December 4th, 2024 
AstroNerdBoy Top 5 Favorite Anime Female Characters
Recently, I was asked in a general fashion what my top four female characters were. Well, I decided to give a top five. My criteria is not based on their waifu possibility. I may do a list for that later. Also, I only include characters from titles I’ve watched.
#5 Ryoko — Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki Canon Franchise
When we are first introduced to Ryoko in the first Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki OVA series, she comes off as a powerful villain. She can fly, phase through walls, fire energy bolts from her palms, and create an energy sword. And yet in episode 2, I couldn’t help but notice that she cared about her appearance. This was the first indication that Ryoko wasn’t the evil oni legend had her as.
Her character arc in the canon franchise is quite enjoyable. On one hand, she’s lazy and a troublemaker. On the other hand, when the man she’s come to love is believed to be dead, she’s all business. Later when she accidentally damages Tenchi’s mother’s kimono, she’s devastated at how she hurt Tenchi. Over the years as a member of Tenchi’s harem, she continues to mature quite a bit. Indeed, she’s the first of Tenchi’s wives to give birth to a child.
So while I wouldn’t consider her wife material for me, I always felt she was the best wife for Tenchi, whether in or out of a harem.
#4 Frieren — Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
I know I always say “Deedlit is best elf.” And I still feel that way overall when it comes to elf babes. However, I cannot deny that Frieren from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has become a more favorite character, regardless of her status as an elf. When I was introduced to her, it was via a GIF where she’s ordering a powerful demon lord to kill themselves. Said demon lord cannot help but comply. That got my attention.
What makes Frieren a more interesting character than Deedlit is the exploration of the nigh immortality of High Elves. Maybe the Lodoss series explores this later, but for the Frieren series, that is the central theme. Frieren spent 10 years with the Hero’s party to defeat the Demon King. And yet she never really knew the Hero. Now that he’s dead, she’s on a mission to see the Hero through the eyes of others and history. That, combined with the fact that she’s such a badass mage make her such a fascinating and interesting character.
#3 Saber (Artoria Pendragon) — Fate/stay night Franchise
I never read the Fate/stay night visual novel. I did watch the original anime adaptation of it though and loved Saber as a character. That didn’t change with the Unlimited Blade Works “second route” anime. She was still awesome in Fate/ Zero, the prequel series. And in Fate Grand Order, Saber, as Artoria Pendragon, takes MANY forms, filling almost all Servant classes in the Fate franchise.
Her first line upon her summoning in the anime (and it is more formal in the visual novel from what I can tell) is, “Are you my Master?” There was something so powerful about the moment to me. After that, it was seeing Saber’s sheer determination despite not having the mana (prana) to operate at full power. Yet during the off times, it was a delight seeing Saber enjoy food or doing things a normal young woman might do.
As such, when I first started playing Fate Grand Order and did my first real pull, I was so stoked to pull three Artoria Sabers! And even though I don’t play any more, I occasionally log in and piddle around. I think to date, I’ve pulled her character eleven times! How could she not be a favorite at this point? 😂
#2 Lina Inverse — The Slayers Franchise
When it comes to first impressions, the sorceress Lina Inverse certainly makes a splash when she shows up in The Slayers. Using surprise, she single handedly destroys a large, bandit camp using various spells. Later, she blasts a large dragon out of existence. When she yells out “Dragon Slave”, one of her most powerful spells, you know the fun is about to begin. What’s not to love?
HAYASHIBARA Megumi does the voice of Lina Inverse. How she plays the character plays a huge part into making Lina one of my favorite characters. She doesn’t suffer fools well. At the same time, she respects folks who are good at what they do. So while her warrior companion Gourry make come off as dumb as a bag of rocks at times, she absolutely respects his skills with the sword. She’s a fascinating character even if we don’t learn a ton about her past and such.
After listening to Megumi-san reprise her role as Ranma in Ranma 1/2, I really would love for there to be another Slayers anime. Sadly, the anime folks have refused to touch materials from the novels after two characters leave the main story. As such, I doubt we’ll ever get another Slayers anime, and that’s sad. Maybe I’ll rewatch The Slayers soon.
