Action Girl/Anime and Manga

"Spike: Are all the employees around here like you? You got some classy moves for a corporate girl. Electra: The more you know, the shorter your life will be. Spike: I love the kind of woman who could kick my ass."
 * Honey Kisaragi from Cutey Honey is maybe the most earliest Anime example (the most earlier Manga example maybe is Sapphire from Princess Knight - see example below) where the female lead was the main character AND a downright competent Action Girl.
 * From the same creator, Sayaka Yumi from Mazinger Z was another of the first Action Girls in anime (along one of the first Tsunderes who was a main character). Another Action Girls from the Mazinger trilogy were Jun Hono from Great Mazinger (who also was a martial artist besides mecha pilot. One of her most remembered feats was ), Hikaru Makiba (who began the series being a farm girl before taking a level in badass and becoming a mecha pilot) from UFO Robo Grendizer and Maria Grace Fleed (gunslinger and warrior princess) from the same series.
 * Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion is practically Queen of the Action Girls, and she knows it. Her greatest feat would undoubtedly be when she She's even more of an Action Girl in the manga, where her introduction consists of her fighting a gang of street thugs at an arcade and kicking all of their asses!
 * Rebuild also gives us Mari Iilustrious Makinami, whose badassitude might even be on par with Asuka. In fact, two of her three appearances have been fighting scenes.
 * Misato Katsuragi and Rei Ayanami have their moments, too.
 * Himeko Onizuka from Sket Dance was an insanely powerful yankee who unintentionally built a fearsome reputation for herself by taking on all comers wherever she went.
 * Then she met Bossun. She got a lot better, choosing to use her strength for the sake of helping others through the Sket Dan.
 * The Tower, being a world of badass, is full of them. For starters, there are Zahard's Princesses, the female Rankers, Anak, Hwa Ryun, Serena and Grey.
 * In Monster, Nina is not only capable of kicking ass (and running without pain while in heels) but also scaring people completely shitless (and in at least one case, pissless) when they get in her way. It's possible she inherited some of this from her mother who
 * However, just as Johan can be viewed as a possible subversion of a Complete Monster, Nina could be seen a possible subversion and even a Deconstruction of this. She starts out as a martial-arts expert who quickly becomes adept with fire-arms. However, in the second half of the series, she becomes less and less "action-y" and even becomes a Damsel in Distress at various points.
 * Not to mention, even when Nina is a martial-arts expert... we don't meet her as such. She's more of a Creepy Child and Ophelia when we see her at first, and it's later when we know what she can physically do.
 * Electra from Cowboy Bebop: Knocking On Heaven's Door

"Momo: No wonder they call her the Department of Technique!"
 * Faye most certainly counts as well. Remember when she started kicking the ever-loving shit out of a bunch of thugs on Callisto? The same ones that Spike held his own against?
 * Usagi Tsukino and all the Sailor Senshi in Sailor Moon. But Usagi/Moon in particular, because even though she's a bit of a crybaby, she's always the one who saves the day in the end, charging into the enemies' stronghold to save her Dude in Distress boyfriend. Plus, she takes several levels in badass over the course of the series, fully growing into her role as The Hero by the end. Of course, the rest of the Senshi are Action Girls too; Makoto/Jupiter, Rei/Mars, Haruka/Uranus, Michiru/Neptune, Minako/Venus, Setsuna/Pluto, Hotaru/Saturn, and Ami/Mercury.
 * Riza Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist pretty much defines this status. She is easily the most consistently competent and the least goofy of the Military Men, and let's not forget the "You're useless in the rain" scene. This is even more obvious in the manga and Brotherhood where she's portrayed as an expert sniper having saved both Hughes and Mustang's life during the Ishval Rebellion/massacre.
 * The manga and the Brotherhood anime series also gives us Lan Fan (bodyguard ninja to Ling Yao), Mei Chan (the cutest warrior princess ever), and Olivier Milla Armstrong (who defeats her younger brother Alex in a fight, and takes on a homunculi in a tank).
 * The most badass female and the most badass person is Izumi Curtis, the local Action Mom; she cements it during the Tales of a Master flashback to her training in Mount Briggs, where she is forced to fight for her life in Winter and does this by taking out patrols from the heavily trained Fort Briggs, then she throws a bear to the ground, knocks the damn thing out, and drags the bear back to the person who told her to fight for her life for a month. She then beats the shit out of him for being a famous martial artist instead of a famous alchemist.
