Six of the best comfort characters: girls edition

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Well, since Lilia has been good enough to share six of her favourite comfort characters with us all — and that they all happened to be good ol’ boys — I figured it behooved me to represent the lady-lovers among us and present my personal top picks for female comfort characters!

Mine are all drawn from the worlds of video games and visual novels because those are the primary forms of entertainment I enjoy on a daily basis — but feel free to share your own down in the comments and via the usual social channels!

Let’s get to it, then!

Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII)

Comfort characters: Aerith

Final Fantasy VII was, back in the ’90s, the first RPG I ever really “got”. Prior to that point, I’d always found the RPG genre to be daunting, scary and not something I was particularly interested in getting involved in. But one thing piqued my interest in Final Fantasy VII prior to me playing it for myself: my brother, ten years my senior and working on North America’s official PlayStation at the magazine at the time, had come home to pay us a visit, and he was telling me about some of the most exciting games they’d had in the office of late. And one of them was Final Fantasy VII.

I’d heard the name Final Fantasy prior to this point, but didn’t really know much about it. But there was one thing in particular about my brother’s description that made me want to check it out: the fact that he described it as the first video game the people in his office had encountered that actually, genuinely made them cry because of its story. As someone who loved a good story, I knew I wanted to experience this for myself, so I picked it up… and found myself immediately absorbed by the Final Fantasy VII experience.

A big part of that was Aerith (or Aeris, as she was known in the dodgy original translation) — she was a character that was just wonderfully defined through her actions and dialogue, and I absolutely, completely and utterly fell in love with her. Not in an “I fancy her and want to bang her”, sort of way; in an “I genuinely love this woman and want to spend every waking moment of every day with her”.

Aerith is kind and caring, yet far from being a shy, retiring and demure type. She’s cheeky and flirtatious, and when things get serious she’s more than happy to step up to the plate and get things done. She recognises and appreciates both Cloud’s capabilities and troubles — and with you primarily being in control of Cloud for the majority of Final Fantasy VII, this feels like she’s validating you — but also isn’t above a bit of light-hearted teasing when the miserable old sod deserves it.

Aerith is love.

Nepgear (Neptunia)

Comfort characters: Nepgear

If pressed for a single, definitive answer to “who is your waifu?” my immediate, instinctive response is always “Nepgear”. Nepgear is, for me, everything I want in a waifu. She’s cute and she’s sexy, but she’s more than just a pretty face and a hot bod, too; I find her personality extremely appealing, too.

Nepgear, for the unfamiliar, is the long-suffering sister of Neptunia series protagonist Neptune, and despite being the younger of the siblings is usually depicted as being much more capable and organised. She’s quite “proper” and polite, and more than willing to step up to cover her sister’s shortcomings — and yet one always gets the sense that she wants to seem like she “knows her place”, happily allowing her sister to take the limelight because she’s the protagonist. Indeed, in Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, where she is somewhat forced into the lead role, she seems distinctly uncomfortable throughout!

Nepgear is one of those characters that would be wonderful to have as a friend. You know that she’s capable enough to have your back in dangerous situations, but she’d also just be happy to listen to you complain about your day. She almost certainly does a fine line in lap pillows, and I bet she’d even hold your hair back for you while you were being sick if it came down to it.

Of course, friendship would have to be where it ended, because we all know that her heart truly belongs to Uni — even if she would never dare admit that to herself or anyone in the vicinity.

Sophie Neuenmuller (Atelier Sophie)

If you want wholesome comfort characters who are just a joy to be around, you can’t go wrong with pretty much any installment in Gust’s long-running Atelier series. But in recent years, one character from the series has been getting plenty of thoroughly justified attention, and that’s Sophie Neuenmuller.

First appearing in the first entry in the Mysterious subseries, subsequently guest-starring in its two follow-ups Atelier Firis and Atelier Lydie & Suelle and then getting her own full-on sequel, Sophie is a widely beloved character with good reason. She was even the Atelier representative in Koei Tecmo’s gloriously silly Musou spin-off title Warriors All-Stars, along with her perpetual companion Plachta.

Sophie is always a pleasure to be around because she’s kind and supportive, and carries herself with an infectiously enthusiastic energy without being annoying about it. She’s had to face the challenges of the world without her parents and subsequently without her grandmother, and in doing so she’s grown into a strong young woman who never forgets where she came from or the people who helped her develop that strength.

