The way female characters in media are handled is always divisive, andanimeis no exception. Like many stories, anime have a tendency to ignore their female characters in favor of the male characters, all of which is disappointing for anyone who ends up getting attached to them as they watch a certain show.
Female characters have a long history of being wasted in anime, but sometimes, it’s far worse than simply a lack of focus. Between things like little to no character development and character arcs that actively make them worse,manyfemale characters in animeare made some of the worst characters in their shows, even though they had plenty of potential to be some of the best. A few characters like that especially stand out, and even after so many years, it’s impossible not to lament how much missed potential they all had.
Lisa Lisa is one of the main protagonists of David Production’sJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency. With the threat of the Pillar Men too much for Joseph and Caesar to handle on their own, the two sought guidance from Lisa Lisa, the world’s greatest expert in Hamon, and had her join them in their fight, all while she hid her true identity as Joseph’s mother, Elizabeth Joestar.
With Lisa Lisa’s incredible strength and personal relationships to both Joseph and Caesar, one would expect her to play a big part inBattle Tendency, but not only does she not get any major fights, butLisa Lisa’s only real fight has her easily defeated by Kars and turned into a damsel for Joseph to save.A Lisa Lisa spinoff noveldid wonders to improve her reputation, but it doesn’t change how wasted a character she was for so many years.
Mamiya is a supporting character in Toei Animation’sFist of the North Star. Mamiya joins Kenshiro and Rei on a few adventures after they save Mamiya from savages, although she’s mostly there to have a romance with Rei, and after Rei’s death, she renounces her life as a warrior to exclusively become the guardian of her village.
One of Mamiya’s first scenes has Rei stripping her naked and telling her to live as a woman, and her treatment only gets worse from there, as she’s constantly getting kidnapped or beaten up until she gives up fighting entirely, despite the initial promise she showed as a fighter.Fist of the North Star’s poor treatment of Mamiya is bad to the point of being misogynistic, and hopefully,the newFist of the North Staranimewill find a way to avoid it.
Tatsuki Arisawa is a supporting character in Pierrot Films’Bleach. Tatsuki has been friends with Ichigo since they were kids and Orihime since junior high, with Tatsuki helping both of them deal with the deaths of their loved ones in their youth, and even as the two of them get involved in the affairs of Soul Reaper, she never stops showing her support for them.
Between Tatsuki’s intimate friendships with Ichigo and Orihime and how she met all the same criteria Orihime and Chad did to become Fullbringers, it would have made sense for her to gain powers and evolve into the main cast, as well. Unfortunately, Tatsuki remains a regular person for no clear reason, soTatsuki’s lack of relevance inBleachis far worse than it should have been because of how easy it was to avoid.
Kallen Kozuki is one of the main characters of Sunrise’sCode Geass. Half-Japanese on her mother’s side, Kallen was one of the first members of the Black Knights, the revolutionary group fighting for Japan’s independence from Britannia, and she quickly rose to not only be their ace Knightmare pilot, but Lelouch’s second-in-command and one of his closest confidants, as well.
Kallen’s character development and overall agency made her one of the best characters in season 1, but that all gradually fell apart in season 2 as Kallen became the biggest victim of the increase in fanservice and had her character stripped down to center mostly around her feelings for Lelouch and jealousy of C.C.Code Geass’ poor writing in its second half slowly turned Kallen into one of its worst characters, and that will always be hard to accept.
Aki Izayoi is one of the main characters inStudio Gallop’sYu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s. Aki grew up feeling like an outcast because of her uncontrollable psychic powers, but Yusei not only helped her control them, but also helped her change into someone willing to accept others into her life, leading to her embracing her destiny as a Signer and working with the rest of the cast to save the world time and time again.
Despite how much consistent development Aki had throughout the show,Aki’s entire character was thrown to the wayside when she was sidelined in the WRGP arc after one duel, with one ending theme even rather infamously calling her the benchwarmer, and she then becomes just another cheerleader for Yusei.Yu-Gi-Oh!has always been bad with utilizing its female characters, and Aki feels the most egregious because of how wellYu-Gi-Oh! 5D’swas succeeding for a while.
Videl is a major supporting character in Toei Animation’sDragon Ball Z. After discovering Gohan’s identity as the Great Saiyaman, Videl has Gohan train her so she can defeat her father, Mister Satan, in the World Martial Arts Tournament, and that bond leads to a romantic relationship between Gohan and Videl that evolves into them getting married and having a daughter, Pan.
Videl was an instant hit with fans thanks to her tomboy personality and great chemistry with Gohan, but not only does Videl lose her only fight in a famously gruesome way, butVidel loses all of her original charisma after marrying Gohan as she becomes little more than a housewife. Characters like Bulma and Android 18 show thatDragon Ballcan be plenty good with its female characters, so it’s all the more disappointing that Videl doesn’t get the same respect.
Sakura Haruno is one of the main characters of Studio Pierrot’sNaruto. As one of the members of Team 7, Sakura is almost always involved in one of the major conflicts of the series, and while she’s initially only motivated by her feelings for Sasuke, that soon loses out to her genuine friendship with the rest of the team and her desire to not be the only one falling behind.
Sakura is initially given a great arc of abandoning her childish behavior and becoming a true ninja, but despite some good showings early into the post-timeskip era,Sakura still gets far less screentime and development than Naruto and Sasuke, despite technically being of equal importance. Sakura is one of the most divisive characters in all of anime, and whileSakura is better than people give her credit for, it’s unfortunately easy to see why she has such a bad reputation.
Nezuko Kamadois the deuteragonist of Ufotable’sDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. After being turned into a demon amidst the slaughter of her family, Nezuko’s brother, Tanjiro, becomes a Demon Slayer to find a way to turn Nezuko back to normal, but in the meantime, Nezuko uses her new powers to help Tanjiro and others fight demons whenever she can.
While Nezuko is initially set up to be as much of a fighter as Tanjiro, she ends up having increasingly little relevance in each arc, and it’s to the point thatNezuko spends the majority ofDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s final arc in a coma, despite her being at the center of the plot. It’s an incredibly poor handling of someone who should be far more important, and overall, it’s one of the notable shortcomings ofDemon Slayer’s largely solid narrative.
Tashigi is a supporting character in Toei Animation’sOne Piece. Tashigi is a Marine who developed a rivalry with Zoro over her desire to take all graded swords away from pirates, a type of sword Zoro uses in combat, and that rivalry has only intensified from Zoro’s refusal to fight her due to her uncanny resemblance to his deceased friend Kuina.
Tashigi was set up to be Zoro’s main rival in the Marines, like how Smoker fills that role for Luffy, but unfortunately,Tashigi’s lack of screentime and how Zoro vastly overpowers her has completely ruined the point of her character, and unlike Smoker, she never has an occasional cool moment to make up for it. A key part of Tashigi’s character was her not wanting to be underestimated on account of being a woman, but ironically, her poor treatment only validates that point.
Nobara Kugisaki is the female protagonist of MAPPA’sJujutsu Kaisen. Introduced as one of Yuji’s fellow freshmen, Nobara quickly forms a tight-knit friendship with Yuji and Megumi as they grow as sorcerers, and it’s Nobara’s actions that end up having the biggest effect on Yuji at key points in the story, as well.
While Nobara’s fun personality and lack of romance won people over, that quickly changed due to her terrible fight record and character development, and her reputation was completely ruined whenNobara was removed fromJujutsu Kaisenuntil the last few chapters and spent more of the story in a coma than she did as an active character. Nobara went from being the poster child of good female characters in anime to the poster child of terrible ones, and that makes her the biggest example of a female anime character deserving far better than what they got.
