Otomen 4-6: Female vs. Male Gender Roles

Continuing my exploration of Otomen, I sat down to read the next three volumes of this slightly goofy tale of a young man struggling to keep his socially accepted manly image when his really passions lie in “girly” activities like sewing and cooking. In these volumes, protagonist Asuka is still trying to juggle his inner self with his exterior image and what society’s expectations are for a man, but he’s  unwittingly started to gather a group of guys (and one girl) who also have qualities/interests that are considered weird for their gender. For now, rather than serious and continuous drama, Otomen touches on social questions through somewhat over-the-top episodic “adventures.”

At volume 6, this series continues to depict issues of gender roles and stereotypes well. Creator Aya Kanno seems determined to tackle all taboos of things considered too feminine for men to be interested in. Asuka’s main interests are cooking and sewing, Juta creates a popular girls’ comic, and three more male characters have appeared whose interests are makeup, flowers, and music considered too feminine for men’s taste, respectively. Almost all of them feel the need to hide their interests, even Juta who is constantly trying to get Asuka to be himself, and other characters who buy into gender stereotypes make comments reinforcing traditional ideas.

I like how Kanno is handling character development; even as Asuka and the others find fellow men with interests outside the narrowly defined socially accepted masculine interests, none of them suddenly shout to the world, “I like cute things!” or what have you. When the whole of society seems to look down on something, it makes sense that the characters in Otomen aren’t jumping to reveal their secrets. But with each encounter with someone else who has similar struggles, Asuka gains some small amount of confidence and sees his struggles reflected clearly in other people. He also gains acceptance within his growing group of friends. However, even with that, others in Asuka’s life still hold tightly to traditional gender roles, making him feel forced to keep up his act of macho-ness. That feels like a very realistic situation.

In addition, Kanno makes a good point in volume 5 about female and male roles in society. Ryo, Asuka’s girlfriend who has more masculine traits than feminine, is elected to represent her class in a contest to find the most ideal girl. Ryo doesn’t want to let her classmates down, but she’s not good at traditionally feminine things like flower arranging or cooking. Even with Asuka’s help, her lack of skill in those things is revealed to the school and she faces some criticism and disappointment. However, after a pep talk from Asuka, Ryo wins their acceptance through her hard work. She may not be the traditional ideal woman, but the crowd is not only okay with that, they’re impressed by Ryo’s mix of femininity and masculinity. This is just one example in one story, but I think this speaks to the overall trend of society being able to embrace females with masculine traits/interests more easily than males with feminine traits/interests. Certainly, that’s true for American society. As a woman, I can take a martial arts class, play video games, and choose career over family with perhaps some resistance from society, but if a man took ballet classes, collected dolls, or wanted to stay at home and take care of the kids, he’s looked down upon.

However, while I love how Otomen has explored male characters who break gender stereotypes, I can’t help but wish there were more female characters behaving outside gender roles as well. Ryo is a lot of fun to watch since she often takes a different role than other high school romance heroines, but the other girls are shown drooling over handsome guys, squealing about new makeup products, and reading shojo manga. No offense intended against any of those past times, but they’re all extremely gender stereotyped. There has also been a case of the often portrayed vicious female rivalry over a guy and the ugly ducking makeover scenario. These are small things considering my overall enjoyment of the series, but I would like to see another female character who isn’t typical.

In short, even with some slight drawbacks, Otomen continues to be a fun series prepared to deal with all sorts of male stereotypes and some female stereotypes. The growing cast of characters are likable and cute and the somewhat crazy episodic adventures they go on often make modern statements about gender. I’ll be sure to review the next few volumes and I’d like to do a special post on relationships in Otomen since I couldn’t fit it in this post.

New Merida Turns Unusual Princess into Usual Pretty

Recently, Disney released images of a new Merida (Brave) design, which will be used on merchandise along with the original 3D version, according to reports. If you need a reminder, Merida is the feisty, bow-and-arrow toting princess from Disney’s Brave (click here for my review), a 3D Pixar adventure that came out last summer. For a story about a young woman rebelling against tradition, including making herself up for the sake of looking beautiful by others’ standards, I was surprised and disappointed with this new version. Rather than accept Merida as she is, Disney felt the need to make her “fit in” with the rest of their princesses–that is, they’ve made this new Merida sparkly, pretty, and glamorous just like all the others.

