Manga and anime character

A manga character or anime character is term to describe a character that first hailed from a manga or anime before appearing in a video game. All manga/anime characters so far that have appeared in the Super Smash Flash series have not made an appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series and most likely will be exclusive to the Super Smash Flash series.

In Super Smash Flash
The first game in the series, Super Smash Flash, only had two manga/anime representatives. and, whom were both unlockable characters.

In Super Smash Flash 2
More manga/anime characters appear in Super Smash Flash 2. SSF2's original planned roster had seven manga/anime characters, but the only characters from that list who are still a part of the game are, , and. Unlike in Super Smash Flash, all the manga/anime characters that have been revealed so far were starter characters.

Controversy
The appearance of manga/anime characters in the Super Smash Flash series have been met with mixed reception. Some fans enjoy that more manga/anime characters are included in the roster, others are indifferent to their inclusion and some dislike their inclusion in the game, some feeling that they have nothing to add to the roster or they take away the feeling of a true Smash Bros. title from the game. The fans who have a negative reaction to the manga/anime characters protested against their inclusion which may have led to some characters being cut from the roster and might be one of the main reasons behind the roster change. The most famous example of this is Rock Lee, who was originally going to be playable alongside Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha, but he was cut and is now a background character. Sasuke was cut as well, Vegeta and Renji Abarai was cut too, now appearing as background character and Assist Trophy, respectively, instead of a playable character like they was originally going to be.

Trivia

 * Naruto is the only manga/anime character that appeared in both Super Smash Flash games.
 * Cleod9 stated that the main reasons the devs wanted to cut back on manga/anime characters is because there would be far too many if they doubled up for each anime. In some cases the devs originally planned 3 from the same anime, but considered that would be too much.