Forum - View topicHey, Answerman: Chick Habit
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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.......... .......... .......... This is what happens when one's favorite character is 'the guy' in a girl series....I need to be alone for a moment.... In other news, yeah, I'd like to see some non-'weak' female leads. Something that nags me a bit in the back of my head is that, in Fruits Basket, Tohru is pretty much the maid of the house; the rest of the Sohma's are kinda....useless. Not only does she have to clean for them, she's gotta give them free psychological treatment. I've gotta be honest: I like fanservice as much as the next guy (why else would I want to see Burst Angel?), but, yeah; I'd like to see more heroines along the lines of Rei from Sailor Moon (more brains, please!) or that one they mentioned from Princess Tutu. 'Anime superior to the United State's movies or TV?' Oh, boy...we better get to the bomb shelter, fast--women and children first! |
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Mizu-chan
Posts: 4 |
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Uh. No. It seems that if a women does display any form of strength, she is automatically labeled "masculine" because it's not the gender norm to have a strong femininity. Sorry, they can be strong and feminine and masculine and anything they want. That's the freedom that is the feminist ideal. I actually used to do a presentation on this at my local anime con the past two years. Some great shows I think have strong characters are Rose of Versailles - it's really one of the first shows where the main female character has fighting skills and protects other. I think that - and the pretty costumes - is the reason why it's become such a cult classic in the shoujo realm. The 90s also showed a lot of great manga coming out with strong female leads such as Hana Yori Dango. Makino isn't a super hero or even good at fighting, but she stands up for herself and her friends at all costs. Seriously, she is one of the best female characters out there so I am surprised no one mentioned her. And then there is Hanakimi. Mizuki might not be super strong, either, and she might occassionally delve into "damsel in distress" land but basically she also is a normal girl who happens to have guts and determination. And lets not forget Magic Knight Rayearth! That show is all about three girls who are strong, powerful, and compassionate. I could honestly list a dozen more series that I personally believe have great female role model characters. But I don't want to swamp the thread. I was just trying to point out that while all the other shows mentioned do feature great women, she doesn't always have to be kick-ass or a great fighter to be a strong woman. |
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TakinawaTonfa
Posts: 96 |
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zOMG, I found my next DVD purchaaaaaaase~~! 
Regarding cosplay, I honestly have yet to see an influx of large women donning the pink wig. Actually, I haven't really seen any large people really do any cosplay (which is probably for the best ><), unless its for a character who matches the physique. As for the flake, this "reaction" doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm a member of a big One Piece fansite, and we've already seen a few new complaints arise about FUNimation's work. I knew this sort of thing was inevitable. People will always complain about a new dub, regardless of how much effort was put into it. Whats annoying is how "x dub suuuuuuucks! The voices are ghey!1!11" has become some sort of a default reaction towards any new dub without giving it its proper chance. But, at least its not as bad as the Narutard/BLEACHer reactions to the 15-second commercials for the shows. I think we all remember those times.... Oh by the way, Zac, remember the time when you were wrong about FUNimation picking up the series? 
