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Anime with Strong Female Leads/Co-Leads?


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Touma



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2651
Location: Colorado, USA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 12:48 pm Reply with quote
@nbahn
I was thinking of editing my first post, the one that is linked in the index, and adding my later recommendations to it. That would put all of my recommendations in one post. I would also make a new post so people could see that I had added them.
What do you think?

And more recommendations:

Burst Angel has two female leads.
Jo is the one with incredible physical strength and fighting ability. I don't recall her showing any other type of strength except for her desire to protect Meg, at any cost.
Meg is somewhat more than a normal girl in terms of physical strength, though not nearly as strong as Jo, but she is not lacking in courage and dedication to her job and her friends, especially Jo. Meg has a reputation for being abducted and rescued by Jo, but that reputation is undeserved and exaggerated, in my opinion. Meg puts herself at great risk to do her job and to help others, and she can usually take care of herself.

My-HiME has many strong female characters, with Mai Tokiha being the main character.
Aside from the physical powers that she develops her main strengths are shown first in her dedication to her little brother at the cost of her own happiness.
Later in the show as things start to fall apart she tries hard to be the one that holds them together. More than once she shows a willingness to sacrifice her life for others.


My-Otome is very much like My-HiME in terms of strong female characters, with
Arika Yumemiya being the lead.
As her physical powers develop she wants to use them to help others. More than once she is put in a situation where she has to take great risks to save her friends, and strangers, and possibly the world.
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rheiders



Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 1137
Location: Colorful Colorado :)
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Seconding:
Angel Beats!
Beast Player Erin
Bunny Drop
Cardcaptor Sakura
FLCL
Flowers of Evil
Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The
Kino's Journey (2)
Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit
Paprika
Princess Tutu
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2)
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) (2)
Spice and Wolf
Story of Saiunkoku, The (3)
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:16 pm Reply with quote
Touma--
Sounds like a plan; I'm okay with it -- even though it might result in a little more work for me.
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Touma



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2651
Location: Colorado, USA
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:29 pm Reply with quote
nbahn wrote:
and finally, everyone please second those nominations that you agree with.

Why do you want the seconds, and what will happen if you do not get them?


nbahn wrote:
Touma--
Sounds like a plan; I'm okay with it -- even though it might result in a little more work for me.

I do not think that it will be anymore work for you. If it is please tell me, because that would mean that I am misunderstanding something, somewhere.

I will second Fruits Basket because I do not think that anybody has yet.
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:20 pm Reply with quote
Touma--

Here are my reasons for wanting seconds:
  • Consider the following scenario:
    Some joker recommends Tenchi Muyo GXP! Now suppose some newbie is comparing that recommendation with, say, Hataraki Man. By including the number of endorsements, I am hoping to give the newbie some rough idea as to where a consensus lies.
  • Or consider The Twelve kingdoms. By comparing the number of endorsements a reader can roughly judge as to how much the A.N.N. community agrees/disagrees with that recommendation.

Obviously, nothing will happen if I don't get many users offering seconds/endorsements. For what it's worth, I haven't offered any seconds -- yet -- because I'm still editing the indices.
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6524
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:54 pm Reply with quote
Ignatz wrote:
errinundra, who is that between Fujiko and Taiga?


Noda Megumi from Episode 5 of the Paris season of Nodame Cantabile. She's is about to deliver a flying dropkick to her defacto partner Chiaki Shinichi who has just told her they should split up in order (he thinks) that she shill realise how important he is to her and thus make her compliant. As usual, he gets it totally wrong.

****

Here's my next group of 16 great female leads / co-leads. This time they're characters from shows I've neither nominated nor endorsed - I'm posting them because they're cool. I'm unfamiliar with most of them so if any of the images are inappropriate to the nomination please let me know - I'll see what I can do. Please don't treat these as endorsements on my part, nbahn.



