Where are All the Good Female Characters Hiding? Are They Under My Bed or Something?
I often find it annoying that, while I’m searching for manga at the library, I overhear other patrons talking about just how awesome and thing-I-am-not-allowed-to-say-in-polite-company-kicking their favorite male characters are. As a girl otaku (manga and anime fan, for the uninitiated) I find this rather disappointing. Now, I’m not saying that male characters are bad (you won’t find a huger Edward Elric fan in all of Pittsburgh than me. Well, probably) but where’s the gender equality? Way back in the early days of manga, Osamu Tezuka (yes, THAT Tezuka, the one they call the God of Manga?!) revolutionized the hero archetype with his comic Pricess Knight, featuring a heroine who could handle a sword just as well as any man. Where’s that spirit in today’s comics, I ask?
If you’re a reader of shonen manga like myself (yes, guilty as charged—you can shoot me now!) you’ve probably noticed the main character archetype: a fiercely loyal teenaged boy with THE OVER 9000 UNTAPPED RESEVOIR OF POWER (which goes by many names depending on what exactly you’re reading.) And you’ll also probably recognize the female archetype: Weaker. Usually given healing powers, or, at times, no powers at all. And generally just there to amass a fanboy following.
Okay, okay, maybe I speak too strongly. But it’s true that shonen manga needs a lotmore girl power. I thought Bleach’s Rukia was going to turn out great—she didn’t put up with any funny business from anyone, and could take care of herself. But then in the Soul Society arc (around volume 11) she simply… lost her awesome. Of course, being locked up in a jail cell for weeks is enough to make anyone lose their awesome. And don’t even get me started on Orihime. WHAT. THE. HECK. She’s the girlie-girl, idiot-savant, so-weak-it’s-almost-in-the-realm-of-parody type. And have you noticed, even if she does have an awesome power, SHE DOESN’T GET ANY FIGHT SCENES? Please, Bleach manga-ka, give us a scene of Orihime kicking someone’s butt. (I hope it’s Aizen’s.)
But the world of female manga characters still has hope. Here’s my list, as requested, of the Top Four Totally Thing-I-am-not-allowed-to-say-in-polite-company-Kicking Women in Manga. Let the revolution begin! (End overdramatization…)
1.Riza
Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist is without a doubt THE best sniper in the whole of the military. And possibly the best at training dogs, but this has yet to be tested.
2.Yoruichi
Shihouin (who is not a cat, really… whoops, spoiler?) of Bleach can outrun anyone, but for some (mysterious) reason chooses not to fight alongside the Soul Society (at least at first.) It’s nice to see someone marching to the beat of their own drum.
3.Sakura
from Naruto – or at least in the later plot arcs. Okay, okay, I don’t actually read this and yeah, Sakura has her moments of weakness, but she’s strong emotionally, doesn’t give up, and is fiercely loyal. Sometimes that’s what counts most.
4.Okay, sorry for the FmA overload here – what can I say, I’m obsessed? But for the last entry on this list, Winry Rockbell is a shoo-in. Sure, she doesn’t fight any monsters or carry a weapon (the wrench doesn’t count,) but she also has tremendous skill in fixing automail (FYI: that’s these awesome metal bodyparts made of awesome. Did I mention they’re awesome?) and is (usually) the voice of reason. Dunno about you, but I’m certainly impressed.
What a great post! I recently completed a thesaurus on the basics of manga for a class project, but have yet to really dive into the reading. I think your list looks like a fun place to start!!! Keep up the great blogging!
Thank you so much~!
Yeah, I get annoyed too at the lack of strong female characters in shonen manga but am pretty resigned to it at this point. A series will not deviate from its cultural roots or what they think is helping it make money. (“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”)
You probably know lots of non-shonen manga already, but I humbly suggest a couple for when you’re sick of amazingly powerful boys and the girls that are there to be their love interests. I can’t think of any fantasy or sci-fi characters that deviate from being ‘weak’, but when I’m personally sick of helpless healers I turn to strong women characters like Nodame from Nodame Cantabile (she’s so very much her own person!) or Hiroko, the main character from Hataraki Man (which translates to “Working Man”). Nodame Cantabile is a josei manga (for women) that has been translated to English, but unfortunately I don’t think Hataraki Man (a seinen manga for men) has.
Or maybe teens will one day get their PhDs by writing scathing college papers about the issue or settle for writing/reading non-canon fanfiction where the girls are as strong as we want them to be.