 * Hell, Izumi even manages to intimidate/impress Olivier and Alex! See for yourself (spoiler-ish)
 * Pururuun aka Polly Esther in Samurai Pizza Cats. So tough, she has even been known to beat up her own co-workers if they annoy her in any way!
 * Yoshino from Digimon Savers had her moments as this. (Izumi, from the Super Sentai-inspired 'kids-turn-into-Digimon' Frontier, was a Faux Action Girl, unfortunately.)
 * Rika of Digimon Tamers is one of the few girls in the series to be (mostly) consistently badass.
 * Miyako/Yolei of Digimon Adventure 02 predates both of the above in terms of sheer ballsiness.
 * Jo from Bakuretsu Tenshi.
 * Nagisa and Honoka of Futari wa Pretty Cure. Actually, every member of every incarnation of Pretty Cure, period. Kurumi, Michiru and Kaoru can come too. Sorry, Hikari, you're out.
 * Jun from Gatchaman, when it's not downplayed by the influence of 70's Japanese sexism.
 * Anise and Lily of Galaxy Angel II and Galaxy Angel Rune, more obviously so than two previous Angels, Forte and Ranpha.
 * Eclair, Tweedledee, and others from Kiddy Grade.
 * Kaede Nagase, Asuna Kagurazaka, Evangeline A.K. McDowell, Mana Tatsumiya, Ku Fei, and Setsuna Sakurazaki in Mahou Sensei Negima. As other girls in the class get involved in Negi's other life, they start drifting in this direction as well, though the major part tend to get to Magical Girl Warrior.
 * have just joined the group.
 * 's friends in the Magical World, specially Beatrix.
 * Amira from Otoyomegatari is a a skilled equestrian, archer and hunter. Apparently, this was part of a normal upbringing where she's from.
 * Julia from Rave Master, in her human form. And Elie around halfway through the manga.
 * Iria from Iria: Zeiram the Animation, and the live-action Zeiram movies.
 * Shana from Shakugan no Shana.
 * Honoka from The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye.
 * Aisha Klan-Klan and Twilight Suzuka from Outlaw Star.
 * Gally/Alita from Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita.
 * The Lady of War Caerula Sanguis from Last Order qualifies. In spades.
 * In Dragon Ball, Chi-Chi was one of these, specifically of the Warrior Princess variety.
 * Android 18 and Videl in Dragonball Z.
 * Rurouni Kenshin has Misao Makimachi, a fast and agile Ninja girl who can dish out some damage, in contrast to Faux Action Girl Kaoru.
 * Maki, AKA Airmaster, is a streetfighting Huge Schoolgirl with an added dash of desperate thrill-seeking. Her Unknown Rival, Sakiyama Kaori is also an Action Girl.
 * Maki of All Rounder Meguru, is a red haired kickboxing Huge Schoolgirl, and clearly an Expy of the above.
 * Kallen Stadtfeld / Karen Kouzuki from Code Geass, Ace Pilot of La Résistance. C.C. also qualifies, maybe not as much as Kallen, but she can still kick quite a bit of ass.
 * Anya Alstreim and Action Mom Empress Marianne . Princess Cornelia, meanwhile, fluctuated between this and Dark Action Girl.
 * What, no ? Let's not forget her! And the same goes to Alice form Nightmare of Nunnally, too.
 * Bleach has plenty of these:
 * Yoruichi Shihouin is quite possibly the most Badass female character in the whole series, being able to lay a smack down on Soifon, Yammy, Aizen's, and several Mooks. In fact, she spends a good majority of her screentime kicking ass. And being a Soul Reaper, she even manages to do all this without a Zanpaktou. Just some good punches and kicks are enough for her. Now, if she did have a Zanpaktou, just imagine how powerful she would be...
 * Neliel Tu Odershvank made her introduction by nearly taking down Nnoitra Jiruga. Unfortunately, we haven't seen her since then, but if / when she shows up again, expect her to come back with a vengeance.
 * Soifon. That is all.
