Action Mom / Anime & Manga

• Angelic Layer: Although all the action is performed by mind-controlled robots, and, in the anime, she's in a wheelchair, Shuuko decimates every other opponent in the Tournament Arc except one (and she wins that one in the manga). She has taken the abandon-your-child-to-relatives-and-then-to-your-sister path (in the anime, she fears her child would be ostracized for having an "useless" mother), but in the end, reunites with her daughter and is seen competing side-by-side with her.
• Armitage III: Naomi Armitage, though it doesn't seem that way at first. She, her human husband Ross and her daughter Youko were hiding from All of the Other Reindeer at that point, Fantastic Racism having won the day in the form of feminists who weren't fond of the concept of being replaced by machines; She really needed to keep her head down. You could tell Armitage was having the time of her life showing off her cyborg Mama Bear side after little Youko is kidnapped and she had to go after the culprits.
• Black Butler: The Marchioness of Middleford, aka Elizabeth's mother Frances. She also doubles as an Action Girl.
• Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight!:
  • Goujima Sara, who is a capoeirista in addition to a porn star, is revealed to have an infant son in chapter 22.
  • Recurring boxer Laila Mendez has twin babies.
• Code Geass: Empress Marianne vi Britannia, a.k.a. Marianne the Flash, who managed to be a Humongous Mecha test pilot, Lady of War, and Rebellious Princess and Lady Macbeth, all while still being a sweet and loving mother to her two children. It's no wonder that she serves as inspiration not only to them, but also to the majority of her step-children who appear in the anime.
• Cutey Honey Flash has Honey Kisaragi herself. She has settled down with Seiji after the events of the TV series, and they have a daughter named Seira, but when The Movie takes place she returns to action.
• Digimon Adventure: Sora Takenouchi's very traditional mom, Toshiko, takes up this mantle for an episode in a Mama Bear bid to rescue her daughter from Phantomon. She comes up with a plan to disguise herself as one of the hordes of Bakemon (along with Biyomon) and then volunteer as the one to "capture" her daughter, who's being pursued by them. Her bid pays off and Sora is rescued, even if Toshiko ends up captured in her place. Maybe not true Action Mom status, but about the closest one has ever gotten in a Digimon series.
• Don't Meddle with My Daughter!: Athena is a retired superheroine, turned housewife, who finds out her 17 year old virgin daughter has taken up her mantel - without knowing the inherent risks that come with the territory. Which forces Athena out of retirement in order to protect Clara's reputation and her virtue.
• Eureka Seven: Eureka, a mecha pilot who adopts three children before the series starts. Three children she personally orphaned.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Ur was a powerful wizard even after the birth of her daughter.
  • Irene Belserion is one of the most powerful mages in the entire series to the point she's the only one who's ever uncontestedly beaten her daughter Erza Scarlet in a fair fight.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Izumi Curtis is a housewife and proud of it. Her role as a mom comes from having attempted to resurrect her stillborn child, but failed and lost the ability to ever have children as a result. However, she does more or less take in the Elric brothers (who lost their own mother) and becomes like a mother to them. She can - and does - beat up most of the other characters in the series (and, for bonus points, does so despite the fact that she's missing several internal organs). She is also one of the two people that Ed and Al openly fear (the other being Major General Armstrong.)
• Gals!: Ran's mother is a police officer.
• The Garden of Sinners: Ryougi Shiki. No surprise there, you knew it was gonna happen eventually.
• GEAR Fighter Dendoh: Ginga's mom is a Kenpo instructor who will beat the crap out of almost anyone smaller than a Monster of the Week. And then there's Vega, who turns out to be Hokuto's mom in disguise.
• Gosick: Cordelia Gallo. Try not to cheer when she goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the man who destroyed her life by kidnapping and raping her and forcing her to bear his daughter, in the name of the daughter who she loves anyway, and kills him. She dies shortly afterward, but damn.
• Highschool of the Dead: Saya doubles as Alice's "big sister" figure and her Parental Substitute, as well as being the other half of a tentative Battle Couple with Hirano. The 29th chapter hung a massive lampshade on it, when Alice fell off her bike and was about to be attacked by zombies. Saya immediately sprang into Mama Bear mode and took out the nearest one, then whapped Alice on the noggin for making her worry. Followed by a 'family hug' afterwards.
• Ichigekiden (The Legend of Ichigeki), the manga by Yasuichi Ohshima, features Sakiko Sakamoto, protagonist's mother, who is the successor of old martial arts clan and an expert martial artist herself. She ran away from her family to marry an ordinary office worker and settled as a plain housewife, but often shows her hidden nature to help her children or solve the various problem around the neighborhood.
• Ikki Tousen: Hakufu's Older Than They Look mother Goei (expy of Madame Wu, mother of Sun Ce's aka Hakufu's past self) is no frontline fighter and prefers to take care of the Shuuyu household, but either call her "old woman" or threaten her directly, and you'll have her prove that she can defend herself rather well.
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency, there's Lisa Lisa, who's not only Joseph's mother, but also one of the most powerful Hamon Users in the series.
