Finally, my time to shine baby, welcome to the wonderful world of gyarus! As an anime fan, you may have come across a tanned/dark skin anime girl who speaks in slang at times, is incredibly attractive, and is pretty different from your regular anime girls.
The gyaru subculture in Japan first emerged in the late 1990s and became popular in the early 2000s. The term “gyaru” is thought to have originated from the English word “gal,” and the subculture was characterized by young women who embraced a distinctive fashion style and lifestyle that was different from the traditional norms in Japanese society. The gyaru style often involved heavy makeup, dyed hair, and revealing or provocative clothing, and was associated with materialism, consumerism, and a focus on superficial appearances. The gyaru subculture has evolved over the years and continues to be a significant part of Japanese youth culture.
- QWhat does “gyaru” mean?
- A
“Gyaru” is a Japanese subculture that started in the 1990s and was characterized by young women who embrace a distinctive fashion style. This style often involves wearing heavy makeup, dyed hair, and clothing that is revealing or provocative. The gyaru subculture has evolved over the years and now encompasses many different styles, including “ganguro,” “kogyaru,” and “himegyaru.” Some people associate gyaru with materialism, consumerism, and a focus on superficial appearances, while others see it as a form of self-expression and empowerment for young women.
- QWho is the cutest gyaru character in anime?
- A
As of recently, Marin Kitagawa seems to be the cutest gyaru character, but we’ll get into that soon enough. With my own bias, I say it’s Sakura Hibiki or Galko, but just like anime hairstyles, there are plenty of gyaru characters you’ll find cute.
- 1. Marin Kitagawa/My Dress-Up Darling
- 2. Sakura Hibiki/How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?
- 3. Akari Watanabe/More Than A Married Couple, But Not Lovers
- 4. Yukana Yame/My First Girlfriend Is a Gal
- 5. Emma Sano/Tokyo Revengers
- 6. Naruko Anjou/Anohana
- 7. Yui Yuigahama/OreGairu
- 8. Kaede/Gal and Dinosaur
- 9. Shion/Kuro Gal ni Natta kara Shinyuu to Yattemita
- 10. Iroha Igarashi/3D Girlfriend
- 11. Lord Of Pastimers/Asobi Asobase
- 12. Mikoto Aiura/The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
- 13. Kei Karuizawa/Classroom of the Elite
- 14. Galko/Please tell me! Galko-chan
- 15. Nana Sunohara/Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou
- Summary
1. Marin Kitagawa/My Dress-Up Darling

Marin Kitagawa tops our ranking list due to her popularity and really having that gyaru vibe down to a tee. One thing I really like about her is her fashion. It can change depending on where she is, so she always looks fresh. Her relationship with Wakano Gojo is just soo pure and wholesome it’ll melt your heart.
She can be described as super positive, she always has a cheery look and whenever she cosplays, her attitude can brighten even the darkest of moods. She is strong-hearted and has great values, for example, when she saw Wakana getting bullied by his classmates, she encouraged him to stand up for himself. Marin is also quite mature, however, she can be ditzy at times.
She has a lot of cute nuances to her. One of them is how she gets embarrassed about insignificant things. An example of this would be when she was being photographed and the wind blew her skirt up. Instead of being embarrassed over a risque situation, she was more concerned about not looking in the camera, she truly is a cosplay queen.
2. Sakura Hibiki/How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?

Sakura is my gyaru waifu for real, tanned skin, blonde hair, and she is in the gym!?!? If she was real I’d wife her and forfeit all my possessions to her, haha. Sakura is the main protagonist of this series with one goal, to lose weight.
Sakura’s personality can be depicted as someone who is motivated by any means. She is also a BIG eater, this girl can eat for days, her favourite being junk food. Despite being surrounded by muscular bodybuilders, she dislikes that body type and prefers a more toned and lean body type, of course with peak definition.
Personally, it’s always great to see someone working out, especially when they do it for themselves and not others. Sakura’s gyaru lingo is quite nice to listen to, and if you study Japanese, it’s a great help for understanding how the sub-culture speaks in code. The anime is motivational and a personal recommendation!
3. Akari Watanabe/More Than A Married Couple, But Not Lovers
I- I need- I need help because this girl is adorable!!!! Akari is our pink-haired gyaru and boy *wipes drool* is she a waifu. Due to an activity held at their school, she and Jiro Yakuin end up getting paired for couples training. Although she’s paired with Jiro, she aims to one day marry Minami Tenjin and will do whatever it takes to accomplish it.
Some people may be put off by gyaru for being soo outgoing or talking very casually, and at first, Akari does seem rude. But on the inside, she is very wholesome and becomes kinder as the story progresses. Throughout the story she begins to fall for Jiro and realizes that her feelings were not what she expected at all, this showcases her maturity and growth as a character.
Fun fact, Watanabe is quite a common name in Japan. Akari’s 2 friends are real ones, they helped her try to get with Minami at first, but when she confessed that she started falling for Jiro, they still stuck by her and helped her with him instead, truly ride or die homies.
4. Yukana Yame/My First Girlfriend Is a Gal

