Been meaning to get round to this thread some day.

Couple of strong female leads for you then, first up:

Balsa from Seirei no Moribito



Very similar in personality to Major Kusanagi from GITS, except much more of a mother figure.
She has that air about her of someone who has been through life as a warrior (and she has killed many people, something which she spends her life atoning for) and has come out the other side knowing just how much value life has, and how true strength is found in protecting rather than destroying.
Unfortunately she still manages to have a feeling of, hmm, aloofness?, about her though which still makes her hard to relate to as a character.

Strong, but slighly untouchably strong.






Second one for you is my new favourite, Ogata Rin from Rideback.



Still early days on finding out about her character, but she’s proven so far to be one of the strongest “real” anime heroines I’ve encountered so far.
Raised as a ballerina in the shadow of her famous mother, Rin’s dancing career is sidetracked by a calf injury.
She’s a quiet girl who never seems to let her past fame affect her affable nature, she’s a caring person who values her friends. There’s a air about her though, modesty and self awareness but with a core of strength which initially we get to see with her determination in learning the Rideback, but really comes to the fore when she has to save a friend from a terrorist incident.

She’s the kind of person who doesn’t give a second thought to doing what must be done to help the people she cares about; none of this bullshit bravado, shouting machismo, or emo angst that’s inherent in so many male leads today (and to an extent mirrored in what some think are strong macho female leads).

No, instead she has that quiet determination, that extreme focus that comes from her years of training in ballet and her strength of spirit. It’s the kind of strength you can really see in someone’s eyes, the kind that you know will move mountains if it’s for a cause that matters. It doesn’t seek to overpower of dominate, but it leaves you breathless in its resolve. That it comes from such a “nice girl” character like her, yet increases her inherent beauty instead of detracting from it, really hammers it home for me.

It’s people like her I have a profound respect for, and I’m really happy to see a character like her as an inspiration in anime.