[For the record I am not and have never been into Waifuism, if anything I used to fall in love with worlds and whole stories as a whole but obviously not romantically. I guess I wrote this post back in a fit of desperation for content ideas but essentially it’s a list of my favourite of heroines back in 2020.]
Makise Kurisu: Red-Headed Tsundere Scientist Waifu
From Steins;Gate. Makise Kurisu has daddy issues and is as flat as a cutting board. She is also a tsundere who frequently posts on 2chan like an obnoxious neckbeard, the text-board that Futaba Channel was based on. (And yes, 4chan was based on Futaba.)
Her waist-length, straight red hair looked amazing, as did her outfit—especially her black shorts layered over black tights, paired with partially unzipped black boots. Her reactions to the protagonist’s antics were always hilarious, and she was never angry without reason.
The protagonist, after all, was constantly LARPing as a mad scientist around her. Despite this, she always carried herself with self-respect and intelligence, making it all the more adorable when she was won over by his goofiness. She also seemed genuinely kind—unlike another redhead on this list.
[Revisiting Makise Kurisu’s character, this year(2024), during an anime rewatch, I must say I wasn’t as blown away by her coolness as I used to be. Same goes with Okabe. She, just like Okabe, seemed immature and full of insecurities rather than cool. What I don’t understand, is why didn’t I notice that when I first watched the series? I feel like repeating Hachiman’s arc from Oregairu, arbitrarily imposing an ideal on someone else’s character and then regretting that by getting disappointed by that character not living up to it. And yet if she were perfectly cool, perfectly smart, needing no one’s help, then wouldn’t that just be boring? I can’t just be pleased these days. Maybe I need to reread the visual novels to make up my mind as to what this character’s appeal is or was.]
Nanjou Sachi: Plastic Surgery Mangaka
A somewhat boring side character from Oyasumi Punpun—then again, all characters in that manga are boring, as are most seinen characters. Normally, being boring would exclude someone from my pantheon of waifus, but her character arc earned her a spot.
I was moved by her relentless drive to become the author of her own fate, unlike the passive protagonist. She went so far as to get plastic surgery and become a mangaka to achieve her goals.
[I used to have a wordpress blog at the domain nanjousachi.com. In fact I think that was my first .com domain name. Of course I am reminded of that scene when the Editor calls out the audience and tells Sachi that people do not read manga to find some kind of truth or how to live and so on and so forth but rather that they want something interesting and entertaining. Counterpoint: I know someone who was inspired by Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack to become a doctor (incidentally Tezuka gave up becoming a doctor to draw manga). Then again Black Jack must have been interesting in the first place in order to move anyone. In the end there are no easy answers, stories are both a distraction and an inspiration. It’s your choice as a reader to decide what it’ll be and when.]
Haruhi Suzumiya: Bona-Fide Bitch
Haruhi is a bona-fide bitch, and honestly, I don’t even like the anime. By the time I watched it, I was too old—high school was behind me—but I could still relate to the boredom of ordinary life and the desire to rebel against it (though not as dramatically as Haruhi). [Since I wrote this, I have gotten a few Haruhi volumes under my belt and I can’t put my finger on exactly why I still don’t like Haruhi as a series but I did like Haruhi as a character. I like the themes but to be quite frank the mystery and sci-fi pastiche never quite got to me. I never felt much like speculating about anything. I remember watching the Disappearance movie and feeling disconnected from the protagonist and his struggles, despite the fact that Kyon is supposedly the quintessential shoe-in self-insert, it was Kyon’s choice which mattered in the end not the audience’s because there wasn’t any choice for us to make literally. It didn’t matter that Haruhi specifically had disappeared because Haruhi was never real to begin with. Well perhaps you could ask whether I thought whether I as an audience member would like to live in a world without Haruhi as a series? I guess I would miss some of the memes but beyond that. Perhaps there is a choice to be made, and which many did make back when Haruhi aired, and which I have made, to start up all sorts of haphazard projects without any regard for perfection rather than crying about being bored. But that was when I was at the cusp of adulthood, what does Haruhi mean to me now that I no longer feel bored by ordinary life or even particularly yearn for a pure romance or even yearn to feel those feelings, is it just another entry in my mental anime database? Ultimately I am left wishing that Haruhi was a better anime.]
Now, I understand that no matter how extraordinary something might be, it eventually becomes ordinary and boring. This point hit home while watching the third season of Durarara!!!—so many extraordinary things were happening, but the initial excitement had vanished [Plus the black character with dreadlocks, the debt-collector with no powers, essentially pointed this out when asked why he wasn’t acting up despite all the crazy things happening around him, it was a brilliant deconstruction but at that exact moment the spark which I had for that series died entirely. It just became a series of events. ]
Despite Haruhi being an insufferable asshole whom everyone avoids, I was still won over by her character design and confidence [and I now realise that my style of leadership is really not much better or different from Haruhi’s own].
Alita: Robo Wife
The Mary Sue protagonist of Battle Angel Alita. The sequel manga are meh, but the original is solid once it gets going. I loved the contrast between her mechanical body and her beautifully feminine figure and face.
