With that said, looks aren't everything in this list. I'm also going to be including my selections based on their characteristics and personality traits as I often find myself getting very invested in those aspects and being able to relate more with them. Some characters that you might find attractive I might not necessarily have on my list and that's fine. Everyone has their own opinions of what they may see as beauty and not everyone will agree 100% of the time with everyone else.
In addition to that, not all of these characters are necessarily human so be sure to keep that in mind as you're looking through this list. Finally, I'm officially bringing back the "Honorable Mentions" category. I know I didn't use it in my past 2 countdowns, but that was because I wanted to keep it fair and even between both of them. So, with all that said, sit back and enjoy My Top 12 Cartoon Crushes.
XII. Rapunzel - Tangled
Tangled is one of those movies that I really enjoyed the first time I saw it and still enjoy even now. One of my favorite aspects of it was how it cleverly fixed some major plot holes that the original Grimm Brothers fairy tale never even addressed. But one of the most enjoyable aspects is the character of Rapunzel herself.
After her mother, the queen, was given a magical flower to heal her from an illness she suffered from while pregnant with her, Rapunzel gained the ability to heal others and restore youth with her hair when a special incantation is sung. But Mother Gothel, who had previously horded the plant's power for herself for centuries, breaks into the castle and steals the infant Rapunzel, hiding her away in a secluded tower where she can constantly take advantage of her magic hair to stay forever young.
Rapunzel isn't that much different from some of the other Disney Princesses who "long for more than what their current life has to offer", but you know what? She's been locked away in a tower for most of her life, never having the opportunity to go outside as Mother Gothel tells her of all the horrors that lurk out there to keep her in that mindset of staying where she is so I think we can let it slide here.
When she does finally leave her tower, with the help of a dashing thief named Flynn Rider (AKA Eugene Fitzherbert), we get to see that she's very adaptable and has hidden strength that she never even knew she had. I mean, her ability to stand up to a gang of ruffians and thugs is super badass. She can even utilize her long hair (which is 70 feet long) as a weapon or use it as a rope to swing away from danger.
While she does have some of her more serious moments, where we get to see that she won't just take shit from anyone, she also has a very fun, bubbly side to her, but not to the point where she's a ditz. She's just an overall fun character which is why she makes my list.
XI. Holo - Spice And Wolf
Holo is a rather interesting entry as her youthful appearance hides the fact that she's really hundreds of years older than she looks at a first glance. Despite her teenaged appearance, she's actually an ancient wolf deity, a goddess of wheat harvests.
Holo had stayed in the small town of Pasloe as part of a deal made long ago that she would provide the villagers with good harvests every year, but the people there found alternative means to ensure plentiful harvests therefore no longer having any need for her. So when a travelling merchant by the name of Kraft Lawrence comes across her, they make a deal that he'll take her back to her home in the far north which she has been away from for centuries.
The design of Holo herself is particularly interesting as, in her human form, she still retains her wolf ears and tail (both of which she takes great pride in). Another aspect is how she talks. In spite of her teenaged appearance, she speaks with great wisdom (sometimes even pridefully, though not out of conceitedness), but at the same time, she can also be a great jokester. She's just a lot of fun all around.
X. Yuko Kanoe - Dusk Maiden Of Amnesia
First an ancient wolf deity and now a ghost. Y'all are probably wondering "What the fuck kind of list is this?" XD Yuko is the ghost that haunts the old building of the school that Teiichi Niiya attends, but she knows next to nothing about her past. Along with Teiichi's friends, Momoe Okonogi and Kirie Kanoe (the granddaughter of Yuko's sister), they set out to find the answers to Yuko's mysterious background.
Yuko herself is very interesting as she's very playful and mischievous especially with Teiichi. At first, she's kind of a character that one might have a very hard time trusting early on, but as the series progresses and we discover the circumstances that led to her death, which I won't give away what happens, you find yourself feeling absolutely devastated for her. There's a particularly emotional scene where Teiichi experiences how she died and he feels completely helpless to prevent it and rightfully so.
If you guys haven't seen Dusk Maiden Of Amnesia yet, check it out sometime. It has a great story, great characters, and some awesome animation. Seriously, their use of color throughout the series is beautiful to look at.
IX. Lucy/Nyu - Elfen Lied
This is definitely shaping up to be an interesting list as I've now gone from a deity to a ghost to essentially a mutant. Lucy is a Diclonius (a mutant recognized by a pair of horns on her head and her ability to summon invisible hands known as "vectors" which she often uses to kill people in gruesome fashion), trapped in a facility where Diclonii are subjected to inhumane experiments. Managing to escape, she gets shot in the head, resulting in brain damage and the creation of a childlike split personality named "Nyu", and gets taken in by 2 cousins (one of whom has a past connection with her) who care for her as government agents scour the nearby city looking for her.
