![]() ![]() Another said that if viewers want to watch shows about guys, they should just get a grip and watch shounens. And those who prefer gender-balanced casts should be satisfied with that. One poster suggested that the male characters don’t need trauma or complex emotions or arcs devoted to them – as long as there are guys whose actions drive the plot, and as long as they function as avenues through which to explore the female characters, that’s all that’s needed. ![]() Tari Tari and Kokoro Connect have prompted an interesting discussion on this topic on Animsuki, and I’ve seen some arguments made by smart, reasonable people that disturb me even more than the rationalizations above. The way to combat unrealistic portrayals of women in other mediums is not with unrealistic portrayals of men in anime – in fact, that simply makes the problem much worse. But whatever the cause, that doesn’t justify the status quo – nor does that fact that gender bias against females is so prevalent in others mediums (and in anime too, as I’ll get to in a minute). The fact that many of the more complex male characters in anime are either pre-teens or older father figures – and thus not sexually threatening – is probably not a coincidence. The target audience for many Blu-rays is largely the same demographic that can ruin the career of an idol who admits to having a boyfriend, so there’s clearly something deeper going on here than simply a disinterest in male characters. I don’t want to turn this into a detailed analysis of the causes of the problem, but obviously otaku culture as it exists in Japan is part of the issue. If you only make shows with no guys, spineless guys or stupid guys, only people who want to watch shows with no guys, spineless guys or stupid guys will watch (and more to the point, buy) anime. And to the second, well – that sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy. There have always been shows with all-girl casts, and shows with idiotic male characters – but those shows being an overwhelming majority is a relatively recent phenomenon. The first is easy enough to dispel – just look at a list of releases from 2002, or even 2007. I don’t put much stock in either of those rationalizations. Another is that “anime is intended for a mostly male audience, and guys only want to watch shows about girls”. ![]() One is, “It’s always been like that, and today is no different”. There are several defenses of the status quo I frequently see. Setting aside shounen action series and sports, with some rare exceptions like Tsuritama and Ano Natsu de Matteiru teenaged males usually get lumped into four categories in anime: timid and neutered, oversexed idiots, irrelevant or nonexistent. And I’ve certainly done what I can to make people think about it, whether they want to or not… In fact someone on Animesuki mentioned that it seems as if it’s become a hot topic lately – and while I don’t know if that’s true, I’d like to think it is because I think it’s a subject that merits discussion. So this isn’t a new topic, but the recent prominence of Tari Tari and Kokoro Connect (two shows I like, by the way) on this site and elsewhere has brought the matter a little more front and center, on this site and elsewhere. Anyone who’s followed this blog for a while knows that the depiction of males – especially teenage males – in anime today is a sore point with me. ![]()
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