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In anime, many characters reflect that reality and tend to opt for a sword, like Kirito in Sword Art Online, or superpowers like Deku in My Hero Academia. Watching an anime where the protagonist or the secondary characters chooses to become archers may be rare but not entirely impossible. These are just a few characters who prefer to fight from afar with a bow and arrows rather than in close combat.
Updated October 8th, 2022, by Jessica Shatilla:Archery is a sport that takes the utmost precision and accuracy from the archer in question. As an underrated activity, archery is not commonly practiced in most movies , TV series and animes, especially in modern and futuristic ones (unless the bow itself has been modified and improved with the latest technologies and/or magic). Although the bow and arrows are more related to the medieval and fantasy genre, many anime archers enjoy this long-range combat strategy. Undoubtedly, these characters are the finest archers the anime medium has to offer.
11 Sawa Okita - Tari Tari
Sawa is the daughter of Shōichi and Shiho Okita. She’s passionate about Japanese archery and riding horses, as her dream is to become an equestrian someday. As a member of the archery club, she’s ambitious, playful, and friendly.
Sawa is a perfect example of archery being an underrated skill. Although she can almost always hit her mark with a little concentration, she is more interested in becoming an equestrian than mastering skills earned with the bow and arrow. Archery in this series serves more as a therapeutic and fun activity than anything more serious.
10 Yona - Yona Of The Dawn
Yona is the only heir and Queen Kashi and Emperor Il, so she became the crown princess of the kingdom, Kouka. As the reincarnation of King Hiryuu, she has many expectations to fulfill. After her father was murdered when she was sixteen, she became a fugitive and had to learn how to protect herself from harm.
At first, she was a selfish character, but through her many travels, she gained empathy for strangers and changed for the better. When she first learned archery for survival, she was terrible at it, but with perseverance and patience, she finally managed to master the skill. She can now shoot 200 arrows consecutively and always hit her mark in one shot.
9 Itsuki Kawasumi - The Rising Of The Shield Hero
Itsuki got summoned to another world just like Naofumi and got chosen to be the bow hero among the four chosen ones. Itsuki may have started the series the wrong way by siding with Ren and Motoyasu by treating Naofumi and some villagers poorly, but he is slowly coming around and learning from his mistakes.
As a secondary character, Itsuki doesn’t have much screen time, but Rising of the Shield Hero fans are looking forward to seeing what else he can do with his bow to help Naofumi save the world in upcoming seasons.
8 Uryū - Bleach
Uryū Ishida is a doctor at Karakura Hospital and a former member of the Wandenreich’s Sternritter in the anime series, Bleach. He’s usually quiet and likes to keep to himself, but his strong sense of justice will put him on the map as he stands up for others often.
Uryū prefers incapacitating his enemies rather than being lethal with his bow and arrows. He’s an anime archer character who has mastered precision and can easily take down his opponent with one single shot if he has to.
7 Archer - Fate/Stay Night
Archer, aka Emiya, is a servant of Rin Tohsaka in the Fifth Holy Grail War in the series. As a Counter Guardian, he is devoted to fixing humanity’s mistakes and can be bitter with certain people depending on the circumstances. He may be sarcastic, but he’s always truthful in his advice unless he says half-truths.
Emiya has various skills but using a long ranged weapon always turns particular situations in his favor. His bow can resist some Fire Noble Phantasms (weapons) and make Broken Phantasms shots from various distances with the greatest accuracy possible.
6 Sasha Braus - Attack On Titan
Sasha Braus was a brave and friendly member of the Surveys Corps. She loved food, and although she made mistakes along the way, she always persevered and followed her intuition.
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In the second season of the anime, Sasha used a bow and arrows to save a young girl from a Titan. It may have taken her a few attempts before succeeding, but she never gave up, and her resilience is something that fans have seen throughout the series. Her experience with the bow helped her become a sharpshooter, and when she opted for a different weapon, she became one of the best snipers on her team.
5 Sailor Mars - Sailor Moon
Rei Hino is a fiery character with many plans and big ambitions. She hopes to become a songwriter and singer, a voice actress, and a model. She is known to be boy crazy, but that never stops her from being loyal to her friends and family.
When Rei becomes Sailor Mars, her fiery spirit never wavers, and she can get easily angry. She’s a tough and resilient person who won’t ever give up on her beliefs. One of her iconic attacks, the “Mars Flame Sniper” is unleashed with her flame engulfed bow and arrows and can reduce any target to ashes after being burned.
4 Ashitaka - Princess Mononoke
Prince Ashitaka is a cursed character in Studio Ghibli’s anime Princess Mononoke. His curse, however, doesn’t stop him from pursuing his goals and helping his village regain peace. His kindness is one of his true qualities, and he is always helping strangers without asking for anything in return.
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Ashitaka is also a trained warrior and uses a bow as one of his main weapons. He is a skilled archer with quick reflexes and once caught an arrow flying in the air toward him without much difficulty.
3 Sinon - Sword Art Online
Sinon first appeared in Sword Art Online in the third arc called Phantom Bullet. Sinon was a professional sniper in the battle royal shooter game Gun Gale Online and helped Kirito in his quest to find Death Gun, the antagonist of the season.
After the Phantom Bullet arc, Sinon moved on from being a sniper to using a bow and arrows as her weapon. She’s a calm and collected person with a kind heart who is always there for those she loves. She’s a talented archer who rarely misses her mark.
2 Kagome - Inuyasha
Kagome is the modern reincarnation of a once-famous archeress and priestess named Kikyō. Kagome is a kind and pure-hearted girl who isn’t afraid to say what she thinks. She also stands up for herself and for those she loves without hesitation.
Like Kikyō, Kagome decided to use the bow as her main weapon, and even though she wasn’t as skilled as her ancestor, she persevered and mastered it to the best of her ability. She can now kill an enemy holding a hostage without endangering the innocent.
1 Tigrevurmud Vorn - Lord Marksman and Vanadis
Tigrevurmud Von, or Tigre for short, is a master archer and hunter. As the Earl of his home of Alsace and renowned war hero, he will always fight to protect his people from possible enemies and put their safety first before the obligations of the crown.
Although he is known to be lazy and loves to sleep until noon, Tigre is on constant alert due to his experience as a hunter. Known as “the monster” due to his talents in archery, he’s the envy of all his allies and enemies. Tigre is also known as the best archer on the entire continent since he can shoot from the furthest range with perfect accuracy, and with three arrows while riding a horse.
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