Forum - View topicDo You Prefer Male or Female Lead Characters?
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Ignatz
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I'm male and I voted for female, because I'm always fascinated by strong female characters. Anime overall needs to have less squeaky moe girls, as they are getting way too common these days.
Last edited by Ignatz on Fri Nov 15, 2013 2:07 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Crisha
Moderator
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I am a female who prefers watching females I can either relate to or admire. I admire Oscar (Rose of Versailles) for being a headstrong, proud, yet compassionate leader. I admire Rosette (manga-only Chrono Crusade) for always running and never giving up until she saved her brother. I admire Ahiru (Princess Tutu) for never giving up hope and accepting who she was. I admire and sympathize with Sawako (Kimi ni Todoke) for slowly growing out of her shell and becoming more confident. I admire Balsa (Moribito) for a being an honorable kickass warrior. I admire Fuu (Magic Knight Rayearth) for being the most logical of the group. I admire Shuurei (Saiunkoku) for having an interest in politics and wanting to do everything in her power to make a difference. I admire Youko (Twelve Kingdoms) for overcoming her weaknesses and becoming an admirable queen. I admire Maka (Soul Eater) for her passion to become stronger and her adeptness with a scythe and her bravery despite not always being the strongest.
Now, that doesn't mean I haven't come across males that I don't relate to or admire - Simon (Gurren Lagann), Fakir (Princess Tutu) - but the ones I like on the same level as some of the females above are less common because I just relate to females more and I encourage and cheer on females more. I'm pretty pro-female, and the empowerment fantasies I like come from females themselves (females who kick ass, females who can outwit, females who prove themselves in the face of sexism, females who overcome their own crippling doubts, etc). Additionally, a majority of my preferences tend to be for women who are unconventional in some way, and I think a majority of the women listed up there fit the bill. Maka, in several ways, has a stereotypical personality common of many shounen leads, yet the series goes against the grain by having this lead be female. A female who's the fighter of the main female/male duo. Oscar, Balsa, and Shuurei all take up roles in male-dominated fields and are very competent and passionate about what they do. They also all receive disdain and/or pushback due to their gender and yet overcome the sexism and prove their worth. Rosette is another example of a shounen series with a main female lead - one who is the leader of the female/male pair. And while the manga is about both her and Chrono, it's main focus is on her development and growth through the series (the mangaka, Daisuke Moriyama, pretty much confirmed this himself when he was talking about the differences between the anime and the manga). Youko is one of the best written characters in terms of development, and her personal growth from a weak-willed coward to a strong-willed leader is one of the most inspirational I've come across. |
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yuna49
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I suspect my preference for female leads is rather similar to Miyazaki's, that because women face more social, cultural, economic and political constraints than men, there is more dramatic potential with female leads. Kou Shurrei is an excellent example as she is forced to confront many more obstacles than the men with whom she competes. When Shurrei tells off the collected nobles in episode eight of season two, it represents a remarkable personal achievement within the context of the politics and culture of Saiunkoku. (Kuwashima Houko's stellar performance in this show also helps, of course.)
Some characters like Balsa face fewer obstacles than Shurrei, but even Balsa has to deal with being underestimated by the men around her. In the case of Nakajima Youko, the heroine of Twelve Kingdoms, her parents reinforce her weak self-image, as we see in her mother's demand that Youko dye her red hair. In some sports shows, girls face institutional barriers to advancement. Aoba in Cross Game cannot pitch on the boy's team once she reaches high school, and Shion competes in a female-only bracket while playing Shougi. Karata seems a bit more open to co-ed competition, though the top players are still the Meijin and Queen. Chihaya seeks to displace the Queen, not the Meijin. Finally, I think one reason I find female characters more appealing is simply because I raised a girl rather than a boy. I was always on the lookout for material that presented strong female role models and found a lot of them in anime. With no mother present, I had to rely on media portrayals of girls and women, along with biographies of historical figures, for this purpose. |
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7jaws7
 Posts: 705 Location: New York State |
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I am male, and surprise surprise, I voted for female leads.
