Editorial collections

A human argument, plus a structured query that keeps it current.

Ten characters to know before your first convention
beginner-guide

Not the ten most popular - the ten easiest to recognise. Two criteria only: a silhouette you can pick out across a hall, and a near-certainty that you will meet at least one cosplayer of her.

0 characters
Girls who have to decide
editorial

This list is about how a decision is written, not about who wins. What these characters share is that their choices have consequences, and the work lets a girl you can root for carry them.

0 characters
Silhouettes you can read from ten metres
event-prep

Fighting games make recognition into gameplay. Not the six strongest — the six least confusable silhouettes, which is what a hall actually needs.

0 characters
White-haired strategists
design-language

White hair, composure, and a talent for arranging things in advance is one of the most stable pieces of visual shorthand in the medium. This list exists to show the same symbol pointing at very different people.

0 characters
Red and black: one palette, four arguments
design-language

Red on black is very nearly the default for "dangerous adult woman". These four use it while deliberately dodging that reading.

0 characters
2020s game heroines
era

Characters who debuted in a game from 2020 onward and lead it. The fastest cross-section for seeing what a design generation actually believes.

0 characters
Characters whose game and anime designs diverge
editorial

Adaptation is not just redrawing. Each of these has an animated version that makes a clear, arguable choice about silhouette, palette or age presentation.

0 characters
Nobody fights: a way into the quiet works
beginner-guide

For readers with no interest in combat. What these share is that every conflict happens in dialogue.

0 characters