The Female Characters in This Anime Season are Badass!
Let’s face it everyone, it can’t be denied that a strong female character is rather hard to come by in anime. Though, this season has been a big exception to this fact. Out of all the series I’m watching, more than half of them have at least one strong female character in it! I’m so glad to see this!
A first example of a character that needs to be mentioned in this post, is Mine from Lupin the Third. I’m sure some people still don’t believe me, but even though she is hardly ever clothed, she still is an extremely strong character. She’s intelligent, and so she knows how to use her sex appeal to her advantage. You could think of her as an Irene Adler from Sherlock Holmes type of character. She’s independent and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. She’s a total badass. If you haven’t noticed already, she’s definitely my favourite character of the season!
Another strong character from this season is Serika Itou from Space Brothers. Sure, the rest of the characters in the show had some doubts about her, pretty much because she was a woman, but she proved them wrong in seconds. She clearly has one goal in mind, and will do anything to get it; much like Mine.
Along with those two, a different female character who still has some mystery to her, is Koko from Jormungand. She’s an arms dealer…do I really need to say more?! She’s a happy go lucky girl who literally laughs at the face of danger. She also has a song written about her, and I’m sure that must count for something, too!
One trend you can see among these three characters is that, for once, they are not just some high school girls. It’s nice for a change to see a female character above the age of 16, who is not a teacher or a mother. Sure we see some strong female characters in other anime series, but all in one season? Although it’s the second season, you can even add Saber onto this list. I don’t think an explanation to why she’s a badass is necessary. Maybe this will signal a change for some more future older female characters like this? I certainly hope so.
Even moving into the school girl category, we can find some interesting characters this season. There are a few that are the same old type of characters were used to (ie. Upotte, Acchi Kocchi, etc.), but aside from a few, it’s a good bunch of female roles.
In one case, we have Mikoto from Mystererious Girlfriend X, who is such an intriguing character. She obviously doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her. She’s also clearly the one in control with her relationship with Akira. If Akira even tries to hold her hand, she doesn’t hesitate to whip out her pair of panty scissors to try to cut him up. It’s instantly apparent that she has no plans on changing for anyone.
On the mention of female characters having the control in the relationship, Kuroyukihime in Accel World would also fit this criteria. Although, this is partially because Arita is such a weak character. At least she’s trying to help him man up!? Sadly, I can’t say much positive about the rest of the cast…
Though, the list of strong female characters this season actually does go on. In the new Saint Seiya Omega we have Yuna, who decided to defy the rules of the Seiyas by not wearing a mask. There’s also Rea from Sankarea, who through some unconventionally means escaped her father, and now definitely fits the badass category even when she does still have a rather prim and proper type of personality.
Point is, it’s really cool to see a good bunch of female characters this season that are not following the cookie-cutter mould stereotypes that has now simply gotten boring. I’ve learned to accept (to some extent) some of the roles female characters get in anime, but I think this clear change to more interesting roles is good for everyone. After all, who doesn’t want unique and well developed characters?! I hope this spring season isn’t just some fluke, and that we’ll see this happen more and more!
I have to agree that this season’s females are a wonderful assortment, and actually had just commented on that in my own blog :p My favorites for the spring include (but are not limited to): Irisviel, Koko, the gals of Natsuiro Kiseki, and Amnesia’s Yuuko.
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lostty Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 8:44 am
Maybe I should consider watching Natsuiro Kiseki, and I definitely need to catch up with the Amnesia anime. So the list even continues to go on!
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This article has a suspicious lack of Nyaruko.
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Cely_belly Reply:
April 29th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
lol I agree.
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lostty Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 8:42 am
It’s true. I might do an edit and just add her in. I’m behind on the anime is all, and wasn’t sure how to add her in.
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Yes! Cuz girls rule and boys drool
I think Koko is my favorite from the list
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lostty Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 8:43 am
lol. Koko is the best part about Jormungand!
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Man, last season I was just remarking about how there were so many ‘strong’ female leads… which weren’t so much female /leads/ as they were strong-willed sexual objects half of the time, even when they were the ‘main’ character, or even when the cast was all-female.
And I don’t mean a believable sex object that’s only so in-universe; I mean a character made for the express purpose of satisfying otakus’ somatic needs.
Pretty sad stuff. Looking forward to (hopefully) cooler people in this season.
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lostty Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 8:45 am
There are cooler people this season!
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Mushyrulez Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
I trust you!
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I haven’t seen a lot of this season anime yet but I will take your word for it. We obviously need more kind of these characters instead of the moeblob shits that we get every damn season.
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lostty Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 8:47 am
So true! There still are a few moeblobs trying to inch their way into this season, luckily, characters like the ones above seem to be the majority!
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While I agree with you that Mine Fujiko is a strong-willed character, she’s also what you would call a ‘whore’. Using her body to trick men and benefit herself. Can’t stand her to be honest and she isn’t exactly what you call a role model, is she? But Serika Itou and Coco are definitely great characters.
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lostty Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 9:02 am
I never said she was a role model. I don’t think people should strive to be a thief in the first place, but I definitely wouldn’t go as far to say she’s a whore. She isn’t sleeping around with every guy on screen, and it’s clear she is proud of her sexually. Basically, you get the impression she enjoys sex. Now, hopefully we can both agree that this is not a bad thing, and it’s not like the guys in this series are sleeping with her for her benefit either.
I guess everyone may see it differently. I think she’s a really cool character, and that has nothing to do with her being a good role model or not.
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Hell, there’s even a strong female presence in Ginga E Kickoff with Erika and Shimizu, so I think I’d agree with you, though some probably would differ (as I can tell from above) with Fujiko
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lostty Reply:
May 1st, 2012 at 1:43 pm
I haven’t been watching that anime, maybe I should…And yes, disagreements are bound to happen, but I think it can at least be agreed that Fujiko is somewhat badass?
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Oh they’re Badass! alright I especially love Rea she’s supaa kawaii~ and undead XD .
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lostty Reply:
May 1st, 2012 at 1:43 pm
The greatest combination!
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Mikoto wasn’t enough to keep me from dropping Mysterious Girlfriend X, but she is definitely pretty interesting.
Have to say my favourite thus far is Rea, but I’m not watching Lupin or Space Brothers, so I can’t comment on those ladies! Hyouka has potential to have a few strong female characters I think, but besides that most of the shows I’m watching just have strong lead males (ie. Tsuritama, Sakamichi no Apollon).
Saw someone else mention Natsuiro Kiseki. The characters seem pretty shallow to me so far, but they aren’t complete moe-blobs I suppose.
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lostty Reply:
May 6th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
I agree that Hyouka has some potential, but I didn’t add them to the list simply because I’m not sure yet. I agree that there are a bunch of strong male leads too.
At a glance I was surprised that someone said Natsuito had strong characters as well, but I guess I need to give the series a shot to really judge whether they do myself.
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There are more than those of course but your point is a valid one. Then again, I’m amused much quicker than you are so my list of awesome babes this season is larger.
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lostty Reply:
May 6th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
I’m also not watching everything that’s airing this season, but our own judgement definitely does play a part in our choices!
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I agree with all the characters you wrote about, except for Mine Fujiko. She might be independent, but she also isn’t very good at what she does (being a theif that is) and uses her body to get what she want. A theif shouldn’t rely only on beauty to steal things, and yet her idea of stealing is clearly using her beauty to get things.
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