The anime tomboy has always been an underrated, but beloved niche type of anime character. However, anyone serious about tomboys in anime know that the best of them come in different flavors.
Perhaps you like the outspoken and athletic type of tomboy that excels on the field and whose blunt personality makes them a bro to their guy friends.
Or maybe the princely type of tomboy who acts like a perfect gentleman and woos every girl she meets is more your style.
Of course, there is also the tomboy by circumstance whose upbringing shaped them to forsake femininity in lieu of more practical masculinity that allows them to survive in tougher environments.
Regardless of which type of anime tomboy character you enjoy, we gathered up a whole group of the best tomboys that anime have to offer.
Best Anime Tomboys
Tomo from Tomo-Chan is a Girl
Tomboys were always enjoyed in anime, but seeing such a blatant one like Tomo as a main character is finally giving anime tomboys the spotlight that they deserve.
Tomo is the daughter of a karate master, who practices his style and grew up beside her childhood friend in his dojo. She doesn’t know how to be anything but tough and has always enjoyed the same activities that boys do. This makes it particularly tough when she wants her crush to notice her as a woman instead of just as a bro.
Seishiro from Nisekoi
Seishiro is a comical tomboy in that a good portion of people, including her her own adoptive father, didn’t realize she was a woman until she grew the assets for it in puberty.
Seishiro was raised by a gang to be a hitman, and is extremely loyal to them. However, after constantly being treated like a man from childhood, Seishiro doesn’t quite know how to handle people treating her like a woman.
Mikasa from Attack on Titan
Imagine being so dedicated to someone that you would forsake everything, including femininity, to protect them.
This dedication made Misaka into a steel ab-sporting titan slaughter machine, but it turns out that even unwavering loyalty and martial skill aren’t great at grabbing the attention of her crush.
This is one tomboy you feel for as you watch her constantly put her feelings out there only for them to get stepped all over.
Casca from Berserk
After she was rescued by Griffith, the leader of the Band of the Hawk, as a child, he put a sword in her hand and gained her fierce loyalty and admiration. However, even under his protection, the mercenary life is tough on the lone woman in the band. It is either be the toughest tomboy or suffer a worse fate.
Casca is built on aggression. She has to be. While the series allows her to show more vulnerable sides later, it makes what happen to her sting even worse.
Yuu Kashima and Yuzuki Seo from Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun has two supporting tomboy characters, both of somewhat different types.
Kashima is a princely type of tomboy that is a woman, but looks much like a man and is treated as such by all the girls. Because she is a more non-threatening type of tomboy, this makes her popular with girls and she loves it.
Alternatively, Seo is more of an aggressive tomboy. She is good at basketball and is completely blunt with other people. However, her one feminine trait is an excellent singing voicing. However, her bluntness often causes trouble for the singing club.
While both tomboys of different types, it is made pretty clear that neither knows how to handle romance in earnest.
Chizuru from Kimi ni Todoke
When the tomboy isn’t the star, much of the time they are regulated to the best friend of someone vastly more girly. That is the case with Chizuru.
Chizuru is tall and athletic, which makes her the perfect companion for the short and girly Ayane. She and Ayane waiver between being the composed one as they each get quick to anger over different things.
As Kimi ni Todoke is about character growth as much as it is about romance, it often gives you a peek in on the struggles that Chizuru goes through being a tomboy while still having an occasionally girlish heart.
Momoe from Wonder Egg Priority
Like Chizuru, Momoe is another occasionally troubled tomboy. You see, while most tomboys on this list are perfectly happy as such, Momoe seems to rather lament the role she was strong-armed into.
With a handsome face and slender body, girls fall for her as a princely type, and she feels like she can’t indulge her girlish heart.
Her tale as a tomboy is actually one of the great highlights of Wonder Egg Priority.
Kino from Kino’s Journey
It isn’t often that you get back story for why an anime girl is a tomboy. Usually, she just is. However, Kino’s Journey goes the extra mile to explain why she dresses like a man.
However, even though the anime explains why she dresses the way she does, being a tomboy is about being more than just what you wear. Because Kino is often a subdued observer, the way she acts doesn’t lean one way or the other when it comes to being masculine or feminine.
Ryuko from Kill la Kill
For a show about fighting in uniforms that get more powerful the skimpier they get, Kill la Kill doesn’t seem like a place for a tomboy, but that’s why Ryuko works perfectly. You couldn’t get the same intensity to the action if she was constantly embarrassed by what she was wearing.
