Greatest anime heroes

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I'm thinking of doing a countdown of anime heroes for an upcoming blogpost on hereSo, which anime heroes would you consider the greatest ever? Here's the ones I'm including, in no particular order:
1. Astroboy (might as well go with the original!)
2. Edward Elric (Full Metal Alchemist)
3. Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
4. Vash the Stampede (Trigun)
5. Rosette Christopher (Chrono Crusade)
6. Motoko (Ghost in the Shell)
7. Heero Yuy (Gundam Wing)
8. Setsuna F. Seiei(Gundam 00)
9. Ayato Kamina (Rahxephon)
10. Kenshin Himora (Rurouni Kenshin)
11. Maka (Soul Eater)
12. Dr. Tenma (Monster)
13. Saya (Blood+)
14. Sailor Moon
15. Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy 7. They made a couple animes out of it, so I'm counting it)
16. Balsa (Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit)
17. Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
18. Shu (Now and Then, Here and There)
19. Duck (Princess Tutu)
20. Inuyasha (Inuyasha)

My favourite anime heroes (in no particular order, and note that not all of them are the main character of their respective anime):
Tsukino Usagi (Sailor Moon)
Shun, the Andromeda Saint (Saint Seiya)
Kurosaki Ichigo (Bleach)
Tenjou Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Shishioh Guy and Amami Mamoru (Gaogaigar)
Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Awayuki Himeno (Pretear)
Takamachi Nanoha (Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha)
Captain Harlock (too many anime to list here )
Nadia and Jean (Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water)

There are probably more, but those are the ones I can think of right now. I may add a post to complete the list later.

Syaoran (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles)

I will list some good ones
Simon and Kamina (Gurren Lagann)
Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail)
Joey Jones (Heroman) the series name says it all
Hayate Ayasaki (Hayaye no Gotoku)
Touma Kamijou and Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Magical Index/ Scientific Railgun)

Spike Spiegel.... he's cool and the only one I know.

Don't look any further than Vash the Stampede from Trigun. He'll break his leg just to save someone else.
"It's up to each of us to stop killing and look out for each other."
Changed my entire life for the better.

Alucard (Hellsing)
Abel Nightroad (Trinity Blood)
Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (Tiger & Bunny)
Rintaro Okabe (Steins;Gate)

I also agree with the posters who said Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin), Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) and Madoka (Puella Magi Madoka Magika).

I was gonna yell out Edward Elric under the thought that either no one would know him or not care, and here he is #2. on your list

Edward Elric (Full Metal Alchemist) ! !!

Guts (Berserk) - his determination is insane. He's not out to protect everybody but he'll do absolutely anything to protect his friends.
Light (Death Note) - Pretty much brought order to the world. Crime was massively reduced.
Durand (Le Chevalier D'Eon) - Poor guy ;_;

@KingLes98: First time I've ever heard 'anime changed my life for the better'.
@rocklobster: I don't think that Dr. Tenma belongs up there. He was no hero. His obsession with Johan led him down a dark path. It's questionable whether he actually accomplished anything good in the end.

As for Cloud... I think he was actually unconscious during the entire anime. Zack was the real hero.

@black be cool: FMA is hugely popular. Very surprised you thought it would be unknown.

I'm quite surprised to see that someone with a Bebop avatar doesn't include Spike in this heroes list. But then GoonSquad did mention him. He was brave, he had a supreme sense of justice, he was a crack shot, an ace pilot, a great martial artist...

I haven't seen all too many anime series, and I find it difficult to pick heroes from the ones I've seen. This is because I find in many anime shows, the heroes are not as 'obviously heroic' as in western animation or comic books. Sure, they are very heroic, and there are many characters who are the epitome of courage and kindness. But to me, a lot of main characters in anime are somehow a bit more real, as in having obvious flaws. I see many of them are also put through greater and longer personal conflicts, often also struggling with their own morals. And this tends to happen to supportive characters as well. So that's why it's difficult for me to pick one hero from any show, as there are usually multiple characters that may be termed heroes.

For example, from Ghost In The Shell, I honestly can't choose between Kusanagi, Batou, and Togusa.

Definitely Homura. I find the most compelling heroes are the vaguely normal ones who claw their way to greatness through sheer force of will, instead of merely having it thrust upon them.

Saying Light is a hero to me is like saying Hitler is one. Just sayin'
To me Tenma belongs because he didn't kill Johan. He was trying to change Johan. It's not his fault Johan didn't change.
I take it you never watched Advent Children? He was awake during all of that.

Advent Children isn't an anime. They are completely different styles.

Light was one of the good guys. He definitely had some extreme ideas but he never really wavered from that ideal. And he won, for a long time. End justifies the means.

L, Mello and Near were not heroes. They were all in it for selfish reasons and they didn't particularly care who got hurt.

For me Tenma doesn't belong because he not only didn't accomplish anything, he obsessed for a long time about murder and got involved with criminals regularly. His decision at the end was more about redemption than anything else. He finally got his life back.

Really? I could back that up. Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and, as mentioned, Trigun all provide some good lessons.

What does Evangelion teach? Parents are scum? God actually hates us humans instead of loving us, like Christians have thought for years? You don't really need to research to make a good story?

Yes, yay. I always get into arguments with people about this. L was not altruistic by any stretch; Light was just another brilliant opponent to him to play his mindgames with. He didn't care if what Light was doing was objectively wrong, just that it was legally wrong and he was going to catch him.

I think Light did eventually wind up becoming the villain, though. His original intentions were idealistic, but he kind of took that to megalomaniacal extremes.