A character's personality plays a huge part in their popularity. A character with a great backstory and a certain set of principles is bound to have more fans than a poorly written one. Due to this reason, creators are always trying to come up with interesting character designs, personalities, and backstories.
It is hard to imagine that some of the most popular anime characters are actually loners who have lived or continue to live alone in isolation. These characters have cut themselves off from the rest of the world for one reason or another. Given the fact that there is no shortage of such taciturn, reclusive characters, here are some of the loneliest anime protagonists.
8 Guts
Guts' life has been filled with nothing but disasters. He was found by Shisu near the corpse of his dead mother. At the time, it seemed that Guts was rescued from a cruel fate, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Once Shisu passed away, Guts was left in the care of Gambino, who is one of the worst father figures in anime history. Gambino sold Guts' body to another mercenary, who abused him physically.
Guts was devastated when he found out that Gambino hated him. He killed Gambino in self-defense, after which he was chased by the mercenaries. From that point onward, Guts lived by himself, and only cared about his sword, as it was the only thing that protected him.
7 Kaneki Ken
Kaneki Ken was orphaned after his mother's death. The incident caused Kaneki severe grief, and he became depressed. Kaneki lived in despair, and he grew up to become a rather reserved character who only had a single friend named Hide. However, no matter how much time Kaneki spent with Hide, the former had to come home to an empty place.
Kaneki lived by himself, and he would often miss his mother. Just when he thought that his life was getting better, he was caught in a major accident. The doctors at the hospital transplanted a ghoul's organs inside him. Kaneki tried to use his new powers to protect the people around him, mainly because he didn't want to feel alone ever again.
6 Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto Uzumaki is one of the most popular anime characters in the world. By the end of his story, Naruto was the most adored person in the world, but his life wasn't always so jovial.
For the entirety of his childhood, Naruto was alone, with no friends or parents. The entire Hidden Leaf Village shunned him and treated him like a monster. He lived by himself, and except for a few people, no one even checked on him. Naruto couldn't even talk or play with the other kids, as their parents would scold them and ask them to stay away from him.
5 Shouya Ishida
Shouya Ishida is the main protagonist of A Silent Voice. During his childhood, Shouya Ishida was a bully who caused Nishimiya many problems. His bullying escalated to the point where his mother had to apologize to Nishimiya and her mother.
As he grew up, he became increasingly lonely. He had no friends, and he only lived to earn back the money that he owed his mother. Once he reached his target, Ishida attempted to take his own life. Fortunately, he didn't go through with the idea.
4 Hachiman Hikigaya
Hikigaya Hachiman is the main character of My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected. He is a high school student who keeps to himself, which is why his presence is barely noticed by anyone in the class. Despite being considered eccentric by other people, Hachiman thinks highly of himself and believes that he is superior to them.
Hachiman is often condescending toward other people, and due to this, he comes off as a mean person. For the majority of the series, Hachiman preferred to stay aloof and get things done on his own terms.
3 Saitama
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Saitama is the strongest character in the One Punch Man series. Often, people who are powerful are popular and surrounded by their fans, but that does not apply to Saitama. Despite having surpassed the limitations of a normal human body, Saitama failed to gain even decent social skills.
Saitama lived alone in his apartment, and he rarely interacted with anyone else. It would be fair to call Saitama's loneliness a mixture of his unwillingness to communicate and other people finding him odd. Saitama's first real interaction only came after he met Genos. Even then, the bald hero was eager to get back to his apartment, and he only allowed Genos to tag along because the latter was tenacious.
2 Ginko
Ginko is a Mushishi who travels from one place to another, helping people with their Mushi-related troubles. Ginko's understanding of the Mushi is second to none, and his knowledge helped him to save the lives of many people. He is able to maintain his calm even in the most difficult situations. This particular quality makes him a great Mushishi, as he often has to reason with stubborn people.
Throughout the story, Ginko travels to various places, but he never stays in the same place for too long. One might think that he would take on an underling, especially when he is always on the road. However, Ginko never keeps company, which solidifies his reputation as a loner.
1 L
Depending on an individual's outlook, L can be classified as a hero or a villain. Most people consider L a hero, whose intervention was necessary to prevent Yagami Light from killing anyone that he disliked. Even though L had a different upbringing from his nemesis, he turned out to be just as smart, if not smarter.
L was alone for the majority of his life. He did not interact with other people, which is why he had an awkward social demeanor. L's loneliness did not affect him most of the time, but it did get the better of him as he foolishly tried to look for a friend in Light.