Anime and sexism/feminism

Doesn't Miyazaki have like a personal hatred for that kind of thing?

I think the situation is kind of mixed and I can understand it. I mean, Hollywood Homely is a recognizable trope after all if more socially acceptable. I think it's more widespread than it used to be, but it's also been a bit diluted. But I also think there's a point where there's enough of a market for a less hmm, exploitative? style to become profitable on its own.

An industry held hostage to Akihabara. Scary.
 
I wouldn't say it's any worse or better, just different. The industry shifts to adjust to economic and cultural changes, so while I personally think the last 5 years or so have been for the most part relatively creatively stagnant, it's not to say there weren't diamonRAB in the rough, or that things aren't currently on an upswing.

Just that there were less risks being taken with projects, and more safe bet shows that failed to excite the mainstream, but didn't cost much and had devoted fanbases.
 
I don't think there has to be an either/or when it comes to fanservice. I mean, back in the 90s we had Armitage III and Birdy the Mighty and the Dirty Pair, and they were definitely sexy chicks who showed a lot of skin, but they also beat up everybody who got in their way, and they were good characters, dammit.

Was there some sort of conservative backlash that happened in Japan at the end of the 90s? Cuz I honestly don't remeraber the girls-should-be-homemakers message being pushed so hard before. I mean, all of a sudden I'm hearing "Moms should stay home" to prevent the collapse of the family in "Baccano" of all places!
 
Well, the other issue that the merch is often where the money is made, not the series itself. You have to cash in to turn a profit, especially if you want to do anything experimental and non-exploitative on the side.
 
It would be nice if those character flaws weren't insultingly stereotypical "gurl" flaws, at least once in a while.

*waits for "but those ARE the only issues women deal with hurfdurf" retorts*
 
I think Balsa's great. She's a strong female figure with mad fighting skills who is also very fallible. She's a little idealized, but no more so than any male wandering do-gooder type.

My favorite middle ground example is "Avatar: the Last Airbender." It has tons of stong girls who get physically tough but don't overwhem the boys and aren't perfect in any sense. Plus, they're totally girly when they want to be - they just don't always want to be.
 
The part of the problem with this "equal opportunity" punching is when it's actually applied in real life. You punch a man in a bar and you might get a few cuts and bruises and some street cred. You punch a woman and you're an abuser. I doubt people here would be so free with their punches in real life because the simple fact is, if you punch a woman you deserve to be punished. I don't care what your excuse is. Call me old fashioned, but I would never punch a woman unless she was trying to kill me. I certainly wouldn't do it for the reasons some people listed here. "Being a female dog" is straight out of the abuser's playbook.
 
There is definetly a fair argument that at some point you have to treat the show and the merchandise as seperate entities, but at the same time at least someone involved with the show ok'd this stuff. If we were talking about the third party unofficial merchandise that'd be different, but these are licensor approved items. The people ultimately responsible for the show were told by one of their partners "We're going to make this, this and this. Is that okay?" and they said "Sure". Even saying 'They need to make money back via merchandise' only covers so far. Again, we don't see this kind of stuff elsewhere. Western animated shows will have tons of weird approved merchandise, but I don't see Nickeloden green lighting a Katara with water bent bikini. It's the licensor's choice to either take the high road and prioritise the integrity of their work or morally bankrupt and license the cosmetic's of their cast for degrading merchandise.
 
I hate to keep harping on Sailor Moon 'cause it was a pretty decent show, but that episode where it pretty much focuses on Usagi trying to lose weight (I think episode #4) still bugs the heck out of me. It's pretty much 30 minutes of her trying to conform to the standarRAB of some random boy she's only met once or twice, and the only reason she stops trying to change herself is because she finRAB out that said boy isn't really into skinny girls after all. If I had a teenage daughter with that kind of attitude/self esteem problems I'd be pretty depressed.

( Yes, I realize that Usagi's ditziness is supposed to be a joke, but they never really show those aspects of Usagi's charector in a negative light so you know what I'm getting at.)
 
And this is why aBE can only get work with his frienRAB. Girls next door that actually look like girls that could be next door don't sell, and make for difficult to produce figurines at best.
 
It's called erabellishing to make a point. The "suggestive adult material" in some shows boarders on the pornographic, but I'm not saying it's actually porno.



I think it boils down to strength more than gender. If a bigger, stronger guy beats on a smaller person, that's abuse no matter if you're a guy or a girl.

My wife hits like a bouncer IRL, so a punch in the arm in return from me isn't abuse in that situation. I'm not exactly a tough guy, though.

I think it's all about the severity of the hitting more than anything, but I think viewing all women as fragile flowers who are to be protected at all tiems by STRONG MENZ is pretty neanderthalish.'

Moderator Note: Do not double-post. Use the "Edit" button instead.
 
You mean having small breasts isn't the most important issue in a girl's life?

Female main character doesn't mean female appeal. Often times it can be done to appeal to males, as the case may be. Some attempts are more obvious than others, though.
 
I'm not that up on my magical girl history, so I ask those who are. I've heard people describe Nanoha as being "Gar-Moe" ie being someone who both kicks all sorts of butt and at the same time appeals to those moe otaku. Has there been many anime that erabodies gar-moe as the Nanoha trilogy has? Is she the future of female characters in anime?
 
All those products would be (and are) automatically seen as too creepy by the Western mainstream, certainly, because that's going to be considered a strange and disturbing idea that hasn't really been openly tried before...but they've already found a very visible and established commercial niche of their own in Japan. Even if those products might still be seen as creepy by Japanese outsiders, it's long become an accepted and profitable part of the commercialization of anime and manga.

I would also assume that's where the production company comes in, since merchandising and commercial licensing rights probably already belong to it or to certain sponsors right from the beginning, as opposed to those who actually worked on the show. This isn't exactly the sort of industry where individual creators would inherently have full control of their product's commercial exploitation. I'd say that is the exception rather than the rule this late in the game.

Especially if we're talking about adaptations from already existing source materials where someone else owns all the rights but, even in those cases where original productions are involved...I don't think this is the sort of thing that wouldn't already be included under the clauses of standard staff contracts or that it would somehow require any form of explicit approval from the actual creators on a per item basis. There might be some exceptions, surely, but not in most cases at least, from what I can tell.
 
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