Recommend anime with a tough girl... please?

[Constantine Drakon]

Howdy. I'm wondering if anyone's come across any newer anime with one of the main cast members being the female equivalent of a Naruto, Ichigo, Luffy, etc. (if there's anything youtube all the better). Doesn't even have to be the main character, but I'm starting to get annoyed at Sally Sidelines. Feels like it's been a few years since I've seen seen a female character that kicked ass more often than she gets in trouble. If such a thing exists, I'd be mighty appreciative of a heads up.

[Kevinroc]

You're watching Shonen Jump stuff, where female characters tend to be regulated to the sidelines.

Here are some series where the female characters are not regulated to the sidelines.

Mai-Hime
Saikano (a girl is turned into a military weapon, but she'd rather spend time with her human boyfriend)
Dirty Pair/ Dirty Pair Flash (Flash is an alternate universe version of the original DP)
Super Gals (comedic series about girls in Shibuya)

[Sanagi]

That is one thing that annoys me about a lot of anime for boys, like Naruto. But there's tons of strong female characters in anime if you look in other places. Some reccomendations:

Project A-Ko
Nadia: Secret of Blue Water
Ghost in the Shell
Tenchi Muyo

[Len Ikari145]

Armitage III Poly Matrix and Dual Matrix

Elfen Lied

Ghost in the Shell

Chrono Crusade (I guess)

Slayers (this like the first and most obvious choice for people looking for hardcore anime girls ).

[Constantine Drakon]

A lot of those are good suggestions... but pretty old. Is there anything out in the last 4 years or so?

I've been meaning to try out Elfen Lied though, I'll look into that.

I'm really looking for anything where one of most-seen supporting cast members (because I'm not holding my breath for anything with the main character) goes and does some actual ass-kicking. And not in a rhetorical sense, I mean inflicting violence upon others in the time honored fashion of shounen manga.

As for Saikano... thanks for the suggestions, but that is the wussiest living weapon of all time. I couldn't get through the first DVD she annoyed me so much.

[Len Ikari145]

A lot of those are good suggestions... but pretty old. Is there anything out in the last 4 years or so?

I've been meaning to try out Elfen Lied though, I'll look into that.

I'm really looking for anything where one of most-seen supporting cast members (because I'm not holding my breath for anything with the main character) goes and does some actual ass-kicking. And not in a rhetorical sense, I mean inflicting violence upon others in the time honored fashion of shounen manga.

As for Saikano... thanks for the suggestions, but that is the wussiest living weapon of all time. I couldn't get through the first DVD she annoyed me so much.

If you want girls engaging in insane shounen-like action , then watch/read Ikki Tousen. It's full of ass-kicking and enough fanservice to create a new world order.:D

But the ones I recommended (like Chrono Crusade Armitage) have two main female characters that kick ass and take names. Damsels in distress they are not.

Crap! I can't believe I forgot about Read Or Die! That's probably the perfect example in female badassitude.

[Chevan]

Would you hit me if I recommended Grenadier?

[Hikari Tsukishiro]

Gokusen. She is like a less badass version(so people say) of Great Teacher Onizuka.
I hate GTO, but since everyone loves Onizuka, there you go.

Noir or Madlax maybe? Assassins/merceneries for hire woman.

Air Master? Shounen fighting with a female main character.

[The Mirrorball Man]

Appleseed
Princess Mononoke
Cowboy Bebop

[Rod G]

Would you hit me if I recommended Grenadier?


Nope.

Fact is,I'm glad you recommended Grenadier.


Other anime series with tough girls include :

Carried by the Wind Tsukikage Ran

Air Master

Shakugan no Shana

(I guess Ikki Tousen as well if you don't mind the fan service)

[Yun Lao]

During the Golden Ages Arc of Berserk (pretty all of the anime series), Caska was pretty tough
Hellsing
Sorcerer Hunters (mainly when the girls go into their "sado form" )

[T51R]

Witch Hunter Robin in the ater episodes, Tenjho Tenge, Lunar Legends Tsukihime, Gene Shaft to name a few.

