You just couldn’t stay away, could you? You remember what happened when you tried asking about the sexiest anime girls of all time, don’t you? You almost caught a charge, you sick bastard. And now you wanna know who all the “best girls” in anime are, don’t you? Your intentions are thinly veiled, thin as the fine slices of prosciutto I had on my sandwich at lunch today. You’re still on the hunt for sexy anime girls. Don’t lie to me, I see it all the time. “I swear! I’m just in it for the character arcs!” DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH. Once a pervert, always a pervert, is what I always says.
But lucky for you, you’ve caught me in a generous mood. I’ll throw you a bone, and I’ll show you some anime gals who really do have great character arcs. “Best girl” material, if you will. Here, take a look at the best girls in anime.
10. Celty Sturluson, Durarara!!
Celty Sturluson from Durarara!! is the only best girl on this list who isn’t actually a girl at all. She’s a dullahan, a spooky spirit from Irish folklore that rides across the moors on a ghostly black horse while holding its head in its hands. But does that little technicality disqualify her from being “best girl material”? Once more for the people in the back: hell no. See, Celty’s days of haunting people are behind her. Now she’s strictly in the business of saving people. When she hears that a local girl was kidnapped by some bastard sex traffickers, she jumps on her motorcycle horse and rides those bastards down. She uses her freaky-cool shadow powers to conjure a scythe made out of darkness to beat those scumbags into submission.
9. Hinata Hyuga, Naruto
Hinata Hyuga is the best of the best girls in all of Naruto. Eat your friggin’ heart out, Sakura-chan. She goes from being a timid little girl to all an all-around ass kicker. And even when she was a meek little girl, she STILL had a warrior’s heart. Remember when she and her cousin Neji fought at the chunin exams and she wouldn’t stay down even though she was outclassed? I do. Neji nearly killed her, and yet she was determined to prove herself as a ninja. Fast forward and she got married to the damn hokage. Did Neji ever marry a hokage? No-kage he didn’t.
8. Winry Rockbell, Fullmetal Alchemist
Winry Rockbell was there from DAY ONE in Fullmetal Alchemist supporting the Elric brothers on their quest for their missing body parts. And she even MADE them body parts to help on that quest. Edward’s metal arm and leg? Winry’s design. The kid wouldn’t even be able to WALK had it not been for the best girl of the series helping him out along the way.
7. Nami, One Piece
Nami might just be anime’s longest running best girl. After all, One Piece has been on for longer than many viewers have been alive. She began her tenure with the Straw Hat Pirates as chief navigator, but eventually became one of their most valuable crew members. The only reason why Nami isn’t higher on this list is because her character arc isn’t finished yet. This series is STILL GOING. I don’t think she’s gonna suddenly flip and do some not-best girl stuff in the series finale, but you never know. Your sweet mother probably didn’t raise you to be a perv, but a perv you are nonetheless.
6. Sasha Braus, Attack on Titan
Sasha Braus from Attack on Titan is a class act. Sure, she may seem a little rough around the edges, what with her country upbringing and a downright insatiable lust for food, but Sasha is one of the finest characters in Attack on Titan, bar none. Why? Well, first off cause she’s ballsy. And no, I’m not talking about her eating a whole potato in front of her drill instructor and then offering him some when he found out, even though that was one of the ballsiest things I’ve seen in all my years in the Anime Special Victims Unit. No, what I’m talking about is when Sasha found that little girl in the village who was getting attacked by titans, and she fought the thing off with nothing but a bow and a few arrows. No grappling hook belts, no razor sharp titan-killing swords, nothing. In case you don’t know, to kill a titan ya gotta slash the nape of their neck, and ya can’t do that with an arrow, so Sasha had to shoot the thing in the eye in order to get away. That’s some of the finest anime marksmanship I’ve seen in my career. I mean she is downright heroic.
But does she let it get to her head? Hell no. She’s a self-identified simple country girl who wants nothing more than to do right by her team and help people who need it. That’s best girl material, right there.
