# The 16 Greatest Mecha Pilots in Anime

> Aces who were born for the cockpit, conscripts who never wanted it, and one who wins by punching. Skill is only half the argument here.

*By YPB Team · Published September 13, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-16-greatest-mecha-pilots-in-anime*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Char Aznable** — score 1000/1000
   The masked Zeon ace known as the Red Comet, and the model for every rival pilot since.
2. **Suzaku Kururugi** — score 813/1000
   Code Geass's Lancelot pilot, fighting for the empire that annexed his own country.
3. **Amuro Ray** — score 776/1000
   The civilian teenager who climbs into the first Gundam and becomes the Federation's ace.
4. **Suletta Mercury** — score 596/1000
   The Witch from Mercury's student pilot, and the franchise's first female Gundam lead.
5. **Simon** — score 596/1000
   The digger from Gurren Lagann who drills his way from underground to the edge of the universe.
6. **Asuka Langley Soryu** — score 517/1000
   Evangelion Unit-02's pilot, trained for the job since childhood and furious about everything else.
7. **Rei Ayanami** — score 517/1000
   The pilot of Evangelion Unit-00, who follows orders and answers almost nothing.
8. **Kira Yamato** — score 517/1000
   The Coordinator who ends up in the Strike Gundam's cockpit in Gundam SEED.
9. **Heero Yuy** — score 423/1000
   Wing Zero's pilot, sent to Earth as a fifteen-year-old with orders and no plan for afterwards.
10. **Shinji Ikari** — score 310/1000
   The fourteen-year-old who pilots Evangelion Unit-01 and spends most of the series not wanting to.
11. **Kamille Bidan** — score 310/1000
   Zeta Gundam's pilot, a teenager whose talent outruns his ability to cope with it.
12. **Setsuna F. Seiei** — score 310/1000
   The child soldier turned Gundam Meister at the centre of Gundam 00.
13. **Hikaru Ichijyo** — score 310/1000
   Macross's stunt flyer, who learns the Valkyrie on the job during an alien war.
14. **Ryoma Nagare** — score 310/1000
   Getter Robo's lead pilot, from the series that invented the combining super robot.
15. **Domon Kasshu** — score 0/1000
   G Gundam's fighter, who pilots by punching, and shouts the technique's name while he does.
16. **Noriko Takaya** — score 0/1000
   Gunbuster's trainee, who goes from last in her class to the pilot everyone waits for.

Tags: animation, japan, characters, mecha