The 2010s gave audiences many amazing characters throughout the decade—especially female characters. Some of the most beloved anime females of all time came from 2010s shows. However, for all the good the decade brought, there was also a dark side.
Despite all the great anime that debuted in the 2010s there were several poorly-written female characters. Some were underdeveloped, while others had nonsensical character shifts to serve the plot. Surprisingly, many of these characters came from revered shows. Though there were innumerable fantastically-written female characters from the 2010s, the decade also produced some of the worst.
Updated by Alexandra Locke on May 24, 2023: Female anime characters from the 2010s range from some of the best, most well-written characters to some of the worst. These poorly adapted girls and women had no personality and often made horrible decisions. Others were uninteresting stereotypes that have continued to crop up in stories despite their lack of appeal. As there is an unfortunate number of worst-written anime females from the 2010s, this article has been updated to include even more disappointing female characters.
15 Hinata & Rui Tachibana (Domestic Girlfriend)
The Tachibana sisters from Domestic Girlfriend are a rather strange pair. Hinata is a teacher who begins to fall for one of her teenage students, while Rui decides to ask a stranger to have sex with her, just so she can have the experience. Little do they know that their attentions are on the same boy—their new stepbrother, Natsuki Fuji.
Not only is the fact that their characters are in love with their stepbrother (and one of them is his teacher), but both sisters make terrible choices throughout Domestic Girlfriend that are unnecessarily complicated and cringeworthy. Both girls flip back and forth between having Natsuo, which makes the ending of the manga even more uncomfortable. The Tachibana sisters could have had some interesting stories about love and rejection, but their storylines come off as overly melodramatic instead.
14 Ritsuka Tachibana (Dance with the Devils)
Dance with the Devils is a reverse harem anime featuring a young girl named Ritsuka Tachibana. She is an average girl until she finds herself caught up in a war between demons and devils in her school. Believing she is the key to their triumph, both sides go about seducing her to gain her power.
Despite her classmates being dangerous creatures who treat her abysmally, Ritsuka does nothing. She appears unfazed no matter how they treat her and has little involvement with the story, other than to be the tale’s McGuffin. Ritsuka's lack of personality and effect she has on the story make her a nearly inconsequential character in her own show.
13 Chiaki Hoshinomori (Gamers!)
Chiaki Hoshinomori is a gamer girl from the anime, Gamers!. Much like the protagonist, Keita Amano, Hoshinomori likes to play games on her own. Yet, when she realizes that she and Keita are online friends, the two begin regular, heated debates about games together. However, outside their few one-on-one meetings, Hoshinomori remains mostly in the background.
Gamers! tries to imply that Hoshinomori has a crush on Keita, and she watches him from the sidelines as he woos Karen Tendou, but nothing officially ever happens. While the other four main characters stand out as individuals, Hoshinomori always fades into the background due to her gloomy personality and tendency to play alone.
12 Misaki Ayuzawa (Maid Sama!)
Misaki Ayuzawa has a lot to prove as the first female Student Council President at Seiji High. She deals gracefully with the pressures of her position, plus the stress of her part-time job to help her family’s financial situation. However, that does not excuse her mistreatment of boys throughout Maid Sama!.
Understandably, Misaki is expected to show a strong front to all the boys at school, but her favoritism toward the girls is blatantly unfair. Though this is played as a character point, it only serves to make Misaki appear completely unfeeling to her classmates. Additionally, her growing relationship with the boy stalking her is another uncomfortable storyline many fans have trouble reconciling.
11 Airi Sakura (Classroom of the Elite)
Sakura is one of the members of the downtrodden class D in Classroom of the Elite. Initially, Sakura is played as a shy, nerdy girl who blends into the background. However, she is brought to the forefront when a stalker emerges.
Sakura is then thrown into a cliché and degrading storyline that implies her online presence as a style influencer makes her amoral, and that it is her fault unsavory people are after her. Not only is this story arc unimaginative and insulting, but the fact that she is saved by a boy (who she instantly falls for) is even more demeaning and tired storytelling.
10 Satomi Murano (Parasyte: The Maxim)
Satomi Murano is a normal high school girl who Shinichi Izumi has a crush on. However, when he is permanently connected to a Parasite, Shinichi's chances with her seem to plummet. Fortunately for Shinichi, Parasyte: The Maxim does a poor job of developing Murano significantly.
Although Makoto is the first person to notice that Shinichi is not himself both when Migi appears and when his mother dies, she does not have much growth. She is mostly the same person that she was at the beginning of the series. She is kind and loving and would do anything for Shinichi. Beyond that, fans never really get to learn any more about her.
9 Ikumi Mito (Food Wars)
Mito is a meat master in Food Wars. She can cook any type of animal protein to perfection using her vast knowledge and incredible skill set. However, once she is beaten by Yukihira Sohma, Ikumi loses almost all the fire and confidence she had.
After losing to Yukihira in a Donburi contest, Ikumi is hardly ever seen showcasing her culinary abilities again. Plus, she falls instantly in love with Yukihira, further undermining her former confident personality. Instead, fans are left with an awkward Ikumi who works quietly in the background, making furtive glances at her new crush.
