Top 14 Best Female Protagonists In Anime History

By Editorial Staff in Geeks and Gaming On 5th December 2016
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14. Mikasa Ackerman — Attack on Titan

Mikasa Ackerman (Mikasa Akkāman), also spelled as Mikasa Ackermann in the FUNimation sub of the anime) is the adoptive sister of Eren Yeager, and is the main female protagonist of the series.

After her biological parents were murdered by human traffickers, she was rescued by Eren and lived with him and his mother and father for approximately a year before the fall of Wall Maria.

Though she desires only to live a peaceful life with Eren, Mikasa chose to follow him into the military where she is considered the best soldier among the 104th Training Corps and later into the Survey Corps.

13. Motoko Kusanagi — Ghost in the Shell

Motoko is a cyborg who works as a field commander for Public Security Section 9 on the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. Motoko is a very physically strong and incredibly intellectual who that is quick-witted and an excellent hacker. As a child, Motoko was comatose following an airplane accident. After her health began to steadily decline, her consciousness was put into a "full-body prosthesis," an augmented-cybernetic human body. Motoko causes us to question exactly what makes us human. She is an emotional, stoic, strong woman who fights for the citizens she protects, yet she lives inside an artificial body.

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12. Usagi Tsuino — Sailor Moon

Usagi is a schoolgirl who lives in 20th Century Tokyo. She is shown to not view life with a great deal of seriousness, goofing off and oftentimes neglecting activities, such as schoolwork to play video games or spend time with her friends. In the beginning of the series, she acts somewhat immature and describes herself as a bit of a crybaby. Despite this, she acts friendly towards many people and tends to help others out with their problems. As the series progresses, she slowly matures and learns how to make decisions for herself as well.

At the start of the series, she is 14 years old and she is in her second year of middle school. Near the end of the series, she is 16 years old and she goes to high school.

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11. Asuka Langley Soryu — Neon Genesis Evangelion

We couldn't leave out Neon Genesis Evangelion's Asuka from this list of awesome female protagonists. Asuka is a classic anime heroine and remains beloved by fans of the show to this day. Asuka is an American teenage girl who serves as an Eva pilot for the Evangelion Project and pilots the Evangelion Unit-02. Asuka was raised in Germany and often swears in German. She was a child prodigy with a college degree at only fourteen years old, but definitely has her human flaws. She has a temper and is obsessed with being the best at everything she does. Despite these flaws, Asuka is hilarious in her own way and has the kind of confidence and pride you rarely see in a young girl. She knows she can do her job well and isn't afraid to tell you about it.

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10. San — Princess Mononoke

San, otherwise known as Princess Mononoke or the "Wolf Girl," is a character in Princess Mononoke and the deuteragonist behind Ashitaka. She acts, behaves, and resembles a wolf due to the fact that she was raised by wolves themselves. San is the Princess of the Wolf Gods.

9. Tohru Honda — Fruits Basket

The heroine from the series Fruits Basket may be relatively unknown, but to any girl who grew up reading the manga, Tohru shows what a good person really is like. She lost both her parents to a car accident and a chronic illness, and lives in a tent on the Sohma property when she begins to feel like a burden to her grandfather who was housing her. After being discovered, she is invited to stay in a room at the Sohma estate. She works hard at her part-time job to support herself and pay her school tuition. Tohru is kind, generous, and grateful for the good things in her life. She shows her new friends the true meaning of friendship and earns a spot on this list for just being an all-around relatable, good person. -

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8. Faye Valentine — Cowboy Bebop

Faye Valentine is a main character from the popular futuristic bounty hunting anime series Cowboy Bebop. When she was younger, her parents were killed in a spacecraft accident that nearly killed her. Since there was no way to treat her injuries with medicine at the time, she was cryogenically frozen until medicine was advanced enough to heal her. The Gate incident resulted in her identity and records being erased. After fifty-four years, the amnesiac Faye is awakened and healed, and but is also in massive debt. To escape her debts, she lives a life on the run as a criminal. She eventually meets Spike and Jet and becomes a member of the Bebop ship.

