Strong female characters in high school anime?

(And I mean actually strong and well-developed, not a girl who can kick ass and not much else)

Recently, I've been actively avoiding high school anime. Why?

The girls are usually concerned about:

• Bust size
• Not getting fat
• Otherwise looking appealing (for boys)
• BOYS - a lot of their lives revolve around dudes 

And if not....they're often objectified or told they need to be good wife material.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu comes to mind immediately.

I used to really like this series until I realised how awful Himeji Mizuki and Shimada Minami - the two main females - are.

Almost everything they do revolves around Kenji, they even try to change themselves in some episodes to suit his tastes. The character development is barely there either - we find out why they've liked Kenji for so long, but that's pretty much it.

Anyway, this isn't about Baka to Test, it's about a high school anime series that actually gets a high rating from me - Kokoro Connect. With a title like that ('kokoro' means 'heart'), I expected a boring, lovey dovey anime and was preparing to drop it within the first ten minutes....but I'm so glad I didn't.

 I'll list the negatives first to try and maintain a balanced argument:

• The only out, queer character's first impression is that of a persistent sexual predator
• It's always the girls who need help/saving, usually by guys (however, when one of the girls gets in real trouble at the end, it's mainly the other girls who rescue her)
• Aoki has asked Yui out more than once instead of respecting her unenthusiam
• There are a couple of 'sexy' scenes but they're there for a reason and it's kept to a minimum, so this is barely even a point
• The ending may have been too perfect? I can't tell - I'm a sucker for soppiness

Positives:

• Very good character development
• Strong female characters, mentally and physically
• Lives not revolving around guys - girls would rather sort their own problems out first
• Free from major stereotyping
• The females all stand up for themselves, even Iori's mother who stood up to her abusive ex-husband

User 'Trollbrotherno1' on myanimelist.net says in their review:

[F]or the genre and medium, this was an amazing job of characterization.

(find the full review here under 'Kokoro Connect')

And that is exactly it - my expectations were exceeded completely. I was blown away by how fleshed-out and strong-willed all three girls were. Not only that, but they all had backstories that explain their personalities. And, shocker - the girls had more character development than the guys! I'd prefer all characters to be well-written, but I'm glad the girls got lots of attention because usually, they're badly written.

We see them evolve into better people; not one of the girls is exactly the same as they were at the beginning, but the guys don't really develop (I guess because nothing was really 'wrong' with them in the first place....? Taichi hurts himself to save other people, but that doesn't change, even in the last episode. Aoki is more considerate of Yui's feelings but only because her issue was brought to everyone's attention).

Here's my review of some of the characters and why they appealed to me so much.

SPOILERS FROM HERE TIL THE END (also, watch the whole show, plus the 4-episode special/final ending - it's very interesting and has an ever-changing supernatural theme throughout).

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We know that Aoki has a thing for Yui but she doesn't want to be with him. Naturally, we figure that it's because she sees him as a friend...but it goes deeper - she's scared of men because she was nearly raped in middle school. Because of this, the furthest they go is when she hugs him.

What I appreciate here is that they didn't push her character to get with anyone - she's still coming to terms with her fear of men, it can't just end with her magically getting over it.

Another thing I appreciate about Yui - she's very strong, physically (even though she's a 'girly girl'), but this doesn't automatically make her bullet-proof. It makes it real for someone strong to also be vulnerable - plus, she gets a lot stronger as her character grows.

Now, onto Iori (and a bit of Taichi)...

I didn't like Iori at the start because she seemed your typical kawaii girl who everyone's encouraged to 'awwww' over. I was mistaken.

Turns out that Iori struggled so much to please every step-father she had that she constantly altered her personality, she even admits that she maintained her bubbly persona in order to live up to everyone's expectations.

She eventually learns, with help from the others (mainly Inaba, the third girl) that living to please others is stupid and she should just be herself. This inspired the line, "I'm done caring about what's normal and what isn't. It's my damn life, and I'm living it any damn way I want." This is one of the most inspiring lines in the show. I am so done with female characters who live their lives to please people, especially guys, and never actually undergo any changes or have the issue addressed by other characters. Iori, I salute you.

Also, Iori is in love with Taichi and it looks like they're going to date for the majority of the show, but when he formally asks her out, she refuses because she knows he's fallen for her "ideal" self, not her actual self. This impressed me because again, it felt realistic and mature.

Another important factor: Taichi handles it well! He doesn't guilt-trip her, call her a bitch, or complain about being in the 'friend zone'; he still admits that he loves her but he moves on and continues to be by her side. The people who ARE mean to her about it get their comeuppance.

Finally, just a quick word on Inaba. In one of the first few episodes, she admits to masturbating to Taichi and it isn't sexualised nor is she demeaned or treated differently. Girls masturbating is still a taboo topic, so I count this as a big deal. The only anime series I've heard of girls admitting to masturbating or doing anything sexual is where the theme is already very sexual.

What I also liked about Inaba is that she admits that she loves Taichi too, but this doesn't completely ruin her friendship with everyone. Instead of getting jealous of Iori, she playfully declares her a rival (unlike in Baka to Test where they both try to outdo each other, cry about it, and get angry at Kenji for speaking to other girls).

Even though the ending was romantic and it has a strong romance theme, the girls' aim was not to get with the guy/s, it was to better themselves as people and combat issues as a team.

That's it, really!

Watch the show, it's a refreshing break from your typical slice-of-life high school anime and it comes with an inspiring moral.

See how I've rated nearly 300 anime series' by checking out myanimelist.net/animelist/Twigglet