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Which of the Big Three/Forbidden Four Animes (AKA the ones huge in 00s) Had The Best Female Characters?

Which of the BIG 2000s Animes Had The Best Female Characters?

  • One Piece

    Votes: 164 49.1%

  • Dragon Ball Z

    Votes: 33 9.9%

  • Bleach

    Votes: 93 27.8%

  • Naruto

    Votes: 44 13.2%
  • Total voters
    334
Sandfox

Sandfox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,743
Bleach's problem is that the vast majority of the series focuses on damsels in distress cheering for Ichigo to save them to the point where it turns into memes. They are just objects for Ichigo to protect because that's his thing and the same thing even applies to his sisters. Bleach also has a problem where characters have to be saved every fight and that really burned Rukia a lot.

Naruto straight up doesn't care about it's female characters and does them dirty.
 
Lunar Wolf

Lunar Wolf

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
16,237
Los Angeles
Sandfox said:
Bleach's problem is that the vast majority of the series focuses on damsels in distress cheering for Ichigo to save them to the point where it turns into memes. They are just objects for Ichigo to protect because that's his thing and the same thing even applies to his sisters. Bleach also has a problem where characters have to be saved every fight and that really burned Rukia a lot.

Naruto straight up doesn't care about it's female characters and does them dirty.
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It's pretty much picking the lesser evil from the four.

One Piece's females are written okay but Oda draws them as mostly jerk off material. Most of them are just sticks with balloons and some of them are even minors.

DBZ's female characters are less than non-important outside of Android 18 and....maybe Videl. Chichi is a caricature and Bulma is there to get impregnated by Vegeta mostly.
 
The Silver

The Silver

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,704
I can't choose they all suck, this is picking between different colored turds.


OP has the best writing but my god would he stop drawing minors as strippers, what happened to pre timeskip Oda?

Naruto has the worst writing between Sakura and Karin and pretty much any woman involved with Sasuke. Tsunade is alright, everyone is just.....there....which isn't good in the case of Hinata. Better than Bleach and OP in the dumb sexualization department.


Women....in....DBZ....I'm sorry I don't understand? Next.

Bleach, well they do exist I guess. No one as bad as Sakura and doesn't stoop to the design lows of OP(from what I can remember).

Does Bleach win by being the middle ground between everything? idk, maybe.
 
Htown

Htown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,317
Lunar Wolf said:
DBZ's female characters are less than non-important outside of Android 18 and....maybe Videl. Chichi is a caricature and Bulma is there to get impregnated by Vegeta mostly.
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That's a little unfair to Bulma. She gets points for being one of the smartest people on the planet and inventing time travel.

That said, this is the same story where the writer literally forgot about Launch, who was the second most important female character in Dragon Ball for a while, so DBZ is at the bottom of the list for sure.
 
Wes D. Mess

Wes D. Mess

Avenger
Aug 11, 2018
1,552
Chicago
Naruto's females are full of potential and majority are at least drawn reasonably well (as in I wouldn't be embarrased if someone caught me reading it in public and saw one of the character design), but the writing is kind of a joke. Every prominent character has their portrayal/development revolve around a man. The one female character who doesnt care about romance and has an actual goal may as well not even exist. (TenTen)

One Piece overall has the best written females but jesus christ the designs have taken a turn for the worse since Water 7. If you are considered attractive you're given the Nami/Robin face and laughable curves. Otherwise you are either old, fat, ugly, or a combo of all the above. Female character designs like Otohime are not common. Hell, even someone as average as Tashigi was given big boobs and ridiculous curves post timeskip. Not even getting into how someone like Sanji acts around women (prob the most disappointing character in the timeskip imo), the comedic moments where no woman likes typical guy stuff, how Oda portrays them in fights, etc. I wouldn't be as disappointed if Oda didnt do such a solid job with female characters pre timeskip.

Bleach is...adequate. Its got the bad habits of both Naruto and One Piece but not that bad? Honestly I dropped Bleach when the Quincies invaded Soul Society so maybe it got worse I dunno.

LOL DRAGONBALL.

My answer? None of the above.

Twist my arm? One Piece, off the strength of pre Thriller Bark and Whole Cake Island.

Bleach something of a close second.
 
Annubis

Annubis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,654
sph3re said:
Who in the sweet fuck voted for DBZ
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I did...
I mean between these four anime, I'd say DBZ has the best female characters.
Bulma, 18 and I'd even say Chichi (I mean, she's living the life she actually wanted... that's something) are fine.

I know OP has great female characters, but the designs make it impossible to choose for me.
Naruto and Bleach are super insulting to their female cast.
 
