My Top 10 Anime Girls

My favorite anime girls are not a topic that I had planned for this blog. On the other hand, there is a valid argument that it is on topic because as a science-fiction writer I am obviously a geek, and as a geek there is a better than average chance that I watch anime. And watching anime, it makes sense that I would have some favorite anime girls. I have some favorite anime guys, too, but there are fewer lists of them.

But still, I wouldn’t have written this post had I not stumbled upon animegirlsranking.com a couple of days ago. Checking out some of my favorites, I discovered that except for Asuka Soryu, they tend to rank shockingly low in the court of public (probably mostly male) opinion, generally from 3 to 6 out of 10. What’s with that?

As it turns out, however, this outcome is not completely unexpected. I imagine my tastes differ from the typical biological male. You do not get onto my List of Admiration by being a big-boobed sexpot, nor by wearing skimpy bikinis or short skirts that fly up at the slightest provocation, nor by being an ultra-kawaii loli (though I can be a sucker for moe.) So it now seems that with many of my favorite anime girls being slighted, not to mention insulted, by an audience void of discrimination, I should give them proper credit here.

If you know me at all, and my views on gender stereotyping, and my background in real-life girl empowerment, you should not be surprised that I’m drawn to girls who are fairly young but manifest tremendous power, especially if their natural selves tend to be quiet — perhaps melanchology like me — and fiercely loyal, and then turn around and take on evil without reservation or mercy. It makes sense, then, that I have a deep appreciation for magical girl anime (though not all, of course). Nor are all of my favorites actually magical girls. But if you know the anime below, you should be able to pick out the similarities.

Only three of these girls — Shion, Asuka, and Chii — were on my original list of six, but you know. Tastes change, and you watch more anime.

10. Shion Uzuki
Xenosaga: The Animation
Shion is arguably not a girl, as she is a fully grown woman, and she certainly isn't magical. I'm not 100% sure why I like her so much, but it's likely that she does manifest great power in the form of intelligence and compassion. She is a scientist for Vector Corporation, and one of the developers of KOS-MOS, a gynoid created specifically to battle the gnoses as they invade from a parallel space. It is KOS-MOS who has the literal power, but Shion, despite being world-shatteringly brilliant, never loses sight of human values, and continuously places the welfare of others ahead of anything else.

So who are my favorite anime guys?

Yes, as I said, I have them, and here are the ones that came to mind right away, though please note that I haven’t taken the time to put them in any kind of order.

Shinji Ikari — Neon Genesis Evangelion
Hideki Motosuwa — Chobits
Yuuta Segawa — Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father!
Chrono Harlaown — Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Hakuoro — Utawarerumono
Jose Croce — Gunslinger Girl
Vash the Stampede — Trigun
Ichigo Kurosaki — Bleach
Edward Elric — Full Metal Alchemist
Mamoru Kusanagi — Blue Seed