Anime tropes are known for having strong male characters and weak female characters who always rely on the male characters for protection and help. But this is not always the case with every anime because there are some shows featuring the most badass female anime characters as well!
There is no doubt that there are a ton of anime and manga that portray male characters as strong and badass, both new anime shows and old, and you can find an entire list of them within seconds. Even I did a list of the badass anime characters earlier and it was packed with male characters. That’s the whole reason why I decided to do a separate list featuring only the badass women in anime.
I spent some time looking for powerful women in anime and since I watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga, it wasn’t that hard for me to come up with a list that I was satisfied with. And I really hope that you too will agree with the female characters I featured in this article.
So, let’s not waste any more time and go through this article dedicated to the badass female characters in anime that deserve all the recognition they can get, and then some!
The Most Badass Female Anime Characters (2022)
23. Sakura Haruno (Naruto Shippuden)
Sakura Haruno is one of the main characters of Naruto series and the only child of Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno. She is a childhood classmate and friend of the main character, Naruto Uzumaki, and is one of the main female characters in the show.
In the beginning, she wasn’t exactly strong as a member of Team 7 led by Kakashi Hatake because she was always overshadowed by her teammates, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. However, she starts growing stronger after she meets Tsunade, the 5th Hokage and one of the three legendary Sannin, and becomes her student.
Under Tsunade’s training, she improves her Tajutsu and masters the “Strength of a Hundred Seal Jutsu,” making her one of the strongest shinobi ever. Other than this, her control of chakra makes her a force to be reckoned with as she is able to effectively perform different jutsu without wasting any chakra in the process.
22. Izumi Curtis (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
Izumi Curtis, from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, is a female character that got married to Sig in the southern Amestrian town of Dublith. Very easily, she is one of the strongest characters in the entire Fullmetal Alchemist franchise.
She is skilled in hand to hand martial arts and is even more skilled in alchemy. She is one of the few characters who is able to perform alchemy without the aid of a transmutation circle. By touching her hands together, she is able to perform alchemy, and uses her will as the necessary equivalent exchange. She easily defeats a host of difficult opponents in mere seconds, and is even capable of knocking the Homonculus Sloth back.
21. Maka Albarn (Soul Eater)
Maka Albarn, from Soul Eater, is known to be very intelligent, smart, hardworking, strong-willed, mature and friendly. She’s also known to be an introvert who loves to read and is someone who is always willing to help people around her.
Although she is undoubtedly one of the strongest characters in the anime, she hardly ever takes credit for her actions and her victories. Instead, she tries to be modest about it, claiming that it is the aftermath of joint strength. This is especially true of her battle with Ashura. Even when Kid tries to give her credit for her actions, she responds by saying that everyone can be brave when the need arises.
That said, you would be wrong to mistake her softness for weakness. Under the right circumstances, Maka continuously rises to the occasion and defeats powerful enemies that come in her way.
20. Kohaku (Dr. Stone)
Kohaku is a female protagonist who is a descendant of modern humans in the world of Dr. Stone, and without a doubt one of the most badass female anime characters right now!
She is a slender young lady with gorgeous blue eyes and a blond spiky ponytail, but she is more known for her enhanced physical combat abilities as she’s able to overpower almost everyone in her village. She is also credited with superhuman strength and speed. This is why Senku sends her for scouting missions because she is able to cover great distances faster than anyone else.
In the petrified world of Dr. Stone, she is one of the strongest characters around and would easily go a round with more than half the people in existence in that world.
19. Clare (Claymore)
Clare is the main protagonist of Claymore and she belongs to the association of Claymores, an organization dedicated to fighting demons called “Yoma.”
She was given the last rank, No. 47, in the 150th generation because she was seen as a weak person. Instead of consuming the blood of a Yoma like every other warrior, she consumed the blood of a fellow Claymore which made her 1/4 Yoma instead of 1/2 Yoma unlike others.
