In shojo anime, making the heroine a klutz is almost as ubiquitous as her being late for school in the first episode. This is usually done to make her more relatable and more of an underdog character. If she's a magical girl, she tends to lose this trait when transformed (and it also helps characters from realizing her secret identity). But there are exceptions.

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Often the heroine isn't going to be clumsy if it is important to the plot that she's very athletic. After all, being good at most sports requires not constantly falling on your face. Sometimes, the reverse is true and the heroine is shown to be graceful.

10 Clumsy: Usagi Is Defined By Her Klutziness, Even As Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon)

sailor moon supers movie usagi

One of Usagi's defining traits is her clumsiness. This even becomes a plot point in one episode where the villains install a princess-themed finishing school to figure out Sailor Moon's identity, knowing that she is a clumsy, graceless girl who would fail the classes. It was very lucky for Usagi that Rei and Minako are just as graceless at ballroom dancing as she is.

It's implied, in the 1990s anime at least, that she was much more graceful as Princess Serenity, having been shown as a capable dancer and even ice skater, but whatever talent she had in her past life didn't seem to translate well into her present life. Usually, however, she does well when she has Tuxedo Mask to lead her.

9 Not Clumsy: Minako Was Pretty Athletic When She Was The Star Of The Show (Codename Wa Sailor V)

Sailor V Sailor Moon

Minako Aino, even back when she was Sailor V, might have had a few bad habits, but she was always pretty athletic. This even comes in handy as Sailor V, since she has nearly as many physical attacks as magical ones. She even opens up the story by doing gymnastic tricks. This even becomes a plot point early in the Sailor Moon manga, she is able to pass herself off as Princess Serenity in part because nobody would think someone like Usagi was the real princess.

As mentioned, however, the 1990s anime generally portrayed her as more or less just as clumsy, if slightly more athletic, as Usagi. One episode even had Luna suggest she could even be clumsier than Usagi.

8 Clumsy: Himeno's Clumsy Despite Being A Black Belt (Pretear)

Pretear Himeno

At first, Himeno actually seems pretty athletic and strong, even boasting that she's a black belt when it comes to martial arts. Her stepsister Mayune likes to humiliate her, which makes her seem more graceless than she really is, out of context. She even manages to keep composure when a weight falls on her head.

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But as the story goes on, Himeno shows her clumsier side, especially when she gives into her emotions. Her main issue is really that she jumps into situations without thinking, such as when she eats a large spread of food during an endurance test before it was explained the test was meant to see how long she could sit without touching the food.

7 Not Clumsy: Cure White Is Rather Stoic & Stern (Pretty Cure)

Cure White Is Rather Stoic & Stern

One thing that set apart the original Pretty Cure series from other similar magical girl shows at the time was that both Cure Black and Cure White are willing to get physical when fighting. While Nagisa, Cure Black, is an athlete, she can still get clumsy at times. Her co-star, Honoka, Cure White, is shown at times to be rather graceful and stoic.

This generally comes from her being slightly less comedic than Nagisa, who can be forgetful and dramatic when the situation requires it. She's also rather stern, disliking laziness in others. While Nagisa is the tomboy of the two, Honoka is also pretty athletic in her own right, being a capable skier, for example.

6 Clumsy: Ahiru Has The Excuse Of Being A Duck (Princess Tutu)

An image from Princess Tutu.

Ahiru attends a ballet school like the other major characters, but she really doesn't have much talent for it. That said, she does have something of an excuse: she's actually a duck transformed into a human girl to help save the prince she loves. It also doesn't help that she has the habit of turning back into a duck at times.

When she transforms into Princess Tutu, however, she is a surprisingly talented dancer. She is so graceful and poised that even Ahiru herself wonders if she really is Princess Tutu or not.

5 Not Clumsy: She's Skilled With a Baton (Princess Comet)

Princess Comet

In this anime series, which was based on a live-action series from the 1960s, Princess Comet comes to Earth to search for a missing prince. Despite being the main character, Comet eschews the trope of being clumsy and is actually pretty athletic.

In the anime version, Comet used a baton-like wand and she performs her magic tricks with it like a real-life gymnast would.

4 Clumsy: Lucia Might Not Be Used To Legs (Mermaid Melody)

Mermaid Meolody Lucia

The heroine of this series, Lucia, is a mermaid in human form and is known to be rather clumsy at times, as she has a habit of tripping over things.

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It's possible that this can be attributed to her being a mermaid granted human form, as she is simply not used to walking on human legs. On the other hand, she is not terribly gifted in mermaid abilities, such as her also being a poor singer.

3 Not Clumsy: Utena Tenjou Has Skill In & Outside The Duels (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena Swordfight

When she was little, a prince comforted Utena at her parents' funeral, breaking her out of a nearly suicidal depression. So impressed with the young man, Utena became determined to become a prince herself. Utena soon proves herself to be a talented swordswoman during the Rose Bride duels, which is not only important to the plot but is something that reflects her desire to be a prince.

She is also shown to be extremely talented when it comes to anything athletic. For example, she dominates the other students at the school's basketball court.

2 Clumsy: Her Classmates Even Gave Her A Nickname Over It (Ojamajo Doremi)

Doremi Ojamajo Clumsy

Doremi is known for being spectacularly unlucky and this partially translates to her being horribly clumsy. Her classmates even dub her "Dojimi," a pun on her name and the Japanese word for clumsy.

Her personality tied with her odango hairstyle, among a few other similarities, has some fans speculate that she was based in part on Usagi Tsukino.

1 Not Clumsy: This Classic Heroine Has All The Skills Of A Princess & A Knight (Princess Knight)

Princess Knight

Set in a fairy tale kingdom, Princess Sapphire must pose as a boy, a real prince, in order to inherit her kingdom's throne and save it from evil successors.

Because of this, she is essentially raised to be adept at both traditionally "masculine" and "feminine" activities. She's also strong and can take on opponents, to the point where she's shown to be good with a sword even as a baby.

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