I grew up being a "I'm not like other girls" type of girl, even though my first anime was Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon when I was around 6. I was ashamed of liking pink, sparkles and everything girly when I entered puberty and then teenage years. Now, at 23, I'm trying to heal that little girl in me that loved long transformation scenes full of glitter; shoujos and strong anime girls make me feel so safe, specially when I can relate more than ever with the pain and suffering that come with girlhood
yes!! i always felt the “i’m not like other girls” but that’s bc i never found other girls that liked anime but when i did-it made me so happy to be with other girls sharing the same interests
Tokyo Mew Mew… wow I feel seen. I could have written this, though I found it in 8th grade 😅 the healing process has been long, still unpacking stuff, but I do think it gave me a unique perspective on Internet culture and how it’s influenced such over the years
Honestly the moment I found out there’s literally an archive website of women’s feet out on the internet called ‘Wikifeet’ I immediately realised why this was necessary lmaoooo
Girls have always loved anime & arguably carried it stronger than male fans for years. It was girls in highschool who were in anime club, proudly open about liking anime, who got me out of my shell and able to be open about loving anime.
In Japan, it could be said that the otaku mostly comes from the women too. Like, the first convention, first cosplays ? Women. Kawaii aesthetic? Women. And then there is the shoujo and yaoi manga that probably got a bigger influence on all the industry than the shounen and nekketsu genre even if we see this everywhere. Otaku culture is in a big part feminine. Kind of tired that we always depict it as being dominated by males.
I've always had a love hate relationship with fanservice as a woman. I like seeing it (like on a monkey brain level), but it can absolutely be done wrong and taint a show. It all depends on the context
@@DemonicRemption Where it’s usually done right is an actual fanservice anime, because that’s where the fanservice actually makes sense it’s in the ecchi genre and that’s the literally the point of an ecchi Anime hence the name, but anywhere else like Shonen, Isekai and etc I do wonder is it necessary as that’s not the appeal of them I don’t mind it if it makes sense for the character in these genres but does it have to be so prevalent all the time especially when they already got a genre for Anime specifically for fanservice.
@@DemonicRemption it's very subjective, but I agree with the previous reply that if the show is billed as an ecchi then you're watching the show FOR fan service. It can't blindside you or ruin the show when it's actually the whole point of the show. First show that came to mind for me was High School of the Dead. Honestly it was a little too trashy for me, but it went so batshit crazy with its fanservice that I kinda respect it lol. Like it's bad when a show tries to be respectable and takes itself seriously but then throws way too many panty shots at you, but if a show is just there to be a goofy time and knows it, I'm okay with that.
I mean... tiddy mousepads can make woman really uncomfortable while edits make both male and female audience excited to see their fav character being cool or something
@@flipflopgirl I can understand that, altho i find tiddy mousepads to be funny asf tho i'm sorry if it makes people uncomfortable I do like anime edits too tho
@@flipflopgirl theres tiddy mouse pads and dick mouse pads. i had a dick mouse pad in my room and it made my guy friend uncomfy but then i found out he had a titty mouse pad
Akitaro Daichi never gets enough credit for what he's done to push shoujo anime forward and really embrace that power of femininity. Fruits Basket, Kodocha, and Kamisama Kiss would not be what they are without his direction and faith in a large female staff to make something great.
@@emtpmpknhed I've heard nothing about it being an exchange for a role. Daichi is very picky when it comes to his actors, so he either auditions people (usually non-actors) or complies with the requests of the original author, as is the case with Fruits Basket.
Growing up, I watched a lot of anime with my younger sister, but I was always careful to show her stuff that didn't have a ton of fan service or sexualization. I've honestly felt kind of bad about how I influenced her taste over the years since apparently she got teased for liking nerdy stuff, but she's been appreciative of me showing her anime that have had a strong impact on her. Watching this though, I feel like I gained a deeper understanding on how the anime we watched affected her, for me I just wanted to show her good shows that had depth and substance, but I hadn't considered that they were also positive examples of female empowerment that in turn helped her feel better about herself. I really loved this video, thank you for making it.
@@DarkEclipse23 There hundreds of thousands of anime that exist and many of them have little to no fan service, it's really not that crazy to have watched a bunch of anime without subjecting yourself to it.
That’s so cool 😊my sister is more into blood and guts or psychological stuff. She is starting to watch sailor moon and ghlibli now though so better late then never. I wish I could have started showing her them when she was a baby but I didn’t have any way to at the time 🫤. It’s great you were able to do that for yours❤
@@DanielSantosAnalysis Oh dear. Well, I guess if I think about the things I watched and read at her age, her watching habits aren’t so bad. The things I know about anyway 😑
One thing about anime I love is that there's something for everyone so even if you don't like fanservice, there's many anime that don't objectify women (like Fullmetal alchemist, Yona of the Dawn, Kiss him not Me). I also agree that you can love an anime but not like everything in it. I personally love Bleach but do think they need to chill on some of the fanservice. I also agree that a dude having his shirt off isn't the same as a women being half naked. People need to stop acting like it's the same.
That last part is a big one. What counts as fan service for men vs. women is very different. Men often make the mistake of thinking that since they tend to like large breasts and plump ass that a woman is going to have the same reaction if a toned guy is shirtless. Meanwhile, while male leads designed for women are often pretty, its usually specific non-sexual, but rather romantic or potentially sensual, interactions that women tend to care about.
@@hamdepaf6686 Exactly - until I see some highly detailed animation of a male jojo character dodging a bullet between his balls in slow motion (which I do not want to lol), we are not even close to equal lol
my first anime was pokemon, but growing up as a girl I always found myself more attached to shonen and the male characters in them; even if the girls weren't hypersexualized, they just weren't given the same depth as their male counterparts (i'm looking at YOU, kishimoto), but also sometimes when they were given depth, they were ultra effeminate and not something i found i could connect with- looking back and being transmasc now, i can really see the sheer disparity of development male characters often are given over female counterparts in shonen, but also how in the shojo i did like, they all primarily featured female leads crossdressing or being gender non-conforming, which played a huge part in why I liked them!
I relate to this. I’m an afab non-binary person and this is gonna be a bit of a vent. I’ve always like animated tv. I got into anime bc I was a huge Teen Titans fan and wanted something with similar animation. However, anime to me was often disappointing in female representation. I often liked the male characters more bc they had so much depth and strength and the female characters were SO sexualized I couldn’t get through a lot of anime because of it. However my guy friends were often fans of those kinds of animes. I understood that the characters were attractive, but often times the female characters were so sexualized that it became their main attribute and part in the story. I didn’t discover animes like Sailor Moon and Soul Eater until later in life (like last year) and I wonder how much better I would’ve seen myself if I had those kinds of characters. I still think a lot of animes fall flat when it comes to their female characters and I can’t really deal with outright sexualization for the sake of sexualization. I don’t think fan service is a bad thing, but there’s just SO much of it that it’s kinda hard to avoid. However, there are animes coming out with better female characters (right now I really enjoy chainsaw man) so I remain hopeful. It definitely was a contributing factor in my journey to discovering my gender identity. Also if u wouldn’t mind letting me know about the gender non conforming animes I would be very thankful 🙏
@nitedread2547 yes this is exactly it!! i loved soul eater back in the day but even that had hypersexualized designs of certain characters that could make it harder to enjoy sometimes! like in the video, it really just became something we had to accept if we wanted to watch shows or read manga. and for the two series, i can't say they've entirely aged well in some cases, but ouran high school host club meant a lot to me growing up, and then a shojo manga called hana-kimi: for you in full blossom! it's about a girl who cross-dresses to get into the all-male school of her track star idol, but it really impacted me growing up and how i started to feel about myself as i got older!!
@@kugrash YES EXACTLY! Love Soul Eater but there are aspects of it I really don’t enjoy. Same goes for chainsaw man. And I hate having to work around it to just relax and enjoy a show. Thank you for the recommendations! I’ll check them out 💕
yah kishimoto had prettygood female characters and sakura gets better, but boy is she underused after sasori. hinata could show more fights too. and anko, wtf fridge tat interesting underused character.
i love studio ghibli so much. The characters are honestly so relateable and it makes me so happy that these women aren't presented as a damsels in distress. We need more anime like studio ghibli tbh. (also has put my standards way to high LMAO)
I consider Re:Zero one of ðem. It doesn't have ðe usual cheap fan-service, and is a Character Study ðat basically treats every character as a protagonist, even if ðe main character is a guy. Jujutsu Kaisen and Mushoku Tensei are good as well. I say don't listen to people when ðey say ðe fan service in Mushoku Tensei is too much. Ðey have no idea what ðey're talking about. It is ðe most mature anime wið fan service you will find for ðis generation. Ðe sexually mature þemes are basically 10/10 in terms of spice but ðey are not cheap or indulgent about it. It's relatively mature, and if you feel anyþing like ðat happens, it's because ðe main character is ðat "Creepy perv" archetype but taken much more seriously and to furðer depþs and nuances, meaning he has a lot of oðer personality traits oðer ðan being horny or whatever. And his horniness doesn't even do anyþing for him since he reincarnated as a child and is physiologically a child. All he comes wið is memories. His first scene in ðe new world will immediately show you how þought out it is. I would honestly love to discuss it wið you guys. Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei are just really cool shows. And ðere's a reason why ðey were ðe Top 2 Best Novels in Japan.