Sophie is the sort of person who just embodies supportiveness. From the moment we first see her in the original Atelier Sophie, it’s clear that she’s the sort of person who has lots of friends who count on her — even if she has plenty of her own character flaws. And as she grows older and more experienced in the later titles of the series, she slides effortlessly into the older sister role, without ever forgetting the sense of girlish glee she’s always had at making new discoveries and learning new things. And it’s hard not to get swept along with that sort of energy.

Bianca Whitaker (Dragon Quest V)

Comfort characters: Bianca

The main point of Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is that you take your self-insert player character through their entire life, from childhood on to adulthood and on into a serious “saving the world” sort of situation. And as part of that process, your character falls in love and starts a family.

Bianca Whitaker is one of three marriage candidates in Dragon Quest V, but she was the obvious choice for me right from the start. Her charming country bumpkin nature, the fact that she’s the one character you grow up with rather than meeting them in your later life, and the fact that it’s abundantly clear she’s been carrying a torch for our hero right from their first meeting — all of it means that they just feel right to be together. And because Dragon Quest V encourages you to project yourself onto its silent protagonist, you end up feeling like it’s right for you and Bianca to be together.

Bianca is appealing because she’s an honest, no-nonsense sort of girl without being obnoxious around it. She freely admits she’s “a bit rough around the edges”, but those rough edges helped her to develop a variety of useful skills as well as a sense of confidence and intelligence.

Bianca’s the sort of person you could sit up with until the early hours of the morning, talking about silly things and sharing a tub of ice-cream with. You can trust her with your secrets, and you can trust her to be in your corner when things get tough. While the other marriage candidates in Dragon Quest V all definitely have their own charms, it’s just hard to say no to Bianca.

Suou Amane (Grisaia)

Comfort characters: Amane

The Grisaia series of visual novels is full of colourful characters, and honestly a lot of them could qualify as comfort characters — although some of them take a bit of getting to know before you might feel that way. Looking at you, Yumiko. Put that box cutter away. I said put it away.

Amane is the one that will likely jump out at most players when they first start exploring the world of Grisaia, though. Keen to embrace a role as the older sister and/or mother of the group, Amane is wise beyond her years, in possession of an absolutely filthy mind and the sort of person who immediately and naturally makes you feel completely at ease. Her openness and honesty gives the impression of someone you can trust right away, and indeed this nature of hers ensures that she plays a major role in most of the narrative paths through the Grisaia series.

Notably, she’s one of the first characters who is able to break down some of the walls around protagonist Yuuji, who is practically bursting at the seams with secrets. While it becomes clear over time that he’s been keeping many of these secrets with very good reason, Amane’s supportive nature helps him feel like he’s among friends that he can trust — and that for the first time in his life, he can perhaps open up a bit more than he has historically been able to.

More than anything, Amane is a character that you’d be able to say pretty much anything to, and she’d just take it in her stride. Feel the desperate need to explain a new sexual fetish to someone? Amane will happily cheer you on. Need someone to open up to about past trauma? Amane has a shoulder and an ample bosom to cry on. Just need that carefree sense of hanging out with someone, far from the worries of the world at large? Amane will gladly keep you company until you’re ready to face the things that need facing again.

If I wasn’t already committed to Nepgear, Amane would be Waifu No. 1 for sure.

Lilysse (Nights of Azure)

Comfort characters: Lilysse

Gust’s Nights of Azure is such an admirable game in so many ways. Not only is it a highly enjoyable action RPG with a great soundtrack, the core premise of its narrative is just an absolute pleasure to see. Unabashedly depicting a romantic same-sex relationship between two women — and positioning it as a perfectly normal thing rather than making a big, dramatic deal about it — makes it one of the most pleasingly progressive games in modern memory, and the dynamic between protagonist Arnice and non-playable partner Lilysse is a real highlight of all this.

Lilysse is kind of endearingly useless about a lot of things. She’s a terrible cook, for one — there’s a running joke in the game about how awful her cupcakes are, with them looking particularly sorry for themselves during a sequence where she and Arnice have had a fairly major argument — but she really tries her best at all times. She often wishes she could do more for Arnice — but she also fails to see that simply being able to come home to her loving arms is all that Arnice really needs from her.

Few games do the “coming home from a hard night’s demon slaying” thing better than Nights of Azure, and Lilysse is a huge part of that. She and Arnice complement one another beautifully, and it’s hard not to feel wrapped up in their thoroughly comfy relationship as you play.

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Pete Davison
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