NHarmonic.

NHarmonic.

â–˛ Legend â–˛
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
10,290
Sandfox said:
Bleach's problem is that the vast majority of the series focuses on damsels in distress cheering for Ichigo to save them to the point where it turns into memes. They are just objects for Ichigo to protect because that's his thing and the same thing even applies to his sisters. Bleach also has a problem where characters have to be saved every fight and that really burned Rukia a lot.

Naruto straight up doesn't care about it's female characters and does them dirty.
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Still Rukia had some amazing moments. The Aaroniero Arruruerie fight, and later
her bankai reveal.
 
Nocturnowl

Nocturnowl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,060
When you put them all together like that, I don't want to vote for any of them!

Wes's post up there does a good job approaching most of my own thoughts mind you.
 
Temperance

Temperance

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,793
[NO 2FA]
Nico in OP actually had agency in terms of her personal goal (researching tablets) independently of the other members. OP wins.

lol at the douche vs turd sandwich posts already.
 
Big One

Big One

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,277
One Piece is the best and Bleach is the absolute worst and anyway saying otherwise about Bleach is full of it. I'm talking about objectivity too, Bleach has all of them beat.
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,137
Annubis said:
I did...
I mean between these four anime, I'd say DBZ has the best female characters.
Bulma, 18 and I'd even say Chichi (I mean, she's living the life she actually wanted... that's something) are fine.

I know OP has great female characters, but the designs make it impossible to choose for me.
Naruto and Bleach are super insulting to their female cast.
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I love Dragon Ball, but Bulma is basically just as boy crazy as she was in the beginning until she settles down with Vegeta, Chichi the same. 18, you could maybe have a case for. Videl... she has some personality, then she gets it beaten out of her. Maybe if you're just talking about designs you might have a point.
 
Altair

Altair

Member
Jan 11, 2018
7,901
DB ended in '95 (the manga anyway). Bleach, One Piece, and Naruto are the 3 that compromised the big three of the 00s. Anyway, I'd go with Bleach. The most important characters outside of Ichigo were females (Rukia and Orihime). None of them treat their female cast particularly well though.
 
Big One

Big One

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,277
Hystzen said:
Naruto has a female character emotionally abused for years fails in fights after multiple power ups then has a kid with her abuser.
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Yeah in writing Naruto is the worst but most of the designs are all that bad tbh. One Piece is the complete opposite of that lmao. Bleach has the worst both worlds.
 
Charred Knight

Charred Knight

Member
Oct 8, 2019
9,116
Big One said:
One Piece is the best and Bleach is the absolute worst and anyway saying otherwise about Bleach is full of it. I'm talking about objectivity too, Bleach has all of them beat.
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Naruto has the main character marries his comic relief stalker, while the main female lead marries the psychopath who tried to kill her. The show also hypes up somebody as one of the greatest ninjas of all time, but she barely does anything despite being made the Hokage. Numerous times a female character will seem to get character development but then she will go back into the background for the next 30 volumes. Hinata despite being the character who was always supposed to marry the main character basically peaks by the second arc of the manga, which is the arc she was introduced in.
 
Lunar Wolf

Lunar Wolf

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
16,237
Los Angeles
Charred Knight said:
Naruto has the main character marries his comic relief stalker, while the main female lead marries the psychopath who tried to kill her. The show also hypes up somebody as one of the greatest ninjas of all time, but she barely does anything despite being made the Hokage.
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Eh, I'm going to give a big break on Kishi's Tsunade here.

Tsunade put a decent showing (as did all the other Kage) against Madara so I say she earned her title. It's not like she embarrassed herself in that arc.

And when you're Hokage, you're not really supposed to do the fighting. You're supposed to do more leading.

Not to mention that Kishimoto did plan a fight betwee Tsunade and Pain that his editor forced him to cut so they could get to the main event.

Numerous times a female character will seem to get character development but then she will go back into the background for the next 30 volumes. Hinata despite being the character who was always supposed to marry the main character basically peaks by the second arc of the manga, which is the arc she was introduced in.
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This is almost all the Konoha 11.

Characters like Shino, Hinata, Tenten, Rock Lee, Neji, Ino, maybe Kiba etc peaked in that arc. They were characters that Kishimoto introduced to fill the Chunin Exam roster and not characters that he knew exactly what he was going to do with for after that since the Chunin Exams were forced on him by the editor.

The only Konoha Genin that didn't peak in the Chunin Exams are Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura who are the main characters and Shikamaru who was a breakout hit along with Choji since the Chunin Exams introduced him as a joke.
 
