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Credit: Pokémon Diamond & Pearl
Waifu culture is pretty dominant in the world of anime. It’s one aspect of almost every anime that comes out, causing the dreaded waifu wars to come about.
They exist in just about every genre – and pretty much everyone can attach themselves to at least one character to call a waifu.
Shonen is such a wide and sprawling genre that it has created an uncountable amount of “best girls” in its time, from romcoms, to adventures, to battle anime and beyond.
Well I’m here to put to rest any question as to who the best girls are from the expansive shonen genre. I also like to think I have a little something for everyone here.
But if your girl isn’t on this list, I’m sorry to tell you – she may be trash. Or maybe I just forgot, or have different opinions (but if it’s Asuka it’s straight up trash).
Anyways before I upset even more people let’s get into the list!
25. Merlin
Anime: Seven Deadly Sins
Seven Deadly Sins has quite a lot of competition when it comes to the best girl.
But to me, the only real answer is Merlin.
I really love wizard girls, and especially those who are super into doing their experiments to learn more about magic.
Merlin is all about that kind of thing, which puts her as my best girl.
She was actually the girl who sold me on the series when I saw a picture of her for the first time, so I’m happy to see that my expectations were not let down.
24. Mikasa
Anime: Attack on Titan
Definitely one of the most known anime girls of all time now, due to the insane popularity of Attack on Titan. Now I don’t really have too many waifus in AoT – but I do love Mikasa.
Even when she cuts her hair shorter, she’s still an amazing character – and rocks the fem and tomboy looks equally well.
For a while she was actually probably my favorite girl, but it was admittedly around the time I started watching anime seriously, so she’ll always have a special place in my heart.
23. Rei Ayanami
Anime: Neon Genesis: Evangelion
I already fanned the flames in the introduction to this list – but honestly it’s true. I really don’t like Asuka, and I do really like Rei, and I like getting to see her open up slowly.
She’s a character that I want to see grow even more than Shinji, because I want her so desperately to be able to feel happiness – because of all the trauma she’d been subjected to.
Rei is also one of the sweetest people to Shinji, actually trying to give him emotional support when he needs it.
And the movies solidified her as my favorite from now on.
22. Bulma
Anime: Dragon Ball
Bulma is one of the mothers of all waifus.
This lady is a great character from the most iconic shonen of all time, so of course she deserves a spot on this list.
She’s smart, intuitive, and she manages to help out the gang even though she’s not much of a fighter. And she even manages to help cool off the hot headed Vegeta.
Which was definitely something that to this day I absolutely love.
21. Fuu Kasumi
Anime: Samurai Champloo
One of the reasons why I love Fuu as much as I do is because of her relationships with both Mugen and Jin.
She has a very cheery personality, even if she often gets herself into trouble which is one of the things that kicked off the main story of the show.
She’s cute, she’s sisterly, she does her best to keep Mugen and Jin in line, and I love seeing her grow as a character throughout the show.
20. Nami
Anime: One Piece
Being able to get to know Nami over the course of One Piece is getting to know a real person in a way.
I’ve known Nami for the ~12-ish years that I’ve been watching anime seriously.
Nami is practically a friend at this point. She’s fun, she’s smart, and she has a very cunning personality that helps her a lot when it comes to both thievery and inventing.
Her control over the weather is also one of my favorite parts of her character – elemental stuff is very fun for me. And I love that she uses her environment to help her out in fights.
19. Juvia
Anime: Fairy Tail
The lovestruck water wizard now of the Fairy Tail guild is definitely my favorite of the series.
Juvia is such a sweetheart who just wants the love of her life to be happy.
And hopefully eventually she’ll be recognized by him.
I do love her shy personality whenever she’s around Grey, as it just makes her seem so cute and endearing.
Plus I just love her aesthetic. Every outfit she wears is just teeming with style. Maybe she could give me some tips…
18. Emilia
Anime: Re:Zero
Emilia is a sweet and sheltered girl who’s unjustly discriminated against due to her appearance to the Witch that has hold over Subaru’s soul.
The poor girl just wants the best for the kingdom, though unfortunately she doesn’t really know all that much about the world itself.
