Highlights
- Satoru Gojo tops My Anime List’s fan-voted anime mentors list, leading by a wide margin over second-ranked Kakashi Hatake.
- The ranking highlights shōnen dominance, with multiple Naruto mentors like Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Minato securing top spots.
- Classic and modern entries collide as Eikichi Onizuka and Nozomu Itoshiki’s sustained popularity showcases the impact of the teacher archetype in anime.
The teacher-student dynamic is one of anime's most used narrative engines. From shonen to high school satire, the ‘sensei’ or mentor archetype drives the narrative, and often outlasts the protagonists they train in fan memory.
My Anime List (MAL), the world's largest anime and manga database, released its official fan-voted top 10 anime teachers and mentors list, with Gojo Satoru at the top. Gojo leads with 63.8K fan votes, almost 15K more than the second entry. Three of the top 10 fan favorite teachers are among Naruto characters, reflecting the franchise's impact on modern audiences.
Notably, most teachers and mentors are from shōnen, a genre that heavily uses the teacher archetype for developing the protagonist’s narrative. This ranked list of 10 anime teachers and mentors shows how these characters have driven the plot of the anime to popularity.
10: Might Guy - Naruto
Naruto, one of the classic Big 3 anime, features a range of memorable mentors. Might Guy, Naruto’s taijutsu specialist and rival of the sixth Hokage Kakashi Hatake, earns the list's tenth spot.
His teachings of how hard work can overcome natural talent transformed Rock Lee into one of the series' most beloved characters. While a 2.4K-vote count places him below his peers, it shows the character's sustained popularity among modern-day audiences.
9: Itoshiki Nozomu - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
With 4.6K fan-votes, the ninth place goes to Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei’s character Nozomu Itoshiki, nicknamed “zetsubou,” meaning despair. The anime follows the high school teacher Itoshiki, who always takes all aspects of life and culture pessimistically, and satirizes politics, media, and Japanese society.
Despite his disposition, his care for his students and teaching life is the central narrative drive. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a niche title, not a mass-market franchise; his presence at No. 9 reflects the anime’s quiet grip on new-gen fandom.
8. Shouta Aizawa - My Hero Academia
Also known as Eraser Head, Shouta Aizawa, one of the most popular new-gen shōnen anime characters from My Hero Academia (MHA), takes the eighth spot with 8K fan-favourite votes. He teaches through realism, honesty, and strict expectations, drawn from his own experience of tragedy and loss tied to hero-work.
His strict teaching style sets him apart from All Might, who also features on the list. All Might embodies the stereotype of being a hero, whereas Aizawa’s realist approach pushes students like Izuku, Bakugo, and Shinsou towards overcoming limitations.
7. All Might - My Hero Academia
Up in seventh place, with 2.7K more likes than Aizawa, is My Hero Academia’s Toshinori Yagi or All Might. All Might is ideal, loud, and inspirational as the anime’s No. 1 hero, but it is his vulnerable moments that make him relatable as a teacher and mentor.
His transfer of One For All quirk to Izuku, a boy with no quirk, is the series' defining act. Before Izuku, he never mentored anyone; however, as the plot progresses, he becomes one of the most caring and guiding figures to not only his protege, Izuku, but also to Izuku’s rival Bakugo.
6. Minato Namikaze - Naruto
Naruto’s Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, surpasses All Might by a narrow margin in popularity among fans, with 11.3K fan-favourite votes. Minato, renowned as Konoha's Yellow Flash, trained Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, who would later become central to the entire Naruto franchise’s progression.
Minato was invested in his students, teaching and guiding them, while understanding their strengths and weaknesses. His limited screen time relative to others on this list makes the No. 6 position a proof of his continued legacy.
5. Jiraiya - Naruto
Jiraiya, referred to as the “Hokage Maker” or “Pervy Sage,” mentored Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and later became the godfather and mentor of Minato's son and Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki. He trained some of the most powerful shinobi in the Naruto world: Nagato, Minato, and Naruto, and he often advised Kakashi after Minato’s death.
Out of all the teacher-student relationships in Naruto, his relationship with Naruto was the most heartwarming, placing him at sixth rank with 15K fan-votes. Some lists place him higher with the argument that his death shaped Naruto's entire second half and the course of the Fourth Great Shinobi War.
4. Koro-sensei -Assassination Classroom
Assassination Classroom’s Koro-sensei is often considered one of the best teaching figures in the anime world. Koro-sensei is a former assassin who starts teaching his partner’s class after her death, under the guise that he is an imminent threat to Earth.
Under his teachings, students who were once considered failures grew into skilled assassins, learning not just how to fight, but also confidence, responsibility, and self-worth. Many ranking lists have placed Koro-sensei at No. 1; however, his fourth rank in the MAL list with 20.1K likes shows the gap between him and the outsized fan bases of the top three placed above him.
3. Eikichi Onizuka - Great Teacher Onizuka
Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) is a 1999 title, yet the titular character Eikichi Onizuka finishes third with 33.7K votes, more than 13K ahead of the fourth entry. The narrative focuses on 22-year-old ex-bosozoku member Onizuka, who becomes a teacher at a private middle school in Tokyo.
Eikichi Onizuka uses unconventional methods, often relying on risky, rule-breaking, and intimidating methods while interacting with his students. The manga, known for its slice-of-life and coming-of-age elements, won the 22nd Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 1998 and still commands a substantial fanbase among popular modern anime.
2. Kakashi Hatake - Naruto
Naruto’s Kakashi Hatake is the runner-up with 49K fan-favourite votes. He guided all of Team 7, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, the three new-gen shinobis who are the focal point of the franchise.
Often referred to as “Copy Ninja,” who knows over a thousand jutsus, Kakashi not only created fighting maestros out of his students, he taught them that being a ninja is about loyalty and teamwork. He trained Sasuke before he left the Leaf village, while protecting Naruto even before his birth and guiding him after Jiraya’s death.
1. Satoru Gojo - Jujutsu Kaisen
The top spot of this list goes to modern anime's most popular educator and character, Gojo Satoru, with 63.8K votes. As a mentor at Tokyo Jujutsu High, Gojo taught his students defiance, encouraging them to question the corruption in Jujutsu society.
Gojo is a revolutionary force in the Jujutsu Kaisen world; he believed in the next generation rather than relying on the old system that seemed unchangeable. His goal was to raise a generation of sorcerers that don't need him, which gets fulfilled with Yuji establishing him as the strongest sorcerer in Modulo and Yuta killing Sukuna after Gojo’s death.
The MAL rankings reflect the necessity of the sensei archetype in shōnen anime, with its precedence in the most commercially and critically acclaimed franchises. Gojo's lead is not only due to Jujutsu Kaisen's commercial dominance, but also the character’s impact in the JJK narrative. But his approximately 15K lead from Kakashi reflects JJK’s current popularity among a new-gen audience.
