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Ron, stop checking out Kim and focus!
"Oh, oops, I forgot to leave some for Kenichi again."
— Miu, after beating up all the bad guys herself... again
It starts with an ordinary guy living an ordinary life. But then he meets a woman who changes his life forever. But unlike a typical Magical Girlfriend, the series is more about her kicking butt and taking names than causing hilarity to ensue. The story might be told through the guy's eyes, but as often as not it's she who's the real star. If they are both badasses, they would be a Battle Couple.
But fortunately for the guy, this doesn't mean she's completely out of his league. In fact, meeting her usually means the Ordinary High School Student isn't so ordinary himself. That first fateful encounter will probably end up granting him special powers, or unlocking powers he didn't know he had. Or maybe he did know, but didn't have a reason to use them.
In shows where Anyone Can Die, an Action Girlfriend has much higher chances of survival than most other love interests, since she is rarely subject to Cartwright Curse.
The male character is almost always an Amazon Chaser.
Contrast: No Guy Wants an Amazon. Compare Violently Protective Girlfriend.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- The title character of Shakugan No Shana, who helps Yuji discover that he bears the spiritual treasure Reiji Maigo.
- From the Nasuverse is Ryougi Shiki of Kara no Kyoukai, who is the love interest of Non-Action Guy Kokutou Mikiya.
- Kasha Imhof from Space Runaway Ideon.
- Haruka Shitow from RahXephon.
- Revy from Black Lagoon, who kidnaps Rock for ransom from his boring life in Japan. Although she definitely did not get any weaker, and they're not confirmed to be a couple...yet.
- Tenchi Muyo!: Ryoko.
- Moka in Rosario + Vampire.
- Burst Angel started out like this, but then the apparent "main character" was Put on a Bus...
- Shinku in Rozen Maiden, although she's a doll.
- Matsuri in Sola.
- Oliva Soldana in Destiny's Hand.
- Ennis in Baccano!. Granted, Firo's life was pretty interesting before the life-changing encounter, but the addition of Immortality and alchemy is still pretty sweet.
- Mirai Nikki certainly has fun with this trope. Almost immediately after stumbling into The Game, Yukiteru encounters Yuno Gasai, a beautiful girl in his class who makes it her top priority to protect him from harm (and does pretty damn well, to boot). The catch? She's batshit frickin' insane, and at even her most "sane" moments likes to break into his house or send him hundreds of emails over the course of an hour.
- Makina of Shikabane Hime, though Ouri Took a Level in Badass in series 2.
- Kagura in Ga-Rei.
- Miu from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. Kenichi repeatedly vows to protect her, despite the fact that she's still a more skilled fighter than he is. As of late, he's almost caught up to her, and has actually managed to actively protect her several times when she was sick or disabled. Still, her Grandfather won't let him date her unless he can beat him in a fight. And said Grandfather is effectively The Dumbledore of the Martial Arts World so...
- Tokiko in Busou Renkin is this to ordinary high school guy Kazuki Muto - the series starts out with her resurrecting him from the dead after he got killed on the spot by one of the series' "homunculus" (evil demon things) and later kills the creature. She becomes Kazuki's mentor, and a little later becomes severely weakened due to a parasitic demon-infested probe, with Kazuki saving her life. He eventually surpasses her in power.
- Princess Kahm of Outlanders certainly qualifies.
- The title character of Iczer-One is a Yuri version of this.
- The Korean version Mazinger Z, Robot Taekwon V, has Yoon as a badass action girlfriend to Kim Hoon.
- A good half of Yuuto's Unwanted Harem in Omamori Himari qualify, though Himari herself is the most obvious example. Yuuto himself has yet to actually fight, though he has the potential to equal or surpass all of the girls when he finishes his training.
- The Pandoras and Limiters' relationship from Freezing could count.
- Merry to Yumeji from Yumekui Merry could count; according to Isana, Merry does indeed like Yumeji, she just isn't fully aware of it.
- Change 123 offers an interesting case where the girlfriend of the Non-Action Guy protagonist has three split personalities which are, each on her own way, Action Girls, but the main personality (whom he loves the most) is a Shrinking Violet.
- In Black Butler, Elizabeth is revealed to be one. Wife of the Queen's Watchdog, indeed.
- Though not his girlfriend yet, Seine of Hekikai No Ai ON is this to Tatsuya. She's the girl he had a crush on and she has been kicking ass since 300 years ago.
- Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Haruka's badass side is rarely seen but the first time Yuto saw her angry, he decided he must never enrage her.
- Hungary/Elizaveta from Axis Powers Hetalia is this to Austria, although crossed with Violently Protective Girlfriend. While she's a potent Action Girl in her own right, it's never a good idea to mess with her ex-husband/boyfriend.
- Yuu and Haruna of Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka. The former revives Ayumu as a zombie and the latter inadvertently turns him into a Masou Shoujo.
- Kuroyukihime from Accel World, who introduces Haruyuki to the Accelerated World.
- The many Magical Girlfriends of Sekirei are this by default, since they're battle aliens romantically involved with Puny Earthlings.
Comic Books
- Although they're a Battle Couple too, girlfriend Ramona Flowers does end up fighting some enemies that boyfriend Scott Pilgrim doesn't have the balls to (those enemies being women), something both of which Ramona and his enemies call him out for being a pussy on.
- Anyone who shacks up with Wonder Woman is going to fall into this trope, save maybe for Superman or Batman. Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman's golden age whipping boy, was a World War II U.S. intelligence officer, but couldn't exactly hold his own against Greek gods, sorceresses, or several hundred feet tall women.
- DC Comics also has Big Barda and Mr. Miracle, two New Gods from the planet Apokolips. While Mr. Miracle isn't a pushover (the man regularly escaped deathtraps designed by Darkseid), Barda used to run the Female Furies, an all-female Apokoliptan strike team. Oh, and she's canonically almost as strong as Superman.
- As seen below, Fox to Wesley in Wanted. Portrayed differently in the comics, where the characters are DC supervillain pastiches, and Fox is quite clearly Halle Berry cosplaying Catwoman, sent by Wesley's not-quite-dead father to make a man out of the geek.
- The Invisible Woman has graduated to this, after being introduced as a rather... young love interest for Mr. Fantastic. Now that Reed Richards has evolved into the absent-minded superprofessor, Sue Storm has become the definition of Team Mama Bear.
Fan Works
Film
- Avatar: Neytiri
- Leeloo from The Fifth Element. Although Corben Dallas was already a trained soldier before she fell into his cab, it still gave him a reason to come out of retirement for one last mission.
- The Matrix: Trinity
- My Super Ex Girlfriend, except it's the guy's current girl-friend who gets the powers.
- EVE from WALL•E.
- Wanted has the geeky protagonist receive assistance from Angelina Jolie (playing Fox, but really playing herself) transform him into a ninja assassin.
Literature
- Jody Stroud from Bloodsucking Fiends, a freshly turned vampire that enlists fresh-from-Indiana nightshift store manager to ease the adjustment to bloodsucking and enforced nocturnalism.
- Yuki, from Tales Of The Otori.
- Molly Millions, from William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy.
- Ludmilla Leonovna, in David Weber's The Apocalypse Troll, fits this trope to an extent, though as with Leeloo (above), her male love interest was a bad-ass himself before they met — a U.S. Navy captain who rose to that rank through the SEAL teams. It's just that she's an immortal Super Soldier from The Future...
- Rachel in Animorphs to bird-boy Tobias.
- In Time Scout, Margo Smith is not out of Margo's league.
- Katniss and Peeta start The Hunger Games series as a Battle Couple. By Catching Fire, Katniss has slowly becomes this to Peeta's increasingly Non-Action Guy status. Especially apparent during the Quarter Quell.
- Most female Wizards from the The Dresden Files - special mention to Elaine and Warden Commander Luccio, both for the protagonist.
- Also for Harry, badass cop Karrin Murphy and reporter Susan Rodriguez, after she's turned into a proto-vampire.
- Kitai, of Codex Alera. In. Freaking. Spades. Only in the finale could Tavi possibly match her in direct badassery, except that he's her totem animal and they mutually gain power through that bond.
- Any female character, really. If she's important enough to be included by name, she can hold her own against 99% of the populace in raw furycraft or swordswomanship.
- This is a general trend in Jim Butcher's books - he's very gender-blind in assigning badassness, and many of his main characters have plausible romances with at least one other main character.
- Kahlan Amnell of the Sword of Truth, especially before Richard learns how to properly use his sword and magic. After that, they're more of a Battle Couple She's also much better at tactics, even though he's more inspiring and has a better grasp of strategy.
- Others' fear of Kahlan's power prevented her from developing any sort of relationship, including romantic ones. Richard fell for her before he knew how dangerous she was, and she was very surprised that he didn't care.