Instead, Ryuko doesn’t care what she wears as long as it gets her the power to get closer to her goal. She is fearless and stubborn, which means she will never yield to the oppressive authority that stands in her way.
She is the pinnacle of an indomitable tomboy.
Revy from Black Lagoon
Revy is what happens when you mix tomboys with psychopathy. As a mercenary, the life demands Revy is tough, but no one said she had to enjoy the murder and mayhem as much as she does.
In Black Lagoon, it always seems like the bigger the gun Revy has in her hand, the better time she is having. Outside of that, drinking and bullying Rock are her other favorite hobbies.
Chie and Naoto from Persona 4: The Animation
The anime adaptation of Persona 4 comes with two notable tomboys in the main cast.
If there is one thing Chie enjoys more than meat, it is kung-fu movies. She is the classic loud, outgoing, and athletic tomboy that brings energy to the group.
Naoto is on the opposite end of the spectrum. She is quiet and observational – excellent skills for a detective to have. However, she often hides her femininity and is mistaken as a man so that she will be taken seriously. While Chie doesn’t undergo much change, Naoto eventually comes to embrace being more feminine as the series goes on.
Hinako from Girl Beats Boys
While this show is about cross-dressing and going to a boys school, that doesn’t always mean a tomboy. However, even before being forced into cross-dressing, Hinako was already on the tough side.
After events with her real family, Hinako ended up being raised in an orphanage. As the other orphans were frequently bullied, the righteous side of Hinako felt it was her duty to defend them. After learning martial arts, she did so.
This definitely helps her at her new school full of delinquents that thinks she is a boy, but unlike other quick-to-anger anime tomboys, Hinako uses her skills only in defense of others.
Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club
Haruhi is often a tomboy simply because she doesn’t especially care for the constraints of gender labels.
Before the series starts, she had long hair, but got gum in it. Practical as she is, she just cut her hair. Because she is dedicated to her studies and also poor, she dresses in comfortable masculine clothes instead of a uniform.
Really she ends up as a tomboy more because people don’t realize she is a girl and doesn’t correct them. The unique thing about this tomboy is you do see her in more feminine clothes, and she is perfectly okay wearing them. This is contrary to the usual tomboy in anime that is violently against a more feminine look.
Hotaru from Aoharu X Machinegun
Hotaru in Aoharu X Machinegun is often compared to Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club because their anime series are so similar. However, whereas Haruhi is a tomboy more because she doesn’t really care to be girly, Hotaru is a bit of a different case.
Hotaru is the righteous one that will always stick up for people, especially female classmates taken advantage of by men. It is how she ends up going up going from yelling at a host to joining his airsoft team.
Because she is aggressive, slender, and keeps her hair cut short, she is also mistaken as a man, but also doesn’t really care if she is.
Akane from Ranma ½
Akane is raised in a prestigious martial arts family. While that doesn’t necessarily mean her fate as a tomboy was sealed at birth, because her mother died young, she didn’t get a lot of exposure to femininity. So in the end what you get is a tomboy who occasionally shows a more girlish side.
The unique thing about Akane being a tomboy in Ranma ½ is the titular Ranma is cursed so that he turns into a girl after being exposed to cold water and returns to being a man when exposed to hot water. Who better to be his forced fiance than a tomboy who also enjoys both sides of each gender in her personality rather than her body?
Winry from Full Metal Alchemist
You don’t see a lot of handy women, even among the ranks of tomboys, but that’s Winry. She is the daughter of mechanics, and learned their craft from them. This and her status as childhood friend has made her the go-to mechanic for Edward’s prosthetic automail arm.
While Winry is only a supporting character that you only sometimes see, they still make sure to show you that she is a tomboy built on empathy. She may be handy, but she still has a tender, caring heart.
Sora from Digimon
While Mimi is the girly one of the Digi-Destined, Sora is often just one of the boys. She loves sports and is pretty good at them too.
Even in Digimon Tri when she has grown into a teenager, Sora is still athletic and tomboyish. The love triangle that develops around her is also pretty rare for a tomboy, but not unwelcome.
Misty from Pokemon
If it didn’t happen with Sora up above, this is exactly where you realize that your appreciation for tomboys started at childhood with Misty.
She’s as dedicated to being a Pokemon trainer as Ash and often remains the sensible one in their trio. Despite being raised around sisters, Misty still acts the tough tomboy, perhaps out of sheer determination.
