Gender roles in Anime

I thought i was the only one that noticed this. And yes it annoys me too

Seriously? Maybe 2nd wave feminists, but the modern 3rd wave is about allowing sexually deviant, "sexy" portrayals, provided there are other positive and opposite sorts of media in place to give a balanced POV.

So she watched a lot of Shounen and then whined why the genre apparently did not target her?

Your friend is stupid. The target demographic of all of those shows are guys, young guys. Of course she's going to feel they cater more to guys. Because that's exactly what they're doing. Does she not realize what Shounen actually means?

Sailormoon, Card Captor Sakura, Fushigi Yuugi.

Is there more male based anime? Of course there is. The male demographic is larger than the female demographic when it comes to anime and manga. So they industry caters more to them.

That doesn't mean the female demographic is nonexistent. And if you go more in seinen and josei you see less of a fine line and more realistic tones.


Long story short, you're friend is an idiot for only looking at Shounen.

Yeah, seriously. Because of the infamous Rapelay incident which was caused by bored feminist, The Vn Industry in Japan changed quite significantly.

The most important thing is how companies change their policies and how they treat foreigners that resulted some companies will IP block foreign IPs.

There was news about content regulation, but I think that didn't get implemented or just simply forgotten.

Seems like your friend never heard of Josei...

Well, funny thing about feminism: like any movement, there are varied branches of opinion. I know about the Rapelay story, but from what I heard it sounded like a pearl-clutching, "think of the children" conservative dug it up and alerted the news to without examining context.

There usually is a reason for the girl character to be ditsy or subservient. The reason is for comedic relief, or as in the case of romantic comedies like Shuffle!, Kiss x Sis, et cetera et cetera the girl(s) love the main boy character with every fiber of their well being. Now I do stress comedic relief. As the case with Kiss x Sis the two sisters Ako and Riko tend to get into funny situations to see who will get their step-brother's affection. Or Shuffle! Rin Tsuchimi has gained the affection of his... I suppose room-mate Kaede Fuyuo who as if you watch the anime/ manga loves him with all her heart. Including the other girls of Shuffle!, they get into each others faces about who will get Rin as their husband. Another example is the show Sora no Otoshimono where the main character Tomoki has gained the affection of Sohara Mitsuki, Ikaros, and Nymph. The basis of Sora no Otoshimono is how all these characters amass to see which one Tomo will pick. The last example I can think of is Highschool of the Dead. As you can already tell the women have boobs that seem to bounce every step they take which makes you think "there is no way", also look at Shizuka her boobs are like car tires and meant for, yep you guessed it comedic relief. Tell your friend to stop taking anime to seriously. Besides they have women voicing the characters, and I am sure the women know who they voice ahead of time anyway.

I agree

Ghost in the Shell had Matoko Kusanagi. Hayio Miasaki all his films have female leads that start off a little weak but they become strong by the end. BTW I'm sure I mauled Miasakis' name.

it's not a discrimination, it's a Market demand, as simple as that
that aside, that friend of yours is surely NEVER try to understand Anime before making those ridiculous accusation!!
I dare to say that she has only watched those mainstream shonen, there is a saying in my country, Not Knowing, Not Loving, your friend should try to watch other genre like seinen,josei,shoujou,etc

I recommend Kara No Kyoukai, since it got AWESOME female protagonist, that not wearing revealing clothes, nor clingy to the male character. Your friend shouldn't have anything to complain about sexism.
OT : I have only realized after doing some research to answer this thread; that Nasu works(Kara no Kyoukai, Fate/Stay Night, Tsuki no Sango, Mahotsukai no Yoru, etc) all got strong independent female lead(or at least secondary Chara

She has. She finds anything in it to be stereotypical and says its all the same.

I honestly agree with some of the points here.

• Anime is marketed towards a market.

• It has entertainment values.

• Clear examples of women depicted in powerful positions.

• Anime is not a direct interpretation of real life.

There is tons of evidence i'm sure on how gender roles of females in anime are derogatory and sometimes stereotypical.

I guess is it ok understanding gender roles in anime and just accept them for what they are? Or should we just watch anime and ignore them? I have no answers but the discussion is coming along great.

The more detailed answers bring great light onto how flawed and difficult this topic is. I will say that sometimes some of the shortest posts were the ones that made the most sense.

I dont know where to take this thread from here but I hope we can some how agree on something.

Your friend is a picky eater, that's all I got to say.

Anime is a life-style. Once you get it - your in it forever. So it doesnt matter what is your window is.
Male or Female - your hooked like a fish begging for more.

There are lots of competent female Mobile Suit Pilots I can think of in Gundam XD

Christina Mackenzie of Gundam 0080 wasn't the best, but still she was the main character. She was just a test pilot who tested an "out of control" Gundam that was specifically made for an Ace Newtype pilot. Yet she still held her own in the end and managed to survive. Sure the Kampfer lost its initial armaments, still Christina still won that duel fair and square even though some just say that she just spammed the gatling gun and ground the Kampfer to miserable junk. And in her last fight with Bernie, she still won that even though the Gundam ended up in pieces.

Emma Sheen from Zeta Gundam was okay, even though she died in the end. Haman Khan/Karn from the same is also fearsome and is a very witty fox even making Char Aznable kneel before her.

Katejina from Victory Gundam is a villain but is a very formidable pilot. She killed lots in the series and I loathed her for that >_< The Shrike team who belong to the protagonist side is composed of competent female pilots.

Allenby from G Gundam definitely counts too.

And don't even let me start on Muv Luv Alternative: the Isumi Valkyries plus one guy XD

So I'll cut it short. Women in anime definitely can't be always stereotyped as weak, even though they may not be the main characters all the time they still have vital roles. They may be antagonists or the source of strength for the hero, but definitely the females aren't always supposed to be the damsels in distress.

Some I feel like adding to this list:
-Ghost in the Shell
-Blood+
-Eden of the East