#1 MISAKA Mikoto — Railgun/Index Franchise
Weirdly enough, I was introduced to MISAKA Mikoto via her A Certain Scientific Railgun series, which is the spinoff of the A Certain Magical Index series, which she co-stars in. As such, Mikoto made a huge impression on me with that first anime episode. First, she takes out a load of thugs using her Level 5 Electromaster esper ability. Then when a thug tries to run her over, she obliterates the car using her Railgun ultimate attack.
What makes Mikoto so interesting is the many facets to her character. When it comes to romance with Index lead Touma, she’s tsundere. Although she is an ojousama who wants to appear cool, there are a lot of childish things she absolutely loves, such as the Gekota frog products. She also loves anime, manga, and arcades. She’s very protective of her friends. While she has a somewhat childish rivalry with another Level 5 esper, she’s mature enough to know when to set that aside to deal with bigger issues.
In the source Railgun manga, Mikoto has a much tighter character arc than the anime adaptations. I think that’s what makes her my favorite character. As Mikoto deals with larger threats, she becomes more confident in her esper abilities. She’s better at analyzing situations. And while I think Touma is a horrible main character in the Index line, his influence on Mikoto is clear in the Railgun manga. I really hope we get another Railgun anime series that’s a accurate adaptation.
Wrap Up
There are my five favorite anime female characters. What are yours?
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I’ll take a crack at this.
#5 Ryofu Housen – Ikkitousen
Admittedly there’s a sexy element to this pick, although I feel like she stands out in a series where basically every girl is completely stacked. There’s a reason she actually cameos in Senran Kagura, after all. But I’ve always loved this character since she’s badass, surprisingly protective of her girlfriend, and has very few qualms about using her sex appeal. She bites it early in the series admittedly but she gets brought back again and again in the anime because she’s just that popular.
#4 Tsuruya – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
If you’re even remotely familiar with this series you’re probably well aware of the trio of leading ladies: the titular Haruhi, Yuki, and Mikuru. They’re all fine, but I feel like Tsuruya gets very overshadowed by them. Tsuruya is a cute girl who can’t stop laughing (unless things get really serious), but there’s surprising depth to her that sadly only gets highlighted in the light novels since the second season wasn’t quite what the fans were looking for. It’s hinted that there’s more going on behind the scenes with her and she more or less tells the main character that she just wants to see others be happy. There’s something noble in that especially given that at first blush she seems like a one note character. I wish I had the time and patience to read the novels but sadly reading is just not my thing. Still, I hold out hope that she gets her due.
#3 Hibiki Tachibana – Senki Zesshou Symphogear
I kinda went back and forth on the girls in this series. Chris has the big guns (both literally and figuratively) and Kirika has a very appealing design and overall character, but I think I have to give the nod to the leading lady Hibiki. Being honest I don’t think she’s as deep as some of my other choices although the seasons after the first one do try and dive into her family life and give her some more depth. But honestly not every girl has to have the depth of an ocean. She’s cute, she’s friendly, she’s badass, and she’s dumb as a post when it comes to love. She suplexes a space shuttle for crying out loud. Don’t think there’s too many girls out there who can claim to have done that. The finale of the series also gives some nice closure to her romantic status (something I’ve heard the mobile game follows up on). She’s dumb fun personified.
#2 Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter – Sailor Moon
No list would be complete without my first waifu. Even watching the dub as a kid there was something about her that appealed to me. Whether it was how tough she was, her feminine yet boyish personality, her “talent”…. I loved Sailor Moon a lot and still do and yet not a single girl in the entire series holds a candle to Makoto in my eyes. There’s just something special about a tough girl.
#1 Yue Ayase – Mahou Sensei Negima!
She’s my name here and alias in certain internet circles. She’s been my Twitter profile picture for well over a decade, if not since day one. She’s not only my favourite anime female character, she’s my favourite character in all of fiction. Better than Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV, better than Roronoa Zoro from One Piece, better than Knuckles the Echdina from Sonic the Hedgehog, etc. I love Yue so much, and I don’t see any character ever taking her place atop the mantle.