One of my very first anime was Princess Tutu, which I am extremely grateful for. It showed me early on that a female character could be the hero (whilst also being extremely silly and flawed in her own way) and that a man could be the “damsel” in distress. In addition, the series actively avoided the “girls are dramatic and petty and can’t be friends” trope by making the female “rival” an extremely kind and complicated person on her own. Oh, now I really wanna rewatch it.
Tbh I wish the question of "can women like fanservice?" was tackled more in-depth, because for me the thing I think is worth examining is the way many defenders of fanservice in anime will say "plenty of women like the sexy fanservice too" and point to women who like doing cosplays of sexualized female characters (you do kind of tackle this by addressing how you enjoy many of these characters *in spite* of the fanservice around them), women who enjoy sexualized character designs, and women who are just really horny and for one reason or another simply don't let the implications of fanservice get in the way of them being horny. The common rebuttal to that I most often hear is "Oh those women have internalized misogyny", and while that can often be true I think that jumping to making that conclusion and ending the conversation there denies these women their agency, has really paternalistic overtones, and prevents a meaningful conversation about the myriad ways in which people engage with their sexuality.
I think a lot of the women really horny for them are bisexuals who are in relationships with men, or mostly seek male relationships. They repress the part attracted to women in real life and let it out when it comes to anime girls. Others, like cosplayers probably see themselves represented in the characters, as they'd have huge boobs and proportions not many women have.
I think fanservice can be enjoyable to women for various reasons: 1. Being attracted to women (obviously) 2. Seeing female characters sexualized regularly makes it easier to sexualize women yourself, and even appreciate it(or just overlook it). 3. Enjoying the aesthetics of attractive women 4. Finding these scenes funny and unrealistic 5. Admiration of sexy women (the kinds that dress in more revealing clothing. Not every scantily-clad woman is nuanced or powerful, but they can be interpreted that way, and sometimes they are designed like that. I’m thinking of how bayonetta was designed by a woman)
I actually really appreciate a video like this. I've been watching anime for nearly 30 years now and I'm very used to a lot of the tropes and idiosyncrasies of the medium. I love anime, but it is not without its flaws. And those flaws are especially noticeable to me when I'm trying to introduce my young children to anime. A lot of the things in anime that I've just gotten used to are very inappropriate in general and especially for my young kids. I've become very aware in recent years that anime has no rating system and so it's really difficult for me to pick shows for my children that they can watch and that I'm not going to have to explain to them why the male characters are having nosebleeds all the time...
@greyborg3846 I'm sorry, but you don't sound very knowledgeable of anime... How on Earth have you been watching anime for 30 years, which is equal to how long I've been watching anime yet you don't know about the numerous anime appropriate for kids?" Anime like Pokemon, Digimon, Astro-Boy, Pre-Cure, Hero Bank, Puzzle Dragon X, Sonic X, Hamtaro, Brave Beats, SD Gundam, and Gundam Build Fighters to name a few. But that question was rhetorical as I just remembered how many anime fans just follow trends instead of exploring the anime landscape like I and very few seem to do.
@@DemonicRemption They've watched about half of those already. I think the problem is that I never watched a lot of anime that were made for kids. And even things like Pokémon, Digimon, and GBF are all good anime they are all also violent. They're not explicit or gruesome, but they are violent and that's not what I would like my children to be watching.
Bisexual woman here. I love bouncing butts and tiddies, legs and tummies, men and women, and of course I love good fanservise. I've been shamed by people for liking fanservise because "it's wrong for a girl to like it" or 'haha you are dumb for liking fanservice, go and watch rEaL aNiMe" when I was a teen. Unpopular opinion but I think that the real misogyny starts when other people tell a real breathing woman what she should and shouldn't like, no matter how good their initial intentions are.
i guess it bothers me when it distracts from the story.. Plus sexualization often feels objectifying. idk just makes me sad that people are so obsessed with those things.. theres nothing inherently wrong with it.. but like i hate how people focus on those things rather than seeing people for who they are, regardless of their body... idk.. its not just an issue with fanservice in anime i feel, but media in general.. people internally are so much more than how they look..
@@selainx One of the reasons I can't watch anime in front of other people, or in front of my family is because 99% of anime today have some form of fanservice in it, and those scenes will look very very very weird to the normal people who don't usually watch anime. If it's not girls having half their tits out all the time, it's some weird fetishization of a loli/childlike character, or underaged school girls with unrealistic cup size and short skirts looking sus, or they make some weird noises like moaning for no reason. I've actually thought about it, what are anime that I could recommend to a "normie" who wouldn't feel weirded out by it, and the list is not long, especially when it is a recommendation for a family member.
@@selainxif you feel objectified by a drawing unrelated to you, you should probably do some introspective on that. Do you personally feel objectified when an irl woman show risky pictures on Instagram or other platform? Probably not, because it has nothing to do with you. Why would that suddenly not apply when the risky pictures are of a fictional character?
@@zxcvb3772 tell me this. Why is is absolutely normal to watch someone get mutilated or a execution scene, but wrong if a woman decides to show her tits to her male lover?
Beside yaois and shonen ai....which anime sexualised men ? Showing a male Upper body while being sexy is different as how shows treatfemales tho ... Their direct close ups to boobs or panties in weird poses while the female do t want that !!!! She felt, she didnt know, she has no agency.... Men, happen to exits and being seen while females ....SEE the difference
Me whose first contact to someone who likes anime (outside of dragonball or anime they didn't knew were anime) besides my brother was a BL loving fujoshi i met in an online chat back in last year of elementary school, who sent me her fanfictions to read and recommended her favourite manga/anime... Yeah, i saw my fair share of sexualized men in anime/manga in my lifetime.
@@Natalia-mj6ee Hitorijime My Hero is my favorite. However unfortunately there’s a lot more BL manga than actual anime because it’s hard to get that type of thing animated by a studio… 😂
Honestly I always found it really hard to get into anime, I always wanted to but couldn't get past the needless sexualisation. I've never been interested in romance either so finding a "girl" anime to avoid the male fan service that also had the same energy and action as the "boy" animes has been difficult. I nearly stopped watching chainsaw man but I'm really glad I didn't because it proved to be nuanced but still goofy and I love it. One of the main reasons I enjoy this channel is because I can find good animes that I never would've found otherwise and I'm very grateful for it. It's so nice to feel understood and know that anime isn't just for boys and that it also isn't just romance for girls ❤
to be fair, if you hear people talk about a "GREAT ANIME" and it's super popular and everyone's talking about it, feel free to ignore it. I have never watched Naruto, Bleach, Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, any of that stuff. I have watched some shounen, mind you, but it's just meh. And while a lot of anime I do like has fan service, a lot doesn't. Such as magical girl anime. I recommend Princess Tutu, Cardcaptor Sakura, Shugo Chara, Mermaid Melody, Little Witch Academia, Pretty Cure (I'd try one of the newer ones, I really like Pretty Cure Delicious Party) and anime that's not magical girl anime. Like Aikatsu!, Acchi Kocchi, Azumanga Daioh, Fruits Basket (watch the newer one), Hibike! Euphonium, Toilet Bound Hanako Kun, Vampire Knight, Lycoris Recoil, Lapis Re:Lights, Red Data Girl, Snow White with the Red Hair, etc etc. And there's more mature anime you can watch, more childlike, in general just don't go off of popular recommendation all the time. Like literally scroll through pirate websites like gogoanime or something. Or myanimelist. A lot of anime is also pretty dated, so watch out for that. In general, get up an anime list together, and try out some yuri anime. And if you do come across fanservice, don't feel bad for being upset. You're allowed to want to feel comfortable.
To help get over that even further just understand that anime is a medium not a genre. I think people on the outside think anime is just the popular genre that gets attention and not the rest of the iceberg. One guy called it childish before and im like…well we don’t see films as childish because pixar films like Toy story are popular
Totally agree with your point at 13:57! One thing I like about anime is the character diversity. In so many mainstream shows that I watched before I started watching anime, in order for a woman to be strong, she needed to be cold and distant also (Katniss Everdeen, Captain Marvel, etc.), and anime throws that rule out the window, not just for women, but for everyone (guys can cry too!). And it’s the fact that we’re able to empathize and get to know these characters so well that allows me to really enjoy this medium.
i kinda disagree on the katniss one as the movies left out a lot of her real characterisation but yeah it is kinda the gist of it but i excuse it since it was the only way she could survive in that dystopian world. captain marvel tho? cant defend that movie as much as i like the mcu.