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ArielTsuki
Posts: 178 |
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While I don't disagree that such a male exist, but they are extremely rare of itself, NO WHERE to the amount of women that are that way. Even if said male was sexy, chances are he usually have a personality though and not just a plot device. And no, I would not consider all of those examples as girls being masculine. Utena, over and over again, said that she had no desire to be a guy, but to be her ideal prince so she can hold her own next to the prince she loved since that day she lost her parents. What Utena did is fight for the position she wanted although her role WAS supposed to be as a sterotypical princess. She had multiple chances to be that "princess" but she would pass on it, even with the price of love. Despite her school uniform (although her uniform can be described as more androgous than male) and her tomboyishness, Utena was quite feminine, just not in the sterotypical sense of the word. San and Kino weren't masculine as much as indifferent to stereotypical roles. San was a warrior princess pretty much. She wanted to protect the forest that she dearly loved. Defending what you believe in and who/what you love isn't a masculine-exclusive trait. Kino, like Haruhi in Ouran, is most likely indifferent to gender roles due to life experiences after leaving her town. Granted people though she was a boy due to her design and her age which makes it harder to tell. Although now in the cover of the latest volume in Japan, it leaves no room of doubt that Kino's a girl since her feminine curves are starting to show. The only reason Kino dresses like that is out of convience. But you ignored examples of prefectly feminine women who don't take up the submissive moe archtype or the mushy girl type. For example, Yukino Miyazawa from Kare Kano. She's ambitious, take no nonsense kinda a girl and can be seflish and vain at times (heck, she used to act like little Miss Prefect to garner attention). Even though she fell in love with the male lead, Souichirou Arima, she didn't fall in the trap that SO many shoujo leads fall into, which is the 'unable to be breathe without you' thing. She knew that she had to leave the security of Souichirou's side to grow into a better person on her own and with Souichirou. But if you think that being a strong woman makes you masculine make you seem that you don't know much about women at all. Now, not get confused that we don't like sexy women charas and they should be done away with. We don't like sexy women charas who only job is to be a sexy woman just for fanservice in the series. That irritates most fangirls about that. There's plenty of women who are sexy but don't because of fanservice, such as Major Motoko Kusanagi in GitS. Last edited by ArielTsuki on Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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jetz
 Posts: 2148 Location: Manila, Philippines |
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Portrayal of women in anime: Hate to say it, but sex sells. Don’t get me wrong – I am a girl and I don’t like it when anime girls are only there for fan service. That’s why I don’t have a lot of favorite characters that are girls, because it’s rare to see a female character that is truly admirable.
Cosplaying: Because girls look better in costumes? Lolz. I have a lot of guy friends who like going to cons just to take pics of cosplaying girls. I don’t see them taking pics of cosplaying guys. Guys watching shojo: Guys who watch shojo are REAL MEN! Flake: How come most flakes either watch Naruto, Dragonball or One piece? I’m starting to notice a trend Banner: I love it! I love the theme too! Girl Power! The guys had their turn.. |
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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Why do fat girls like to wear pink wigs? Well, why do fat guys like to dress like ninja? Because they like the fantasy, which is really what anime is all about. Is it too much to wish that people could just let them have their fun without needing to make fun of them? To me it just shows that those cosplayers are a whole lot more confident in themselves than those who can only have fun at someone else's expense. (and for the record, I'm neither fat nor wear pink wigs, nor do I even cosplay)
Does anyone else find it ironic that that question appears right under one in which someone complains about the lack of positive portrayals of women in anime? I can almost see that reader (and others like him) graduating straight into anime production. Regarding the lack of strong female characters: There are plenty of series out there with strong and admirable women, most IMO written by women. Strong comes in a number of flavors. When watching Japanese shows, one needs to remember what being strong means to the Japanese. It's often different from what other cultures believe. However, shows like Saiunkoku or Ouran or Fruits Basket or Paradise Kiss or 12 Kingdoms show cores of strength within each of the female leads that I find admirable. |
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57odd75
Posts: 4 |
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I'm not adding much here, but if some of you haven't checked out Seirei no Moribito, the lead female is very assertive and intelligent. She's also 30 years old, just slightly older than I am (which is all good. I prefer older women anyways, mostly for the maturity factor), so that may be why she's represented so well.
Fullmetal Alchemist has good female characters. Ergo Proxy has a good female lead. Mushi shi has good female characters. Blood+ has a good lead also. There's actually quite a bit of female characters that are represented well. |
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Eos
 Posts: 168 Location: Jersey |
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It's "bias" because this Maddox-wannabe compares pictures of pro Japanese cosplayers with rookie and overweight American cosplayers to conclude that all "Americans Shouldn't Cosplay." I've noticed American cosplayers in general tend to dress out simply for fun and don't take themselves as seriously (of course, there are exceptions, *see /cgl...).