 * Rangiku Matsumoto is a very effective swordfighter, being able to take on plenty of enemies with ease. She's also not too bad with Flash Steps either.
 * Rukia Kuchiki, the little pint-sized-ice person...(not Toshiro) fought and won against Aaroniero Arruruerie. To put it into perspective, that battle made into the top 10 most popular Bleach fights of all time.
 * Hiyori Sarugaki is extremely aggressive both in and out of battle, using plenty of punches, kicks, and some impressive swordfighting. She just might be one of the most action-oriented ladies in the series.
 * Retsu Unohana is also heavily implied to be an extremely powerful fighter. We haven't seen her in action yet, but many fans are just dying to see her in battle, and she's more likely than not to show us what she's made of sometime in the future. (Hopefully she won't turn out to be a Faux Action Girl...)
 * So far she made Aizen and Kenpachi back down.
 * Lisa Yadomaru, with her badass Zanpaktou and Shikai, is the series' resident Badass Bookworm.
 * Mashiro Kuna does indeed kick quite a bit of ass, considering she was back in the day. Which is hard to believe since she's such a Genki Girl.
 * Ururu Tsumugiya, with her giant-ass bazooka-thing, is one of the standout examples of Small Girl, Big Gun.
 * Kuukaku Shiba hasn't seen much action, but she did do a little bit of fighting at the end of the Soul Society arc, knocking a giant flat on his butt with a single spell. Not quite as much of an Action Girl compared to, say, Yoruichi or Soifon, but still.
 * Momo Hinamori, after spending her time in the Soul Society arc as the Broken Bird, got to show off her Action Girl chops in the Fake Karakura Town arc when she pulled a Big Damn Heroes to save Matsumoto from getting obliterated. She then proceeded to fight alongside Matsumoto against Dark Action Girl Harribel's Amazon Brigade. She's also pretty badass in the fillers.
 * Tokiko from Busou Renkin.
 * Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell is likely the best there is in Section 9 at just about everything. The only character who was shown to be better than her at something was also thought to be too cool to exist.
 * Balsa from Seirei no Moribito.
 * The first several episodes of The Daughter of Twenty Faces show Chiko's rapid development from a seemingly Spoiled Brat to a cunning, resourceful, and skilled Phantom Thief Action Girl.
 * Both Elle Ragu and Folli of Shadow Skill. Kyou only wishes she was.
 * Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has Nanoha, Fate, Vita, Signum, Subaru, Teana... you know, it'd probably be easier to list the female mages that wouldn't count as an Action Girl. Even the White Magician Girl could kick your ass, or at least have her dragons do it for her.
 * It would seem that in GaoGaiGar, if you're a female humanoid, you're almost guaranteed for supporting roles on the backstage. However, starting in the OVA, we're introduced with Rune Cardiff Shishioh, who is actually a total Action Girl on her own and is probably the only female who takes combat directly head on. Hell, in Super Robot Wars, she DOES actually take on robots bigger than her size armed with just her bazookas and fists (but with the help of her companion femmebots as well).
 * Yoko Littner from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has a BFG and knows how to use it.
 * Mirielle, Kirika, and Chloe in Noir. I mean, they are assassins! Definitely warrior material.
 * Madlax has a good number of them;
 * Madlax herself being a prime example of Girls with Guns
 * Limelda Jorg also fits in this catagory
 * Nahkl
 * Finally there's Elenore Baker; a prime example of Ninja Maid. In certain circles it's joked er...hinted that she's the teacher of Roberta from Black Lagoon.
 * Hibari Ginza from Speed Grapher, who also fits the Girls with Guns category below.
 * I'd say she's more of a Dark Action Girl, due to her Yandere streak.
 * Actually even if she weren't Yandere, she'd still be a Dark Action Girl. After all, remember her "Self defence"
 * Sango from Inuyasha is a demon-slayer with a ludicrously-sized boomerang, of all things. Kikyou also was an excellent Archer and Lady of War, and Kagome eventually evolved into an Action Girl of the same type as time passed. And we also got a Cute Bruiser in Ayame. Kagura, however, started off as a Dark Action Girl, but became one of the rare few of that trope to undergo a Heel Face Turn (into the stand-offish and cynical type mentioned in said trope).
