Sexism In Anime

That's not wrong, though it kind of chaff a bit that he couldn't have made any of the more prominent protags a girl so that it would feel less uneven.

Then again there was his handling of Nejire which compared to the other "big two" was rather...vexing

Edited by Mami on Feb 25th 2020 at 8:06:38 PM

I mean, it's not like nothing else can be done with Nejire or any of those other characters.

Looking at what's going on with the current arc, though still in it's early stages, makes me think a lot of different characters are going to be doing a lot of different things.

Oh I know it's not a one and done deal, the story is still ongoing Afterall unlike Naruto so the potential is still there.

it just stood out in a bad way to me, then again the abundance of flashbacks in all the fights of the yakuza arc was contentious as is (for both manga and anime fans of the series) so I can understand wrapping things up.

Though I mentioned it last night but it's rather interesting that a lot of stories that tend to have the protagonist spot evenly split between a boy and girl tend to have the guy be the heavy of the two while the girl is resourceful in less physical ways (not counting battle harems where the guy is usually protected by the girl until he isn't). Medeka box was an exception to this but Medeka box in general was rather...wild.

Since we're currently talking about the series and I find it interesting, I think I'll do a rundown on the six girls in the class from who I think are best handled to worst handled:

• Tsuyu Asui - definitely the stand out - a somewhat non-standard design that people still find endearing/attractive, relatively good focus and character for a secondary character, good showings in the (few) combat/serious situations she's focused on, and interesting/non-standard motif for a female character.

• Kyoka Jiro - not as prominent but still well-defined character with interesting powers, and appealing aesthetics. More could be done with her, but not a lot is done wrong with her (aside from some unfortunate flat-chested jokes)…

• Mina Ashido - great design, cool power, not in many action scenes, but what has been shown of her fighting style is really appealing since she seems to have a dance fighter thing going on. She's one of the characters Horikoshi himself has said he'd really like to do more with, so it would be great if he actually got on that...

• Momo Yaoyorozu - Probably the girl that's gotten the most focus, which has been nice, but unfortunately she hasn't really gotten any straight up wins from that focus. My first line of comparison is Megumi from Shokugeki No Soma that the series constantly built up her "potential" but never ever actually let her win so that felt meaningless. I don't think Momo is that bad yet, but she's skirting a dangerous line. There's also her costume which, while there is a Watsonian reason for it to be the way it is, which I appreciate because I love the series going into that, the Doylist reason is blatant fanservice and brings it down when there could definitely be other ways to accommodate her Quirk that aren't nearly as fetishy.

• Ochaco Uraraka - it's unfortunate that I have to put her here since she should be the most prominent female character, but here we are. We've already been over how she has her own motivations for being a hero a part from the main character but a lot of stuff with her does end up coming back to him. I wouldn't really be as hard about that as others because while things may start with him, I think her process usually does branch out that it's not consumed by him. Really, her big problem is lack of focus; give her more of that and most problems would probably go away because the building blocks for a really strong character are already there, and have been partially set up, they just need to be completed.

• Toru Hagakure - It's hard to say she's the worst written because she's barely written at all. She's just "generic girl" and with Mina around, she almost feels redundant because Mina can fill the griller role to and has other stuff going on for her. Toru has a gimmick, and her Quirk is pretty interesting because it hasn't been totally explained and Horikoshi seems to like to branch out with it, but that's all she has going on for her.

And as for another elephant in the room, it's kind of telling there are only six girls in the class to begin with. And at least two of those were originally conceived as boys before Horikoshi changed them to girls for one reason or another.

I've seen someone say the issue with MHA female characters is less that they're written poorly and more that they're not written often enough. Looking at my own thoughts here, I largely agree with that sentiment. Here's hoping the current arc and what comes after does something about that.

Edited by LSBK on Feb 25th 2020 at 1:55:32 PM

ive been waiting for an arc where Uraraka has to go home and help her family for years now. I don't mind if her focus arc isn't too action focused, I just want her to be star for once

Kishimoto also managed to take Mei Terumi, one of the biggest winners of the Superpower Lottery in Naruto and make her seem underwhelming compared to her male peers. What should have been one of the most devastating enemies on the heroes' side just wound up being a punchline about women being insecure about their age. How do you take a woman who can control fire, water, earth, lava and steam and make her almost completely inconsequential to fights?

