Kara Dennison
January 1, 2021 
2020 is drawing to a close, and with it the 2020 anime season. It’s been a year of ups and downs, confusion and surprises. But as we put a cap on the year, one question reigns supreme: who is Best Girl?
The eternal question demands answering for this year. And while we can’t narrow it down to one just yet, we do have our five contenders. How do our choices measure up against yours for the year? And don’t worry, we’re currently crunching the numbers for our Best Boy ranking.
Sayaka Kanamori, Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!
The inspiring, artistic Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! is making waves in the mainstream, let alone among anime and manga fans. All the show’s talented heroines are fantastic — but for our money, Sayaka Kanamori is Best Girl.
The money-minded student knows talent when she sees it. She also knows how to genuinely inspire people, how to get through crunch time without burnout, and how to make a few hundred yen while she’s at it. While her financial acumen is seen by some as greed, fans know she’s an integral, caring, awesome part of the team. And all without not really being an anime fan.
Catarina Claes, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
Villains can be Best Girl, too!… Except Catarina Claes is doing her best not to be a villain, of course. Reincarnated as the main antagonist of her favorite dating sim, a teenage girl must use her knowledge of the game to avoid her own Bad End. Unfortunately, every scenario she remembers ends with Catarina getting murdered or exiled. But unbeknownst to Catarina, her efforts to save her skin have improved the lives of others and made her popular with pretty much everyone.
Catarina may not understand how much she’s loved (or why), but she most definitely is. Maybe she’ll get a clue in season 2…
Moroha, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon
Sorry, Towa and Setsuna: this quarter-demon gremlin child wins the title of Best Girl (at least for us) in the Inuyasha sequel. Bounty hunter Moroha has her eyes on the prize at all times — where the prize is enough money to buy her all the food she wants. And riding along for Sesshomaru’s girls’ antics has made her lose a lot of good bounties. But we’re glad she’s sticking around.
Not only is she adorable, she’s also not to be trifled with. We’ve seen her Beniyasha form only rarely, but we’ve seen what it can do. Here’s to even more demon-fighting antics to come in 2021!
Chizuru Mizuhara, Rent-a-Girlfriend
In a show full of Best Girl candidates (and Mami), Chizuru still reigns supreme. The Rent-a-Girlfriend star is smart, sensible, and a lot more patient than most of us would be in her situation. Plus, she has pretty sound advice on love and relationships in general… even if her own life is becoming a mine field thanks to meeting Kazuya Kinoshita.
Chizuru is another we’re looking forward to seeing more of in 2021. If the first season and continued manga are anything to go by, there’s lots more good story to come for her and the rest of the Rent-a-Girlfriend cast.
Tsukasa Yuzaki, TONIKAWA: Over the Moon for You
From Best Girl to Actual Wife in just one episode… those are some good odds. Tsukasa is the mysterious girl who marries the unfortunately named Nasa Yuzaki in TONIKAWA: Over the Moon for You. And life with her is both an exercise in the simple joys of marriage and a massive mystery. Who is she? Why did she just marry a guy whose life she saved? Should we be worried about the constant Princess Kaguya comparisons and what they mean for the couple’s future married bliss?
Tsukasa really is a dream girl in more ways than one. We’re just, you know, a little scared about how literal that’s going to end up being. For now, we’re here to love and appreciate her.
Who’s your Best Girl of 2020?
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