Gyanko, Gundam Build Fighters Try

I definitely have a crush on her, given she’s practically a female Toudou. Proud, boastful, and a little bit selfish, Gyanko is a classic ojou-sama character. Gyanko is confident in her abilities and her desires and wholeheartedly goes after what she wants. Even if her methods are a bit underhanded, she’s so upfront that it’s hard not to cheer for her.

Mashiro, Engaged to the Unidentified

What makes Mashiro so cute is that she’s a little kid thrust into sister-in-lawhood pretty early and attempting to seem far more grownup than she is. She wears a high school uniform even though its sleeves are comically long on her. She insists she can handle spicy and sticky foods when she can’t, and she gets overly excited over cryptids while trying to conceal it. She has a catchy ending theme. In a show that’s dull overall, Mashiro was my reason to keep watching.

Sensei, Denki-gai no Honya-san

Sensei is an adorable and goal-oriented person who constantly believes she is failing at life. She is obsessed with feminine gender performance, not considering for a moment that there could be more than one way to be a girl. She has dreams of becoming a famous manga artist, but when she’s sleep-deprived and caught in the moment she becomes a huge crybaby. She’s far from perfect, and that makes her relatable.

Sakura Chiyo, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun

It’s rare that I really adore the female protagonist in a romance, since she’s usually designed to be a stand-in for every female viewer. But as Sakura is repeatedly thrown for a loop from the rest of the cast’s unpredictability, it feels like she has more agency than your average shoujo heroine to react in a more human way. Shy but stubborn, she’s a likeable narrator who offers the reasonably perplexed responses to Nozaki’s straight-man routine.

Akane Tsunemori, Psycho Pass 2

This show has really fallen from grace, but it certainly didn’t bring Akane with it. In season two, Akane has graduated from shy rookie to Boss Lady, maker of tough decisions and ass kicker of criminals. The events of the previous finale might have broken a lesser woman, but Akane has only come back stronger. Unfortunately, it will take more than even her awesome managerial skills to put this mess of a show back together.

This post is the ninth installment of The Twelve Days Of Anime, a blogging series in which anime fans write about shows that inspired or impressed on them this year. For all the posts in this series, visit my table of contents.