Top 10 Female Anime Characters

**MAJOR spoilers so warning to the readers**

Notes before we start:  We will be using what age they seem to be for most of the anime for the ‘age’ category. For example, Tendou is labeled 18 in this article but is around 24 after the time-skip. We chose to say 18 because the time-skip is only the last 5-10 or so chapters of the manga to show how all the characters ended up in the future. Therefore, for most of the anime/manga, Tendou was 18.

*Also, it is important to note that most Japanese-sounding names are reversed, since in Japan, the last name is said/written before your first name. You are referred to by your last name in formal settings such as school, work, and with people you aren’t too familiar with, and are referred to by your first name by friends and family.

**Because of copyright reasons we are going to link pictures of said characters, but not display them on our website in an attempt to credit the animators, freelance artists, and people who just genuinely want credit for what they do!

1. Mito Ikumi from Food Wars!

Birthday: May 4

Age: 15

Height: 5ft 4in

Known as ‘Nikumi’ in her friend group (‘Niku’ means meat in Japanese, which means the nickname ‘Nikumi’ is just a combination of Ikumi and meat), Mito Ikumi is a recurring character in Food Wars! In her debut in episode 5 of the first season, many of her fans were entertained by her competitive but fun personality made her one of the main character’s ultimate competitors and friends. Because of this, it earned her the 6th and 9th spot in popularity polls in 2014 and 2015. She showcases her cooking skills in many scenarios, including the battle against Yukihira the first time they met and at the food festival where she helped Yukihira win the title of ‘stall with the most sales’ in the school. As for her cooking skills, she is known to be an expert when it comes to meat, with her knowledge of tenderization, the body parts of an animal, and which cuts are the best for dishes. Part of this is because of her family, the Mitos, who are very well-known in the meat industry. Being from a prestigious family means that she can get her hands on a variety of high-quality rare meats, which she uses to her advantage. Her father’s words of encouragement to take over the position of ‘family head’ led to her heightening her skills in the field and getting her enrolled in Totsuki Cooking Academy.

2. Shihoin Yoruichi from Bleach

Birthday: Jan. 1

Age: N/A

Height: 5ft 1in

Many fans know of her as the ‘girlboss’ of the Bleach franchise, it’s Shihoin Yoruichi! As the legendary shapeshifting cat (although her original form is that of a human), the former captain of the 2nd division, and the former leader of her family’s clan, the Shihoin family, she radiates pride and playfulness of her life experiences and power. In popularity polls, her popularity seems to fluctuate a lot, ranging from 7th to 28th, to not even being in the top 40 due to her varying amount of screen time over the years. (there have been around 10 polls, and I felt like it was too long to list out) Known for her abilities as an assassin and martial artist, it seems like she has fully mastered hoho, footwork usually used in sword-wielding, and hakuda, hand-to-hand combat. Her mastery of both these practices has contributed to the completion of the use of any sword, which pretty much every character has in the show. (This shows how powerful she is!) In addition, her previous experiences as the former commander of the Onmitsukido and the captain of the 2nd division have led her to be an immaculate strategist. This is demonstrated in her debut in episode 15 where she quickly understands Ichigo’s plan to get Rukia back and immediately starts training Chad, Quincy, and Orihime.

3. Nico Robin from One Piece

Birthday: Feb. 6

Age: 30 (After time-skip)

Height: 6ft 2.5in

Nico Robin is known as the ‘Devil Child’ and one of the later members to join the straw hat pirate crew. Her initial introduction was in episode 67, where she was presented as ‘Ms. All Sunday’ and a part of Baroque Works, an establishment run by Crocodile to keep Alabasta residents ‘in their rightful place.’ Having an early start to her fame as a child, she was hunted down for being from Ohara, a West Blue island, and because of her abilities, she gained from eating the Hana Hana fruit, a devil fruit. (Hana means flower in Japanese, displaying her ability to sprout her limbs from any surface like flowers). This devil fruit allowed her to summon clones of her limbs and use them to make handy ladders and ropes and also sneak up on enemies. She also possesses a huge amount of knowledge and is one of the only people in their world who can read poneglyphs, etched scriptures of ancient history. She has a cool and collected demeanor, although, in some desperate situations, she becomes quite emotional, like when she screams, “I want to live!” in episode 274. As one of the many main characters, Robin is quite popular within the fandom, ranking in at number 11, 5, 7, 11, 12, and 6, from 2002 to 2021. (*She is not included in poll #1 because as I’ve said, she was a later crew member, and wasn’t even introduced when the poll started).