I used this anime to indoctrinate my boys into becoming gyaru enthusiasts (like me, haha). Yukana is a whole cinnamon roll, she is the girlfriend of Junichi Hachiba. Her strawberry blonde hair coupled with her gyaru fashion, she’ll take your attention in a second.
Yukana at first comes off a snarky individual making fun of Junichi during the encounters early on, but when she agrees to date him we see her feelings change and her overall personality. She becomes more wholesome and less rude. Together the two of them grew into different people from what they originally were.
Look, this anime is pure comedy, the different characters and their unique writing make it so that every episode feels like a fresh start. One of my favourite moments is when Yui gets introduced to the story and how at school she is strict but at home, she’s a whole different character. 10/10 go watch it.
5. Emma Sano/Tokyo Revengers
According to my notes, Emma and Draken are the perfect couple. Emma is the step-sister of Mikey and Shinichiro. She is the gyaru character whose siblings are absolute units of delinquents.
Emma loves Draken and loves to show her affection in a cutesy/childish way. She’s jealous of the attention Draken gives Mikey and would flirt with other guys in hopes of making him jealous. She wants to be older but her childlike tendencies do leak out from time to time.
According to the fandom wiki, Hinata says that Emma is a pure romanticist and is a very kind girl. I can understand why many fans like this couple, the way they were written helps complement each other in areas they may be lacking in.
6. Naruko Anjou/Anohana
Naruko is a member of the Super Peace Busters, a group of 6 friends with the sole purpose of preserving peace. However, due to the death of one of the members, out of guilt, they ended up disbanding.
Naruko can be described as a tsundere in the sense, she treats Jintan coldly but worries for his well-being on the inside. She is easily influenced by those around her, even if she does not agree with them, she would still hang out with them.
Despite the group disbanding, she later reconnects with Jintan. She works at a video games store and is quite the otaku. She has a plethora of manga and video games.
By the way, her nickname is “Anaru”, well, I don’t think I should explain it further…
7. Yui Yuigahama/OreGairu

Yui is the first official customer of the Service Club. The Service Club is a place where students can help other students overcome their problems. Yui is quite the bonafide gyaru.
Yui’s personality consists of being outgoing and cheerful. She is rarely shown to be sad, and when she is, she still manages to have a smile on her face. Due to her bright personality, she gets hit on a lot by the guys at her school. She’s known as the glue of the group, this is due to her being percept to reading the emotions/moods of others. She also provides friendliness to the group.
Yui is great at karaoke, but she’s a horrible cook. One thing about her is that some students perceive her not to be bright since she lacks in schoolwork, but to even enter Sobu, she had to have high academic marks, and she reminds others of it. She has a spirit of her own and doesn’t adhere to what is expected of a girl in her place, she truly embodies the gyaru mindset.
8. Kaede/Gal and Dinosaur
This gyaru is kind of like a textbook example of what a stereotyped gyaru is. Kaede is an abrasive character who is foul-mouthed and gets bored easily. She was responsible for letting a dinosaur into her apartment unintentionally, yeah you read that right, no you’re not tripping.
She did bond with the dinosaur and this led to some great dynamics we the audience get to enjoy. If you did not notice, the dinosaur in this anime is the same one on our parent Japanese website ciatr.
9. Shion/Kuro Gal ni Natta kara Shinyuu to Yattemita
Shion and his best friend Rui are the ultimate chads when it comes to picking up chicks. However, after Shion took a sus drug, he became a woman. When Rui came looking for him, he did not recognize it was his fellow chad, but some hot gyaru, and thus begins the hijinks of Shions life as a gyaru…
This is a gender-bent hentai, so uh, enjoy 🙂
10. Iroha Igarashi/3D Girlfriend