8 Shizuka Marikawa (High School of the Dead)
Shizuka Marikawa is one of the few adults who escapes Fujimi High during a zombie invasion in High School of the Dead. As the school nurse, many would assume that she would be an asset to the ragtag band of heroes, but she ends up being more of a hindrance than a help.
Marikawa is written as an airhead who never has any idea about what is happening around her. She often requires saving and does little to help the group survive their dire circumstances. She may be one of the oldest, but her stereotypical spacey personality belies her age.
7 Ako Tamaki (And You Thought There Was Never A Girl Online?)
And You Thought There Was Never A Girl Online? is a quasi-isekai anime about a young man named Hideki Nishimura who plays an MMORPG with his online friend, Ako Tamaki. When the two decide to get married in the game, Nishimura thinks nothing of it. Unfortunately, Tamaki does not feel the same.
Tamaki is a poorly-written character because of how completely she believes that the game is real. Though it is part of the story, Tamaki is unnecessarily childish, making her relationship with Nishimura seem more uncomfortable than it needs to be. Tamaki's delusions make her an unsettling character to root for—especially in an anime that focuses on romance.
6 Narumi Momose (Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku)
Narumi Momose is presented as the protagonist of Wotakoi: Love is Hard For Otaku. Fans are meant to sympathize with her character for not wanting to out her niche interests to her prospective dates because she fears they will make fun of her. Yet, once Narumi begins dating fellow otaku Hirotaka Nifuji, she does nothing but make fun of and belittle him and his interests.
Despite her similar anime and gaming hobbies, Narumi continues to chide Hirotaka at every chance she gets. Her remarks sting even more when fans learn that Hirotaka has loved her since childhood. It is baffling that the writers made Narumi so cruel when she is supposed to be one of the biggest otaku in the group and she and Hirotaka are meant to be the central romance.
5 Ochaco Uraraka (My Hero Academia)
Ochaco Uraraka begins My Hero Academia as a bubbly and relatable girl with a school-girl crush on the protagonist, Izuku Midoriya. Midoriya shared her feelings initially, but as the show continues, Midoriya seems to all buy forget Uraraka. Meanwhile, Uraraka is so hung up on Midoriya that it starts affecting her hero work.
The fact that the writers make Uraraka almost useless because of a boy is an archaic and lazy trope. As one of the lead female characters, there are countless things about her that the writers could have put more focus on, such as her fighting development or her familial relationship. Sadly, that is not the case, and Uraraka spends most of the show pining for a boy who doesn't notice.
4 Yuuki Asuna (Sword Art Online)
Yuuki Asuna began the Sword Art Online franchise as one of the coolest and most beloved female characters. She is an expert swordsman—second only to Kirito—and is a compassionate soul who would do anything for her loved ones. However, that changes in the second anime arc. Rather than remaining a powerful warrior, Asuna is reduced to a damsel in distress locked in a cage.
Asuna's entire storyline is used only to make Kirito more of an independent hero, so he can save her. Even in the Gun Gale arc, Asuna has little to do with the story or any of the anime's events. Though she is somewhat redeemed later on, Asuna's character assassination is one of the worst writing decisions for a female character.
3 Miharu Mashiki (Convenience Store Boy Friends)
Miharu Mashiki is one of the many characters featured in Convenience Store Boy Friends. She is a happy, pleasant character with an illness that is later revealed, but that is almost everything that viewers get to know about her. They also learn that she had a twin sister who passed away and that her sister gave Haruki Mishima the merman book.
Yet, viewers only discover most of this information in the last two episodes of the show, which is especially cruel considering that the anime has an ambiguous ending. Miharu's character could have been so much more complex, but with so many other characters to introduce and develop, her story was brushed to the side.
2 Tamaki Kotatsu (Fire Force)
Tamaki Kotatsu is one of the many third-generation pyrokinetic soldiers from Fire Force. She has the power to create twin tails of fire and ears like a cat that she uses to battle Infernals.
Tamaki is a powerful fighter, but her entire character is ruined due to a near-constant unfortunate phenomenon called Lecher-lure. This "curse" somehow puts Tamaki into situations where all of her clothes fall off whenever she is around men. It is a cheap, degrading character trait that undermines anything meaningful Tamaki does.
1 Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan)
Ackerman had a traumatic past, but she was saved thanks to Eren Yeager. Because of this, Mikasa becomes utterly smitten with him, and follows and protects him everywhere he goes. They even join the military together where Mikasa is hailed as one of the best soldiers in the Paradis army. However, her obsessive attachment to Eren is her character's downfall. Understandably, Mikasa has feelings for Eren considering their past, but they become nonsensical once Eren reveals his true intentions for his Founding Titan power.
Even after Eren dismisses Mikasa's feelings, calls her a slave, and lays waste to their home, Mikasa quibbles about her feelings. She may be in love with him, but there is a difference between amorous devotion and recognizing right from wrong—something Mikasa's character does not seem to understand in Attack on Titan.