Forum - View topicWomen in anime.
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DazzleNeko
Posts: 44 |
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This just bothers me. Badly. I love anime. I love manga. It's something I've been into for years. But whenever I indulge in these interests, I don't often see a lot of sexism. Maybe it's because I am not looking for it. I do know women aren't as favored in Japan as men are and don't have the same opportunities. But you'd think a country as technologically advanced and education-oriented as they are would throw away some of these very old-fashioned , ignorant, and sexist thoughts towards women. Why exactly is it that Japan feels the need to keep women under the wing of men? Why do they refuse to put women in positions of management? Do they feel as though we are mentally incapable? Not intelligent or strong enough to handle it? I also heard Japan disapproves of women working after marriage. Being a housewife is very encouraged. I know it's cultural, but it still bugs me. I'm not a hardcore feminist but I do believe equal opportunity in the work field should be enforced. I also feel that gender roles shouldn't be so focused upon. Sometimes it is hard for me to indulge in anime and manga knowing it comes from a country with these standards. I mean, it's a LOT better than how some women are treating in some parts of Africa or the Middle East, but still.... |
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agila61
Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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Erica Friedman has a new post at the comic site, Hooded Utilitarian, Me, Mo and Alison, where she considers the famous Bechdel Test for media:
The discussion at the article is fascinating, but for this discussion, what interested me was when Erica says:
And even if the transition from manga to anime might tend to filter this out, I think some do come through the filter. Now, of course a lot of manga and anime fails the Bechdel test, but still lots of media fare much, much worse ~ very few Summer Blockbuster movies ever pass the test, for example. |
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poilk92
Posts: 433 Location: Long Beach California |
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It wasn't that long ago that America had sexism as official policy it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. Japan might be a little bit behind because forming marches and protests in such a polite society is probably a lot more difficult. Furthermore America and Europe became technologically advanced far more gradually than japan so our societies had more time to evolve with our technology. |
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wanderlustking
Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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I'm adding Nanoha to my list of awesome female characters. This might just be the Marine talking, but damn does she knows how to make friends!
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wcsinn
Posts: 186 |
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You know it was not my intention to stir things up, why should you be bothered by another culture, just because it is different does not mean it is better or worse. There is much to admire in the Japanese culture and it also has it's fair share of flaws - just as any culture does. I'm old enough to remember segregation and bigotry right here, which unfortunately has not yet disappeared entirely. Personally I do not see alot of sexism in anime nor do I see a lack of strong female characters - though I guess this is open to interpretation and how one defines a strong woman character. What I see is a wide cross-section of personality types, which by the way, mirror what I see in most media. Anime isn't intended to always reflect reality, nor is media in general. A lot of American TV comedies show adults as idiots and the teenagers as the wise and sane ones - makes good comedy but it isn't very realistic. Here's a few characters I feel are strong women: Motoko Kusanagi, the Major - Ghost in the Shell Balsa - Moribito Tsunade - Naruto/Shippuden (in fact I think there are quit a few strong women in Naruto) Burst Angel - all strong women, OK Meg is a girl-girly who needs rescuing constantly - but she gets rescued by another woman Revy - Black Lagoon, in a gang of smugglers the girl is the enforcer! Saya - Blood+, she holds the fate of the world in her hands Claymore - all women, all physically and emotionally strong I think you find what you look for - if you look for inequality you can probably find it, if you look for strong women you can find them too. |
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killmyself
Posts: 168 |
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Stop watching Magical Girl and Giant Robot anime and stop pretending 95% of women aren't completely [expletive] insane from social engineering that feeds them contradicting realities from birth.
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Divineking
Posts: 1296 |
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You've made a mistake regarding Black Lagoon. it's not just Revy. Pretty much ALL the females in the series(even the old nun) are pretty tough chicks. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18394 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Did you look at the post I linked to? At least half of the characters I named are from the past four years, including some from as recent as last season. If you just want to restrict it to the last couple of years, I can name other examples.
Oh, I don't question at all that you can certainly find series like that every season. But is it pervasive? That I question.
And how many male characters in anime you've seen recently make decisions partly or primarily because of a girl/woman?
And I work in a school (and a tutoring center) every weekday, so I have nearly as much direct contact with teenage girls and guys as you, as a teenager, do. I hear what they talk about, even talk to some of them directly about it. I know for fact that this goes on.
Based on the American cartoons I've seen over the past decade, you don't see this substantially more in American cartoons than you do in anime. |
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Rime of the Ancient Otaku
Posts: 124 |
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It always amazes me that with a medium like anime that spans everything from Doraemon to Mnemosyne there are those who believe there is, or can be, some sort of blanket answer for any question. Average anime? Is there such a thing?? Even drilling down to specific genres there are extremes. I would cite the original Gunbuster as a Giant Robot series with a decent portrayal of its female pilots (at least as descent as one can get when the plot calls for training and shipping high school students off to the Front Lines of an Alien Invasion). Then there's the issue of what a "strong", non-degrading female character even looks like, as the earlier discussion of Black Lagoon's Revy demonstrates. For example, I find Mikoto Misaka (AKA Railgun of the Certain Magical Index/Certain Scientific Railgun series) to be a strong female character who is extremely powerful by herself, yet doesn't save the world all by her lonesome (she still gets by with a little help from her friends). Someone else could counter that because it takes Tōma Kamijō to resolve some of her problems (such as the Level 6 Shift Project) and she develops feelings for him that she's just another example of the Sexism inherent in the anime System. And that person would have a case for that opinion. It's very much a Your Millage May Vary topic. |
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wcsinn
Posts: 186 |
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True true, but in my defense I was just trying to make a point, definitely Balalaika and Eda also fill the bill, and a case can made for several others as well. Loved this series - it was awesome! |
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RHachicho
Posts: 897 Location: Essex, UK |
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Very good point. Anime has long since been divided into genres and subgenres and even among those there is a startling tendency for shows to tell stories from markedly different viewpoints. It is one of the things I like about Anime is that each show tends to present a different take on either morality, storytelling and/or perspective. This perhaps more than anything attracts me to Anime rather than stuff produced in the west. Which tends to very much more closeley bonded to western ideals. (Not that I am saying it's ALL bad here before Keonyn comes in to decapitate me =) ) But Anime has perhaps the best track record for variety of any media type. I agree with Rime in that it seems that truly trying to tack any kind of label onto something so general as "Anime" is not really going to fly no matter what label you try to tack on you will find counter examples. |
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wanderlustking
Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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Genre does not dictate quality. Consider Eureka 7, Kurau, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Darker Than Black (second season), Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Gurren Lagann. Each one a magical girl or mech (Giant Robot as you called them), and each one has very strong women in lead roles. When you dismiss a show because of its setting, your falling into the same banality that enforcers of the animation ghetto live with. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had a strong female lead? Yeah, she better had been strong, given how her weapon of choice was an anti-tank rifle that would normally break a person's collarbone. Oh, and that the skimpy bikini is no protection in combat, in the heat of the day or the cold of the night. Therefore Yoko's skin must be the child of military-style body armour and the suits astronauts wear for their EVAs.
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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Well to be fair, Kamina and Simon weren't dressed all that conservatively either |
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nobahn
Subscriber
Posts: 5140 |
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