<3,
klara
Katie, GREAT POST! It’s definitely such a pain in the thing-I-am-not-allowed-to-say-in-polite-company that young women are so often relegated to romantic (or even worse cannon) fodder. I get embarassed sometimes suggesting titles that I know contain this sort of thing, but–as the person above me said–I’m resigned to it.
Throw in Yuko-san from xxxHolic and Urumi Kanzaki from GTO (though Azusa’s “i’ll-faint-if-i-have-to-do-anything-oops-i-got-kidnapped” mentality probably cancels her out)
Oh! And one I total glanced over despite my cosplaying as her at bookfest this past year- Haruhi Suzumiya. Not only is she strongwilled and independent, there are those who think of her as god!
I can understand your frustration with shonen manga not featuring strong girls, but don’t you suppose the problem is limiting yourself to manga whose target audience is young boys? Osamu Tezuka’s likely wasn’t thinking in terms of marketing to boys vs. girls when he created his manga, so he’s not a very good comparison to today’s mangaka–but feel free to disagree!
I’m a shojo reader myself, and in addition to enjoying the love stories, I also get plenty of strong female protagonists–most of Yuu Watase’s work, like Fushigi Yugi, comes to mind. Another series I’m enjoying right now is Her Majesty’s Dog by Miki Takeuchi.
Also, I think there may be many older manga that fit your criteria which haven’t been translated into English. Dragon Half by Ryusuke Mita is a shonen manga starring the female half-human, half-dragon character Mink. The anime is in English, and it’s hilarious, but sadly the manga hasn’t been translated yet except by fans. It was serialized in Japan in the 80s. Maybe we should take a petition to TokyoPop?
I think Wendy is hinting at a bigger question when she commented that Katie’s trouble is limiting herself to manga written for young boys. Why wouldn’t shonen manga’s target audience of young boys also want to see a stronger female lead?
I think what Katie is looking for is a female character that can kick some serious butt. All the serious butt-kicking seems to happen in shonen, so why not broaden the appeal by including strong female characters?
Have you tried The Third: Girl With the Blue Eye? I’d say she kicks some serious…the anime is great and I’ve read the first volume. Also, Pumpkin Scissors, that’s another one. I’m usually with the shojo myself, but as others have mentioned there are some pretty strong female characters there. Yuu Watase has some good ones esp. in Ceres, Celestial Legend. I just read St Dragon Girl and the girl is the martial artist and the guy the magician. Some others: Night of the Beast and Dorothea.
There are plenty of manga out there with positive (and powerful) female characters, though admitedly it seems to a lesser extent than male characters (and I think this is because the typical male fantasy is to be the kick-butt hero while the traditional female fantasy is about a knight on a white horse–though this has definatly been changing and losing its place of prominence, still it exist).
Some really great mangas with powerful female characters include Hot-Blooded Woman (I’m not sure it’s out in the US) all about rough and tumble female gang leader along with the requisite body switching and shojo material, Skip Beat (this one is in my top ten of ALL manga) a manga that starts out all about one girls relentless search for revenge against her ex-boyfriend by becoming more famous than him in the entertainment world and gradually becomes about her own desire to be a great actress, and Kurohime which features a female lead so powerful she once challenged the gods–hence her current perdicament.
Other manga with strong females (and some of these are shonen) include: Angel Densetsu, Beach Stars, Beauty Pop, Black Lagoon, Burst Angel, Change 123, Claymore, Girl Got Game, Girl Saurus, Gokusen, the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Red Lion, Sekirei, Show me the Money, Suzuka, Yankee-kun to Megane-chan and lots of others I haven’t read or forgot to mention.
@OtakuLibrarian: HARUHI! Oh my god! I LOVE Haruhi! *spazzes* Okay, fangirl moment over now.
@Wendy: Yeah, Yuu Watase’s stuff does have strong heroines. But I was talking about shonen here. No offense meant.
Oh, and Dragon Half? Yeah, I’ve been meaning to find that…
@Holly: Thanks for the support.
You’re right about that – I had a conversation with my younger cousin about that. He’d just gotten a Naruto fighting game for his PSP, and when he had to battle Sakura, this conversation ensued:
Him: Oh, a girl. I can beat her easily.
Me: Um, that’s Sakura. No, you can’t beat her.
Him: *proceeds to die* Wait, I don’t get it! She’s a GIRL! Female characters in fighting games are always weak!
