Why Do Fans Love Anime Girls with Glasses?
One concept that’s defined anime over the past three decades has been the rise of moe, the cute trend of anime creators making characters so adorable that fans are overwhelmed with feelings of love and protectiveness for them. The cornerstone of moe is that characters must have some adorable flaw that becomes endearing to fans. This can be represented as clumsiness, social awkwardness, a tsundere personality, or crooked yaeba teeth, represented in anime by a single fang. Another popular “element of moe” (as Konata defines it in an episode of Lucky Star) is meganekko, or a cute anime girl with glasses on. Why do fans love these girls so much?
Anime fans often rank meganekko as their favorites, appreciating the way their glasses bring charm and grace (and sometimes comedy) into their favorite shows. I asked J-List’s followers to share who their favorite anime girl with glasses as, and this is the list we came up with!
Tsubasa Hanekawa
Voiced by my favorite voice actress Yui Horie, Hanekawa is standout character in a series filled with standout characters.
Sakie Sato
The adorable teacher who’s self-conscious about being 24 and having had no experience with men, despite the fact that she’s a succubus, is always fun to watch. She’s also on our list of the best anime teachers.
Rika Shiguma
A harem anime with a perverted girl who’s always trying to score with the MC is comedy gold, but if she’s a Perverted Science Girl it’s even better. The glasses she wears are date megane (fake glasses), and she stops wearing them in season 2.
Rio Futaba
If you’d prefer a bit more moral subtlety in your Perverted Science Girls, I recommend Futaba-chan from Bunny Girl Senpai.
Mirai Kuriyama
The staff of Kyoto Animation are masters of making us feel strong emotions for their characters, and Mirai’s cute red-framed glasses are irresistibly cute. She’s an anime girl with glasses we can’t help but love.
Asuka Tanaka
The ultimate anime for anyone who was in Brass Band in high school, this is a gem of a show, also by KyoAni. Asuka-senpai adds to the yuri-bait theme of the series by being voiced by Minako Kotobuki, who did Tsumugi from K-On!
Rizu Ogata
Although she seems to have lost the popularity contest with fandom to Uruka, Fumino and Mafuyu-sensei, Ogata is an adorable science-minded girl who’s terrible at human relationships. She’s the undisputed Queen of Udon in all of anime.
Yuki Nagato
Everyone’s favorite humanoid interface of the Galactic Data Overmind, Yuki is an adorable anime girl with glasses who can re-write reality when she gets really frustrated with things.
Episode 10 Homura
There aren’t many single episodes of anime that could be nominated for single best episode of the decade, but I’d say that episode 10 of Madoka Magica is a strong candidate. Seeing the changes that occur in super-awkward and clumsy Homura and understanding what’s happening is some of the best writing Gen Urobuchi (who also created Song of Saya) has done.
Sensei
Another awesome example of the best anime girls with glasses is Sensei from Denki-gai no Honya-san, a comedy about the awkward people who work at a fictionalized version of Animate in Akihabara. Sensei (the only name we know her by) is a super-awkward doujinshi artist with an extremely low “girl power” level.
Kazami Mizuho
Perhaps the most popular megane character is Kazami from Onegai Teacher. This was the first anime set in a real place (Lake Kizaki, Nagano Prefecture), starting the trend to “anime holy lands” that fans can make pilgrimages to.
Did we miss your favorite anime girl with glasses? Show us in the comments below, or yell at us on Twitter!
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