Misaki from Class President is a Maid
While many anime tomboys enjoy romance, they don’t tend to get very developed. Class President is a Maid is a romance anime for those who wish to see a tomboy softened by affection.
Misaki didn’t get to be the class president of a recently co-ed school full of mostly boys by being a girl that people could push around. No, she had to be tough and she had to be feared. It makes it all the more shocking when one boy finds out that she also works part-time at a maid cafe.
However, Misaki isn’t a tomboy without some femininity, but that said, she also doesn’t care what she looks like. She just wants to be taken seriously.
Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena
After being saved by a prince as a child, Utena didn’t want to marry one some day – she wanted to be a prince herself!
As such, when she goes to Ohtori Academy, she acts in the defense of the Rose Bride, a girl whose hand is constantly dueled over by men. She defeats suitors, and Utena finally approaches her dream of becoming a prince.
Utena really is everything you want in a princely tomboy. She is charming and gallant, but also she still keeps her empathy.
Misaka from A Certain Scientific Railgun
Misaka is easily one of the more powerful tomboys on this list. With her electric powers, it can help to burst right through obstacles with shocking results.
However, she is often pressured to act more proper, but Misaka is a tomboy who is confident in who she is.
She also prefers shorts to skirts, wearing them under her skirt and hoping to do away with the skirt altogether someday.
Sailor Uranus from Sailor Moon
Despite what the English dub did to her in the older Sailor Moon series, Sailor Uranus was likely one of the first tastes many anime fans got of an LGBT character in anime.
While not all lesbians are tomboys, Sailor Uranus, AKA Haruka Tenou was one regardless of her sexuality. She was the tough one of the Sailor Scouts and even outside of combat enjoyed more manly pursuits such as racing and masculine style.
Saki from Zombieland Saga
Being a tomboy and an idol is an odd mix, but not an uncommon one. However, being a tomboy idol who is also a zombie is probably a bit more unique.
Before death, Saki was a gang leader in a rough female gang, and death did nothing to soften her. When she is revived to join Saga’s idol group as a zombie, she is still tough as nails. What’s more, she is often the loudest and speaks her mind always.
Nikumi from Food Wars
Nikumi certainly looks like a girl in… every area, but she definitely doesn’t act like it.
This meat princess is ultra-competitive and serious about her meat products. She only serves up top quality meat dishes, but is humbled by how even low quality protein can taste fantastic in the right hands.
She is the more aggressive type of tomboy that often doesn’t realize that the way she dresses gets her ogled. It is her personality that keeps anyone from thinking she is anything other than a tomboy.
Natsumi from My Senpai is Annoying
Like Chizuru serves as the tomboyish friend to the girly Ayane in Kimi ni Todoke, so too does Natsumi serve as the mature and tomboyish best friend of the childish and girly Futaba in My Senpai is Annoying. It seems even when you are an office worker, you don’t grow out of your friend dynamic.
As an adult, Natsumi is still athletic and a tomboy, though her tomboyishness has transformed from “being a bro” to being strangely seductive.
Kobayashi from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
Being a tomboy is not something that all anime characters simply grow out of. It is hard to imagine that Kobayashi, a tomboy we meet well into her adult years, as acting like anything else even in her childhood years.
She is composed, works as a programmer, and drinks with the best of them. Furthermore, she adds the stable element to her more chaotic family of feminine dragons to the point where she is almost like Kanna’s father.
That said, a tomboy can enjoy some girlish things, and for Kobayashi, that thing is maids. Though perhaps its is not such a feminine enjoyment since she just likes the outfits but doesn’t seem to want to wear them herself.
Integra from Hellsing
While Integra wears a suit and has people call her “Sir,” her tomboyishness is stated to serve a purpose. It was so people would take her and her organization more seriously. As a child, you see her looking very much like a little girl, much to the stark contrast of her adult self.
Still, dressing and acting like a man for business is one thing, she certainly seems to take great joy in many of her more manly activities.
Michiko from Michiko & Hatchin
While there are certainly some more seductive and girlish female criminals, typically the life of crime is one for a woman who is a bit tougher than your standard princess. Michiko is a bit tougher than most.
She rides motorcycles with the best of them, is always ready for violence, and isn’t above abducting a child to lure out her prey.
Yet, you do get to see the company of the child she abducts soften her up a bit.
Do you have more anime tomboys that you enjoy? Let fans know in the comments section below.
