Female Characters Still Suck in Shounen Anime // (Anime rant)

[@Spo0ksi]

Hope you guys like the new video!! I tried to really work on the audio this time 😭. Lemme know if it’s better. EDIT: Just because I critique one anime doesn’t mean I’m saying all have all 5 tropes. I used the applicable ones during that segment… What are your most hated tropes in anime?

[@StonedHunter]

Honestly I'd recommend Ranking of Kings as an example of good writing and trope subversion for all its characters. It's the best example I've seen of actively going against a lot of worn out tropes.

[@Veryfreshveryflourish24]

I think my leaat favorite trope in anime is probably the trope is misunderstanding trope for couple that recurs on them like just after resolving a misunderstanding they get another. Its super common in cheap bls because those are usually wirtten by women who dont understand gay romance who only wanna see hot guys(which like go for it cuz sex sells) but does not mean i dont roll my eyes on it since it is just an excuse to recycle drama.

[@yoboibeerus1387]

My most hated trope is when a female lead doesn't have an F cup and a big rear.

[@MorroPlayz]

​@@Veryfreshveryflourish24well it's cause there men they aren't women they can't just know every shit

[@audreyharris7643]

@@yoboibeerus1387 hahaha

[@msreminis]

Honestly I hate the pervert trope not only does it downplay inappropriate actions but it takes away from the character themself too 😭

[@userunfriendly9304]

its just straight up distracting. I see it as lazy comedic relief.

[@yoboibeerus1387]

BOOOOOBS

[@levtieart3409]

the ''pervert trope'' is basicaly normalising assault and grape and making it as ''funny' and a ok action there isa reason why most young men who grew up on anime are creeps and pedos and think its ok to molest women etc

[@farnese__1535]

I hate it too so damn much. Can't watch a "shonen" anime without that shit appearing at some point. It's not only a take away for the character itself, but it's also so distracting and sometimes even used in action scenes, completely breaking the pathos. Like, sometimes it's so prominent it becomes the only trait a character has (like that thing called Mineta in MHA)

[@darkrain1612]

My hero academia's Mineta

[@sentient_dinosaurplush]

„just because i‘m a meathead doesn’t mean i‘m not a feminist“ we stan, knuckles

[@MillerTheMagicalBoyDarkPrince]

Yes😊

[@suspiciousstar7547]

Knuckles would beat the hell out of Andrew Tate and Sneako 💪

[@MillerTheMagicalBoyDarkPrince]

@@suspiciousstar7547 yep

[@sonicfanboy3375]

"Breaking gender roles undermines the concept of gende equality by implying that this is an exception and not the status quo"

[@caterpie911]

God this is the cringiest garbage I can imagine. No kid's show without brainwashing these days it seems

[@melissawilliams5823]

8:21 I want to know what's the point of giving female characters armor if you're just going to freaking sexualize it, the point of armor is protecting their vital parts and organs. like at this point they should just be basically naked. like that's a damn terrible design!

[@redgrave4492]

I think in her case it's going more for a gladiator look, considering where she fights. If you checkout pictures of gladiators, you'll see that they're pretty much half naked barely wearing armor, only having minimal protection. It's fine to have an issue with her look of course as with how Oda likes to draw women, sex appeal is probably what's going to be the first thing that comes to mind.

[@melissawilliams5823]

@@redgrave4492 (True)

[@saintdude6032]

@@redgrave4492 I don't think shes based on a gladiator though, she looks more Anglo-Saxton to me, based on her 'armor' and her sword, ancient Romans didn't have sword like that, but I could be wrong.

[@adrielcruz2736]

⁠@@redgrave4492yeah the whole point was as little armor to protect the fighters because Doflamingo and the people want to see blood, especially for that character in particular so it makes sense she gets shitty armor.

[@lolanola1783]

@@redgrave4492 Buddy, she basically wearing a bikini with scales on it.

[@sugarzblossom8168]

What i hate the most is always mentioning that you believe in "gender equality" or that you "won't hold back just because they are a woman". I don't get why people praise it so much. If they believe in gender equality shut up and fight and they never say "i won't hold back just because you're a man." Additionally, women hitting male characters for no hood reason= annoying and abusive but it is praised when a male character does it because it is gender equality even when it is for no reason as well. Even in the extremely few instances where the gender of the characters aren't pointed out by the writer, a lot of timed people will always make sure to point it out.

[@Spo0ksi]

Oh absolutely hate female characters beating the dog shit out of male characters as comedy. It’s never funny. And yeah DESPISE, the “I don’t care if your a woman or a baby I’ll punch you” like…. Okay? 😭 Stating it has always sounded like some sort of weird flex just fight her. Glad you liked the video! ❤️

[@sugarzblossom8168]

@@Spo0ksi btw I would totally love a video of positive masculinity. Sounds like an interesting and unique topic.

[@Scorpio4890]

​@Spo0ksi nah you should care who you fight because men & women are not built the same, it is what it is, Women wouldn't last a minute with a man or 5 minutes

[@nishpishwish]

Honestly! In a romance webtoon I read, the girl slapped the guy first for thinking he was trying to sexually harass her, so then when he slapped her back because she started going on and disrespecting him, so many people in the comments got so mad. Saying how he should've been hentler because she's a girl and stuff

[@Scorpio4890]

@Nishueah honestly, nether of them should be slapping each other specialy the women Why because women always get away with it just because she a woman & women have terrible logic example I'm a woman, so therefore, I can hit you, which is so wrong to think like that + It's not a wise thing to do because men are stronger than women, so his strength will be greater than hers,

[@PreciseSpace]

The whole thing with men hitting women in anime makes me think of the episode of soul eater where maka has blackstar punch her bc she hit him before. Its not framed as a thing about "blackstar thinks maka can handle it despite her being female" or anything like that, its simply her wanting to even the score between them to repair their friendship as a group. They do mention him hitting a girl but blackstar doesn't even mention it himself, its maka trying to get him to go all out.

[@proudtiger2538]

soul eater doesnt get the love it deserves tbh 😤 not saying it doesn’t have its issues or fanservice, but it still has some of the best developed female characters in anime imo (or at least outside of romance anime)

[@PreciseSpace]

@@proudtiger2538 agreed!! It's certainly not perfect but it absolutely deserves more credit than it gets.

[@r3nai_ssance]

i love soul eater

[@shokoscigar]

@@r3nai_ssance Same fr

[@MANGLORIOUS]

The pervert trope absolutley RUINED Sanji for me. When he was first introduced I liked him a LOT, adopted him as a fictional son and shit, but as time went on he kept getting creepier and creepier, and it got to the point that I started flat out hating him for it. I am SO glad that the Live Action turned it around and made him less obnoxious and weird

[@jojobizarrelivingstone594]

I really do not know why they made his bleeeding from the nose gag an actual plot point in fishman island that is reason jimbe becomes a strawhat. I skipped that arc

[@aasha8759]

im at ep 150 atm, so it probably gets significantly worse from my end, but I've majorly retconned sanjis perv woman loving persona in my head. i got spoilers for the whole cake island arc kinda early on, so internally i pretend its a trauma response, because his mum and his sister where the only ones who cared for him while he was young, and thus its an automatic fawn/adoration/safety response or preference. im not a fan of perv characters TT so I hope this headcanon can remain canon aompliant ish in the future

[@number1rimbaudfan]

sanji would absolutely be my favorite character in the series if he wasn’t a pervert, but he’s currently my least favorite strawhat SOLELY because of that. I love his backstory so much and he’s so cool, but I just can’t stand his simping.

[@farnese__1535]

The thing that made me really hate on him was that scene in one of the movies where he gets horny thinking about watching child Nami grow up (she was transformed into a child)

[@AdoboSoGuud]

Honestly I started preferring Taz Skyler's Sanji ❤ he's more flirty than a creep compared to the anime 😅

[@-evelynn-]

My poor girl Ochako had so much more coming but they just pushed her into being the love interest, SHE EVEN HAD LIKE 5 MINUTES OF “I should ignore my feelings and focus on being a better hero!!” AND SHES RIGHT BACK TO BEING A COMPLETE FLUSTERED TOMATO OR SMTH

[@B3N_Youtube]

Oh boy oh howdy. My exact reason as to why I believe she’s a crap character.

[@-evelynn-]

@@B3N_KZbin Fr she had sm potential but they just threw her in the trash:((

[@Kirraii]

Bros arent readin mha

[@-evelynn-]

@@Kirraii Im gonna be nice and not grammatically correct you cause thatd would probably piss you off, anyway yes I stopped reading the manga and watching the anime around chapter 342? I think

[@marshyboy4637]

She has the point of "if the heroes save everyone but who saves the heroes" and she has an arc around toga. Let's give her little more credit. She isn't just a love interest. Hell, half the fandom doesn't even except her as a love interest

[@whitejacksonboy]

4:36 YES! I hate this trope! I dropped this one webtoon named unOrdinary not just because the main character was an annoying edgelord but because whenever he would beat a woman, the fandom would make it a big part of his character as praise. Like okay??? he hits women?? so does literally everyone in that webtoon because newsflash: the worldbuilding is centered around beating the shit out of people! HES NOT THAT FUCKING SPECIAL

[@number1rimbaudfan]

oh my god, I used to be really into unordinary and that annoyed the SHIT out of me. I liked the webtoon itself but i couldnt stand the fandom

[@sakurahirawa]

Wait Fr? I don’t remember seeing this? I just see people joke about how his hands are rated E for everyone, but not really gender specific.

[@jaycie.m]

Ugh, I couldn’t stand Unordinary, John was absolutely insufferable and yet somehow all the comments would be defending this guy???

[@sakurahirawa]

@@jaycie.m I don’t think they’re defending him, just explaining his character? Doesn’t necessarily mean they agree with what he’s doing. That’s my interpretation anyways.

[@giniesyvae9040]

His "beat the brakes off everyone" arc lasted way too long to be justified in any way

[@johnpaulcross424]

JJK had such potential for female characters but dropped the ball ludicrously hard.

[@LibertyForAll-l3q]

I does make a very remarkable comeback further down the line.

[@unripetheberrby6283]

Nooo 😢

[@oni123]

Maki is goated but damn he did Nobara dirty

[@Doggcereal]

In the manga maki gets to be like 'the new Toji' but I'm kinda disappointed with Nobara since she was supposed to be one of the main group

[@aychazyt6987]

@@oni123 nah bro what happened to her was understandable. You could even say gege went easy on her considering how characters with better skills and experience than her(I won't name them for spoiler reasons) didn't even get to survive Shibuya

[@yoboibeerus1387]

4:44 I also hate it when in Shonen female characters just can't stop beating the living hell out of the protagonist for dumb reasons.

[@violetbitch9492]

@stephvondames6369 it's not really funny tbh. It undermines male victims of assault and it's sexist to women by implying they're never strong enough to seriously injure men. The effects of these gags and where they come from aren't really funny and when you realise that you can't do anything but groan when you see it on tv.

[@arlekino0792]

@@violetbitch9492 we can't make jokes because they will always offend someone. And of course violence can't be funny, cause they hurt someone and never someone should be hurt. Ban humor, support human rights.

[@DarkEclipse23]

Maybe if they weren’t a dumbass they wouldn’t have gotten hit. Or being a perv. Almost like actions have consequences.

