Implications of ヒロイン (Heroine) in stories


I've read that ヒロイン , meaning 'heroine', can also imply a romantic interest to
the hero pretty much by default culturally in Japan's stories.

I can't seem to find any definitive source for this from a native speaker,
though, so I'm wondering if anyone on the language speaking boards has heard
this before?




In a love story like _Romeo and Juliet_ , yes, ヒロイン refers to a main female
character who will (eventually) fall in love with a main male character.

In other types of stories, ヒロイン can simply refer to the most significant
female character in a story, and you can use ヒロイン when there is no romance
concerned at all. A ヒロイン tends to be young and beautiful, but can be an old
lady, too. For example Joan of Arc, [Yotsuba
Koiwai](http://azumanga.wikia.com/wiki/Yotsuba_Koiwai), [Pretty
Cures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Cure) and [Maiden in
Black](http://demonssouls.wikia.com/wiki/Maiden_in_Black) can be called ヒロイン.
Still, 主人公 may be a safer term when there is no romance concerned.




ヒロイン has a few definitions. In most cases, it means the female protagonist in
a story. It can also mean a heroic female character. Another meaning would be
the female partner of the main character. ヒロイン can also take on the meaning of
a 'love interest'.

See this [Wikipedia
entry](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%92%E3%83%AD%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3).