Although she was initially weak, she later found that the blood of the Claymore she consumed gave her pretty strong abilities, because that blood belonged to one of the strongest Claymores ever. She got more adept at reading the flow of Yoki, as well as got awakened limbs that added power and speed to her attacks. With these abilities, she makes a name for herself by killing some of the strongest Yoma and earns her place among the strongest female characters in the anime world.
18. Android 18 (Dragon Ball Z)
Android 18, one of the strongest Dragon Ball Z characters, was created by Dr. Gero along with Android 17. Initially introduced as a villain, she later got married to Krillin and became one of the good guys.
She’s a light-skinned slender woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and a curvy shape. She is known to be cool, smart, sarcastic and has full interest in fashion.
Android 18 is definitely one of the most badass female anime characters as she is a master combatant, possesses super strength and has almost infinite amounts of energy, thanks to her being an Android. This means that in a fight against a stronger human, all she has to do is wear the person out and she can be victorious. Sometimes, strength is in perseverance.
17. Morgiana (Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic)
Morgiana used to be slave who was insecure about herself, and her greatest wish was for her to be useful to Aladdin and Alibaba. She is a member of the Fanalis tribe, a group of people known for their ridiculous strength and their red hair!
With the innate strength of her tribe, Morgiana rises to limelight besides Aladdin and Alibaba. She gains more strength when she becomes a household member of the house of Amon, Alibaba’s Djinn. However, even before then, Morgiana marvels us with her strength as she easily runs up walls, breaks chains and goes roof jumping while holding someone in her hands.
16. Kugisaki Nobara (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Kugisaki Nobara is a beautiful young girl with mid-length orange hair and orange eyes. She may come across as an arrogant and blunt person, but she’s also very smart and a pretty strong fighter. Although lacking a bit in physical abilities, her Jujutsu abilities are top-tier!
Her abilities in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen make her a character to be weary of. She can easily attack her opponents without getting close to them with her doll technique, and because she has an absolute grasp of the technique, she is able to bring out the best in it and use it to her advantage. Also, Kugisaki Nobara has a very high threshold of pain, making her immune to what most normal people would easily pass out from.
15. Maki Oze (Fire Force)
Maki Oze is a 2nd-generation fire soldier in the Special Fire Force Company 8 in Tokyo. A 19-year-old lady with dark brown hair and violet eyes, Maki is respectful, calm, a good fighter and very courteous to her teammates. But she gets pissed whenever she thinks people are calling her ‘Gorilla Cyclops’, which is because of her muscular features.
Maki’s powers allow her to control flames, extinguish them, absorb them into fireballs, and even create tiny fire creatures. Combine her fire-manipulation abilities with her insane strength and her hand-to-hand combat abilities, she was promoted to the rank of a unit leader. Also, because she can use her flames in such a diverse number of ways, she is not very easy to defend against and is also quite powerful on the offensive.
14. Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Homura Akemi played a big role as a co-protagonist in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She has long black hair and gorgeous violet eyes, and she is very smart and athletic but antisocial. She later gained admission into Mitakihara Middle School where she met Madoka and Mami.
Although she had no natural magical abilities and mostly made use of weapons she made or stole from the police, she is a force to be reckoned with. In her shield which she wears like a watch on her wrist, there are a wide variety of weapons stolen over time. This gives her a wide arsenal to use against all kinds of opponents. Also, her ability to stop as well as change time is no mean feat making her a pretty powerful character.
13. Kiryuin Satsuki (Kill La Kill)
Kiryuin Satsuki, the eldest daughter of Kiryuin Sochiro and Kiryuin Ragyo, is a stubborn, arrogant and cold-hearted lady. Despite the fact that she had all these flaws, she still cared for the people around her. She was known to be an extremist leader who was also the president of Honnoji Academy Student Council.
Satsuki was easily recognized as the strongest person in the Academy as a testament to her super-strength, super-speed, and crazy-fast reflexes. Nothing makes a person more fearsome when they are strong than being equally intelligent. And Satsuki has it, the brains and the brawn, making her one of the most balanced female anime characters in terms of strength.