[@dDoodle788]

​@@violetbitch9492personally it depends on the context for me, namely, if the guy didn't do anything and girl hits him for no reason WHILE THE SHOW INSIST I'M SUPPOSED TO LIKE THE GIRL,then yeah, I hate it. If the guy legitimately deserved it, or the girl is framed as unlikeable/villainous, then I am fine with it. Also, I would make a distinction between this trope and simply a pair of competitive/ hot blooded best friends who fight a lot and happen to be of different gender.

[@violetbitch9492]

@@dDoodle788 well yes of course there's a difference, i was talking about this specific trope exclusively

[@loveice-cream4392]

in the jujutsu kaisen clip, the broom girl is talking about how mai the sister of maki has faced so much prejudice from her family and much more after maki left the family that people don't know about . she essentially states that it's wrong and a "fact" that people usually expect strength as well as beauty from women in the sorcerers world or else they won't be taken seriously . as we all know japan is still pretty behind in the gender equality department as well as the elders having an old-fashioned way of thinking that affects their country, as the population of old people in japan is more than the youngsters which also translates directly into the jjk sorcerer society. so she's just saying how mai has put in so much effort to fulfill any criterias yet nobody recognizes her efforts and nobara also gives a very amazing reply about how she doesn't care about all this nonsense and that she's just kugisaki nobara and honestly that was such a nice segment about sexism in the zenin family as well as their world

[@vanitas-ti2ze]

I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS COMMENT!! the narrative of old vs new is essential to jjk as a story. and nobara's response to broom girl (sorry i forgot her name) was sooo important to the conversation.

[@loveice-cream4392]

@@vanitas-ti2ze thanks for replying :)))) and her name is momo nishimiya!!

[@Lynn-gj5be]

@@vanitas-ti2ze I was looking for it too 🤝

[@denniswilliams6519]

Too bad the series drops the ball hilariously with this. Nobara gets shoved in the "she's dead...but is SHE!?" box for over 3 years now, Maki is basically the only female character allowed to do anything and several of them get killed off with little fanfare. Heck they even introduced their own Stars & Stripes with Yuki so it is almost like the series validates the "behind the times" thinking the elders have by falling into the same sexist tropes of previous Shonen.

[@zjmstrash7181]

​@@denniswilliams6519 it falls into the tropes of it but I don't think it's intentional lmao. JJK suffers a lot with pacing and hyping up things that lead to nothing. And the cast can not just be completely male, so some of these characters are women and get absolutely clipped. So yes I agree it can fall into those tropes but I doubt it's on purpose. This issue us shown with like almost all of the male characters besides a select few. (Even then they're useless and haven't really done anything for over 100 chapters *inumaki)

[@rasberrymilk4753]

Thank you for talking about the pervert trope as a problem. I have seen it ruin actual men and boys perspectives on SA and its so hard to call out because its been so firmly solidified as just a joke.

[@sonicwithglasses131]

Nah, girls need to get SA

[@rasberrymilk4753]

@@sonicwithglasses131 😀and why on earth would you say that 💕💕💜❤️

[@kineticmeow9242]

@@sonicwithglasses131What?!!!

[@sonicwithglasses131]

@@kineticmeow9242 im right

[@kineticmeow9242]

@@sonicwithglasses131 Yikes….

[@drphilyasss]

When I saw Rebecca’s design, I wanted to cry. After watching the whole arc, her design STILL doesn’t make sense! She has no reason to have such revealing clothing, it adds nothing to her character.

[@picturethis4903]

from edgerunners?

[@marshyboy4637]

​@@picturethis4903From one piece

[@VivelaSlime]

One Piece Rebecca fits too

[@fixsationon7244]

​@@picturethis4903she seemed to make sense. She is a gremlin. She is tiny and comédic and having these shorts that tell a lot about her. She is funny(high energy) , confident, and kinda weird. 👍

[@SolvNia]

If you think about it, even her entire character is somewhat pointless to the plot, since every purpose she had for the story could've easily been covered by her grandfather. Providing a motivation for her father to fight against Doffy (aka one of the worst purposes for female characters)? Yeah, her grandfather and her father were old pals, so fighting to free your dear friend and father-in-law would make sense. Being a representation for pacifism? Her grandpa is notorious for pacifism, as well. And that's it. No reason for Rebecca to be in the plot other than having a new pair of boobs to look at. In fact, Rebecca was one of the main reason I quit watching One Piece. I had high hopes for her when she stated that she no longer wants to be protected by others, but what happened? She had to be constantly protected by others from that point on. Crying for her dad to save her was treated as her big character moment. And that's when I realized that this was pretty much the character development for every female character in One Piece at that point. Men have to learn to be strong and overcome their opponents. Women need to learn that they can't solve their problems on their own and need to ask for help (preferably from men).

[@tomimn2233]

male chara: you're a female so I gotta treat you different. female chara: run them hands male chara: equal rights, equal lefts.

[@lefttoe3937]

undertale

[@Lady-Wendym33]

Chara?

[@AShortDork]

@@Lady-Wendym33character

[@questionmarkquestionmarkques]

@@lefttoe3937woah oh oh oh ooooh

[@baitreview]

Adding to the scene where Luffy punches Vivi, there was also a big narrative reason as to why Luffy does it. At that point, Luffy and Vivi heavily disagreed on the nature of the sacrifice nedeed to be made and the extent of their friendship. From the previous 100 episodes, we know Luffy generally deals with things in a physical way (He legit punches little animals and children), so him punching her makes sense both for his character and in context.

[@YogurtNight_]

This is personally why I think Junji ito is one of the best writers when it comes to writing women. I feel like he writes women and men on an equal playing field.

[@baitreview]

A lot of Seinen do actually. However, since Junji Ito doesn't write shonen, the issue sort of remains

[@elishakikbun3907]

Also, a sizable amount of his work (most prominent example being Tomie) was published in Monthly Halloween/Nemuki, which is a shojo magazine.

[@blackdragon3748]

In shojo male characters are not on equal playing field. The whole twilight im nothing without you, and I'll do anything for you even though you treat me like trash. The Japanese just have different medea for boys and girls, which is a successful business practice. And Sakura from Naruto was far better as a character in the manga. All the complaining usually comes from filler episodes and swapped dialogues. Absolute physical and emotional abuse like, like hihihi a woman punches a man really hard in the face and he can not do anything about it.

[@mousethehuman7179]

​​@@blackdragon3748 do you read shoujo? Like Junji Ito, as mentioned in the comments above? Otherwise, shoujo generally (!) does treat their male characters with more respect. They generally have hobbies, interests, friends and goals outside of the relationship/team with the female protag, they can make own decisions that influence the plot, they are usually conventionally attractive but that's generally not the selling-point (hint: their actions and personality make them attractive), sexual/revealing situations are usually in their own control. Even outside of shoujo romance (just one genre of the demographic) male characters have crucial skills and knowledge that are useful/crucial in fights for the group. All in all, it's a fast search for male characters in shoujo that are not useless and can only be emitted out of the plot with difficulty. They are everywhere. You typically can't say the same for female characters in shounen though.

[@blackdragon3748]

@@mousethehuman7179 Oh so shoujo manga doesn't have a problem of treating of portraying extremely toxic relationship's. Like either an extremely over-competent perfect looking mf that is dealing with all her problems while both of them treat each other like complete trash like in manga Kaichou wa Maid-sama! or Kamisama Hajimemashita which enjoyable series that my ex girlfriend recommended to me. Or the are pathetic loser's complete doormats like tuxedo mask because the author Naoko Takeuchi has a type of (in her own word's) kind hearted pathetic men considering Japan's cheating culture take it as you will. And in your opinion shonen female characters never have friendships, interest's, hobbies gravity over the plot and all is because they don't give them just as much time as the protagonist and his rival... I don't understand why does entertainment for men should be this all inclusive place for everybody. While female entertainment can continue promoting bad relationship etiquette. And unbelievable relationship standards where all the effort comes only from one party. I mean im a 6 feet tall man with a normal looking face so I'm gonna be fine. But one time when the "body positivity" chicks that wanted to enter our friend group have roasted my short friend's to my face. I've quickly cut them out of my life while telling them that nobody likes them not because of their look's. They went to cry on twitter.

[@MelliniMuffin2874]

im really happy that more people are talking about these kinds of topic cuz girl we really do need more better writing when it comes to women in anime😭 also my girl uraraka💔 she was literally the first to befriend the main character deku and they gave her a good arc(i think, idont really know what to call it.. character development maybe? in the first& second season idk i don't remember) they also gave her a reason why she wants to be a hero scene thing but then all those stuff was just thrown away😭

[@Joeeyyyyy]

Absolutely love her and they really did do her dirty.

[@AmvParacosm9]

I gave up lol. At least for mainstream shonen anime. I'm still very mad about naruto. Hinata she had so much potential😭

[@britishningguang3933]

Ikrr, I'm just tired of deku being mentioned or smthn like that every time she's onscreen😭 BUT I love that speech she gave in season 6. That was literally amazing and I remember rewatching it so many times. Her VA was amazing there

[@MorroPlayz]

No. That's not it So basically most of the shounen jump artist are men and they know how men work cause there, men. Masashi kishimoto even confirmed that he wasn't capable of writing women this is not to criticize btw.

[@MorroPlayz]

​@@AmvParacosm9no. It's cause Masashi Kishimoto doesn't know how to write female characters

[@euroanez998]

One of the reasons why for me is IMPOSIBLE to recomend Fairy Tail to non anime fans (and most anime fans hate it anyways) I love the series, the fan service get SO MUCH OBNOXIUS, so much in the way, than any one who is not already into that, will drop it there and there. Which is sad, because there is a lot to love in Fairy Tail, but even for someone who grew up watching a lot of fan service anime, Fairy Tail has a bit to much

[@AngelicMilkyYT]

As a fairy tail I can agree with that

[@Abominationo]

Agreeed.. I read the manga when I was WAYYY TOO YOUNG. (I'm traumatized) 💀

[@euroanez998]

@@Abominationo I am used to watch from VERY young age, animes like Burn Up Xcess or Those who Hunt Elves, and others, soooo i kinda insensitive to fan service, but recognice when IT IS intrusive, and not THE point of the series

[@AngelicMilkyYT]

@@euroanez998 me too

[@jessnalulila5552]

I remember when Erza got a bite from the snake from Oracion Six and FOR SOME REASON the writer tought we needed a fanservice scene with Lucy's skirt

[@fidoriko302]

I hate how most of the time the most obvious oversexualized characters are underage…

[@ironicgaming1347]

ngl the pervert trope turned people into WEIRDOS 😭 like this is why people hate anime. This is why I'm tryna have friends who are into anime... but not too into anime...

[@milliondoller06]

That's your friends problem. If they can't look pass a stupid cartoon gag troupe while pay attention to the main story or actual idea of the character then they were never going to like it.

[@kineticmeow9242]

Try to expose them to shoujo/josei anime and manga. There’s quite a lot of good ones out there like QQ Sweeper and it’s sequel Queen’s Quality.

[@diegosotomiranda4107]

The "not too into it" works with gamers too...

