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What's in a Best Girl (anime)


Steeldancer

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Well, I just finished watching Gurren Lagann. It was great. But I had some thoughts around episode 9 or 10 when Nia solidly establishes herself as the best girl of the show. Mainly because you have Yoko from the beginning of the show, but as soon as this new girl shows up, she outclasses her immediately. And this got me thinking: what makes a girl, a best girl?

This essay will spoil Mushoku Tensei (including stuff that has not been animated yet, up to about volume 16 of the web novel),  shield hero, Steins;Gate, Gurren Lagann, Violet Evergarden, and probably some other stuff.

I love anime. It does things no other artform I’ve enjoyed really can do. The sheer ridiculousness of the stories and animation leads to so much potential in… well, everything. But there’s one thing that has become a key part of anime culture: Waifus. They’re everywhere. Husbandos too, but they aren’t quite as prevalent, and I really want to dig into Waifus. But not ordinary waifus. There are trash waifus, there are normal waifus, and then there are the cream of the crop: the Best Girls. Every show can provide a waifu or two, but not every show can provide a best girl.

So then, what makes a best girl?

First, lets start with the definition of a waifu. I like Gigguk’s definition of a waifu: they’re characters that embody an ideal, that can be associated with an ideal mate. Most of the time, this just means attractive design, and a few fun character traits. Best Girls, of course, are built different.
Best Girls, of course, need to be top tier waifus as well. But they need one additional ingredient: character development and plot relevance.
I think a Best Girl can fall into a couple of different categories in their relationship with these two things. Spoilers ahead for… anime!

The first category is what I call “catalytic development”. It could also be defined as a “best girl who already has a working ship with the main character,” although that doesn’t really cover all the variance in this category, especially as there are plenty of characters who fall into the second description who do not earn the title of Best Girl.  This is where the character doesn’t change much, but allows for massive character development to occur in the main character. This is probably my favorite class of Best Girls, but they need a strong personality and character of their own in order to support this. Otherwise, the development feels flat. So really, it’s in its best form when we have 2 characters catalyze each other’s character development, which in my opinion is the best form of romance. That tends to mainly happen when the female lead and male lead are more equal in terms of screen time, which only really happens in Rom-coms. So it is better to generalize and focus on their ability to catalyze character development in the main character.

First spoilers for Mushoku Tensei, including the Light Novels! Major spoilers through volume 12, minor spoilers through about volume 16, no ending spoilers. Most harem anime fall under the catalytic development idea, but fail to make any of the waifus actually hold up under serious inspection of their character. Mushoku Tensei does not have this problem, and thus has, in my opinion, one of the most legitimate and loveable harems in all of Japanese media. In this lies in a key fact; each of the main girls both catalyze Rudeus’ character development, and they also undergo their own development as a result of Rudeus. This can even be split into 2 major events per character. Each has an important encounter with him as a child, and then again as an adult. This creates a solid platform for a relationship with him, so that their love for him (and his love for them) feels legitimate, and the story is actually dependent on these girls being there. The first example of this is early on, where Roxy helps him overcome his long-standing fear of going outside. This simple action on her part literally changes his life. Sylphy is his first real friend in this new world, and Eris goes on a long, LONG journey with him, consistently building up a relationship and helping him to actually not be a terrible person to women. And after Eris leaves him, Sylphy helps him overcome the mental block that causes ED. Of course, Eris eventually comes back and saves his butt, finishing her own character development, and proving that she can be a help to Rudeus. Roxy also saves him AGAIN after his father dies, helping him to get back on his feet. We also see when we see future Rudeus’s journal, that without his wives, he goes to pieces and becomes a worse person than he was in the first place, which is kind of horrifying to read. I can’t describe how much I love each of those girls. Their family all together is just… wonderful. And thus, each of these three earns the title of Best Girl. (spoilers end)

