Who is/are your favorite anime character(s), and why?

Takeru from Digimon Adventure (and 02). I liked him when I first watched Digimon while it was aired on tv, and even more now as I watch the subbed ones. I can't pinpoint exactly why as he's just an awesome character overall, but one part of it may be my admiration of his deep love for Hikari (another character on the show, to point out the obvious).

I also like L from Death Note, because of the curious way he acts and his intelligence, but I'm not sure I would say that he's my favorite.