[@MissAmy929728]

​@@kineticmeow9242QQ mention I'm glad to see it mentioned at all! Honestly both women and men could enjoy that manga. It does the character evolution perfectly

[@MsSumoon]

Shonen when written by women avoids it a lot of the tropes and even mocks certain aspects. (Even thought, Demon Slayer do sexualize certain female character with no need at all). Full Metal has very solid female characters and the only character that is female presenting that is more sexualized is Lust, because it does make sense. Inuyasha, although it drags at some parts, it does have a lot of interesting female characters, it does have some tropes, but hey, Rumiko Takahashi was very busy opening a lot of doors to not avoid some tropes. On a side note here, after Yoshihiro Togashi married Naoko Takeuchi his approach to female characters changed a lot, HunterXHunter female characters, although not many, are way more rounded, even thought Yuyu Hakusho does have interesting female characters with their own arcs, I hope Naoko was a good influence towards his writing or maybe, since he married the creator of Sailor Moon, he became more aware of certain tropes he was using in his work.

[@roserain7034]

I want to see more female writers in shounen. A lot of the popular new generation shows are mostly written by men. Need the female characters to make a big comeback.

[@natvasch6399]

I love the female characters in hunter x hunter! Sure, there are JUST SO FEW OF THEM. But especially the important ones are so well written, each with their own drive and desire and personality.

[@DarkEclipse23]

@@roserain7034go read shoujo. Clearly morons like you don’t understand demographics.

[@invertez3483]

OMG THAT SAILOR MOON ONE IS S0 CUTE

[@beastvicious8672]

​@@roserain7034Check out D.Gray-man.

[@katarinamy7879]

Ironically, in terms of latest shonen, chainsaw man has lots of female characters that i genuinly enjoy watching so much, they may not be conventionally likeable, but its clear theyre their own people and genuine effort and care was put into each of them to create a unique person!! Im so appreciative of this, thank you fujimoto.

[@felixowen2693]

Idk. I’ve only seen the first season and find Kobeni really annoying and didn’t really care about Himeno enough to care about getting revenge for her which took me out of the final part of the first season. They’re not really sexualised like most anime and they are they’re own characters but for me atleast they just having left much of an impression. Power for some reason reminds me of Eric Cartman.

[@leixalkvinay2729]

​@@felixowen2693 Power IS based on Eric Cartman and other character that I don't remeber, confirmed by the author Tatsuki Fujimoto. Also, Himeno wanted Aki to stop his destructive pact for revenge, that's the purpose of the "easy revenge" cigarette.

[@matchabiscuits]

this!! chainsaw man has so many unique and well written female characters. especially asa from pt2 of the manga, shes so relatable

[@cookiestrong8757]

Ya. I love this show too. This and Attack on Titan are my favorites.

[@eoghanclark165]

@@felixowen2693 You aren't going to grasp almost any of CSM's characters, men or women, from what the anime covered... It's 12 episode season really shot itself in the foot. That said, CSM has brilliantly written female characters.

[@tartarsauce7948]

I’m gonna be that guy and say Ochako isn’t necessarily the best example of a character suffering from this issue. I will say mha could’ve gave her more focus in act 2 especially, but the way Hori went about it with her just..clicks? Her “who saves the heroes” motif?Genuinely fleshed out and has great setup and pay off. I won’t spoil too much, but her arc with Toga was genuinely handled amazingly. Ever since it’s start in the beginning, I felt mha always delivered with them. Now I’m not saying Ochako’s character is perfect. She could’ve had more focus, more fights (though I’d argue when she did have those it was great). There’s things that could’ve been done better, but I just feel it’s a stretch to imply her character sucks and is useless. Especially with how well Hori has been doing her character arc and payoffs as of late

[@tartarsauce7948]

Overall though, this was a good video! You made very good points. Just don’t really agree with Ochako being an example here. Sorry for the long response

[@Spo0ksi]

I will admit I was mostly focusing on the first three seasons. I hear a lot of female characters get fleshed out more later though! Thanks for watching the video :) ❤️

[@tartarsauce7948]

@@Spo0ksi can confirm! They absolutely do. Hell Ochako is THE mvp in the current arc going on in the manga. It’s not perfect but i do feel I can safely say they are genuinely handled greatly now

[@mk_gamíng0609]

​@@tartarsauce7948 Have to disagree, The manga is coming to its end and IT took this long for her to come this far Yea you can say "It gets better later down the line " all you want but it does not change the fact that if it takes them that long to be developed then maybe they were a after thought.

[@tartarsauce7948]

@@mk_gamíng0609 the thing is, it didn’t take her that long. Her character and plot lines, while not having as much focus as I wish, was handled with noticeable care. The Togachako and “protect the heroes” plot lines were built up well since around the beginning of the series. I feel it’s an exaggeration to say she hasn’t grown or changed any until around the end. Having more focus sure, but she very much grows and changes through out the series. Whether you enjoyed her writing or not is entirely up to you. Agree to disagree I’m afraid

[@starstorm1267]

I never like the whole “equal rights, equal fights” thing because as you said, it really does feel like thinly veil misogyny disguised as feminism. People who praise that kind of thing often don’t care about gender equality in anything else, only when it gives them the opportunity to beat up a woman. Even while watching scenes where a man and a woman are fighting feels genuinely like an equal fight (such as the Luffy and Vivi fight as you put as an example) I always get wary because I know *many* people are gonna try to paint it as an “equal rights, equal fights” thing. Can’t even enjoy scenes like that without people making it a gendered thing.

Pretty sure you made it a gendered scene by throwing a bitch fit.

[@Uwanasora]

I think the better way to approach that would be just normalizing not hitting people period. I will say from observation that some women feel way too free that they can just hit someone without any repercussions for something the other person said. That is not okay. And as far as I’m concerned if you start the fight like that, you don’t get to dictate how the person, man or woman, acts. Violate someone else’s right not to be hit, and you forfeit your right not to be hit. What the other person does is up to them. I personally have a three strike rule for that sorta thing, unless I feel my safety is threatened by the person. Also, depending on the situation I’ll probably just leave, especially if it’s one where there’s no one else, but me and the person. You can get dragged to court for that thing as a man and found guilty even if you were defending yourself.

[@Monochrome2004]

@@Uwanasora i mean, yea, obviously irl no one should hit each other, but in a fictional action series where violence in general is more normalized for whatever reason, i'd prefer it be based on strength instead of gender (since im pretty sure the whole guys cant hit girls thing originally started due to males in general being stronger than females). like for example in my story, no one's gonna be like "oh you gotta go easier on her, she's a girl" it'd probably be like "you gotta go easier on him/her, he/she's much weaker than you" and that's regardless of gender, cuz there are many strong male and female characters and many weak male and female characters. and regardless, if you ARE weaker and you instigate a fight that's still entirely on you cuz honestly should just know better. the aforementioned was more like in 'fair' scenario where 2 characters are roughousing or whatever, not someone just coming up and slapping the other person

[@assssaaasasass]

You are right on the concept that the pervert trope ŕuined anime, it got worse these years specially on some romance/shoujo manga/animes where we have a pervert and he gets a pass on being a love interest because "hot anime guy".

Pervert trope existed for 30-40 years. It isn’t new.

[@Lachussssma]

I agree, but i will argue its not even in shoujo manga, its only in shonen romance. Correct me if im wrong but i dont remember any shoujo who does that, at least in a disgusting lense.

[@CursedCatTruffa]

Shojo=/=romance

[@pandudewabrata5188]

Shounen, seinen and shoujo are not genres. These are simply demographics, who is the main target audience? Shounen = for boys. Shoujo = for girls. Seinen = for adult men. Josei = for adult women. Therefore, romance in anime can be split into 4 categories: - Shounen romance, for example Nisekoi, The Quintessential Quintuplets, etc. - Shoujo romance, for example Blue Ride Spring, Fruit Basket, etc. - Seinen romance, for example Kaguya sama, My dress up darling etc. - Josei romanec, for example Wotakoi, etc. The easiest way to determine which demographic it is, is the gender and age of the main character, even though it is not always correct.

[@kineticmeow9242]

⁠@@pandudewabrata5188Actually the age and gender of the main character does not determined which of the 4 demographics it falls under. The way to determine it is based off of what Japanese magazine it gets published in. ❤

[@Instarius]

Have you seen Revolutionary Girl Utena? I think it's the best female oriented anime ever made.

[@Spo0ksi]

I haven’t but I should look into it, I know it’s a staple lol

[@steampunk-llama]

It’s fantastic, but also be aware that it’s INCREDIBLY dark and focuses around very traumatic topics such as sexual assault!! I unfortunately didn’t realise that when I first tried to watch it a while back and got caught off guard, thankfully there’s some good blogs dedicated to laying out what potential triggers may be happening each episode

[@gatoconmiel1640]

I love Revolutionary Girl Utena it's really GREAT and it brings up a lot of social themes that are still relevant to this day. But, like some other people said above, it must be taken carefully (Hard stuff alert), also there's a lot of allegories so that makes it difficult to get at first. Anyways, I would totally recommend it, one of my favorites of all time 🌟 (sorry if my english it's not that good)

[@BurningRubber454]

@@Spo0ksi the genre (shoujo/reverse harems) That has every male character are 1 dimensional sex objects

[@orangeslash1667]

@@Spo0ksi One example of a strong female character in a Shōnen manga, there's Sherry Belmont from Zatch Bell!. Be warned that series can be (weird), even more so than One Piece.

[@toongamer2810]

As an aspiring artist, i want to be able to make a series where the women are just as cool as the traditional male shonen characters, well written people in general.

[@kineticmeow9242]

There is a ton of good series out there it’s just not translated into English so if you learn Japanese you’ll be able to expose yourself to a lot more good manga stories.

[@ΚρανίΩ]

look at sakamoto days for a good example

[@cranburrey]

Dandadan has plenty of well written female characters that are just as cool as the male cast

[@toongamer2810]

@cranburrey most definitely, I've loved dandan for a while now. Glad it's getting an anime

[@kami_kuro_]

Praise Jojo Stone Ocean for giving us an almost full cast of strong and cool female characters 🙏 I am so tired of these tropes dehumanizing women and it's even worse when people invoke the "It's only drawings" pseudo-argument

[@HiBuddyyyyyy]

There’s still some dodgy stuff in Stone Ocean unfortunately, they can’t escape it :( (Also standard disclaimer, I really love JoJo as a whole, especially Jolyne and Stone Ocean so I’m not saying it’s terrible or anything.)

[@AkudamaDriver1]

Dehumanizing? Can you be any more melodramatic?

[@violetbitch9492]

@@AkudamaDriver1 it's not. These tropes heavily influence young male anime watchers to see women as less than human like men are in their eyes. Why do you think they feel like they can do all this shit and get away with it? Seeing women as dress up dolls to harass or use as character development IS dehumanising. Plenty of men see us that way because they have been raised on these ideas

[@raven-sf3di]

​@@violetbitch9492 seems more like you're projecting your beliefs and actions on others. Seems more like you have been taught some toxic belief about men that isn't true. You do realise people can interact with media on different levels and in different ways . You are no different than the moral panic that claimed playing dnd would summon real demons .

[@zjmstrash7181]

​@@violetbitch9492I think a lot of men are just weird from jump bro 😭

[@narudayo5053]

I''m so happy you added the word "shonen" in the title of your video. I've seen so many videos like this where they put that issue into every anime as a whole regardless of genre. Complaining about these issues but pointing into the wrong categories, saying it's everywhere when it's mostly (if not only) in shonen, ecchi and harem anime. When people point that, they are mad and say that other anime genre are not interesting or worth watching....

