animation Why is it that most animes make female either dumb or like degenerate them

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

It depends on what type of anime you watch. If you stick with lighthearted shojo, you'll find lots of girly-girl big eyed bouncy girls. Try something like "Ghost in the Shell".

i couldnt agree more. i only know sakura from cardcaptor can fight against anything without anyone to save her ass

[Discordian 6,015]

I mean... do you have an example? because I watch plenty of anime... 'unattractive' and 'fat' is by no means the norm, even for minor characters, from my experience. I'd even say most anime characters (that means males too) have 'ideal' body types. If you're straight, you can still know like, "yeah a girl would like that" 

 

 

Still I think this thread is based on false assumptions regardless. There's at least as much variety in anime as there is in american television, and then some. And just like western tv, there are bad shows and good shows.

It really is. I agree with much of what you said.

 

But to name a few characters there's Issei's friends in Highschool DxD, the main character from Change 123, the caterpillar girl's (eventual) boyfriend from Frankenfran, etc.

[Zyrael 1,471]

It really is. I agree with much of what you said.

 

But to name a few characters there's Issei's friends in Highschool DxD, the main character from Change 123, the caterpillar girl's (eventual) boyfriend from Frankenfran, etc.

 

Most of these are just side characters you won't see much of and I've forgotten many I've seen over the years but if you don't look just as physical attractiveness there's a lot of really stupid guys in anime who dumb luck their way into a girl's arms like the main character from Suzuka or Black Star from Soul Eater. There's also the doormats who, in spite of some good qualities, would never be able to show said good qualities if it weren't for scenario magic that anime provides. Keiichi from Ah My Goddess, for example, is unequivocally considered a boring, unattractive nerd for most of his life but magically his good parts are coming out after the beginning of the series.

 

Well, it's as you say:

 

 just side characters you won't see much of 

 

aren't representative of even half  of what we call anime in general. Even the characters you mentioned, if they're unappealing to you or person X, that may just be because they're unlikable people in general. Black Star is one of those people. There are some male protagonists who begin as "boring" and "nerds" but often the point is for them to evolve past that point and grow as people. Some of them may just be reflecting japanese personality traits associated with males, which might seem strange or unappealing to the western viewer. But that doesn't necessarily make them bad representations, or even bad characters. 

[Discordian 6,015]

Damn. I was hoping I edited that part out. I was going a bit off topic.

 

It can be said that I don't really find most main characters particularly attractive either. I was just trying to name some of the ugly ones.

 

Now these guys are what I would call legitimately attractive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Celestial Sloth 369]

Japan seems like a very sexually frustrated place.

[Stormlight 1,371]

Portraying the steteotypes I guess, especially how some anime shows the man always saving the "damsel in distress" from harm's way.

 

Although it's always great to see female characters being strong and independent, for a change.

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

Damn. I was hoping I edited that part out. I was going a bit off topic.

 

It can be said that I don't really find most main characters particularly attractive either. I was just trying to name some of the ugly ones.

 

Now these guys are what I would call legitimately attractive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i love those dudes' faces. like they're giving a sign of disapproval xD

[honk friend 1,978]

who brought this mess back and why

 

Try watching a few Studio Ghibli films.  They almost invariably have strong, competent, independent female characters like Haru in The Cat Returns, Chihiro in Spirited Away, and the titular character in Princess Mononoke.  Even if that may lack some of those qualities at the start of the film, they have usually learned them by the end of it.

 

KIKI

[HoovesOnIce 74]

Because japan mostly sees women as sexual dolls instead of people.

[Buck Testa 5,505]

It really depends on the kind of anime you are watching. If you are watching Moe slice of life stuff then yeah you are probably going to run into almost nothing but the most standard of character types. 

 

Really it boils down to looking into reviews and seeking out the anime that treats the characters like people instead instead of fan-service engines. 

[cider float 2,537]

People forget that there is a wide variety of anime of different types. And one anime isn't going to be the same as another.

[Lisa 5,553]

Trying to decipher what OP said, I think they mean, "Why are female characters so generic?" Probably because money. Rather than experiment with new ideas for character types, studios will simply stick to the cutout archetypes because it's currently what's popular and what people are watching/reading, which means more money for them.

 

This also means it's not entirely something that's gender-specific. I see lots of generic male characters as well.

 

 

Because japan mostly sees women as sexual dolls instead of people.

 

[citation needed]

Edited May 22, 2016 by Holiday

[Plume 922]

Got to agree with here - they stick with the tried and true archetypes. There are whole names for the character molds, that's how prevalent they are - tsundere, genkidere, kuudere, the list goes on.

 

However, an anime can have generic character molds and still make them interesting.

[Seraph 128]

Well, they're not. They're just written badly because of marketing or lack of knowledge on the writers’ part. That and that blanket statement certainly doesn't speak for all female characters in anime.