Other examples I’m a little less passionate about include Raphtalia helping Natsumi overcome his distrust and hate in Shield Hero after being rescued, Makise Kurisu being there for Okabe Rintarou throughout his attempts to save Mayuri over and over, and Rem helping Subaru to choose to continue his story. (Incidentally, this important catalytic moment is what makes Rem outclass Emilia as Best Girl. Emilia has not experienced such strong character development with Subaru, so it feels more flat in season one. Having read up through Arc 6, I PROMISE it gets better though. Emilia is pretty great too!)
Incidentally, Catalytic is what I’d also put Nia from Gurren Lagann under. She helps Simon to get out of his depression after Kamina died. Of course, she also has a solid, interesting backstory, motivations of her own, and goes through character development throughout the story (although I’m VERY SALTY RIGHT NOW THAT SHE ENDED UP DISAPPEARING GAHHHH JUST HAD TO END BITTERSWEET DIDN’T YA).

Another great example of this is Kaguya in Love is War. She really is a pair with Shirogane, and… well I’m not going to spoil what’s going on in the Manga right now, but seriously the amount of character development she underwent as a result of her interactions with the Student Council is actually stunning. Shirogane also goes through this as well, and definitely earns a place as a Best Boy.
Kaguya is actually an example of what I mentioned before, where in a rom com of that type we see 2 main characters experience character growth side by side. This means they aren’t easily separated in the quest for Best Girl, but it is worth pointing out things like Toradora, Tonkikaku Kawaii, and the currently airing My Dress Up Darling. In each of these, our leads are entirely inseparable, and their arcs (and stars) are hopelessly intertwined. It’s good stuff.

The second would be character development with our Best Girl as the main character. This is a little more rare, but still has some top tier best girls. The 3 that dominate this category for me are Misaka Mikoto from A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vivy, and Violet Evergarden. Mild spoilers for all.

Violet of course has her arc kicked off by the major’s words to her: “I love you.” But her actual character development is affected by her interactions with a variety of different people. What makes her Best Girl is that we get to witness this journey in all its glory. We get to see her move from an emotionless tool of war to a girl that truly understands love. We don’t need a romantic relationship in this case to truly enjoy her character development. It’s great.

Misaka Mikoto, was probably my first favorite tsundere. The moment that gets ya is in Season 2. We see the Clone arc, fleshed out much further than in Index. Misaka, third most powerful esper, fights and fights to save her clones. The sheer scale of it is what appealed to me. She was so powerful, and gave everything she had, fighting against academy city itself.
And it wasn’t enough.
So she decides to give her life. Try and kill accelerator, and definitely die in the process.
And then Touma stops her on the bridge. You’d think this would make me lean towards Touma, as this feels like a classic example of catalytic character development, but honestly he never appealed to me as much. Watching her break down her barriers and finally accept help is what got me. There’s a beauty to it. She continues to show her capabilities throughout the rest of the show, but that moment is visceral, and really kickstarts a slow-burn development of opening up more, and of course, love, that just makes you love the little shocker.

Finally, Vivy. Vivy was a more recent top tier girl for me. Her reasons for being great are similar to Violet. We see her character development across the course of the series. It’s great, the singing is awesome, and so is the action. Her journey to become human really moved me.

The third section, is a bit different. These are not waifus. They don’t really have a particular name, maybe Imouto, or moe? I’m not sure. I classify these as “girls I would adopt.” It’s a short list.