Me: *Headdesk.*
He’d assumed that since it’s based on an anime, all the girls would be easy to beat. Um. Yeah. Right.
@Kes: I heard a little about The Third, but most places gave it rather poor reviews. The manga, at least… ^^;;
@Gabriel: Thank you tons for the reccomendations. I FEEL THE LOOOOVE. Anyway. Um. Skip Beat’s a manga I’ve been wanting to read forEVER but my library never seems to have it, and thanks to buying so many NewType back issues at the local half price books, I’M BROKE.
@Everyone:
Also, have you noticed that almost EVERY (physically) strong female shonen manga character is, er, well-endowed? Think about it. Matsumoto from Bleach, the entire freakin’ cast of that Witchblade show thing (haven’t seen this, but I’ve read enough about it), Nancy from Read or Die, Lust (an evil character, but she counts) from Fullmetal Alchemist… I sense a trend here. Okay, I KNOW that most of these manga creators are guys. But still. My search for a really awesome flat-chested, average-looking yet still ass-kicking heroine continues.
The well-endowed bit is quite true (though I’m personally a well-endowed female librarian so I’m like “woo cosplay ops!”. It definitely stems from the male-centric audience. The only other chick I wanted to mention was Motoko fro GITS. She does have the endowment issue, but she’s also a lesbian cyborg- so where does that land her? In any case, she is most butt-kicking.
While I whole heartedly agree that there should be more strong female leads I can not completely neglect those that do exist. One can find some characters if one tries hard enough. However elusive they may be. To state a few theres
Tsukasa – “Tokyo Crazy Paradise”
Kyouko – “Skip Beat”
Ha Li Kang – “Hot Blooded Woman”
Genkai – Yu Yu Hakusho”
Sung-Hae – “Zippy Ziggy”
Adachi Hana, Himeji Rinka – “Yankee-kun to Megane-chan”
Kumiko Yamaguchi – “Gokusen”
Revi, Balalaika, Yolanda, Eda, Sawyer the Cleaner, Shenhua, Roberta – “Black Lagoon”
Sachie Wakamura – “Wild Ones”
Rena Ryuugu, Mion & Shion Sonozaki, Satoko Hojo, Rika Furude, Hanyū – ” Higurashi No Koro Ni”
Hikari – “Special A”
Haruhi – “Ouran High Host Club”
Rosette Christopher, Satella Harvenheit, Rizelle, Shader, Fiore, – “Chrono Crusade”
Maka Albarn, Tsubaki – “Soul Eater”
Seras Victoria, Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, – “Hellsing”
Kawai Maria – “Akuma to Love Song”
Yusura – “Appare Jipangu”
Chiemi Yusa – “Junai Tokkou Taichou”
Kurosaki Mafuyu – “Oresama Teacher”
Matsuri – “Matsuri Special”
Tsukushi Makino – “Hana Yori Dango”
C.C., Kallen Stadtfeld, Sayoko Shinozaki, Nagisa Chiba, Rakshata Chawla, Cornelia li Britannia, Anya Alstreim – “Code Geass”
Ayuzawa Misaki – “Kaichou Wa Maid-sama!”
Haruna Nagashima – “Koukou Debut”
Yoko Littner – “Gurren Lagann”
Hina – “Penguin Brothers”
Sango & Kikyou – “Inuyasha”
Lee Han-Ah – “Cutie Boy”
Oikawa Ibuki – Otokomae Beads Club”
Sakura – “Sakura Hime Kaden”
Setsu – Scarlet Chair”
Mirai – “School X Fight”
Uru – “Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume”
Sheila the Demon Queen – “Superior”
Makina Hoshimura, Itsuki Yamagami, Minai, – “Shikabane Hime”
Asuka – “Awasete Ippon”
Asato Nanae – “B Reaction”
Tamaki – “Bamboo Blade”
Haruhi Suzumiya – “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”
(A manga in which the LEAD FEMALE CHARACTER is GOD! how much more powerful do you get?)
I’ll also mention the characters in Full Metal Alchemist whom one mustn’t forget such as:
Lust, Ran Fan, Mei, Izumi Curtis, Olivier Mira Armstrong, Maria Ross, and Martel.
and lastly I mention those females of bleach one not forget such as:
Tatsuki Arisawa, Kūkaku Shiba, Ururu Tsumugiya, Hiyori Sarugaki, Soi Fon, Retsu Unohana, Momo Hinamori, Rangiku Matsumoto, and my personal favorite Yachiru Kusajishi.
