halfamoon | Multi-fandom anime art spam

Reccing some awesome female anime characters via artspam.

Let's start with Hellsing. There are not a lot of women in Hellsing. In fact, this picture includes all but about three of them - and that does mean all of them, even the one who only appeared for thirty seconds in episode 7 to deliver two lines.

But one of these women is Integra Hellsing.

(That's Sir Integra to you.)

Integra, who keeps the most powerful vampire in history on a leash. And has done so since age thirteen, when he saved her from being shot by her crazy uncle (after which she delivered the killing blow herself). Integra, who lost an eye but didn't even leave the battle. Integra, who is hot and awesome.

Oh yeah, she tops.

The audience-surrogate lead is also female: Seras Victoria, who in spite of her fanservice boobs is rockin' awesome with a gun. Looks good in steampunk, pirate gear, or Victoriana.

And let's not forget Heinkel and Yumie, a lovely pair. (Word Of God is that Heinkel is intersex; usually dresses as male; gender identity and specific plumbing never revealed. Fanart therefore ranges all over the spectrum.)

Okay, switching gears. I would be remiss if I left Sailor Moon out of the equation. The heroine is practically an archetype by now.

Certainly the team can be worked into pretty much anything (say, Disney Princesses). Even the villains are tough women. As with so many others, Uranus and Neptune were my first experience of "omg there can be lesbians on television?!"

And let's not forget that Mercury's computer knocks the socks off of Mac and PC.

Then there's Read Or Die. The heroine, Yomiko Readman, can beat you up with scraps of paper, but gets so caught up in books that she occasionally has to be reminded to eat.

Or Princess Tutu, which looks like a standard magical girl show until you realize that it just deconstructed every fairy tale ever.

Or Emma, which subverts the "lol sexy maid!" stereotype by having an artist who is actually obsessed with period detail, leaving us with a heroine who keeps it gorgeous while wearing a historically accurate uniform.

Let me round this off with a thoroughly random crossover, in which Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion) meets Juri Arisugawa (Revolutionary Girl Utena). Both awesome in their own right, but, darnit, they look good together.

Next up: Western animation!