Well, if you consider strength to be a solely masculine trait then that's true, but "strong" and "feminine" are not mutually exclusive. Someone earlier mentioned Shuurei of Saiunkoku. |
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Roy9076
 Posts: 286 Location: California |
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Mostly men are behind the direction of anime shows. Besides, Japan is prodimatly an "all male" society. Once in a while you get a female lead role that are non-sexualized and non-moe.
Let them be. I'm still worried about Man Faye showing up and glomping me. That will most likely never happen, but in conventions, there are certain rules that have to be broken. >.<" Dude, I love shoujo shows as much as shounen. It does not matter. Only people who cares are the people making the shows and people who want to make fun or worried. Obvious troll. Bandai Visual needs to see what American markets looks like and reflect from their competitors. I am just curious if they are going to make a dent into the American markets anytime soon... |
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Parvati-IV
 Posts: 72 |
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I liked the female lead from Gokusen - strong, capable, but not adverse to having a crush
Hm, if I ever have a daughter, I think Fancy Lala is one of the things I'd show her. For a show with magic, it stays surprisingly realistic, and you can see the main girl grow during the show. She gets helped by various people at times, but there's no male character that shows up to help her every time she gets in trouble. I've been thinking about rewatching it a lot recently, so it came to mind. I also think Shuurei from Saiunkoku is a great character - not superhuman kickass, but enough knowhow to navigate a tricky, male-dominated political scene. That's the kind of thing that a girl can really look up to. |
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Xenofan 29A
 Posts: 378 |
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I know someone's going to contest this, but I put forth Evangelion as an example of overturning conventional gender roles in anime. It could be argued that beneath the surface, the women in Eva are weak people, and that they are under men's power in terms of hierarchy and political structure, but the men are weaker in every instance.
I don't want someone to argue against this with the merchandise. I'm aware of it. I think that the show presents the female characters positively. In fact, all of Anno's work features weak men and stronger women. For a counter-example, I put forth the absolutely pathetic Misuzu Gowa from Gasaraki. Her entire role in the show was to complain about her brother going away spoiler[until, of course, you learn that she's an invitator. Then she becomes the pawn of her older brother.] 
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Jerseymilk
 Posts: 157 Location: Wouldn't YOU like to know. |
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Along with the fact that a large portion of Asian cosplayers photoshop their pictures to the point that they don't even look like real people anymore, the majority of those photos included. That "infamous" article and it's author are well known in the cosplay community as a laughingstock for the exact reasons Zac stated. I'm quite shocked that Dormcat would that ignorant as to actually link and purport such fodder, since he always struck me as a little more intelligent than that. Ah well... And about the point of Japanese people having an advantage with cosplaying because they're Japanese.....the majority of anime characters have the appearance of Caucasians, so I fail to see how one comes to that conclusion. 
Last edited by Jerseymilk on Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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No, the most recent good black character I'm aware of is Dutch from Black Lagoon. |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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And here I go again, about to get annoyed because someone is suggesting that more black people should be in anime for the sake of it. Anime is from Japan. There are very few black (or must I say 'African American'?) people in Japan. If you want more people with dark skin go watch something from country where there are more of them. But insinuating that the Japanese should just start throwing black people into anime because 'they're under-represented' is just silly. |
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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Actually, I do. It's part of the reason I dislike yaoi--I feel like fangirls are complaining about girls being sex objects, then turning around and making bishounen into little more than strong, domineering, sweaty ukes and whimpering, eyes-lowered, blushing semes for their little fantasies. I don't think that all yaoi is like that (there's even a few pairings I like), but it feels like a lot of it is, and it gets tiring to me.
Exactly why I brought up the main character from Princess Tutu. For goodness' sake, she turns into a magical princess in a pink tutu that dances away bad emotions with the power of her love! Yet, she's still a strong female character that protects the male characters just as much as they protect her. |
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