The 15 Best Black Female Anime Characters
Vote up your favorite Black female anime characters.
It's time for some Black girl magic! While there aren't nearly as many Black anime girls and women as one would hope, there are still a lot that are worth celebrating.
Black women and girls show up in all kinds of anime, from kids shows like Pokémon to adult shows like Cowboy Bebop. Though rarely the main characters, they can serve very important roles. Canary from Hunter x Hunter is the Zoldyck Family's apprentice butler and guard who ends up helping Gon rescue Killua from his family. Meanwhile, Gotei 13's former second division captain Yoruichi Shihouin is one of the strongest female characters in Bleach. Other great representations of Black women in anime include Michiko Malandro and Atsuko Jackson from Michiko & Hatchin. Both are Afro-Latinas who grew up in a fictionalized version of Brazil.
Hopefully, as anime continues to be a global phenomenon, more Black female anime characters will appear.
Before quitting to work at the Urahara Shop, Yoruichi Shihouin was the captain of the second division of the Gotei 13, making her one of the most powerful members of Soul Society.
She's a smart, sarcastic woman who relies largely on her immense speed in battle. She also possesses the unique ability to transform into a cat.
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Michiko Malandro - 'Michiko & Hatchin'
Michiko Malandro is a free spirit who does whatever she wants, when she wants - a trait that often gets her in a lot of trouble. She's been arrested before, and she spends most of the series on the run after breaking out of prison.
Why do something so extreme? She wants to find her boyfriend Hiroshi, and she thinks she has a chance if she tracks down his daughter Hana. Doing this involves driving her motorcycle through the window of Hana's foster home.
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Miyuki Ayukawa - 'Basquash!'
Miyuki Ayukawa is Team Basquatch's resident mechanic. Not only that, but she's the person who taught Dan how to pilot a Big Foot mech to begin with.
She cares deeply about the team's success, but she also cares a lot about Dan specifically. The two of them lived together as children before her family moved away, and they expressed romantic interest in each other.
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Canary - 'Hunter x Hunter'
Canary is one of the Zoldyck Family's trusted butlers, a position that requires some serious physical strength to back it up. But while she does have a job to do, she also spent a lot of time playing with Killua when they were younger. She thinks that Killua is unfairly mistreated by the family and she often tries to help him out.
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Iris - 'Pokémon Journeys'
Iris hails from the Village of Dragons. While she wasn't a fan of Dragon Pokémon at first, she had several experiences that helped her change her mind. After being sent on a training journey with a baby Axew by one of her village's elders, she becomes Ash's traveling companion while the two of them travel through the Unova Region.
Later, she places in the Top 8 of the Masters Eight Tournament, which is meant to determine the most powerful Pokémon trainer in the world.
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Karui - 'Naruto'
Karui is a badass kunoichi from Kumogakure. She studied under Killer B, which means that she mostly relies on kenjutsu, but can also use lightning release. Unlike her teammate Omoi, she has a positive outlook on the world and the future - but she's also not afraid to speak up about people and things that annoy her.
Shout out to her daughter Chocho, who is also awesome in her own way.
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Mira Naigus - 'Soul Eater'
Mira Naigus serves as Sid Barrett's demon weapon partner - meaning, she can transform into a knife. When she's not acting as a literal weapon, she's seriously enforcing the rules of the Death Weapon Meister Academy. She strongly believes in doing everything by the book, and can be a little bit inflexible, but she does genuinely care about others.
She also possesses some medical knowledge, which allows her to take over as the school nurse once Medusa is exposed.
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Coffee - 'Cowboy Bebop'
Coffee is a bounty hunter on the hunt for Domino Walker, a hallucinogenic mushroom dealer. She ends up getting waylaid from her mission when Edward sneaks into the back of her car, causing the police to detain her. But she was able to escape and continue her pursuit.
If you're familiar with '70s blaxplotation films, Coffee might feel familiar. That's because she's based on the protagonist of a 1973 film called Coffy.
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Dorothy - 'Great Pretender'
As a core member of Team Confidence, Dorothy is intelligent, charismatic, and overall pretty great at the whole con artist thing. She and Laurent were once lovers, and she played a pivotal role in getting him involved into the scamming lifestyle.
They were separated when Dorothy and Laurent tried to take down a ring of human traffickers, and Dorothy was shot. Laurent assumed she didn't survive, but she did - just without her memory.
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Carole - 'Carole & Tuesday'
After immigrating from Earth to Mars, Carole has been working hard to make a living for herself. When she meets Tuesday, she finally gets the chance to do the thing she's most passionate about - playing music that comes from her heart, instead of from an AI machine.
But though she's totally invested in her musical career, she also has other concerns - like reuniting with her father and with an old friend from Earth who might be in trouble.
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Rei Hououmaru - 'Kill la Kill'
Rei Hououmaru is one of Ragyo's loyal henchpeople. She's not loyal because she believes in what Ragyo is doing - she's loyal because Ragyo saved her life when her hometown in an unnamed African nation was ravaged by civil war.
After Ragyo passes away, Rei resolves to avenge her using clones made from life fibers.
Though Atsuko Jackson and Michiko Malandro were childhood friends, that doesn't stop Atsuko from arresting her. She's dedicated to her work as a police officer and she isn't going to compromise just because she knows someone. Well, except for when she does feel some sympathy pangs and ends up helping out Michiko in subtle ways.
She truly enjoys chasing after Michiko because not only are they childhood friends, they're also rivals.
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S.A.M. - 'Cannon Busters'
S.A.M. is a “friendship robot” designed to be the companion of Prince Kelby of the Botica Empire. Not only is she supposed to be his friend, she's also supposed to defend him by doing things like turning her mouth into a firing cannon.
After being separated from him, she's made it her mission to reunite as soon as possible. But existing separately from him changes her perspective - she's able to start expressing negative opinions about him and form relationships outside of him. Sadly for her, when push comes to shove, her programming forces her to side with him no matter what.
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April - 'Darker Than Black'
April is an MI-6 agent who works under November 11. She has a strong bond with her teammates, and loves alcohol. Her Contractor ability is actually triggered by drinking beer, which is perfect for her. That ability is Atmospheric Pressure Manipulation, which lets her create and control localized hurricanes.
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Sister Krone - 'The Promised Neverland'
Sister Krone is Isabella's assistant at Grace Field House, but she wanted to usurp her position and become the “mama.” She wanted this because she felt an intense need to nurture children and be loved by them. While she hated the system that she and the kids were part of, she thought she could use it to fulfill her emotional needs and was willing to hurt others to get there.
Fans have had mixed feelings about Sister Krone. For some, she's an evil inversion of the mammy stereotype, while others see her as a more complex character.