Just compare this new look to Merida’s original design, as seen in the movie. Part of the difference is of course just the change in media, but the face of this new Merida looks slightly older, as if she were wearing makeup. If you look closely, Disney has made her paler with perfectly rosy cheeks as if she’d just applied blush with a demure, cheeky expression, instead of the natural, red-cheeked round face full of enthusiasm and energy that we all know and love. Disney may have been trying for attitude in the way they designed the expressions and body position in this new Merida, but I’m not getting teenage rebelliousness from these images. I’m getting cute and pretty. Her expression isn’t strong enough to suggest determination or stubbornness nor is it energetic and loud enough to show Merida’s bright personality. It’s just…subdued, which isn’t Merida’s personality at all. I guess a big smile or a set jaw and furrowed brow just didn’t make her look pretty enough.

In addition, Disney appears to have slimmed Merida’s waist so her hips and chest look more pronounced. It’s a bit hard to tell in the image with her arms crossed, but look closely at the original Merida in comparison to the new image with her hands at her hips. I swear the new Merida must be wearing a corset! That really bothers me since she’s perfectly slim in the original version. I’m not sure if Disney has heard, but we have a little issue called anorexia among girls in the U.S. and in many other countries as well. Part of the problem is that girls see so many unrealistic portrayals of beauty, including how thin is beautiful. I was reading comments on blogs from readers’ reactions to Merida’s new look and one person mentioned that if Merida were a real person, these new images would be like an airbrushed and photoshopped version of the real person. I completely agree. This is the slimmed down, smoothed out, and amplified Merida. To add insult to injury, Disney also made Merida show more skin in a dress that shows shoulder and cleavage that the original dress does not. Thanks Disney.

The interesting thing about this issues is, if these images were completely unrelated to Merida from Brave or weren’t official images from Disney, I wouldn’t be half as fired up about it. I’d probably say, “That’s pretty,” and move on. The problem lays in the fact that Disney doesn’t seem to understand that a female character doesn’t have to be ultra-glamorized to be popular. There is more to a female character than just making a pretty face with a sparkly dress. Disney doesn’t seem to get that audiences, both female and male, love Merida for her spunk and sense of adventure. More kids have actually started picking up archery in the U.S. because of Merida and other strong, bow-and-arrow wielding female characters that have hit the big screen in the past year or so. That should give Disney the message that it isn’t Merida’s sense of style that is inspiring viewers. In fact, while the original Merida is accessible to both genders, this new Merida screams, “I’M FOR GIRLS!” (Because, you know, only girls like sparkles and boys couldn’t possibly be interested in a female protagonist.)

This isn’t the first time Disney has done this to a female character that is as brave as any male character, rejects gender roles, and could easily be marketed to both boys and girls, even in this very gender stereotypical and gender segregated market. Disney’s Mulan told the amazing story of a young woman who was gutsy enough (despite her fears) to take her father’s place in an army and go to war while trying to hide her identity and find herself, but the only thing Disney wants to market is a pretty girl in an elaborate gown. (If you want to read more about that, click here and here.) That was more than a decade ago and now Disney seems to be making the same mistake in 2013. So, if Disney wanted to rip away everything that makes Merida stand out and make her look like one of the crowd, they’ve accomplished that splendidly. 

Quick Blog Announcement

Hi, everyone! Gagging on Sexism has recently had its third anniversary and thanks to all of you readers, it’s even more fun for me to write it now than it was when I started it. I just wanted to let you all know that I have been given the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Japan for two months over the summer and as much as I love the blog, I’m going to give my full attention to experiencing Japan while I’m there. However, don’t worry! The blog posts won’t stop. Every other week, a new post will be available as usual. The only difference will be that I won’t be able to reply to any of your comments until I return in July. I hope you all have a good couple of months and enjoy the upcoming blog posts! 

