Town Girls

Freddie: Man, she is smoking hot. Sam: She's a fighting machine. Carly: Her shorts are so cute! —ICarly, "iFight Shelby Marx"

Town Girls is a trio of characters, either female or for girls, consisting of one who is butch, one who is femme and one who is neither. Butch and femme referring to masculinity displayed by a female beyond what would be considered typical of a Tomboy and femininity beyond what would be considered typical of the Girl Next Door. The femme one is like a fashionable uptown girl. The one who is neither butch nor femme is like a street smart girl from down town. The butch one is like someone whose rude behavior could be excused by saying that she's from out of town. Thus the Town Girls are from uptown, down town and out of town. Bonus points if the geography is literal.

The one who is neither butch nor femme is usually the smart, friendly and well-intentioned Girl Next Door. She can also be more free-spirited, either with her mind like a kind of worldly woman or her body by being morally loose. The butch character is likely a tough chick but might be more of a Femme Fatale or be sexually aggressive. The Femme one is either high-maintenance, romantically assertive or just a girly girl.

Also can be called the three girl ensemble (lacking the sexy one). If they're love interests then the easiest one to be with will be the middle one like Betty in Betty and Veronica. Might overlap with Beauty, Brains, and Brawn or Blonde, Brunette, Redhead. An exaggerated example would include a Princess Classic, Hot Librarian, and Butch Lesbian.

Note that they're always listed as femme, neither, butch.

Examples of Town Girls include:

Anime & Manga

• Ai Yori Aoshi has spoiled Mayu, demure Aoi and loudmouth Tina.
• AKB 49 Renai Kinshi Jourei has haughty Ai, quiet *Hiroko and charismatic Minoru who really is a Wholesome Crossdresser Alien Nine has Yuri Otani (femme), Kumi Kawakmura (neither), and Kasumi Tomine (butch).
  • Blue Exorcist has Shiemi, Izumo and Shura for the leads. If you go by the students, Shiemi, Paku and Izumo is the order.
• Digimon Adventure's trio of girls are Sora (butch), Mimi (femme) and Kari (neither).
• Dr. Slump: in the group of Arale's friends has to Akane as rebel without a cause, prankster shameless and tomboyish ponytail (butch), Arale as cheerful child, naive, super strong and strange girl (neither) and Tsururin as graceful ladies like purple, peaceful and odango hair (femme).
• Mamimi (femme), Eri Ninamori (neither), and Haruko (butch).
• In Jinsei, we have Fumi as the femme, Ikumi as the butch and Rino, who is neither.
• Highschool of the Dead has spear martial artist Rei Miyamoto (butch), brainiac Saya Takagi (neither), and ditzy school nurse Shizuka Marikawa (femme). Saeko Busujima, being both a Lady of War and the kendo club's captain, is more or less a one-woman group of Town Girls.
• Is This a Zombie? has Seraphim (neither), Maelstrom (butch) and Sarasvati (femme).
• Jewelpe
  • Jewelpet (2009): Ojou Aoi is the femme, tomboy Minami is the butch, and shy but snarky Rinko is the neither.
  • Jewelpet Sunshine: shy and understanding Hinata is the femme, delinquent tomboy Shouko is the butch, and haughty Kanon is the neither.
  • Jewelpet Happiness: Proper Lady Nene is the femme, tomboy Ruruka is the butch, and clumsy, cheerful Chiari is the neither.
• Kirarin Revolution has this dynamic in MilkyWay during the third season: newcomers Noel and Kobeni are the Butch and Femme, respectively, and returning character Kilari is the Neither.
• Classic example in Magic Knight Rayearth with boisterous tomboy Hikaru (Butch), bookish smart girl Fuu (Neither) and long haired ojou Umi (Femme).
  • Nisekoi has Kosaki and Marika as the femmes, Tsugumi as the butch and Chitoge as the neither.
• Outlaw Star has the sweet and gentle non-fighter bio-android Melfina, Aisha Clan Clan, a hot tempered, hard drinking Ctarl Ctarl Cat Girl always looking for a fight, and "Twilight" Suzuka, an elegantly dressed and graceful assassin.
  • The pink leaders of Pretty Cure are not so much a straight example as they are a sliding scale of this. Nagisa Misumi, Saki Hyuuga, and Hibiki Hojo are on the butch side of the scale; Nozomi Yumehara, Miyuki Hoshizora, and Haruka Harunoare on the femme side; and Love Momozono, Tsubomi Hanasaki, Mana Aida, andMegumi Aino are all neithers.

