Powerful Ladies of Animation (Tag Post)

Thanks to the wonderful Pinkie for tagging me here! I don’t do a lot of tag posts, but I really liked this one and thought it would be great for Women’s History Month. There are a lot of great female characters in animation, who don’t always get the attention and respect they deserve. I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites, and let me know any that you might like!

Rules

• Choose a female (real or fictional) for every prompt.
• Tag at least one female blogger.
• Pingback to Annie’s Powerful females’ tag.
• Enjoy~

Most Intelligent: Ed (Cowboy Bebop)

This one is a no-brainer. (…) Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV is a child prodigy, genius hacker, and total goofball. Her technical know-how gets Spike and co. out of countless sticky situations, but she’ll just as often leave them confounded with her non-sequiturs and noodle arms. She’s also the emotional core of the group, bringing them together after heated arguments and encouraging Faye to open up about her difficult past. Cowboy Bebop has a stellar cast all around, but Ed stands out even among them. The only one smarter than her is Ein, and he’s a dog.

Honorable Mention: Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

Most Physically Strong: Hibiki Tachibana (Symphogear)

I will never stop talking up Symphogear. It’s so great, but few people have heard of it! Hibiki, the lead protagonist, is basically Goku as a girl. She’s dumb as rocks, freakishly strong, and full of righteous anger. While she starts out weak and inexperienced, she quickly becomes so powerful that she can punch Mount Everest in half. Hell, her entire character arc revolves around getting stronger so she can protect her girlfriend, Miku. All the ladies in this magical girl/mecha/idol mash-up are great, and Hibiki perfectly encapsulates the role of the hot-blooded Shonen hero.

Honorable Mention: Ryougi Shiki (Kara no Kyoukai)

Most Resilient: Melia Antiqua (Xenoblade) (Spoilers)

All the characters in Xenoblade go through hell across their hundred-hour adventure, but Princess Melia of the High Entia has it the worst. She endures discrimination due to her mixed heritage, survives multiple political assassination attempts, loses her family, and watches her entire race turn into monsters to feed a malevolent Sephiroth wannabe. Far from a helpless damsel, though, Melia never stops fighting for her people. By the end, she takes up the throne and leads her nation to a brighter and more tolerant future. She’s an inspiring character all around, and I always played as her whenever I got the chance (it helps that her Mind Blast spell is hella OP).

Honorable Mention: Kumiko Oumae (Sound! Euphonium)

Most Likely To Be My Friend/Roommate: Dorothea Arnault (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Dorothea is my favorite of all 600+ Fire Emblem characters, and she’s not even in the main story all that much! An opera singer from the mean streets of the Imperial capital, this girl is a diva who’s still down to earth. Her flirty persona betrays her great inner strength and sharp bullshit detector. She sees the good in everyone, and always reaches out when her closest friends are hurting. Really, the only issue I’d have with us being roommates is that she’d constantly bring girls home and I’d get jealous.

Honorable Mention: Misato Katsuragi (Neon Genesis Evangelion) – I have a thing for beautiful trainwrecks apparently 😂

Best Role Model: Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

I’ve always been more of a Toph fan myself, but Katara is a fantastic character in her own right. After the death of her family in the hundred-year war against the Fire Nation, she becomes the de facto leader of the Southern Water Tribe and learns waterbending to protect her people. She is kind and compassionate, but also strong-willed and full of passion. My favorite moment is when she challenges the leader of the Northern Water Tribe to a duel over his refusal to train female waterbenders. Even though she loses again and again, her sheer grit makes the old man realize the foolishness of this sexist tradition.

Katara isn’t a perfect person – she can be overbearing at times – but she’s been a role model for countless women and girls since the show came out, and is one of the best-written female characters in animation.

Honorable Mention: Winry Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Most Deserving of the Spotlight: Alluka Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter)

Hunter x Hunter has an enormous cast of characters, each with much more depth than you might expect from a Shonen Jump series. And even though Killua’s sister Alluka doesn’t show up until the last arc of the 2011 anime, I still think she’s one of the most underrated characters in the medium.

On the surface, she’s a cheerful young girl, seemingly the furthest thing from the rest of murderous Zoldyck clan. But she has a secret dark side: her alter ego, Nanika. Nanika can grant wishes and is nearly omnipotent, but every wish has a price – and those who can’t pay must suffer deadly consequences. Terrified of her power, the Zoldycks locked the poor girl in the basement, refusing to even mention her name. Only Killua loves Alluka the way she is, and risks being killed by his entire insane family to save her.

Alluka is also canonically transgender, and her story mirrors how trans people are often treated in society. Even though the Zoldycks distrust her because of her powers and not her identity, they still refuse to see her as a human being. It’s only when Killua accepts her fully – as both Alluka and Nanika – that he is able to save both her and his best friend Gon. It’s rare to find such well-written trans characters in any show, let alone in Shonen anime. Even though Hunter x Hunter has been on hiatus for like, forever, I would love to see more just to spend more time with her and the rest of the phenomenal cast.

Honorable Mention: Lily (Zombieland Saga)

Anyway, that’s it! This was a lot longer than I expected it to be, so I’ll be quick to wrap it up. If anyone is interested in trying it out, I would like to nominate Fred (Au Natural), Crow, alsmangablog, and sushiiiwithsoysauce! Cheers everyone