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The Kick-Ass Women of Attack on Titan

whiskeyii wrote:

MrTerrorist wrote: No mention about Hange? There's quite a bit of evidence from the mangaka that Hange doesn't identify as female, as he specifically requested that the English translation avoid using female pronouns (something the Japanese version avoids as well), which they've since abided by. So, for now, Word of God says Hange isn't female.

Yep, this is the reason I left Hange out of the article (despite being a big Hange fan personally). I don't count Hange as a female character because of the author's statement that they don't have an official gender, and I think even putting that clarification in an article about "the women of Attack on Titan" would open a huge can of worms.

If cardboard cut-outs of real human beings are your thing, then yeah, AoT has enough of that in spades for you to enjoy.
Otherwise, im not sure how anybody can see the laughable characters of this show as complex, relatable, or well written in any way, shape or form.

hattori300 wrote:

If cardboard cut-outs of real human beings are your thing, then yeah, AoT has enough of that in spades for you to enjoy. Otherwise, im not sure how anybody can see the laughable characters of this show as complex, relatable, or well written in any way, shape or form.

Care to elaborate on that?

1)Mikasa has been the same character from day 1, she is "badass" simply because its cool.

2)Annie is just another Mikasa clone, hardass exterior just to invoke mystery that simply isnt there outside of her plot relevance.

3)Sasha is just comic relief, and completely breaks the tone of every scene she is in.

4)Then you have the hilarious forced relationship of Ymir and Historia. Why should I care about the identity issues of these two characters, when at no point in the story it is established why that stuff is important to them other than "drama"? Why is it relevant that Historia not hide her true name? Why is her true name important to her at all, and why does Ymir care so much about her name as if its tied to her true self? The only reason she changed names was cause people wanted to kill her, and nothing else.
There is no emotional connection to any of these characters.

These female characters arent strong or complex. They are just guidelines on how to write the most basic character structure in a shounen story.

hattori300 wrote:

1)Mikasa has been the same character from day 1, she is "badass" simply because its cool. 2)Annie is just another Mikasa clone, hardass exterior just to invoke mystery that simply isnt there outside of her plot relevance. 3)Sasha is just comic relief, and completely breaks the tone of every scene she is in. 4)Then you have the hilarious forced relationship of Ymir and Historia. Why should I care about the identity issues of these two characters, when at no point in the story it is established why that stuff is important to them other than "drama"? Why is it relevant that Historia not hide her true name? Why is her true name important to her at all, and why does Ymir care so much about her name as if its tied to her true self? The only reason she changed names was cause people wanted to kill her, and nothing else. There is no emotional connection to any of these characters. These female characters arent strong or complex. They are just guidelines on how to write the most basic character structure in a shounen story.

1)Um... nope? Ackerman? They kind of matter? Oh, right. Not a manga reader.

2)Um... nope? It makes tones of sense and gives many hints for - Okay no it will be a spoiler.

3) If you don't like that it's a matter of defferent taste and sense of humor from your part, not of bad writing from the author's part. Connie is also cut from the same cloth.

4) Okay, DEFINITELY NOT a manga reader. Just go read it for God's sake, because if you're expecting to get the answers to this in the anime, you'll need to trust it to your grand children.

I think s/he's saying in the manga they become less one-dimensional, either in the future or in material that was excluded from the anime.

Which is a perfectly fine thing to assert, but it doesn't change how they have (or, more to the point, haven't) been characterized in the anime to date.

Actually, Isayama has NOT confirmed Krista and Ymir are a couple; only the director of the anime did that, so how canon it is is debatable. I am just playing devil's advocate mind you, because I really do hope they are a couple.

Quote:

This is why Western female MCs are either incredibly boring and/or paper-thin characters.

Well, I guess not everyone has seen the greatness of Avatar:The Last Airbender, makes sense.

*sighs*


3) You are born either as a male or as a female. Hange's gender wasn't clear in the manga, but that wasn't something that would work in an anime. So they asked Isayama what to do, he replied that either was fine because it didn't matter. So the anime stuff decided on a woman (And with a prominent bust I might say, judging from episode 8 of this season). Where exactly is there any doubt or controversy in this? Unless Isayama shows us a shirtless Hange in the manga that will prove that she's a man - which is highly unlikely after the anime's choice - Hange is a woman and she should have been in this list, with just five relative with the issue lines as an introduction.