• In Ojamajo Doremi at least in the first season we had to Hazuki (femme), Doremi (neither) and Aiko (butch).
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica:

• Hitomi, Madoka, and Sayaka. Hitomi is the Femme, Madoka is the Neither,Sayaka is the Butch.
• There's also a secondary "trio" with Homura as the Neither, Mami as the Femme, and Kyoko as the Butch.
  • Rebuild of Evangelion has Rei Ayanami (femme), Mari Illustrious Makinami (neither), Asuka Shikinami Langley (butch).
  • Saber Marionette J:
    • The Marionettes: Lime (neither), Cherry (femme), and Bloodberry (butch).
    • Also, the Saberdolls: Tiger (neither), Luchs (femme), and Panzer (butch).
  • The Outer Senshi from Sailor Moon: Haruka (butch), Michiru (femme), and Setsuna (neither).
    • Among the Inner Senshi, Usagi plays a different role in each of two such trios: she's the femme to Ami's neither and Rei's butch, and the neither to Makoto's butch and Minako's femme. Rei is herself the neither to Ami's femme and Makoto's butch. Interestingly, in the Usagi-Ami-Rei triad, Usagi is a borderline case: she's more romantic than Ami, but Ami was herself very shy at one time before befriending Usagi, who is the more outgoing of the two.
    • In the manga, Minako is butch, while Rei is femme, and Makoto is neither.
  • Shugo Chara! has Amu's guardian characters: sporty Ran (butch), artsy Miki (neither), and prim and proper Su (femme).
  • Urusei Yatsura: Benten -who is tomboyish, bad-mouthed and violent-, Oyuki -who is calm, demure and feminine-, and their best friend -and female lead- Lum -who is neither tomboyish nor girly-.
• Street Fighter‍'‍s resident girl squad had Ibuki, Makoto and Elena with Ibuki being the girly one, Makoto being the tomboy and Elena being in between.

Film

• Definitely Maybe has demanding Emily, free-spirited April and aggressive Summer.
• The Hong Kong flick Heroic Trio consists of a young girly-girl, a dark anti-hero, and their leader the motherly one who seems to be somewhere in between in terms of femmeninity.
• The women of the Indiana Jones films: Willie Scott, Dr. Elsa Schneider, and Marion Ravenwood.

Literature

• American Girls Collection:
  • Femme: Elizabeth Cole, Marie-Grace Gardner, Cecile Rey, Samantha Parkington, Rebecca Rubin, Ruthie Smithens, Emily Bennett, Melody Ellison, Ivy Ling, and Isabel Hoffman.
  • Butch: Kaya'aton'my, Kit Kittredge, Julie Albright, and Nicki Hoffman.
  • Neither: Felicity Merriman, Caroline Abbott, Josefina Montoya, Kirsten Larson, Addy Walker, Nellie O'Malley, Nanea Mitchell, Molly McIntire, Maryellen Larkin, and Courtney Moore.
• The Baby Sitters Club:
  • Femme: Stacey McGill, Mary Anne Spier, and Claudia Kishi.
  • Butch: Kristy Thomas and Abby Stevenson.
  • Neither: Jessi Ramsey, Mallory Pike, and Dawn Schafer.
• Magic Attic Club:
  • Femme: Heather Hardin.
  • Butch: Alison McCan.
  • Neither: Megan Ryder, Keisha Vance, and Rose Hopkins.
• Bess, George and Nancy in all incarnations of Nancy Drew. Also a good example of Blonde, Brunette, Redhead and Beauty, Brains, and Brawn, though not respectively.
• The Sleepover Club:
  • Femme: Fliss Sidebotham.
  • Butch: Frankie Thomas and Kenny McKenzie.
  • Neither: Lyndz Collins and Rosie Cartwright.

