For the last week of Pride month, we wanted to talk about fan submissions for our series on anime #WomanCrushWednesday. Since we didn’t get that many submissions (it happens), we’re taking this a little different.

Instead of doing an in-depth article, we’re going to hit as many anime characters we can in 100 words or less! If you think our descriptions are good, check out the anime and see if you find our picks worthy of a #WCW.

Let’s start the lightning round!

Misa Amane

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Death Note is one of the animes American viewers are most familiar with. Misa breaks into the show in episode 11 as Light’s accomplice and occasional girlfriend. Their Bonnie and Clyde dynamic isn’t totally one-sided; Light seems just as afraid of Misa at times.

Misa is an enthusiastic girlfriend and a gothic lolita fashion icon. You can’t find a more ride-or-die girl in anime. Her competence and ability saves the day on more than one occasion, and she does it all with grace and a perfect bold lip.

Winry Rockbell

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If you love a woman who can roll up her sleeves and take a car apart, Winry is your girl. Her appearance in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood as a mechanic and friend of the Elric brothers made her an audience favorite. She’s a bold character with a lot of heart and compassion for some alchemists down on their luck.

The show, based on the anime by Hiromu Arakawa, is filled with strong female characters like Winry. Honorable mentions include Oliver Mira Armstrong, Izumi Curtis, and Riza Hawkeye.

Homura Akemi

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Homura is one of those characters that the writers say she isn’t a lesbian but then write her to love another female character to the point of romantic involvement. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a dark shojo manga. The story bases itself in the love between Homura and main character Madoka Kaname.

Homura is beyond dedicated to the girl she loves and goes to the ends of the earth for her. Talk about #relationshipgoals! This series has other sapphic icons like Mami Tomoe and Sayaka Miki, so it’s worth a watch!

Sayaka Igarashi

Netflix’s original series Kakeguri is filled with sapphic characters, including the main character Yumeko Jabami. However, while Yumeko acts on her homoerotic feelings only when gambling, Sayaka has a crush on the student council president Kirari Momobami that goes far beyond attraction. Sayaka is so dedicated to her crush she’ll even risk her own life just to see Kirari smile.

Kakeguri has seen some backlash for its problematic portrayal of lesbians. It’s also a show that isn’t afraid to show sexuality in sapphic relationships. If you like high stakes and sapphic icons, you should check this title out!

Miki Kuroda

Better known as Miko, Miki is from the Netflix original series Devilman Crybaby. She is explicitly in love with Miki Makumura, although the crush is fraught with feelings of inadequacy. Miko is a track star that wants to catch Miki’s attention. Unfortunately, the girl is utterly infatuated with title character Akira Fudo.

Miko’s crush-worthiness comes from a mixture of dedication and her very assertive personality that comes in later in the season. For a show focused on the homoerotic relationship between its two main characters, Devilman Crybaby sneaks in a very compelling and tragic story of unrequited lesbian love.

Conclusion

This month I talked about a lot of sapphic icons. This became a catch-all for ‘girl character I find attractive.’ While a lot of these characters aren’t explicitly queer, they have a lot of elements that spoke to me and my identity. The point of this series was to talk about sapphic icons and how they influence anime culture. This is a time where sapphic relationships aren’t contained to yuri manga or anime.

Hopefully, when anime fans do series like this in the future, they’ll be talking about characters in big-name anime that unapologetically love other women. Until then, there’s nothing that says fans can’t watch animes like Sailor Moon, Ouran High School Host Club, or Boku No Hero Academia and see themselves in the characters they love.

If you enjoyed this series let us know and tweet your anime #WCW at @geekgalsco! Happy Pride Month from all of us here at Geek Gals!