[@MarcFHuizinga]

Hayao Miyazaki said it best: "It's produced by humans who can't stand looking at other humans. And that's why the industry is full of otaku." The early fans of anime are now the ones creating it, and this cycle renews itself every 5 or so years. Bringing in new creators that only have experience with modern day anime. It's like a form of inbreeding that sustains itself. Never have they studied life itself, or how people actually behave. What matters here are tropes, and with that, also money. Because it needs to stay afloat. If you go back 50 years, you'll see a stark difference in approach. Even more so during the golden age of animation in Japan. One additional point here to realize is that this is a Japanese industry. The cultures and norms are very different there. While the audience, general populace and fans may share similar disdain (like us) often times they choose to ignore it and not be too bothered by it. That's a very common cultural aspect of Japan and happens basically in all forms of life there, be it work or private life. You explained perfectly the reason I walked away from anime 15+ years ago myself. What the shows really need is, well, proper storytelling. Devoid from that of tropes and easy cash-ins. A story that is meant to be just that, a story.

[@Spo0ksi]

This is a perspective I hadn’t thought about, but wow. Thank you for leaving this comment.

[@mysmallnoman]

Does this clown think that older anime also didn't have this tropes ? Lol

[@AkudamaDriver1]

You watch 1 season of naruto when you were 8 and now think you can comment on the entire industry

[@LionSnob]

"I know exactly the ins and outs of the anime industry even though I haven't watched a single show in 15 years trust me bro"

[@lugasalexander4852]

Let me ask, do you think Hollywood has great stories? Grouping a medium together and saying “you bad” is really just stereotypical behavior. Honestly, check out some shoujo series, or seinen. Anything outside of shounen 😆. I’ve been disappointed in mediums like Star Wars for horrible storytelling and they have strong female characters. You’d probably like Promised Neverland, or Witch from Mecury.

[@B3N_Youtube]

I’d say the best current Shonen girl that I do think is pretty freaking good would actually be Noelle from Black Clover, sure, I understand people don’t exactly like the Tsundere trope but when you look pass that, she gets so much development and attention it’s genuinely fresh to see such great characters

[@_twolemons_]

Honestly, the thing that sucks is that some of the biggest problems with her being a tsundere are because of the anime making it 10x worse then actually is. Like, I see people say they hate her because she hits Asta, but that like never happens in the manga TvT

[@ananaspizza7014]

too bad shes sexualised despite being like 15 :/

[@B3N_Youtube]

@@ananaspizza7014 not true anymore since In the manga, she’s 18. :P

[@ceton1843]

tsundere is literally making a female character into smth that is romanticaally appealing to male audiences.... idk it leaves a bad taste when everytime a girl has to act "cute" i get reimnded of who the target audience is.. makes the character feel like a commercial product with everything else coming after that

[@B3N_Youtube]

Well, the Tsundere trope (at least in my opinion) is a double edge sword. On one side, if the champion is literally JUST that, then they can admittedly become a very insufferable mess to right, but on the other side, they can be rather likable, and the only reason they put up that kind of side to begin with, is because they have a lot to hide. And for Noelle, it makes sense. And the more she hanged around the Black Bulls, the more she looses what people find annoying about her Tsundere trope and become a top tier character.

[@yuuichi4356]

I personally find that most girls in shounen anime actually have no personality or real role in the story and events. They are often used only as a love interest for the main character and for ecchi scenes. Well, ecchi scenes could be a positive thing if the author knew how to exploit them properly (such as if he exploited them for things like comedy, character development, or if the anime was originally an ecchi anime, and this is an essential part of it). But in anime that depend on the story and characters, such as shonen anime, and the author only uses these things to attract watchers without any real benefit from them in the story, then I definitely consider these things negative, because here I want to see a well-written story and characters, not perverted scenes or sexy girls without any personality.

[@missstranger7697]

I agree with you.

[@ΚρανίΩ]

jjk, one piece, bleach, sakamoto days, dandadan and many others all have female characters being integral to the plot and not sexualized (arguable for one piece but they don't actively use their sex appeal all the time), its just that the bad apples speak louder

[@joshmoonXY]

Realest comment

[@PlatinumKrown]

@@ΚρανίΩ He probably watched Fire Force and it's famously poor timing of fanservice in a otherwise cool show.

[@moriko-chan1059]

Hells Parradise is one of the very few exceptions where women are written as truly equal to men. Sagiri is a female protagonist that is not only competent, but gets her moments/ fights to shine while also having a good character arc. Part of what held her back in the first episodes is the prejustices that come with women and them seen as weaker/ frailer cause of f.e. their emotions. But there is also a lot of other stuff going on like the weight of taking lives vs her desire to execute people peacefully. What makes it so great that these themes and issues she had to overcome are interconnected but also can be looked at individually. Also her resolving it by choosing the middle way makes so much sense. Just because we are one gender doesn´t mean we have the character traits of that gender only. Especially since those traits are prejustices greater society labels each gender with.

[@hnilsson4042]

you know why's that? Cause the author for Hell's paradise worked with Tatsuki Fujimoto one of the best manga author's ever the man that made Chainsaw man. Same with Dandadan

[@moriko-chan1059]

@@hnilsson4042 Uh I like that one too regarding women representation. No wonder Hells paradise does a good job now

[@orhanozkan7358]

As a male, i cannot stand Pervji's a.k.a Sanji's gags. Such as SNEAKING IN THE BATHROOM, literally lusting over 15 year olds and shit. The perv caharacter tropue could be handled better. Like brook, he just asks.

[@wiseass2149]

One piece has jumped the shark.

[@serily4524]

brook aint any better

[@baitreview]

I defense of that Jujutsu Kaisen clip, it makes a lot of sense in conxtext of the world and is handled very maturely and respectfully. When talking about sexism during the fight, it isn't just done in a generic societal way, and instead talks avout the Jujutsu society in general. Momo talks about sexism regarding scars as well as sexism within the Zenin clan and how it affects Mai. [SPOILERS] This is a topic that comes back during Maki's arc, where she confronts the Zenin clan and also attains many scars When sexism is used a a respecful narrative device that has both relevance to world building and the characters of the story it can't really be compared to other anime, where it is brought up for no reason at all.

[@rat3113]

Heavily agree. I did not like the fact that Nobara was used as an example at all, and I find sexism in shounen to be a huge issue. Can female characters not talk about sexism that exists in their world? Nobaras even going "Nah fuck your gender norms, Ima do my own thing. Sexism sucks." I am a feminist, but nothing about that scene strikes me as sexist in the slightest. Nobara is also one of the few shounen female characters to never be sexualized, which by itself is amazing. I genuinely believe Nobara is a better "example" for young girls watching shounen than almost any other female shounen character.

[@baitreview]

@@rat3113 You're absolutely right. And it's not like this theme of sexism was brought up pointlessly. It becomes such a major aspect of Maki's story with Naoya and the Zenin clan. Nobara was just a bad example

[@dDoodle788]

I agree, while jujutsu kaisen does have some issues ( very few relevant female characters that don't get killed off); overall, as a series it is making steps in the right directions, and is not afraid to tap into some unusual elements or situation. Like commenting on the sexism of the Zenin clan, giving female characters unusual and sometimes ugly designs (tengen), the whole thing with kenjaku and Yuuji's parentage, the death paintings backstory ...and so on. Overall , regarding jjk female characters, I usually feel like "I want to see more of this cool character" rather than a " here we go again, undeveloped girl caricature n 157 is getting used as a plot device this chapter".

[@hellom3laniehere]

I agree

[@Originalusername-jd4ec]

@@dDoodle788 Honestly I think that gege handles his female characters amazingly. The ONLY problem I have is how many girls he kills. Like right now Maki is basically the only female character still relevant that is alive.

[@makotoyuki345]

Knuckles was speaking fire. Legit one of the things I kept with me since seeing sonic boom as a teen and something I adhere to when writing any character.

[@payasita01]

Gege really had miss kiki’s delivery service and nobara have that corny ass dialogue about women being jujutsu sorcerers just to fumble all the plot relevant female characters anyway (besides maki as of now i guess) 😭

[@bunaz6221]

Everyday I watch these rants my respect for Araki rises for writing a female MC like Jolyne in a time when females were just damsel in distress for MC male character to save and do whatever tf he likes.

[@milliondoller06]

My God I find it annoying you people always point at series or a author that you think broke the mold or only think they did something different by creating female cast and characters when you clearly didn't venture out to read or watch other series

[@bunaz6221]

@@milliondoller06 actually I don't remember asking your feeling. Keep crying

[@milliondoller06]

@@bunaz6221 well maybe don't comment on a PUBLIC COMMENT SECTION if you can't handle people responding

[@bunaz6221]

@@milliondoller06 I'm practising my right of free speech and you're the one who got butt hurt first. Go comment your thoughts separate and be a least little bit asshole to ppl expressing their thoughts.

[@bunaz6221]

@@milliondoller06 "comments" are meant for sharing one's opinion to the author or just in general. "Reply" is something that is optional and can be ignored if your opinions don't align with another. In conclusion if you can't handle a random person commenting their thoughts on someone's video then don't cry about it in their reply section and be a respectful normal brained human being and ignore.

[@theone8602]

HEAVY AGREE on the Luffy anf Vivi scene. I get so irritated when i see One Peice fans try to make that scene about "Oh Luffy punched a women hes such a chad" Shonen fans are genuinly so braindead , because not only is gender not even relevant to the slighest in that scene , but One Peice actively makes fun of ,its subversive because hes punching a women thing.

[@stellariguess6795]

fr though he punched her cause she was only focusing on HER and the country, not it being saved, so he just decided to speak facts to her

[@isaiascanete6651]

Luffy punched her because she was a friend that was having a shitty mindset and he isn't good talking

[@stonks3507]

@@isaiascanete6651Luffy is such a chad, what a good character.

[@alvdansen7172]

Ignore the brain dead fans and try not to dislike the scene as it's a very good scene and a very important one, please do not misinterpret it in the wrong way, it's not meant to be Luffy punches a female character how chad he is, NO NO that is NOT how it's meant to be seen as!! First off Luffy looks at Vivi and all other female characters as a person and their gender second, he is respecting these females in a brash but honest manner. He care about Vivi ALOT and could not stand watching her suffer, he needed to get her to undestand that she could allow Luffy and the others to help her deal with the problem in a proper way, told her she don't have to be alone with the burden of her country. Vivi was happy that Luffy forced her to realise that she was in the wrong, actually she actually knew that but were denying it. Her true feelings was that she wanted Crocodile to be beaten but still she focused on irrelevent things over Crocodile like saving lives of people far far away from them. Luffy told her that it was a wase of time and that is was better to just go to the core of the problem rather than dealing with problems that were not theirs to fix. The goal was to take down Crocodile and Luffy grew impatient as he never got fight Crocodile only travel the desert for no good reason. Also Vivi always fought with her fists, that is how she is and she used to punch the boys as a small girl, talking with her fists were a Vivi thing and Luffy talked to her the way she could understand him. Vivi also slapped Luffy first just because she did not like his opinion, Luffy did not punch Vivi for no reason, that was something Vivi started. She can't be surprised that he slaps her back, she of course also continued to beat the crap out of him as she did not want to admit he were right. It was an even fight really and the conclustion was that she needed to cry out rather than hold her anger in, taking out her frustration on Luffy helped her ALOT, she could move on and think more reasonable.