Some I like more than others, for example on what I like to call the "hardcore level" there are characters in anime like Revy and General Armstrong. For me, I lean towards someone like Olivier, because females like her have the discipline and leadership that femme fatales generally lack. |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1796 Location: South America |
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I am male and I prefer female leads in general, for the following reasons:
1 - Females externalize more their feelings so that female characters are more dramatic than male characters. I also feel more strongly for a female character than a male character, in general as well, maybe because I expect a male to be able to handle much more stress than female characters. Still, I find strong female characters to be very interesting as well. 2 - The novelty factor: in Western media nearly all fictional characters are male. Female characters provide a breath of fresh air: while it's perfectly expected for a men to have a gun, when a woman has a gun, that's something more worthy of my attention. 3 - I feel female characters are cuter/more attractive in general. So I prefer to look at female characters. I also don't like to look at bishonen characters, like those in shows such as Utena. Overall, though, I have no problem with male leads in general as many of my favorites feature male leads but given the choice I feel female characters are better. |
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egoist
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That's right, I'm Martian. |
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Bright_Spear
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edit
Last edited by Bright_Spear on Tue May 06, 2014 2:18 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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I voted for preferring a male lead, but in actuality the gender doesn't matter for me as long as they are an interesting character. Even though I love strong female leads (as others have mentioned Balsa) I chose male simply because when a lead character gets annoying, it seems that annoying female leads annoy me more than annoying male leads.
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Killaclown666
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Im male and i strongly prefer a male lead, i just relate more and anime can really make girls come off as annoying (like tris8 i guess when they do it to girls i notice it more)
I also dont choose a show because of fanservice or thinking a specific character is hot so id rather go with the more relatable male or the character i wish i was more like ...... i guess most men here dont agree. I also hate the romance in shows for the most part which i fear a lead female might delve into more, i haven't watched many shows with a female lead character but when i do they're never my favorite character like Soul Eater and school rumble (i know its a romance show but it was too funny and haruma is awesome) Last edited by Killaclown666 on Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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faintsmile1992
 Posts: 295 Location: England |
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I prefer strong women, unless its a hot lad like Allen Walker.
Thankfully strong female leads have been pretty much the norm, apparently, since Studio Ghibli and Nausicaa. Unlike strong female characters in western media who I tend to find unpleasant, I actually like the female leads in Japanese media, they are more feminine, not masculine quasi-men. Japan is free from feminist influence, which doesn't mean there are no strong female characters but that they are different, and intuitively more appealing. Masterful women, as Nietzsche remarks, are not feminists. I've seen similar arguments about Ghibli heroines in particular, but since so many males like female leads I guess that's for sexual reasons mind.
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Polycell
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faintsmile1992
Posts: 295 Location: England |
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Oh, I wasn't really trying to make a dissection of feminism in society just pointing out that there are cultural differences between the strong women - masterful women - in Japanese popular culture and the female appearances, behaviour and attitudes that are celebrated in the post-feminist western media. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
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This was actual difficult for me to decide. Probably most of my favorite characters are male, however I ended up voting for "prefer female character leads" because a great female lead sticks with me more and I feel is rarer in fiction (especially when the story isn't romance focused).
Female leads I really love would be: Kino, Youko, Ahiru, Shuurei, Chihaya, Oscar, etc Oh and I am a woman. |
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Pacal II
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I selected female characters although that's not necessarily the case. It's not that I prefer them as such, it's just that their are more female characters in anime that I've really liked than female ones. But it's because of the fact they're females, it's just because they are females. Although it's possible that most of them wouldn't be designed in the same way, if not for their gender
My favorite female characters would be: Revy from Black Lagoon, Hitagi from Bakemonogatari, Holo from Spice & Wolf, Maoyu from Maoyu Maou Yuusha and Kurisu from Steins Gate. But I've also got some male favorites too: Vash from Trigun, Okabe from Steins Gate and Johann from Monster (not a lead technically) My two favorite characters in general would be Revy and Okabe. |
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mokporo
 Posts: 6 Location: Canada |
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I'm female and generally prefer male protagonists to female, mainly because I have this dislike for the normally high-pitched voice actresses for female characters. Although I know that's not always the case.
There are the rare cases when I genuinely like the female lead more than the equally important male lead, such as Elfen Lied. But when it comes down to it, male lead characters are more appealing when choosing which series to watch. |
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