 

It depends on the writers of the show, because there are a lot of writers that do not know how to write the opposite sex. I've seen it in both women writers and men writers, where they just can't write the opposite sex without it resorting to stereotypes or fantasies. It's why I think it's so important to do research and practice your abilities to make sure you don't end up writing bad characters. But I know a lot of people don't get to practice their craft as much and are thrown into the fire without even being tested. Some of it can be chalked up to inexperience, which can be fixed with time if they're put on the right path of being a more well-rounded writer. I just don't think a lot of showrunners are told "you should probably try to not write these characters badly" since it's making the studio money.

 

It depends on what demographic that the anime is marketing to, and if It's a harem or school girl anime, it's likely that the female characters may be portrayed as stereotypes. On the opposite side of the coin, if it's a reverse harem anime, it'll be men who are portrayed as such.

 

When it comes to fanservice it's typically not marketed toward the female demographic, and those that are, are outnumbered by all the Ikki Toussens of the anime world. A lot of studios will market to what makes them the most money. Even if the quality of their product is garbage, if it makes them money then it's considered a “success." Sorry if I'm using a lot of adverbs here, but I don't want to make absolute statements about something that changes depending on the wills of the people. 

 

That's not to say that shows that are excellent quality will always fail, that's simply not true. There are tons of exceptions to this, and I've even found myself quite invested in some fanservice shows because they decided to put a good plot and characters in it. 

 

However, it's rather telling when the studio behind From the New World, which is a post-apocalyptic, dystopian style anime based on a best-selling novel has its budget cut because it was in production around the same time as another show in the studio. A show that had tons of cute girls and involved video game themes, called Sword Art Online. Studios like to go with what will make them the most money and what will be a surefire hit. 

Edited May 22, 2016 by Seraph

[honk friend 1,978]

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Edited November 1, 2021 by Berdly is best boy
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[Steve Piranha 29,419]

I know there all kinds of anime out there that break the stereotype, but (from my lack of knowledge mind you, as I haven't watched anime a long time ago) I've noticed that at least some of the most popular shonen tend to put the women at the sidelines at best. Though, Bleach and One Piece might be attempt to tone it down, as as far as I know, women in those animes are pretty competent at worst 

[Light Diamond 950]

Some anime's do have the damsel in distress types of girls, though i have seen some anime's with plenty of strong female characters.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Light Diamond

[Lagrangian 64]

A lot of it is perception.

Most of the anime we get in the English-speaking world is the popular stuff, which in Japan tends to mean shonen series, which means its catering to boys so it's unlikely to do much with its female characters. Exceptions exist of course, but I would say you'll find more interesting women outside of the strict shonen genre.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Lagrangian

[Discordian 6,015]

this whole "women are treated as sex objects" rhetoric is so fucking stupid, and to say that sex appeal is exclusive to or even more prominent in japanese culture is completely ignorant

first of all, since when did fulfilling sexual desires in a harmless way become a crime? secondly, since when was sex appeal a strictly female thing?

It's almost like a lot of American blockbuster movies do the exact same thing. The only difference is that the women tend to be strong loners (who magically turn into romance nuts when they meet the main character) or down to earth types that aren't seen as "easy marks" but are written to be so anyway.

 

It's weird to me that all people see in anime is the boobs. There's a lot of it thrown around but more often than not you can look past it and see great characters anyway. Not every anime, of course, but that's part of what guys like me enjoy about it. We get the boobs AND the good characters. Doesn't just stop at one or the other and I'm not one of those repressed types who automatically thinks the existence of boobs on screen automatically detracts from everything else. It's mostly a bonus.

[cider float 2,537]

Then you're most likely watching a Shonen that is supposed to empower boys by putting girls into positions of saving and helping and the boys go out to become men and save them then he gets the reward.

 

Go watch the ones meant for girls whatever they're called.

Edited May 24, 2016 by cider float

[EpicEnergy 23,176]

I seldom watch anime, but I'm pretty sure that most anime don't make females dumb or degenerate them.

[Splashee 28,563]

Maybe to make them cuter for the target audience of Anime? I am not that audience so I don't know. I am watching some Anime like Mob Psycho 100 but the girls seemed smart in that one.

[Pentium100 2,120]

A lot of anime is for fanservice. Also, a lot of anime fans like "moe" characters (it's complicated, but the way I understand is pretty much characters like Fluttershy - ones where you have a strong feeling of wanting to protect the character).

 

Though if you want to see an action anime where girls are strong, I recommend Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series - multiple TV shows and IIRC 4 movies. Nanoha (the main character) can beat pretty much anyyone up (and she usually wears a long skirt). The movie/TV show relation graph is somewhat complicated, but I would just watch them in release order.

[Megas 27,567]

Because a lot of modern anime, or at least ones that gets noticed in the west, heavily push fanservice, and I guess making them dumb makes fanservice easier to do

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

it's anime....... 

no one questions cartoons for it's unrealistic shit and what not XD.

why is the horse talking? 

why is it's head so BIG.....

why does it have pasta hands XD.

why are the woman so slim and sexy? why are the women dumb?.

yes cartoons have dumb women too.

anime and cartoon work hand in hand. they both influence each other.