[@ΚρανίΩ]

bro just punched vivi cause she was worrying too much about the future, nothing more.

[@pastelcatnip]

I'm so goddamn tired of every. Single. Shonen trying to be a sex comedy. It feels like so many new shows try to shove it in even if it doesn't really fit because "well it's a shonen, we have to have these jokes" and it's so repetitive.

[@PlatinumKrown]

Your point makes sense, however both the writers and their target audience are lonely, horny, young men who want explosions and boobs. There is a reason it has been a trope for like 50 years and isn't going away, however there are other shows and genres to watch and people forget they don't have to watch something they don't like.

[@celinekennedy5314]

I really love the women from one piece Robin, Nami, Boa, Yomato, etc I think they are really flash out with their motives and their backstory. Nami and Robin are very important characters to the story of one piece cause without Nami the straw hats will always be lost without Nami’s guidance and without Robin they will never find the one piece. They are great characters but I do understand the complaints like they are look the same and their body perpetration are unnatural but in the end I still love one piece women 🥰

[@ExpertContrarian]

Nobody has natural body proportions in one piece, so it’s a terrible straw grasp

[@ΚρανίΩ]

i agree they are all too sexualized but like in the story it self they are all written in an okay/ good fashion, the only thing really is how they dress and all that but no one in one piece is natural

[@maplered5042]

ROBIN ISN'T NERFED She was dealing with depression after almost being killed by Crocodile, she was struggling with self acceptance, SHE HAS HER OWN ARK. Robin always was strong, but she is more strategist then fighter. And what's wrong with that?

[@milliondoller06]

they miss those simple character arcs intentionally and what type of character they're supposed to be because they want them to be like the boys

[@stellariguess6795]

its cause she isnt built much upon as the boys (who joined fucking way earlier so we had more time with them)

[@jerm-gv9rv]

She was nerfed lol, her powers were presented as formidable to anyone who didn’t have a magical powered body structure Then they just turned her into clean up crew for mobs She used to could actually hold a fight even if her powers weren’t great in every matchup Then she joined the crew and her powers became less important in exchange for her sexualization taking precedence

[@jerm-gv9rv]

The issue becomes when only certain characters are allowed to be in one role vs the other. Women are ALWAYS the ones put into sidelined positions Men sometimes are too But women are often expected to by DEFAULT Why are you innocently asking “what’s wrong with that” Like this is some random decision that could’ve happened to any character ITS NOT This is their default treatment of female characters and in fantasy stories where almost every major character is physically capable or a threat in some way It makes no sense for this standard to drop the second women are brought into the equation Maybe when women are allowed to be in ANY OTHER ROLE in a story than “eye candy” “emotional support” or “side lined advisor/assistant” Maybe people would stop complaining about women being shoved into those roles Almost like they were reserved for their female characters

[@jerm-gv9rv]

The only explanation is that it’s the role that the creators think women are made to be in Which is really unfortunate that a world supposedly based on fantasy is held back by the biases and ideas of its real world creators Everything is supposed to be fantasy…except for the roles women are placed into We need to keep that “realism” so it can reinforce our beliefs of what women should be

[@neeeeeeTEA]

Omg thank you for making this video, i've always wondered on how to explain that when the male characters hit the female character back, it is considered gender equality but IT IS under hidden misogyny in disguise.

[@violetbitch9492]

Yeah, the bros will praise a guy for hitting a woman but a woman hitting a guy is "annoying and if the roles were reversed he'd be a villain" but like he never is, men have always either have acceptance or praise for hitting women one way or another.

[@Mizushimeee]

Istg the only gender equality that men care about is hitting women back. If you ask them to treat women like a human being, their dicks fall off.

[@missstranger7697]

That's sadly true...

[@joshmoonXY]

Subjective.

[@Pure_Spite]

wdym misogyny

[@ZhyrenStudios]

NOT THE KNUCKLES QOUTE. BRO THAT WAS SO REAL HELPPP

[@saintdude6032]

8:22 My guess was that she's a warrior princess, who's probably based on both Anglo-Saxton myths (based on her 'armor') and probably those Cohan The Barbarian comic covers. and in her 20s MY GUESS WASN'T THAT SHE'S SIX 🤮 edit: Ok so she's sixteen, that's my bad, still bad though but at least she isn't six.

[@chanmochit7476]

I think it all depends on storytelling. Women are undermined often because shounen authors want their guys to be the heroes. You can write stories specifically with men being the heroes and women having more traditional roles. Like Rurouni Kenshin , women don’t overpower the men much because it was the status quo in Meiji Japan and the story itself aimed to be realistic rather than fantastical like Demon slayer or Inuyasha. In the best recent shounen Attack on Titan, the girls are badasses, within the walls and outside the walls. One of the key female characters died, but it didn’t make me think she got ‘fridged’ since it set off a chain of events that ultimately redeemed a ruthless brainwashed murder child and heightened the spirit of kindness and forgiveness in a world where you abandon your humanity to slay monsters/ enemies. If a female character had to be sidelined or be dead for plot purposes we can understand. It is disappointing if it just came out making them look weaker than the guys.

[@redgrave4492]

I'm pretty sure the trope of guys hitting girls for comedy is just a reverse of the usual girl hits a guy gag, that's been around for much longer and is more common. I don't think it's malicious, unfunny I think is more a fair critique.

[@PowerSpirit50]

Yeah. As a girl even I got mad that girls hit guys in anime and it wasn't treated as the girl acting like a dick.

[@redgrave4492]

@@PowerSpirit50 Yeah, I don't mind it so much when the guy does something to deserve it, but so often it just devolves to their reaction for every little thing he does. Sakura hitting Naruto is what comes to mind.

[@randomerjr3182]

@@redgrave4492Definetly. Then again, she's horribly written in basically all aspects of the anime. As far as I came in the anime, the only thing she did was whine and cry and scream Sasuke or Naruto's names repeatedly

[@Acesspaded]

@@randomerjr3182yeah sadly the creator of Naruto said he didn’t like how he wrote any of the women. And admitted he doesn’t know how to properly make/write a female character.

[@randomerjr3182]

@@Acesspaded At least he admitted it ig, but like *how* does one make a character as bad as Sakura, regardless of gender lol

[@projectmessiah]

To be fair to One Piece I think one of its biggest flaws in general is giving characters, both male and female really cool introductions then proceeding to do next to nothing with them for ages or not anything significant at all. It is more due to cast bloat despite Oda only wanting to focuse on a few characters at a time imo, even the strawhats themselves will have their really important arc then they kinda just become a shell of themselves for the next couple arcs until its their time to shine again.

[@itsxtra252]

Which characters are you referring to? I feel like most of the character get their shining moments.

[@projectmessiah]

@@itsxtra252 Thats kinda my point though, the characters will get a few stand out moments but outside of those they feel kinda bland and not as interesting as they were at other points or feel severly under utilised in arcs where they could be more relevant. A great example imo is Aokiji.

[@pollatin1052]

@@projectmessiah In what arc should Aokiji be more relevant?

[@projectmessiah]

@@pollatin1052 Marineford could of worked, even Enies Lobby could of been interesting depending on how Oda would of handeled it.

[@pollatin1052]

@@projectmessiah I think he has been as relevant as he has needed to be. Straw Hats would have lost instantly if he was at Enies Lobby and he was literally at Marineford doing his job. Him allying himself with Blackbeard is mighty interesting and relevant. So I fail to see how you feel he hasn't been relevant enough. He has been propably more relevant than the other admirals, not counting Fujitora. I think Oda is debilitery hiding him in the shadows like he does with a lot of characters. That is just my opinion though.

[@StonedHunter]

In Togashi's defense, he was trying to write a trans character (he didn't do a great job but from what i know he was genuinely trying), and has continued to work on improving his representation of trans characters (and from what i've heard from the fandom has done a good job in HxH). I haven't seen enough of HxH to know if he's gotten better with more active female characters (though i would argue that while not combative he did do a better job of writing YYH's female characters as actual people than a lot of mangaka even now a days manage).

[@straycat8776]

HxH treats the female characters as...actual persons, even if there is no girl on the main group, every female character is treated with respect, diverse designs, power and personality, one of the most powerful characters in the HxH universe is a woman (Biscuit), there is a trans girl who is sister of one of the main characters and it's adressed that she must be treated as a girl. Togashi really did it right with his characters (male and female).

[@StonedHunter]

@@straycat8776 That's good to hear. I've always really respected the work he puts in to try and depict people as people. Like, people think if a creator messes up one time they should never try again, but Togashi is living proof that you can only do better if you listen to feedback and keep trying. He literally has a whole series that is all but outright saying that letting trans people just live their lives as their genuine selves is the right thing to do. I wish I remembered the name but it's a definite middle ground between YYH's attempt and HxH's success. It's still a bit messy in places but you can see the really big improvement from YYH.

[@DameOfDiamonds]

Trans character? Bruh, this Trans trend is a recent thing, they didn't exist until now

[@StonedHunter]

@Cringey_weeb not true, you're just a troll

[@toonyandfriends1915]

@@straycat8776 there's nothing in hxh that suggests that killua's sister was trans though lol, it's translation error

[@x_shxrrds_x7041]

this is why I love AOT. Sure, Mikasa could have been written to be more independent from the start, but her attachment to Eren makes complete sense. The only other complaint I have abt aot women is Historia. She was so amazing in season 3, but she got benched in s4 :(. It also kinda makes sense because she needed to fulfill her duty as queen, but I wish Isayama had shown more of her ACTUALLY being a queen. One thing that aot shines in is the utter LACK of fanservice. All the female characters are dressed exactly as the males are, and none of them have MASSIVE assets. It gives us women with actual realistic body types, and shows them develop normally throughout the story. Characters like Sasha and Hange (who is a woman in the anime) change so much and become their own people and it's so REFRESHING. Sasha is sweet and funny, but she isn't reduced to a comic relief character. Her entire relationship with Kaya proves that. She also brought the characters together in a beautiful way. Hange was always a nut-case, but she was always her own person. Mangaka writers need to take notes from Isayama.

[@MagmaSpacer]

While the idea of clothing being similar and appropriate with the guys is a nice touch, DO NOT shame characters for having large assets and for saying they aren’t realistic. Just because you and your friends don’t have them doesn’t mean there aren’t women who can’t relate. I think having very attractive characters is fine, but don’t just make that their entire personality and give them depth.

[@ExpertContrarian]

Ironic that you would praise some of the worst female characters. Got to love the body shaming as well. The irony must be lost on you.

[@kabirarya5381]

@@ExpertContrarianAre you baiting, considering your username, or are you serious? elaborate if you will.

[@ExpertContrarian]

@@kabirarya5381 what I said is just facts. Are you baiting or are you just this ignorant?

[@kabirarya5381]

@@ExpertContrarian I asked you to elaborate, but considering you didn't, I assume based on the username "expert contrarian" that you are trolling. If you are actually stating facts, consider backing these facts up, this is common sense. If you're a troll then just reply calling me ignorant again.