And she’s so innocent that she believes if she kisses anyone, she’s going to be pregnant.
She must be protected at all costs.
17. Dawn
Anime: Pokémon
Dawn is easily my favorite of the bunch of Ash’s different companions.
Just watch her and you can see why – she’s such a fun-loving spirit. And she’s a talented coordinator and trainer alike.
Her and her Piplup together make an adorable duo that have always made me smile more than all the other girls in the series.
Besides, she likes to mess with Ash, but it never really feels particularly mean – which I always think is fun to see.
16. Winry
Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Winry may be entry level, but she’s still a lot of people’s first waifus.
And that’s for good reasons.
Winry is a smart girl who knows her way around her mechanics.
She’s been there for the Elric brothers from the start, and she’s a good person at heart. Her and Edward even share some really cute moments together throughout the series.
But even in the early days , Winry feels like such a really cool character. She doesn’t go on journeys too often – but she’s always there to offer whatever support she can.
15. Wiz
Anime: Konosuba
Yep, my favorite lich girl in anime.
Wiz is technically one of the Demon Lord’s servants, but she doesn’t really work to further his goals at all, and in fact helps out the main cast a lot.
She’s a good person who’s terrible at running her shop, often ordering all sorts of junk that just isn’t going to sell.
Wiz gets shy whenever she’s put in more obscene circumstances too – which are probably a bit more frequent than she likes.
But the bashfulness only really makes her cuter.
14. Nico Robin
Anime: One Piece
Nico is probably the most mature member of the Straw Hats, other than Jimbei.
Though the reason for that maturity is unfortunately pretty tragic, as she was torn away from her home at a very young age and branded a devil child to be hunted to the ends of the earth.
So yeah, that’ll probably do some damage.
But when she joins the Straw Hats, Robin’s able to have a more fun and fulfilling time, and even joining in on some of the goofy hijinks that they get up to.
13. Hestia
Anime: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?
Look, I know that this is an unpopular opinion within the Danmachi fandom, but I’ll say it outright:
Hestia is bestia.
I don’t even really ship her with Bell.
But as a character on her own, I really like her. She’s goofy and silly, and obviously very dedicated to the people that she cares about.
She may be a little lazy, but her antics of getting into spats with the different gods is endlessly funny to me.
Well Morgiana is a really cool character with a tragic backstory. She’s able to find comfort with the party, even though she’s slower to open up.
But in all seriousness, I really love Morgiana, and I like seeing the journey she’s taken to become a better person.
More specifically, to become a person that can actually express her feelings to people she trusts.
She’s my favorite character in the series along with Sinbad – and I always love seeing characters who are able to fight without any weapons.
11. Yukiko Amagi
Anime: Persona 4 Golden: The Animation
Yukiko overworks herself constantly.
She feels like she has so many expectations to live up to, and that constantly weighs heavily on her.
You can see this throughout her arc in the show or game, and she eventually is able to reassess herself and grow as a person, able to come to terms with the fact that it’s okay not to be perfect.
If it weren’t for some strange decisions made with Naoto’s character (Who is my second favorite character tied with Kanji), she might be here on this list instead.
10. Yoko
Anime: Gurren Lagann
This fiery girl with the giant ass rifle is able to put a dent into some seriously threatening mechas throughout the series.
Yoko is a freedom fighter through and through.
And she’s one of the first people that Simon and Kamina meet once they get to the surface.
After the first half of the show, Yoko grows up a lot, even becoming a teacher. And to put it plainly, she rocks that look.
9. Nezuko
Anime: Demon Slayer
Nezuko must be protected.
Much like Emilia, this girl is such an absolute cutie. And I love Tanjiro’s complete dedication to keeping her safe no matter what.
Their relationship is one of the most wholesome ones I’ve ever seen in any anime – and it endears me to her to no end.
I just feel bad whenever I see her and she’s forced to wear the bar in her mouth to prevent herself from biting anyone. It makes me root for her liberation from her demon blood every time.
8. Tatsumaki
Anime: One Punch Man
The tornado herself is definitely my favorite girl in One Punch Man.