This character has 2 separate personalities that couldn't be any further apart from each other. Lucy is a cold blooded killer with very little (if any) remorse and Nyu is a wide eyed innocent who wouldn't harm a fly. Much like Yuko, though, there are a few episodes dedicated to Lucy's backstory as a little girl that, again I won't give away but, you just really sympathize with her and find yourself unsure of whether you should fear her or hug her. Doug Walker mentioned in a video that "one of the scariest things about the scariest creatures is that they are human and that any of us can become these things at any time" which I believe is what helps make Lucy a very relatable character in the process.
For anyone who wants to watch this Anime, I give you my warning that it's not for the faint of heart. There's some very graphic and often disturbing imagery used throughout the series. If you can stomach it, though, go right on ahead.
VIII. Mikasa Ackerman - Attack On Titan
O.K. Heading back to some sense of normality, we've got one of the last known remaining Asians in the world of Attack On Titan. Mikasa's parents were killed by slave traders who then took her captive when she was young... well... young-er. Series protagonist Eren Yeager discovered her and the 2 of them effectively killed off her captors. Because of this, Mikasa is very protective of Eren who's become an adoptive brother to her. So, when monstrous zombie giants known as Titans attack, threatening to end humanity as we know it, she and Eren undergo training to fight off these monsters.
Mikasa, for the most part, is a very stoic and quiet character except when Eren's in danger. This partially comes from her having to kill one of her captors at a young age to save Eren's life. In the military training program, she graduates at the top of her class and is acknowledged as a prodigy, being the first in her group to successfully take down a Titan.
Her stoic nature hides a very warm and heartfelt sibling-like relationship between her and Eren and those moments are pretty nice to see. An undeniable badass with a heart, Mikasa slices her way to the #8 spot.
VII. Katara - Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is very easily one of the greatest animated shows of all time. It had great writing, memorable characters with excellent development, and engaging dilemmas. So, very easily, one of my absolute favorite characters from the show would be young Waterbender, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.
Despite being only a teenager, Katara finds herself having to grow up relatively quickly over the course of the show's 3 seasons. She's shown to be very caring with strong motherly instincts (presumably after her own mother was killed by a Fire Nation soldier), but at the same time she proves her badassery at countless moments when fighting off enemies, displaying great strength on numerous occasions.
One of the more interesting Katara moments was in a Season 3 episode where a reformed Zuko, in an attempt to get back into Katara's good graces, offers to lead her to the man who killed her mother so that she can get her revenge on him. When she's finally face to face with her mother's murderer, she sees how truly pathetic he is and decides not to kill him. But in a shocking moment, she refuses to forgive him.
This seems almost like a really big "no no" for most shows, especially kids' shows, but at the same time it's something quite ingenious as it more closely mirrors real life with its handling of the subject in question. Katara is just a really great character by every means of the word.
VI. Yuno Gasai - Future Diary
Anyone familiar with Future Diary already knows full well about Yuno's background as the essential "poster girl" for the yandere character type in Anime. What's that? You don't know what a yandere is? Well, for those of you who don't know, the word yandere is a portmanteau of the Japanese words "yanderu", referring to someone with a mental or emotional illness, and "deredere", which refers to strong feelings of love for someone. Thus a yandere is a person who is initially very kind, loving, and gentle to someone they truly like and care about until they become mentally destructive in nature, usually, but not always, through either overprotectiveness, violence, brutality, or all three.
Yuno is definitely someone you do not want to get on the wrong side of. She proves herself to be very protective of/loyal to main protagonist, Yukiteru Amano, when both of them are thrust into essentially a more badass version of The Hunger Games with the winner becoming the new god of Time and Space, where she's shown to be quite handy with an axe, hacking her way through any foe that gets in her way, but she still has some of her more softer moments where she's genuinely caring towards Yuki, willing to protect him from anyone who tries to harm him, while he slowly starts to gain feelings for her in the process.
There's also a very interesting twist that plays out in the final few episodes that I won't ruin but is still cool to see. If you do decide to watch this, be sure you watch the OVA afterwards as it properly wraps up the series. Even though she's a bit psycho, I'm still pleased to have her on my list.
V. Elsa - Frozen
I know that this is kind of a more recent Disney character, but I can't help it. It's just a really nice design and a great personality to go along with it. You guys all know the basic story here so I'm not really gonna talk about that and instead focus on the character of Elsa.
