When compared to their pink-haired anime girl counterparts, black-haired anime girls are pretty average.
That’s not to say that they aren’t great characters. It’s just that they don’t quite pop like anime girls of other “less average” hair colors. That’s okay. After all, black hair is the average hair color in Japan and East Asia, and since 99.9% of the world’s anime comes out of Japan, it’s safe to say that most anime gals will have hair the color of a raven’s dark wing.
But the internet, ever thirsty for arbitrary ranking systems, has once again asked me to rank the cultural relevance of fictional characters based solely on a random trait. But once again, I need a metric. So, we’re gonna count these girls down based on how run-of-the-mill they are.
10. Yaoyorozu Momo
We’re starting off this list with the least average girl, a character from My Hero Academia. She comes in last place in the Averageness Awards because she has literal superpowers. She can make stuff from her skin. No, I don’t mean creepy fleshy skin creations. I mean like she can pull weapons out of her armpits. She’s also a rich girl—like, a really rich girl. Definitely not an average upbringing whatsover. 0/10 “mehs” on the average scale.
9. Shinobu Kocho
Another girl with literal superpowers. She can’t do wild stuff like make weapons out of her body parts, so instead she has to carry a sword around with her everywhere she goes. I guess you could say this is “average” in feudal Japan, but not a lot of girls carried swords, and ever fewer could imbue their swords with spiritual power and use it to fight the demons of Demon Slayer. 0.2/10 Mehs.
8. Nezuko Kamado
Nezuko from Demon Slayer started her life being pretty average. She lived with her mom and dad and her brothers and sisters, just doing household chores and being a good little angel. Big average points. Then she got ALL her average points deducted when she got turned into a demon. However, she spends most of her time sleeping, which is pretty average for teenage girls, so that’s gonna give her some points back. 1/10 mehs.
7. Mikasa Ackerman
Okay so Mikasa Ackerman from Attack On Titan is 1) a human being and 2) not “technically” super powered.” That’s gonna tip the average scales in her favor. BUT she is at the very pinnacle of physical fitness and she is totally in love with her brother which is gonna bring her average ranking wayyyy down. She spends her days killing sixty-foot giants, swatting them down like flies, so she is inches away from being superhuman. She can’t shoot lasers out of her eyes, but she doesn’t need to in order to kill things. Also, it’s average to have a crush, but not on your adopted brother. That’s weird. 1.5/10 mehs.
6. Hinata Hyuga
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Hinata Hyuga, aside from being a scary, death-dealing, no-pupiled ninja goddess, is your average wife and mother. Her primary motivations throughout the Naruto series are 1) crushing on a boy, and 2) making her family proud. Those are two pretty run-of-the-mill goals for a person, but she accomplishes them by kicking that tar out of everything that challenges her. Not so average. 3/10 mehs.
5. Kiryuin Satsuki
Okay, so Kiryuin Satsuki is as least going to school, which is wayyyy more average than what her predecessors are doing, except her school is a geopolitical institution that is slowly taking over Japan, and she is the autocratic ruler of it. That’s way less average. However, she spends most of Kill La Kill fighting with her mother and her little sister—classic teenage girl stuff. 3/10 mehs.
4. Rukia Kuchiki
So Rukia from Bleach is a shinigami, a god of death. She also works for a society that hunts down and kills the corrupted spirits of dead humans. These are not average things whatsoever. HOWEVER, she has a lot of average hobbies. She likes bunnies (the most average animal) and drawing (average af right there). This is gonna give her MAJOR average points. 4/10 mehs. Well done, she’s halfway there.
3. Yor Forger
Okay so Spy x Family‘s Yor Forger gets MASSIVE average points for her flawless ability to appear average. She works an ordinary job as a clerk at city hall. That’s about as average as you can get. HOWEVER, she also works as a covert assassin and could kill you 67 ways before you hit the floor. This dichotomy is gonna put her smack dab in the middle of the Average Scale. She clocks in at an average 5/10 mehs.
2. Mayuri Shiina
Mayuri Shiina of Steins;Gate lives a remarkably average life. She works at a cafe and spends time with her friends. That’s about as average as you can get. This is significant because she is one of a HANDFUL of trans girls that appear in anime, and many of them are not treated like regular girls. Instead, they’re often the butt of transphobic jokes or sexualized. Seeing a trans girl portrayed as totally normal is a refreshing change for once. The only thing stopping her from being 100% average is that she gets murdered by government agents in a few different realities because she knows about the existence of a working time machine. That ain’t average at all. 9/10 mehs.
1. Nana Osaki
Nana Osaki from Nana is the most average not-average girl on this list. She doesn’t have superpowers. She isn’t in love with a family member, and no one wants to murder her. Ho-hum. She spends her days falling in love with boys and chasing down her dreams of being a successful musician—not exactly an average goal, but far more average than the goal of killing as many demons as she can get her hands on. We’re clocking her in at 9.8/10 mehs. She’s not your average girl, but when compared with the other entries, she’s about as unique as a slice of white bread. And that’s okay.
(featured image: Ufotable)