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RPTGB

RPTGB

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,189
UK
It's not on the list but it started only two years after Bleach....Gintama is the correct answer.
 
jph139

jph139

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,363
Yeah this is really a pick your poison situation.

Bleach has some good ones, but they're all sidelined very quickly after they're introduced, and spend a lot of time delegated to "weak supporting character awestruck by badass male character" scenes.

Naruto's biggest sin is that they're mostly boring, or mostly just love interests. There's exceptions, like Tsunade, but other than her they're just bit characters like Tenten.

One Piece probably has the most variety in female archetypes, but the designs are SO shallow. Just the same "sexy body" with a different head slapped on - and honestly, not even that sometimes.

Like, I'll give it to One Piece, because it has multiple women that are actual characters, with personalities and development and character arcs, that are likable and mostly independent. But in any medium but "shonen anime" it would be far below par.
 
diakyu

diakyu

Member
Dec 15, 2018
17,520
In the timeframe mentioned it's one piece no question, then oda started to get real bad with some of the female designs
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,085
One Piece. It's not close. It didn't last, but even as things currently are it handily beats out Naruto and DBZ and comes out on top of Bleach.
 
Inuhanyou

Inuhanyou

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,214
New Jersey
Rukia was my fave big 3 shounen heroine....didnt follow op and naruto had clear issues so i guess bleach...although i dont really see anyone stand out in bleach besides that
 
Verelios

Verelios

Member
Oct 26, 2017
14,876
Sandfox said:
I honestly can't remember any female character doing anything in Shaman King lol. It's been a long time though.
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Anna accomplished most of the goals she initally set out to do at the start like making a well known hot spring while Jun was pretty much a surrogate CEO for Tao's family company. Jeanne and the Buddha Sati were also among the top ten strongest Shamans of the tournament. I'd say they did pretty well, shounen women wise.
 
Huggy

Huggy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
897
One Piece easily, though I haven't read/watched Bleach. DBZ and Naruto are really bad about this and almost seems like a joke to include them lol. One Piece gets worse about it as well after the timeskip with Nami and Robin not really getting any fights or huge moments anymore (Nami finally got some love in Big Mom arc though).

Black Clover is modern but it actually has really good female characters and kinda surprised me about it. Noelle started out as a basic Tsundere, but she has really gotten alot of great character development and has had some huge moments and victories in fights. Also Mereoleona is the best.
 
shintoki

shintoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,068
Bleach is the best by a mile and its not close. Bleach has a pretty well round cast of female characters and while it has issues, it didn't really have glaring issues like the other three.

One Piece started well, but the 2nd half has turned to shit. The designs and character development dropped in the toilet and it is the worst of the four if it was just the second portion. But Arlong Park + Enies Lobby put it in second place.

DBZ, I'd pick DBZ for 3rd. This is a case of less is better. The female cast is never developed in any real way outside of Bulma and 17 for the Android Arc. But the designs have always been solid in my mind

Naruto. The design are fine and the potential was always there... but the entire show did this consistently. Introduce female character or new development... betray it 5 episodes later. Its godamn frustrating
 
Lunar Wolf

Lunar Wolf

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
16,237
Los Angeles
The Adder said:
One Piece. It's not close. It didn't last, but even as things currently are it handily beats out Naruto and DBZ and comes out on top of Bleach.
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It put a minor in this outfit:

latest
 
Aaronrules380

Aaronrules380

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
22,423
shintoki said:
Aye, the designs are straight trash fire and easily the worst of the lot.
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I'm not going to defend that outfit because it's still awful, but I'd argue a few other's like Shirahoshi's are worse just on the fact that at least in that case there was context which would explain why she was wearing it, since it was likely something she was forced to wear to humiliate her and literally everything else she wears when she isn't being forced to fight as a gladiator against her will is much more modest. On the other hand Shirahoshi's clothes make no sense given her character and position so that one is just there to be fanservice bait
 

ccbfan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,497
It's DBZ or Bleach.

Naruto and one piece are actually offensive to the point that they have negative points.

DBZ is almost nothing so it has 0 point.

Bleach has some cool characters but the over play of damsel in distress brings it way down. So I'm not sure if it's negative or positive. It's does have my two favorite female characters of the 4 series though.
 
ArgyleReptile

ArgyleReptile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,912
One Piece and Bleach.

One Piece tops the list in terms of character development, but Bleach tops the list when it comes to the ladies seeing action.

The real answer is Black Clover though, where you get the best of both worlds.
 
Mochi

Mochi

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,704
Seattle
I gave it to Bleach cuz I always thought Yoruichi was cool af, and Rukia was great even if she was kinda wasted for much of the series.
 
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