Female leads: Noir

I decided that I wanted to watch a new anime, the problem is that I hate a lot of it. I've been digging through the usual onslaught of shallow "save the princess with your awesome powers" types, the boring mecha fights, etc...

One of my problems with anime is that they continuously portray side characters, especially women, as being completely useless.

Let's take a look at two of the most popular bishounen anime in Japan - Naruto and Bleach. The female leads, Sakura and Orihime respectively, both have their moments in the sun, but are often the "useless one" in the fights. In addition, their powers are relegated to being "support" skills. Sakura has insane super-strength, but in battles she stays away from the opponents in case she needs to heal her allies. Orihime has a twist on the same power. Yawn.

Now compare this to cartoons in the United States, where female characters get important roles more often - Avatar:The Last Airbender has one of my favorite new heroines, Kitara. She's a fun-to-watch little feminist who decides she doesn't want to focus her water-bending abilities on healing. She wants to kick some ass. And she does.

In terms of anime, I've settled on Noir. It seems like it could be fun - a relatively simple girls with guns type of show, based on two assassins uncovering the past. I'm only a few episodes in, but it seems like it could go either way. I hope they can keep the main two characters, including the titular Noir, more than just a girl in a dress with a submachine gun.