5. Utena Tenjou, Revolutionary Girl Utena
Utena Tenjou from Revolutionary Girl Utena may be one of the best girls who ever best girl-ed. In a ritzy prep school lousy with bastards, Utena seems like the only class act around. Seriously, the kids in these schools just love slapping people around, figuratively and literally. They particularly love to put the hurt on meek fellow student Anthy Himemiya. Utena sees that shit and says, uh-uh, not in my house, and challenges one of those loser kids to a duel. She thinks it’s just a practice duel with wooden swords, so that’s what she shows up with. But her opponent up and pulls an actual magic sword out of Anthy’s chest that’s basically made of her soul or something and uses it to fight Utena. Does Utena back down? Hell no. She embarrasses this dude by beating his ass with a wooden sword and saves Anthy. Then she does it again when the bastard rears his ugly head and comes back for more in later episodes. She basically does this for the entire series.
Utena doesn’t tolerate abuse or injustice of any kind. She doesn’t play that way. She’s hero material, and therefore she’s best girl material. And best of all? She’s best queer girl material, cause she and Anthy get together and it’s super romantic and—I SEE THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYE. NO THIS ISN’T SOME B-LIST YURI PERVY BULLSHIT. THIS IS THE GENUINE ARTICLE. REAL LESBIAN LOVE. SHOW SOME GODDAMN RESPECT.
Related: The 10 Best Anime Soundtracks, Ranked on We Got This Covered
4. Violet Evergarden, Violet Evergarden
Alright, so Violet Evergarden from—you guessed it—Violet Evergarden is everybody’s best girl. She starts out as the military’s best girl because she’s the best at murdering people with her bare hands. But those hands get blown off by a grenade and replaced with robot hands, so she gets a job ghost-writing letters for people what don’t do their emotions too good. Violet gives a voice to all those voiceless little feelings in people’s hearts, and she helps put them into words to help people confess their love to one another or apologize for what they did wrong.
Honestly, you could probably use her help writing a letter of apology to the world at large, and a letter of apology to all the anime gals you’ve been having lewd thoughts about, AND a thank you letter to me for not putting your ass in Hentai Jail. But you’ll never get it, because I wouldn’t let you near dear, sweet Violet with a 10-foot pole. See, the lovely thing about Violet is that she ain’t too good at emotions neither, because the poor girl’s been traumatized, what with all the horrible shit she had to do in the military. But by writing letters to help others understand their emotions, she’s also rehabilitating herself and beginning to understand her own.
3. Kurisu Makise, Steins;Gate
Kurisu Makise is the best girl of Steins;Gate for good reason: She’s brilliant. She’s a serious smarty pants. She’s 18 years old and has already accomplished more than you ever will in your entire life. She’s a genius-level scientist who’s tinkering around with time machines and shit. She’s so smart that it’s actually bad for her mental health because her deadbeat dad is so threatened by her scientific achievements that he resents her. It’s also pretty bad for her physical health because covert world government agencies are out putting hits on people who discover things (i.e., time machines) that would behoove the status quo to remain undiscovered. But does that stop Kurisu? I say again: hell no. She’s gunning to be one of the top scientists in the world, even if that means risking life and limb to do it. That is what I call “best girl material,” right there.
1. Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon
Usagi Tsukino is the Queen Regent of Best Girls—there is no comparison. She’s the best girl hokage. The best girl pirate king. If best girl qualities were Pokémon, you can bet she caught ’em all. Usagi Tsukino starts out the Sailor Moon series as somewhat of a crybaby, but then GROWS into a fearless warrior who is capable of performing enormous acts of compassion, even for her enemies. This girl just wants the entire universe to get along, and she believes that EVERYONE can be redeemed. Usagi throws herself headlong into battle after battle, all for the good of reality itself.
And she does it all for free. She’ll fight evil because it’s a Wednesday and she’s got nothing better to do. Actually, there’s lots of better things that she could do. But does she lay around on the couch all day flirting with Tuxedo Mask when there’s evil afoot? No, she does not.
(featured image: MAPPA)
Published: May 28, 2023 11:00 am