Sexism In Anime

Bluntly, I actualy had to double check after the discussion here because I was pretty sure it was aimed at girls in the first place. ._.;

Yep. Everybody associates it with girls whether it was that old strip calling it DBZ for girls or this Robot Chicken skit

IY being lumped in with Gossip Girl tells you all you need to know about who was watching Inuyasha.

Of course, everybody was watching Inuyasha back then including me and aguy I knew in high school. It was one of the most popular series ever even at the height of the Anime Boom. It was also the longest-running anime on Adult Swim alongside Cowboy Bebop. Iy was the first mature anime a lot of us watched back then that filled our heads with ideas beyond power levels or catching them all. It had a tone and themes so new to a lot of us.

But prominently featuring female characters and romance earned it a lot of flack from "true anime fans." A great series that went on too long got tons of shit as the worst anime ever because of that I feel. I always noticed Kagome got far more rabid hate than Inuyasha ever did from the people who hated the show. It became the very cool thing to shit on Inuyasha for several years.

But even considering all of Mrs. Takahashi's legendary career, Inuyasha was her high point.

Or maybe people didn't like Inyasha because it was just plain bad. :V

Sailor Moon and especially Powerpuff Girls, both of which aired on CN, was also female led, but they were and still are better regarded and beloved to this day.

Yeah, Inuyasha's an example of being waaaay too long and repetitive

Orrr you know there is a VERY long history of any thing women like being considered "Bad" right?

Are you really going to say "girly shows" and entertainment doesn't have a stigma?

I can just imagine a bunch of middle school boys hanging around and then one boy tells his buddies about how great Powerpuff Girls is.

Yes. I like everything about IY but then everything I liked was dragged out to hell and done over and over again. It's a shame.

Edited by Nikkolas on Aug 8th 2019 at 2:52:55 AM

There is, but Inuyasha ain't one of them.

Uh yeah, that's exactly how it was. In fact, boys that hated PPG were the minority.

There were also plenty of dudes that liked Inuyasha growing up. It's just that, like Bleach and Naruto, people got more aware of its flaws as they got older.

Edited by Rynnec on Aug 8th 2019 at 4:55:51 AM

There is absolutely a stigma of 'girly' stuff being hated, definitely. Ther'es a lot that could be said there.

Inuyasha certainly has good points, but there's a lot of fair criticism leveled at is. The repetition, the static characterization, and so forth.

And this isn't taking away from Takahashi who is a well deserved legend. Takahashi started the lasting popularization of manga outside Japan with long running fantasy/romantic/comedy/adventure stories. That ain't nothing.

Yeah, I still see a lot of love and praise for Takahashi's other works, it's just Inuyasha that's considered the black sheep.

Agreed. It was pretty popular to shit on her a few years back. A lot of people insisting she didn't deserve her fame or fortune. That has died down though, thankfully.

But somebody in Japan who handles her estate fucking sucks because Viz won't publish any of her comics in digital editions. I asked them on their FB page back in 2014 about getting Inuyasha digitally and they said the Japanese side won't allow it. Same goes for Ranma or Maison Ikkoku or anything else. It's fucking frustrating.

Because it was the best and most popular. Nobody even remembers Maison Ikkoku exists outside of hardcore fans.

And Ranma had every issue about not ending and dragging shit out that Inuyasha did.

Edited by Nikkolas on Aug 8th 2019 at 3:12:05 AM

Inuyasha is on my "must-watch" anime list. I thought it was boring as a kid, but I feel the need to watch at least part of it to understand it. I wish Adult Swim Toonami would give it, but I don't even watch Toonami. The fourth ending is still amongst my favorite anime outros,

'Top nostalgia fuel.

On popular shoujo of the last ten years... I was gonna say Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, but it's apparently a shounen series. What the heck?

Banana Fish (well, the anime is new), K (if it's shojo), and My Love Story!! come to mind, but I don't think there's been any huge stand-out new shojo works lately. Most female-heavy new fandoms I can think of are for shonen and seinen series like Osomatsu-kun. Yuri!!! on Ice, Haikyuu!!, My Hero Academia, etc.

Sports Anime in particular often have more female fans than male, especially outside of Japan. I remember getting into DAYS thinking it was gonna be the next big sports anime fandom with its cute boys and lots of Ho Yay, but it got ignored... even then, the fandom has a lot of women.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Aug 8th 2019 at 3:38:52 AM

The main good thing about Inuyasha that I remember is the OST was fucking lit and every OP/ED was some heat

Seriously one of the best anime OST's of all time that I feel doesn't get enough credit nowadays.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Aug 8th 2019 at 6:28:55 AM

Wait, what are you trying to say about Maison Ikkoku? Eh? EEEEEEHHHHHHHH!?!?!

Seriously, it was a major influence on all harem manga to follow and, putting that crime aside, one of the greatest manga ever written.

Edited by Daremo on Aug 8th 2019 at 3:32:49 AM

Okay so Inuyasha has the best ED's of all time. Glad we all accept that.

But THE best one and pure nostalgia for me will be Ending #3

Dearest is the greatest J-Pop song of all time. OF ALL TIME.

But yeah the whole anime OST is brilliant. Good love stories always need good love themes and Inuyasha and Kagome have like 4 or 5 of the best ever all to themselves.

It's very, very good! But I'm pretty sure Ranma and Inuyasha were more mainstream successes. For better or worse that extra attention generates extra negativity. I've never met anyone who hates MK because I've only met like 10 Mk fans in my life.

You know anything about Yona of the Dawn? That was the last big series any girl I talked to who read shojo was recommending. Basically Fushigi Yuugi for a new generation. That's high praise depending on who you ask.