 * Naruto's Temari holds the shining distinction of being the only female to participate in the Chunin exams to actually win a fight. Although in her next Chuunin exam fight she was actually beaten by Shikamaru, before he decided to forfeit, giving her the win. She later rescued Shikamaru and defeated Tayuya in the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Impressive for a female character in Naruto.
 * Tsunade started out as this. Her whole introduction was just one giant Crowning Moment of Awesome as she fought then-Big Bad Orochimaru alongside Jiraiya, but after that, she kind of just became moving scenery and hasn't done anything actiony since, though it could be because of her job as Hokage keeping her busy.
 * Well, until.
 * Sakura ZigZags like all hell between this trope and Faux Action Girl. She started off as an above average ninja, then quickly fell behind and became The Load, then she had an Action Girl moment in the Forest of Death during the Chunin Exams...before becoming a Damsel in Distress for Naruto and Gaara's fight. Then Took a Level in Badass in Shippuden and became a full-on Action Girl... then fell behind again after the first two arcs. She did try to become an Action Girl again when she tried to, but... that didn't go very well. Sakura has had one or two Action Girl moments since her Day in The Limelight.
 * Tenten suffers from a similar problem. Ironically, her fighting style has the most hands-on approach.
 * The introduction of Mei aka the Mizukage has added another Action Girl to the list. When, she almost killed him by having won the local Superpower Lottery by having a double kekkei genkai.
 * The anime seems intent on making Hinata Hyuga one of these. It gave her one of the only blows that Deva Path would take and several arcs add more moves to her arsenal that don't otherwise exist in the manga.
 * And of course, Kushina Uzumaki, . The first   time she appeared outside a flashback featured her   Then when the flashback does come, we discover that Kushina was possibly the only person ever to actually
 * Ino Yamanaka is growing into her own during the war.
 * Hayao Miyazaki is already a big fan of putting female characters strong in both mind and body into his films, so naturally there's a few that meet this trope unquestioningly.
 * Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind may be a Friend to All Living Things, but she also is courageous enough to face a stampede of building-sized insects and strong enough to wipe out a room full of soldiers with a staff.
 * San, Eboshi, and the entire female population of Iron Town, from Princess Mononoke.
 * The female pilot trio in Martian Successor Nadesico, especially Ryoko.
 * Shiina Tamai from Narutaru.
 * In a canon omake of Vinland Saga, Ylfa fantasizes about becoming a Badass pirate queen. The fact that she eagerly joins in on the occasional whale hunt proves she's no tender maid.
 * Casca from Berserk was a very credible one until... stuff happened.
 * Yuki Nagato of Haruhi Suzumiya. There's a reason why she's called a Badass Bookworm. She's badass enough that she doesn't need to move a limb to fight. She can open her mouth, and (at least in the anime), chant SQL queries backwards, sped up. At one point, she blocks a gigantic cave cricket's attack without flinching by using a gigantic forcefield. Most of the time, she uses her data manipulation for good, like helping the team win a baseball match in order to prevent the world from ending, and playing a kickass electric guitar solo. And that's not even mentioning the battle with Ryoko Asakura, who is no slouch in that department herself.
 * Genkai and Mukuro from Yu Yu Hakusho. Genkai is still one of these as a seventy-plus year-old woman, and, when she was younger, . Mukuro is so Badass that.
 * Also Hot Amazons Kokou and Natsume, who are among the old drinking and fighting pals of none other than.
 * Pandy and possibly the Warden from Dead Leaves.
 * Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo!! meets this exactly, though most of the cast can kick ass and take names when they need to (particularly Barrier Warrior Ayeka and Badass Normal Kiyone).
 * Kawasumi Mai from Kanon is pretty cool with a sword.
 * Makie from Blade of the Immortal. Granted, she does not fight much, but when she begins she easily proves herself to be the best sword fighter in the entire series.
 * Doa is also seriously dangerous and even Rin can make a reasonable showing on a good day. Since Rin's goal aside of getting her revenge is to become one of these. ..
 * Hyakurin herself is quite competent with her bow and arrow.
 * Yotsuha from episode 15 of Samurai Champloo, who is a ninja detective in imperial Japan.
 * Yui Lee from the Vampire Princess Miyu TV series. As well as Miyu herself.