12. Tatsumaki (One Punch Man)
Mental strength is secondary, all you need is overwhelming power and Tatsumaki only respects those who are more powerful than her or at least as powerful as her. And that’s not a lot of people because she happens to be one of the strongest characters in the world of One Punch Man!
She is a slim lady with emerald green eyes and green wavy hair and she is mostly disrespectful, blunt, impatient, harsh and hot-tempered. Despite her ill nature, she is ranked as the Number 2 S-class hero, meaning she is the second strongest hero in the show.
Her strength comes from her telekinetic abilities which allow her to move numerous, weighty objects with her mind and direct them accurately to where she wants them to go. She easily grounds the spaceship that attacked Earth with one of her attacks, sending back their full array of bullets and missiles raining back towards the spaceship.
11. Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail)
Erza Scarlet is not just one of the most badass female anime characters, she is also one of the most popular female characters ever!
From the beginning of the Fairy Tail series, she was a strong character who was able to take down opponents with ease. But by the time the show entered in its final arc, her strength had grown to insane levels, capable of even standing up against the main character at full force.
Her magic abilities enable her to change her outfits anytime she wants. She can equip herself into different outfits and armors, and summon various swords, depending on the kind of situation she is in. This ability itself makes her one of the most powerful wizards of all time, but it’s her indomitable will and her insane strength that makes her a strong character!
10. Shiki Ryougi (Kara no Kyoukai)
This main protagonist of Kara no Kyoukai is known to have the mystic eyes of death perception. It allows her to see the mortality of both living and non-living things in the form of lines. She and her family were members of the Demon Hunter Organization.
Shiki Ryougi is known to be heartless, wicked, hot-tempered, enigmatic, and moody. She possesses heightened physical abilities and is able to take on numerous opponents at the same time. She is very quick on her feet and very mobile during combat. Also, she has a high pain threshold that allows her to continue fighting even with threatening injuries.
With her magical prosthetic arm, she can grab intangible objects like ghosts. Also, she is one of the highly-skilled swordsmen in the anime!
9. Saber (Fate/Zero)
Saber, also known as Artoria Pendragon, is as good a fighter as you would think and also possesses high magic resistance. Her main goal is to win the Holy Grail, undo her kingdom’s destruction, undo her entire rule so someone suitable can take her place.
She is an independent warrior who loves to keep to herself, and she is very loyal and extremely humble despite being one of the strongest characters.
Saber belongs to the strongest warrior class and makes use of her sword, the superior Excalibur. Interestingly, she fights most of her opponents with Excalibur in its sheath. This is a testament to just how strong she is as she does not need to unsheathe her sword to defeat her opponent despite the great magical power of the sword itself.
8. Rebecca “Revy” Lee (Black Lagoon)
She is one of the main protagonists of the Black Lagoon anime series, and she is popularly known as Revy. She is a bit impulsive and dangerous, and is always ready to kill anyone that pisses her off and this is the reason why she is the person responsible for the military might of the Lagoon.
Revy plays a great variety of roles and becomes whoever her team needs her to be from infiltrator to rescue ops. She is considered one of the deadliest fighters in the series as she is highly skilled with firearms and is additionally fast enough to dodge bullets time and again. Also, she is said to possess considerable skill in hand-to-hand combat so she is just as deadly without a gun in her hand.
7. Maki Zenin (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Maki Zenin is one of the most badass female anime characters right now because she is the underdog, she is someone who constantly proves people wrong by accomplishing amazing things.
She is a second-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High and the senior of the main characters. In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, where having cursed energy is crucial to fighting cursed spirits, Maki has none. And this is the reason why she was rejected by the Zenin Clan, her family, and why they always put thorns in her way.
Although Maki lacks cursed energy, she is blessed with physical prowess and as the story progresses, she ends up becoming one of the strongest characters in the plot. She is a master of a wide array of weapons and can use cursed weapons effectively in battle. She also has enhanced strength, speed and a great intellect making her not only an all-round character, but also one of the strongest female characters in anime.