Elsa is a character that I really related to a lot as both me and her were kind of reserved and somewhat insecure. Those emotions were very relatable for me as I happened to be going through a particularly hard time myself of nervousness and uncertainty.
But the one part that I always enjoyed watching was the "Let It Go" scene where I got to see Elsa letting her guard down and being able to let loose with her abilities. Just the look of joy on her face as she's singing and testing out what she can really do with her magic is soo much fun.
She's also very protective of her sister, Anna, who she doesn't want to hurt again after nearly killing her accidentally when they were younger so as a result she distances herself from her. That was also very relatable for me as I can be very protective of some of my own younger siblings, but not to the point where I distance myself from them.
What I really liked about Elsa though was how she does move on to becoming queen, but, at the same time, isn't evil (like many queens Disney has had in the past) and is actually quite dignified, intelligent, and likable. Hopefully, there will be plenty more well developed animated female characters like Elsa in the near future.
IV. Tiana - The Princess And The Frog
This is a really interesting character as I believe that she was essentially Disney's first workaholic. Tiana is busy working 2-3 jobs in order to raise enough money to build her own restaurant, a dream that she shared with her late father. Already, that's a character you don't typically see in kids' movies. Not the one with the dead parent, but the one with a strong work ethic.
Aside from a really great design, Tiana is a well grounded person full of determination and willingness to work hard to make her dream a reality. Even after she's turned into a frog, she doesn't let that stop her. If anything, she's even more driven than ever.
Something that was kind of interesting was how, while the movie does do a good job of showing the importance of a strong work ethic, it also shows the workaholic aspect as a flaw in the sense that she never gave herself a break or a chance to just enjoy life, which is especially interesting when compared to Prince Naveen, who's the exact opposite by being too much of a party animal always avoiding responsibility, and how he eventually learns that life isn't just a party and you have to actually work in order to make a living. It's a very delicate balance between the 2.
The only downside to Tiana was the fact that she spends a majority of the movie as a frog. Not that her frog design isn't good, but her human design was just soo great that when she's a frog I'm just like, "No! She already looked great before! Don't ruin it!" But that's a minor gripe in all seriousness because she truly is a great character all things considered.
III. Fluttershy - My Little Pony franchise
Yeah yeah yeah. I put a pony on my list. Bite me. If Doug Walker can put a gargoyle on his list of Hottest Animated Women, I can put a pony on mine. And you know what? She actually has a human counterpart in a parallel world. So SHUT UP!!!!
Now anyone who saw my Top 12 Movies I Dislike, But Everyone Else Loves list probably remembers a certain joke I made about how Fluttershy was basically telling Willie Scott from Temple of Doom to "grow a pair" and some of you might've thought that I was of the mindset that Fluttershy was a really weak character as might've been implied by that remark. With all that said, nothing could be further from the truth. I have nothing but extreme respect for her (originally I was going to use Bella Swan from Twilight in that joke, but then decided against it as I wasn't going to allow her to be dignified through that joke while I had absolutely no problem with dignifying Flutters).
In the TV Show, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Fluttershy is a very timid and socially awkward Pegasus who would much rather prefer the company of her animal friends than other ponies... at least that's how she starts off. As the series progresses, we get to see her become a much stronger character.
As I watched this show, I began to see Fluttershy grow as a character over the course of 5 seasons. One episode earlier on in particular had her going along with her friends to get a dragon (which she's deathly terrified of) to leave before their town was covered in his smoke. But when her friends get attacked by the dragon, suddenly, Fluttershy. Is. PISSED!!! Despite the fact that she's about the size of this dragon's eyeball, she swiftly and angrily berates him, giving him such an intense verbal lashing to the point where she actually reduced him to tears. I was just like, "DAAAAAAAAYUM!!! You go girl!"
She also gets plenty of moments to grow when she faces such challenges as overcoming her fear of failure from her fillyhood years at Summer Flight Camp to her fear of performing in front of an audience to even learning the very hard lesson that sometimes the kindest thing you can do to someone is to push them away. Not to mention, whenever there's trouble, in spite of her fears, you always see her running with her friends towards the danger no matter what the threat.
One moment that I particularly liked was in the Season 5 opener where they essentially made her the hero. While I won't spoil anything plot wise, let's just say that she discovers a conspiracy within a rather shady group and she reveals it causing the whole infrastructure of that group to collapse. It's definitely up there with my favorite episodes.
Now, as I mentioned before, Fluttershy has a human counterpart in the Equestria Girls universe and she's still pretty damn cute. A lot of people were probably bothered by the fact that these pony characters were portrayed as teenagers. I wasn't personally (I had heard from somewhere that series creator, Lauren Faust, was quoted saying that a lot of the pony characters, particularly the Mane 6, were fully mature physically, but that their mentality was more along the lines of teenagers so I think it works fine here).
