Ghibli Girls

monkeyfudge

I was just watching Whipser of the Heart last night for the fist time and I absolutely adored it.

It got me thinking... Ghibli films have featured some great female characters over the years... which one has done the best job of capturing your heart?

Nausicaä from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Shizuku from Whisper of the Heart
Sheeta from Laputa: Castle in the Sky
San from Princess Mononoke
Sofî from Howl's Moving Castle
Satsuki from My Neighbour Totoro
Fio from Porco Rosso
Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service
Haru from The Cat Returns
Chihiro (Sen) from Spirited Away

Me? I'll have to go with Shizuku from Whisper of the Heart... most likely because I watched it just last night... but Whisper of the Heart didn't have any fantastical elements in it, so it was completely dependent on the character of Shizuku to draw you into the story and as such I felt she was a very strong character...

Haru from the Cat Returns is good too... if only for the reason that she actually looks different to all the others.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

probably chchiro/sen... first Ghibli film Isaw and after that, they kind of blended into similarity (with the exception of Princess mononoke)

sharingan

Shizuku

Sorry, Nausicaa owns.

The combination of leadership, intelligence, deadly competence, charisma, strength, humanity, compassion and empathy coupled with believable self doubt, moments of weakness and self-sacrifice made for a mold that couldn't be refilled.

Its all too easy to make a heroic character that is unbelievably virtuous. Nausicaa was believable.

monkeyfudge

Sheeta

Can't change it to Nausicaä in the poll but I've corrected it in the post.

And Sofî is the spelling from the Japanese version.

Art_Wolf

Shizuku

Changed Nausicaä for you in the poll, and would have to totally agree with sharingan

carbonkid

Chihiro (Sen)

I guess Haru cause shes the only one of the few there ive seen, lesser of two evils. I never really been able to get into that kinda anime. Now full metal panic's Kaname Chidori would be my kinda girl...i like em with a little bit of bite (also wouldnt hurt to give some of those Ghibli girls a little bit of sex appeal)

Hakumei Naru

Sofi

San. She's such an interesting, deep and indearing character. She's torn between two worlds and she doesn't really belong to either of them. I wish the film had told more about her than Ashi taka (damn profanity filter). She really was far more complex than he was.

rainbow kirby

I'm a sucker for Spirited Away... so Chihiro/Sen

Karl Hungus

Sofi

San. She's old enough to ****.

Crucifix

Sofi

San. God I loved that film.

psicic

They're all such strong, well developed characters, it's really a testament to how great Ghibli movies are. The really sad thing, though, is that I'm sitting here in work, seriously weighing up the pros and cons of each character.

I think I've narrowed it down to three(but I keep on thinking of pros for the other characters)

Nausicaä I respect because she had leadership qualities mixed with compassion and understanding.

Chihiro (Sen) comes under a whole different spate of pressures, making the transition from whining brat to someone who takes responsibility.

San...oooh...yeah...pivotal in the eternal conflict of man and nature - sides with nature against humanity - has that kind of 'loner-dark-charm' about her.

evad_lhorg

Sofi

Karl Hungus wrote:

San. She's old enough to ****.

and would I?!

CuLT

Shizuku

Nausicaä. Easy choice