Anime with strong female protagonist

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I think the clinical definition of that is a psychopath (male or female)

Hah.

To conform with OP's tastes, here are my recommendations:

Ryogi Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai : The Garden of sinners as already mentioned.
Yomi from Ga-Rei Zero as mentioned (and you're already watching it so it's cool).
Saya from Blood-C. You will either love this or hate this considering you loved Blood+. Many people found many problems with the show but I personally liked it, all things considered.
Canaan as mentioned has more than one girl that fits the description.
Angelic Layer is an "old" show about doll-fights but it has more than one girl that fits the description and I seriously recommend it.
Jigoku Shoujo for the titular Hell Girl. And some others later on.

If I were to deviate a bit and recommend strong women but not necessarily what OP described then:
Balsa from Seirei no Moribito as already strongly recommended here.
Watashi from Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita. It's from last season and the MC is pretty apathetic. It's a good show either way.

Nina, Koko, Yuno, Sen also fit your description somewhat and I second those recommendations. Might not be your cup of tea though.

And Rei, Yuki and Kanade are kuudere, a bit different from what OP describes.

[kitten320]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

I absolutely love Mai-HiME (it's one of my all time favorite anime series), but I'm reluctant to second kitten320's recommendation for the show because the main girl, Mai Tokiha, is most definitely not a ruthless action girl type, and the story focuses a lot on her emotions. Granted the action girl character that prompted kitten320 to make the recommendation in the first place is probably the second most focused on character in the show after Mai, but she still gets less screentime than Mai and I don't think you can fully appreciate that show if you can't appreciate Mai and what she's going through emotionally over the course of the show.

I never really liked Mai but it did not stop me from liking the show considering that it has a lot of memorable characters. Naming some of them could be a spoiler.

But there is this one very popular character that really stood out towards the end in a sense of being creepy and threatening as well as strong.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

So, in her own way, is Erin, but I don't think the OP is looking for shows like that....

Yeah ... was wondering about suggesting that too - in some ways I was more "affected" by Erin that by Balsa, but Erin definitely DOES get affected by her emotions, and certainly was not a "killing machine". Even so I felt that it was precisely that that made her truly "strong" - and in some ways there is a crossover with Balsa in that regard. But yeah - Balsa is certainly more "action'y".

[Darthtabby]

Originally Posted by kitten320

I never really liked Mai but it did not stop me from liking the show considering that it has a lot of memorable characters. Naming some of them could be a spoiler.

While I'll admit there are many people who have enjoyed Mai-HiME without liking Mai very much, I still think its impossible to fully appreciate the series if you can't buy into her storyline. If they'd put any of the other girls in the show in the lead role then it would have been a different show.

More to the point however is the fact that the original poster was looking for a character who "doesn't get weighed down by emotions and just kicks ass, preferably in a smug/non-personal way." Mai is pretty much the complete opposite of that, and while other characters in the show may fit the bill better she's front and centre a lot of the time. So if the poster absolutely cannot tolerate having a character who gets weighed down by her emotions in the lead role then perhaps Mai-HiME is not a good choice.

[larethian]

I just remembered 12 kingdoms, in which Youko is the protagonist of the anime version. She is what I would define 'strong female protagonist' in practically all areas, though it took time for her to grow to a level of strength.

[judasmartel]

But as the OP asked, does Youko get weighed down by her emotions and if so, is that the reason why she took time to develop her powers?