I agree with the statement but I also do have a problem with a lot of the comments and find the video statement a bit contradictory in its understanding of men. She is right about what she said about women and how there are a lot of genres and shows that caterers to their liking and that is good that is what Anime as a franchise should up-hold but at the same time how men and women thinks and view the world aren't the same and whoever says it is are wrong there is not argument in that. Women tends to like details, emotional and impactful quotes something that makes them feel empowered and related. While men are more visual more simple in their wants and needs rather than relatabke they want what they can reach/become, if there is explosions car chase and cheescakes they're happy its the best anime ever for the majority of them men are visual creatures and men as a whole biologically have higher sexual drive so from a marketing stand point give them a big chested women with guns and they're happy best written female protagonist in Anime. The thing I felt like its contradictory is that while there are a great genre for women why are we trying to attack the male gaze genre? this is exactly what Marvel is doing and failed miserably why are we still in 2023 trying to force educate men and shame them for their gaze and likes let them have their bikini boobies girl like who cares I think the statement should be how as that people who consume the genre of more female centric side of Anime how should we improve our products,how should we improve our marketing and how should we expand the market so that these side of genre can get the same respect as Goku flexing and Edging himself for 2 episodes straight, in every male catered genre there is always going to be skimpy girls thats for them and if we wanted to educate men to atleast know that like "hey women are more than just that" then I think concentrating of how the genre of female centered products can expand within the mainstream men have big titted bikini girl so what? Lets stop this concentration of what is in the men's genre and what is in the "male gaze" lets start the topic on how can we improve the market of female catered anime products. Force education will never work schools proved that it done more harm than good in a lot of cases in these day and age,in theory it might be all great to force stop men from gazing but no it will just result in rebellion lets stop worrying about what the men are gazing on and start to widen and improve the product of female centered genres by just concentrate on said genre if market is big enough men will definitely watch it if the writing and production is good enough men will watch it its always as the old saying goes "to educate men make them think that it is their idea" always till to this day proof to be right
strong, badass, s'xy/beautiful, independent, complex/depth, and etc, female characters in movies 1. ripley (aliens) 2. sarah conner (terminator) 3. jasmine (aladdin) 4. ariel (little mermaid) 5. selene (underworld) 6. alice (resident evil) 7. o'neil (G.I. Jane) 8. lara croft (tomb raider) 9. april o'neil (TMNT) 10. carrie (carrie) 11. the female MCs in many various horror flicks (friday the 13, nightmare on elm street, halloween, hellraiser, etc) 12. charlie (firestarter) 13. aeon flux (aeon flux) 14. princess leia (star wars: 1-6) 15. clarice (silence of the lambs) 16. "the bride"/black-mamba (kill bill) 17. dr. ellie sattler (JP1) 18. ultra violet (ultra violet) 19. adrian (rocky) 20. baby doll and others (sucker punch) 21. rose and cybil and alessa (silent hill) 22. hit girl (kickass 1-2) 23. jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit) 24. holly (cool world) 25. diana / wonder woman (wonder woman) 26. blade's mother (blade 1) and the black female hemo-blood scientist partner of blade (blade 1) and the vampire princess (blade 2) 27. trinity (matrix) 28. mia (pulp fiction) 29. cat woman (batman) 30. hermione (harry potter) 31. dorothy (wizard of oz) 32. katnis (hunger games) 33. beatrix/trix (divergent) 34. river tam (serenity) 35. dottie (a league of their own) 36. the girl in riddick 37. rita (edge of tomorrow) 38. alita (battle angel alita) 39. the girl (logan) 40. mystique, storm, jean grey, and etc (x-men) 41. black widow and etc (MCU) 42. Hanna (Hanna) 43. Furiosa (mad max) 44. domino harvey (domino) 45. jess (bend it like beckem) 46. leeloo (the 5th element) 47. mulan (mulan, disney's old/original animated film) 48. Jo (Twister) 49. Guinevere (King Arthur) 50. the female MC in The Ring 51. the female MC in stealth 52. the female MC (morgan/morgana, I think, too lazy to look up, lol) in Cutthroat Island 53. the female MC in million dollar baby 54. elvira (elvira mistress of the dark) 55. evelyn-evie / nefertiti (mummy 1-2) 56. sonya blade (mortal kombat) 57. the female MC in Anaconda 58. the female MC in city of ember 59. the female MC in the mortal instruments: city of bones 60. the female MC in mortal engines 61. the female MC (the nurse) in 28 days later and 28 weeks later 62. the female MC in the Grudge 63. the female MC in Hancock 64. the female MC in Wanted 65. the female MC in V for Vendetta 66. the female MC in the Golden Compass 67. maleficent (maleficent) 68. Elsa (frozen) 69. esmeralda (hunchback of notre dame) 70. the female MC in Annihilation 71. the female kryptonian 2nd in command (man of steel) 72. alice (alice in wonderland) 73. snow white (the huntsman) 74. salt (salt) 75. the psychic rookie (dredd) 76. the girl (actress: keira knightly, but forgot her character name, too lazy to look up) in pirate of caribean 77. lucy (lucy) 78. motoko kusanagi (ghost in the shell, but its uber KRAP hollywood movie of the legendary GiTS, sighs, not deserving of being put here, but it is a strong bad'ss independent female lead, even if they totally got Motoko all wrong, sighs) and many many many more
@@veen-a2092 "it resulted in rebellion" That just mean us men must have more self controls lmao. Like, I myself is a straight man that appreciates some aspects of traditional masculinity, but I also do saw how harmful if us men cannot control ourselves from oozing at women's bodies and frickin rebelled if someone teach us that. Like, are we that utterly stupid to not be able to control ourselves? For me, men not be able to control ourselves is shame, a *big* shame to us really
@@enterurnamehere27 It is true majority of men are indeed "oozing at women with no self-control" to have a fair playground men are biologically born with higher sexual drive than women and due to us living in a more patriarchal world and society majority of men are not taught self-control and discipline the majority of anime-geek culture is dominated by men more than women I really do think that during the late2000s-2010s that we have great female characters these day and age they took it to another level and force "diversity" and force "strong female character" that are just a toxic musculine trait that is being package in a female skin.I do think that anime have a lot of great female characters that are not just eye-candy and I find videos like these a bit hypocritical when they only bashed the eye-candy characters and doesn't explore the numbers of great female characters and then proceed to complain about it as I have stated it is still dominated by male audiences so mainstream anime shows will usually be more catered to a typical straight male gaze and my argument is that thats ok cause thats just one market rather than complaining about that why not concentrate on female gaze or female market anime side to improve how do we expand our market and if we want to expand how can we get some of those typical anime fans to say "oh! this anime is actually quite good"etc...These days its just complaining and whining and I'am actually kind of sick of this culture of whinning,policing,complaining rather than trying to take an action to improve certain market or contents it is so lazy to me cause it is so easy to complain and force demands rather than working for its improvement. It should never be about male gaze vs female gaze in the first place in my opinion it should be about "How do we improve and widen the field of this market?" Even the video creator herself acknowledge that anime and manga catered to different genres and liking and then proceed to say that women are only sexualised in shounen Ai genre and again Shounen Ai is a male catered genre so the statement of anime catering to different people and genre just make no sense, I truly do understand that a lot of female characters are written like such a waste in some manga but in the end I also understand that that the genre is a male power fantasy and also not acknowledging the fact that there a loads of great written female characters in mainstream anime like Saber from fate stay Night literally all women in fate stay Night tbh,Mikasa,potato girl etc....in AOT badass women characters they don't even show skin or any sort of sexualised they're just badass etc etc etc like there are tons of badass women that are not just eye-candy even in shounen ai is a bit hypocritical statement and lets be fair it is more catered for male target audience it is a male power fantasy show some cleavage or booty if needed for marketing cause in the end of the day the market is a young male and if some women don't like that then there is a Shoujo anime so why are we trying to invade a media that is catered to young men when we already have a media that is catered for women why not just concentrate to better and improve that genre rather than complaining about mens media
The fanservice in shoujo is not based on working out and being cool. They don't want muscles in shoujo, I'm facing it. The dudes have gotta be pretty-pretty, not just "pretty," "pretty-pretty!" Like they're from some K-pop group with aegyo. That much.
I think specially Hayao Miyazaki, I’ve admired as having strong independent women as protagonists… and specially in film, it is seen as if it’s always the man that gets that role, and the women’s only purpose is to just be vulnerable almost, just waiting for the man to save them. Hayao Miyazaki has always done differently, he’s shown that any women can have the strength and confidence just as any ordinary man.
@@Jet-ij9zc which is played for laughs and carries zero weight for the characters or the story, making the "consequence" utterly meaningless. Especially when the character does it on purpose, and you know they're going to be right back at it, again & again. It's just the anime studio's way of "softening" it so they can get away with it, without getting criticized for it (and it's maybe a flimsy way to make _themselves_ feel better about doing it). It's them having their cake & eating it too. It's still super gross, and you could debate that it's worse than _not_ having instant retaliation at all.
@@BlackieChan7.62 Ye, but cartoons glorifying and perpetuating something awful is obviously still a bad thing even if no actors were directly subjected to it
finding shoujo anime was such a pivotal part of my life lol, I would not be the same person I am today without Kyoko Mogami and Princess Yona. I really appreciated hearing your thoughts!