Sex Appeal, Damsels in Distress, and Gurren Lagann

Gurren Lagann is one of those anime series I’ve long heard praised so, I decided it was high time I found about for myself what all the fuss was about. The series takes place in a world where humans have moved underground to flee the Spiral King and the “beastmen” who use machines to wipe humans off the earth. Thus, the humans secluded themselves into small villages with no contact with the surface or other humans. Simon, a small, unimposing young man who spends most his time digging, and his outspoken, reckless friend, Kamina dream of leaving their dank village underground and going to the surface.  One day, after Simon comes across a strange object that turns out to be a key to a machine like those the beastmen use. After a girl (Yoko) fighting a beastman falls from the surface into their village, Simon and Kamina use the newly-found machine to defeat the beastman and break through to the surface. Together with Yoko, they begin to wage war against the beastmen.

While Gurren Lagann is unique in many ways, at the halfway mark of the second season, I’m feelings a bit disengaged as a female viewer. Of the cast of female characters that have been assembled, almost all of them are heavily subjected to fan service and/or fall victim to the damsel in distress cliche to give the male characters motivation. That’s not to say that the female characters sit on the side lines all the time (Yoko and two side female characters do participate in battles), but somehow I feel the way they are presented undermines them.

For instance, there have been two episodes that either had good portions or the full episode devoted to fan service. One takes place at a hot spring and involves Kamina and Simon trying to figure out how to catch a peek of the girls naked. Later, the girls are held hostage dressed in towels, reducing them to not only sex objects, but sex objects that need rescuing. The other episode involves bathing suits. Need I say more? The guys drool over the girls since it’s a chance to see them less covered. Yoko, who is usually in little more than a bikini top and short-shorts, actually wears a bathing suit that covers her more than usual and is disregarded as a result. To be fair, the show mixes in a fair amount of zaniness, which these episodes were playing up, but by focusing so much on the female characters’ bodies, it reduces them to fan fare.

As the two main female protagonists, Yoko and Nia, both suffer from female character clichés. Yoko is no helpless maiden. She’s been fighting the enemy for some time now in what seemed to be a losing battle. Once Simon and Kamina join the fight, new life is breathed into the resistance. At that point, Yoko could have just relied totally on the guys from then on, but she doesn’t. She is put into more of a supporting role, but she’s good at watching her comrades’ backs. Unfortunately, Yoko’s strengths, both inner and outer, take a back seat to her exterior appearance. For some reason, this character who’s fighting a war dresses in a bikini top that’s slightly too small for her and short shorts. Viewers are constantly getting shots of Yoko’s breasts, even when she’s in battle, taking a shot at the enemy, the view is such that we (conveniently) get to see her boobs bounce from the kick-back of her gun. Thus, Yoko largely gets reduced to eye candy.

On the other hand, Nia is more traditional, playing the part of the girl with inner strength that relies on the male protagonist. Don’t get me wrong; a female character doesn’t have to shoot a gun or punch people to be strong. In fact, if she can pick up a gun, but has nothing beyond that, I’m not sure I could call her a strong female character. There’s something to be admired in characters like Nia who show such inner strength. Nia has been abandoned by the people she knew and her own father. She’s told she was little more than a pretty doll to him, something to be admired for its beauty and discarded when one grows tired of it, and she has been thrust out into a world she knows very little about as being sheltered for so long. Her whole world has been turned upside down yet she has the strength to assess the situation and make her own decisions. The problem occurs here: whenever Nia is in trouble, she’s not worried in the least, not because she has a plan to save herself as I initially thought, but because she has such strong faith that Simon will rescue her and anyone else in trouble. It’s nice that she has such faith in Simon–one of the first besides Kamina to recognize it–but that total reliance, or rather dependence, and expectation that someone will come to her aid is pretty cliché.

As I watch Gurren Lagann I do see hope for its female protagonists. While I’m not sure it will ever be excellent in terms of female characters given the way the show has treated them so much as fan service, I’m hoping for more development to take these characters to the next level. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Questions of Gender in Sailor Moon

What is gender? Are people of one sex or the other inherently gifted with certain skills or strengths or does that have more to do with gender roles that we learn as we grow up? Earlier this week, I came across some intriguing questions of gender posed by none other than Haruka Ten’ou from the famous Sailor Moon series.

