Ngl, best one posted in this thread so far (safe my own biased posts haha)
Yeah, "great character design" is a totally different question than "character I happen to like" but people treat them the same.
The line does get blurred, at least for me. When a character is well designed I already like them just a bit more than others haha.
You can also tell I love designs like Vi and Mizu, because well, they share a lot of design traits with Kyara.
and honestly i'd run out of room but a lot of the character designs from dungeon meshi
i feel like there's plenty of "standard attractive" anime women designs but the ones i'm often the most fond of are those that reflect real life or do something unique with familiar shape language
Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena, the show packs a lot of symbolism into a lot of rather innocuous aspects of her design, and I’m very impressed she can pull off red purple and green all together.
Noticing a conspicuous absence here, Abby
I forgot about them! Thank you dude! ️
Dude!
Name a better combo
The art style of this show is honestly stunning
There’s also Yotsuba she’s so cute!
Does Akiko by Mark Crilley also count?
I love all of them here
This was a very difficult question for me...generally, I'm drawn to anime series by character design first and foremost, so my answer could justifiably be "every girl from every anime I've ever liked". But after a bit of hair-pulling, I managed to narrow my list down to a top 2:
Black Rock Shooter (BRS 2012)Takes her original simple character design concept and greebles it up just enough to make it look more interesting and protagonist-y, but without losing the qualities that made it iconic (effortlessly edgy silhouette, monochrome color scheme, contemporary clothes with fantastical styling). She looks cute yet mysterious, innocent yet dangerous; like a hero and a villain simultaneously. BRS will forever be my inspiration~
Sayaka Miki (Madoka Magica)Filled to the brim with character. The mermaid theming, hero theming, musical theming, and fantasy knight/swordsman theming all blend together seamlessly and masterfully on this single design. If not for the fact that BRS appeals so strongly to my personal taste, Sayaka would be my #1 pick; she's probably THE best anime character design I know. She looks cute and unique, the clothes suit her fighting style and body language, and her color scheme is just delicious-- I love the interactions between pure blue and green-blue; I love the use of white and the bright yellow accents to soften the design. And the fortissimo hairclip looks so perfect; it's hard to believe they didn't add it until the Blu-Ray edition of the anime. Just a 10/10, 100/100 S-tier design....Lemme tell ya, it's been painful to watch the designs in this franchise devolve into "generic pretty dress", "overdesigned RPG waifu" or "external reference so obvious it might as well be a Halloween costume" when THIS used to be the standard.
It's hard to pick just one, but here's Coco from Witch Hat Atelier.
Bonus
Nia from Gurren Lagann. It's a cute and color design and fits her traits.
And Belle. Love her various outfits and dresses. The fact she's designed by a Disney animator really shows. Admire the fact that Suzu's online avatar is based on a hot and popular girl from her school.
Dungeon Meshi is a tour de force in character and setting design. Magnificent at every stage.
This is the closest thing we’ll ever get to an anime of my man
Wait a minute he reminds me of someone!
Clark Kent, My Adventures with Superman
Literally my favorite Superman show in a long time. I have yet to see the new movie. I hear it’s really good.
My favorite female anime design was Kikyo's. Wasn't a big fan of her as a teen, but now as an adult I have a big admiration for her. I know Kikyo and Kagome's design in the manga and the anime was different, but the anime version of Kikyo was beautiful.
i hadn't seen it mentioned but i just remembered brand new animal from studio trigger had some i really enjoyed too
thats like while i love the mcs and whats done with their designs i also had moments where i really got into the side and background characters a lot more just for their visual variety (like i wanted to include the chameleon and another bird but those were dudes u_u )
Geek girl/Gunsmith is cool too!
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nearly forgot (and i know i keep replying) but i just remembered gachiakuta had some really good ones and admittedly i havent watched the anime or read the manga but a big standout for me was her