9:00 its so unexpected to here a Claymore mention today! An underrated anime Gem, dark fantasy epic that just stays intense and interesting, without betraying any sense of audience intelligence
While i agree ghibli has better female characters. I dont agree with labeling Disney princess as damsel in distresses because thats not who they really were. They are just misunderstood
ok so I didn't care about characters' genders when I first started watching anime but today I love seeing badass or overall well-written female characters but it's not because I'm a girl myself (it's probably because I've seen enough good male characters and less good female ones). I never truly understood what is femininity. I'm just myself and don't label my or others' personalities based on their gender, so that may be why I don't get femininity. Great video, thanks :>❤
Characters genders were not a big deal back in the day. But over the past seven years media has made race, genders and sexulity the main focus on Characters in entertainment.
I really related to what you mentioned about fanservice. When I first started to get into anime I found it really jarring but over time I guess I've become more accustomed to it.
Despite the glaring flaws of the English localization that Funimation did, the anime adaptation of Ouran Highschool Host Club was exactly what I needed to see when I was a tween and early teenager who didn't know he was trans yet. When I still thought I was a girl, Haruhi was exactly who I needed to see say what I was also thinking. She genuinely didn't care what gender people saw her as, and that made me feel more normal. The fact that it also had boy characters who were allowed to be pretty and emotional in both comedic and dramatic ways definitely helped me feel less... _incorrect,_ for lack of any better terms. Specifically Tamaki being a hopeless romantic, and Honey getting to be cute and cheerful in ways that in hindsight read to me as "girly" when I was like 12 are important things for how I conceptualize my own trans masculinity now. I wasn't "less of a girl" for what was in hindsight my egg behavior- since that label really did feel right at that time -and I'm not "less of a man" now for being a hopeless romantic that likes sweets and cute things. The English dub is really bad about the Zuka Club (at least in the first episode they're in, anyway) and _weirdly_ transphobic about Haruhi's crossdressing dad, but I do think I'd be worse off now if I didn't see it when I did. Relentlessly 2000's as it is, it still means a lot to me. This isn't even mentioning how Sailor Moon got me through my second mental hospital stay, or how Pokémon, Black Butler, and Studio Ghibli have helped me find my footing and scrape together enough self-confidence to talk to people over the years. Heck, I could go on for ages about how important the manga Uzumaki is to me as the first actual horror thing that kept me up at night after I first read it and somehow actually protrays a really healthy romantic relationship in a genre you'd least expect to find it. Anime was important to me as a girl, and it's now even more important to me as a boy- _especially_ shoujo. Never underestimate shoujo anime and manga. Tomie ran in a shoujo horror magazine. _Tomie._ There really is something in that pool for everybody if you bother to look.
Ouran High School Host Club was the first medium of cross dressing I could stand. It did not make me uncomfortable, or embarrassed. It is something I have not come across before or since Ps I'm a trans guy
The Promised Neverland is more important of a Shonen but the female characters are important to the story (one is a protag) and are written very well. There is absolutely no sexualization whatsoever. They all have there own goals and have strengths and weakness of their own. I strongly recommend the anime and manga for girls or really anyone that want to see something like that.
@@whatsyourname9581 I know if may feel tp be the bare minimum, but many people whould still write it in that way. Underage girls are still heavily sexuilaized in anime.
As a huge Ghibli fan, I would LOVE to see this topic 17:27 have it's own video. I’ve never thought about why I love the Ghibli movies and protagonists so much growing up, but the points laid out made perfect sense, and I would love to hear more of an analytical viewpoint on this!
What a goofy notion that two people can’t talk about the same subject without it being labeled as “copying”. I for one, would love to hear Inakyu’s personal thoughts and opinions on this topic because I enjoy her analysis style. Calling it copying is just silly imo. If you prefer cinema therapy’s content, then why not just watch their stuff?
I dont really like fan service as a guy since I feel like im getting patronized, like the animators think I dont care about their story if there isnt big boobs on the screen. Its like those joke tiktoks about kids not being able to listen unless there is subway surfers playing in the background. I love jjk since I can like female characters for being good characters rather than for being hot.
That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with fan service but the rather the immaturity of how it's depicted. Shonen manga is for little boys. So a lot of the fanservice is done with that in mind just like the simplistic stories of good triumphing over evil through the power of friendship and hardwork
I related so bad with the shoujo part haha. I'm just a mexican guy in my mid 20s and have been watching anime since I was like 5. I was always exposed to girl shows (not just anime) because of my sister who is 6 years older than me. Eventually, when I really got into anime, I always found shoujo so comforting to read/watch. Even today I'd say about 80% of my current manga list is filled with shoujo and josei. It's insane the amount of stories people are missing out on just because "they're for girls" as if it was a bad thing. Embrace shoujo fellas, you won't regret it.
I love that Anime has something for everyone. The women are beautiful and the men are strong but in anime their characterization and story is what really draws one in.
As someone who has been watching anime since i was a child, i took a very long break watching it in my teen years due to the exact issues you discussed. I have recently rediscovered my love for anime and i realized that there is sooooo much other anime other than the popular ones (which i do enjoy lol). Im even reading mangas now 😊
Dude , same here !!! I’ve been reading a lot of manga lately I discovered lately. I finally broke off my break from anime because of some the fan services, I didn’t mind but at some point it was insane , before you’ll get laughed at or scare the normal girls . Personally I like mangas more because I feel like it’s less cringe, depending on what series I’m reading or watching
your mention of yoko from ttgl in the beginning really nails down why it's okay to enjoy something while also criticise it. yoko is an incredible and amazing character .... who just so happens to have a really rough introduction in the series. she will always be one of my favourite anime characters, because even though trigger kind of went for the "have your cake and eat it too" approach, at the very least, they made an incredible character in spite of the fanservice (and tbh if it weren't for her age, id probably be less critical. ffs i feel like im too old for this show now because of the pre-timeskip arc 💀) i think you nailed it why anime was so interesting to me growing up. ive always been obsessed with cartoons growing up, but i found myself drawn specifically to the variety of stories told by anime. sure, some of the fanservice laden shonen annoyed me, but i also grew up loving sailor moon too. there's so many different stories that, while some of my favourite cartoons are western make (my first and second favourite animated shows are not anime!) i will never take for granted how much the world of japanese animation introduced me to how diverse and challenging storytelling in "cartoons" could be.
Yoko's fanservice has never been somehing that diminished her character. She's good looking AND a wonderfully written character, part of the reason many young boys (the main target for the anime) became to appreciate her was also because of how the anime shows her body. It's not just eye candies, fanservice sometimes serves as a mean to focus your attention to a specific character in order to better appreciate their development. That's the same logic they used when they made Kamina as such a badass and cool character; his epic lines and action moments are fanservice too, but without them we wouldn't find him so relatable and iconic. We westerners have a problem with sexualization because of the christian tradition that tells us sex is impure, lust is a sin and women should only have sex for the purpose of having children. Japanese don't have this bigot mentality about sex and nudity, so they treat sexualization as any other narrative device to keep you focused on the character and enjoy even more the scenes
Any video that mentions Fushigi Yugi gets an automatic thumbs up for me. Love that anime, it also one of my core favorites that shaped my anime experience as a teen.
@@outakuchan1222 I believe yes. It has a lot of great characters, serious topics but with some comic relief built in, and one of the rare times a shoujo series got a full anime adaptation to complete the story. The OAVs aren't as solid but still good.
Can't believe you mentioned Shoujo Isekai without mentioning Magicknight Rayearth. That's still one of my favorite Isekais of all time. And totally agree with you about Ghibli's heroines. They are what people should strive for when writing about a Strong Heroine. They are strong and independent but they EARNED all of those traits and not because someone else handed down the power to them. That's why they are so powerful and relatable. BTW, I'm a guy but I like reading Shoujo manga and I know there are lots of male fans like me out there.
There are also two lesser known Shojo-esque anime that came into my mind. Escaflowne and The 12 Kingdoms. Both feature a young female character who learn over time more about themselves and their surroundings. Escaflowne is more romance and mecha fight oriented (every genre is included in the anime, drama, comedy, horror etc.) Twelve Kingdoms focuses more on politics and social norms (more critical)
I always loved fanservice moments as a kid as long as they were between whoever I was shipping in the series. 😂 All the other moments I was desensitised to. I watched my anime on youtube and back in the day, people posted the most crazy, uncensored shows there. I was so small and stupid. I remember my favourite anime at 10 was Panty & Stocking. Before that I had watched ranma, Please Teacher, Ikki Tousen. These shows were not for my age group AT ALL but they did introduce me to sexuality, they also made me more open to same sex relationships and taught me not to judge girls by what they wear because they have the ability to be badass, no matter how they dress (be this in a skimpy uniform, full on armour or an adorable dress). I love all facets of anime honestly. So yes I like fan-service, not for the same reasons that guys like it, but because it represents how anime is free to do whatever the hell it wants. (Which I love but is both good and bad 😅)
I watched Ranma when I was 11-12 with my mom and we both found nothing majorly wrong with it! From what I remember, the “fanservice” consisted of bathing scenes and some bikini outfits. My mom had no problem with either because she knew women wearing bikinis at the beach and taking baths were regular behavior. Plus, Akane stuck up for herself and didn’t take any crap from Ranma, so she was a positive role model in that regard. I’m 16 now and Ranma kind of helped with undoing the aversion to the slightest bit of nudity that my heavily Christian father instilled in me, so I’ll always thank it for that!