[Once again when I tried to re-read Alita, well skim through it, it just wasn’t as good as I remembered it. Maybe Nietzschean stories just don’t do it for me anymore (e.g. Berserk failed to move me despite being loved by thousands), it’s just I can’t get it out of my head that while Alita may be courageous she has no right to look down on anyone else in her setting because she would have gotten herself killed a long time ago if it wasn’t for her super-weapon martian mechanical body. Perhaps she would have preferred a fool-hardy death, to live like a coward under some bully. That’s the uncompromising Nietzschean spirit but isn’t there something tedious and pointless in all this endless self-overcoming. In the end it’s not much more meaningful than Goku beating up some villain with an arbitrarily higher level number. Furthermore isn’t there something of the boy playing with tin soldiers because he can’t be on the battlefield with Nietzsche, slaying metaphorical dragons in the absence of real ones, well then Alita must be the ultimate tin soldier on a metaphorical battlefield. I also felt like Alita was a rather lonely character and that the character development in some sense constituted letting go of those fleeting bonds to others to pursue more power and defeat bigger enemies. But perhaps that isn’t inaccurate, I don’t know why I was left unimpressed this time around. At first she was straddling the line between weapon and girl with doll-like elegance but in the end she fully crossed to the other side? Well the story isn’t over yet. I like Doctor Nova though. He is insane.]
Asuka Langley Soryu: Red-Headed Bona-Fide Hot Bitch
From Neon Genesis Evangelion. Like Haruhi, Asuka is a bona-fide hot bitch.
Asuka is a demented hafu, but she looks stunning in that red plug suit, which doesn’t make up for those issues. Speaking of issues—her mommy problems are over nine-thousand. Despite her talent and hard work, she couldn’t escape failure. [Anno, are you okay? So, Anno, are you okay? Are you okay, Anno?]
If she hadn’t failed so spectacularly, I probably wouldn’t have liked her—she’d just be another Mary Sue. To this day, 25 years later, fools still debate the best girl in Eva, and the answer is always Asuka. Sorry, Rei-fags.
[It’s a binary choice, red or blue, an absolute dualism, no cop-outs saying you prefer Ritsuko or something. Well, well, jokes aside I feel like this debate finally died with Eva 4.0. Shinj fucks off with the Anno wife-self-insert(allegedly) leaving both Asuka-fags and Rei-fags with an empty sack in their hands as they have always been. God is in his heaven- All is right with the world!]
Yukino Miyazawa: Fake but Tough
From Kare Kano. Yukino pretends to be kind-hearted and popular at school, but in reality, she’s highly competitive and works hard to maintain her façade. I won’t spoil the story, but Kare Kano is the best high school romance anime of all time for the first few episodes then it lingers with no particular direction to go until it grinds to a halt with a low-budget animation Gainax ending.
Yukino Yukinoshita: From Ice Queen to Maiden in Love
From Oregairu. By the end, Yukino Yukinoshita becomes a trash character [not really she grows, resolves her issues and becomes a normal if a bit more boring person but by that point it doesn’t matter because the story is over], but in the first season (and the novel material it adapts), she shines. She was thaws from an icy queen to a maiden in love, but I prefer her colder phase, where she genuinely challenges the protagonist’s views. [I am not sure anymore, her coldness was just her being defensive rather than bold looking back at it now].
Noriko Takaya: WELCOME HOMƎ!
From Gunbuster. The venerable waifu that introduced boob physics to anime. A bright, positive character with a heartwarming arc. Even after thousands of years pass and everyone she knows, except her sempai, is gone, she keeps moving towards the future with a smile and tears of joy.
Though I no longer share Gunbuster’s boundless optimism about human progress, it’s hard not to be inspired by Noriko’s hopeful attitude, especially in the finale.
Emi Ibarazaki: No feet pics for you degenerate.
From Katawa Shoujo. Emi lost her legs by [read the VN to find out] but didn’t let that stop her. She’s passionate about running and even pushes the protagonist, who has a heart condition, to join her. [What’s not to like?]
Lucia Nanami: Blonde Mermaid
From Mermaid Melody. Lucia is your classic shoujo protagonist.
The first season was enjoyable, especially her romance with Kaito. The second season, however, was a mess—amnesia plot devices, rushed side romances, and villains appearing out of nowhere.
[What can I say, it’s one of my first shoujo anime, and the Italian dub’s singing was alright too. OK maybe I might have thought that Lucia was cute when I was 14 years old so it might count as an official waifu from this meme list.]
Yuri: Green Haired Loli For The Win
From Mermaid Melody. This green-haired loli has a compelling story of forbidden love with a boy from the opposing team, though it’s just a side plot. [It’s just like when a character from the evil side in the power rangers falls in love with the one of the baddies. It’s nothing that deep, not sure why I included it here but I have been meaning to complete the last rushed arc of Mermaid Melody forever.
Videl: TFW No Tomboy GF
From Dragon Ball Z. Videl’s romance with Gohan was adorable, and she looked amazing with long hair—a perfect mix of cute girl and tomboy. Unfortunately, in Dragon Ball Super, she devolves into a cringe-worthy housewife. [Maybe cringe-worthy was too harsh a term, but you know how the whole “family” meme in the fast and furious movies became a joke. Well, if they didn’t have anything to do with the female characters then they should have just been kept offscreen.] Also, screw Gohan for making her cut her hair.
[Videl seriously? I was running on gas at this point. Speaking of Heroines who cut their hair short, Akane from Ranma 1/2 is probably cuter than Videl. Probably more violent and erratic but what can I say, blame Takahashi for writing such appealing tomboy characters and Berlusconi for letting that on TV lol.]
Natsumi Tsujimoto: Tomboy in Police Uniform and Miniskirt
From You Are Under Arrest. Another tomboy waifu. Normally, I hate episodic shows about cute girls doing ordinary things, but this one worked thanks to action scenes involving Natsumi using her superhuman strength to catch criminals.
Her friendship with Miyuki was sweet, and the arc about Natsumi leaving to advance her career was touching (though quickly undone for the sake of a bright tone).
[You Are Under Arrest was my cute girls doing police things comfort series. Seriously underrated, better female cast than the post-modern moe anime honestly. Well, it’s been a decade or more since I watched it, who knows whether it still holds up.]
Published: Saturday, Feb 1, 2020.
