[Categories: Editorials]
Gender and anime: the follow-up
Well, I guess you could call it a success. There have been some excellent posts in reaction to this from the likes of Stuff Happens and PinkuBentoBox among others but the quality of the original posts had me flabbergasted too. So much so that I’m still visiting and commenting on each in turn, and I’ve had trouble getting it all into a more coherant type of mess in my head. As an overview, this topic was…well, not so much a topic per se as a general theme that covers a number of issues. We wanted to do the opposite to the first attempt but I think we’re still seeking the elusive middle ground that provides both room to avoid overlap and a common thread to all the contributing posts - it was a bit vague in retrospect but worth doing for experience’s sake. We’re happy to have other bloggers on board too, so drop one of us an e-mail and you can join the Google group to have a say on what to do next. One particular area of improvement for example is to come up with a more intuitive and comprehensive means to link all the posts together.
I’ve tried to comment on the blogs themselves as best I can but since time and energy are in short supply I’ve probably missed out on a few..if your post isn’t talked about in this one just leave a comment to that effect and I’ll sort it out.
My own thoughts on each post
One recurring theme was, perhaps inevitably, the stereotypes of anime characters, especially the female ones, and how it related to/reflected on the types of viewer. DS over at Daijoubu wrote in-depth about the rationale behind the appeal of the ’safe’ type of female character in the eyes of shy otaku; it was one of several astute observations of how anime panders to fans’ desires and expectations. JRoxas at A Stone and a Small Ripple brought up some enlightening study material that sheds light on possible reasons for this fascination with gender stereotypes in terms of the attitudes exhibited by Japanese youth - delivered with the sharp stick of common sense. Someone’s been doing their homework…
Anime Diet’s Mike went really in-depth with his analysis of the categories of characters and what appeal they hold amongst their fans, even drawing from the results of a poll he held concerning what fans see in the likes of catgirls, moe and so on. I strongly urge you to read the post in its entirety despite its length because it hits a lot of metaphorical nails on their heads - he also appears to share my concerns about anime’s image overseas with so much moe floating around.
Drastic My Anime Blog zoomed in on a slightly different area: that of the characters who take on roles - and appearances - of the opposite gender, and comments on the effects of such events in various shows. It introduced the concept of the Trap and Reverse Trap to me, so thanks for that. Renegade approached this angle too, giving some good examples of characters such as Eva’s Shinji and Love Hina’s Keitaro who definitely don’t fit the macho image of male characters; equally, it exemplifies female characters who do the opposite. The concepts of moe and tsundere, not to mention their merits and appeal, reared their heads again too, which proves to me that whether we as viewers love or hate them they make enough of an impression for a large number of us to comment on them.
Marmot gave an emotional and downright hilarious rant on the characters she found annoying and unlikable; although she regretted being unable to type out an in-depth essay on the subject I can only agree with her sentiments that sometimes, these characters are bloody infuriating! Sasa at Heterochromia jumped in at a late hour to put forward the interesting observation that while manga fans are still divided along the male/female line, anime straddles the boundary a lot more. Reasons for this are identified as factors including genderless elements and the old favourite of humour; given the higher production costs (and therefore higher risk if its popularity does not meet expectations) of animated productions compared to their in-print counterparts, it’s easy to see why these listed factors are so important.
Conclusions and later ideas
One thing that came back to me while reading these posts (beyond “Where will I find the energy to give each the attention it deserves?”) is how gender roles are portrayed in anime. I’ve considered the possibility that, because Japan is a culture that values politeness and manners, characters who appear to behave polite and timid are merely reflecting the norm for acceptable behaviour over there; after all, the brash and outgoing type of female is portrayed as obnoxious and out of the ordinary. Even so, this does not explain the submissive female character who is much more timid and polite than her male companion(s) so I’m putting that down to certain shows’ attempts at placating their target audience and playing into their fans’ desires. As far as I’m concerned, the jury’s still out on whether this somewhat outdated view of men’s and women’s roles in a number of anime shows is representative of views held by Japanese people; I’m sure as hell not going to brand them a sexist nation based on a few TV shows! It’s an interesting question though.
Daijoubu showed how merchandise helps perpetuate the idea of the female form as an object to be owned and appreciated visually amongst otaku, which I think we all agreed isn’t a healthy thing for all concerned. As Jroxas rightly pointed out however, anime IS intended to make money so will continue to base its intended success on giving what fans want. This can either be material intended for a wide audience as I (and Sasa, albeit in a bit more detail) suggested, or it can go all-out to hit a niche market with its own, very particular, preferences.
A lot of conclusions, then. The use of gender archetypes to push the popularity of anime was an important one, as were the reasons behind what fans want from an anime show and why. I’m just scratching the surface of this very vague topic so go ahead, read the posts and chew on what they’ve said for a while…and to the fellow participants, thanks for giving so much food for thought! It’s been mentally taxing but great fun. 
Posted on September 12th, 2007 @ 4:52 am
Why thank you for the kind recommendation, Martin. I just do what I love.
One of these days, somebody should also write an article about the differences between what’s popular in Japan vs what’s popular with English anime bloggers vs what’s popular in mainstream American culture too.
Posted on September 19th, 2007 @ 10:36 pm
Thanks for this nice follow-up posting, Martin! It’s really a good conclusion of what we’ve done this time.
@Mike: I think that’s really a good topic, maybe even subtly provocative - however, it’s maybe a little bit unfair to only refer to American culture. In my opinion, Europe and America are not much less different than America and Japan (anti-americanism ahoi, you know, sad thing but true), and if you have ever been in a french or italian manga shop, you would also be able to perceive the difference in tastes compared to americans.