[@thebestscientificmethod9304]

Now to defend nobara (a bit) even the main charcters getting outshined

[@Spo0ksi]

Nobara is awesome, every trope I mentioned doesn’t apply to all the characters in the video. I like her a lot!

[@thebestscientificmethod9304]

@@Spo0ksi oh mb nice video tho

[@eomin]

You make good points. But Robin was never really meant to be the badass character. She only learned to fight in order to survive the Marine's persecution. She is an archeologist first and foremost. Trying to uncover ancient forgotten lore. Once she got the chance to relax and take the backseat while riding the strawhat bus, she took it, and started to enjoy living rather than killing. Especially since her personality was never that of a shounen character to begin with. She was running away all her life, and only ever retaliated in order to escape her pursuers. Having learned quick instant death techniques that don't really match the style of the Strawhats. One Piece is written very well. But the one about Rebecca is really true😅. She should've gotten better armor, a shirt, or at least some muscle definition/scars from being a Gladiator. (It makes sense for her to be topless, because that's the case for male gladiators too. But she should've at least gotten some better coverage.)

[@Spo0ksi]

When people critique stories, I need people to understand that the author has constructed the story in a way it’ll work. “Robin was never meant to be badass.” She could have been, and she wasn’t the only character that had to fight to survive. Sanji and Jimbei, had some rough upbringings too. Honestly most One Piece characters had some variation of a rough childhood. Why is it that it’s the female characters that need to just “relax” and enjoy the ride. A decision was made in writing, I am simply criticizing that decision.

[@raven-sf3di]

​@@Spo0ksi so every character has to be a bad ass , sounds kind of a dull story if every character is as strong as Luffy . It's more interesting if characters are weak and need the help of others . Some characters are cry babies while others use their smarts and brains . Most characters in manga have their own arc ,so while they are waiting for the arc they take a back seat. This is in tune with the Japanese concept of mono no aware and the concept of Ma . It seems to me that you can't stand things not written in 3rd person multiple under the three act structure. Maybe you should stick to puritan western stories instead.

@@Spo0ksiyou really make it sound like Oda cares about your opinion. He doesn’t. No one in Japan cares about your opinion either. All this is is a video throwing a fit because shounen girls are appealing to 15-18 year old boys and not you because your fat rolls have fat rolls.

[@VtKal-cv1uf]

​@@raven-sf3diGod none of what you said even follows what she's saying. God, weebs are so difficult sometimes

[@raven-sf3di]

@@VtKal-cv1uf uh hu ....

[@floraldeity]

I’m a writer, I write every day for hours. I started because my younger self was so desperate to make a shonen oriented story where women beat the shit out of each other and have screentime and lore too. Thanks, anime culture.

[@queenlolo1384]

Might as well make it a Shoujo.

[@floraldeity]

Fair point! i didn’t really intend to blame anime culture for me and stuff lmao. It’s just that shoujo is painted in a certain way and I feel that it’s a genre that means more than just “aimed toward teenage female” at this point. in fact when I first started writing I didn’t even know that was what it meant haha. I always wanted to write something unique, not for it to become a big norm. I never expected that, because it’s a funny concept to begin with.

[@JazzyTheGreat28]

Yeah I don’t like how most female characters are just overly s*xualized, and are shown as weak characters in anime, it’s really annoying. I appreciate the ones that are at least weak in the beginning and show strength later on. For example, a lot of ppl hated on Sakura from Naruto including myself for the lack of strength and personality she had in the earlier seasons but became a way better character later on. Not to mention she wasn’t a fan service character, no overly large bo*obs etc so for that I appreciate her character way more.

[@taki7546]

Agreed, but I also hate it when every female character in an anime is just overly strong when it doesn’t even match the setting. For example Detective Conan. It‘s like every single woman except Sonoko knows Karate, how to beat up men 3 times the size of them and all that junk it‘s ridiculous

[@jemastanton7007]

@@taki7546it’s also like extremely rare or when it does happen it’s framed as joke and doesn’t actually count besides for gags Women being weak isn’t treated as joke it’s the default trait given

[@levi_lover25]

About the punching trope! I just realized now how icky it is that men say equal rights equal fights. It feels like they just want to hit women and act as if it's equality.

[@valenxizaw245]

That's because it's exactly that

[@HellVirus0919]

BRO I’m getting reminded of Misora in death note. She was so good and I heard her investigation was longer in the manga but she had so much more potential

[@cookiestrong8757]

I know. The female characters in that series were so disappointing. Especially because there was so much potential

[@AngelicMilkyYT]

What are your thoughts on Fairy Tail? Even though the fanservice in the series itself can get annoying for some anime fans or (or mostly for non-anime watchers). But I think Mashima does a good job in writing his female cast. The same goes for Edens Zero

[@Phobe6656]

Babe wake up spo0ksi uploaded

[@Spo0ksi]

FIRST!! 🥇

[@Phobe6656]

@@Spo0ksi thx

[@daraportillo-dz2uz]

I think that in jjk it was just the witch characters giving her opinion there just characterizing her. And making the fight more interesting not to try to break the standard. Also i think it’s a way to tell us more about the jjk world and its cruel nature

[@PowerSpirit50]

I really like that in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint you can tell that one of the authors is a woman and that they have interacted with the real world. The women are cool and important without losing the fact that they are women, they just act like people.

[@tidywire423]

It says a lot that a show as perverted as Kill-la-Kill is the most female-empowering shonen anime in years. It's glorifies nudity and sexuality, but does so by boldening the confidence of the human race; women taking center stage for it. Yes the men can oogle and aah at the bouncy body parts, but the message is to rise above the objectification of your body and own it.

[@sugarzblossom8168]

As I am watching more of this video I am realising how unique your takes are. Good job as always

[@Veryfreshveryflourish24]

Honestly Brook is one character that makes my hate for pervert trope and my love for well written backstory and character development have internal warfare. Like he is a pervert yet he understands the crew as 90 year old skeleton grampa for example (SPOILERS) In Wano he shielded Robin from onlookers when she unleashed Demonio Fleur because he understood that Robin hates being reminded of her status as a Demon child and the way he addresses Big Mom as Young Lady because of his age just shows his age and jesus christ Bink's booze makes me want to cry everytime i see that scene. But honestly i think the best written women in shounen tend to be ones that are on side cast like sure i like how Nami learns to get over her fear of trusting people and we understand why she values money over everything in life because she was told as a kid that if she got enough money she could buy back her home or Robin coming to terms with her value as a person and learning that she does not have to live a life as a sole fugitive or sacrifice herself in first sign of human kindness. I just think characters like Big Mom who are absolute batshit insane yet have certain depth and terror to them like her friendship with Otama and how she would lash out ans even protect her enemies just by hearing Otama's sad cry. Oh also sorry for using only one piece as an example i just only follow it and Bleach since i am more of a novel reader these days. I would still take shounen anime female characters over alot of american female reps altho i think novels have handled women well these days(altho it may be also that it is media i do the most)

[@PlanetZoidstar]

For me Brook's worst moments are where he shows a desire to see Carrot's panties. Carrot is *FIFTEEN.*

[@Veryfreshveryflourish24]

@@PlanetZoidstar tbf 15 in rabbit years is 102 in human years. Jokes aside brook is probably partly insane as he spent 50 years having hallucinating episodes on a boat. He asked yonko on her late 60s for her panties as well even if that does not excuse it.

[@VivelaSlime]

Dang, I just realized that my standards must’ve really fallen because I legitimately thought “Well, at least Brook politely asks first.” Before realizing if someone asked me that in real life, I’d hate it.

[@PlanetZoidstar]

@@VivelaSlime Exactly. That's part of the problem in anime that rely on a pervert character to fill a comedic role. It trivialises a very real type of person, the perfect who refuses to respect boundaries or basic Human dignity. Doesn't help that Carrot is a MINOR and he shows a desire to see 'her' panties TWICE. Once when she is in a very vulnerable state and he is CARRYING her.

[@chasinghaze0962]

I actually like Bleach's female cast. They aren't perfect but I enjoy most of them as characters and what they bring to the narrative and theme. One Piece female cast is decent too but I would love to see more from Nami and Robin. Jjk cast is overrated to me(just because there is no fanservice doesn't make them automatically good). CSM female cast is good, so is Hells paradise. My other fav shounen are D gray man, Noragami and Nisekoi. They all have decent female rep too imo. I don't hate Naruto's cast as much as others because I think issue is more of character bloat(similar to Bleach) rather than sidelining only female characters. And yes I also hate the pervert trope and I hope it disappears or not used as gag all the time.

[@GeraltofRivia22]

Hmm, I wonder why a genre aimed at teenage boys doesn't have the most complex, well written female characters. A real head scratcher. Now lets compare that to how male characters are written in Otome and Shoujo.

[@anotherrandomguy8871]

Yeah, often even the male characters don’t get much character after they are introduced. Hell look at any side character in dbz, every human that’s not named Krillin gets screwed over, get little to no moments, is only there as some shirtless guy in the background, only exist to get meme’d on for a gag, etc. I find that a lot of women just only take it to heart if the female characters are not focused on or developed. This is why they won’t really feel bad about male characters being written shallowly the same way in any media that is directed at women or just in general. Even many irl men don’t care because they know it’s fantasy for girls, not men.

[@ΚρανίΩ]

@@anotherrandomguy8871dbz in general has terrible writing i wouldnt count on it but bulma is relatively well done

[@202cardline]

Girl we grew up with pervy sage I think the point flew over your swollen throbbing veiny rock hard head. Focus on the topic. I’m snapping my fingers like I’m a dog trainer. Condescension always convinces people to re-evaluate what they just said. Have the essay on my desk by next class. Thank you.

[@queenlolo1384]

Male characters are written well in Shoujo and have been inspired characters in Shonen and Seinen.

[@Myeedit]

Has anyone noticed that, maki from jjk scored second in strongest female character by Japanese fans (sakura was voted first) but overall she scored ninth in the jjk poll by Japanese fans? Yeah i think its safe to say they don’t like women in anime 😢😅

[@jotarokujofan702]

that poll was about mental strength, which makes it worse because sakura can't even handle sasuke rejecting her than cries about it and her blowing up her house in gaiden because sarada mouthed off a bit was pure yikes. it's clear they don't like woman like maki who has a real and tragic but compelling story with actual mental growth and real struggles. same with jolyne kujo from jojo, who came in third, who struggled without her father, was a lost and naive girl trapped in prison but grew up along the way and developed til the very end. she was also the first female protagonist in a serialized shonen manga for boys in 1999, so she had that going against her as well, funny enough. they don't want an actual female character, they want a self insert they can project onto and relatability, so maki and jolyne don't fit that mold but sakura does and hinata huyga to an extent. (also before anyone says i'm a "pick me" my top favorite female character is kagome higurashi, i like orihime inoue despite her short comings as a character, matou sakura from fate and mitsuri kanroji.)

[@rockocandyeye]

@@jotarokujofan702 Inuyasha and Full metal alchemist have some of the best female characters

[@jotarokujofan702]

@@rockocandyeye agreed. (although for me, it's just kagura and kagome who are the best written ones. kikyo is whatever, she would have made a good anti heroine/villain tho, sango, while badass, should have had her traumas addressed way better than how it was.)