 * Allenby Biarzury from G Gundam is an example in the Gundam franchise. Don't let the girly-looking Gundam and the girlish speech patterns fool you: she can kick you ass six ways to Sunday, and she will. If you have to doubt her skill, in her first scene she actually fought Domon in an arcade simulation when they first met; neither of them won, but the machine was the real loser as their combined fighting skills caused it to break down.
 * Rain Mikamura is more of a Wrench Wench than a full-blooded Action Girl, but  so she's not exactly to be trifled with. Not to mention that despite not being specifically trained as a Gundam Fighter, she could withstand putting on the series's Latex Body Suit through a very painful process.
 * Other action-oriented ladies in the Gundam series are: Lalah Sune, Matilda Ajan, Sayla Mass, Emma Sheen, Fa Yuiri, Elle Vianno, Roux Rouka, Marvette Fingerhut (along with the girls of the Shrike Team, too bad they don't last), Lucrezia Noin, Hilde Schbeiker, Sally Po, Sochie Heim, Poe Eiji, Cagalli Yula Athha, Soma Peiris, etc. Heck, when given the chance, even Relena Peacecraft could handle herself passably well and very elegantly with a handgun; had she been a Martial Pacifist and not an absolute one, who knows...
 * Being heavily action oriented, the Nasuverse is filled with this, with the main heroines always being one.
 * Just about all the girls in Kara no Kyoukai. All girls in Tsukihime except Hisui and maybe Kohaku (unless we count Melty Blood, where they're upgraded to Ninja Maids). All female Servants (Caster, Saber, Rider) in Fate Stay Night, plus Rin Tousaka and Sakura Matou (though Sakura is more of a Dark Magical Girl). Though Type-Venus never had any action scenes and seem to be very gentle, it is extremely likely she can kick a lot of ass as well; even weakened, she is still one of the "Ultimate Ones."
 * Lina Inverse from The Slayers: She left a path of devastation wherever she went, kicking the collective arses of everyone between her and whatever goal she was pursuing at the time.
 * Amelia has plenty of action girl moments, including this one at 18:05 where she exorcises an entire town of its ghost infection.
 * Filia qualifies even if she can have a Chick-like demeanor, having angrily destroyed a town under baiting by Xellos in this episode at 17:04
 * Haruko Haruhara from FLCL. But she's more of an Extraordinarily Empowered Girl.
 * Princess Sapphire is one of the earliest examples in this medium, what with Princess Knight being created way back in the fifties and considered as the mother of all Shoujo manga.
 * Lenalee from D.Gray-man is actually such an Action Girl that she Action Girls herself past her capabilities and temporarily gets Brought Down to Normal until she recovers and goes back to being the local Action Girl. This, however, doesn't stop the "feminist fangirls" to unfairly and falsely peg her as a Faux Action Girl, sadly.
 * Gintama has quite a few: Kyuubei, Kagura, Otae, Sacchan, and Tae.
 * Fairy Tail:
 * Holy moley, Erza Scarlett.
 * Mirajane's quite the Action Girl herself.
 * Lucy made the transition from Chick to full-on Action Girl during the Edolas Arc. There's also Cana Alberona, the heavy-drinking, card-carrying bad-ass mage who never backs down from a fight, even against stronger opponents.
 * Juliet Fiamatta Asto Capulet, Romeo X Juliet. An excellent Swordsman, she was a vigilante known as the Red Whirlwind and was more than a match for the guards of the city. As she realizes what her heritage as the last Capulet truly means, she has to balance both mental stability and fighting skills...
 * Maka Albern of Soul Eater. There is no shortage of instances where she's kicking ass by swinging and twirling that Sinister Scythe of hers. Tsubaki and the Thompson sisters Patti and Liz are shown as very capable too, on the rare occasion that they fight without their meister partners.
 * And now there's Team Mom Marie Mjolnir, fighting.
 * Tomoyo Sakagami from Clannad, making her kinda stand-out in a mostly non-Action anime.
 * The HiME in My-HiME, plus.
 * Haruka Suzushiro, who isn't a HiME, kicked a tank, held off two armed guards so her friend could run for help, and head butted Shizuru Fujino before.
 * The Otome in Mai-Otome.
 * Genie in Rune Soldier Louie.