Edited by Nikkolas on Aug 8th 2019 at 3:51:07 AM

Symphogear would like a word with you about Greatest J-pop songs of all time.

Inuyasha's OST is great thanks to Kaoru Wada, though i Prefer Monaca, Chikayo Fukuda and Kow Otani for orchestral osts myself

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Aug 8th 2019 at 7:00:59 AM

I keep on forgetting that Yona of Dawn is shojo. What makes its popularity more surprising is that it's so Korean themed. That's rare in manga.

It's both, actually. The magazine it's published on, Gangan Online, is technically a shonen magazine, but consists mainly of comedy series. Then it got a spinoff magazine with shojo-ish content, and Nozaki is also in it.

Note that this is kind of from a few years ago, so maybe I got some things wrong.

Anyway, Nozaki's author is also a shoujo author and the series itself is an Affectionate Parody of shoujo tropes. It should count as a shoujo, even as honorary.

I really hope Nozaki gets a second season. As an adaptation, and as standalone anime, it has some of the most charismatic character dynamics, natural dialogue, and extremely tight comedic pacing I've come across in the medium. Also the dub was fantastic.

It's the rare show where the comedy writing was so entertaining I didn't care the romance aspects basically weren't going anywhere to keep the comedy going.

This is kinda random but my musing on demographics reminded me of something I've thought about for years now.

Some works fall into this weird grey zone where I've met guys who hate them for being too girly and girls who hate them for being fapservice for men. The first example of this that comes to mind is Final Fantasy X-2. Notable for being the only FF game starring exclusively women, it has a decidedly light-hearted and silly tone to it compared to the game it's a sequel to. Lots of the girls giggling and high fiving and GIRL POWER stuff. At the same time, the main mechanic of the battle system is changing clothes and most of the designs are very skimpy, especially all of Rikku's outfits. T here's also a Hot Springs scene and a massage minigame that everyone I've talked to says sounds like a porno if you went by the sound.

Slightly closer to anime is Totally Spies. A show that also starred three female leads doing teenage girl stuff. Also notorious for being fetish fuel incarnate for alot of young men.

(Obviously lesbians exist but things like FFX-2 and TS can safely be assumed to not be marketed towards them. The fact there is an LGBT following is just a happy coincidence like how Jem and the Holograms has a lot of gay men who like it.)

So it's just kind peculiar to me that heavily female-dominated things can turn boys and girls off for the perception that they are made for the other.

I've seen a good chunk of girls and women like X 2. It also goes the other way, where male-targeted girls doing stuff with girls still has much of the same appeal for LGBT women as it does for men. Obviously it's not going to go into any discussion on lesbianism or serious themes, but the enjoyment can still be had.

I agree completely. There is value to be had in almost any form of art no matter its creators' intent. Recently I've been reading about Lovecraft and how, despite the fact he was horrifically homophobic and racist, his works and their themes speak very well to the experiences of minorities of all types. Queer reading of his stories are quite common apparently.

The subjective experience of fans will always supersede the creators' intent. It's one reason I think there's value in shounen simply having a lot of female characters. Girls and women will identify and relate to them just by their mere existence. Of course you want to do more with that, make the females strong and diverse and a lot of other things, but their merely existing is a vital first step. People consuming your art will always be good at extrapolating more out of it.

I know this thread is titled Sexism in Anime but I don't think anybody would object to me talking about all representation in anime or manga? I think we care about LGBTQ and stuff as much as we care about women. I'm just thinking of Magne in My Hero Academia who is the first trans character I know of in mainstream anime/manga who is treated quite respectfully.

The only other example of a trans character in a big anime I can think of is that one-off minor antagonist from Yu Yu Hakusho. It's where they are rescuing Yukina? Remember Yusuke beats up the demon transwoman after feeling her up and finding out she has boobs and a penis? I have never understood why Togashi included that. Bravo to Yusuke for not being a shithead to her I guess but I never understood the point of it, especially after a recent re-watch. Is she a demon who got sex confirmation surgery? Her demon race was hermaphrodtic maybe? It's just so random and incomprehensible to me.

Edited by Nikkolas on Aug 10th 2019 at 2:54:44 AM

They’re not really “big” shows, but if you’re interested in well handled trans characters in anime, I highly suggest watching/reading Wandering Son and Moyashimon. The former is all about trans kids growing up and dealing with their identities, and the latter involves the main character’s best friend transitioning, and a hinted romance between them.

I think that LGBT stuff in anime deserve its own thread just so that it wont get bury by Sexism or get confusing if more the one topic is being discussed.

I'm not particularly fond of the WS anime as a WS fan. I've seen it at least three times and it's a good anime, but I think it botched the ending with changes and Unfortunate Implications (plus it's plot can be confusing since it skips four volumes of the manga).

I've seen a lot of trans-themed manga, but there aren't many anime. Comics are just easier for when it comes to niche things.

(x5) Totally Spies always seemed like a "girl's cartoon" to me. Unlike, say, Kim Possible which is clearly unisex. It only wasn't until a few years ago that I heard people mention male-aimed subtext in the show.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Aug 10th 2019 at 4:22:41 AM

Fair enough. Maybe I'll make that thread later today or tomorrow if nobody else does.

It is an intensely "girly" show. But it also stars three cute teenage girls being put in all sorts of fetish-y situations. Maybe it's sort of like Sex and the City? Never watched it but from what I know it also centered on women doing very womenly things but they're drop dead gorgeous and having sex so guys will turn up to watch. There are also guys like me who enjoy both cute girls and "girly" things like pretty bright colors and whatnot.

That damned human individuality really fucks evrything up.