4. Hannah Annafellows from Black Butler

Birthday: N/A

Age: N/A

Height: 5ft 8in

Hannah Annafellows is a former demon and the current maid of Alois Trancy. Although she was confident and terrorizing back in the days of her being a demon, she is now very calm and reserved, except when her master speaks to her. This is because he regularly abuses her, even gauging one of her eyes in a raging fit. However, when fighting, her personality while being a demon shines through. She becomes boastful and a bit egotistic. Surprisingly, Hannah is loyal to Alois Trancy. Even with the amount of horrible things he’s done to her, she remains loyal to him because she wants to provide him happiness after her past with him.

While she was still a demon, she ate human souls until Luka, Alois’s younger brother, appeared in front of her. He had asked for a contract to destroy the village he and Jim (Alois’s real name) lived in because of constant bullying. His dedication and determination to make his older brother happy made Hannah realize Luka was different from other humans. Hannah fulfilled his wish by killing the townspeople in exchange for his soul. Because she devoured his soul, it appears that she adopted Luka’s desire for his brother’s happiness and continues to work for him to accomplish that goal by being by his side.

5. Azazel Ameri from Mairimashita Iruma-kun!

Birthday: Mar. 13

Age: 16

Height: 6ft 3in

Azazel Ameri makes her first appearance in the anime in episode 1 of the first season when lecturing students in the courtyard for fighting. She is known at the school for punishing those who oppose school rules and damage school property because of her love for the school and its principal, Sully. As the head of the student council with quite a lot of influence, she has a pretty cold personality and is considered by students to be an imposing but admirable demon. She is a rather serious being due to her duty, but she has a sweet side! Ameri loves romance manga from the human world given to her by her father. Though she can’t read them, she has been secretly spotted gushing over the panels by Iruma.

Her abilities mainly come from her innate talent and her bloodline. Coming from the Azazel family, one of the 13 royal demon families, her bloodline ability is top-tier: the ability to buff herself. This ability works when the user truly believes in themselves. So if Ameri wanted to lift a boulder but couldn’t, all she has to do is BELIEVE in herself, and the buff would heighten her strength to be able to do so. When stacked on top of her physical capabilities and mental strength, the buff amplifies her powers to the max. However, this ability does have a downside, because if she doesn’t believe in herself or is in a poor mental state, it just… won’t work. Also, the constant use of the ability can lead to physical repercussions such as soreness and headaches.

6. Zenin Maki from Jujutsu Kaisen

Birthday: Jan. 20

Age: 16

Height: 5ft 7in

Known as the strict 4th-year senpai, Maki is introduced as a bold and cut-throat person who likes being independent to ensure that she knows everything that is happening. She is a tough leader who is often impatient, hot-headed, and tough on others.
She is first introduced in episode 5 of the first season where she talks to Nobara and Megumi, who is depressed because of Yuuji’s death. Together, her teammates Toge and Panda, invited them to the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event, where they would later fight other curse users.

Surprisingly, Maki doesn’t have a lot of cursed energy despite her lineage, to the point where she was mistreated within her own family and got kicked out. However, she has grown to be one of the best fighters in the academy in terms of weapons, having experience and knowledge about a number of fighting techniques and types of weaponry. Her knowledge of combat tactics is impressive, being able to launch surprise attacks and make split-second decisions when fighting enemies.

7. Makima from Chainsaw Man

Birthday: N/A

Age: N/A

Height: 5ft 6in

    Makima appears in the first episode of Chainsaw Man when she picks up a disheveled and confused Denji after transforming in ‘Chainsaw Man’. While she gives the impression of being a social, friendly person, she’s confident and relaxed and is often seen smiling. Later in the storyline, she continues to exploit, threaten, and bait him into working for her to exterminate dangerous demons. Due to these habits of manipulating people, she is often thought to be a pretty ruthless and cold person, and seems to be aware of it herself, calling herself a “necessary evil”. Makima is shown to be an extremely cunning woman, manipulative, and unsympathetic, and would do anything to reach her goals no matter the cost. Thanks to her supernatural abilities, Makima is known to be one of the strongest individuals in the world! In addition to holding all of the standard devil abilities, such as being able to make contracts with humans, she can control people, and is able to force them to make a contract with herself. With this not-so-fair ability, she made a contract with the Prime Minister of Japan that allowed any fatal attacks she received to be transferred into an illness affecting a random citizen in Japan. In total, she has died over 26 times! Some of Makima’s supernatural abilities consist of domination. Domination is the embodiment of the fear of control. With this, she is able to control any human, any BEING who believes that Makima is superior to them. She also possesses the ability called “Force Manipulation.” This power allows her to manipulate an invisible force in similar ways to Darkness Devil. Force Manipulation allows her to damage weak targets by simply staring at them.