First, Klee from Genshin Impact. I love her to death, she’s so stinking cute while also being an arsonist. I’d adopt her in a heartbeat.
Second, Kanna from Dragon Maid. She’s so cute, when she eats bugs. I’d also adopt her in a heartbeat.
Third, and most importantly, there’s Anya Forger, from Spy X Family. She brings the manga together. No actual spoilers, mostly just the premise here. But we have all these people with secrets, a Spy dad, an assassin mom, a government secret agent uncle. Binding it all together is the one kid who knows everything: Anya. And she’s A LITTLE STINKER. The comedy works so much better because as an esper, she knows all secrets. She also has deep seated fears of abandonment, which increase my desire to adopt her. Even though I love the Forger family. I’d have adopted her the moment I turned 18 if she were real, no matter the cost. I would provide her peanuts. Peanuts for Anya.
Seriously, I’m so excited to see it animated in April.
They are still best girls. Honestly, I’d probably rather adopt Anya than marry any of the before mentioned Waifus. They’re great, but often they already have a solid pick for a partner. And with such strong characters, I actually feel like rooting for them to get together. With the children, they don’t affect plot as much (except for Anya, who is key), but they don’t really need to, because they’re kids, and they just need to be adorable. Their strengths lie in being primarily very memorable, and putting a gigantic smile on your face every time you see them. 

Of course, there are many other great Best Girls out there. Off the top of my head, Robin from One Piece, Holo from Spice and Wolf, and of course, Speedwagon from Jojo. :P But I think I got my point across in what it really takes for a waifu to become a best girl. This is why I could never get behind Chizuru from Rent-A-girlfriend as a best girl. She’s a solid waifu, for sure, but doesn’t really have the depth for me to take it up to the next level. Also I kind of hate the protagonist, which doesn’t help things.
Now, is an anime bad if it cannot bring a Best Girl to bear? Nope. I’ve watched many, many anime shows I’ve enjoyed that had no real solid candidates. But I find that my favorite series of all time tend to have characters that really stick with you. And that is truly the essence of Best Girl: completely unforgettable.

Bringing things around to Sanderson, who does great characters, does he have any best girls?
Uh, yeah.
Steris and Vin are best girls of the Cosmere. Fite me. Incidentally, Steris is a type 1, and Vin is a type 2. Vin’s a protagonist, whereas Steris is a catalyst. Both are great.
And of course, best boy can only belong to Taln. Susebron and Elend are great, but well… Taln is Taln. Taln will always win.
I’d love to hear other thoughts on your favorite Best Girls, and why you love them.

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You know, that's something I don't usually think about that much. It's also extremely subjective. I really like your categories but now that I consider them, I find myself contradicting them with some shows. Using one of your examples, I'm strangely more attached to Chika in Love is War than Kaguya. Kaguya gets the most development (so far in the one season I've watched) but Chika just feels like someone I would get along with more than the other characters. So likability is a factor and a pretty subjective one. No doubt there's someone out there who likes Yoko more than Nia too, though that could turn into its own discussion.

This also made me think about a bit of a weird case, Food Wars (spoilers). Now, the only one of your cases that applies directly here would be the first one, with Erina. She has a relationship with the protagonist (if a hostile one at first), she grows a lot as a character, and it's difficult not to respect her by the end. But when it comes to the title of best girl I would actually say it's Megumi. She arguably has more growth than Erina, going from an insecure mess who's already accepted her fate of being expelled, to a confident chef and one of the most respected students in and out of the academy. However the series doesn't push her and the protagonist together (well, it does in one scene, but it's quickly disregarded and they develop a healthy friendship instead), and despite having probably the most growth out of the entire cast she's not the protagonist. So that would be my subcategory. The surprisingly non-romantically involved side-character who just happens to have (again, arguably) a better arc than the main girl.

Another interesting case would be Monogatari Series (spoilers again). This one has a main character, and he's in a relationship since very early in the series. But these are technicalities because thanks to the nature of the show, we can spend entire arcs without seeing the protagonist and every character can become the main one even if for a little while. So everyone gets a chance. I could give you reasons why almost every character in the show is the best one. Though, I guess for me it does fall into the first category. Best girl would be either Tsubasa, Hitagi, or Shinobu, at least in terms of development. Two of those get some kind of romantic involvement with the protagonist and the other one, well there's no romance, but you could say their bond is more complex than that.

