Forum - View topicStrongest female character in an anime.
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
|
|||
|
Boomerang Flash, wow. I liked it.
I'll first address the ambiguity of "strongest". For me to name a character as such, it would require more than physical strength. The women of Black Lagoon have been mentioned, and while they are powerful, whether by ability or influence, they are emotionally frail. The final arc of Second Barrage made a focus of how the citizens of Roanapur are akin to living dead; they have nothing to lose, and thus they are able to throw caution to the wind and achieve much greater (yet ultimately hollow) gains. Balalaika, for instance, lost all of her honor when she was discarded by the Soviet military, and while she still has the respect of her subordinates and dominance in her corner of the world, neither are what she truly wants, and what she seeks she can probably never regain. Revy, for her part, isn't even the best (gun) fighter in the series, she's just the one we see the most, and she survives. Roberta at least has a purpose for her life, although she is also clearly broken emotionally and will never be able to live as a normal person. To be overall strongest, power is required, but the she must also be able to use it to protect, a task more difficult than simply destroying or defeating an enemy. (In that sense, it seems again that Roberta is the strongest of the females in Black Lagoon Of course, it is not enough to simply have power, but one must also be emotionally sound. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, since I'm trying to figure this out as I go, let's start with what it's not: going back to Black Lagoon, those are all characters who must put up a strong outward facade because that is all they have. An example of a character who starts out fairly stable, but lacks a truly strong emotional grounding initially would be Tamaki of Bamboo Blade. She is diligent and forthright, but it takes her time to learn to interact with others, and spoiler[she is devastated when she suffers her first loss ever.] It is rather Kirino, the cheerful and energetic team captain, who, while she may not be as good a fighter as the diminutive Tamaki, is the soul of the team and manages to hold them together. Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist is the emotional anchor for Ed and Al, despite this often causing great emotional strain for herself. Ultimately, I have to choose Balsa. Sorry, Boomerang, but your suggestion is a little too flawless (idealistic?) for my liking, a little too much like a god. To protect Chagum, Balsa needs the might and skill to fight off the most elite soldiers in the land, the cleverness to evade them, and the compassion and strictness to raise a child in the meanwhile. What's more, her motives for her work as a bodyguard are an indication of the enormous emotional burden she has endured for years while trying to atone for her past. She is not completely flawless, as seen when her confrontation with the hired assassin spoiler[pushes her to an impossible situation requiring her to violate her most valued rule,] and extraordinary circumstances are required to return her to her self, but I see the evidence of a breaking point as a sign that she has depth as a character. |
||||
|
||||
|
Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
|
|||
|
Totally unrelated, but Boomerang was my favorite character in Wild Arms. I didn't notice that user name until now.
But spoiler[Meowth]? Uh...I always thought he/she/it was a total weakling whose only purpose was comic relief. Seriously, I never saw the damn thing as anything more. But...thanks...for the epic amount of backstory? EDIT: Whoops wrong character. I guess I didn't fully read it because it had that Wall of Text charm to it. |
||||
|
||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18182 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||
And that was always one of my main gripes with the TV series: how weak and pathetic they made Saya as a character despite her superhuman nature. Only in the Vietnam flashbacks did I ever regard her as scary-strong.