I love these types of videos, I'm a woman myself so seeing other girls and women who I relate to makes me very happy. I for sure need to get into more shoujo, I have seen many, but I still think the majority of stuff I watch is clearly meant for boys, and while I do like plenty of these anime, I am sure I am missing out on so many stories that were created by other women.
Also if you want a show that has well written female characters then watch Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood. Every character is important and the story is made by an amazing female mangaka. She only had one moment if fanservice and that was with the one character for a one time gag. Never happens again. The best female character in the series in my opinion is Mrs. Izumi Curtis. She is powerful and the mentor of the main protagonist, also having no over sexualization of her and her character is not just one thing. She is a character that will steal your heart.
I agree. Not to mention that Izumi and her husband are my favorite couple in that series. They have such sweet interactions and I love how their relationship is still going strong even after the terrible loss of their child and not being able to have any more.
@@britt6184 I love the relationship and I think it is the best as well. Ed and Rin are the second. But I love how he is always there to catch her when she is not okay and how she is someone you can rely on when you need help. Also my favorite scene of her are when she met both homunculus and attacked them. Then introduced herself.
I am one of the boys but I have always waaaaaay preferred shoujo for all the reasons you said! They feel more like real people with actual thoughts that I a regular person would have. Big ups to Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, Little Witch Academia, Yona of the Dawn, every Ghibli movie ever, and to the goat of all time The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Really great video!!
Definitely missed Revolutionary Girl Utena there. most badass girl in anime, while addressing directly what it means to be the prince, and a woman in a story
I'm just a guy and don't feel like I should comment here, but I haven't seen one of my favorite "shojou type" anime mentioned. "Land of the Lustrous" It's similar to Claymore as in the cast is primarily women. All the characters are distinctive and beautifully written and they all help each other grow and learn. I'm genuinely upset more people haven't heard about it.
Land of the Lustrous is technically a seinen (adult male demographic), though it's kind of a funny case where it feels like it slides more into "seinen as a default, any-gender demographic" than "seinen for men." I'd also put Hourou Musuko/Wandering Son in this camp. These kinds of series are drawn and written by women and have a very tangible shoujo/josei feel, as you noted, but because they are technically categorized as "male demographic" it's hard to figure out where to fit them in this conversation. The shoujo/josei label in and of itself does often lead people to write series off, while those same people may give more leeway to series like Land of the Lustrous because it's 'seinen.' When you look at the discussion around the dearth of shoujo/josei anime or how low quality they are, for example, it's not a coincidence that Land of the Lustrous and Wandering Son were actually given well-produced, high budget anime adaptations, in contrast to shoujo or josei manga getting lower budget or non-existent anime adaptations. (Though Land of the Lustrous got hit with the 'no second season' bat, so maybe it's a real josei after all 🥲) It's a complicated subject! But Land of the Lustrous is a beautiful series and I agree with your recommendation. (Though I dunno if I'd consider the cast to be female character representation, since they're kinda genderless, but they do definitely read as more feminine to a western audience.)
It is pretty annoying that shounen anime has to be criticized from a female standpoint while it is FOR BOYS originally and should not need to care for what girls think while shoujo anime can keep only catering to girls exclusively. The usual crap of only the "male gaze" being problematic but the "female gaze" is a-okay.
It’s just the same “ew that’s for boys, this thing for girls is superior” stuff from elementary school. I see this happen for any hobby or media that seems to be mostly partaken in by men, or directed at men (comics, sports, games, novels, etc), from women who don’t necessarly even like it, but still watch or partake in the media despite accusing that hobby or media sexist. You’ll see some women critsize Shounen or any media as “male gaze” as a bad thing, acting as if the target audience literally wasn’t male or if their own targeted media doesn’t do the same things that can be deemed “objectfying”.
7:18 hard disagreement on the dudes aren’t made to be looked at as sexy seeing as how dudes got shirts and pants off and you’re acting as if men and women don’t think muscle isn’t sexy that’s cap dudes btw do it because it gets you stronger healthy and sexy as for fan service it’s a gray area same with gore and can be it’s own genre a pillar of anime better to stay then not makes it unique
Ok but objectively having your guy be ripped off flexing their abs like Zoro is sexualising males... if you don't think so then like, idk what to say other then that's blatant sexism as guys can get sexualised.
The issue with her argument and others who have the same mentality is that they only look at male Characters in media for men and be like : " um Actually guys aren't Sexualized they're power fantasy " However they don't look at media aimed for women like shojo and BL when they make this argument because men are Sexualized and objectified there, albeit differently
THANK YOU. The problem is that in media, when the men are being sexualized, when the male character has a shirt that exposes his chest, or is shirtless and muscular or is naked even, women view it as “oh well that’s what MEN like” or don’t view it as sexualization at all no matter what, yet those same women say they want equal sexualization of these characters (which is a lie). It doesn’t matter if you want it to be equal if you disregard the male characters being sexualized, and you only care to pay attention about “sexualization” when it happens to female characters, which in that case, why would the writers listen to you then? Your clearly not the intended audience regardless of if the sexualizing is equal, you just hate it that they sexualized a female fictional character.
My distaste for fanservice relies solely on the way the women are written in a show. I don't hate it at all when the women are well rounded characters who are badass in their own way. They don't even need to be as strong as the men, if they are still *needed* for the story to be successful. One Piece and Fairy Tail hit that for me. One Piece *needs* Nami and Robin, and Fairy Tale *needs* Erza and Lucy. Especially Erza, but I always liked Lucy. Also, One Piece gave us Zoro, who is somehow both male and female fan service. Thank you Oda for blessing us with that man 🙏 If there's equal fan service for women that *understands* what women want (even if it's on accident) the anime also gets a free pass from me. But when the women are ONLY there to be fan service or love interests, that's when I am VERY bothered by it. Or when it's OBVIOUSLY minors, especially when the anime is catered towards an older audience.
I really liked this video! I am a straight guy, and wanted to make sure anime the medium that i love to interact with wasn't just misogyny for misogyny's sake. I like your disection of the surface level perception of anime and how it truly is more than that. There are tons and tons of anime and manga for women, written by women and have strong female leads. Its a shame that some bad characters can indeed be female and written by females but the same can be said for men too. I just want competent writers making competent characters and stories. You made me realize that... Shirtless, strong dudes aren't really for women at all. Their for young boys to try and insert themselves into the power fantasy of being strong and able to tear apart a city block with a single punch. Like in the last season of demon slayer there is a shirtless enemy with stone dragons. I remember going "This guy is so fucking cool and imposing." He looks cool cause he is strong and shirtless. I want you Inakyu to continue to make whatever videos you want! I am glad this one exists cause many girls are sure to go through the same worries about how fanservicey and horny anime can be. And become unable to relate to anything this medium can offer.
It's annoying how multi-layered fan service is, given it's weird mix of marketing and differences in cultural norms. western live action shows, like Game of Thrones and West World are very much guilty of the same, but it is rampant across the board with anime. You can kind of shrug it off as "sex sells, especially around the target demographic", but it really does feel pervasive. That's not to say there isn't also a great deal of sexism and poorly written women across the board too. The women in Naruto are prime examples. Not only do they get the short end of the stick on character development, I can't recall a single time a woman ever won a fight against a man in the entirety of the series. At least, not cleanly. (canonically, Sasori LET himself be killed) It's just such a shame shoujo aren't more popular. I loved Cardcaptor Sakura, Escaflowne, and Inuyasha as a preteen. I have fond memories of laughing at how flustered Syaoran would get around Sakura with my younger brother, even... I'm in my thirties now, and it's frustrating to watch the medium get absolutely saturated with jiggle physics, harems, and generic power fantasies. it's like growing up on healthy food and watching the next generation get served nothing but Hot Cheetohs. It's a disservice to everyone. young women learn to accept being objectified and portrayed as damsels without agency, and young men develop "nice guy syndrome", which is to say they get it in their heads that performing a series of stereotypically polite actions (aka treating women like actual fucking people) is supposed to unlock some sort of sex/affection prize because that's how it happens in every other anime nowadays 🙄
Mutli-layered is one thing. But where's the line... If a girl goes out and puts on a dress to look good, and she show's a bit of cleevage... is she now technically doing "fan-service" to the general public? What about a character doing the same thing, wearing the same dress? Posting the same images to their fictional instagrams? Can characters not do what real girls do, without it being "fan service"? I think the feminist agenda to scrutinize any and every female character is going a bit too hard these days, because currently probably every television show in the world has some feminist somewhere going "that's sexist//fanservice" while others would actually say "it's female empowerment". Meanwhile, any and every male character is fine... apparantly... the double standards of feminists is so obvious to everyone else... What we need to combat hyper-sexualized fan-service, is not to attack any and every instance of female characters in media, but rather choosing our battles carefully and also distinguishing between "bad storytelling" in general and "bad sexist writing", because a lot of characters that are just.. poorly written... are taken by feminists as "sexist" characters. (of course, exclusively when it's female characters). For instance, a male character without agency is just a boring character. Most people agree. But lo and behold, a female character without agency... IS SEXIST WRITING! well, according to some of the more delusional feminists. When a male character is saved by someone else, it's a nice moment of heroism and someone being saved. But lo and behold, if a female character gets saved??? IT SEXIST. Well, accoridng to delusional people. Feminists, fix your standards and cut the drama, or continue to not be taken seriously by anyone but yourselves.
