In celebration of International Women's Day month, I'm hosting a fan art challenge of which the subject is female action-type characters who appear in Japanese Animation and Japanese Comics. Yes, we're talking female characters who are fantasy warriors, military soldiers, police gals, adventurous space pirates, gunslingers, costumed heroines/villains, mecha pilots, martial artists, etc.

The Rules of this Challenge

• No entry limits
• must feature action-type females from anime/manga
• must be black-and-white or color
• you're welcome to fan art featuring action females of different anime/manga franchises
• any kind of fan art you choose to do (painting, sculpture, 3D image, drawing, etc.)

That's pretty much it. Although International Women's Day is in March, I'll be giving you two months to take part in this fan art challenge.

Here are some examples of female action characters in anime/manga:

• Lunch from "Dragon Ball"
• Emeraldas from "Captain Harlock" and "Galaxy Express 999"
• Jun from "Gatchaman"
• Cutey Honey
• Faye Valentine
• Sailor Moon
• Kei and Yuri from "Dirty Pair"
• Deunan Knute from "Appleseed"
• Leona Ozaki from "Dominion Tank Police"
• Lina Inverse and Naga The Serpent from "Slayers"
• Asuka Langley Soryu and Rei Ayanami from "Neon Genesis Evangelion"
• Motoko Kusanagi from "Ghost In The Shell"
• Yoko, Kiyal, Kinon, and Kiyoh from "Gurren Lagann"
• Masane Amaha from "Witchblade anime"
• Makina Hoshimura from "Corpse Princess"
• Hakufu Sonsaku from "Ikki Tousen" (a.k.a. "Battle Vixens")