Best Female Supporting Character

[destiny4ever]

Major General Olivia Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist

Yūko Ichihara from XXX Holic

Schierke from Berserk

Fee of Planetes

Sumiko Sumimura from Kekkaishi

All these girls are incredibly awesome for different reasons and they all deserved to be nominated for this category, but unfortunately there can be only one winner and she is….

Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist

Spoiler

Congratulations to Olivier Armstrong!!! She is an amazing character and an extraordinary woman who completely deserved to be crown the Queen of this award category. In fact, she rocks so much that she is also the one who the MH moderators chose as the winner. All Hail the Queen!

Now the MH STARs (Manga Editors, translators, artists and reviewers) also chose Olivier as the winner; however they decided that she should share the throne with another fantastic character . I’m referring to Schierke from Berserk

Thank you to all the members who participated by voting for their favorite girl and for helping us choose the best girl for this award category!

 

[Tulkas]

Sumiko Sumimura
Im not a fan of Kekkaishi, the manga is ok, but nothing special.
Sumiko is to generic

Schierke
I like her, but its not enough for best supporting character(that would be kjaskar imo).

Olivia Armstrong
One of the best Characters in FMA. Coldheaded Woman with Berserk-attitude. It was a close call but i gave my vote to:

Fee
Shes one of my alltime favourite female characters.
Her war for smoking was so funny and affecting at the same time and especially the episode with her uncle was the best chapter in PlanetES(and they're all awesome)


Im not reading XXXHolic

 

[zelllogan]

Olivia Armstrong is not the correct name. Her real name is OLIVIER Armstrong and honestly it's kind of important in order to understand her.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Fee
Shes one of my alltime favourite female characters.
Her war for smoking was so funny and affecting at the same time and especially the episode with her uncle was the best chapter in PlanetES(and they're all awesome)

I was so surprised seeing her making it through the nominations, and very happy about it as well as I share your opinion here
The story arc devoted to her is really great imo, I love her character changes and the path she takes.

 

[zelllogan]

The looks

Spoiler

& The spirit:

Good and bad are human concepts, so something that is not human cannot be classified as neither good nor bad.

or

Everybody relates to others and shares something with them. That's why we can never truly be free.That's what makes us feel joy, sadness and love.

Guess who I'm voting for.

[koen]Adding spoiler tags because of the picture size[/koen]

 

[HegemonKhan]

I voted for Olivier Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist.

blond battle babes from the past/history, norse's/viking's "valkyrie" battlemaids

she was doing the same stuff, that Roy Mustang was doing: scheming/plotting supporting helping "behind the scenes".

 

[<.Haruka.>]

I voted for Yuuko of xxxHolic even though i'm having a hard time to choose between her and Olivia Armstrong from FMA.
Both are good supporting female characters but i guess Yuuko was my best choice because something about Yuuko's role (as well as her existence) made a great contribution for the main characters development on the manga she appeared into. As timeless as she looks, even on crossovers to other clamp's manga series, she always has been a good help for the main and supporting casts even she shows up for just a few page/s.

 

[Nii]

My vote is biased because I don't know three participants: Fee, Sumiko and Yuko. Looks like I should at least give "Planetes" a try because I love "Vinland Saga".

My vote goes to Schierke because she's extremely helpful to Guts and the group (Guts wouldn't have been able to protect them and maybe even himself without her) + she has an interesting character, going between childish and and grown-up.

 

[ryzvonusef]

Sumiko Sumimura
Im not a fan of Kekkaishi, the manga is ok, but nothing special.
Sumiko is to generic

I wonder if you are up to date with the manga? In the latest arc we learn the real significance of Sumiko.

I voted for her because she is not like other lame manga women who go "Our situation sucks, but I can't do anything about it, *sigh* guess I have to leave it to the men"

No, she goes and finds a way to stop the menace for once and for all, and actually does something about it! She didn't stay in the kitchen and let her children suffer the same fate her family has faced for 400 years, she realised she had the power to change the situation, and uses it to good purpose.

Sumiko, for proving that women in manga can do a lot more than just cheering the men on the sidelines, you get my vote.

 

[zelllogan]

I wonder if you are up to date with the manga? In the latest arc we learn the real significance of Sumiko.

I voted for her because she is not like other lame manga women who go "Our situation sucks, but I can't do anything about it, *sigh* guess I have to leave it to the men"

No, she goes and finds a way to stop the menace for once and for all, and actually does something about it! She didn't stay in the kitchen and let her children suffer the same fate her family has faced for 400 years, she realised she had the power to change the situation, and uses it to good purpose.

Sumiko, for proving that women in manga can do a lot more than just cheering the men on the sidelines, you get my vote.

You're talking like you resume manga females to Hinata/Sakura/Ino ... but all 5 candidates in the poll are strong female characters who don't need men. None in this poll are waiting in the kitchen.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

None in this poll are waiting in the kitchen.

That's an interesting part about Fee by the way
Not that she would commonly spend time in a kitchen, but she has a family at least, and some interesting interaction/relation with them.

 

[ryzvonusef]

You're talking like you resume manga females to Hinata/Sakura/Ino ... but all 5 candidates in the poll are strong female characters who don't need men. None in this poll are waiting in the kitchen.