I’ve loved anime because it helped to see the girls with big boobs like me unashamedly bouncing around with my body image. Even though they meant it as a joke, it was up front for all to see without the threat of another person getting on them to put them away because the men don’t understand that they just can’t deflate them like how men in churches think they function.
@@gandalainsley6467It does, and it's not just about breasts. As a woman with big breasts myself, there is a difference between larger breasts and breasts that fully have a mind of their own/breasts that are impossibly large and/or placed on children (e.g., Dragon Maid).
@@ladynoluck Dragon maid is not a child, just a tiny lady. There are a lot of those in real life. Also yes I know that some anime have interesting sizes of booba.
I truly appreciate this kind of videos. When I try to talk about how women are portrayed in anime there's always a kind of tired response that goes "Well, it's just part of the medium" Which I guess, fair enough, but it's still important to talk about it and try to understand it.
While I have enjoyed the video quite a lot, and I do feel like it provided me with new insight, I can't help but feel it failed to be about fanservice. It's more of a, "yes, fanservice sucks, but here's what doesn't have it and is fun!" Hell, going by the timestamps, the fanservice portion of the video is shorter than the ad read (although the section "anime is more than shounen" did also touch on the topic). The video seems to paint all type of fanservice as bad, and while it is the case most of the time, I do believe it can be done in a tasteful way. There's a difference between, "haha, isn't SA funny?" in show like Fire Force, and something out of Chainsaw Man. Seeing it on your shelf, I had expected it to come up at some point and was quite surprised to see it never did.
Talking about Ghibli female characters, Shizuku from Whisper of the Heart needs more attention and the reveal of When Marnie was There totally fooled me-if you know you know
Another good mention is Skip beat, about a girl driven by revenge/betrayal by becoming an actor but found passion in it. There's an old anime but it's only 24 episodes while the manga is 280+ chapters and art got so much better now
I would argue some animes such as Fairy Tail do sexualize men for a female audience. It's clearly presented in a suggestive way sometimes, but for sure there is only a few in comparison.
how did you get it, muscular males are not sexual objectification, muscular males are disgusting, and only the males themselves and short-sighted females like them, but muscular females are cool, of course if anime makes muscular females, it is of course just as pathetic as everyone else in anime
Now do some math, consider the statistics for ratios of how many male vs female viewers there are of anime - you'd probably find that in a world where 50 % of audience were female, you could forsee a huge increase in sexualization of males. Also we could count all the shirtless guys as being sexualized.... because unlike the statements in this video, "shirtless men" does absolutely nothing for normal males, and is not part of any "bro-fantasy". Come on now, lets count what you'd count in a gender bended scenario... at least do that... Also lets factor in how attraction works differently in general for the two genders. For males it's frankly too easy to be attracted, and super-duper easy to cater to it for the writers of anime, anytime, anywhere. When writers have the same intention to arouse female audience, it'd be done less blatantly and it'd seem more like a "romantic" storyline, which I bet the feminists are going to ignore, "since it's so nice with romance" - must go nicely with those double standards, it's still about arousing the audience. But yes, even despite all this, I'd say females are obviously more sexualized than males. The point is just... it's not really an extreme difference.
No need for the maths here. I mean, you probably SHOULD be able to forsee a huge increase in sexualization of males in a perfect world. But can you realistically forsee it in our modern era despite the 50% female audience? I really doubt it for now. I don't think she's entirely wrong with the shirtless men being a part of a bro-fantasy and being made for a male audience. I think there is a difference to make when it's sexualized and when it isn't. When it's presented in a not particularly sexualized but still suggestive way, I think it's indeed made for the bro-fantasy life, like it would be for girls' make up, haircut to make them look pretty and so on. The difference is quite subtle though I'll admit. I agree that man sexualization definitely exists in animes though. It's just really rare in comparison to female sexualization. There is fundamentally no difference regarding how attraction works between the two genders. It's just general social differences deeply rooted in society writers clinge to and reproduce as if it was a biological truth because they've always been told it is this way. And the audience does as well, just like she said with female writers who reproduce these tropes of differences in attraction like men are easier to attract and things like that. Trying to attract women with romance is also one of these old tropes, like only girls read shojos. The reality is vastly different. Not going for the tropes means explicit sexualization should also be presented to girls. I think the problem is just it's never presented to girls the same way in the first place so as a woman you can even start to believe you have to love romance because you're a girl. As she says in the video, the first anime audience is still men so the difference in sexualization between both genders is still huge. Even in a gender bended scenario, woman sexualization is still way more present on average.
Can agree with some points here, but attraction do really work differently for the genders generally speaking. The research that supported your views that I found, was quite jarringly reductive of how attraction works (and often super politically charged and biased, btw). For instance a big part of the research was tests where they show sexualized pictures and measure brain activity to compare differences between genders, in order to conclude there's no difference between them when the brain activity seems to "flare up similarly" in similar areas. So the whole premise for the test, is a reductive understanding of attraction based on... images and flaring brain activity? What about actions, words, gradually getting to know somebody, what about the real world, the real experience of feeling attraction. What about romance? Does the test measure that? It's not a reliable method. There's so much more to attraction than what the biased excuse for "science" by liberal agenda on the topic makes it out to be. And when I looked at people's answers about their own attraction, there seems to be much more difference in the way females vs males answer. I suggest doing this, really go and google and find forum posts with people sharing how they believe they are attracted. But anyway, this is just a typical case of "statistics and numbers are easy to manipulate to mean anything". The biased agenda you're talking about is trying to make it seem like there are no differences between males and females, in order to achieve some notion of equality... but it's just another case of spreading misinformation for sake of politics.@@kyurei4478
@Exsulator2 I sadly have to disagree here though. Attraction doesn't work differently for the genders in general. The differences rather reveal in isolated cases, not a generality. I didn't pick a particular test to say this and point at an invalid research right away. Your own claim seems reductive in the first place. The studies that support a difference between male and female attraction are already heavily influenced by the internalization of the patriarcal tropes which biases thiese results and provoke these differences. It's well known that all of this starts from infancy. Beside that, it's actually a less biased way to measure it by looking at the brain activity directly. Words are also much more left to interpretation and don't necessarely produce the same effect from one individual to another. It's a reductive understanding of attraction solely based on your own opinion on attraction. All the points you're mentioning: action, getting to know somebody and so on are already common to both. But all of these aspects themselves are heavily influenced and shaped by our social context. Even brain activity despite being the most detached aspect to measure isn't totally unbiased cause it's also used to it. It's specifically by detaching it from the real world that you can measure it as fairly as possible cause the world isn't supposed to have any sort of influence if these differences are fundamental and excluded from any context. Doing it another way would be heavily biased. Maybe there is more to attraction, I don't deny that. But the origin of it is only cultural and social constructions and has nothing to do with biological origin. No need to try to validate someone's own profound beliefs through Science to try to legitimate it more by creating clans between men and women. Modern society is already doing its work even without such claims. No need to try to discredit any scientific research by bringing politic either. Of course there is differences in many people's responses because of the influence of their social context that shapes their habits. We prefer directly hiding or ostracize the different responses as if they were insignificant and out of normality and don't actually exist whitout even questioning why many answers are identical and why these different answers exist. Exactly, it *seems* to be. But when you don't listen to people but actually observe their daily behavior, you'll realize that these differences are actually more superficial. An answer needs to be formulated, instinctive actions and behaviors don't. Dishonesty is very common too. I suggest reading actual scientific research instead of asking people things they've always been used to mimic and receive the same way since childhood. If you search on forums and Google you'll probably find very standard and genderless answers and comments, as well as the exact opposite with feminist or macho opinions. But I guess these extremes ones obviously aren't real because they could never be acceptable right? This double standard is just an excuse for saving prehistoric tropes about human biology. The only differences are the ones humans create for themselves by giving some sort of meaning to simple biological and functional differences like color, origin and so on. At least other animals aren't dumb enough to fight against the other gender of their own species which is nonsensical and simply suicidal. Statistics and numbers don't mean anything from the moment you guide it a certain way from the origin (which isn't a fatality but it's at least better to be conscious of it). The biased agenda is the one desperately trying to make you believe there is fundamental differences between men and women when it comes to attraction to conserve any form of patriarcal influence caused by the fear of redefining the view on reality and losing points of reference installed since millenias of historical biased opinions and laws on gender. Everything humanity has been doing through History is slowly making it disappear through Science and wisdom anyway. Equality isn't something to achieve but something that has always naturally existed and would simply be in peace if humans could stop assuming differences that have no actual biological basis, only to validate their subjective view. They've been doing this since the dawns of time because of their judgemental nature. All of this caused by the ego of wanting to keep a form of edge over women by a fear of feeling inferior and the taboo of admitting things women do that aren't socially accepted for their gender. You'll notice that every man or woman who doesn't care about these two notions whatsoever behaves in a much more similar way. And these two notions are inherited from our social context but it's slowly disappearing thankfully. That's why you can see more and more exotic behaviors for men and women cause people stop giving any form of meaning to genders and dare to free from it. The laws of attraction don't have to exist.
