Not necessarily the "leader" or the "star", the girl in this
category is usually the one with most influence over the
rest of the cast.

In some cases, this girl has some anime-ish oddity that sets
the tone for the whole show... like Yurie who became a
Shinto goddess.

The girl who's new to a school fits mainly into this category.
We follow her as she learns the ropes and delves more and
more into the depths of how the school functions.

Or sometimes she's the only one who realizes the nonsense
going on around her... like Kagami who is easily frusterated
by the weird things the other girls do.

Mai is a combination of main-star, new-girl, and girl with odd
powers... but at Fuuka Academy, she's not so different than
the others.

Now if you wanna talk different, you look at Hazumu, who's a
boy who was accidentally turned into a girl by aliens. So even
though he hasn't changed schools, he's still treated as the new kid.

Speaking of aliens, Narue is one "foreigner" who doesn't
hide her unearthly secret.

Or Nana who has seven secrets to share and tries her
hardest to keep others from finding out.

Man, aliens are everywhere in anime.

Shima hasn't met any aliens, but she IS aboard a space colony.

Rino is just plain excited to be going to a new school.

Although Ichika could use a little more excitement in her life.

Another anime staple is schools where students go to learn
magic combat skills, like Guarderobe's newest recruit, Arika.

And magic-schools where students like Haruhi go to train and
build up their spell-casting powers.

Kaede is the perfect best friend.

And Hitomi ain't too shabby, either.

The best friends usually aren't a major part of the plot, but
rather act as sounding-boards to listen to the main
character's thoughts.

They can offer advice and support, but rarely actually do
anything proactive. They tend to pop in from time to time
to check up on things that are going on.

Yui is more of a passive friend, offering advice and wisdom
without actually getting involved in the action.

Yayoi, on the other hand, is very proactive and is always
offering her help whenever possible.

Kayo is a freshman, so she's learning the new school just
the same as everyone else.

Same goes for Arisa Glennorth.

Manatsu-chan is the stern warner of tragedy and presents a
more interactive form of assistance, though she never
actually interferes with Ichika's choices. She just
lays out the choices with their respective consequences.

Anri Hiiragi is an interesting best-friend. Though she is best
friends with Haruhi, she also doubles as her biggest rival.
But sometimes that's okay; nothing wrong with a little
friendly competition to help eachother grow stronger.

Tsundere characters are an interesting sort in anime.

As the definition goes, they are rough and tough on the outside...

... but sweet and caring on the inside.

They'll never openly admit it to anyone, though.

Miyuki says every anime needs a smarty-pants.

Yuki silently agrees.

Whether it's someone to correct obvious mistakes...

...or someone to come up with ingenius schemes.

Sometimes it's just someone to lead the rest of the class
academically.

Or leave everyone else in the dust. The class geniuses serve multiple roles and contribute much to the plot at hand.

Some are really good studiers, like Yomi.

Though many just have naturally high IQs, like Irina-chan.

Others are bookworms, like Tabitha.

While the rest are obnoxious know-it-alls, like Ritsuko.

Kyoko is more the geeky-type, but has the nerd-look.

Ayano just kinda dresses geeky.

Notice something they all have in common yet?

They all have glasses... well, except Chiyo.

In a generation stirred by sugar, it would be strange to NOT
see at least one girl bouncing off the walls constantly.

Here's a screencap of one moment where Kobayashi isn't running around yelling about money and dieting and whatnot.

Of course, no one tops Himeko in overall spazziness.

Chitose wants to challenge that position, apparently.

The polar opposite in terms of activity are the sweet girls.
They are usually gentle and mild-mannered.

Sometimes they do things that are clumsy or just plain dumb,
but no matter what, you just can't be mad at them.

They could accidentally burn down your house and because
of the way they'd apologize, you'd just end up hugging
them and pinching their cheeks.

They're kind of the wall-flowers of the class and sometimes
very anxious and shy. They have very go-with-the-flow
types of personalities.

Some situations may make them anxious, but they tag
along anyway.

And they always do it with an enchanting smile.