Iroha is your high school gyaru, with blonde hair and fair skin, she will definitely have you swooning over her. Described as beautiful and flashy, she really is the Madonna of her school.
Gyarus tend to speak their mind as opposed to the traditional societal expectations of Japanese women. Iroha falls in this category with her honest/straightforward personality. She loves goofing off, skipping classes and dating guys; this led her to be called a slut, but in reality, she’s still a virgin.
Despite her personality, she has a proficiency in understanding emotions and wants a boyfriend of her own she can call one. After dating a plethora of guys, she falls for the otaku which may leave some in confusion, but she’s a good judge of character and deemed him a worthy boyfriend for her to date.
11. Lord Of Pastimers/Asobi Asobase
Lord of Pastimers (Lord) attends an all-girls academy. As evidenced by her looks, she is part of the gyaru sub-culture (I’d consider her a Ganguro). She is super tanned and has her face caked up in makeup. She also died her hair white which is pretty cool to see since it’s rare to see a Gyaru with white hair.
This girl does not like to study, and it leads her to be perceived as dull. However, she is incredibly intelligent, ranking in the top 100 students who took the national exam. For a girl that uses a lot of makeup, she’s quite helpful, she even lends her friends makeup from time to time.
Lord is quite…how to say… lustful. She has sexual relationships with every single boy from the all-boys academy.
12. Mikoto Aiura/The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
Mikoto is our highschool gyaru and one of Kusuo’s many love interests. She is part of a handful of people who know about Kusuo’s powers. Her guardian spirit is a chubby rich lady.
Comparing Mikoto to Kusuo, there are a lot of differences which further explain her personality. First, she uses her powers in public, which helps her garner popularity. Second, she has an easygoing personality that is infectious and draws people to her. Last, She wears her uniform in a negligent manner, this shows her lax attitude.
In the series, she does her shopping at the gyaru mall, yeah a mall meant for all things gyaru. In this scene she bumps into Kusuo’s grandmother who likes to wear teenage/sexy clothing. This anime is filled with funny moments like this so I’d recommend giving it a watch when you’re free.
13. Kei Karuizawa/Classroom of the Elite

Kei is your typical high school gyaru in anime, fair-skinned, with blonde hair in a ponytail, and has the best fashion. In this anime, the gyaru trope is pretty interesting for the way it’s written.
At the start of the series, Kei has a spoiled attitude and is selfish. She makes her way to the top and becomes the leader of the girls in her class. However, she has some skeletons in her closet she does not want to let out and let others know about. This leads her to wear a mask, but as the story progresses, she slowly changes and starts living a better high school life.
It was cool to see a gyaru character who had a bit more depth and a heart-wrenching backstory.
14. Galko/Please tell me! Galko-chan
Galko, who, despite her name and appearance, is very inexperienced and innocent. She is easily embarrassed by her physique and what she says, as she occasionally accidentally says suggestive things. She is best friends with Otako and Ojou.
Galko is quite emotional, she cries while reading books or watching movies. One thing about Galko is that she has no filter, in the sense that she will talk about taboo things, but this creates moments of education for the audience. She is perceived as an airhead due to her no-filter attitude, but she is quite smart.
What’s really cool about this anime is the dynamics between Galko and her sister, they provide two sides of the gyaru image and help the audience understand that gyaru does not only have 1 meaning/interpretation. Another cool part is the educational side of it, Galko and her friends end up explaining taboo matters amongst themselves and it also acts to educate the audience too.
15. Nana Sunohara/Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou
This series is like the meme “I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going”. The gyaru and shota trope is shown in some anime mediums (a lot in hentai). However, in this series, it’s a bit more wholesome. Highkey, I’m pretty jealous of the MC, but we’ll get into that later.
Nana loves teasing Shiina about taking his virginity and making him blush. She’s an upbeat character whose energy can’t be matched by the other characters. She really has that genki vibe to her.
The series is pretty nice if you wanna kill some free time, or if you like shotas getting to live the life you always wanted to. Like imagine, living in a house with a bunch of beautiful onee-san characters, plus a gyaru one that just has a great energy to her, I think I would wife her just because I know I would never be bored with a girl like her. Plus she has a great sense of humour.
Summary
Gyarus is a free-spirited sub-culture that in my opinion, helps empower women to be more true to their feelings. I feel like gyarus get a bad rep from hentai and how the media portrayed them when the sub-culture was peaking near its conception, but nowadays you can find gyarus in lots of places as well as gyaru-themed areas. If you’re ever in Tokyo come visit Harajuku or Shibuya, you’ll find a plethora of gyaru culture.
We hope you found a gyaru that you could fall in love with or that piques your interest!
Be sure to keep checking back on our site for more great anime recommendations!!