Top row (l-r)
Shakugan no Shana, Shana
FLCL, Haruko Haruhara
Hataraki Man, Hiroko Matsukata
The Story of Saiunkoku, Shurei Hong

2nd row (l-r)
Ranma ½, Akane Tendou
Kurokami the Animation, Kuro
Strike the Blood, Yukina Himeragi
Birdy the Mighty: Decode, Birdy Cephon Altera

3rd row (l-r)
Burst Angel, Meg
Cardcaptor Sakura, Sakura Kinomoto
Kiddy Grade, Eclair
Koihime Musou, Kan'u Unchou / Aisha

Bottom row (l-r)
My-HiME, Mai Tokiha
Noragami, Hiyori Iki
Noein - To Your Other Self, Haruka Kaminogi
Jormungand, Koko Hekmatyar


Last edited by Errinundra on Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:57 pm; edited 6 times in total
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MacAttack270





PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 7:45 pm Reply with quote
I limited my seconds to the shows I've actually seen:
Angel Beats!
CANAAN
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (and SSS)
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Jormungand
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (and Disappearance)
Paprika
Psycho-Pass
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Spice and Wolf
Toradora!
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2261
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:12 pm Reply with quote
Some nominations that I would support:

Balsa from Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit.
dtm42 wrote:
...Balsa could have been made a man and nothing would have changed about her personality, the way most characters treated her and even the entire show...
I would disagree. Balsa is not cute like some anime heroines, nor is she sexy like a similarly competent Major Kusanagi from GITS. She is closer to being matronly which is a different kind of feminine and her relationship with Chagum grows from bodyguard to tough love mother figure. Its also explained that Jiguro who raised her didn't really know how to raise a girl, which probably explains her lack of girlish charm. I also don't think a woman has to be feminine to be strong.

Deunan Knute from Appleseed, Appleseed: ExMachina, Appleseed (OAV), but not the Deunan from Appleseed XIII who is more whiny and dependent on Briarios.

Duck / Tutu from Princess Tutu.

Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Homura was great in the TV show displaying character growth and strength.

Koko Hekmatyar, Jormungard. As was mentioned in the nomination she is the chess master archetype.

Kumiko "Yankumi" Yamaguchi from The Gokusen. Strong and confident she cares for and inspires her students.

Lafiel from Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars I, Banner of the Stars II and Banner of the Stars III

Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell franchise. Cool, collected, and incredibly competent in multiple areas she leads and is respected by a team of also highly competent men.

Rin Tohsaka from Fate / Stay Night.

Yukari Hayasaka, from Paradise Kiss. I think Yukari grows and out of that makes some decisions and strong choices about her direction in life.

I would not support these:

Revy from Black Lagoon While Revy is highly skilled with her guns, skill by itself does not necessarily mean "strong". Revy has rage issues due to her background and personal demons. This makes her trigger happy and prone to solve most problems with her guns. It also effects her relationships with people and men. If we are defining strength just on someone being a "badass" then she would qualify, if we are saying there's more to it like say "character" then I would say she falls a little short.

Nana Osaki and Nana "Hachi" Komatsu from Nana. I think Nana is great both the anime and manga. However, I wouldn't go with either one of these if its from the Anime. I think the anime ends before we see Hachi really grow into a strong female and mother figure like we do in the manga. Nana O also appears strong in the anime, but we start to see her inadequacies when dealing with people and her dependencies which I think are clearer in the manga. They are both great and interesting together, but I don't think we really get to the point in the anime that we can say that they are strong. It feels like they are still growing and we don't quite get there in the anime.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:27 pm Reply with quote
Okay, I'll upvote these titles:

Moribito
Fate/Stay Night
Claymore
Spice and Wolf
Canaan
Ghost in the Shell
Angel Beats
Gosick
Garden of Sinners
Dennou Coil
Kanasaku IrohaThe Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Cardcaptor Sakura
Kiddy Grade
Koihime Muso
My HiME
My Otome
Noein
Nijuu-Mensou no Musume
Shion no Ou
Fate/Zero
Code Geass: Akito the Exiled
Attack on Titan
Vision of Escaflowne
Hellsing/Hellsing Ultimate
Black Lagoon
El Cazador de la Bruja
Madlax


On top of that I'd also like to express my opposition towards Toradora. Taiga's okay, but my main sticking point is that right to the end she never got over her dependence on Ryuji.

Now some more titles that I see on my shelf...

Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor
Suou's life gets pretty crappy fairly quickly, but she's not about to give up without a fight!

A Certain Scientific Railgun / A Certain Scientific Railgun S
Mikoto is the strongest female esper in Academy City for a reason. However she also learns that relying on the help of others isn't a sign of weakness.

Scrapped Princess
Pacifica isn't a fighter, but she's a stubborn one who keeps going on in the face of everyone wanting to kill her.