When Haruka first makes an appearance in the manga, we see a person with short hair in a racer’s suit wearing a confident smile, pointing back to a race car and exclaiming excitement over the speed of it. Haruka is supposed to be the best race car driver in Japan. He goes to a prestigious private school where young talents supposedly gather, skilled in judo, handsome, and even has a famous and elegant violinist for a girlfriend. By all accounts, Haruka is the ideal man. However, things aren’t so simple in Sailor Moon. As we later discover, Haruka is actually biologically female, but she stretches protagonist Usagi’s (as well as the reader’s) ideas of gender.

During the time when Usagi and her friends still believe Haruka to be male, Haruka challenges one of the girls, Mako, to a friendly judo match. When Haruka easily defeats Mako, throwing her full-force onto the mat, one of the other girls scolds Haruka for using “his” full strength against a “frail girl.” Now, as readers of Sailor Moon will know, this series is not one to play on societal ideas of strong, stoic men who protect frail, helpless girls (in fact, more often than not, the roles are almost reversed with the girls rescuing the guys) and through Usagi and her friends, we a shown that strength takes a variety of shapes, both physical and mental. Yet even these strong young women have taken in the message the women are inherently frail compared to men. Haruka, however, questions this thought process. “Gender shouldn’t matter,” she tells them. “Do you think it’s okay for a woman to lose to a man just because of her gender? If you believe that, how could you ever protect those who are important to you?” In turn, Mako doesn’t want to believe she lost simply because of her sex. While biology works in such a way that men are often bigger and therefore likely stronger than many of their female counterparts, that doesn’t make women frail nor does it mean it is impossible for a woman to be stronger than a man.

But Haruka takes it further than that. Eventually, Usagi realizes that there is more to Haruka than meets the eye. She is confused about Haruka’s sex and bothered that she can’t figure it out. Haruka appears to be male given her appearance and way of dress, but she could easily pass for female, too. She finally asks Haruka if she’s a man or woman, but Haruka replies with an interesting question: does it really matter one way or the other?

Usagi’s confusion over Haruka’s sex is understandable; after all, a person’s sex is usually obvious to us and whether we are conscious of it or not, this often changes the way we interact with that person. We can refer to someone as “he” or “she,” choose or avoid colors associated with a certain sex when we buy merchandise for that person, or treat that person more gently or bluntly depending on whether that person is a boy or a girl. That’s where we get into issues of behaviors that are more accepted or put down according to societal ideas of gender roles. Because someone’s sex plays such a defining role in life, it becomes important information to individuals. It should be noted that while most societies only recognize male and female, there are actually some societies that have three choices, including a third option for those who may be biologically male or female but identify more with the opposite sex.

Finally, switching over to more magical elements, it struck me that Haruka is said to be endowed with both male and female strengths as a result of her having the powers of Uranus. Many of us may find that our sex (what we are biologically) and gender (socially constructed ideas about male and female identities) overall in that you are a female with feminine qualities or a male with masculine qualities, most of us probably also have some traits traditionally associated with the opposite sex.

The introduction of Haruka’s character has added some interesting dynamics to an already wonderful series. Once again, it’s amazing how something fiction can raise such complex and intriguing questions about things we all may deal with in our day-to-day lives without giving it a second thought. If you like questions about gender roles and want to read about more manga that bring up those kinds of questions, see my post on Otomen.

Psycho-Pass: A Gritty and Psychological Anime

Rain splashes down on pavement as police lights flash red. A section of a busy urban area in Japan has been crossed off by unmistakable yellow crime scene tape. A lone young woman approaches a stern-looking officer in front of the scene, who informs her bluntly that they’re short on officers and she’ll have to learn on the job. It’s the classic set up for rookie Akane Tsunemori’s first day on the job as an inspector for the Public Safety Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division and the beginning of a gritty futuristic crime drama called Psycho-Pass.

Set in a relatively realistic setting of Japan in the future, people have created something called the Sibyl System, an omnipotent and all-knowing computer system capable of reading people’s inner workings like their mental states and personalities–their psychology. (Interestingly, the system reads these things off a device in each person’s body called a Psycho-Pass, a play on the the Japanese word for “psychopath.”) In order to create a peaceful and efficient society, the Sibyl System can determine things like what jobs they would be best suited for and, more disturbingly, if they are a liability to society, someone who has the potential to commit crime. The latter is called a person’s Crime Coefficient.