When I was watching the first Equestria Girls movie, I was eagerly awaiting the first appearance of human Fluttershy. When it finally did come, this was the first thing I saw. My heart just melted instantly. Some of my favorite aspects of her were on full display there from her long, smooth, flowing hair to her big, expressive eyes. One of the things that I've really loved about Flutters was how kind her eyes appear. The shape of them is just soo unique and perfect. They just have a delicate softness to them. You look at those eyes and you know that this is a kind character, which is pretty understandable when you take into account that she's the Element Of Kindness.
There's also the fact that she's a major animal lover, something that I share with her. In fact, seeing all 3 Equestria Girls movies has only further convinced me of what I've believed since first starting the show that she's Hasbro's version of a Disney Princess without actually being a princess. In her reaction video for Friendship Games, YouTuber CellSpex said it best when she said that "Disney Princesses wish they had this girl's preciousness levels".
I should probably also say that my heart breaks a little every time Flutters cries. She's soo kind hearted it's really hard not to tear up when she does. She's just such a sweet character and well deserving of the #3 spot.
II. Belle - Beauty And The Beast
As a kid growing up in the 90s, it only makes sense that Belle would be one of the first animated women I came across and with good reason too. She's one of the first Disney Princesses that, while undeniably beautiful, is viewed by everyone else as being unconventional and odd (something that I'm sure many kids could relate to), but even then she has such a kind and compassionate personality to her.
She sacrifices herself to remain the Beast's prisoner just to allow her father to go free which is definitely worth mentioning. Additionally, she's one of those rare characters who seems almost like the best of humanity personified. Not to mention she has such a beautiful look and voice (both speaking and singing). Some people might point out that she's kind of "Mary Sue-ish" or not really having a lot of flaws to her, but she does have to look past the hideousness of the Beast to see the person inside which could technically be counted as a flaw.
Beauty And The Beast came out in November of 1991 (approximately 1 month before I was born) and was the very first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture Oscar (and is the only hand drawn animated movie to be nominated) which was unheard of at the time. Belle was just such a great character and role model for many and rightfully so.
Something that I was unaware of at first was the fact that a lot of people say that Belle was supposed to be a teenager in the movie. But personally, I call bullshit on that. Even as a kid, I knew that she looked and sounded like an adult. Early 20s, maybe, but not a teen. Still, this Beauty is definitely sitting pretty as runner up.
Before I reveal my top pick, as promised, here are some Honorable Mentions.
Honorable Mentions:
Sunset Shimmer - Equestria Girls franchise
It's incredible how a simple character can go from being one of the worst villains ever to easily one of my favorite protagonists. While I didn't hate the first Equestria Girls movie like everyone else did, I knew that Sunset Shimmer was a pretty weak antagonist (though I now personally think that Principal Abacus Cinch from Friendship Games is even worse). But when Rainbow Rocks came out, she was given excellent development as a reformed character struggling to overcome the demons of her past and Friendship Games brought her character arc full circle rather well. In the end, she won her way into my heart with very little effort.
Kasumi - Dead Or Alive franchise
This teenage shinobi princess is the main protagonist of the Dead Or Alive video game franchise. Entering the DOA tournament to avenge her brother Hayate, who was left comatose after an attack by their renegade uncle, Kasumi becomes an outlaw of her own clan, constantly being sought after by assassins. Kasumi has become very popular as one of the hottest video game characters ever with very good reason. But she also kicks some serious ass when she needs to.
Kida - Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Like Holo, Kida has the appearance of someone in their late teens/early 20s when she's actually about 8,000 years old. However, while Holo was a deity, Kida looks young because of a crystal that she and other Atlanteans wear that's connected to the Heart Of Atlantis, which is essentially their life source allowing them to live 300 years for every one human year, making Kida physically about 26 in human years. Aside from her looks, she has a very strong sense of loyalty to her people and a hunger to remember more of Atlantis' culture that's been lost over millennia. So yeah. Definitely an unusual one, but still well worth mentioning.
Misty - Pokemon
This trainer of Water-Type Pokemon and leader of the Cerulean Gym was my first crush to ever come from Anime as she traveled alongside Ash and Brock for about 5 seasons, proving herself to be a rather loyal ally. Her wardrobe is definitely interesting; the whole yellow tank top and jean shorts with suspenders is kind of unusual, but, strangely enough, she really manages to pull it off well.
