Anime

Anime is the Japanese name for animated movies (i.e. cartoons), which in Japan cover a much wider range of subject matter than in the United States. Genres of anime include shōjo (for girls), shōnen (for boys), ero, a.k.a. hentai in the U.S. ("perverted" pornography), and mecha (science fiction featuring giant robots). There are numerous subdivisions of the major genres, for example, mahō shōjo ("magical girl" movies) and shōjo-ai or yuri (lesbian "girl-love" stories).

SFF Anime Featuring Female Protagonists

Bubblegum Crisis (futuristic female soldiers)

Ghost in the Shell (1995) by Mamoru Oshii (Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg soldier)

Haibane Renmei (a community of mysteriously angel-like girls)

Most movies by Hayao Miyazaki, including:

• My Neighbor Totoro (Satsuki and Mei, two young sisters)
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Nausicaä, princess of an endangered community)
• Kiki's Delivery Service (Kiki, a witch in training)
• Princess Mononoke (San, a "wolf girl" fighting to preserve the forest)
• Spirited Away (Chihiro/Sen, a young girl trapped in the spirit world)
• Howl's Moving Castle (Sophie, a girl turned into a feisty old woman by a spell)

Project A-Ko (Eiko/A-Ko, a superpowered teenager, her mecha-building rival Biko/B-Ko, and her friend Shiiko/C-Ko)

Revolutionary Girl Utena (Utena Tenjou, a cross-dressing student duellist)

Sailor Moon (a team of "magical girls" protect the solar system from evil)