As for Tsunade and Sakura, it didn't help that he gave them powers that were already lacking versatility compared to Naruto, Oro, Jiraiya and Sasuke and still made those powers seem even more underwhelming. Compare Tsunade and Sakura's fights and move sets to Lee and Gai who are also more likable and more entertaining to watch in fights even if they don't always win.

You know a frequent defense I see for characters like Sakura and Orihime is "not everyone needs to be a country-busting one person army" or something like that but I can't help noticing how often this argument has to be used for female characters compared to male ones.

Edited by windleopard on Feb 26th 2020 at 12:46:40 PM

Ya know honestly I find what Sakura ends up not much better than having no thing.

All she & Tsunade get is generic-ass super strength which is only good for Megaton Punches & throwing bolders. They are just outright unrefined brutes worsened by the fact Lee & Guy can do everything they can do but better because they fight like martial artists.

Sakura & Tsunade don't even have named attacks, Lee & Guy have named attacks, even for some attacks that aren't Eight Gates related. Also the fact everyone gets super strength. A has his Lightning Armor & eventually Naruto & Sasuke become so strong they can punch a creator in the moon.

There's no pizzaz to be found with Sakura.

Oh man, Orihime. She got it worse than Sakura, I think. She got a broken power and while she was kidnapped by the villain, she wasn't weak or powerless. She intended to use her broken power to destroy the villain's objective.

Then it's revealed he wasn't really interested in her and her power goes nowhere. Everything about her relevance and importance in that arc was done away with and she was reduced to a pitiful damsel who can do nothing but scream Kurosaki-kun. And as much as I like Ulquiorra and his interactions with Orihime, Orihime just ends up being the Beauty to his Beast and nothing more.

Not every woman does need to be a powerhouse but this is a battle shounen and prominent women FIGHTERS are obviously expected to be powerhouses. That's how you get noticed in a genre like this. You battle and win and look cool.

and then Fullbring baits some human action only to laugh at you for thinking that. and then the last arc does it again.

What I would have done was play up the "energy manipulation" aspect of Tsunade and Sakura's powers which combined with their medical knowledge would make them very dangerous. Like say, channeling energy to an opponents organs and overloading it, disrupting chakra flow, projecting Hadoken's style energy attacks or possibly being able to steal attacks by absorbing the energy of them.

Despite what haters tell you, Orihime is at least likable unlike Sakura. From what I understand she does play a key role in the final battle too. I'm okay with her not being a fighter (since that would go against her character) but she should've at least been the one to bring Ichigo out of his berserker Hollow state.

...which one was Toru again?

The invisible one.

I.e. the one that shows up so seldom you barely remember she exists.

One of the background ones.

Alongside sugar guy & tape guy.

I want to point out that Hori has no problem giving focus to non-main characters; Tokoyami, Kirshima, Iida, even fucking Aoyama.

Outside of them, Hawks, Endeavor, etc etc.

I honestly think he simply can't think of anything for the girls to do. The Nejire thing is really the most baffling thing to this date.

I mean it's like she's fucking invisible.

Makes you wonder if male mangaka could really use female some co-writers.

Edited by PhysicalStamina on Feb 26th 2020 at 7:29:49 AM

Regarding Tokoyami, I think he's actually in a similar position to Momo, i.e. he tends to get built up but how often does he actually win?

It doesn't make what happens with her any better, but I have to wonder why people are less likely to acknowledge that for him?

Because Tokoyami isn't built up as some amazing prodigy.

x3Or at least editors. Though from my memory Jump doesn't view female editors. Somethingsomething"We need people that can understand a boy's mind" or the like. I still don't know how to feel about that considering that there are male editors that work with shoujo.

Edited by Mami on Feb 26th 2020 at 2:06:20 PM

I mean, he is built up as one of the best in the class with a really cool power. Their situations are comparable, even if he doesn't have literal genius or recommended student on his resume.

He did win once. Against Momo. He also had a great performance in the cavalry battle, which I think also counts.

The story doesn't build up Tokoyami anywhere near as much. He has rather balanced strengths and weaknesses.

Momo is consistently hailed as a genius and prodigy.

The expectations are different

I haven't caught up with MHA since the Joint Traning Arc but Tokoyami also has his connection to Hawks to tie him to the plot. Momo (and the other girls) have nothing so far. No ties to the villains,no plot relevant families and no meaningful relationship with any hero involved in those things. And the comparation with Megumi from Shokugeki is spot on, though Momo doesn't just get stale and instead gets worse as the series goes on.

Wait but Megumi definitly got worse too.

Her develompent got constantly hyped & yet she kept losing every single important match.