I love her introduction to Saitama, where he wonders why they let a lost child in.
Genos teases her and very quickly learns that yeah, she’s not some little girl. She’s one of the S-Rated heroes and she’s crazy powerful.
Her outfit is very reminiscent of a traditional witches robe with its flowing skirt, and her standoffish personality is fun when you realize that she just wants to prove herself – despite her obvious talent.
7. Mizore Shirayuki
Anime: Rosario+Vampire
This is my favorite waifu from a fairly average show.
But god I love Mizore.
She was one of my first huge waifu crushes back when I was a teenager.
There was something so sweet about her that I really quickly gravitated towards. I know that in real life the stalker vibes aren’t exactly the best, but in anime, they make it look adorable.
Now if only I could get ahold of that one figurine of her, if it stopped being like $500+
*Sigh* A girl can dream.
6. Ryuko
Anime: Kill la Kill
This spot was between either Ryuko or Mako, as I adore both of them (especially together).
But Ryuko won out just because I love her kick-butt attitude.
She starts off the show very strong, immediately challenging the queen of the school, Satsuki to a fight.
And even if she’s unable to take her on immediately, it took a lot of guts to do.
It’s a great journey to see her start to soften towards her friends throughout the show, and get more confident with herself on her quest to find out what happened to her dad.
5. Carrot
Anime: One Piece
Ahh Carrot.
Introduced quite late on in the One Piece story, Carrot made a very fast impression on me.
Now I have a disposition towards bunny girls, of course. But Carrot was more than that.
She was a goofball that reminded me a lot of a male version of Luffy at points.
She’s tough, she has a cool claw weapon, and an even cooler transformation form that looks amazing.
Though we’ve only really known her for a short time in the grand scheme of the story of One Piece, she’s already left her mark on me as one of my all-time favorite characters.
She’s a wholesome ninja with an initially shy personality in the very beginning of the series.
But I know there’s a lot of really good waifu choices in Naruto. So Hinata has to have something extra going on than being wholesome, right?
Honestly, not really to me.
I think she’s genuinely well written of course.
But sometimes all you need personality wise is a nice girl.
She’s beautiful, sweet, and has one of the most satisfying wedding scenes I’ve ever seen in a show.
And she eventually goes on to give birth to Boruto’s Dad’s Son, so there’s also that!
3. Sadayo Kawakami
Anime: Persona 5: The Animation
I remember playing Persona 5 and trying to decide what girl I wanted to date… and then Kawakami came into my life and I found out you can date her.
Now that may be morally objectionable, and that’s totally fair, but I’m an adult and I think she’s awesome in & out of her maid uniform.
She’s a complex character that doesn’t get quiiite as much development as it deserved in the anime. But she’s still awesome.
Plus her first maid scene gave us the iconic line, “I’m a dad.”
2. Himiko Toga
Anime: My Hero Academia
I may have mentioned before just how much I love Toga.
She’s my favorite girl from My Hero (Mirko being a close second!), and really the only yandere that I like.
Now I have no real hate for the yandere trope, but Toga’s the only one who’s ever really been able to sell me on it. And god, she’s sold me on it hard.
Actually now that I think about it, Toga is one of my favorite girls in all of anime.
She’s super cute despite her sometimes scarily murderous tendencies, and honestly, she’s just neat.
1. Aqua
Anime: KonoSuba
My goddess!
I submit myself to thee, joining the Axis cul- I-I mean religion!
Okay, so Aqua is amazing. She’s funny, she’s sassy, and she’s so bad at fighting.
She’s not quite useless, though it’s fun to call her that.
But she can resurrect which is pretty huge.
And her water purification is also really helpful too. But that’s all besides the point…
We’re here to talk about waifu qualities.
Aqua is funny to the degree that I feel like if she were real, she’d actually make me laugh on the regular.
She doesn’t really have much shame either, which means that she’s able to get pretty into the jokes, often resorting to taunting Kazuma in public.
I love Aqua so much that it’s probably somewhat unhealthy. But I will pray to my goddess and continue building up my shri- I mean collection of figurines and posters until the day I die.
