Girls in Anime

[The Moon of Ceres]

It's not really an action anime, but I think it should be one of the top-three anime in the world: Clannad and the Clannad after story.
It's true that there is some useless moe moments in it, and most of the female characters are helped by the main character, (a guy), but they're people. They have motives and real feelings, excellent character development. Great music, too.

 

[Vanna1994]

I dont watch a whole ton of anime, but I agree they always make the girls seem week and helpless.

I know this is a game, but its also been made into an anime, but was never made in English, Sheena from Tales of Symphonia is kick butt, along with Presea! they made Colette pretty strong too  

[u nd i]

Short Melancholic

u nd i

It reflects the views the Japanese have on women. In that part of the world, culturally women are still seen as the lower order and there is a lot of sexism.

The worst example is Fruits Basket imo, that is my very, VERY guilty pleasure. Haru is an idiot.

I love Fruits Basket! And Haru is my favorite haha Rin isn't the weak type at all though. Neither is Uo-chan. Tohru is pretty helpless but there are some girls in there that are totally tough like Tohru's mom Kyoko

Oops I didn't mean Haru, I meant Tohru. They are all the same to me.
Tohru is an idiot, she does not deserve to be a character.  

[Anko Habanero]

+Anko says:
Going with what several of the people said, in action oriented anime, most women of the main cast are there to compliment the main protagonist. Ultimately they seem useless, despite having some abilities to defend themselves. But understand that all of them are not that way. Using Bleach as an example, Yoruichi and Karin (Ichigo's little sister) break the mold in being strong, aggressive and self reliant.

In Naruto, another popular anime, Sakura was known for being one of the most useless characters in the anime next as one of the main cast. However she breaks this mold in Shippuden.

There's anime out there with female protaganist who that are definitely not the weak, damsel in distress type. Major Matoko from Ghost in the Shell, Kallen from Code Geass, Kino from Kino's Journy, just about every female character in Ranma 1/2, even Kagome from Inuyasha. (I hate using her as an example)

Even down to video game characters, Ayane from Tenchu is my favorite example. Fact of the matter is, it's not just anime, but a lot of western movies who adopted, if not started, the damsel in distress/weak female character persona. There is a diversity the character types though.  

[Kizume-Chan]

In Fly High! Meru was frickin' kickass because she was stronger than most guys : D

I'll just make a list.

Meru :: Fly High!

Sakura :: Card Captor Sakura

Hotaru :: Gakuen Alice

Sango :: InuYasha

Yukina :: Watashi ni xx Shinasai!

I think that's it.

Most of the girls in Code Geass.  

[XxDiscoxDinoxX]

Girls arent useless where would we be without ChiChi or Bulma well i'll tell you we would have no Gohan, Goten or Trunks xD  

[The_Megal]

The main girl in Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi is awesomeness. She's like a boxer and beats the crap out of people.