[@rockocandyeye]

@@jotarokujofan702 True. I adore Sango, but I always feels like something about her is lacking. At least, she's both strong and kindhearted, unlike some modern female characters nowadays.

[@rockocandyeye]

@@jotarokujofan702 Would female characters from non shounen manga count too? I don't read a lot of manga like I used to anymore, but I hope female characters in non shounen manga get treated better

[@OlisGarden]

Amazing video as always!! Knuckles really is the best 💪

[@ammaralrai7022]

2:00 Yo hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold up. Robin was not nerfed. Ever since joining the Straw Hats, she learned how to fuse a bunch of arms together to make bigger arms, create entire clones of herself, and learn Fish-Man Karate which upped her physical attacks. If anything, she got stronger.

[@3_14pie]

im writing a shonen a shonen inspired webcomic, and honestly, to me that's so easy to avoid... 2/3 of my characters have no gender until I finish their concept, and then I just randomly pick one or leave it ambiguous

[@Sailor_Mercury45]

I refuse to watch One Peice because the creator has actively said, and I’m paraphrasing right now, something along the lines of “If you have problems with my story, and criticize me, and you’re a girl, I don’t like you.” He has actually said in the past that he genuinely holds women below him in terms of literally anything and everything. So it was a somewhat pleasant surprise that Luffy didn’t have some grand speech before punching that one girl back. Still won’t watch One Piece for a multitude of different reasons, but I’m happy that the entire story isn’t all bad.

[@wigosas]

Tbf it has more context. He said his manga was for young boys (shounen demographic), so he said he'll make whatever he thinks young boys wants. He's ignoring every other demographic except boys He also said that since boys don't like many female protagonists (and this is unfortunately still true today), he won't put as many as he could, but also making sure they have a design boys like (and he admits also because he likes that body shape) One piece is one of the most progressive battle shounen in general, beaten only by some newer ones. I'm not saying you should watch it, but what you said isn't really reflected in the story

[@Sailor_Mercury45]

@@wigosas You’ve offered a new perspective an I appreciate that! I still don’t feel like I’d want to support One Piece or it’s creator, but thanks for adding some context to something that I couldn’t remember a lot about!/gen

[@wigosas]

@@Sailor_Mercury45 Ahah thank you for your positive response

[@Sailor_Mercury45]

@@wigosas no problem!! I hate mean comments :( hope you have a good day/night!

[@T.L.P50]

one piece is great tbh and if youre talking about vivi getting punched that has context too he literally beat some sense into her which was some nice growth from both characters.

[@adeleaslan8182]

2:44 I honestly loved how this was handled in One Piece. Zoro getting mad at Kuwina for acting like his strength only comes from him being a boy and saying he wants to be like her honestly made me happy. It was so clear that she hated her sex because of her dad, and she grew out of that

[@noautorizoft37]

Personally, I don't care much about the sexualization or writing of male or female characters, it just seems very silly to me that many characters are made fucking useless, I mean, why would you want to put a character that doesn't even serve to have relevance in the story? Don't add it, as for the female characters and their sexualization in anime, it really doesn't matter to me, because I prefer to see female characters in animated cartoons and not in mangas or comics, although it does seem very It's a fetish thing about jokes about asses or tits, maybe some people find it exciting to see some tits in close-up, but I go more for the plot than for the characters, that's why the only anime I watch is Dragon Ball, (although it has some fan service, it does not abuse it, and what makes it worldwide popular are the fights and memorable characters) what I believe is that shonen authors or mangakas sometimes put their sexual fantasies, and well If they want they can do it because it is their work, but I really don't see the need to complain since the women in the anime (who are supposed to be Japanese) don't represent them, because well, I don't think they can deny me that not even half of them have those attributes that they put on them, most of them are very thin which means they have less fat in their breasts, and apart from that Japan is a very conservative country, I would recommend watching animes like black clover or bleach, those animes do have good female characters

[@BloodyPsychicX]

The Rebecca's design actually goes a bit deeper than that, because if I am not wrong it was designed by Doflamingo who is canonically a therapist without the "the", also Toei Animation tends to overexaggarate women and make them even more sexualized than the manga because in manga they look more normal

[@safuwancj]

I like the anime females more than the M- she-U boss babe females . Those are just soo bad

[@InternetSexyLoser]

They are both bad, but at least they (waifus) have something human in them.

[@momosayhello]

Honestly I’m a new subscriber to your channel and I gotta say I love the videos you put out even though it’s sad how short they are haha. Love that I caught this new vid early!

[@playboi3056]

3:48 no cause i was hate watching sonic boom with my sister (who actually enjoys it) to get on her nerves and this scene left me so unrealistically flabbergasted. i could not believe that one of the realest quotes came from sonic boom 😂

[@djeka415]

I think people like "Slap b*tches" trope, because usually (well at least in One piece and Naruto) it's female, who can freely beat the shit out male characters as a "joke".

[@sindelscat9336]

Honestly it does suck, when it comes to the mainstream shounen anime, and it's pretty unfortunate too, because some of the characters are pretty awesome, it's sort of the same reason why I don't like most of the male characters in Shoujo anime, they're often bland and very one-dimensional characters, who exist only to be a romantic plot line for the female protect.

[@Spo0ksi]

That part!! I love Shoujo but how am I supposed to simp for the male character if being drawn well is the only thing he’s got going on with him.

[@sindelscat9336]

@@Spo0ksi yup, it becomes more apparent, when everything he does is for the female protagonist.

[@AngelicMilkyYT]

Fortunately there’s some shoujo that don’t fall into these tropes.

[@sindelscat9336]

@@AngelicMilkyYT yeah, and shounen as well, it's a shame they're usually not mainstream though.

[@noahalcantar2431]

@sindelscat9336 do you think that Princess Peach from the Mario franchise is worse than the female characters from shoujo anime

[@RainyEditzzxoxo]

6:56 I feel this trope was done well with jiraya from Naruto bc he was still a well written character and he gets in trouble for it like getting punched or yelled at or called out

[@amparocruz951]

Meanwhile, women in Chainsaw Man are some of the best written women in all of Shonen

[@HiBuddyyyyyy]

Thank the almighty lord for Chainsaw Man 🙏🏻

[@Nikimouse311]

Oo im excited! I’m not a manga reader, but I will be starting the anime soon

[@d6421-e9c]

Oh wow, so now we got someone who literally ruined a teenage boys life and that makes a her a good character, and remember Himeno the dead one, literally had no screen time, and she does is make a ghost fight for her, hey sounds kinda familiar, kinda like a certain Lucy Heartfilia who makes spirits fight for her and everyone said it was useless yet when a woman who isn't a love interest and looks like a man and doesn't make girls feel insecure has the same ability she's good, you people have awful taste

[@amparocruz951]

@@d6421-e9c Seriously, your judgment of character is so fucking Dogshit yet you’re saying WE have terrible taste? Ok LMAO 💀😭😭

[@Enviosss]

​@@d6421-e9cYes, she is a good character, and she is a villain. What of it?

[@Brenilla]

Yeah I agree. Demon Slayer does a good job moving around but also embracing some of the women/girls in shonen tropes in a positive way. Which makes sense since the creator is a woman. (And although I think some of the fan service is over done/ I don’t appreciate, it isn’t just the character and isn’t an every time on screen deal) The I’m good enough arc is fine but I think if your doing it you better have it be not all the female characters or have prominent other ones who don’t feel or perpetuate the same idea of pointing it out.

[@genesismunoz6008]

I just wished that we could've seen more of Kanao like don't get me wrong, I still love seeing her onscreen but I'm praying for Ufotable to add anime original content for Kanao!

[@Brenilla]

@@genesismunoz6008 That would be really cool, honestly you could do a lot of one shots or mini OVAs on a lot of the characters that were don’t get to see much of overall. I see a lot of love for Kanao arround so I think it would be great.

[@genesismunoz6008]

Yeah but even if I still feel neutral, I'm give her some credit for being the mvp in Infinity Castle Arc!

[@natalimoina]

@@genesismunoz6008 I highly recommend reading the side stories, light novels and one-shots for the series if you haven't. Plenty more content, and a fair amount more on Kanao

[@the_hype_on_tv]

YES FINALLY it's like: "shounen anime? girls aren't main character. they have boooobs. they wear the least amount of armor possible." then we have: "shoujo anime: girls are sweet and have different personalities but most times it's about harem and the male lead always has dark hair. also, one of the girls will talk more about sex than the rest. thank you very much." and finally: "western cartoons. men suck. women good. make diversity and feminism sound as absurd as you writers can. make people who could be learning about equality and love learn instead to hate hearing about it." so yeah

[@natalimoina]

you have the completely wrong idea of western cartoons, no idea where you got that from, but it's blatant lie

[@the_hype_on_tv]

@@natalimoina it's not in all cases, there are some that are actually written well, but that's the vibe i get for most

[@InternetSexyLoser]

That’s a “shoujo” part is Shonen anime. Also let’s all agree that the “GiRlBoSs” movies are bad. I WANT GOOD FEMALE CHARACTERS!!! CHARACTERS WITH CAPITAL C!!!

[@queenlolo1384]

Shoujo is not just harem or even romance. You're someone that is very clueless...

[@nosferiazafora]

It seems I have stumbled upon a video catering to homosexuals and feminists. I will carry on doing my own thing, 'cuse me.

[@CursedShinobiClown]

/a/ is down the hall to the left

[@nosferiazafora]

@@CursedShinobiClown Is that 4chan? I don't use it, I'm not from the U.S. Plus, I block the ''green-text'' twitter accounts whenever the platform spams them to me, yikes.

[@mckenafountain6664]

Lmao what did “homosexuals” have to do with this video? 💀

[@roserain7034]

One thing I would never understand is how we all know shounen writers suck at writing female characters but there is some of us who hate on some female characters while talk about how another female characters is neglected and needs more scenes. Like... they are both written by shounen writers and both are underwritten and neglected. The constant pitting up against female characters gets tiring.

[@projectmessiah]

The thing is with the Yu Yu Hakusho moment where Yusuke punches the assasin lady (Or whatever she was) I see it more as an attempt on Togashis part to write a trans character which I think despite it being kinda a poor attempt he genuinly cares about diversity in his works. A good example is that Hiei and Kurama were originally gonna be a couple but his editors were against it so it was cut. He also has displayed in the past that he is a fan of lgbt works such as Patalliro which is a classic boys love series in Japan (One of the characters from it even inspired Hiei) and then later on in Hunter x Hunter he wrote Alluka who while falling into the anime trope of trans characters just kinda being weirdly ambiguous I think is one of the best portrayals of one in anime and manga. Overall I think Togashi genuinly trys to make his works inclusive even if to a small extent which makes sense as he is working in the confines of weekly shounen jump.

[@Lechgang]

I hear a lot of people downplay the over-sexualization of female characters in anime because 'Dur hur, they're just drawings.' What these people fail to realize is that in Japan at least, this behavior, normalized by a lot of anime has real world consequences. Women have to take different trains in Japan because sexual harassment is so frequent. It's not a Jack Thompson situation. Normalizing overly-sexual portrayals of women like this, while displaying blatant sexual harassment as less serious than it is is VERY problematic.

