In the anime community, there are many terms and words that describe the characters and titles that we’ve come to know. For as long as we’ve been a part of this nerdy community, we’ve heard everything from ‘waifu’ to ‘Rule 34′ (whatever that means, but that’s something for another post on another day). For younger anime fans who are just stepping into the community for the first time, some of the words and terms may be a little confusing to you. Don’t fret, cuz’ D&A’s got you covered on the words of the otaku culture! In this post we’ll be breaking down the (brief) history of the term heard most often in various anime titles surrounding female characters; Best Girl.

For many anime fans; the term ‘Best Girl’ pretty much means that they’ve selected a fan-favorite female character in a series. The qualifications can include but not limited to; their interaction/relationship with a male lead or side character, how they treat other characters in the series, and when the MC needs it most – how that female character shows up and shows out! Based on our research the term ‘Best Girl’ has also gone hand in hand with the term ‘waifu’; with the first instance of the term was used in January of 2009. Much like the ‘Waifu Wars’ many fans of harem/ecchi and fantasy titles like High School DXD and Re:Zero find themselves rooting for a specific character of the show; pretty much reinforcing the term ‘best girl’.

The best way we can describe the concept of ‘best girl’ is treating it like it’s a fandom game – because it kinda is. Fans apply the ‘best girl’ rules to whatever show they find themselves watching, and whatever cast of characters they find appealing. As for what the overall rules are in who qualifies for ‘best girl’ (or ‘best boy’ in some cases), that’s pretty much up to you as the viewer. We’re not ones to pick favorites when it comes to this term, but we’d be lying through out teeth if we didn’t have best girls of our own. (A. Goldman’s is Hestia from Danmachi, and D.J. Lewis’ is Stocking from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.) So however you view the term ‘best girl’, there’s probably going to be a lot of fans of the series who agree with your choice, and some…not so much. Nevertheless ‘best girl’ to us means the best female anime character of the series, and no matter how you slice it, we all have our favorites! 😉

So, who’s your best girl? Feel free to tell us in the comments below!