Who is your favorite female anime character?

Dear anime fans in the Giant Bomb forums

My personal favorite female anime character is Anchovy from Girls und Panzer, to me, she is so cute and has a interesting personality even though she may become frustrated and aggressive during the tankery matches.

Misa Hayase (Hayase Misa), one of the central characters of the MacrossJapanese anime series and renamed Lisa Hayes in America's Robotech.

I was always team Lisa in Robotech, she was so much sexier than Minmay

I don't know if the thread title is just a language barrier thing or if it is specifically meant to only focus on young girls in anime. Either way, I'm going to choose to assume it's more just wholesomely asking for favorite female anime/manga characters.

I haven't finished the anime yet (it was a real bitch to find even illegally), but my favorite is Nina Fortner/Anna Liebert from Naoki Urasawa's Monster. She's badass, she has a dark side and past so she isn't just all "good" foil to the main "villain", and on top of that she operates as a moral benchmark even for Tenma, the main protagonist, at times. She's also a multi-lingual law student who knows some Aikido.

Misato Katsuragi.

I mean... Haruhi Fujioka is the easiest answer for me. Other than that, I liked Natsuyuki Rendezvous quite a bit, so I'll throw Rokka Shimao in there. It's been years since I watched any anime, so I'm almost assuredly forgetting some characters.

Kan'u Unchou, because she often represents how I feel about interacting with people over the internet:

@splodge: Grandma Swamp?

Toph in Legend of Korra

For anime, it's probably Motoko Kusanagi (i.e., "The Major"/the main character) from Ghost in the Shell. She's just got a lot of depth in addition to being a badass. I also like Kino from Kino's Journey (2003), but the caveat there is that the show is deeply allegorical and Kino often felt like more of a vehicle for the allegory than an actual character. I also like Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran High School Host Club for her wry, no-nonsense personality as a counterpoint to the insanity of the boys around her.

For manga (though I haven't read as much manga as I've watched anime), probably Alpha from Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. A decidedly different runner-up would be Lady Miyako from Akira.

Edit: Oh God, somehow I forgot about Gunslinger Girl altogether. I like a lot of those characters, but my favorite is maybe Rico? She's probably the most space-cadety of all of them (the "conditioning"/brainwashing) but is always very happy and chipper-seeming. And that early episode in which she ends up murdering that bellhop really gets me. Very well-done episode.

Oh, and Balsa from Moribito. Dammit, there are too many good female characters, how am I supposed to pick just one?

@facelessvixen: (Naruto spoilers - Jeff Grubb dont read this) Grandma Chiyo busts out of retirement with her brother to save the Village hidden in Sand, works with the Leaf village (who killed her son) to save the life of Gaara through sacrificing her own. And through all that she was flying nonsensically through the treetops with the best of them. Uses Sakura as a literal puppet to help kick the shit out of that puppet master shitbag. Ultimate anime badassery.

A six-way fight to the death, or a death battle if you will.

My money is on the robot lady.

Thanks for the correction, so I renamed the title, sorry for the late reply.

For movies, Toki from Princess Mononoke

For shows,

Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger (Little Witch Academia)

@facelessvixen: Reminds me of the 2010 Suvudu Cage Match of sci-fi/fantasy characters. The awesome part was that some of the authors of said characters weighed in by writing pieces about how they thought the match would go. I think my favorite might be George R. R. Martin's piece about how he thought Jaime Lannister vs. Cthulhu would end up.

Also, I distinctly remember bottom-seeded Arthur Dent of Hitchhiker's Guide upsetting first-seeded The Shrike from Dan Simmons' Hyperion books, because Infinite Improbability Drive. ;-D

Balsa from Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit. Just a great 'Nice but Tough' warrior character.

I was already sold on the character but this scene sold me on the show. https://youtu.be/hPYW1v4--uI

@daavpuke: I really liked Little Witch Academia anime.

Oscar François de Jarjayes from "The Rose of Versailles"

@gtxforza: Top 3 anime of all time. It's rare that I feel like we need more seasons, but I could definitely go for one more season.

Yotsuba&

Hi! I'm new around and decided to start by saying 2 of my characters :) However, I was banned. Fortunately, I contacted an admin and recover my account. I hope the community will not treat me so badly anymore. So that is what I wrote: I'd say Revy from Black Lagoon is my favorite. She's a total badass with her gun skills and tough personality. And the 2nd one I really like is Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan. Her fierce loyalty and determination make her stand out.

I have two that are a tie:

Rally Vincent from Gunsmith Cats

Gally/Alita from Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita.

Honorable Mentions:

Iria, from IRIA: Zeiram the Animation

Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell franchise.

Sylia Stingray from Bubblegum Crisis

Nadia from Secret of Blue Water

Ami from Sailor Moon

Sakura from Card Captor Sakura.

I could go on with the HMs.

Also

BUMP

Misato Katsuragi.