Female characters can get away with quieter or more subtle displays of strength than male characters generally can. Case in point: Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket. She hardly fits the classical definition of strength, but can anyone who's seen the series deny that there is a real strength underlying her character? No one who lacked it could accomplish what she has without giving up along the way. Shurei of The Story of Saiunkoku would also fall into this category. Female characters can also get away much more with showing a sensitive side and still being considered strong. Case in point: Honoka from The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye, who is a nearly indomitable warrior and has potent chi-manipulating abilities, but also triumphs as often through empathy as through more physical means. For an entirely different style of strong female character, consider Lafiel from Banner/Crest of the Stars. She may look physically dainty, but few female characters in anime have a stronger force of personality or more undeniable will. I could easily imagine her as the future leader of an interstellar empire. Haruhi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya falls into this category, and to a lesser extent Alice from Pumpkin Scissors. Curiously, female anime characters with dazzlingly-strong super-powers have rarely impressed me as actually being terribly strong. Too often they lack that strength of personality that makes a character truly impressive. |
||||
|
||||
LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5633 Location: Southern California |
|
|||
|
Hmm, I'm trying to think of strong female characters and I've come up with:
Karen from X TV. Here is a woman who's own mother spoiler[called her a demon for her talent of fire]. She grew up and took a job as a...hostess. Yet, despite her past and her environment, she still has the capacity to love...when she expresses concern about Seiichiro Aoki and his plan to spoiler[divorce his wife so that she would not be emotionally hurt if he is killed. And she is concerned about him to the point of drugging him to prevent him from meeting Yuto Kigai and Nataku (if I'm remembering correctly.)] Haruka Armitage of My-Otome - Headstrong as all hell. Doesn't take no for an answer. She knows that all of her decisions are the right ones. Strong and stubborn. But I like her. She's fun and you always look forward to she what she's going to do next. Usagi Tsukino of Sailor Moon - Please allow me my fan-girl moment. Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that she's a whiner and a cry-baby but as you watch the series, she sucks it up and does what has to be done. Yeah, she has the support of the other Senshi and Tuxedo Mask but when the fat is in the fire, the only one between us and the Darkness is Sailor Moon and while she has her moments of doubt and despair (who wouldn't?), she manages to pull through and defeats her enemies even at spoiler[the cost of her own life]. |
||||
|
||||
motaku96
 Posts: 237 Location: New York |
|
|||
|
I wanna include Nanoha , Fate and Hayate from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. All of them(mostly Fate and Hayate) went through tremendous pain at some point in the series. They manage to make it through and overcome their obstacles. I especially liked their mentor role in StrikerS.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
|
|||
|
Also, in regards to spoiler[Mew], the little thing acted like some mentally impaired child without a care in the world. I don't understand why it was treated as such a revered being, it really did nothing when its clone did a f*ckton more.
|
||||
|
||||
G-mofactor
 Posts: 797 Location: Atlantis to Interzone |
|
|||
I would consider the otome that previously served the late king and queen of Windbloom, Lena Sayers, to be a wonderful candidate to be the strongest, and may be the most powerful otome (with the exception to the legendary Fumi Himeno). Although, her shine in the franchise is a prequel of My-Otome, I find by far that she would be the strongest becausespoiler[ her powers are too immense to be compatible with her first gem that she is draining the gem to its limits and breaks at a fight. Later in the series she is introduced to a 'Super Meister Gem,' and be able to fight her enemies and three of the five columns.] |
||||
|
||||
BES Null Core
 Posts: 604 Location: 六十周年的东方裁判 |
|
|||
|
Continue on the idea of characterization--in addition to power--affecting the strength of a character, I find it difficult to call either Haruka or Lena strong.
For Haruka, both in Otome and HiME, her strength are played mainly for comic relief. It is more obvious in Otome, where her heroic entrance is often marred by not paying attention to her surroundings. Likewise, her show of force during spoiler[the invasion] in HiME is more to illustrate her stubbornness rather than strength--physically or mentally. Her only genuine characterization came during her visit to Shizuru's house, but it's too short for an otherwise entirely comic relief character to be considered the strongest in anime. For Lena Sayers, her strength came as part of her character development rather than her initial characterization. Although powerful and professional, she is spoiler[a personal emotional wreck,] as seen in ep 2 of Otome 0. The OVA does suffer from its short length, but I find it hard to believe that spoiler[she could overcome her weakness with a short fireside conversation with a perfect stranger and a letter of unknown content.] Her return to battle in episode 3 is perfectly in line with her professionalism and does not prove that spoiler[she overcame her fear of Otome.] Nanoha suffers from a similar problem. Look at the end of episode 3: Here is a 9 year old magical girl who spoiler[looks at the wreckage of her home town because she couldn't detect a jewel seed in time,] and she realizes that spoiler[she has been too relaxed, vows to take responsibility, and devotes herself wholeheartedly to training and the hunt.] This is probably the most egregious example. The dichotomy between her age and mental maturity is far too glaring without a plausible explanation, which the series never offered. It's too difficult to hold up suspension of disbelief for her to appear as a plausible