One went from a very traumatizing childhood to gain a very much needed sense of independency that lets her live her own life instead of running away from it. The second one goes through the pain of a torn family, accepts and treasures the negative feelings that come from it and continues to live happily the way she can. And the last one rediscovers her human side after centuries as a vampire and goes from seeking death to accepting and enjoying her life with the MC. "I will never forgive you for what you did, and you will never forgive me for what I did" and "If you were to die tomorrow, I would be ready to end my own life tomorrow—and if you care to live for today, then so will I" are the reason I think Koyomi and Shinobu's is the best relationship I've seen in fiction. Now I don't know what kind of relationship that is, it's not a friendship and it's certainly not a romance, but it's great. Yeah, let's go with that. I'd give the title to Shinobu.

Can't miss a chance to mention Your Lie in April. A nice and simple case where the protagonist is the best boy because of the main girl, and the main girl is best girl because of the main boy. They complement each other so well, won't spoil that one.

Special mention to Rebecca from Lupin III Part 4 because I have her arc fresh in my mind and it was amazing.

For the second category you certainly nailed it with Vin. Almost teared up when she started using Kelsier's phrases in HoA.

I would add Ordinary Person from Akudama Drive to that (yeah, that's the show calls her. She also goes by Swindler). That show is so short. Way to go from fish-out-of-the-water protagonist to I-respect-this-person-so-much-they're-my-new-role-model protagonist in just 12 episodes.

Chihaya from Chihayafuru. She's great, has good development, and we get 75 episodes out of the deal, what's there not to love? This is the kind of show that I watch to give me motivation, it makes me want to rediscover mi passions. And Chihaya is such a good example of my end goal. I can come across as lazy, in more than one way. I don't go out a lot, I don't speak much. I'm scared to tell people the passions and dreams I have because the obvious answer is "Where's your proof?". I say I want to be a game developer but what have I actually done to achieve it? In that regard, characters like Chihaya feel like heroes of sorts. Your Lie in April actually does that too, to an even stronger degree.

Now, that show involves a love triangle and now I'm kind of thinking about the subject. This will be on-topic, I promise:

See, remember Nisekoi? That manga known for rewriting its own premise every five chapters or so? It starts as a love triangle. Now, by the end the story makes fun of itself, joking about the protagonist "eight-timing", but every reader knows only Chitoge and Kosaki, the first two, actually have a chance. Parallel to that, they're also the only ones the "waifu wars" cared about. Sure, the other girls had fans of their own, you could see appreciation comments, but if you found a long heated argument defending one girl over another it was most likely about Chitoge and Kosaki. So I was thinking, maybe that affects our perception? Like we know deep down that we'll be disappointed if we support one of the others and therefore unknowingly force ourselves to pick someone who's actually at the forefront? Or maybe the author just gave them better development because they were the main ones and the others had less fans because of the lesser development? Idk, now I'll have to pay more attention to this.

Anyway, second category, yeah. Let's wrap it with Estelle from Trails in the Sky. It's a game but it's a weeb game, it counts. She's your classical coming of age story but I think it was really well done. She's my favorite game protagonist now. She starts cheerful and immature. She then discovers there's ugliness in the world but she stays cheerful. Seriously, the moment that turned her into my favorite protagonist was one where I was completely sure she would have a breakdown but instead she got up, smiled, and kept going. Such a good arc.

For your last category, I'm so glad to know I'm not the only person who wants to adopt characters. Here's a repeat, Trails in the Sky again but the character this time is Renne. Now, where Estelle is my favorite game protagonist, Renne is my favorite game character as a whole, so there's that. One of the best redemption arcs out there across 3 games, a well told dark past (more writers should learn that it's not only about how messed up you make their past, but about how you tell it. They forget the "telling" in storytelling. In that regard, Renne's is masterful), and she's just really good at making the player want her to be happy. Seriously, that became my end goal for this series, seeing her live happily.

A recent one, Ami from Lupin III Part 5. I haven't finished this but she's playing with the paternal instinct I shouldn't have yet. A girl isolated from the real world, which she only knows through the internet, just now discovering how good and how bad life can be? I just want to show her the good points about the world, she's got plenty of the bad already.