8. Nakiri Erina from Food Wars!

Birthday: Mar 23

Age: 15

Height: 5ft 3.78in

Nicknamed the owner of ‘The God’s Tongue’, Nakiri Erina comes from a very long line of famous chefs and supertasters. After enduring many years of harsh cooking and taste training from her father, Erina became notorious for her ability to tell what was in a portion of food and to determine if it was ‘good’ enough to serve to customers. Because of this, before entering Totsuki Cooking Academy, she routinely taste-tested the food that prestigious restaurants and businesses were planning to put on their menus. She was then paid to give them advice on what they could add or subtract to make the dishes up to par. Much praise and worship has caused her to develop into a quite proud and boastful child until meeting the protagonist, Yukihira Sohma, in episode 2 of the first season where he started to transform her mentality into one without an authority complex. (episode 2 is also her debut episode!) Before this, she had many ‘subordinates’, like Mito Ikumi (above) who would fight opponents for her if they wanted to challenge her with a Shokugeki, a cooking competition that can be initiated by anybody in the academy. She would also often roast students’ dishes to oblivion in a sort of bullying but constructive criticism type of way that didn’t give her the best reputation to those of lower status. Elaborating on her cooking skills, she is able to cook any cuisine, but her signature ‘thing’ with her dishes is that she always cooks with the highest quality ingredients to enhance the qualities of her dish. Her family is again, famous and rich, so she is able to one-up opponents such as Yukihira with these rare foods and expensive ingredients that they wouldn’t be able to afford.

9. Nara Temari from Naruto

Birthday: Aug 23

Age: 15 in part 1, 19 in part 2

Height: around 5ft 5in (it varies between parts and movies)

The infamous sister of Kankuro, the famous doll controller and Gaara, the fifth Kazekage and the human vessel for the one-tail Shukaku, Nara Temari is a member of the three sand siblings, first appearing with them in episode 20 part 1 to compete in the chuunin exams with our dear protagonist Naruto. In these exams, she shows off her skills with controlling wind, often using her main weapon, a huge fan she frequently uses for transportation, defense, and to of course, blow wind. These blows of wind act basically as flexible blades, much like the crescent darts that Moon Knight uses, and lacerate the opponent while defending Temari. (because the wind is blowing towards the opponent, thus sending flying weapons to rebound) Her intelligence takes a big role in battles too, both because she was educated by the best of the best, (being from a rather famous bloodline) but also because she married into the Nara clan, which is very infamous for their ability to deduce tough battle situations. Speaking of the Nara clan, later in the story, she marries Shikamaru, in which they have a child named Shikadai who later becomes one of Boruto’s best friends. As a mother and a person, she is quite curt, but also forgiving and a tsundere at times. Although she scolds Shikadai for involving himself in dangerous activities, she says this out of concern, and this often reflects onto her husband as she worries about his duties as the right-hand man of Naruto.

10. Fujioka Haruhi from Ouran Highschool Host Club

Birthday: Feb 4

Age: 16

Height: 5ft 2in

After breaking an expensive vase in what she thought was a music room, Fujioka Haruhi is forced to pay back her debt by cross-dressing and becoming a host for the Ouran Highschool Host Club. Growing up with a dead mother and a somewhat poor household, her host friends are very curious about her home life, being from prestigious families, many of them raised lavishly but still sheltered. She is very patient and has some of the best endurance and tolerance towards her host friends, especially Tamaki, who is known in the show for being excessive, annoying, and a stereotypical ‘host’. Funny thing is, later on, he becomes her partner/husband. She is also a pretty dry-humor kind of gal and often attacks people where it really hurts, often insulting themes and concepts the club would come up with. This does NOT mean she is an emotionless human, however, and she shows empathy and emotion when she hides away from lightning in a church and accepts comfort from Hikaru. As a host, she is loved by girls because of how chill but kind she is, and her ability to sympathize with them as if their problems were hers. (This is because none of the girls know about her being a girl. Even the boys took a while to figure it out!) She also seems to have this aura and personality that attracts everyone, (romantically or not!) whether it be girls, a young yakuza boss, or her fellow hosts. (It is speculated that 3/6 hosts have liked her at least once (this is excluding Mori and Mitsukuni, and people say Kyoya is a bit iffy))

Sources/Credits:

First of all, much love to Katie, our artist for our thumbnail ~<3

https://shokugekinosoma.fandom.com/wiki/Ikumi_Mito

https://bleach.fandom.com/wiki/Yoruichi_Shih%C5%8Din

https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Nico_Robin

https://kuroshitsuji.fandom.com/wiki/Hannah_Annafellows

https://mairimashita-irumakun.fandom.com/wiki/Azazel_Ameri

https://jujutsu-kaisen.fandom.com/wiki/Maki_Zenin

https://chainsaw-man.fandom.com/wiki/Makima

https://shokugekinosoma.fandom.com/wiki/Erina_Nakiri

https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Temari

https://ouran.fandom.com/wiki/Haruhi_Fujioka