 * Maki
 * Ryoko and Ikuno in Angel Densetsu, being always around Kitano it's a wonder they still mange to find people trying to bother them.
 * Inner Moka, especially, from Rosario + Vampire, but all of them have solo or tag-teamed at beating the snot out of some hefty Monster of the Week candidates.
 * Birdy of Birdy the Mighty.
 * Sumire Iwaya of Kimi wa Petto (Tramps Like Us), is a classy career woman who's punched out a boss's fake tooth, beaten up muggers on at least three different occasions, taken out Yakuza goons, given her boyfriend a split lip, and busted out some wrestling techniques to use on the men who kidnapped her pet, Momo.


 * Momoko in Sumomomo Momomo.
 * A cardinal rule of Pokémon Special is that if you have paired X chromosomes and you come into a Pokédex by hook or by crook, you are one of these to a degree without exception.
 * Blue is the Classy Cat Burglar who is more than willing to use her feminine wiles (as well as some major advance planning in some cases) to get what she wants. Sabrina and Lorelei learned this the hard way.
 * Yellow is the kind of person who would rather befriend Pokémon than battle with them, but even Sird realizes (and Lance learns through experience) that cutting off any possibility of diplomacy with her is a cosmically bad idea.
 * Crystal is the only trainer in the entire series to complete the Pokédex for all non-legendary entries, and even then she may borrow off the others to fill out those entries. Her accuracy with leg-propelled Pokéballs is second to none, and Arceus help you if she learns Capoeira to compliment that style.
 * Anyone who looks under the Wild Child and Badass Normal entries should be aware of what Sapphire is capable of; capable in combat both with and without her Pokémon, and hardly a slouch in the cranial department despite her complications in Roxanne's written challenge. She also developed a soft spot for Ruby, and though he hasn't gotten in a hot spot she needed to wholly bail him out of, it's safe to assume that threatening his safety with her in proximity is akin to a death wish.
 * Finally, despite her isolated and spoiled upbringing, Platinum Berlitz comes from a family of scholars and can easily classify as the most knowledgeable out of the entire lot. Even though her bodyguards aren't what you'd expect from their profession, it's not a bright idea to tick her off or endanger them, either.
 * Officer Jenny tends to take this role throughout the Pokémon anime. It doesn't always work out.
 * Speaking of Action Girls from the Pokémon anime, all of Ash Ketchum's female companions are this, with Misty and Iris arguably being the most blatant ones. Although May and Dawn are no slouches themselves. May in particular came off as one, evident in her theme song. And while Dawn was often The Heart, she may well be the biggest Action Girl of them all, with her battle style being the closest to Ash's and often having Piplup deliver the finishing blow along with Pikachu.
 * Just about any major female from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, except for Kenichi's sister Honoka. But special mention goes to Miu.
 * I see your Miu, and raise you a Shigure.
 * To some extent, Akane Tendō and most of Ranma's harem from Ranma ½. While they may not be as strong as Ranma and most of the main male martial artists, they can still beat the shit out of 90% of the boys their age.
 * For comedic purposes, Akane tends to become temporarily physically stronger than all the characters.
 * In a normal world, Akane would be the most badass person around. This is the girl who has to fight every single guy in the school just to get to class each morning, because Kuno had unilaterally declared that any guy who can defeat her gets to date her, and she's never lost to any of them. And she views this routine as merely irritating. It's her bad luck that she lives in a world with martial artists on the level of Ranma and Ryoga, and she appears weak only in comparison.
 * Sakurako and Matsuri from Psyren are "Universal-type" PSI users, which as the name implies means they are good at everything. Fredrica and Marie, despite being kids, are equally capable.
 * Amanda from Blassreiter, in addition to being the only one of her whole Badass Normal team to .  also counts later in the series
 * Melissa Mao from Full Metal Panic!. Being a mecha pilot does this to you.
 * Kaname Chidori, believe it or not, also has some elements of this. She's just a regular, Ordinary High School Student with absolutely no military/combat training whatsoever, yet she still manages to outwit and beat up assassins and is always somehow involved in the counter-attack that takes place following her capture, whether or not it's in a combat role.
