Anime and Manga - Through The Eyes of a Feminist

Written By Ellen Hoare - u1008677

The world of Anime and Manga is a large one, split into many genres and sub-genres, catering to hundreds of different types of people with varying tastes. With this blog entry I will be diving into this world, viewing it as well as it's fans, through the eyes of a feminist.

I won’t go into detail into what a feminist is and what the typical feminist stands for because I only have a limited word count and there is a lot to discuss. If you need to know the basics as to what a feminist is then click on the link at the bottom of the post or read through the books in my bibliography (The chapter ‘Feminisms’ in ‘Fifty Key Concepts In Gender Studies’ will also come in handy, as it did for me). I will however briefly describe all the genres and sub-genres that I will be talking about for if I didn’t you would be constantly scrolling to the bottom of the post and following links to descriptions, which would be incredibly tedious.

I shall start by explaining that with Anime and Manga there are genres that are synonymous with the typical genres of most films, games, and literature; such as ‘Adventure’ and ‘Fantasy’ there are some genres however that unlike most other things, are gender specific. Manga and Anime also cater to a much larger age range, there are Manga series specifically directed towards older readers (unlike most comics but a lot like un-illustrated literature).

Anime and Manga are rather equal when it comes to gender. The fans gender as well as the gender specific genres is fairly 50/50, making both Anime and Manga rather gender neutral and un-biased in this respect.

One of these aforementioned genres is ‘Josei’, Manga that is aimed at 18 to 30 year old women. The subject matter is usually much more realistic compared to ‘Shoujo’ Manga, tackling everyday issues or having a more believable supernatural feel. There is also a genre that follows the same style called ‘Seinen’, but this one is aimed at an older male audience.

‘Shoujo’ Manga is a genre that has a young female target audience. These usually have some form of romance and can be rather idealistic. There is also a male version of this genre called ‘Shonen’, but these usually focus more on fighting and adventure instead of romance and ‘slice-of-life’ topics.

‘Gender Bender’ is a rather popular sub-genre in Manga and Anime that appeals to both genders. The plotlines usually follow a girl dressing up as a boy, being magically turned into the opposite sex, getting body swapped into someone of the other sex etc. this goes both ways, so there are also stories about boys dressing etc, as girls. Gender bending is also rather popular with fans of various Manga and Anime series, this is because usually female Cosplayers like male characters better or there aren’t any female characters that are appealing to the female fans.

Haruhi from 'Ouran High School Host Club' - an example of the 'Gender-Bending' genre and of a decent female character.

Fan fiction is basically stories about characters and universes in TV shows, Anime, Manga, books etc. written by fans. These stories usually involve some kind of romance between characters that isn’t in the original story, and most of the time is a ‘Yaoi’ (gay) or ‘Yuri’ (lesbian) pairing. In chapter 2 of ‘Fags, Hags and Queer Sisters’ Maddison discusses research and theories into Slash fan fiction. The subject matter is mainly based on various ‘Star Trek’ series, but can easily be transferred onto the copious amount of fan fiction written for anime and manga series. Maddison mentions how this first started mainly with women writing gay pairings but ended up evolving over time to include male and female authors (both gay and straight) as well as including gay, straight and lesbian pairings. Maddison goes on to discuss that perhaps fans write these stories to fulfill some need to dominate by taking on a male role or by putting men in their place by depicting a “stud-like character on his back being f*cked by his superior officer or bent over a knee begging to be punished.” (While talking about Britta Matthews ‘Star Trek’ fan fiction ‘The Taming Of Tom Paris’) it could also be said for female cosplayers dressing as male characters; perhaps they are subconsciously trying to embody a more masculine persona?

Touru from 'Fruits Basket' - an example of a rather bland female character.

Van Zoonen summarized that when women are shown in mass media they are usually “depicted as wife, mother, daughter, girlfriend; as working in traditionally female jobs (secretary, nurse, receptionist); or as sex-object. Moreover, they are usually young and beautiful, but not very well educated.” This is true for most female characters depicted in both Anime and Manga with female characters usually falling into a certain character template. This gets me to the point of character stereotypes. Usually when there is a female character in a Manga, she can be annoying, down right useless, or just there for the male characters to fight over. This typical female character will complain about lots of things or be cute and obnoxiously happy all of the time for no reason. Another problem with women portrayed in Manga and Anime is that female characters can sometimes be too bland and dull. A reason for having such a bland character is usually so the reader can associate with her and imagine themselves in her shoes. These characters are usually the main character in a ‘Shoujo’ series. A perfect example of the doormat-style, bland female main character is Torou Honda from ‘Fruits Basket’. She is a lovely girl who is humble and sweet and caring and only wants the best of everyone. This character template happens a lot in ‘Reverse Harem’ styled series. An example of a rather good reverse harem female main character is Haruhi Fujioka from ‘Ouran High School Host Club’. Although this is also a gender bender series (she dresses like a boy just because she can, not because she feels this is the only way to be equal or anything) this character doesn’t really care about the line of boys wanting to date her and she has strong morals, not being easily swayed and being independent instead of having to be rescued or looked after.