Faye is an awesome protagonist with some antihero tendencies. She's one of the funniest female characters in any anime ever, her story is interesting, and she is a lot more vulnerable than she lets on. When Spike decides to attack the base of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate and possibly be killed, Faye does everything she can to stop him, telling him that he is her only family.

7. Sophie Hatter — Howl’s Moving Castle

Sophie Hatter is the main character in the first book called Howl's Moving Castle. She is a young lady living in the small town of Market Chipping in the fictional kingdom of Ingary. She is the eldest of three sisters (Sophie, Lettie, and Martha Hatter). In the land of Ingary, this of course means that she is destined to never find her fortune, and live a very dull life at home. She works in her late father's hat shop as her stepmother, Fanny Hatter's apprentice.

6. Haruko Haruhara — FLCL

If you love extraterrestrial weirdness, you'd definitely love the 2003 anime FLCL. Haruko is one of the main characters of the show. She is an alien private investigator for the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood who arrives on Earth to search for a space pirate called Atomsk.

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6. Haruko Haruhara — FLCL

This entry may seem unlikely, but Konata, from the comedic slice-of-life anime series Lucky Star, definitely deserves a spot on the list. Konata is the implied leader of the Lucky Star group of friends. She is mischievous, friendly, and sarcastic, with no shortage of hilarious lines. Konata isn't your typical leading lady from a shoujo production. She is unapologetically lazy, loves video games, falls asleep in class, and is proud to be a bit of a weirdo.

4. Yuuko Ichihara — xXxHolic

The all-female group of illustrators called CLAMP came out with a lot of great manga back in the day, including Cardcaptor Sakura and Chobits. xXxHolic was one of their best releases that was adapted into an anime. Yuuko is the owner of the shop in Tokyo where most of the events of xXxHolic takes place. She is a wish-granter who aids Watanuki in his wish to be rid of the spirits that bother him in exchange for an extended period of servitude. Despite giving him frequently demeaning tasks, Yuuko cares deeply for Watanuki.

Before Yuuko's eventual death, she asks their mutual friend Haruka to protect Watanuki once she is gone. At the end of the series during a dream sequence, she turns into a vast swarm of butterflies and disappears before Watanuki can catch her. When she does die while in another dimension, Watanuki clutches his heart in pain, implying an undying connection.

3. Fuu Kasami — Samurai Champloo

Fuu is the one of the lead characters in the series Samurai Champloo. The fifteen year old Fuu tricks Mugen and Jin into protecting her on her journey to find the enigmatic character called the Sunflower Samurai. It is later revealed that the Sunflower Samurai is Fuu's estranged father.

The three get into a lot of funny dramatically compelling situations on their journey and eventually become good friends. Fuu also has a pet flying squirrel named Momo.

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2. Hinata Hyūga – Naruto

Hinata Uzumaki ( Uzumaki Hinata, née Hyūga) is the former heiress of Konohagakure's Hyūga clan. Because of her meek disposition, her father doubted that she was suited for the responsibilities of leading the clan, much less life as a ninja leading him to disinherit her. Nonetheless Hinata persevered and from observation of Naruto Uzumaki especially, Hinata found both an example to follow to be more assertive, and a person to love. Through her membership with Team 8, she sought to become strong enough to change herself, if even a little at a time.

1. Nana Osaki – Nana

Nana was born in Meguro, Tokyo. She is the illegitimate daughter of Misuzu Osaki (later Uehara), who left Nana in the care of her grandmother when she was four years old. Nana has not seen her mother since, and has thus forgotten what she looks like. Nana's grandmother, Miyuki, was very strict, and forbade her from wearing the colors pink and red because she did not want Nana to "tempt" men and become like her mother.

Nana however, had a rebellious streak. In high school, she was friendless until she met Nobuo Terashima, who introduced her to punk music and bands such as The Sex Pistols.

She was falsely accused of prostitution and was expelled when she didn't deny the charges. Nana soon regretted her decision; she believes that the accusations led to her grandmother's fatal illness. However, as a present to herself, Nana bought her first red dress. Nana wore the red dress to a punk concert with Nobu, where she first laid eyes on Ren Honjo. Nana was instantly captivated by him, and accepted Ren's offer when he asked her to join the band he was starting with Nobu and their friend Yasu.