 * Deconstructed in Great Teacher Onizuka with Tokiwa. A traumatized girl who has some skill in karate, she lures boys to a make-out spot and then beats the hell out of them... until one of them comes back for revenge with his buddies, who know martial arts and are actually prepared for her, and they defeat her with ease.
 * Hinagiku of Hayate the Combat Butler. She regularly defeats opponents, inspiring awe from the protagonist. She tries playing Faux Action Girl to try and capture his attention, under the impression he likes weak girls, but usually the opponents trigger her Berserk Button and she completely demolishes them.
 * could also qualify. but since all of her battles so far have been against the main character, it's questionable whether she goes here or Dark Action Girl.
 * Rushuna in Grenadier. Her goal is to get the enemy to lose their will to fight by the power of her smile. She regularly fails on this part. So she has to use her Improbable Aiming Skills and Unorthodox Reload to shoot anything that moves. In a world of riflemen and samurai and superweapons, the most dangerous thing is a girl with large breasts and a six-shot revolver.
 * Rosette Christopher in Chrono Crusade - a Church Militant, Badass Normal and Handicapped Badass that manages to be one of the strongest characters in the entire manga due to her being an epic Plucky Girl. Rizelle also counts, (although she prefers manipulating others to fight for her unless she's pushed in a corner), as well as Satella and, who are powerful jewel summoners.
 * One Piece: Several actually. The most prominent currently probably being Boa Hancock. Tashigi is of the the more traditional variety being a swordsman. The female strawhats are frequently in the fore of the fighting as well. Word of God states this is intentional because Oda wants to make female characters both male and female fans can like.
 * Utena Tenjou from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Juri Arisugawa also gets special mention for being able to come awfully close to beating her.
 * Tiara from Shamanic Princess uses Full-Contact Magic during a fight, summons shadow creatures to do her bidding, whips out shadow-swords, and becomes a sexy demon warrior with deadly fighting skill.
 * Hikaru Shidou from Magic Knight Rayearth is this in spades - threaten any living being, or heaven forbid her dearest friends, and you might as well curb-stomp your own ass.
 * Umi and Fuu also qualify lots and lots. Also Caldina. And of course...we can't forget Nova (which gives action-girl Hikaru a whole new dimension since Nova ). Now just take a moment to consider how badass Nova herself is and you'll get my meaning...
 * Trixie from Speed Racer actually was quite more action-geared than the then-norm in the original 60's series. When she did get whacked with a Distress Ball, she did her best to fight back and often was more trouble than worth to their captors.
 * All five of the main girls in Tokyo Mew Mew. Zakuro's undoubtedly the most straight-up example, but Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, and Pudding are capable of fighting as well.
 * Fuko Kirisawa from Flame of Recca.
 * Sierra and Juliet from Until Death Do Us Part
 * Kimagure Orange Road, being a junior high school romance story, doesn't often call for action sequences. But when it does, Madoka "the Pick" Ayukawa is ready and able to take out a whole gang of delinquents. Or, you know, skateboard down the girders of a building under construction. Whatever the situation, she can handle it . . . as long as it doesn't involve ghosts.
 * Youko Nakajima from The Twelve Kingdoms Took a Level in Badass and became this before long.
 * Re-l Mayer from Ergo Proxy.
 * Lucy from Elfen Lied. There's no denying that she's a total Badass.
 * How have we not mentioned Seras Victoria and Integra from Hellsing? Integra is just, well, Integra, and Seras... Oh my gosh, after Seras, she takes so many levels in badass it's not even funny!
 * Claymore is pretty much all about this trope. It'd be easier to name those who wouldn't qualify.
 * Saeko Busujima and Rei Miyamoto from Highschool of the Dead. Although Rei sometimes comes off as kind of a Faux Action Girl, she's still mostly competent enough to be considered a proper Action Girl. Saeko, she's just an absolute Badass through and through.
 * Anna Kyoyama and Tao Jun from Shaman King are two of the biggest Badasses in the series, every bit on-par with the male badasses.
 * Mikura from Mezzo Forte is the weapons and hand-to-hand combat specialist of the Danger Service Agency, and easily outclasses any of the male characters in a one-on-one fight. Her foil, Mafia Princess Momomi Minoi, qualifies as a Dark Action Girl being that she's the only character in the OVA that can stand toe-to-toe with Mikura.