[MKTerra]

Fate Stay Night. But if you can read Japanese, look to the games for a fuller telling of the story(s).

[junnys]

bakuretsu tenshi Jo is pretty tough for the silent type

bubblegum crisis

mahou sensei negima's full of various girls with some tough ones, with fan service

ikki tousen again with fan service

[Knightosis]

As far as I've noticed, there's a fair number of strong women leads in anime
as opposed to the secondary or sideline roles.

[Mary Nelson]

Cowboy Bebop

um no. faye is useless in a fight but the guys fight good

[nervmeister]

Airmaster is a great anime depicting strong women.

[Hikari Tsukishiro]

As far as I've noticed, there's a fair number of strong women leads in anime
as opposed to the secondary or sideline roles.

There are, but not very many hot-blooded ones like Goku, Luffy, etc. That's the problem.

[Damo]

Most shounen manga are built around a pretty simple formula (and there's nothing wrong with that):

The hero (usually a rookie) faces increasingly dangerous enemies, turns a few of them into allies/cast members, and occassionally has to stop and retrain or learn a new skill before facing a danger worse than anything faced before.

Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Dragonball, Flame Of Recca, Kenshin, Full Metal Alchemist, Shaman King, Trigun, Beat, Zombie Powder, Busou Renkin and a ton of others all follow it to different degrees.

Part of the problem is that in almost all of them there's a huge difference in the strength of the main character and any female supporting cast members. I think Flame of Recca is the only one where the girl on the hero's "team" pulls her own weight (the gal in Busou has an excuse though, and is the only good thing about that manga).

If you want something similar with a female main character you're going to have to look. Slayers and Utena are the best examples, but you may as well tell a giant robot fan to go watch Gundam. They're getting old, and they're well known enough that almost anyone looking has already seen them. And Utena is kind of a mix between the shounen formula and a Sailor Moon "new monster every episode" show. (Battle Athletes has sports instead of fighting, but is likewise getting old).

Of the more recent things there's Tenge Tenjou and Ikki Tousen... but I honestly believe a girl was the main character in those so the writer could use fanservice to hide the terrible writing. The quality of those two is way below any of the guy manga I mentioned above.

Airmaster... it's better than Tenge and Ikki, but still pretty underwhelming compared to the best of the guy stuff. Shadow Star is awesome, but really hard to find, almost unknown, and can sometimes be one of the most disturbing anime ever.

Right now we haven't had anything like Utena or Slayers since... well... Utena or Slayers.

[OverMaster]

Check out Saber Marionette J. Sure, it's a harem series, but the girls are the ones doing all the butt-kicking, name-taking there.

[MKTerra]

To tip the scales, a picture!

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2651/2005072500051022608bw8.th.jpg (http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2005072500051022608bw8.jpg)

[Melbourne Mew Mew]

I'll also reccommend The Third: Aoi Hitomi no Shoujo as an action series with a strong main female character.

Oh, and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, which has more developed fight scenes than most magical girl anime.

[chojinlocke]

Right off hand I would recommend

Battle Angel
Nausicaa
Devil lady --ok, but I haven't made it through the series yet
Ghost in the shell TV --- rocks!

[nervmeister]

Check out Saber Marionette J. Sure, it's a harem series, but the girls are the ones doing all the butt-kicking, name-taking there.Same goes for Ghost in the Shell and Battle Angel Alita. Cause we all know that in order for a woman to be strong, she has to be a robot or cyborg.

[Clouds-Are-Nice]

My recommendations, all the ones I can think of off hand.

Mai-Hime (Good characters and good action, I haven't watched the entire thing though)

Mai-Otome (It's good if you don't mind a bit of non-sense here and there, but it tries to make up for it with fanservice and lesbians)

Ghost in the Shell (A solid favorite of many, requires a bit of thought at times.)