Comics

• Nob's Dad: the Father's Four Daughters: Pandora(Neither),Ondine and Bella(Femme),and Roxanne(Butch)

Live-Action TV

• Season one of Degrassi the Next Generation has queen Bee Paige, nice girl Terri, and top dog Ashley.
• Season five of Sabrina the Teenage Witch has sorority girl Morgan, well adjusted Sabrina and punk Roxy.
• ICarly has the star of the show Carly, the technical producer Fredie and the pushy co-star Sam.
• Sonny With a Chance has narcissistic Tawni, optimistic Sonny and dangerous Zora.
• Victorious has the sweet, naive and innocent Cat, the creative, responsible, caring and friendly Tori and the dark, sarcastic and rude Jade.
• Clark Kent's three flings in Smallville are sexy flirt Nicodemus Lana, crazy Rush Chloe and edgy Red Jessie.
• Seasons 4 to 6 of House has morally outraged Dr. Allison Cameron, live in the moment Dr. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley and carer driven Dr. Lisa Cuddy.
• Bomb Girls has tomboyish Betty, girl-next-door Kate, and uptown Gladys.
• The first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation had Counselor Deanna Troi, Dr. Beverly Crusher, and Lt. Tasha Yar.

Toys

• Disney Princess:
  • Femme: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Jasmine, and Rapunzel.
  • Butch: Mulan, Merida, Moana, and Raya.
  • Neither: Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, and Tiana.

Video Games

• Final Fantasy X 2 has the three main playable characters; the cute Rikku, Yuna (in the middle), and the cynical Paine.
• In Blaz Blue Noel, Tsubaki and Makoto were this when they were in the NOL academy. They even fit the geographic part; Noel (middle) was adopted into a minor noble family, Tsubaki (girly) came from a noble family and Makoto (tomboy) was a squirrel beastkin who came from the countryside outside the cities.
• Super Mario Bros. has Peach (feminine), Daisy (tomboyish), and Rosalina (neither).

Western Animation

• The Powerpuff Girls has Bubbles who is the joy and the laughter (her ingredient was sugar), Blossom as the commander and the leader (her ingredient was everything nice), and Buttercup who is the toughest fighter (her ingredient was spice).
• Sixteen has Caitlin (the fashionable girly girl), Jen (the smart, sensible girl), and Nikki (the sarcastic punk-rocker). Interestingly, while Caitlin acts more like the uptown girl and Nikki the out of town girl, Caitlin is the one who is technically from out of town since she is the newest member of the group.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has The Cutie Mark Crusaders; the ditzy Sweetie Belle, the plucky Applebloom, and the tough Scootaloo.
  • The six main characters can also be grouped this way, although there would obviously be two for each role: athletic tomboys Applejack and Rainbow Dash are both butches, fashionista Rarity and painfully shy Fluttershy are both femmes, and Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie are neither.
• Monster High uses sarcastic exchange student, Abby, and royal superdiva, Cleo, in connection with average, everyday girl, Frankie.
• X-Men: Evolution has Kitty Pride, Jean Grey, and Rogue.
• Sky Dancers Jade is Uptown (Ballerina, raised by successful parents), Camille is Downtown (Likes Jazz, is a creative thinker), and Angelica is Out-of-Town (Southern rocker, has sarcastic demenor).
• Stoked is the Expy of 6teen, with Emma as Downtown, Lo as Uptown, and Fin as, well, Out-of-Town.
• Vampirina: Vampirina and her friends are at this: Vampirina is butch, Poppy is femme (sometimes neither), and Bridget is neither (sometimes femme).
• Totally Spies!: Clover (femme), Alex (butch), and Sam (neither).

Real Life

• Henry VIII's first three wives and the mothers of his children are proud Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, most beloved, modest, maternal Jane Seymour and the exotic, seductive, ambitious Anne Boleyn.