It was partly my fault, I wrongly assumed that all categories were shounen. However:
Planetes: Seinen
Berserk: Seinen
XXX Holic: Seinen
Fullmetal Alchemist: Shounen
Kekkaishi: Shounen

Now do you see the problem? Three of the contestants are from another manga world, with different rules of the trade (interestingly, no Shojo/Josei). But how common is it in Shounen for a strong female, more over a mother?

The only other competitor in this category is Olivia(er?), and while I think she was equally awesome, she isn't a housewife in Japan, she is an Unmarried women in an "western" Nazi-Germany look-alike culture, with different social values, and importantly, no "family" duty to perform.

But Sumiko did have a home, three kids and a kitchen to look after, yet, instead of just staying at home and risk her kids getting killed in some god-forsaken duty that had already orphaned her neighbours, she is set out to solve this for once and for all.

I guess Seinen is more open to the possibilities, but most popular Shounen series expect its women to sit and watch while the shounen hero and his gang of awesome men make the darkness go away. Which is why I like Kekkaishi, here women also form an important part of the story.

YMMV, of course.

 

[BleachOD]

I vote none of them! Tohyama Haruka from Until Death Do Us Part should have been considered. She's one kick ass loli. Why is there so little nominees?

 

[saladesu]

I vote none of them! Tohyama Haruka from Until Death Do Us Part should have been considered. She's one kick ass loli. Why is there so little nominees?

We held a round of nominations before this, and using those nominations, only the 5 characters with the most nominations/votes proceeded to this round

 

[HegemonKhan]

Olivier Armstrong is the female version of Roy Mustang, in fact they were in competition with each other in who could help humanity the most "behind the scenes" while appearing loyal to Central and it's Humunculi. So, you if voted for Roy Mustang for the Best Male Supporting Character, then by default you should also be choosing for Olivier Armstrong for this category, Best Female Supporting Character.

the only difference, is that Roy loves Riza, and Olivier loves.... probably her sword, lol

 

[benelori]

Olivier Armstrong is the female version of Roy Mustang, in fact they were in competition with each other in who could help humanity the most "behind the scenes" while appearing loyal to Central and it's Humunculi. So, you if voted for Roy Mustang for the Best Male Supporting Character, then by default you should also be choosing for Olivier Armstrong for this category, Best Female Supporting Character.

the only difference, is that Roy loves Riza, and Olivier loves.... probably her sword, lol

There's difference though...overall I think Roy is a better support character then Olive...because he was there when Ed and Al made a mistake, he was there for them, he was supportive all along, not to mention even screen time...
But Olive has the merit of having that great force of hers and her minions...thanks to that she managed to impact the story greatly from the beginning of her appearance...so she climbed the ladder quickly, but Roy is somewhat ahead...

 

[HegemonKhan]

I'd just point out that Olivier helped out Ed+Al and others/humans too, just like Roy, though you're right that he had much more ability to influence, being in Central, whereas Olivier was "stuck" at the outpost Briggs. Though, much of Olivier's "behind the scenes" help of humanity was done through her family and their household, along with her brother (ach, I can't remember his name at the moment, lol, how embarassing.. V.V). So the two Armstrongs, Olivier and her brother (still can't remember his name lol), through their family and household acted in the same shadow resistance as did Roy's fellowship/network of buddies.

though you could look at it this way:

Roy created and used an intelligence network within central, while Olivier was forming an army at Briggs to take over central with. So, Roy and Olivier might actually have been working together to take over Central possibly even somewhat faking their rivalry to avoid suspicion of them actually possibly being working together (which Olivier and her brother actually did/used themselves), and this might have very well been their plan. Roy infiltrates central with his intelligence force, while Olivier creates an actual invasion army at Briggs, waiting for the time to strike central in concert with Roy and his intelligence force sabotaging central to make it easier for Olivier's army to invade and take over central. As Roy's intelligence force, could never actually take over central themselves, as talented as they were, they needed an army, and Olivier was in charge of that for them.

 

[benelori]

I'm not just talking about the conflict...but influence on the entire course of events in the manga...and that's closely related to the screen time each character had...and Roy is very much ahead...I know about Olive's contributions off screen...but they are...off screen...
Support character means to have supported the main...Roy has done a better job, even though Olive started strong and finished very strong

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Support character means to have supported the main...Roy has done a better job, even though Olive started strong and finished very strong

I don't think that this is an criterion at all. It's only about the role as non-protagonist here. Even a supporting character who only puts obstacles into the protagonist's way can be an interesting and well-written character and thus win this category.

It's not necessarly related to screen time either. It might become easier to rate a character properly when it's shown a lot, but screen time for itself doesn't make a character "good".

 

[benelori]

I don't think that this is an criterion at all. It's only about the role as non-protagonist here. Even a supporting character who only puts obstacles into the protagonist's way can be an interesting and well-written character and thus win this category.

It's not necessarly related to screen time either. It might become easier to rate a character properly when it's shown a lot, but screen time for itself doesn't make a character "good".

That's true...generally it's not a criterion...but if we have a particular case like this one, where we have to compare 2 really good characters, then we need to find additional stuff...they both satisfy the general rule of a supporting character, but when it comes to details Roy has done much more...and it's not just related to the significance of is actions, but to how did he even manage to perform those actions...and that's where screen time comes in...he had time to bond with the brothers from the start of the series, he had much more time to support them...
That's why I consider Olive a very good candidate in this category...compared to the screen time she had, she had a great impact on the plot, in the end probably managed to rise to Roy's level...and that's all Arakawa's merit, to be able to develop such a character