With my obsessive listing I think I’ve made my point.
I can’t really agree with Sachie and Hikari, but the rest… *thumbsup* And ohmigod you mentioned Martel! MARTEL WAS EPIC.
Yachiru is amazing as well. But I don’t think Hinamori’s really that strong. Did you read volume 20?
Yes I have read volume 20 and witnessed Hinamori”s defeat but I still can’t just forget that she was a lieutenant and basically a master at kidō spells. In chapter 334 she shows up does serious damage. And though I admit she doesn’t quite qualify as mentally strong you can’t ignore the physical.
As for Sachie she continues to show a strong personality and resolve and can at times whip out random strength when needed. Basically she’s a strong person. I was however reluctant to put her on the list.
Lastly is Hikari who knows wrestling moves and has fought on par with kei and various others and shows a strong personality as well.
Totally glad you agree about the rest though. Can’t wait to see Yachiru fight!
Yes yes yes! What I keep seeing is that as the years go by, the well-endowed get more dramatically so. Twenty years ago, the female anime/manga character was well-rounded but still based in reality. Nowadays, I keep seeing girls’ bodies that look like two balloons have been attached to a stick. And these curvaceous female characters keep getting younger and younger. I saw an anime called Kodomo no Jikan where there’s a second-grader who’s bigger up top than most adult women. I mean, really? Come on.
Nowadays, I keep seeing girls’ bodies that look like two balloons have been attached to a stick.
Like all those pictures of Asuka from Evangelion. Apparently mech pilots don’t need internal organs, now…
Oh, and I’ve recently discovered Road Kamelot from D.Gray-Man, who looks about 13 (and I mean non-manga-character 13, without the balloons) but is one of the most powerful characters in the series and stabs people with candles (oh, yeah, I forgot to mention she’s evil…) While being completely adorable. I love her already.
Tohru, Arisa, Hana-chan, Kisa, Rin (or Isuzu), and Akito (spoiler!) from Fruits Basket are pretty strong – though that depends on whether you mean emotionally or physically (Akito tends to… er… break people, but she’s also very fragile emotionally.)
Sango & Kikyou – “Inuyasha”
What, and you didn’t mention Kagome too? Come on, she can SHOOT AN ARROW RIGHT THROUGH A LESS-THAN-ONE-INCH-BIG JEWEL. You’ve gotta have skills for that. (Granted, she IS Kikyou’s reincarnation – kind of – but they’re separate people and I feel she deserves a mention.)
I agree that Kikyou and Sango are strong but I just can’t except Kagome as very strong. I mean she got kidnapped like every five seconds and constantly depended on Inuyasha to come to the rescue. And she was only able to shoot that arrow through the jewel because of the demons leg she attached to it. Points for the idea but that wasn’t pure talent as capable as she was of learning how to do that she wasted her potential and became the helpless jewel detector. Though she was at times very strong willed. I just think she could have become something more is all.
Now I think I’ve vented enough of my nerd rage for one comment box.
I’m actually doing a paper related to this, I have a few to point out. They may not be from hip series that all the kids are watching today, but they are from some of the best anime and manga out there.
Lina Inverse of Slayers, Rosette and Satella of Chrno Crusade, Anna from Shaman King, Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura ( a little girl who fights monsters and still finds time to have little crushes and be adorable? And she’s constantly saving pretty much everybody’s asses? What’s not to love!) and just about any woman from a Miyazaki work (Nausicca is wonderful).
Just look around and you’ll find them. They arn’t hiding as well as you might think.
The main female character in Penguin Brothers is fabulous! Sadly, I don’t think it’s a very well-known series.
I love Kagome.
She is from our time.
And still manages to survive on her own.
She has a much stronger heart than Kikyou, thats
for sure.
In the ENDING of the manga, she is way stronger than Kikyou will ever be.
So she probably just doesnt read the manga, thats why she didnt add Kagome, Kate-youir favorite neighbourhood…
When I think of strong female characters, Claymore comes to mind. Aside from an almost exclusively all-female set of characters, there is a lot of subtle personal growth (although the Claymores all look alike). It’s definitely a refreshing change of pace from many shonen, and even seinen mangas.