• Kekkaishi: Yoshimori's mother Sumiko seems to be this, she appears to be Walking the Earth leaving her very domestic husband and Old Master father to raise her kids, her only appearance outside of flashbacks involved her throwing a dragon(which she had apparently beaten unconscious and dragged across the country) at her son The Hero from great height, then beating said dragon into submission when it came for her. Also in a flashback she killed a god seemingly just for shits and giggles, and because the god's still-in-the-womb kid told her to.
• The King Of Fighters Kyo: A subtle example is Shizuka Kusanagi, Kyo's mom. She is a beautiful woman who only wears kimonos and is all polite and motherly... and also fearlessly points a naginata to the neck of the ninja Eiji Kisaragi when she finds him digging in the archives of the Kusanagi family, sweetly asking him to stop whatever he's doing. When Kyo comes back home, he finds his mother and Eiji calmly drinking tea, and Shizuka is all smiles but Eiji looks still unnerved.
• Koihime†Musou: Resident mom Kouchuu Kanshou, the Expy of Huang Zhong. Her story behind her action isn't exactly pretty, though: Her daughter is being held hostage by bandits and she is forced to assassinate a noble to keep her alive. Later on, after her daughter is rescued, she's freed from any burdens and fights without anything to hold back.
• Kyo Kara Maoh!: Miko Shibuya is shown to hold her own when attacked by enemies. She used a broken broom handle to effectively drive off attacks with her fencing skills.
• The Legend of Mother Sarah: The whole point of the aptly named other Katsuhiro Otomo masterpiece, which features a widow trying to retrieve her lost children and who will stop at nothing to do so, including brawling and using guns. It helps that she's an unusually tall and jacked woman.
• Macross:
  • Millia Fallyna in Super Dimension Fortress Macross. She even takes baby Komillia (or Dana, if you're following Robotech) once into battle.
    • By Macross 7, she's a mother seven times over (plus one adoption) and she still can keep up with her husband. And yes, they're both probably the best pilots in Macross 7 despite being in their 40s-50s, as Macross 7 is set 35 years or so after the original. So, yeah.
  • Macross Frontier gives us the minor character of Canaria Bernstein, a combat medic who uses a König Monster
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Nanoha and Fate, the co-leads, are mothers through adoption and still amongst the best combat mages out there. When their daughter Vivio is kidnapped, both Nanoha and Fate proceed to kick ass and take names, Nanoha to get Vivio back and Fate to take down the man behind it all.
  • There's also Quint Nakajima, Subaru and Ginga's mother, who was a high-ranking investigator until her death. It's revealed in the Sound Stages that Quint was considerably stronger than Subaru or Ginga, being able to wield both Revolver Knuckles (her two girls inherited one each), while neither of them can do so as of the end of StrikerS.
  • Lutecia Alpine's mother Megane was Quint's partner. She's also the only Action Mom in the entire series that went through childbirth.
• Medaka Box: Zenkichi Hitoyoshi's mom, Hitomi Hitoyoshi: Mad Scientist, badass martial artist and looking approximately half her son's age.
• My-Otome: Lena Sayers, the original Blue Sky Sapphire holder, whose past is explored in the prequel. She's the mother of the main series' heroine, Arika. While she was defeated in the Aswad's attack on Windbloom's castle because she lost her powers, she was apparently able to put up enough of a fight to be considered a Worthy Opponent by the Aswad, who hoped to give her a proper burial.
• Naruto:
  • Tsume Inuzuka is the single mother of two teenagers yet has maintained not only active ass-kicking status as an elite kunoichi but also runs her own clan.
  Tsume: (referring to an enemy) He was so scared of me, he ran away!
  Kiba: (thinking to himself) Yeah, mom... just like with dad.
  • Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother, battles the series Eldritch Abomination and the Big Bad controlling it while dying. She takes a claw longer than she is tall to the stomach and catches it on its way out to protect her son. This all takes place about one hour after she gave birth and then had the Kyuubi forcefully dragged out of her, something that was previously always fatal.
  • Princess Kaguya effectively became a Physical God before giving birth to her children and only got stronger after that. Unfortunately, she also became Drunk with Power.
  • As of the Spin-Off Naruto Gaiden, Sakura Haruno has grown into quite the example. The assassin who targeted her daughter Sarada had no chance against her, and Sasuke and Naruto were pretty impressed.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Evangeline is a vampire so powerful that her very name inspires terror in the hearts of mortal men. In the sequel, UQ Holder!, she's the main character's adoptive mother and is just as badass. This also applies to the Negima timeline, where she became Negi's step-mother.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: EVA Unit-01 and Unit-02, as they are gigantic death machines with the pilot's mother's soul inside of it that usually goes out of its way to stop the child inside from being too badly hurt.
• Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!: Yoriko Yasaka might look like a fluffy Cuddle Bug, but she's also a part-time Malign Deity Hunter who's badass enough to put the Fear of G... er, Mom into the hearts of Nyarlathotep and Cthuguha with nothing more than an ordinary dinner fork. And Cthulhu help you if you lay a finger on her beloved Hiro-kun...