And I should leave it at that. I could probably go through every entry in my MAL page thinking about this subject but that's probably a bad idea. Good topic though, I like when I have to think to myself "Yeah, what do I think about this?".

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Could there be a third type of Best Girl? Like, one who is neither a main character but is majorly influenced by the main character? I'm veering more into game territory, but I think of many of the non-Phantom Thieves girls from Persona 5 (Royal) and Marianne, Bernadetta, and Annette from Fire Emblem: Three Houses could count. (And certainly, Hinata Hyuuga from Naruto.) 

Makoto and Haru can certainly count as main characters, but Marianne isn't one. The main characters of FE:TH are Byleth, Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard, with characters like Rhea and Seteth stepping up to the plate depending on your point of view. Marianne is a playable character, but she doesn't shape the story in any way, nor does she shape the character. Heck, if you're not playing Golden Deer and don't recruit her, she disappears from the game entirely. But people still love her, to the point that in Fire Emblem Heroes' annual popularity contest, she won first in the Woman's Division last year. Marianne's character development is seen as one of the best in the game. She goes from depressed (and worse) and insecure to opening up about her issues, to resolving to live on and live with those around her, and even proposing to an S-Ranked Male Byleth. (She's one of the three characters that does so IIRC - Marianne, Rhea, and I think Constance. Either way, it's a limited group.) Between this and her malleability as a unit (she's great as a Dancer, Falcon Knight, Holy/Dark Knight, Mortal Savant, Gremory, and most of the DLC classes (although she is outclassed as a Gremory by Lysithea, Flayn, and possibly Dorothea)), Marianne is considered top Best Girl material by many. 

Bernadetta and Annette are other characters like Marianne, although I'm not myself a fan of Bernadetta. Annette is interesting in that she's often shipped with Felix instead of with the MC, which is something Best Girls are often seen as doing. But all three are positively influenced by Byleth but do not change him in any way and can have their arcs skipped over if they're not recruited or if the player doesn't raise their Supports during the game. (Which is hard to do and recruit the character in a single playthrough. Not impossible at all, but supports lower the recruitment requirements, so it really doesn't make sense to not raise the supports.) 

 

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  • 1 year later...
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I believe I deserve a medal for reading all of this.  :D But honestly, I agree on many of the best girls and adoptables here, at least out of the ones I have read/seen etc etc. 

Its my solomn oppinion that you can have as many waifus as you want but you can only have one Best Girl period.  The best waifu in any given media is not Best Girl, but merely a waifu. Other categories exist but only one Best Girl can reside in your heart at one time. 

Mind you, I speak from the position of a grown married woman who happily indulges her terminally weeb husband. I can look at this academically.

I share my bedroom with no less than 3 dakimakura of my husband's waifus (a 4th stays on the floor in the corner, but i suppose Darkness ((konosuba)) would prefer that anyway.) 

Rem is especially a popular and solid waifu and I like her alot as a character and is my husbands long time best girl. In addition to a daki she also exists as a tiddy mousepad in our home. 

Emilia I dont like in general. I dont like her character. I dont like her background. I dont like her goals. I dont understand the obsession over her. Shes currently out of favor with my husband as well, and lives at the end of the bed. 

Current best girl seems to be Yor from spyxfamily, but Im not sure whether its because she has overtaken Rem or that she is just more comfortable. Husband has been looking at a kayak rack to store the unused waifus. 

Moving on, I would like to propose "Baby" and "Good girl" instead of Moe or girl I would like to adopt. Good girl being a class lower than Best Girl, without the additive of attraction that is inherent with waifu, and Baby being a shorter and easier way to refer to the feeling of "i want to adopt you and protect you from all harm" 

Klee is baby. Anya is baby. Vin is baby. Syl is Very Good Girl. Ganyu is Very Good Girl. 

 

....

 

 

 

That being said Best Girl is Genshin's Noelle and I will die on that hill. 

 

 

 

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