KIKYOU is the strongest not hoe kagome she’s the weakest not the strongest at all. she very weak always gets captured, kidnap, complain, useless, faint, whiny about every little thing. she just slow the group most of the time. she’s waste time character. i feel so sorry for inuyasha for staying with her. kikyou is way stronger than kagome ever will be and she’s the one who should have killed naraku not that wannabe miko not to mention whore attention. without kikyou she wouldn’t even exist. if she didn’t look like kikyou inuyasha in the first place inuyasha would never stay with her. he only stayed with her because she’s suppose to be the closest thing to kikyou.
they are a lot strong female characters and a lot of them aren’t really fighters but they are still awesome.
(Dragon Ball Z/GT) Android 18, Bideru/Videl, Bra/Bulla Briefs
(Street Fighter) Chun Li, Cammy White, Sakura Kasugano, Rose
(King Of Fighters) Mai Shiranui, Blue Mary/Mary Ryan, Li Xiangfei, Yuri Sakazak, Athena Asamiya, Chizuru Yata, Leona Heidem, Kula Daimond, Whip, Vice, Mature, Vanessa
(Tenchi Muyo!) Ryoko, Sasami Jurai, Washu, Kiyone
(Sailor Moon) Sailor Moon/Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Mars/Rei Hino, Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino, Chibiusa/Black Lady, Sailor Venus/Minako Aino, Sailor Saturn/Tomoe Hotaru, Sailor uranus/Haruka Ten’ou, Sailor Neptune/Michiru Kaiō, Sailor Pluto/Setsuna Meiō
(Neon Genesis Evangelion) Asuka Soryu Langley, Rei Ayanami
(Rurouni Kenshin) Megumi Takane, Misao Makimachi, Yumi Komagata, Tomoe Yukishiro
(Yu-Yu-Hakusho) Genkai, Shizuru Kuwabara, Botan, Yukina Jaganshi, Koto, Juri, Ayame, Mukuro, Natsume
(Inuyasha) Midoriko, Kikyou, Sango, Kagura, Rin, Kanna, Fluffette or Inukimi/Sesshomaru’s Mother, Ayame
(Cowboy Bebop) Faye Valentine
(Big O) R. Doroshii Wayneright
(Yu-Gi-Oh!) Mana/Dark Magician Girl, Mai Kujaku, Isis/Ishizu Ishtar, Kisara/Blue Eyes White Dragon, Rebecca Hopkins
(Detective Conan) Ran Mouri, Eri Kisaki, Sonoko Suzuki, Ai Haibara/Shiho Miyano
(Pokemon) Kasumi/Misty
(Shaman King) Anna Kyoyama
(Ah! My Godess) Urudo, Peorth
(Rave Master) Elie
(Wolf’s Rain) Cheza, Blue
(S-Cry-Ed) Scheris Adjani, Mimori Kiryu, Kanami Yuta
(Fullmetal Alchemist) Trisha Elric/Sloth, Winry Rockbell, Lust, Riza Hawkeye, Clara/Siren, Lyra, Catherine Elle Armstrong
(Zatch Bell) Sheri Belmond
(Naruto) Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga, Ino Yamanaka, Anko Mitarashi, Temari, Tayuya, Tsunade, Konan
(Bleach) Rukia Kuchiki, Yoruichi Shihouin, Yachiru Kusajishi, Rangiku Mastumoto, Nemu Kurotsuchi, Neliel Tu Oderschvank, Senna
(Fruits Basket) Kyoko Honda, Saki Hanajima, Kana Sohma, Kisa Sohma, Akito Sohma, Rin Sohma, Machi Kuragi
(Furi Kuri) Haruhara Haruko, Mamimi Samejima
(Love Hina) Motoko Aoyama
(Ghost In Shell) Motoko Kusanagi
(Samurai Champloo) Fuu
(D.N Angel) Riku Harada
(Chobits) Chii & Freya
(Spirited Away) Chihiro
(Kiki’s Delivery Service) Kiki
(Trinity Blood) Noelle Bor, Seth Nightlord
(Ouran High School Host Club) Haruhi Fujioka
(Gunslinger Girl) Rico, Angelina Fleda, Claes Johansson, Elsa Desica, Henrietta, Triela
(Blood Plus) Saya Otnashi, Diva, Sonia Yuri, Irene
(Death Note) Naomi Misora
(Kiddy Grade) Lumiere, Tweedledee
(Ergo Proxy) Re-L Mayer, Pino
(Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion) C.C , Kallen Stadtfeld, Villetta Nu
(Rozen Maiden) Shinku, Hina-Ichigo, Suigintou
(Vampire Night) Rima Toya, Sayori Wakaba, Maria Kurenai
(Air Gear) Shiraume “Ume” Noyamano
(Shinkyoku Sōkai Polyphonica) Corticarte Apa Lagranges
(Hell Girl) Ai Enma
Some of my most favorite manga/anime female characters and why?