Female protagonist Akane Tsunemori is blessed with an incredibly stable Psycho-Pass and when the system determines that she is capable of taking on some of the top jobs in society, Akane decides to take the one job only she was determined suited for in her graduating class: an inspector. It’s a job few can handle given the intense and rough nature of it, which puts investigators in contact with some of the worst of society.

That leads us to the male protagonist of this series, Shinya Kogami. Like Akane, he joined the Division as a promising inspector some years ago. However, somewhere along the line, he become unstable after he became obsessed with a certain case he had been working on and his Crime Coefficient rose to a point where the system deemed him as someone who could potentially commit a crime. As a result, he had two choices: sit in a mental hospital the rest of his life or become an “Enforcer,” someone with a high Crime Coefficient who works under the supervision of an inspector like Akane.

Together he and Akane Tsunemori, along with the other Inspectors and Enforcers as well as some pretty screwy criminals, show the audience the two sides of the Sibyl System: those who are accepted and must work to keep order and remain good citizens and those who are seen as dangers to society, potentially or already. In the world of Psucho-Pass, there is no magic or pink-haired and ditzy heroines, nor are there romantic messages about friendship and true love. While it may be futuristic, it is firmly grounded in harsh reality, exploring the human mind. Can a system truly be relied on to tell us if we are mentally stable or a danger to society and is it right to condemn those who may or may not become a harm to society just based on their potential mental instability? Are humans the master of their own will if they are so reliant on this system? It’s questions like these that are raised from the beginning by the characters in this world.

As for the female characters in this series, it’s hard to deny that Akane Tsunemori is a strong female character, both mentally and physically. She starts as the newbie in the group and Shinya Kogami, being her senior, acts as a kind of mentor. At times I felt like Kogami overshadowed her, but given that he is more experienced, I suppose it’s natural. Yet while Kogami may have more experience, it is interesting to watch as Akane transforms over the course of the series’ 22 episodes from an inexperienced, somewhat idealist rookie into a sharp and hardened inspector. Also intriguing is the interactions between the two protagonists, Akane Tsunemori and Shinya Kogami, as the two struggle to solve problems in extremely different ways. Tsunemori has faith in the system and believes in creating a peaceful society while Kogami has fallen to the position of Enforcer and walks a darker path. After one run through of the series, I was overall pretty happy with Akane Tsunemori’s portrayal.

If moody and gritty isn’t your thing, this probably isn’t the series for you. I also want to warn readers that the show does have a lot of graphic violence and can be pretty brutal. (It’s certainly not a show for kids.) However, if you’re okay with that and you’re in the mood for a stylish anime that tells a more mature story with two equally interesting protagonists and a dark, deep, and twisting plot revolving around crime and human psychology, you might want to check Psycho-Pass out. It’s streaming on Hulu.com for free.

Shojo Series With a Kick

When people hear “shojo manga,” if they know what it even is, many of them probably think pink, frilly, and romantic. It’s true that many shojo series focus heavily on romance. “Shojo” means girl in Japanese and in this case refers to the expected demographic of the series. Therefore, like many items divided by gender, shojo manga often has elements that are directed toward girls, namely a female protagonist and romance. However, it’s a serious mistake to lump all shojo manga in your mind as fluffy stories about high school girls falling in love with the hottest guy in her school. While there are plenty of light stories like that, the shojo genre encompasses much more than just that. Some shojo manga feature male protagonists or focus on different kinds of love and the range of other genres shojo manga incorporates is vast (If you want to read more about shojo myths, I suggest you check out staramaria’s post on it at Shojo Corner). In this post I want to focus on several shojo manga series that are as most action/adventure series as they are romance and have female protagonists.