Elfen Lied (Although the gore scared me too much for me to finish it, it's good, but not for people like myself who get scared easily from anime)

Noir (The plot gets confusing at times but it's not short on story, character development, or asskicking)

Shakugan no Shana (Nice art, good characters, decent storyline, and a cute girl with a samurai sword)

Fate Stay Night (It's really good with lots of depth and story. And with the exception of one scene, you'd never guess it was ever an H-Game.)

Bubblegum Crisis (The newer one was pretty good, even though I was so scared watching it towards the end though...)

Diebuster II\Gunbuster II (FLCL art style combined with extreme over-the-top action (moons get cut in half). I haven't watched it all but it's been great so far)

Saber Marionette J (An android harem show, above average but I can't remember much of it)

Kiddy Grade (It's been a while since I've watched it but I think it was pretty good.)

Crno Crusade (All I remember of this is that all the newspapers in it talked about the war in Iraq and it had a strong but sad ending, pretty good overall)

Utawaremono (I haven't seen this yet but it seems to fit the specifications and is somewhat popular right now)

Rozen Maiden (It's highlander with dolls, except nobody dies until the sequel)

Vandread (Sci-Fi action\harem\drama anime, its been a while since I watched it so I can't comment though)

Eureka Seven (I haven't watch enough to comment however)

Witchhunter Robin (Serious\Drama\Action, It's been a while so I don't remember anything else)

[junnys]

blood: the last vampire
blood+: not really the same universe but based off each other.

[MKTerra]

Fate Stay Night (It's really good with lots of depth and story. And with the exception of one scene, you'd never guess it was ever an H-Game.)http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/2044/fatedragonry9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

?

Oh wait, you mean the less metaphorical part right before that :o

[Guy1]

Ikki Tousen
Silent Mobius
Witch Hunter Robin
Elfen Lied
Slayers

[Damo]

I'll also reccommend The Third: Aoi Hitomi no Shoujo as an action series with a strong main female character.

Oh good call. I'd forgotten about that one, definitely a more recent example of a butt kicking girl.

"And I, for one, welcome our new flat chested loli-looking swordmaster orverlords..."

[Jerry W. Loper]

Howdy. I'm wondering if anyone's come across any newer anime with one of the main cast members being the female equivalent of a Naruto, Ichigo, Luffy, etc. (if there's anything youtube all the better). Doesn't even have to be the main character, but I'm starting to get annoyed at Sally Sidelines. Feels like it's been a few years since I've seen seen a female character that kicked ass more often than she gets in trouble. If such a thing exists, I'd be mighty appreciative of a heads up.

Hmmm, I don't think anybody's mentioned Avenger yet.

[jboncha]

blood: the last vampire
blood+: not really the same universe but based off each other.

Actually Blood+ is set in th same universe.
BTLV is set in th 1970s & Blood+ is set in the present.



J B

[The Real Nemo]

Buso Renkin is my recommendation for a shonen title with a strong female character, Tokiko from that series is nothing short of awesome.

[manekochan]

If you can get past the first 5 or so episodes when the lead character is a complete whine-bag, I recommend 12 Kingdoms. I think it's the only newer thing I can safely recommend.
All Purpose Cultural Cat-girl Nuku Nuku (the ORIGINAL!!! not the watered down version)(and I know it's old but it's funny as hell)
Dragon Half (... -_-; ... Old, but funny as hell... I just wish there was more)
Bubblegum Crisis (either one although I prefer the original)
Ranma 1/2 (Akane and the others can hold their own)

[Spastic Minnow]

You can check out Mezzo(TV) (and Mezzo Forte or Kite in censored or fully blown violent hentai varieties). I've only seen a couple of the episodes from Anime Network OnDemand but the lead female certainly is an ass kicker (and apparently there is no actual need to watch the Hentai prequel). Unfortunately the word is that the animation gets pretty poor as the series goes on and even in one of the early episodes I saw (ep. 2 or 3, I forget which) there were signs of poor animation shortcuts.