Hazuki - Moon Phase
Can't really have a list like this without including a vampire, even if it is only an Honorable Mention. Hazuki is a young vampire who's been trapped in a castle for most of her life before being freed by photographer Kouhei Morioka. Despite Kouhei being immune to Hazuki's vampire "kiss", the act of drawing blood from a mortal making them the feeding vampire's unwilling servant, Hazuki continuously refers to him as her slave, but over time the 2 genuinely start to care for each other. Hazuki definitely has a very bossy and overbearing side to her, but she does prove to be truly loyal to those she cares most about which is enough for her to make this category.
Jasmine - Aladdin
Again, growing up in the 90s, Jasmine was among the first animated females I was ever introduced to. She definitely had some good characteristics to her such as sassyness, compassion, and being headstrong. What kept me from putting her on the list, though, is the fact that she kind of falls into that "damsel in distress" category for the film's majority. She fights for her independence like 1 time, but then just goes right back to her normal life after being brought back by her father's orders. Still, those good qualities I listed earlier are enough for her to at least be mentioned.
Ruby Rose - RWBY
The leader of Team RWBY in the world known as Remnant, Ruby Rose is a very fun loving and bubbly character with a great design. But at the same time, she proves to be an undeniable badass as she wields her combination scythe/assault rifle, lovingly named the Crescent Rose, in the ongoing fight against the dark and deadly Creatures Of Grimm.
And finally...
Violet Parr - The Incredibles
As I've mentioned before in a past post, The Incredibles is one of my all-time favorite Pixar movies and Violet is one of my favorite characters from the movie. Aside from her powers of invisibility and force field projection, which I'm completely jealous of BTW, we get to see her grow throughout the movie from a quiet introvert with very little self confidence to being more sure of herself and more comfortable with her abilities. Brad Bird always does a great job with creating animated women and Violet is no exception.
So we've gone through a great number of animated hotties and it all comes down to this. So without any further delay, my #1 Cartoon Crush is...
I. Ariel - The Little Mermaid
Many of you are probably upset that I didn't put Jessica Rabbit in this spot, but I don't care. In all honesty, I've never really found her that attractive. Her design I just find to be really weird, overexaggerated, and kind of gross actually. There's just no way that a body like that can exist in real life. I honestly think she makes Anime females look subtle, but I digress.
Anyone who followed my previous blog posts will remember that I mentioned The Little Mermaid as one of my all-time favorite Disney movies and Ariel is a very strong reason why. Not only was she beautiful, not only did she have a great design, not only did she have a great personality, not only did she have a beautiful speaking and singing voice, but she was also Disney's first ever proactive princess.
Before Ariel, the only Disney Princesses we had were Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, all of them being relatively passive. Aurora was the worst offender of this as her whole plan was to basically sit around, doing nothing while her true love comes to save the day, which is exactly what happens. Not necessarily the best role model in that sense.
Snow White and Cinderella, on the other hand, despite being limited with what they could do and still relying on someone else to save them, at least had some good virtues. Snow White's personality serves as almost a mother for the dwarves and Cinderella is constantly working her ass off serving her evil stepmother and stepsisters and yet, somehow, manages to keep a positive outlook and sure enough both of them are rewarded for their hard work in the end, but I digress.
Going back to Ariel, what I really loved about her was, again, how proactive she was. She starts off as a very curious teenager, wanting to know as much as she can about the human world up above. She even collects various human knick knacks in her own personal grotto. One night, while exploring above, she spots Prince Eric on his ship celebrating his birthday and, when the ship winds up in a hurricane and he nearly drowns, she saves him. Once she decides she wants to be with him, nothing will change her mind as she does whatever it takes to be by his side, no matter what the obstacles.
Ariel was the first princess I felt actually did something about her situation. She didn't even start off as desiring to meet her true love, but instead was more interested in knowing about this world up above that she has such little knowledge about. But when she meets Eric and decides she wants to be with him, once again, she actually does something about it. She's not just someone who just sits around waiting for "The Fates" to decide her life for her. She has a goal and she's willing to fight to make her dream a reality. Plus, while she does have to be saved by her prince in the end, she saved his life not once, but twice before that, making her more than just a simple case of "damsel in distress".
Ariel is a character that I can, without a doubt, say that she was my first love as I had such a huge "little boy crush" on her back then and, in all honesty, I still kinda do to this day. She certainly was the originator of my Mermaid fetish which is why she is my #1 Favorite Cartoon Crush of All Time.
And that was my Top 12 Cartoon Crushes list. I hope you enjoyed it and I'd like to know, "Which Cartoon Characters do you fancy?" Feel free to comment below, hope you guys have a great week and I'll see you on the next post. Take care.
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