But unlike all the other girls on this list, she doesn’t really rank high for me in physical attractiveness (at least until she matures). I think she’s cute as all hell but there are better looking girls even in her own series. But I also think that’s an important element in why I like her so much: She won me over with her personality, her depth, her determination, and how almost every time she becomes the focus character she does something incredible.
Having re-read Negima for the 2946th time, it’s actually kind of remarkable how unremarkable she is in the early going. She’s mostly Nodoka’s friend, a Baka Ranger and an overall disinterested girl who seems to care little about anything. But then you learn why she’s that way. It’s not a particularly tragic story, it’s actually rather mundane but still feels so realistic how losing someone you love can have such a negative impact on you. It also becomes extremely clear that Yue is a deeply caring and loving person despite her aloof nature. She loves Nodoka to death and would do anything to keep her happy, to an actually self-destructive degree. Every time I re-visit that storyline in the MahoraFest arc, I think about how depressed and self-loathing she must really be (something I can certainly empathize with) and how nobody around her seemed to realize it until it was almost too late. It’s a very realistic take on a person who doesn’t feel like she’s worth anything.
And then you get to the magic angle. Discovering magic (and Negi) starts to give her some meaning in her life, something to work towards. And the girl that seemingly didn’t care about anything is suddenly putting in dozens of hours to train like crazy despite being relatively mundane (especially when compared to most of the other main girls). Her power and skill grow every time you see her until she’s thrust into a battle against a griffin dragon and well… you know how that ends. I read your review on it, after all. By the end of the series and beyond she’s a completely capable mage because not only is she incredibly smart, she’s also determined. What she lacks in pure power she makes up for in skill and intellect, something I deeply respect.
There’s tons of examples of awesome character development in the series and while I think the crown probably goes to Asuna, Yue demonstrates the literal and figurative power of it. The Yue of early Negima and the Yue near the end of the series are almost two entirely different characters. She’s developed (both ways, heh) into a woman and yet still retains some inner turmoil that never truly goes away. But she’s not too serious that she doesn’t have a lot of good comedic moments too, although they often happen because she’s too serious.
Her and Nodoka form such an amazing dynamic duo too. I’d pay a lot of good money for a spinoff with just the two of them.
But I think I’ve gushed about her too much. I tried to restrict myself to one character per series for some variety and to bring attention to other series that maybe you’ve never seen or read. I thought about Kyouko Sakura from Madoka as well, she would be an honourable mention. We were talking about Ranma the other day and Ukyo and Nabiki are my two favourite females from that series. Kaolla Su from Love Hina is another favourite of mine. There’s a lot of good, well-written female characters out there. No shortage to choose from!
Haha! Awesome! I was going to see if Yue was still your #1.
I plan to do another kind of top-five female list.
Before I became a big Yue fan, I was a huge Zoro fan and didn’t think he’d ever be deposed but Yue proved me wrong. I’m not even really sure at what point did she hook me as a character. If it wasn’t MahoraFest it must have been the griffin dragon.
But Negima also just has so many good girls to choose from. If Yue was excluded I’m not sure who I would’ve gone with.
Zoro–One Piece, I presume?
That aside, there are a lot of interesting babes in Negima!
I don’t feel well enough at the time to elaborate on right now, but in no particular order:
Medea/Caster (Fate/Stay Night): A fascinating and compelling villainess who graciously skirts the line of being sympathetic while also performing vile deeds and being a credible but not overpowered enemy. Excellent visual design and voice by the sadly late Tanaka Atsuko.
Hoshino Ruri (Martian Successor Nadesico): She does Rei way better than Rei and is utterly adorable. The series has a lot of great characters but she stands heads and shoulders above them all.
Lina Inverse (The Slayers): Badass and comical at once, works great just the same with Gourry and their gang as with Naga.
Suzushiro Haruka (Mai Hime): A very underrated secondary cast member with great comic relief attitude and a surprisingly strong set of ethics when the going gets rough. Stubborn and goofy but with a great heart of gold.
The manga turns her a villainess of sort but even in that role she works and she pulls an eventual Face turn.
Luchs (Saber Marionette J): A minor villainess, but one with plenty of style, efficience and elegant cool beauty.
Oh. I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well. Hopefully you get to feeling better soon.
Anyway, thanks for the list.