when i was younger i used to like fanservice (cuz i was queer) but at the same time it made me compare my body to other girls a lot. i was 11 but it made me think how if i had no boobs i was unnatractive and no guy would ever like me. that stopped after watching other type of animes other than the ones filled with fanservice. though it let me feel attracted towards women, even if I didn't put it into words at that time, it also had those counterpoints and made me feel bad about myself and other women
A few thoughts: - I remember that one of the things people noticed about manga in the 2000s was how much of it was aimed at a female audience *and* how much of it was drawn by women. - I do think that women like the shirtless men because…they draw and share horny fan art of their favorite male characters. Power fantasies and horny fantasies are not necessarily exclusive. - Inuyasha was the high water mark for isekai; nothing has topped it since. - Although I liked my action series, I sometimes read the girly stuff and enjoyed it, and I don’t consider myself that progressive (side note: my fave character in Gundam Wing was…Lucrezia Noin, followed by Relena Peacecraft.) - I watched Sailor Moon in my middle school years, but I never told anyone at school at the time. - The male gaze is 100% legitimate when the content is aimed at a male audience. It’s a tool like any other storytelling device.
And let's remember lots of the animes we criticize for having a big amount of female sexualization and male gaze moments are SHONEN, which literally means "anime made for an audience of adolecent boys"
YEAHHH a fellow GW women liker!! Some 15 years ago I swear literally couldn't walk down the internet street without running into a Relena hater. It was so frustrating when she was such a great character with so much depth and growth. Noin was great too, and Sally Po was super underrated. (I love Une too, but that's more of a guilty pleasure. I just was so wildly entertained by how off the wall she was in so many directions.) GW's cast of female characters had so much dynamism and variety. Super underappreciated. I can't attest to the quality of the anime since I've only read the novels, but if you liked Inuyasha and you're looking for another good isekai, I recommend The Twelve Kingdoms. The one thing I'll say about the shirtless men is, it's not that women don't like it, it's that it's not made for the purpose of appealing to women. Otherwise there'd be a lot more slash fanart of DBZ 😂 That's not hot to girls, it's just cool to guys. Most later stuff is drawn 'prettier' so the muscles become more appealing to women into dudes, but that's incidental. That's why it's not equivalent to cheesecake fanservice of women, which IS made and intended for dudes into women (even though women also enjoy it!) But since the 2000s it's been more and more the case that shounen is aware of its female demographic and /does/ increasingly play into it on purpose. (Stuff like Kuroshitsuji is technically published in a shounen magazine, lol.) But if you look into it, it's not shirtless muscular men that women really get into, it's the emotional bonds, charisma, and good-looking faces. That's why shoujo and josei doesn't really have a lot of artists who are good at drawing muscular men 😂 Shirtless men in shoujo look borderline anemic
@@kazmori6981 Yup, I never understood the hate for Relena. Maybe it was because her parts weren’t as action-heavy, or maybe her involvement took away from the “toughness” of the show? I don’t know. I have heard of Twelve Kingdoms, but I never got around to it. If I do try it, it’ll likely be through its anime. Regarding muscular men, I think the rough female equivalent is pretty dresses. The dresses *can* look good to men depending on the length, shape, and cut, but scenes of ladies in lovely dresses are generally not aimed at men; they’re aimed at women, since they embody the female power fantasy of being the best-looking (and thus the most powerful socially.) So I recognize what you - and Inakyu - are driving at now.
@@rawlenyanzi6686 yeah exactly! I think that's a large part of why some women enjoy cheesecake/fanservice, too (along with just being attracted to other women obv). Being hot=higher social value, not just in the eyes of men. It feels good to look good! I think it's a more complicated subject than just "fanservice good" or "fanservice bad," or for that matter "power fantasy good" or "power fantasy bad." I think these kinds of depictions can be super fun and inspiring and fulfilling, but on the other hand the more kids compare themselves to these images the more they can have a toxic impact on girls and boys both tbh. Between media depictions and everyone posting themselves on social media, it feels like standards for appearances keep going up, and eating disorders and stuff like that go up right along with it. There's stories about like teenage boys dying from steroid overuse and stuff these days. I worry for kids man.
I disagree with dragon maid. We all know what the fanservice is catered for. Pedophiles fly in the docks. Being a ''silly fun'' anime is not an excuse to dehumanize and objectify women.
The editing was great. Also I liked that I got more shoujo recommendations. It was also great how you sounded naturally enthusiastic and encouraging when discussing this topic. I really like this video as someone who is getting used to shoujo and expanding my taste
Card Captor Sakura, I will never forget this sunday morning, when I was about 15 years old and I thought I woke up so early I could watch some TV. so I sneeked into the living room, trying to not wake up anyone just to find my father watching a strange show I didn't knew. he looked at me, shocked, embarrased, than explained the plot to me. it was the 6th episode and up until than he watched it every sunday morning by himself while having his first cup of coffee to relax. he said he thought it was a movie he could play in the background while reading newspaper (like, you know, for having some noise around you), but he realized it was a show and he needed to know the ending, because he was not able to life without knowing the ending of stories he begun. it was quite hilarious. since than we would watch it together, it became out little secret. at the end, he thought it was quite a nice series he would want his granddaughter to watch (if he got one someday), because he thought it would be inspiring for little girls.
As a guy I started to enjoy anime more when I opened myself up to watching genres outside of shonen action, especially when I discovered how much I get sucked into romance anime particularly lol. That being said, I felt uncomfortable since so many of them would lewd the women who were usually high schoolers. Discovering shojo romance specifically has been great because for me it feels like a relaxing change of pace for an anime that’s more calming and fun, while also giving two lead characters that actually feel like equals, compared to a few nameless shonen romance I’ve encountered. Great video!!
I LOVE this conversation. I'm 28 and found anime likely when I was 4-5 too, my sisters liked Sailor Moon and I would catch Dragon Ball on at night. Then I found Mew Mew Cute, then Magical Witch Do Re Mi, before I knew it I was ripping Vocaloid songs from Nico Nico onto my iPod shuffle. Chobits, Host Club, and Lucky Star in particular were hugely influential to me (for better or worse).
because of your account it made me watch tokyo ghoul. i've been into watch a lot more anime this year because i grew up watching a lot & eventually when i went back to tokyo ghoul & watched it for the first time it was awesome. i think the storyline is intensifying, well-thought-out, and built to keep the audience in trance. it's so good. i really wanted to watch first season but there was an ambiguation on the character having white hair & being older & i thought it was in season 1 it was suppose to happen based off the online pictures. that's why i suddenly went to season 2. there was a huge misunderstanding.
I'm a guy who grew up on shounen anime because, like your upbringing, that's all that was featured around me. But with some help from GA pals around me, I found so many wonderful shoujos that were so refreshing. Despite what some people think, I simultaneously love a lot of content for boys/men but get absolutely tired of it as the default. I want to see romance, emale action and whatever else these mediums can provide. I'm so thankful the superhero genre is dying off and that we're getting movies like Barbie to hopefully set up trends in Hollywood. Beautiful points all around and I'll be subscribing for more!
I feel like there's an untapped gold mine of Shojou anime murder mysteries/thrillers. Anything relating to serial killers or (true) crime seems to have an overwhelmingly female demographic but there's not much anime or manga that caters to that for some reason.
Oh my god a crossover episode with one of my favorite Women-Centric Anime/Manga Channels?! I had already subbed pretty early into the video, but wow this makes me want a podcast with all of the prominent women ani-tubers!
Love this video but also find it really sad how we're all just desensitized now to fanservice/female objectification/the sexualization of minors/misogyny in animanga 🙃
Fan service mostly is used for teenage boys. That is why its so much in shonen so yeah girls will be objectified there because teenage boys are horny as shit and horny sells well. As for sexualization of minors, they are not real people. I never could understand you people who have problem with that. The main demographic for shonen is teenage boys , so it would make sense that girls that would be sexualized would be teenage girls most of the time. Only time it gets weird for me is when an adult character in the show hits on a teenager or show tries to push that kind of romance.(its rare though) Maybe because I don't want to have sex with animation it does not bother me that in the show they are underage. I would need an explanation for the misogyny though because I have seen couple of times people who is not the main demographic for shonen mentioning it but I never have gotten a good example of it when I ask.
@@gandalainsley6467 They have problems either because they're simp desperately trying to score pussy, or because they're common women, aka extremely jealous of any woman (real or fictional) that is younger and more attractive than them as they instinctively know that's their most valuable trait and always will be. That's why you get 40 years olds telling you being attracted to 25 years old is "pedophilia".