[mathew101281]

How do you define strength

[Sophisticated_Gamer]

Have you heard of a show Granadier? It's like trigun only for girls...
Also love hina is excelent!

[Ghost]

There's Real Bout High School.
It's basically Rurouni Kenshin, only it's set in modern times, and Kenshin is actually a teenaged girl, and Sanosuke is named Kusanagi instead. Oh, and there's allot more fanservice. :D :p

[Darth Joker]

I also throw in my support for Kiddy Grade.

Not that well known of an anime, perhaps, but it has great visuals, excellent female protagonists, and a strong compelling storyline in the 2nd hald of the anime series.

[Len Ikari145]

There's Real Bout High School.
It's basically Rurouni Kenshin, only it's set in modern times, and Kenshin is actually a teenaged girl, and Sanosuke is named Kusanagi instead. Oh, and there's allot more fanservice. :D :p

A crossover must be made, that it should.:p

[Ghost]

A crossover must be made, that it should.:p

Especially since Ryoko Mitsurugi looks very much like Kaoru, only with Kenshin's eye- and haircolor.
That girl is screaming "Kenshin's Descendant!"

Check out the Anime Look-Alike thread over at Rumbles. It's uncanny.

[jboncha]

Burst Angel's a good one.



J B

[Len Ikari145]

Especially since Ryoko Mitsurugi looks very much like Kaoru, only with Kenshin's eye- and haircolor.
That girl is screaming "Kenshin's Descendant!"

Check out the Anime Look-Alike thread over at Rumbles. It's uncanny.

I've seen the anime on Comcast, the first thing I thought "OMFG, She looks like Kenshin!" though I didn't notice the Kaoru resemblance in there as well until you pointed it out.:D And given the cast of characters, you *know* that this series was heavily inspired by RK. It'd be pedantic to say otherwise.:cool:

[Draconomicon]

blood+: not really the same universe but based off each other.
You find it on Youtube.
Around 40 episodes.
HIGHLY recommended

[heretic]

Why has noone mentioned Silent Mobius yet?

HTG

[Paploo the Ewok]

Howdy. I'm wondering if anyone's come across any newer anime with one of the main cast members being the female equivalent of a Naruto, Ichigo, Luffy, etc. (if there's anything youtube all the better). Doesn't even have to be the main character, but I'm starting to get annoyed at Sally Sidelines. Feels like it's been a few years since I've seen seen a female character that kicked ass more often than she gets in trouble. If such a thing exists, I'd be mighty appreciative of a heads up.


Get Saver from Tokyopop. It's heroine kicks ass, takes names, and visibly assaults those names.

Lena Ha is the pretty captain of the Kendo team, loved by all, except for a boy who imagines himself to be her rival. She also has to deal with her roommate/best friends obsessive closeness with her. After she falls in love with a boy who she later finds out is her half brother ,everything goes to hell.

Then she ends up in a magical land, and swears she will kill all her enemies with the sword stained with the blood of those she loved.

Cause that's what kick ass heroines do

[Inkthinker]

Appleseed.

Deunan Knute stands as an icon in my mind of a strong woman who isn't a sexual object or an rageaholic ballbuster, possibly because she was one of the first characters of that type that I encountered in comics.

Levy of Black Lagoon is damaged goods (mentally), but a "Sally Sideline" she ain't.

Anything by Miyazaki, since he's a great believer in the role of the heroine. Spirited Away, Laputa, Mononoke, Porco Rosso and My Neighbor Totoro all feature strong, intelligent and competent female leads. They're not necessarily the bad-asses that Deunan or Levy are, but they're probably better role models for young girls.

:D

[Reverend Smooth]

Cagalli of Gundam Seed, Youko of 12 kingdoms/Juuni Kokki, though that's what she turns into, not what she starts out as. Lavie of Last Exile is pretty good. The girls in Haibane Renmei are strong in their own way.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Lady Oscar/Rose of Versailles. Utena.

Seconded for Fio of Porco Rosso, which is a great movie.