Genkai (Yu-Yu-Hakusho)-She’s and old lady, and therefore is not your typical highly attractive/big-breasted female anime character. However, most characters like that annoy me, as a lot of times it feels like they are only there for sexual appeal, which is pretty dumb, since its just an animated character . However, with Genkai, she has a great personality, has lots of depth to her character and back story, and she can also be quite funny when she’s lecturing Yusuke, as she can talk his language (in other words, she can talk just as much trash to him, as he does to her, lol ).
Midoriko (Inuyasha)-though she appered only once. she’s a lot like kikyo sama.
Kikyou (Inuyasha)-tragic, Beautiful, smart, brave, independent, interesting, unique, terrific. Interesting, deep, collective, graceful, she’s not annoying, not whore, strong, a good doctor, and a great ass-kicker, what can’t she do? But sadly, her supposed betrayal and the whole undead-existence situation has left her very morose (who can blame her?). Her life is so tragic, but she still takes care of the young, sick, and elderly and never complains, which is why I admire her so much. In my eyes she deserves a lot of respect, considering how much crap she goes through and how well she holds up. Curse Rumiko Takahashi for killing her so many times and throwing her off so many cliffs!
Sango (Inuyasha)-She’s very mature and level headed. She has a big heart sometimes bigger than Kagome’s. She is the essence of a true strong lady. She brings pride to the famale characters of the entertainment world. When she loves, she loves whole heartedly. When she hurts, she holds her head high and fights for what is right. Also, she is the smartest (or at least one of the most intelligent) and beautiful character on the whole show. Love her!
Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran High School Host Club)-She’s not a fighter or anything like that, but she’s a very strong character in her own right. She had to deal with the death of her mother at a very young age and took over the household afterwards. She basically raises her father while studying hard to work toward her dream. She gets herself accepted to the prestigious Ouran on a scholarship and keeps herself at the top of her class. At the same time, she has a personality that can deal with all the crazy hijinks of the Host Club boys. She teaches them about a lot of things while they do the same for her. She’s wise beyond her years but at the same time, is completely dense when it comes to her own feelings, so that makes her interactions with the Host Club guys even more interesting considering how clueless she can be.
C.C (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion)-she’s wicked awesome!!
Corticarte Apa Lagranges (Shinkyoku Sōkai Polyphonica)-shes so adorable and gorgeous. i lover her childishness so much.
i LOVE fullmetal alchemist and it has awesome strong female leads like Mei, Lan Fan, Izumi, and don’t forgot Olivier Armstrong from Briggs who is AWESOMESAUCE!!!
Also if you should read FAIRY TAIL. Sure most of the girls are well-endowed… actually like all of them but with that aside Erza Scarlet is super strong!! It’s about a girl called Lucy(pretty strong too) who wants to join a guild called Fairy Tail(everyone is powerful and can use different magic) There is even an arc that proves that the strongest people in the guild. At first it doesn’t seem like it but the chicks are incredibly strong and awesome.
Oh and read SHAMAN KING! Anna Kyoyama is just so COOL. Pretty much everyone in the series is scared of her and she is soooo awesome. Shaman King is very interesting too and has none of that well-endowed character thing. But I warn you don’t watch the show they go completely off the manga and lower the character developement of most of the girl characters….
I LOVE YOUR LIST AND I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!
ERZA (fairy tail) <3 VISION
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
:]
sorry i forgot….
AIKAWA RAMI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 (Dolls by Naked Ape)
She would probably share the same thoughts as you too if she were real
Very nice, Even though I hate Bleach and FMA, they are awesome characters. A character that would also fit this list would be Maka from Soul Eater. And Maybe Tsubaki. And Liz and Patty. Haha I’m such a Soul Eater Otaku XD and Kallen from Code geass would Fit this List too with her friggin Awesome Guren (I never read the Code Geass manga… Oh well…)! And I can’t forget Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena. And before I go on and on, I have to say, I’m glad some other Girl Otaku’s noticed this lack of a Female lead in manga. But, I understand why Shoenn manga doesn’t have female leads because it was originaly for boys, and shojo for girls… but oh well, things change and its time for more strong and awesome felame characters!! Yosh!!
-Liz