- Cara to General Benjamin, forming a very heartwarming Battle Couple.
- Nicci, first to Jagang (for very squicky values of "relationship"), and later, unrequited to Richard.
- Jensen
- Any female Channeler in The Wheel of Time is this all over the place.
- Special mention to Egwene, Nynaeve, and many of the Green Ajah who are in love with their Warders, forming many a Battle Couple.
- Elayne, Aviendha, and Min would be this if their boyfriend wasn't the Dragon Reborn, the series's designated badass. It's not even a polygamous Battle Couple, it's entirely possible that he's a physical incarnation of the Creator himself.
- Tuon for Mat. She looks like a pampered doll, but she's had combat training and faced assassination attempts since she was little. All her really extravagant clothes have loose pants and a tunic underneath it. The last three books are her slowly realizing that she's the Battle Couple variant of this trope.
- Birgitte Silverbow, in a reincarnating Battle Couple with Gaidal Cain, though she's by far the better known of the couple.
- Light And Dark The Awakening Of The Mage Knight: Sabrina is this for Danny. She's his crush and a Lightborn drake that draws him into the world of knights and monsters.
- Jenny from The Truth of Rock and Roll, as the local Jerk Jock discovered to his regret when he tried to bully her boyfriend.
- Most girls in Discworld. Special mention goes to Angua von Uberwald, werewolf cop and Action Girl.
Live Action TV
- Kahlan, from Legend of the Seeker.
- Cameron, from The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
- Sarah, from Chuck.
- Farscape. Aeryn Sun, with John Crichton as the ordinary guy, at least until he Took a Level in Badass/Craziness.
- Buffy, to whoever dates her, whether he's a sensitive poet, a super-tough soldier, or even a master vampire.
- Firefly has tough soldier Zoe married to sensitive pilot Wash.
- The younger version of Mary Winchester from Supernatural would count as this trope, since it was revealed that she used to be a hunter herself even before John had learned about the existence of monsters and demons.
- Spartacus Blood And Sand: When Sura was being attacked and Spartacus shows up and starts killing her attackers, does she run and hide? Hell no! She picks up a sword and kills one herself!
- Rory Pond might be the Whoniverse's resident Badass, but he doesn't exactly like the adventurous lifestyle. His wife Amy is far more gung ho about going on adventures. She even saved Rory's life several times.
- In the same vein, River Song, the aforementioned couple's daughter and eventual wife of the Doctor is certainly more actiony compared to the main protagonist. While the Doctor would solve problems with his brains, River would solve them with some feminine charm and a gun.
Video Games
- Tengaar from Suikoden I. She and her boyfriend Hix live in a town with a very rich warrior culture. He doesn't like fighting, but she's more than determined to "make a man out of him".
- Princess Sapphire. Although Almaz is certainly no slouch in combat ability, its clearly obvious that Sapphire is the stronger warrior. It should be noted however that Sapphire's primary affinity (based on stats and evilities) is towards ranged combat while Almaz is a close combat fighter.
- Elaine Marley is this to Guybrush Threepwood in Monkey Island. Still, Guybrush is pretty competent in Insult-related duels, but as an Adventure Game protagonist relies more on his wits.
- If the player chooses Shepard to be female and romances Kelly.
- Really fem!Shep counts as this no matter who she ends up romancing, considering she is by far the most badass person in the galaxy, let alone the squad.
- All of the female squadmember romance options are quite capable of holding their own in a fight. Special notes go to Liara and Ashley who can be of the violently protective sort.
- Lamia Cintare from Wild Frontier.
Visual Novels
- Saber, Rin and Sakura in their respective routes in Fate/stay night.
- Arcueid Brunestud from Tsukihime, who gives Shiki a reason to use his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and pretty much transforms him from an everyman to an incredibly broken badass.
- To a certain extent, Ciel counts in the game.
- Akiha would count except that in the route where she gets some real action, she's not the girlfriend. Also, while she could kill you in 2 seconds, she has no real battle experience.
- Akai Ito: Hatou Kei's girlfriend does all the fighting for her. Good for her.
Web Original
Western Animation
- Futurama: Leela to Fry since they got together.
- Kim Possible, obviously.
- After season 12 of South Park, it seems very likely that Wendy will become one of these for Stan when she grows up.
- While she's a secondary character, Chris's wife Elise is probably the single most dangerous person in Dan Vs.
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