[Erisu Kimu]

I would definitely recommend "Black Lagoon." That has some bad ass women like Revy and Balalaika.

"Excel Saga" has quite the lead female who is very hyper.

"Read or Die" has a good female main character with a cool ability.

Other recommended titles with strong female leads or characters are...

"Otogi Zoshi"
"Tenshi na Konomaiki"
"Shakugan no Shana"
"Basilisk"
"Chrno Crusade"
"RAY the animation"
"Ergo Proxy"
"Code Geass"

[Rod G]

Add Moribito's Balsa.

[Melbourne Mew Mew]

Cagalli of Gundam Seed,

With the caveat "but not Gundam Seed Destiny".

Cagalli was my favourite character in Seed, and one of the main reasons I hate Destiny is that Cagalli somehow loses all willpower there.

[ashez2ashes]

Yeah, the shounen formula of sidelines Sally is really annoying. I know a few that either haven't been mentioned yet, or haven't been mentioned much.

Slayers - Lots of people have mentioned this one, and it is pretty old by now, but no list about strong female characters should be without Lina Inverse.

Junni Kokki - the main character doesn't start out awesome, but grows into a strong mental and physical badass/leader throughout the course of the series.

Bubblegum Crisis 2040 - like an anime version of Birds of Prey. A group of women band together to secretly fight rampaging androids that have been creating havok in their city. It has very very little fanservice in it even.

Cheeky Angel - starts out like a reverse herim series, but ends up more like a gang of friends who attract trouble a lot. Megumi is a badass, the main character, the leader the group that even contains male and female main characters all of which fight at some point, wins fights with groups of thugs through martial arts prowess and quick thinking, and never ever stays on the sidelines. There's lots of great and positive things going on with this series concerning gender... I wish more people were willing to give it a chance.

Basara - In a post apocolyptic world, a young man is picked out by a prophet to be the chosen one who is supposed to defeat the "evil" king of their land. When the king's men come to their village, he bravely goes out to face the hoarde... and gets his head chopped off. In reality, the REAL chosen one is his twin sister, who decides to take up her brother's identity and overthrow the goverment that murdered her family. She even becomes the leader of a rebellion. There's a short anime but most of the awesome is in the manga.

Magic Knight Rayearth - three girls from Tokyo are chosen to save a fantasy kingdom as magical knights.

[Lord Darkwolf]

Four pages and noone mentioned Claymore tsk tsk .


Also there is Rosario+Vampire where the main girl is the strongest fighter in the series and the other girls were pretty strong too ... and until recent chapters the main boy was the weakest of the fighters )


And as mentioned before Negima girls kick all sorts of butt and just keep getter stronger .

[aikidoka]

try the samurai deeper kyo manga there is a good number of strong women
example
shihodou and her 1000 ton hate
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7238/sdk219088hq.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/4074/sdk219096vt.jpg

[Len Ikari145]

Ellie from Rave Master was no damsel in distress(not with those Tongfu blasters of hers), and contained within her one of the most powerful forces in the series(hell, in some anime).


Buso Renkin's Tokiko, was not only one of the most badass women in manga, she's one of the few women in a shounen manga who doesn't fall to the bottom of the totem pole in terms of power compared to the males at the end of the series either.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Two female-lead titles I really enjoyed:

- Claymore (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSn2wWAlUbw)

- Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waSwndpzFSU)

[ashez2ashes]

Ellie from Rave Master was no damsel in distress(not with those Tongfu blasters of hers), and contained within her one of the most powerful forces in the series(hell, in some anime).





Got to disagree with that one. I've seen the whole series and she gets tortured (one torture session went for multiple episodes) and kidnapped multiple times, and is very much a Sidelines Sally. She also has the brains of a rock.

[Lord Darkwolf]

Also have to put a word in for D. Grayman whose current arc is all about powering up the main female lead .

[yeoman]

"Read or Die" has a good female main character with a cool ability.



Similarly, it's continuation, ROD the TV, which adds the three Paper Sisters and gives Nenene screen time.