The 20 Sexiest Female Cartoon Characters On TV, Ranked

While it’s only been in the latter part of its evolution that television has fully embraced sexuality as a driving force of live-action entertainment, TV animation has almost always had a little more breathing room in using attractive scantily-clad characters to tell tales. (Especially once comic book characters started appearing more often.) There is probably a far-reaching wave of influence over children that is worth studying here, but that definitely is not what this story is about.

Here, I’m reverting back to the days of maturity-lite pre-pubescence to rank the 20 hottest animated females of all-time-ish. Such a highfalutin concept does come with a few admissions. I generally stuck to American cartoons – so those hoping for the wide-eyed world of anime may be disappointed – and, except for one instance, strove for variety by not using more than one character from the same show. Otherwise, I tried to be as all-encompassing as possible for a 32-year-old with a family. So pop on some pre-Code Betty Boop cartoons to carry us through this world of 2D beauty.

Where You Know Her From: Family Guy

Beyond being one of the coolest and funniest moms on TV – cutaway gag to Donna Reed dropping a dildo into a pie – Lois Griffin is also a raging fury of sexuality. The fact that she expends a lot of that flirtatious energy on seducing the brick-dumb Peter is mildly off-putting, but not enough to knock her off the list. She’s the one area of Quagmire’s awful fetish farm that makes sense – among hundreds of others, ahem – and it’s a shame that such beautiful loins produced something as awful as Meg, who definitely did not make this list.

Where You Know Her From: X-Men: The Animated Series

While I was initially more attracted to Rogue when I was a kid, I didn’t really grasp on to the fact that physical intimacy would be fatal. And so now I’ve come to understand that Storm is truly the best of this mutant bunch. For one, she’d always be the dominant one – it’s impossible not to be when your eyes glow like that – and she can create cool breezes or light thunderstorms to make any encounter that much more perfect. Fighting Sentinels is a good first date, right?

Where You Know Her From: Esurance commercials

The only commercial pitchwoman on this list, Erin Esurance began life as a catsuit-wearing spy, taking down bad guys while hocking insurance policies. Though successful, the campaign was then made weirder by having Erin animated to look younger and sexier, which really only worked to make the Internet burst at the seams with fan creations depicting Erin in even more heightened sexual poses. That’s when the pink-haired badass packed up and shipped out, but she’ll always mean more to me than saving 15 minutes with Geico or being in Allstate’s good hands.

Where You Know Her From: The Real Ghostbusters

Another character who experienced a slight transition in looks and tone, as she was both a hardnosed secretary and a nerd-hot fifth wheel, Janine was as much a Ghostbuster as the four guys, only without having to always go out and bust ghosts. But any iteration of Janine is welcome in my book, as the combination of red hair and glasses wins every time. Plus, her attraction to Egon means she’s into smart guys, and what’s a better example of one’s intelligence than putting this list together?

Where You Know Her From: Captain Planet

If we’re being honest, Captain Planet is one of my least favorite cartoons ever, and is as painful to watch now as it was when it first aired. But as a kid who was less interested in saving the ozone, and more interested in girls and stuff, the Asian Planeteer Gi was always a welcome sight. (Not that Linka wasn’t.) Because she loves the water, Gi would probably be all about knocking boots at beaches and water parks, and in keeping her away from the rest of the team, I could ensure never having to awkwardly make small talk with Captain Planet. Villainous perfection.

Where You Know Her From: Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

The big bad from one of the coolest computer games of all time, Carmen Sandiego is a wily thief whose crimes are based more on challenges than malice. More to this list’s point, she’s a dashing lady who is always into the chase, and she’s the first character I can think of, real or animated, that ever made me think a hat was hot. The fact that she was voiced by Rita Moreno certainly didn’t hurt, though it’s impossible to say her name without thinking of Rockapella’s boner-reducing theme from the early 1990s game show. Worth it.

Where You Know Her From: Æon Flux

In the early 1990s, one of the only places to find avant-garde animation on TV was MTV’s Liquid Television, which gave the world the leather-clad assassin Æon Flux. Because ladies in science fiction rarely own T-shirts and blue jeans, Æon Flux generally had more skin showing than outfit, and it was all seen in a largely dialogue-free series of badass action sequences, in which she flipped and cartwheeled all over the place. Losing to her at Twister is on my bucket list.

Where You Know Her From: American Dad

While she’s occasionally a good mom, the bubbly blonde housewife Francine is better known for her more morally questionable acts. She’s the hot mom you can get fucked up with, and also possibly stab someone with in a fit of rage. Psychos are hot, yo. It helps (in this particular case at least) that Seth MacFarlane’s writing squad ups the ante when it comes to Francine’s perversities. Plus, when she’s not completely trashed, she’s surprisingly smart in certain subjects, particularly “what it’s like to have an orgy with Dexy’s Midnight Runners.”

Where You Know Her From: Stripperella

Come on! There’s no way a list like this could ever exist without Stripperella on it, as she’s the one character whose sexuality is not only embraced and used to her advantage, but basically the only reason she exists. Created by Stan Lee, Stripperella is an exotic dancer who leads a double life as a secret agent superhero-type, and she’s voiced by Pamela Anderson at a time when the actress wasn’t making headlines with Tommy Lee’s dong. The show – and by default, Stripperella’s huge boobs – remain criminally underseen.

Where You Know Her From: Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Peter Parker’s most iconic love, Mary Jane has drawn ginger-lovers’ eyes for many years in the comics, and she’s never looked better than she did in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. There’s something about mid-1990s animated sweaters, I guess. She and Peter turned a blind date into a solid romance, and then she ends up disappearing and it doesn’t get resolved before the series ended. Maybe I’m weird for liking a little unexplainable mystery with my women, but that wasn’t a turn-off.

Where You Know Her From: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Watching Megan Fox suck shit as April O’Neil in last year’s abysmal Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles only bolstered my appreciation for the version from the original cartoon series. She’s a hardworking TV reporter who is sick of taking shit from her boss, which is attractive in and of itself, and there’s something about that yellow outfit that brings me out of my shell. (Turtle joke!) It seems likely that the behind-the-scenes life of April and the Turtles would involve some bestiality, but that’s not something I think about a lot. Honest.

Where You Know Her From: The Animaniacs

Helloooooo, Nurse! Animaniacs was a series full of throwback gags to the golden age of animation and Hollywood, and it turned an old vaudeville phrase into an hourglass-figured hottie that served as a nurse for the Warner Bros. lot. (Believe it or not, the only movie studio nurse on this list.) And though her medical expertise takes a backseat, Hello Nurse’s dollish looks are definitely used for PG-rated lewdness throughout the series, as Yakko and Wakko continually want in on that. I think I’m actually coming down with a cold or a broken arm or whatever, and could use medical assistance.

Where You Know Her From: She-Ra: Princess of Power