Aim for the Top! Gunbuster
An amazing coming of age tale. Noriko goes from underachiever to hero of the universe through the power of HARD WORK AND GUTS!

Aim for the Top 2! Diebuster
Nono is super upbeat and chases her dreams. Lal'C is an ace pilot and a bit full of herself. Together, they fight space monsters!

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha / A's / StrikerS / Movie 1st / Movie 2nd A's
Little girls making friends with the fire power of a space battleship. As the seasons go on there are barely any relevant males around so there's nothing but strong females.

STR.A.IN
A personal betrayal sees Sara Werec robbed of everything, including the ability to pilot a special type of mecha. Despite that, she's determined to get answers, even if that means starting over as a mere grunt pilot.

Ghost Hunt
Mai ain't afraid of no ghosts! Okay, maybe sometimes, but she's still got work to do! She's compassionate and caring, but will speak her mind. Even if it causes her to butt heads with Naru a lot.
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:25 am Reply with quote
Still editing the indices, but I think that I'll weigh in on some topics here.....

One of the characteristics -- in my opinion -- of a strong character is competence. I respectfully submit that R.O.D.'s Noriko Readman adequately demonstrates her competence (I also respectfully submit that her "flakiness" is irrelevant).

For that same reason (competence) I am hesitant to second/endorse The Twelve Kingdoms's Youko Nakajima because for most of the series she is in over her head -- indeed, it is her growth as a character that helps make the series such a joy to watch; and, of course, the same applies to Suzu and Shoukei.

I truly am on the fence when it comes to Fruits Basket's Tohru Honda. True, she inspires everyone around her to be better people, but it's not clear to me that she necessarily radiates competence.


Key--
May I trouble you for an encyclopedia link to Hare + Guu?


danilo07--
Please provide links!


Finally, please be advised that I will treat an endorsement of a series as an endorsement for an entire franchise / world setting unless the recommendation/second/endorsement explicitly says not to.
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Touma



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2651
Location: Colorado, USA
PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:43 am Reply with quote
I will second Scrapped Princess, STR.A.IN and Ghost Hunt.

nbahn wrote:
I truly am on the fence when it comes to Fruits Basket's Tohru Honda. True, she inspires everyone around her to be better people, but it's not clear to me that she necessarily radiates competence.

Competence at what? She is just an ordinary high school girl in a very un-ordinary situation.
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:02 am Reply with quote
Quote:
danilo07--
Please provide links!

Sorry about that,I have gone and edited my post.
Also,I will up-vote these titles:
Dennou Coil
Flowers of Evil
Ghost Hunt
FLCL
Shin Sekai Yori
Paprika
Porco Rosso
Kemonozume
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:10 am Reply with quote
I was about to nominate Ayase Chihaya from Chihayafuru until I noticed that show now appears in the list on page one. So I'll second her.

Chihaya is very driven, often to the point of obsession, by her love for karuta and her desire to differentiate herself from her sister, an idol model. As with other driven female leads like Kou Shurrei, Chihaya rarely has romance on her mind. Becoming the next "Queen" of karuta comes first.
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6524
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:00 am Reply with quote
16 more strong female leads / co-leads (with the same caveats as the last lot):



Top row (l-r)
Miracle Girls, Mikage and Tomomi Matsunaga
Nijū-Mensō no Musume, Chizuko "Chiko" Mikamo
Shion no Oh, Shion Yasuoka
From the New World, Saki Watanabe

2nd row (l-r)
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Utena Tenjou and Anthy Himemiya
Geneshaft, Mika Seidou
Fate / Zero, Saber
Phantom Quest Corp., Ayaka Kisaragi

3rd row (l-r)
Gall Force, Rabby
Code Geass: Akito the Exiled, Layla Malkal
The Gokusen, Kumiko "Yankumi" Yamaguchi
Fruits Basket, Toru Honda

Bottom row (l-r)
Gatchaman Crowds, Hajime Ichinose
Attack on Titan, Mikasa Ackerman
Kill la Kill, Ryuuko Matoi
NANA, Nana Komatsu


Last edited by Errinundra on Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:59 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Ignatz





PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:57 am Reply with quote
Man, so many pictures. Who is that above Mika Seido? And from the previous group, who is that above Mai Tokiha?

Also, hooray for Shion from Shion no Oh appearing in this thread! I'm seconding her. Smile
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