6. General Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill)
General Esdeath maybe one of the most fearsome and badass female anime characters, but there is no doubt that she is also one of the sexiest ladies in anime of all time! She is tall and beautiful with full-length blue hair and sparkly blue eyes. And she is insanely strong, being the high-ranking general of the Empire.
From her young age, she began to hunt wild beasts as the daughter of her village chief. Praised as the general of death, she is the captain of the Imperial Army and the King’s strongest soldier. With her ice abilities, she easily kills off thousands of warriors without even breaking a sweat. Her fight with Akame of Night Raid is considered one of the greatest fights in anime history and she is considered one of the strongest anime characters of all time!
5. Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost In The Shell)
Major Motoko Kusanagi is popularly known for her skills in hacking, deduction and military tactics. She is the main protagonist in Ghost In The Shell, and she is known to be a strong and effective leader who is physically powerful and highly intelligent.
Kusanagi may very well be the ‘GOAT’ of female anime characters. She is a cyborg and is skilled in almost everything. She is extremely intelligent and comes up with great plans. At the same time, she is a skilled martial artist, a marksman and is super strong; she once held back a helicopter from taking off. Also, she has great stamina and can move faster than the eyes can detect.
4. Yoruichi Shihoin (Bleach)
Yoruichi Shihoin was one of the Captains of the Gotei 13 of Soul Society and the leader of the Onmitsukido, an elite stealth force. She possesses the ability to change into a black cat at will and she holds the title of “Flash Goddess” as a testament to her ability to use Shunpo.
Being a captain-class shinigami, Yoruichi is easily a strong character and one of the few most accomplished hand-to-hand fighters in the entire series. Apart from being a powerful combatant, she’s also an expert at using a wide variety of abilities like Shunpō, Shunkō, Kidō, and she’s also a master swordsman and blessed with immense spiritual pressure. With all these areas of expertise, it’s no wonder that Yoruichi is one of the most badass female anime characters ever!
3. Akame (Akame Ga Kill)
As the survivors, we carry the feelings of those who have passed away on our shoulders. This female character, also known as ‘Akame of the Demon Sword Murasame,’ is a young petite lady with full-length black hair. She is a highly-focused person who doesn’t like to be disturbed.
Akame is deemed to be the strongest of the members of the Night Raid. She is super strong, and super fast. She is able to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a fully-equipped grand chariot. She isn’t just strong enough to take care of any and all opponents in front of her, no matter how big of a number they have, but she is powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with General Esdeath, who’s probably the strongest character in the show.
2. Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan)
If we are talking about the most badass female anime characters of all time, there’s no way we are going to ignore Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan as she’s the literal definition of badassery!
Mikasa is a calm character who cares about her friends, especially Eren and Armin, and is never one to cause any conflicts with any other character. But that all changes when she’s fighting Titans because then she can be merciless and can dispatch any and all Titans with relative ease. As a soldier, she is perhaps only behind Levi Ackerman in strength and abilities, which says a lot about her character!
1. Mereoleona Vermillion (Black Clover)
Although a relatively new character, Mereleona Vermillion from Black Clover anime series can easily qualify as one of the strongest anime characters ever!
She is a character who loves strength above everything else and so she lived in the wild with animals, studying nature’s energy and becoming one with nature ever since she was a child. She is also the first person to use “mana zone” in the anime, an ability that only the top-tier magic users can wield.
Her fighting instincts, strength and speed are off the charts, but even worse than these is her adeptness at using fire. Simply put, Mereleona Vermillion is in a class of her own, even among the Magic Knight Captains!
Who Are Your Favorite Badass Female Anime Characters?
These were some of my favorite female characters in anime who are so strong and so badass that they can carry their entire show on their two shoulders, but I won’t be the one to say that this list is perfect.
There are still many anime I haven’t watched, so I am sure that I didn’t include characters that are more badass than the women mentioned here. And if that’s the case, I would love to hear about them. Use the comments section below to let me know who are the most badass female anime characters according to you. I will take a look at them and probably add them to the list in the next update!