Is Tite Kubo’s Bleach sexist? (Part 2)

!!Spoiler Warning!! Contains some spoilers for those who are not up to date with the American release of Bleach. 

Does having a fairly strong female character automatically equal a character freed of sexist bondage (aka harmful stereotyping)? That was the question I started to delve into  the other week when I decided to look into Tite Kubo’s ever popular manga Bleach. Obviously, while some fans seem to skim over the fact that a majority of Kubo’s female character’s are slinging around (most times very openly) breasts the size of an adult human head, but when the strengths of the character are eclipsed by mammoth-sized physical attributes, how inventive is that character really?

Disregarding the physical appearance of Kubo’s female characters (not all of which have bursting bosoms), the ladies of Bleach leave much to be desired in the matter of strength.

Take Bleach’s two main heroines. Rukia, the tough, almost mentor-like character turned trusted companion, and Orihime, the cute, naive, and at times (especially at the beginning) airhead with a compassionate and surprisingly resilient nature. Rukia has more of a natural Japanese look (short, smaller chest, and black hair) while Orihime could perhaps be called the manga dream girl (long orange hair and a very large chest). These girls are very different from each other yet, somehow, both girls play damsels in distress at some point.

Rukia

Orihime

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t take long to get the ball rolling. In the first chapter of the manga, when Rukia, a sort of grim reaper (or shinigami in Japanese), tries to protect the protagonist, Ichigo (male) from a monster, she ends up wounded. In a last-ditch effort to save them both, Rukia attempts to give Ichigo some of her powers and accidentally is stripped of almost all her powers while Ichigo gains incredible strength. As a result, Rukia must mentor Ichigo to do her job until she regains her power.

While she is put in a position of authority in a way, it leaves Rukia on the side lines and in danger at more than one time where she must depend upon Ichigo or one of the other male heroes to get them all out of peril. So, while Rukia is no push over (especially when she finally regains her power), she remains, throughout the story thus far, dependent on men to pull her through hard times. Admittedly, Ichigo and other male characters do fall into serious trouble and others must come to their rescue, but they also get more glory moments to show that they’re not helpless.

On the other hand, Orhime begins in a more passive, helpless role and gains power later (although not enough to escape the damsel role). She starts off as the spacey classmate of Ichigo’s who Rukia and Ichigo notice is being hunted by an evil spirit. After some fighting and drama, Ichigo manages to save the damsel Orihime. Through this event however, it is revealed that Orihime has been living on her own and taking care of herself for years now after the death of her guardian, making her less helpless than it seemed. Later, Orihime is even given a very incredible and mysterious power that can be used offensively, defensively, and for healing. Be that as it may, this power is almost always used for the latter or defense and when actually used offensively, doesn’t usually work very well.

Then comes the most horrid part for these heroines. In two separate story arcs, Rukia and then Orihime are placed in blatant damsel in distress roles. Rukia is stuck in this role for 14 volumes of the manga and, thus far in the volumes released to America, Orihime has been stuck for 9! In the meantime, whichever girl is not stranded in the sorry work of being a damsel is able to demonstrate some of her abilities as she tries to assist in rescuing the other. Sadly, in many cases, even the active heroine ends up needing aid.

Blurred so that you can see Orihime playing damsel in background.

Does that mean that Rukia and Orihime are completely helpless? No. There are glorious moments within the manga when these strong girls get to show their stuff, moments that really shine. Tite Kubo didn’t make any complete Cinderallas or Sleeping Beautys after all. Unfortunately, what he has done is hold back his great female characters and does not show off their true glory often enough.

This doesn’t mean that Tite Kubo is consciously sexist. It could certainly be that Kubo has simply picked up and left unquestioned the roles and setbacks we give female characters nowadays. It could also be that he is just playing along with the stereotypical scenarios associated with this genre of manga. Even in this modern world where we have come so far, we all still need to be aware of underlining stereotypes.

Read Full Post »

Is Tite Kubo’s Bleach sexist? Power Boobs Edition

Sexism takes many forms in a society that wants to claim we are free of it. Some sexism remains in-your-face (like Hardee’s commercials) while others have shifted to what seems a more subtle form. But what about what I like to call the “power boob” phenomenon; female characters that have some form or position of power within their story, but are overshadowed by those gravity-defying watermelons protruding from their chests? Obviously, these inflatables need no more pointing out than I would have to point out the Eiffel Tower, but how many of us see these characters and realize this as a form of sexism?

In my last “Power Boobs” post, I discussed Tsunade from Naruto. Today, I want to turn the attention on another popular manga of the same genre: Bleach by Tite Kubo. When it is even questioned whether Tite Kubo is sexist in his portrayal of women, many fans jump to defend him. He can’t be sexist, they say, his female characters can kick butt! One fan went further in his/her thoughts on a Naruto forum, explaining,

“Kubo has women in his manga who are strong in both body and mind, and who are able to fight without becoming overly emotional. Some users accuse him of making all of his women to be large-breasted and existing for the purposes of fan-service. I do not agree with this, for not all of the women in this series are large-breasted and not all of them act in a manner that could be viewed as fan-service.”

This fan goes on to say that he/she believes that Tite Kubo is equal in his treatment of both his female and male characters and that, compared to other shonen manga, the women bask in a positive light. But what about that neon glow of sex radiating from the following characters?

All three are presented as strong, resilient women and, at points, even aid or train the male hero of the story to great avail. But with each of these, the women are upstaged by bursting bosoms, lack of clothing in all the wrong places, and blatant fan service. Even if the character is not used as a fan service character per say, anyone would be upstaged if they had shiny breasts the size (or bigger) than their head. And these three are certainly not the only female characters like this either. A very noticeable number of them sport outrageous chests. (Must be something in the water.)

Think of it in terms of reality. Whether it is correct or not, do people take women who dress in a provocative or racy manner seriously? No, many people label them as easy and view them not as a person with intelligence or strength, but as nothing more than a cheap object. So, if this is what people do in real life, why would we view fictional characters any differently? With these characters, what do you think of first: strength or big boobs?

Is Tite Kubo sexist? I would like to think not. His female characters do show instances of strength (whether it’s physical or mental) when he could have made them completely useless, heaping them into the ever-growing pile of damsels. Does he fall into the traps of sexist thought process? Yes. If that wasn’t the case, a majority of his female characters wouldn’t be dominated by their physical appearance, i.e. their enormous chests.

In my next post, I’ll discuss why I still believe this, even disregarding the big bosoms of Bleach.

(I will give him credit for this: Tite Kubo is also the first person I’ve seen depicting the voluptuous, highly neglected lower half of the boob. It’s different, balances the effect of the massive cleavage of other characters, and definitely defies the laws of nature for those to stay in that shirt(?).)

Read Full Post »