Saiko from 'Highschool Of The Dead' This is a screenshot from the opening of the Anime and an example of fan service.

Fan service comes up a lot in Anime and Manga, it is basically non-explicit boob shots or panty shots (meaning you would see the female characters panties or see her cleavage) this is purely to entertain the audience and usually has nothing to do with the plot. An instance of this is the Anime ‘High School Of The Dead’, where the female characters are knocked about when fighting the undead (causing their boobs to giggle or their skirts to fly up, showing their panties) there is a communal female shower scene where they are all bathing together and having a water fight, and there is also several scenes where the female characters are half naked (fighting zombies in their underwear or sleeping nude), or a splash of water turns a girls uniform see-through. Camera angles are also used for fan service (like the camera being positioned so that you can see down a girl’s top or up a skirt). There is also fan service for women, which usually consists of male characters becoming shirtless or put in compromising positions (like falling onto another character).

Although fan service is mainly targeted towards a male audience, there is more ‘Yaoi’ than there is ‘Yuri’, some Manga authors riddle their works with fan service. One of these works is Yana Toboso’s ‘Kuroshitsuji’ about a young Victorian earl enlisting the help of a demon butler to help him get revenge on the people who killed his parents. This Manga is riddled with fan service and ‘Shotacon’, and is mainly for female entertainment.

This takes me on to ‘Hentai’, ‘Lolicon’ and ‘Shotacon’. ‘Hentai’ is a genre of Anime and Manga that focuses on adult sexual content. ‘Shotacon’ is a genre that focuses on sexual acts with young boys, whereas ‘Lolicon’ focuses on sexual acts with young girls. These are all legal and readily available in Japan (because no children where involved in any of the acts because it is all either drawn or animated.) Jane Pilcher And Imelda Whelehan write about how second wave feminism thought that pornographic images would “affect men’s behavior towards women, so that they are likely to treat them as merely decorative objects.” This can be seen as true with ‘Hentai’ Anime because in various scenarios women are seen as nothing more than something for a man (or monster) to have it’s way with. This can also be seen in the other genres of Anime and Manga, where the female character is nothing but a pretty thing to look at. There is a benefit for these genres however, as according to several surveys, having these pornographic paraphernalia so readily available to the public has lowered sexual crimes, not just in Japan but in other countries too.

In conclusion, both Anime and Manga seem to be equal with its gender specific genres and with its fan base. The way women are portrayed however is biased and would probably piss a lot of hard-core feminists off, but I believe it is just part of the Anime and Manga culture and it isn’t meant to offend anyone or put women in their place, it is just either harmless fun or rather lazy character writing as the male characters can also fall into rather boring character templates.

A more in depth and specific look at gender roles in anime and manga is ‘Gender and Gender Relations In Anime And Manga’ by Eri Izawa, which can be read online at: www.mit.edu/~rei/manga-gender.html

Bibliography

~Dominic Strinati. (1995), An introduction to theories of popular culture 2nd ed., London: Routledge Ltd.

~Jane Pilcher And Imelda Whelehan. (2004), Fifty key concepts in gender studies, London: Sage.

~John Armitage, Joanne Roberts, Editors. (2002), Living with Cyberspace: Technology & Society in the 21st Century, Cornwall: Continuum.

~Manick, (July 20th, 2004) MangaUpdates, http://www.mangaupdates.com, 3rd April 2012

~Stephen Maddison. (2000), Fags, Hags and Queer Sisters. Gender Dissent and Heterosocial Bonds in Gay Culture, London: Macmillan Press Ltd.

~Susan J. Napier. (2000), Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke : experiencing contemporary Japanese animation, New York: Palgrave.

~Timothy Perper And Martha Cornog, Editors.. (2011), Mangatopia: Essays on Manga and Anime in the Modern World : Essays on Manga and Anime in the Modern World, USA: Greenwood.

~http://www.advancedanime.com/displayimage.php?pid=350562

~http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/11/30/legalizing.child.pornography.linked.lower.rates.child.sex.abuse

~ http://www.fanpop.com/spots/fruits-basket/images/11876571/title/tohru-honda-photo

~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/23397962@N02/2442752253/

~ http://www.listal.com/viewimage/2536053

~www.mit.edu/~rei/manga-gender.html

~www.onemanga.com