Drifters or travelers, whatever you want to say, are referred to as the people who don’t prefer staying at the same place. Either out of curiosity or potential calamity, they don’t stick to a place and desire to roam around the world to discover new opportunities and explore the bewildering/human society. Luckily, there is no shortage of anime travelers and an abundance of such characters can be found in the community.

Whether they’re passionate drifters with personal motivations or people with highly specific missions, these characters enjoy traveling enough to base their lives around it. These individuals are a great addition to any show as they open up the rest of the world to their audience, making sure that the setting never gets stale.

And, in today’s article, we’ll take a look at some of the most exciting anime travelers who are constantly on the move despite unknown and risky situations. So, without any further ado let’s get started.

10. Kino from ‘Kino’s Journey’

As the name suggests, the titular character of the series Kino’s basis of life is “journey”. She has dedicated her entire life to travel the world with only a sentient motorcycle at her side. Kino enjoys traveling so much that she limits her stay in each town to a maximum of three days to avoid becoming too attached to any one place.

The good thing about Kino’s adventures is that while in each town she usually either changes something about the place or learns something valuable to apply to her own life. Kino doesn’t fully understand her own reasons for pursuing a life of perpetual drifting, but considerably it is her primary reason for existence.

9. Ginko from ‘Mushishi’

Mushishi is an anime based on Japanese mythology that focuses on Ginko. Being one of the highly engaged anime travelers, Ginko’s lifestyle mostly revolves around the research of mysterious lifeforms known as Mushi. He continuously travels from place to place for his Mushi investigations and only stays in an area long enough to finish his hired cases.

Ginko’s nomadic lifestyle often brings him into remote areas that receive little human contact. Still he takes pride in his work and diagnoses mushi-related illnesses and phenomena with perfection. Pondering what it truly means to be alive and being, Ginko’s exploration brings the viewer to both intimate and spectacular settings of mythology that define life at its more strange and base.

8. Vash The Stampede from ‘Trigun’

Vash the Stampede is a daily commuter, not because he loves traveling but due to the fact he’s a renowned criminal with a bounty of sixty billion double dollars. That’s a huge sum of money on his head which basically puts him in inescapable situations like being chased by bandits. As a result, he regularly travels from town to town, rarely staying in one place for long.

Wielding a huge nickel revolver, Vash travels so much in the hopes of learning more about the two things his adoptive mother treasured most: love and peace. Besides, his huge bounty Vash is also fond of destroying valuable properties repeatedly which makes him quite a nuisance for his two insurance agents who are there to tally up the damage he does.

7. Ging Freecss from ‘Hunter × Hunter’

The main purpose of a Hunter is to roam around the world and Ging Freecss is nothing different from it. In fact, he is more passionate about his job than a person can ever be. His dedication to travel was so strong that he choose his Hunter lifestyle over raising his son Gon. Being an Archaeological Hunter, Ging specializes in researching, discovering, and restoring ancient ruins.

He willingly devoted years of his life to accessing restricted places and acquiring the qualifications needed to explore the Dark Continent. It was due to his worldly ambitions and contribution towards the hunter society, Ging is recognized as the most accomplished Hunters in the association except for the fact that he’s certainly the worst anime dad.

6. Hyakkimaru from ‘Dororo’

Hyakkimaru is a moving example of how a life can still be lived to its fullest despite losing everything. When Hyakkimaru was born, his father offered him to the demons in exchange for the peace and prosperity of his kingdom. As a result, he lost his limbs, skin, eyes, ears, and many organs but somehow, he still managed to survive.

As he grew old, Hyakkimaru acquired a variety of prosthetics and learned how to fight. Later, when he came to know that he still have a chance to regain his lost body parts back, he began wandering the countryside in search of the demons who engulfed his body parts. This way he not just fulfilled his ambition but also found meaning in his life which eventually puts him on the list of anime travelers.

5. Naofumi Iwatani from ‘Shield Hero’

When Naofumi was summoned to a parallel world, he was designated to serve as one of the Four Legendary Heroes, the Shield Hero. Strangely, no one seemed to take his side on his arrival except the princess, Malty who soon falsely accused him of being a sex predator. Not only did Melromarc unfairly deride him as a degenerate criminal but they also put limitations on him.

Getting any service inside the kingdom was impossible for Naofumi and he quickly realized that it isn’t going to work for him. With a raging storm of agony and mistrust in his heart, Naofumi set on a venture to become strong and prove himself innocent. Other than Melromarc, he traveled to other places and gained not just trustworthy friends but also valuable information to fight waves.

4. Edward Elric from ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’

After the Human Transmutation circle went wrong, Edward Elric left his home alongside his younger brother, Alphonse. For a long time, both the brothers spend their life with no place to call home. With the primary goal of bringing back his brother’s physical body and his lost limbs, Edward went on a quest to find the solution to this problem through alchemy.

He joined the Amestrian military and got entitled to the name of “Fullmetal Alchemist”. As a part of his job, he traveled from town to town in search of an important aspect of alchemy called Philosopher’s Stone. Even after the end of the series, Edward’s hunger for collecting more information never died and he went on to explore other known civilizations.

3. Monkey D. Luffy from ‘One Piece’

Writing down the 1000+ episode adventures of Luffy in a limited space and time is pretty difficult. Honestly, it’s freakingly mind-blowing how much this man has traveled in the vast depths of sea and sky! Luffy started his journey of being the pirate king with just a normal boat and no crew members at his side.

Luffy sail all over the world to engage rival pirate groups and recruit new members. Despite being a sluggish captain, he always managed to get his crew out of many difficult situations. He admires the freedom sea life offers and makes decisions based on personal rules. After all, for pirates sea has only one rule and that is, “never stop traveling”.

2. Jiraiya from ‘Naruto’

The coolest white hair anime character, “Pervy Sage” Jiraiya is an important aspect of the Naruto series and he’s just too fabulous to explain. Just thinking about the deeds and sacrifices he made for saving Konoha village brings tears to the eyes. Initially, he doesn’t sound like a warrior at all, but seeing him fight will make you realize how strong of a man and legend this character is.

Other than that, Jiraiya is one of the most entertaining anime travelers as he spends most of his time doing extensive research on women. He spends a ton of time away from Konoha, either investigating Orochimaru or working on his books. Because he’s constantly on the road, he was never considered for the position of Hokage, even though he’s one of the most powerful ninjas in Konoha.

1. Ash Ketchum from ‘Pokémon’

Pokémon universe is unique on its own and the best possible way to spend time in this world and enjoy the quest is by going on a journey that requires traveling the countryside in search of different species. Ash Ketchum, the main protagonist of the series, drifts across the world’s regions on his path to becoming a Pokémon master.

Tagged with his buddy Pikachu, he travels to different towns and cities in search of new Pokémon species and to defeat the resident gym leaders. Throughout his adventures, Ash makes a lot of friends and rivals along the way which helps him in preventing multiple crises and getting closer to his initial goal.

Which one of the following anime travelers is your favorite? Feel free to comment down your thoughts and make sure to recommend some other characters like the ones listed above, also don’t forget to share this article with your fellow otaku friends.

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