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Hey, Answerman! [2009-10-16]

The fact that Japanese women often avoid marriage because they'd be expected to quit their jobs and be housewives speaks to this. I think this cultural phenomenon rears its ugly head all too often in anime.

Also: we all got picked last for kickball, we all had to tape our glasses together when the bullies in second grade pushed us to the ground at recess, and there's a certain, strange part of our brain that secretly thinks pewter dragons are cool.

I like DBZ Abridged... and that's about it as far as those type of things. Probably the best way to watch DBZ right now. And the voice acting is actually better than Funimation's.

I would totally watch a Gintama movie starring Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill. If only because it's precisely the sort of casting that would set the internet ablaze with the fires of irrational hatred.

Gintama has its fans, but it's nowhere near the top of the Shonen Jump totem pole, popularity-wise.

those "Abridged Series" things make me laugh about as much as cancer surgery, or Jeff Dunham. It's 9 to 10 minutes of lame, lazy meta-humor and bleeped-out curse words.

I know more than most human beings would ever care to know about Looney Tunes

Being a nerd doesn't carry the tremendous social stigma it once had.

So the reason there is not strong shonen female characters in Manga is because the readership of Japan does not want it. I do not think this a sexist thing as 10 year old boys most likely do not understand sexism at that age.

And I'd like to know what that last letter writer meant by "creeping." I get the impression she had unwanted advances (which pardon me but that makes her the same as pretty much every other woman on Earth and you'll get them from any and all men who find you attractive)

sheentaku wrote:

So the reason there is not strong shonen female characters in Manga is because the readership of Japan does not want it. I do not think this a sexist thing as 10 year old boys most likely do not understand sexism at that age.

Oh where to start..
Just because someone doesn't understand what sexism is doesn't mean that it's not sexism.
If a little boy doesn't want to read a story with a girl as the main character it's because he has been conditioned by his surroundings to feel like he can't relate to a female character.
Every Miyazaki film that I can think of has a girl as the lead. These films are wildly successful with all demographics. Kids love Ponyo and Totoro, it doesn't matter that the main characters were little girls.

If more manga had empowered female characters as the leads boys wouldn't care about the gender of the hero. They would focus on the action and the story.

Quote:

And I'd like to know what that last letter writer meant by "creeping." I get the impression she had unwanted advances (which pardon me but that makes her the same as pretty much every other woman on Earth and you'll get them from any and all men who find you attractive)

This bothers me.. You make it sound here that unwanted advances are something that women should just get over because it's a fact of life. That doesn't make it okay.

dizzywulf wrote:

sheentaku wrote: So the reason there is not strong shonen female characters in Manga is because the readership of Japan does not want it. I do not think this a sexist thing as 10 year old boys most likely do not understand sexism at that age. Oh where to start.. Just because someone doesn't understand what sexism is doesn't mean that it's not sexism. If a little boy doesn't want to read a story with a girl as the main character it's because he has been conditioned by his surroundings to feel like he can't relate to a female character. Every Miyazaki film that I can think of has a girl as the lead. These films are wildly successful with all demographics. Kids love Ponyo and Totoro, it doesn't matter that the main characters were little girls. If more manga had empowered female characters as the leads boys wouldn't care about the gender of the hero. They would focus on the action and the story.

Women as a lead just does not work for Shonen Battle manga they are unpopular because when in the playground no one wants to pretend to be the girl, You are not thinking as a boy around that age.
Would fist of the north star, Dragon ball, Naruto, Bleach, One piece what ever battle Shonen manga you can think of be as popular if the main character was female?

Things are certainly better for nerd-kind than they were back in the dark ages...you are a nerd... Acknowledge your nerddom, embrace it. After all, the opposite of a nerd is not a cool person, but a "mundane", a banal conformist.

I have a giant Patlabor 2 wallscroll hanging over my bed.

Most of the time, these conversations are instigated by the second party and, as to not appear rude, I respond and try to keep things as polite as humanly possible. But sometimes these guys just don't know when to call it quits, and I'm forced to completely ignore (and on some occasions hide from) them.

The writer cited Naruto as an example of how the sexes are equal in anime, yet I see it as a great example of how they are NOT. Not only are the female ninjas vastly outnumbered by male ninjas (like what, 1 to 10? Less?), most of them, especially Sakura, are allowed to be cool, but only if they're not as cool as the boys. Eventually, to make up for this fact, they do the standard anime cop-out of making them the healers. "See? We're still cool, because we... heal stuff. Girls can't fight as good as boys you see." And this is *especially* true if the female is the love interest of the main character, and then they are inevitably forced to sit back and watch the main character do cool stuff, and never do anything cool themselves. Now, don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed all these series, but see Bleach, Naruto, Trigun, Ruonin Kenshin, Inuyasha, Full Metal Alchemist, and countless others for proof.