A series centered around the premise of
Hot Amazon. 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
her who's the real star.
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.
Either way,
he does now. Quite likely, she was
somehow weakened, and this normally invincible
Action Girl now finds herself vulnerable and in need of protection. Even then, she's still a competent fighter. She's just going to need take some backup into battle with her until she recovers. And so, as their relationship develops, so do his newfound abilities, eventually making himself into
a hero on par with her.
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.
Contrast
No Guy Wants An Amazon.
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.
- 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.
- Kasha Imhof from Space Runaway Ideon.
- Fa Yuiri from Zeta Gundam.
- Lunamaria Hawke from Gundam SEED Destiny, who is probably Fa's Expy of sorts.
- Haruka Shitow from Rah Xephon.
- Revy from Black Lagoon, who
invites kidnaps Rock away 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.
- Rock's got an Action Girl Harem started, though Revy's the main contender. Edda's made her admiration plain, hitting on him several times. Not to mention Rock's open defiance of Balalaika somehow scoring him points and creating some UST there.
- Tenchi Muyo: Ryoko.
- An example of an Action Boyfriend: Inu Yasha. Kagome freed him from being pinned to the tree by Kikyo's arrow shortly after getting dragged into the Feudal Era, and the rest is history.
- Another male example would be Sosuke Sagara of Full Metal Panic
- And a third would be Van Fanel
- Moka in Rosario To Vampire.
- Burst Angel started out like this, but then the apparent "main character" was Put On A Bus...
- Saber in Fate Stay Night.
- Shinku in Rozen Maiden, although she's a doll.
- Matsuri in Sola.
- 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, Yukkiteru 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. Yukki's not exactly sure what to think of her.
- Makina of Shikabane Hime, though Ouri does Take 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.
- Asuka plays this trope on Shinji but, this being Evangelion, it ultimately goes nowhere and is harshly subverted by the series end. Or is it?
- 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.
Film
- 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
- Wanted has the geeky protagonist receive assistance from Angelina Jolie (playing Fox, but really playing herself) transfrom him into a ninja assassin.
- My Super Ex Girl Friend, except it's the guys curent girl-friend who gets the powers.
Literature
- Jody Stroud from Bloodsucking Fiends, a freshly turned vampire that enlists fresh-from-Indiana nighshift store manager to ease the adjustment to bloodsucking and enforced nocturnalism.
- Salem from "What Is This Black Magic You Call Science?", though he's pretty harsh to said girlfriend, especially in her daily training regimens.
- Yuki, from Tales Of The Otori.
- Molly Millions, from William Gibson's Neuromancer.
Live Action TV
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.
Web Original
- Whateley Universe example: Bladedancer. Gateway and Chain Lightning may both have mutant powers, but they're both having to step up their game to be the significant other of the Handmaid of the Tao.
Western Animation
- Kim Possible, obviously
- Futurama: Leela.
- EVE from Wall E.
- No one's mentioned Katara, Mai or Suki yet? Do you people live under a rock or something?
- Sorry. We were all busy getting drunk and punching out tigers. We just forgot to invite you. Again.
- After season 12 of South Park, it seems very likely that Wendy will become one of these when she grows up.
