blood; most of the time, he refuses and drinks only when he is about to fight.

19. Yuu Ishigami/Kaguya-sama: Love Is War

Yu is based on Isonokami no Maro, the fifth suitor from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. His depressed personality is based on his counterpart attempting to obtain a cowry shell from a swallow’s nest, only to fall to his death with bird poop in his hand.

Yu is a reserved and somewhat gloomy student who rarely attends student council meetings, preferring to do most of his work at home. He usually spends most of his time playing video games by himself, as the other students generally dislike him due to an incident that occurred in his past.

Yu has an incredibly cynical and depressing outlook on life, often going on long rants against youth and the other students he refers to as “normies”. This discontent comes from his misery and loneliness, as he seems very jealous of the popular guys who manage to get a girlfriend.

20. Beerus/Dragon Ball Z

Beerus is the God of Destruction of Universe 7. He is accompanied by his martial arts teacher and attendant, Whis. Beerus’s twin brother is Champa, the God of Destruction of Universe 6.

Beerus is powerful, yet lazy and playful (like most cats). His similarities to cat-like behaviour also display his love for long sleep sessions and how he grooms himself. Beerus is always in a bad mood when he wakes up from his deep slumber but becomes less grumpy the more awake he is. Like many cats, he likes to display dominance and will claim whatever he desires without much consideration for how it will affect others.

Summary

Whether you’re a god of destruction or a girl fascinated with singing, you’ll sometimes get lazy, and that’s ok! Being lazy is not a negative trait; sometimes you work soo hard and exhaust yourself to getting lazy. Sometimes you’re just too OP at something, and you get lazy. Just like the characters we listed.

We went over 20 characters who define and use laziness as a trait and their overall character. We hope you found a character that piques your interest or that you could relate to.

Be sure to keep checking back on our site for more great anime recommendations!

We are a group of experienced web editors based in Japan.

Our goal is to provide a stimulating reading experience for those who are interested in Japanese entertainment cultures such as anime, manga, and J-drama.

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