Action shonen with female protagonists?

When you write an action series for boys, it can seem logical to have the protagonist be, well, a boy or a young man. Yet badass female characters are not an uncommon occurence, and a certain anime-inspired series has a very popular female protagonist.

So, are there action shonen with female protagonists out there, that I wouldn't have heard of? Do you think there's a chance of it becoming more common in the near future? And I don't mean co-protagonist like in romcoms.

From the little I've seen of it, Claymore might be the closest thing I know…

edited 23rd Jan '16 12:59:56 PM by Lyendith

Technically, Pretty Cure is Shoujo but has action that generally makes most Shonen blush in shame.

A Certain Scientific Railgun is a shonen, but I've only seen the anime. It and I think the manga have some elements of Slice of Life, but there are several good action scenes in it.

There's also Tokyo ESP with a female protagonist.

Claymore and Part 6 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure are what you are looking for.

Symphogear?

Soul Eater is a thing. It's not all girls, but it absolutely has a female protagonist.

Does Slayers count as shonen?

Going by the page description, it seems to fit the bill. It's a light novel, but light novels are meant to become mangas anyway.

I had somehow completely forgotten Soul Eater… although, aren't Maka and Soul co-protags in this?

And regarding Jojo, do I need to have read to five parts before it to understand the plot?

Aside from part 3, no.

I still would recommend Pretty Cure, for its fight sequences alone.

Kill La Kill was completely dominated on the protagonist and antagonist front by badass women.

The series is very fan-service heavy, though. Afterall, it has NUDIST BEACH as a thing...

edited 23rd Jan '16 3:24:30 PM by Zeromaeus

Does Full Metal Alchemist counts?

I wouldn't say so. Edward and Alphonse are both very much dudes.

edited 23rd Jan '16 3:24:07 PM by Zeromaeus

Ranma One Half half-counts.

Joking aside, there's Medaka Box, though I'd warn that after the Kumagawa arc it starts actively trying to flip the bird on genre conventions, and YMMV on how well it goes.

Does Fairy Tail count? The general impression I've gotten was that Natsu was the face but Lucy was the one actually driving everything, but I've never read/watched it so I don't know how accurate that is.

@Soul Eater: I mean, technically Soul shares the protag role, but Maka's the one who gets all the standard protagonist tropes, storylines and focus.

@Fairy Tail: Not reasonable to count that one- Lucy is the primary viewpoint character, especially early on, but Natsu very much the primary protagonist.

To be fair to Soul Eater, Soul's role is supposed to be Maka's weapon (as in he literally turns into a scythe). It's both of them working together, but Maka is the main focus.

Well, Erza have a substantial amount of screentime. I don't would say that it have a protagonist. Lucy serves as POV character for a story revolving the entire guild. Natsu is just that one member of the guild who fits the shonen archetype protagonist.

The thread said action shonen with female protagonists. They didn't say they have to be main protagonists...

"Protagonist" means that they are the main focus. A protagonist is "main" by definition. =[ As badass as Izumi, Riza or Olivier are, they are still supporting characters.

…Alphonse and Edward are both voiced by women though, so they might count.

But seriously, there seems to be more examples than I thought. And they're all post-2000 (outside of Ranma >.>)…

edited 23rd Jan '16 5:23:26 PM by Lyendith

I've never watched Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'm fairly certain Ed is voiced by Vig Mignogna.

Boom.

If female Seiyuu count, the very male Luffy from One Piece would count so no. Female Protagonists should be the main focus and be female.

How about ensemble pieces or is it specifically a girl front & center?

You're better off reading Claymore because the anime has a Gecko Ending

Vic.

And yes, he was in the English dub. In Japanese though, he's voiced by Romi Park.