Friday is supposed to be some kind of a special day?

Yes, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and love is supposedly in the air. This did get me thinking about the time when I was a kid and I would have crushes on, of all things, animated females. It may seem absurd but it’s something all boys go through. In fact, there are a slew of lists on the Internet professing those cartoon females we all were infatuated with.

Undoubtedly, we would see the likes of Jessica Rabbit, Rogue from the X-Men series and Ariel from The Little Mermaid on those lists. Heck, you’ll even see Daphne from Scooby-Doo there sometimes! While those characters usually dominate the animated crushes lists, they weren’t really mine. So, in this (probably embarrassing) confession, here are just five animated females that I had crushes on while growing up…

…Don’t judge me.

Crystal Kane from the Centurions

I always wondered why Centurions never became as popular as the other big cartoons of the ’80s. Don’t get me wrong, it was a hit when it was released but, unlike the likes of GI Joe and Transformers, the Centurions just faded into relative obscurity. Now, I know a lot of people liked it because of all the action and the concept of integrating weaponry into an exo-skeleton. But for me, there was the added benefit of getting to see Crystal Kane helping the team from Sky Vault.

I hate to admit it, but I think Crystal actually awakened my obsession with redheaded females. There was just something about a girl with flame red hair that just looks so appealing to me! I didn’t notice it before, which is weird because I was already looking at animated redheads like Scarlet and Cover Girl from GI Joe. I really didn’t look at them as hotties until I saw Crystal.

Madoka Ayukawa from Kimagure Orange Road

Anime has become super popular today and is now very mainstream than most people think. However, there was a time when “Japanese animation” had a bad reputation so, if you liked it, then you were a pervert or something. This made it rather difficult to get ahold of, as it was as niche as it could be. Even so, I still watched my fill of anime back in the day with shows like Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi Muyo, which were basically harem comedies.

But do you know that one of my most favorite animes of all time was basically a romantic comedy? That anime was Kimagure Orange Road. Part of the reason why I loved it? Her name is Madoka Ayukawa.

It’s kind of hard to not be drawn in by Madoka Ayukawa, the “kimagure” (which means whimsical or fickle in English) in Kimagure Orange Road. She has a reputation of being a violent brute as she can beat up thugs and she smokes as well. However, she actually has a very good heart but is just afraid to open up to others. She’s basically a tsundere (a cold person) but she’s different because she’s probably one of the very first tsundere, or at least, Madoka Ayukawa is the one who made the trope fashionable.

Elisa Maza from Gargoyles

I know there’s a ton of content to watch on Disney+. You have a huge library of Disney movies available at the touch of a button. You also get some Fox television shows thanks to the House of Mouse devouring the network. However, if you do get the chance, I do advise you to watch Gargoyles, one of the best animated shows from the ’90s. The show had some really great twists in their running storylines and fantastic characters. And one of those fantastic characters from Gargoyles has to be Detective Elisa Maza.

The great thing about Elisa Maza, besides being rather easy on the eyes, is actually her courage. While she does play the damsel in distress at times, most of the time, she’s in the thick of the fight with the rest of the Gargoyles. Considering she’s just an ordinary human, that’s a feat unto itself. But if there’s one thing that really got me was her voice. Actually, it’s Salli Richardson’s voice, which is just a perfect match for Elisa Maza’s personality. It’s the combination of all these things that makes her hot in my eyes.

Ukyo Kuonji from Ranma 1/2

As mentioned earlier, Ranma 1/2 is a harem anime so there’s a lot of female hotties to choose from. Those familiar with the anime will probably pick Shampoo as the cutest and hottest of the girls. Maybe some will pick Kasumi or even Ranma-chan herself. But for my money, the best girl in Ranma 1/2 is the okonomiyaki making Ukyo Kuonji.

Among all of Ranma’s supposed fiancees, Ukyo is probably the least feminine. She actually dresses up as a boy when she goes to school! However, she does have a lot of very attractive qualities that makes her super cute. She’s probably the most pragmatic of the characters as you rarely see her coming up with weird schemes to get Ranma. She’s also the most independent as she lives alone and runs her own okonomiyaki shop by her lonesome.

She may not be the best fighter of all the female characters in the show as she was never training in the art of fighting. But she makes up for it with her cooking skills and her large cooking spatula. I think Ukyo Kuonji is my favorite girl in the anime is because she’s the most different among all Ranma’s fiancees and it makes her already cute personality stand out even more.

Sammie Porter from Robotech

Every geek knows what Robotech is. We all know that the first storyline from the show comes from Macross, of course. We also know all the main characters from both Robotech and Macross, right? So, you may be asking, who the heck is Sammie Porter? Well, she’s one of the Bridge Bunnies of the SDF-1 AKA Macross!

This is probably the most obscure females on this list as her role is super small in the grand scheme of things. However, her ditsy personality and child-like demeanor endeared her to me so much when I was very young and watching Robotech then. It also helps that she had the longest hair among all the characters! I remember being very upset when they mentioned that she died during Khyron’s kamikaze attack! Thankfully, this doesn’t happen in the original Macross. Whew!

BONUS: Cheryl Blossom

Archie fans debate who’s better: Betty or Veronica. I always say they’re wrong because the right answer is Cheryl Blossom.

Cheryl Blossom has everything I like in a female character. She’s already gorgeous. She’s super flirty and a wicked sense of humor. She’s also very wealthy. I also mentioned I have a thing for redheads, didn’t I? The only reason Cheryl Blossom is my bonus entry is because she never became a cartoon.

Who are your animated crushes growing up? Let me know who they are in the comments section below!