Kara Dennison
May 14, 2021 
Anime elf girls are eternal… in more ways than one. From their immortal beauty to their long-lived popularity, they’re all over the world of anime and manga. Fantasy series, sci-fi… even slice of life, just as an excuse to have them there! Most recently, we’ve had the return of Shera L. Greenwood in How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord. But what about the ones who came before?
Here are a few of our favorite elven heroines from the world of anime and manga:
Emilia
Half elf, but all important, the silver-haired Emilia is a mainstay for modern fans of anime elf girls. The lead heroine of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- doesn’t get the same outpouring of love that she does from her fans. In her own kingdom of Lugunica, she’s widely distrusted, and compared to a certain Witch of Envy.
While she has to fight for the people’s support, she has Subaru at her side at all times. He may not necessarily support her well every step of the way, but he’s learning. And that’s good, because this smile deserves protecting.
Deedlit
If you were online around the turn of the millennium, all the anime elf girls you saw on Geocities were probably the same one: Deedlit. The iconic heroine started life as a D&D character, played by sci-fi novelist Hiroshi Yamamoto. When the campaign went on to become The Record of Lodoss War, Deedlit became one of its most popular characters.
The High Elf was both highly intelligent and highly curious, and was a loyal ally to protagonist Parn. Over the decades, the beauty of the Lodoss Wars series has made her one of the most iconic elven characters in anime. She’s even gotten her own Metroidvania game spinoff!
Misery Stalker
We’re stepping just shy of anime elf girls to bring attention to a manga elf who gets passed over a lot. Misery Stalker is the hostess with the mostest of Outer Zone, Shin Mitsuhara’s 1991 sci-fi/horror anthology manga. The series ran for three years in Weekly Shonen Jump, and a stage show with motion comics and shadow cast is in the works.
Misery is the Rod Serling of Outer Zone, showing us the strange stories she’s found and occasionally stepping into them herself. Who or what she actually is… is unknown. She performs her curation duties with the detached vibe you’d expect. But there’s also definitely something more to her that she has no intention of giving away.
This barely scratches the surface of anime’s elven heroines. Who are some of your favorites?