 * Arashi Kishu, Yuzuriha Nekoi, and Hokuto Sumeragi from X 1999.
 * Chizuru from Shinryaku! Ika Musume is normally a Yamato Nadeshiko but if you A) mess with her family or B) mess with her store she will kick your ass and like Tomoyo she kinda of stands out since it's not a action manga.
 * Alicia Melchiott and all the other girls in the Valkyria Chronicles anime are Action Girls, just like their video game counterparts. (Except for Susie, who was never one to begin with...)
 * Ai from Mahou Shoujo Ai, the most Badass female hentai lead ever.
 * The heroine of Murder Princess is possibly one of the most Badass Action Girls ever.
 * All of the main girls in Hidan no Aria qualifiy, but in particular, Aria.
 * Due to battling against Witches, all of the Magical Girls in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica fall under this trope. Of particular notability is Homura, whose powers didn't give her a magical weapon, forcing her to improvise with explosives and guns.
 * In Baccano!! we have Chane, a mute Knife Nut that holds her own against a guy with a shotgun, and Ennis, a Battle Butler for the Big Bad of the 1930 storyline. The novels include several more that never made it into the anime.
 * Tokko features pink-haired girl Sakura who brutally chopps evil monsters.
 * Rachel (anime and novels), Badass Normal Action Survivor who climbs around on moving trains and saves hostages from heavily armed aggressors without carrying any weapons of her own.
 * To Aru Majutsu no Index has many (as to be expected when all of the students in the city most of the story taskes place in go through superpower development programs) to lista few theres: Misaka, Index (in a couple scenes), Itsuwa, Mugino, Kazaki...the list goes on
 * Detective Conan: Ran can kick down doors, break knives, dodge bullets, help kick the ass of 50-60 armed men, kick the ass of any person who hostages her or harms her loved ones, and even dent a cement telephone post if she's in the mood for it. And she's not the only one: Satou, Kazuha, Sara, Ran's mom Eri and Heiji's mom Shizuka can handle themselves pretty well too.
 * Black Lagoon is crawling with them...you've got the Dark Action Girl, the Lady of War, the Ninja Maid...just about every female character with lines can kick much arse when the mood strikes them.
 * Almost every single female character in Master of Martial Hearts. Even the most unsuspectable ones.
 * Single exceptions are Faux Action Girl Miko and Cute Mute, nameless, Natsumi's mom. Partly subverted because.
 * Saki Asamiya from Sukeban Deka.
 * Despite being a victim of a lot of pranks, Hot Teacher Machiko Mai from Maicchingu Machiko Sensei often gives back as much as she takes. She's more athletic than the rest of the staff (including the phys ed teachers), able to pick up skills like skateboarding in one or two tries, and knows martial arts of some kind — several episodes involve her beating the crap out of someone who goes too far. (One memorable instance of this involved her breasts popping free from her shirt from a thief who had taken her as a hostage, which she used as a the start of a breast-and-karate-chop combo.)
 * Masako Natsume from Mawaru Penguindrum is a deadly shot with her slingshot and can handle herself in had-to-hand combat pretty well.
 * Remy Shimada in GoShogun and GoShogun: The Time Étranger, first a mecha pilot, then a revolver-wielding explorer/adventurer.
 * Most of the females of Axis Powers Hetalia are hinted to be or at least count as this. Being personified countries who have lived through several wars probably means that they sort of have to be.
 * The biggest example would be Hungary, who was a Cute Bruiser even as a small child. Even after her Girliness Upgrade she still manages to single handedly punch and kick the crap out of Prussia's army. She also is shown to have skill with a sword, a spear, and, most iconically, a frying pan. Although she also is shown with a rifle in some official art.
 * Belarus gets shades of this, threatening Latvia with knives in her first appearance and gaining a generally Boisterous Bruiser attitude in more recent strips, outright attacking Finland and Denmark in the 2010 Christmas and 2011 Halloween events respectively.
 * Belgium, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Vietnam and Ukraine are all hinted to be this. All are Plucky Girls, and in official art Belgium and Liechtenstein have been depicted with rifles, Monaco in chain mail and a coif, Vietnam with an oar held as if she were about to beat someone with it and Ukraine with a saber.