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Are there any anime series with a Charles Bronson like character? Friendly and laid back but rough, tough, and all the right stuff with the going gets tough? All the heroes I have seen are either tall thin taciturn Man With No Name types like D., Spike Spiegel, and Mugen, or they collapse into whiny jokey clowns like Ruroni Kenshin or Vash usually when confronted by the strong female supporting character. As you can tell Charles Bronson characters do not fall into either of those categories. Does any anime ever feature a friendly mature guy who can remain that way in the face of a female storm or when duking it out to the max with hoards of villains?

That type of character is often a secondary character. You mention Spike Spiegel but neglect Jet Black, who could fit your profile.

As a lead character, "Mister" from Coyote Ragtime Show also comes to mind.

But the leading example of such a character would be Daisuke Jigen from the Lupin III franchise.

Cobra from Space Adventure Cobra is friendly and laid back, consistent in his good natured attitude in any situation, good or bad. He will get a little serious looking, when he finely starts shooting with the show's heavy artillery, but that's a small part of the time. This is a "James Bond set in space", except Cobra comes off really not caring about being suave. Tons of action, crashing flying cars, shooting, things blowing up, and every women always wears skin tight clothes. If that's your kind of thing, it is a very fun show. Crunchy has it; I don't know if there is a dub.