[@milliondoller06]

you're still pushing that stupid myth that anime has real world effect missing several factors that japanese have certain deep socioculture why those things happen or the fact certain overcrowding problems allow this to happen

[@Lechgang]

@@milliondoller06 It's not at all a myth. I've *seen* the effects that anime's portrayal of women has had on people. Either way, even if you WERE correct, it's either a cause or a result of Japan's current treatment of women. So it is indisputably BAD, and needs to be stopped.

[@milliondoller06]

@@Lechgang no you haven't, you probably have some friends who have those type of problems. that doesn't make up the entire or huge percentage of anime watchers who like ecchi. You are no different from the grifters like jack thompson that blame media to a complex deep social problem

[@Lechgang]

@@milliondoller06 Don't try and Jack Thompson me. These situations have nothing in common. JT argued that violent video games caused people to become violent in real life. But getting up and doing something violent is something wholly different from playing a video game. One of them requires you to go outside, find a weapon, find a person, and about a dozen other steps, all of which your average gamer isn't going to bother with. Sexualizing women because of anime? You can do that ALL in your room. It's the difference between a crunchyroll tab and a twitter thread. That difference is so minimal, and the only thing someone needs to facilitate that awful mindset is validation that it's correct. And the vast majority of anime treats women this way. Don't gaslight me into thinking it's not a problem. It is. Anime's treatment of women may be a direct cause of oversexualization, or it may not. But either way it *does* reaffirm those values for people, and it does facilitate that awful behavior. It needs to stop. Anime as it stands treats women like sex objects and not people, with minimal exception. If you don't think that needs to change, then I don't know what to tell you. You're just supporting a toxic mindset because you like anime boobs.

[@milliondoller06]

@@Lechgang oh please, your everything like JT yeah your making the arguments has him it creates the mindset or make them sexualize real women online is the same thing of desantaized to real world violence or becoming more violent in the process. I never heard it was a thing. If maybe you venture out to watch other genres like shoujo and josei maybe you wouldn't be blind to your bias

[@valentinehan23]

Really great video ! I found it very insightful Thought I'd like to add to the point you made about Robin. IDK if you read the Wano arc so spoilers for that arc but I really enjoyed her fight against Black Maria, it really made her feel way more stronger and threatening since probably Alabasta.

[@al3xIa2]

In defence of Rebecca’s gladiator outfit. I’ve always looked at the difference between the colosseum clothes and the dress she wears at the end of the arc as being purposefully contrasting. If you look at her dress at the end of the arc you’ll see it’s a lot more conservative than the outfit she probably didn’t even choose herself. To me Rebecca’s Gladiator outfit symbolises how she had to put on a fake persona in order to survive. After Doflamingo is defeated and Dressrosa is freed we see her true self come out. Someone who doesn’t enjoy fighting, someone who wants to freely live with the people she loves. Her outfit is something she’s being forced to wear that doesn’t suit her personality vs what she would actually pick (a lot more conservative). Though I have no idea if Oda was thinking all that when designing her clothes. It’s just that the stark difference between her Gladiator clothes and clothes she chose for herself really stood out to me. It made me think it was more than just a fanservice design.

[@Pluvion_]

I don't think Robin is overshadowed at all, especially after Alabasta. Alabasta Robin is peak Robin dont get me wrong, But You just showed Enies lobby and Water 7 which is literally Robin's Arc to which shows how important she is to the crew and her role to the overall arching plot..

[@Axelblaze1022]

Robin is also the second most important character in the crew and she is actually the most versatile strawhat member because of her skills as an assissian and spy

[@taki7546]

This is the reason why I don’t feel comfortable watching anime anymore. The pervert trope seems to be everywhere, even Detective Conan isn’t save like wth

[@suspiciousstar7547]

It's just gross and unnecessary. There are some anime that don't have that kind of content in it but it is still everywhere.

[@bignoob2726]

Maybe u r just watching the wrong anime 😅

[@DarkEclipse23]

And yet American cartoons with its obsession with sex is fine.

[@DarkEclipse23]

@@suspiciousstar7547almost like you should watch shoujo.

[@jerm-gv9rv]

@@bignoob2726it’s like 70% of the most popular shows and if you like fantasy or action then you’re basically are fuvked

[@NightRade]

Never heard anyone say there was a right or wrong way to write men, don't know why there's a right or wrong way to write women, Why is there a certain way writers should or shouldn't write female characters? I swear feminist just want special treatment. Shonen girls aren't bad, there are no right or wrong ways to write women so a female charecter can't be bad, feminist just have an ideal image for how woman should be portrayed and when a female character deviates from that their "bad".

[@shaivjoshi4063]

Correct. Feminists want women to be worse men. The characteristics that would label a man toxic. Are encouraged in women.

[@TheCelestialBell]

No they're literally just bad characters it's not that they have an ideal image of how women should be portrayed, they actually just bad characters. Think of like a badly written male character, but then like switch the genders. It's not about a right or wrong way to write women, female characters are usually just written worse compared to men in shounen. Some characters can be written worse than others, but that usually happens to female characters more often in these shows.

[@shaivjoshi4063]

@@TheCelestialBell Sorry, Asia is not so prone to feminist indoctrination like the west. Our women are actually intelligent so they can smell bullshit from a mile away

[@ΚρανίΩ]

except there is a wrong way to write a male character and thats the good guy being a pervert and a stalker (looking at sanji) live action sanji is what that trope should be

[@joshmoonXY]

You kind of have a point. There's a bad and good way to write female characters. But no one says the same about male characters, that there's a good and bad way to write them.

[@kukuandkookie]

Sorry I'm going to go off topic for a second, but if anyone wants to watch media that _doesn't_ really have a lot of these tropes regarding women but still feels just as cool and badass as (shounen) anime, then I recommend a lot of donghua! It's not exactly that donghua isn't male-dominated, but there are a lot of donghua series that treat their female characters more kindly than fan service or overlooked shadows or "I have to prove myself useful" type characters. Here's a huge list of series that I feel like provide pretty interesting female characters!: _Scissor Seven; White Cat Legend; Link Click; Throne of Seal; The Legend of Luo Xiaohei_ (especially in _Lanxi Zhen,_ the prequel manhua); _Fei Ren Zai; All Saints Street; Fox Spirit Matchmaker; Fog Hill of Five Elements; Wo Jia Dashixiong Naozi You Keng; Yi Ren Zhi Xia; Soulmates Adventure; Jing-ju Cats; Bai Yao Pu; Chang Ge Xing; God Troubles Me; The Great Warrior Wall; Ling Cage; The Island of Siliang; Rescue Eternal Desert; Cat's Tea; Shaonian Ge Xing; War God System! I'm Counting on You; Shaonian Bai Ma Zui Chun Fen; False Memory; The Land of Miracles; Since I Wasn't the Heroine; Aiyou de Mishi; Agate_ aka _Brainless Witch; The Demonic King Chases His Wife; Zi Jin Yu Miao Fang; Jing Wei Qi Shang; Blades of the Guardian; No Doubt in Us;_ and more... Even _Xi Yang Yang yu Hui Tai Lang_ aka _Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf,_ a kids' show that used to really play into the feminine versus masculine stereotypes between its female and male main characters have gotten way better at this in the latest seasons, with the female characters getting to shine just as much as the male characters, whether it be fighting or in character development! I think a great example of this is the _Ultimate Battle: The Next Generation_ season, which really balanced its cast well. So yeah! I hope more anime fans get to check out donghua, because there's some really good ones out there, and sometimes they can carry even further strengths. *I do have a recommendations list for donghua that's like 200+ pages (it also includes manhua, images, summaries, and links on where to find donghua/manhua, but unfortunately KZbin kills all comments with links these days).* Now to go back on topic: yeah the way women get written in shounen can be really frustrating. I feel like the women in _Naruto_ and _Boruto_ also somewhat encapsulate every flaw mentioned here. While I didn't hate any of the female characters as much as many did back in the day, it is true Kishimoto was never that strong at writing women, which led to him constantly having to work to make up for his early writing of Sakura (giving her arcs where she proves herself and making up for her early "uselessness" by giving her extreme strength later on), and while it worked out relatively okay, it does feel like he could have just written her better in the first place. Especially since even with her finally having enough power to no longer be deemed useless by fans, she was always overshadowed by Naruto and Sasuke-which even that is like, okay, fair. They're the main characters. But now it's happening again with Sakura's daughter, Sarada, in _Boruto,_ and given how recent _Boruto_ and some of the other examples mentioned in this video are, it really does seem like these tendencies by shounen writers just isn't going to go away anytime soon. 😓

[@cookiestrong8757]

I think Attack on Titan is a good example of how to write and draw female characters right.

[@ΚρανίΩ]

@@cookiestrong8757no it is not

[@cookiestrong8757]

@@ΚρανίΩ how so?

[@icecreamhero2375]

To be fair to My Hero. You can say that a lot of the guys don't get a lot of screen time too. I don't mind. It takes place in a school so they had to fill it with a billion kids. Its mostly focused on Deku but its cool when we get to see the other characters. I'd say that's equality.

[@megax5000]

guy here and even as a 14 year old that got obsessed with anime at the time, i never thought the pervert trope was ever remotely funny

[@DemiseDarling]

"Just because im a meat head doesn't mean I'm not a feminist"

[@animeonepiecelife1663]

Good video, tbh you pointed out the majority of issues I have with female characters.

[@youraverageteaenjoyer.]

I love it when someone comments some stuff like: wEll It'S a ShOnEn SeriEs iT's noT MaDe fOr fEmaLes completely ignoring the fact that a poorly written FEMALE character, despite being in a story for MEN, is still a POORLY WRITTEN character and those are bad for a story. Prime example, if Sakura was written better, Naruto as a whole would be a more enjoyable show and if Robin was written worse, One Piece would be less good. (Also what you said about robin was SLANDER) That is to say terrible Characters, no matter if the are fEmAlEs should be complained about god forbid we get more of them.

[@jirehjirehjirehjireh]

As a man it honestly scares me when I see other men online defend these kinds of tropes with the excuse “Well it’s made for young boys”. That’s exactly why these tropes are problematic. You’re having an entire generation of boys, teens, and young adults consume media that depicts women in insanely dehumanizing ways.

[@anotherrandomguy8871]

I think people need to remember the video games don’t cause violnce argument, because even women make their own media that demonizes men, in general media dehumanizes both parties. People however just assume that any media that even has a sexy female character in it, or a badly written female character (even in shows that have male characters getting screwed over), will ruin every young male’s brain alive, and I say this as a young male. People instantly just think that as a male, I’m going to become a awful person to others because I saw a female character in a show protrayed badly in a genre and I wish people didn’t just assume that.

[@aaraknid4542]

If you want good female characters, read Undead Unluck . (The first 10 chapters can be a bit rough, but the manga is peak fiction.) Fuuko Izumo, the main character, is literally the best female character I've ever seen in shounen: strong, smart, brave, badass, cute, and funny. She is perfect!

[@YourDoctorGreg]

As a writer, I try to avoid tropes and problems such as these (not just for women, but any group of people). But it becomes kind of scary at times when you don't want to mess up and might accidentally write in a bad trope like this without knowing about it. As a man, I can't fully grasp what it's like to be a woman (because I'm a man lol). But with that said, I hope to change how stories are written in the future and hope that I do a great job at writing a good and enjoyable story for the world to see.