BASARA by Yumi Tamura

At volume 8, I am in love with this series. Basara is the story of a young woman who lives in a Japan of the future. Much of the land has turned to inhospitable desert and civilization with bustling cities with sky scrapers, cars, and modern technology has crumpled away into the sand. Several tyrannical kings rule various parts of Japan, oppressing the people, but a hero is prophesied to raise up and save them. That hero’s name is Tartara and he is the brother of the series heroine, Sasara. Sasara is largely overshadowed by her destined brother, especially in a patriarchal society. But when her brother is suddenly murdered by one king’s men, Sasara cuts her hair and takes her brother’s name to lead a rebellion in her brother’s place. This series is truly epic, filled with strong women who defy expectations and a sweeping adventure with battles and conflicts both emotional and physical around every corner. This shojo series does have romance, but it’s an equally tense and exciting romance of devastatingly star-crossed lovers to match the action half of the story.

MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH by CLAMP

Magic Knight Rayearth is an interesting mix of things. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are fourteen-year-old girls from Japan with little in common and who have never met until one day when the girls happen to run into each other at Tokyo Tower on field trips. Suddenly, all three girls hear the voice of a girl asking for help and next thing they know they are plunging through an unfamiliar sky with fantastical floating mountains and magic. After being rescued by a flying fish, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu are informed by a sorcerer that they have been summoned by this magical world’s “Pillar,” a princess whose will protects the world and who has recently been kidnapped by Lord Zagato, causing the world to slowly fall to ruin. The girls must become the legendary Magic Knights and save the princess and thus the world. The first half of this series is relatively light, mixing comedy and action as the girls make references to their journey being like a video game and chibi-forms are frequently popping up while minions of Zagato attempt to hunt them down and destroy them before the girls can accomplish their mission. However, a twist at the end of the first half makes this series memorable. Romance is relatively low key.

FUSHIGI YUGI: GENBU KAIDEN by Yuu Watase

Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden is the prequel to the classic, Fushigi Yugi. While the original series certainly has adventure, the romance elements were extremely strong and central to the story, even overshadowing other major events because the heroine is so wrapped up in her romance. That’s why I’ve been enjoying the newer prequel which takes place in a different century than the original and has a significantly more reasonable romance that compliments the other things going on in the story without overwhelming them. Takiko Okuda is a 17-year-old girl living in Japan in the early 1900s who has troubles beyond her years. Her mother is dying of tuberculosis and while Takiko cares for her ailing mother, her father, who has never paid much mind to Takiko, is too obsessed with a book he is translating to deal with them. Hurt and fed up with him, Takiko tries to destroy the book, but instead finds herself sucked into the story where she becomes a legendary priestess tasked with gathering seven Celestial Warriors to save a country from destruction. While still not perfect, Takiko is a huge improvement from the heroine, Miaka, from the original; rather than leave everything up to guys to protect her while she runs off with her boyfriend, Takiko is active and capable and while she does fall in love, that is but one element of her story as she tries to balance her life in Japan and the fate of a world in a book. There are a number of other strong female characters as well.

SAILOR MOON by Naoko Takeuchi

The last series I am going to mention hardly needs any introduction. Sailor Moon is one of the most famous shojo series, a series that follows fourteen-year-old Usagi Tsukino, a normal girl who finds herself caught up in the abnormal when she meets a talking cat one day and finds out she is Sailor Moon, a warrior destined to fight evil forces gathering. Despite battle outfits that have miniskirts and bows, Sailor Moon is filled with tough battles and girls who each have unique strengths to bring to the table, just like in shonen (boys’) action series. There is a very important romance plot to the series, but it’s clear that love only strengthens Usagi in her quests rather than turning her into a submissive girl who relies on the guy to save her as some series depict. If you want to read more about this series, check out one of my earlier posts on Sailor Moon.  

In closing, what does this all have to do with feminism, besides depicting female characters as active and dynamic? All too often, when fiction focuses on female protagonists, romance becomes the focus of her story. While there is no doubt that for most people, love and romance is a big event in their lives, if fiction always focuses most heavily on romance in a female protagonist’s story, it sends the message that the most important thing that can happen to a girl is for her to find a guy. On the other hand, male characters are shown to be capable of saving worlds and becoming leaders. So, in these series I have named and others, we can see that romance is but one piece in the lives of these female protagonists. These female characters have lives outside of love in which they act as leaders and fight toward other equally important goals. That, I think, is a perfect message.