nomination. Now, on a more positive note, for a super-powered female character with good strength of character, we need not stray too far from the above rebuttals. I propose Mai Tokiha of Mai-HiME. At the beginning, we see an orphaned girl who takes care of her brother. That she works hard to support both of them is established at the same time as her cheerfulness. Many of her decisions--including accepting her Child--are based around the welfare of Takumi. Her role as the protector and mother is reinforced with Mikoto, the odd girl with whom she rooms. She does spoiler[crack under certain pressure.] The first instance is perfectly understandable, given her new exposure to HiME powers, but the next battle with HiME powers shows that it was more surprise than a character flaw. The next incident--at spoiler[the hospital]--is a sounder example of a weakness of the will, and it can count against her. The last example is perfectly understandable, given the prior events, and the fact that spoiler[she still mustered the courage and love to confront the villain] more than compensate for the spoiler[breakdown.] Mai Tokiha is a strong and well-developed lead in a cast of well-developed characters. And, a much shorter paragraph: Key didn't mention the Claymore girls when writing about super powered females? Last edited by BES Null Core on Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
anime advocate
 Posts: 46 |
|
|||
|
With out a doubt the strongest female charicter comes from the same series as the girl on my avatar(wich is Elfen Lied). I am not going to say mine though. In fact I want to see if some one can guess the name of the charicter. I will give out a hint so hopefully for people who have seen the series, this will make it much more easy. The girl I am thinking of has more vectors than any one in the series.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Key
Moderator
Posts: 18182 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||
Here I think you have to make a careful distinction between "powerful" and "strong." Many of the Claymores are awesomely - even frighteningly - powerful, and several have certainly endured a lot to get where they are, but how many can truly be considered strong in character, too? Clare might seem an obvious choice, but relative to the circumstances in her series, she has to depend too much on others and lets herself get too caught up in her circumstances. (She lets herself be defined by her past tragedies and acts too rashly at times, for instance.) A much more convincing case could be made for Teresa, who's not only the mightiest warrior ever but also shows that she has her own mind and a firmly decisive manner. Miria? Maybe, but she gives off more of a "leader" vibe than a "strength" vibe. Most of the rest have some substantial character flaw that would keep me from considering them truly strong. And for anime advocate: again, she's more a case of being powerful rather than strong. |
||||
|
||||
|
fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
|
|||
As an ardent fan of the series I have to say that I second this statement. Tohru had to go through quite even before the series starts, but displays her strengths further by putting other people's needs before hers. Truly a strong female character within. Strong female characters that I can think of would be Seras Victoria and Integra Hellsing from Hellsing OVA. And with good reason. Seras because spoiler[she's a vampire ]and Integra because spoiler[she has a commanding presence over Alucard and she had to look on as her men were all eaten and turned into ghouls.] |
||||
|
||||
Sarii Seiichirou Haydn
 Posts: 18 Location: Indonesia (English is my 2nd language) |
|
|||
|
strongest female????
for me the first one is Ahiru/Princess Tutu... beside ahiru, i think Ai Mori(the law of ueki) is one of the strongest female character..why??? it caused her power to change someone to be a glasses lover...  her power is look so idiot but...that's a very strong power 
|
||||
|
||||
|
animeboy12
Posts: 160 |
|
|||
While went you said is true I would argue that strength doesn't mean proficiency or success. She was mainly a comic relief character but she did show courage when facing Shizuru, and other moments. I think in many ways you can view stubbornness can be view as a strength, it shows persistence and determination. Physically, the anime already highlights her strength and also the mai-otome and mai-hime manga paint a different picture of her strength. Also, I like to throw in Aisha Clanclan from outlaw, It's been years since I watched that anime but I do remember she, physically she had super-human strength and she did show a lot of persistant chasing Gene all over the place |
||||
|
||||
|
anime advocate
Posts: 46 |
|
|||
I agree Why was spoiler[Mew] treated extreamly poorly, when in reality spoiler[Lucy] likely would have never been if it wasnt for the people treating her poorly. Thats the only thing that really buged me in the series. I mean all of the people with horns on there head got picked on by every one. That is why I was glad about the ending because in a spoiler[short time the girls with horns on there head that also have vectors will rule human kind. Most of humanity will be gone.] |
||||
|
||||
Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
|
|||
This is a good question, and one that I was surprised wasn't brought up sooner. I personally think that any character (regaurdless of gender) have to meet the same requirements that make them "strong". They have to be strong willed and out going for me to truly consider them to be strong. I don't want a character that is physicaly strong but just sits around and does nothing, or just gives up at the first sign of trouble. You want some one who goes into the fights fullon and that dosn't give up. That's what makes the character "strong". A good example of a strong female character and a strong male character are Kamina and Yoko from Gurren Logann. Both of these characters are the type of person who is not afraid to fight when the time comes, and they never stop fighting until they when spoiler[Like when Kamina died. He knew that he was going to die, but he still fought to the very end]. They present a strong personality that you can't ignore. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group