One of the sad flaws of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise is that its male characters end up taking the center stage most of the time. And the chances of any future Yu-Gi-Oh series having a girl as the lead protagonist are about as likely as the sun spontaneously collapsing into a black hole in the year 2015 and the character of Ash Ketchum being retired from the Pokemon anime. But despite that, the franchise does have its share of strong female characters. Even though they don’t see as much dueling action as a lot of the other characters. So for this post, I’ll be counting down my top ten favorite female characters.
10. Anna Kozuki (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL): I kind of got a charge out of Anna when I first saw her in the anime. Though a formidable duelist, Anna is something of a hothead with a few anger management issues and a flying cannon (a very dangerous combination). In her first appearance, Anna goes after Yuma on her cannon. Naturally a duel ensues and we learn that Anna had something of a crush on Yuma when they were younger, and was enraged that he never returned her affections. But towards the end we find out that Anna had gotten Yuma mixed up with a kid who had a similar name.
9. Tea Gardner (Original Yu-Gi-Oh!): The reason Tea is so low on this list is because she wasn’t actually a duelist. She was more of a cheerleader. In the history of the original anime, Tea only ever had two actual duels that were shown on screen. Though her second duel made for two of my favorite episodes of the anime’s Virtual World filler arc. In those episodes, Tea ends up dueling Crump, the creepy penguin-obsessed member of the Big Five. Fortunately, Tea had Dark Magician Girl to back her up.
8. Cathy (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL): We now come to another one of Yuma’s “eccentric” love interests. In at least three episodes (one which has yet to debut in the U.S. at this time), Cathy has proven to be a capable duelist. But her dueling ability isn’t what’s landed her a spot on this list. It’s the fact that she can command an army of cats to do her bidding. I mean how cool is that?
7. Sherry LeBlanc (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s): Sherry is a character that I feel the writers could’ve done a little more with. Aided by her family’s butler, Sherry arrives in Neo Domino to track down the ones who murdered her parents. And in the process, she becomes a rival and ally to Yusei. Not to mention a potential romantic rival to one of the other characters on this list. Unfortunately, not very much was done with that potential.
6. Mai Valentine (Original Yu-Gi-Oh!): Originally I was rather annoyed by Mai. But I like how she warmed up to Yugi and the others and became a sort of friendly rival. Plus Mai will probably be remembered as one of the most iconic women duelists in the franchise. Her formidable (and censored) Harpie Ladies are to this day still a very well supported archetype in the actual card game. In fact in one of the most recent booster sets in the ZEXAL era, the Harpies have gotten their own Xyz monster.
5. Misty Lola (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s): Super model by day, Dark Signer by night. Misty’s main motivation was to avenge the death of her younger brother. And she got her revenge, big time. It’s that revenge that the reason she’s on this list, for her most powerful monster actually ate a guy! And it wasn’t just some innocent spectator. This was the sort of character whose gruesome death actually causes one to cheer loudly.
4. Carly Nagisa (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s): In addition to being the unexpected love interest of the show’s archrival character, Jack Atlas, Carly is also known for what is so far probably the second coolest evil transformation in the franchise. After suffering a really nasty defeat in a duel, Carly goes from nerdy reporter to powerful Dark Signer. And in true Yu-Gi-Oh fashion, Carly’s deck got a nice evil upgrade too. Carly’s weak Fortune Fairies evolved into the powerful Fortune Ladies. Of course at the end of the Dark Signers arc of 5D’s, Carly returned to her normal self. But it does make one wonder why the dark side is so awesome.
3. Rio Kamishiro (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL): Admittedly, Rio has quickly started to become my favorite character in the ZEXAL anime. The younger twin sister of Yuma’s friend and rival, Shark, Rio was absent from the first half of the series due to being hospitalized. Yet since actually showing up in the anime, Rio has proven to be a strong and independent young lady, not to mention a formidable duelist. Quite recently, it was revealed in the anime that Rio and her brother ruled over an ancient kingdom in their past lives. And that she died a rather tragic death in order to try and save that kingdom from a powerful enemy. Even more interesting is that this past life heavily implies that Rio is, or at one time was, one of the anime’s main villains, the Barian Emperors.
2. Alexis Rhodes (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX): I think one of the things I liked most about Alexis was that she was confident but not arrogant, unlike most of the other Obelisk Blue students in GX. Not to mention the fact that she made a nice love interest for Jaden. A pity that relationship was never really developed. Plus Alexis used a pretty nice set of cards. She was the only character outside of the original saga that used Ritual monsters on a regular basis. Though I do like the ice-themed monsters she used in the manga and while under the control of the Society of Light in the anime a bit more.
1. Aki Izayoi (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s): Nothing like a character with a tragic past and psychic powers. Originally Aki viewed herself as a monster and lashed out at practically everyone with her powers, taking the persona as the Black Rose Witch. But thanks to Yusei, Aki finally stopped hating herself and even gained some control over her powers. Aki’s relationship with Yusei received a lot of development over the course of the anime. And it still ticks me off to this day that they never quite hooked up at the end of the series. Especially since they came so close! Ah well, I guess that’s what fan fiction is for.
That does it for this list. I actually have no clue what the next list will be about. But I’m sure I’ll think of something eventually. Plus I’m sure I’ll do more detailed posts about a lot of these characters at some point. So stay tuned.
