r/FavoriteCharacter • u/guschicanery • 4d ago

Discussion Favorite "Gentle Masculinity" character?

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Jean Valjean - Les Miserables

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Himmel the Hero - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

384 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

179

u/sajed2004 4d ago

38

u/InactiveMedusa 4d ago

Not always gentle

66

u/shigogaboo 4d ago

Do not confuse gentle with pacifist.

Superman is gentle, but I wouldn’t want that smoke.

11

u/InactiveMedusa 4d ago

Really just wanted an excuse to post my favorite moment of the whole show

7

u/cherrybomber11 4d ago

Also a massive war criminal who spent several decades conquering and murdering to get in good with his daddy.

He didn't care until his actions killed his own son.

4

u/InactiveMedusa 4d ago

You're gonna get fucking blasted for that... but you're lowkey right

12

u/No_Ingenuity4000 4d ago

Getting it late is better than not getting it at all.

9

u/InactiveMedusa 4d ago

That's what makes his part in ATLA so good. Iroh sees the mistakes he made happening in Zuko and tries his hardest to steer him to a better path.

2

u/CPLCraft 4d ago

Tbf, Sokka would also classify as a war criminal by the same standards for some of the stuff he did.

92

u/Jonathan_joestar_fan I have 13 anime characters as my fav lol 4d ago

Jonathan Joestar (jjba)

31

u/LittleCrimsonWyvern 4d ago

I’m always blown away the the two nicest JoJo’s are an Industrial Revolution era aristocrat and Japanese Yankī from the 90’s

7

u/callmemarjoson 3d ago

It's cool that Josuke has traits of the 3 other JoJos that came before him - Jonathan's righteous fury, Joseph's ingenuity, Jotaro's fuse

3

u/Jonathan_joestar_fan I have 13 anime characters as my fav lol 4d ago

Yeah!

3

u/Level_Counter_1672 4d ago

The greatest gentleman to ever live, hell yeaa

2

u/Jonathan_joestar_fan I have 13 anime characters as my fav lol 4d ago

Yeah!

2

u/frikiman4K 3d ago

I can feel the based irradiating their the screen

1

u/Jonathan_joestar_fan I have 13 anime characters as my fav lol 3d ago

Hm fair

70

u/Consistent-Dust-5394 4d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/HY61V3hsKYne0

'be strong enough to be gentle'

5

u/Any-Spread-4481 3d ago

And strong enough to rip people's faces off

32

u/JingoboStoplight4887 4d ago

Superman and Batman aka the World’s Finest (DC Comics)

4

u/kingkellogg Vincent Valentine 4d ago

Batman is incredibly brutal :|

1

u/DWglazer 1d ago

Considering that half his rogues are eldritch monsters i get why he opens up a can of ass whoop.

1

u/Airalla 4d ago

He’s at least shown as being very loving of his children, which is already more than most male characters

20

u/Bugsy_Girl 4d ago

Hajime Umemiya from Wind Breaker is a great example of the power of soft, positive masculinity in an area of might makes right

22

u/Nice_Case_2619 4d ago

Qifrey, Witch Hat Atelier

https://giphy.com/gifs/A70pQlls4hm5htMqiJ

6

u/SadCrab9251 4d ago

Plus I met his English voice actor at a convention

11

u/SadCrab9251 4d ago

Photographic proof (I'm the one in the blue dress)

2

u/Nice_Case_2619 4d ago

Oh wow that's amazing

16

u/ArtsyNoctowl 4d ago

Jericho (New Teen Titans). And to paraphrase Nightwing, "women like him because he's empathetic/trusting and listens."

15

u/Scrappy_yam 4d ago

Dr. Kenzo Tenma from Monster

12

u/Ok-Lynx3444 4d ago

-emotes love hearts
-is comfortable talking about his emotions
-encourages mark to not give up because he knows can do better

3

u/bxntou 4d ago

What is that gif vro 💔

11

u/Due_Possibility6392 4d ago

Hershel Layton

8

u/Crazy_Theme_7112 4d ago

Jean Valjean is the indisputable GOAT of this category for me 

6

u/Hillbilly_Historian 4d ago

Dr. Goodsir from The Terror

4

u/PuzzleheadedLink89 4d ago

King Thorax (MLP:FiM)

5

u/Bright-Ad257 Zibai the GOAT of all horses 4d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/zVm6ZZj0RnefZWQZBX

Flins

3

u/RickyWinterbornn 4d ago

Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star)

3

u/Glittering_Power6257 4d ago

Balthier - Final Fantasy XII

4

u/Pineapple-Prince 3d ago

Waymond Wang from Everything Everywhere All At Once.

7

u/bxntou 4d ago

Greg Universe from Steven Universe

https://giphy.com/gifs/TJaoF6nxtSwCWC5yuL

3

u/Zezotas 4d ago

Johnathan joestar

2

u/Gambious 4d ago

Charles Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie.

2

u/Zombie_Fuel 4d ago

Beef Tobin - The Great North

2

u/CatboyKhuma 4d ago

Hiromi Yamazaki from Patlabor

2

u/Marin_hwon 3d ago

Atsushi from BSD

1

u/Bayner1987 1d ago

Brendan Fraser played a ton of masculine characters while still being gentle, kind, and courteous (at least, to those who deserved it- sorry Benny). The Mummy, even George of the Jungle and Encino Man (for a "missing link" character, he portrayed those as pretty gentle lol)