• One Piece:
  • First and foremost was Bellmere, who was a Marine on the front lines of battle when she discovered two orphaned children, Nojiko and Nami, and took them home to raise since the sight of the two little girls gave her back her strength to live. When Arlong attacked their island, she alone attempted to fight back. Failing that, she willingly gave her own life to ensure Nojiko and Nami's safety.
  • Nico Robin's mother, Olvia, was an Adventurer Archaeologist before meeting her end defending her homeland of Ohara.
  • Nami the crew's resident money-lover, is shown to be very protective and loving to children due to her above mentioned past and will not abandon any children in need (despite the fact she's a thieving Pirate). This motherly nature can hold the crew up at times but being Big Damn Heroes they come to her aid in protecting children.
  • Big Mom Charlotte Linin one of the four "Emperors of the sea" as her name suggests she's "a really big mom" having 84 children (which almost unbelievable as she's ugly as hell). Big Mom is a Evil Matriarch ruling over domain with a iron fist even threatening to "eat" her minions showing she may be a cannibal too^note It is all but stated that those minions were just homies (i.e. inanimate objects that she gave life to). However, it is very heavily implied that she accidentally devoured her foster family while feasting on food. In short Big Mom is one mother you definitely don't want to mess with.
• Planetes: Fee Carmichael, although she has the advantage of having her son and husband out of harm's way, in Florida, while she freely performs all her badassery in outer space. Not that her badassery is anything to sneer at.
• Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions: Zoroark, Zorua's mother, who'll fight three legendary Pokemon by herself if that's what it takes to save her child.
• Queen's Blade: Cattleya is a mother, weaponsmith, retired adventurer and owner of some of the largest breasts in all of anime. Bonus points in usually fighting with her son Rana tucked under her arm.
• Raideen: Lemuria was born with telekinetic powers that were abnormally high in comparision to your average Mu, so much that she was selected by her father to save her kingdom from being taken over by the demons. She's an Ace Pilot and a Warrior Princess, and it's thanks to her efforts that Barao is taken out of the game for good...at the cost of her own life.
  Akira, through tears: "I won...I won because of my mother!"
• Robot Romance Trilogy:
  • Combattler V: Oleana is a villainous example, being the Abusive Mom of General Garuda who constantly subjects him to torture whenever he fails to complete his mission. She is The Dreaded to the Campbellians.
  • Voltes V:
    • Mitsuyo Go loved her children, but was a harsh mother to them because she knew they would inevitably be at war with the Boazanian Empire when the time was right. After they invaded, her children were in danger from the Boazanian's Beast Knight, so Mitsuyo entered a plane while injured, flew towards it and committed suicide by crashing into it to save them.
    • Ippei's mother has a gun and knows how to use it. She is also strategic and used gunpowder to fend off a pack of wolves.
  • Daimos: Princess Erika's mother is dead, but ever since, she's been raised by her nanny Margarete. When Erika is disgraced and sentenced to Execution by her vengeful brother Richter for falling in love with a human, Margarete risks her own life to save Erika by faking her death and claiming she murdered Erika, and in the Grand Finale, Margarete even tries to murder the man who assassinated Erika's father herself with a knife.
• Seven Mortal Sins: Mammon, as it turns out, is not only a powerful Demon Lord....but a mother doing everything for the sake of her children.
• Sgt. Frog:
  • Aki Hinata kicks butt when she has to. For starters, she's got a black belt in aikido.
  • Oka Nishizawa, Momoka's mother, is an even bigger example. She met her husband Baio during a world martial arts tournament, and is introduced when she sneaks into her husband's mansion in Japan and beats the crap out of the security.
  • A later chapter shows that Aki is apparently the only person who can match Oka in a fight.
• Spy X Family: Although Yor Brier accepted becoming Mrs. Forger both to keep her identity as an assassin a secret as well as keep the authorities at bay (single women near thirty years old are seen as suspect after a woman in that range was outed as a spy), she's clearly taken the role of being a loving and supportive stepmother to Anya, who is thrilled to have an assassin for a mother.
• Tenchi Muyo!: Misaki Jurai Masaki, the junior Empress of Jurai, is not only the Aeka and Sasami's mom, but also the head of Emperor's Guard and uncontested martial arts champion of the whole Jurai Empire for as long as she is bothered to compete. And her mom, Seto Kamiki Jurai, while actually ruling in place of her son-in-law, still finds the time to justify the reputation that gave her the famous nickname of "Devil Princess of Jurai" (Even the first Big Bad of the series gave her a wide berth!).
  • The senior Empress of Jurai, Funaho (Yosho's mom), is director of the Intelligence division. In one episode of the Manga, an assassin tries to kill her on a trip to Earth by dropping a steel girder on her. She stops its fall with a single jab, nearly bending it in half, without even standing up.
• Witchblade: Amaha Masane, despite being completely childish and doting over her daughter, quickly became adequate Punch-Clock Hero. Soon the only thing that worried her at all was Rihoko's possible reaction on seeing her transformed. Until she faced the consequences.
• Episode 1 of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon (a Spin-Offspring sequel to Inuyasha) shows that Sango hasn't lost any of her combat prowess after having three kids.

---