@@gandalainsley6467 I saw and all it did was make you look even more suspicious A person says they personally are uncomfortable with minors, fictional or not, sexualized and that is like a hate crime to you people for some reason It’s also a weird explanation if I might add. You went from “of course teenage boys want to sexualize girls, they are horny” to “no these minor girl characters aren’t sexualized, they are fictional, you’re dumb” which just isn’t consistent in logic. Either they are sexualized for the purpose to be sexualized for an audience(unfortunately grown people are turned on by these minors too, let’s not be obtuse), or they can’t be sexualized because no one actually wants to do a fictional character
Great video! It’s close to impossible for perfect media to exist. Every show is likely going to have things you dislike, and the things you dislike might not be the same thing they dislike or I dislike. Or the things you dislike change from age 15 to age 30. Being a fan of anime means needing to be critical of what is depicted. So many shows have poor examples of sex, or violence, or nihilistic death. You’re constantly making judgements about what’s acceptable or disturbing, and choosing when you can ignore the problems or need to drop a series. One of the strengths of good shows is not being so heavy handed or moralistic, but in being grey or ambiguous in the characters’ flaws. It requires a critical eye that not all viewers are willing to provide.
it's not supposed to be realistic. it's supposed to be entertaining and satisfy our fantasies. the body types aren't meant to be realistic and it doesn't enforce standards. literally just let us have fun
I grew up on shows like highschool dxd and other harems from 12-14 and this definitely hurt me and my image of women as a young girl, I can't imagine what shounen shows with ecchi does to young boys who watch it unquestioningly. I think ecchi is completely fine in an anime that is specifically ecchi centred. But in stuff like my hero academia, one punch man, demon slayer.. I don't think there's any reason for it to be in there. It can easily set a kid off on a path to only watch the worst stuff they can get their hands on as a kid (redo of a healer, prison school) like I did.
Speed Racer and Astro Boy were my first anime when I was a little kid in the 1970s. I've watched some of the current crop of popular shounen shows, but have been looking back to earlier eras in search of more shoujo and josei manga and anime. I really like the differences in storytelling style and content.
I rewatched Natsume's book of friends recently and cried a lil, bc he's such a relatable character and princess jellyfish oml. Those shows just take me back lol. When it comes to fan service I think of those sparkly scenes with cute/pretty characters, the other stuff doesn't interest me.
I grew up being a "I'm not like other girls" type of girl, even though my first anime was Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon when I was around 6. I was ashamed of liking pink, sparkles and everything girly when I entered puberty and then teenage years. Now, at 23, I'm trying to heal that little girl in me that loved long transformation scenes full of glitter; shoujos and strong anime girls make me feel so safe, specially when I can relate more than ever with the pain and suffering that come with girlhood
yes!! i always felt the “i’m not like other girls” but that’s bc i never found other girls that liked anime but when i did-it made me so happy to be with other girls sharing the same interests
Tokyo Mew Mew… wow I feel seen. I could have written this, though I found it in 8th grade 😅 the healing process has been long, still unpacking stuff, but I do think it gave me a unique perspective on Internet culture and how it’s influenced such over the years
Kobeni pfp fully sells the “not like the other girls” aesthetic.
@@lordbauer5983 what does that mean
@@tox1cya705 Chainsaw Man fans are definitely the “not like the other girls” of anime fandom.
I‘m sorry but you censoring you feet has me giggling a bit
cant have them out for FREE
@@inakyui want to pay for it
@@inakyu ill pay -$100. now gimme that hundred
Honestly the moment I found out there’s literally an archive website of women’s feet out on the internet called ‘Wikifeet’ I immediately realised why this was necessary lmaoooo
I didnt even notice until I saw this comment lol
Casually calling Bakugo's "wife beater" a "woman respecter" is top tier content. Subscribed.
lol I loved that
Imma start calling them that now 😂
Girls have always loved anime & arguably carried it stronger than male fans for years. It was girls in highschool who were in anime club, proudly open about liking anime, who got me out of my shell and able to be open about loving anime.
Not to mention we're mostly the ones keeping the fandoms alive with fanfiction, fanarts, roleplaying, etc.
@@lilithofthevalley19legit like without us, ur fandoms would be dead dead 💀
thanks, JurassicLion2049 (no shade just ur name is kinda funny :p)
In Japan, it could be said that the otaku mostly comes from the women too. Like, the first convention, first cosplays ? Women. Kawaii aesthetic? Women. And then there is the shoujo and yaoi manga that probably got a bigger influence on all the industry than the shounen and nekketsu genre even if we see this everywhere.
Otaku culture is in a big part feminine. Kind of tired that we always depict it as being dominated by males.
@@lilithofthevalley19ikr
I've always had a love hate relationship with fanservice as a woman. I like seeing it (like on a monkey brain level), but it can absolutely be done wrong and taint a show. It all depends on the context
@pig3292
Ma'am I ask this as a black man, name me one example of fan service done right? Sure such anime exist, but they're very far few in between.
@@DemonicRemptionto me if a character being sexy actually affects the plot e.g. a femme fatale, then it's fine. Otherwise I'll be thinking WHY?
@@DemonicRemption Where it’s usually done right is an actual fanservice anime, because that’s where the fanservice actually makes sense it’s in the ecchi genre and that’s the literally the point of an ecchi Anime hence the name,
but anywhere else like Shonen, Isekai and etc I do wonder is it necessary as that’s not the appeal of them I don’t mind it if it makes sense for the character in these genres but does it have to be so prevalent all the time especially when they already got a genre for Anime specifically for fanservice.
@@DemonicRemption it's very subjective, but I agree with the previous reply that if the show is billed as an ecchi then you're watching the show FOR fan service. It can't blindside you or ruin the show when it's actually the whole point of the show. First show that came to mind for me was High School of the Dead. Honestly it was a little too trashy for me, but it went so batshit crazy with its fanservice that I kinda respect it lol. Like it's bad when a show tries to be respectable and takes itself seriously but then throws way too many panty shots at you, but if a show is just there to be a goofy time and knows it, I'm okay with that.
@@Skye2993done pretty well in Harem too.
8:16 “the boys make the tiddy mousepads and the girls make the fan edits” lmfao what an amazing quote
I mean... tiddy mousepads can make woman really uncomfortable while edits make both male and female audience excited to see their fav character being cool or something
@@flipflopgirl I can understand that, altho i find tiddy mousepads to be funny asf tho i'm sorry if it makes people uncomfortable
I do like anime edits too tho
Cringe misinformation
@@flipflopgirl theres tiddy mouse pads and dick mouse pads. i had a dick mouse pad in my room and it made my guy friend uncomfy but then i found out he had a titty mouse pad
Which is funny became I know damn well some of the horniest artwork I've seen often comes from women, both straight and queer alike.
Akitaro Daichi never gets enough credit for what he's done to push shoujo anime forward and really embrace that power of femininity. Fruits Basket, Kodocha, and Kamisama Kiss would not be what they are without his direction and faith in a large female staff to make something great.
This is true, but… he also allegedly pressured an actress for sexual favors in exchange for a leading role in a series.
@@emtpmpknhed I've heard nothing about it being an exchange for a role. Daichi is very picky when it comes to his actors, so he either auditions people (usually non-actors) or complies with the requests of the original author, as is the case with Fruits Basket.
Growing up, I watched a lot of anime with my younger sister, but I was always careful to show her stuff that didn't have a ton of fan service or sexualization. I've honestly felt kind of bad about how I influenced her taste over the years since apparently she got teased for liking nerdy stuff, but she's been appreciative of me showing her anime that have had a strong impact on her. Watching this though, I feel like I gained a deeper understanding on how the anime we watched affected her, for me I just wanted to show her good shows that had depth and substance, but I hadn't considered that they were also positive examples of female empowerment that in turn helped her feel better about herself. I really loved this video, thank you for making it.
Clearly you didn’t because even shoujo anime has fanservice.
@@DarkEclipse23 There hundreds of thousands of anime that exist and many of them have little to no fan service, it's really not that crazy to have watched a bunch of anime without subjecting yourself to it.
That’s so cool 😊my sister is more into blood and guts or psychological stuff. She is starting to watch sailor moon and ghlibli now though so better late then never. I wish I could have started showing her them when she was a baby but I didn’t have any way to at the time 🫤. It’s great you were able to do that for yours❤
@@kalopsiawitch9538 Berserk is one of my sister's favorite anime, she likes blood and gore too 😁
@@DanielSantosAnalysis Oh dear. Well, I guess if I think about the things I watched and read at her age, her watching habits aren’t so bad. The things I know about anyway 😑
One thing about anime I love is that there's something for everyone so even if you don't like fanservice, there's many anime that don't objectify women (like Fullmetal alchemist, Yona of the Dawn, Kiss him not Me). I also agree that you can love an anime but not like everything in it. I personally love Bleach but do think they need to chill on some of the fanservice. I also agree that a dude having his shirt off isn't the same as a women being half naked. People need to stop acting like it's the same.
That last part is a big one. What counts as fan service for men vs. women is very different. Men often make the mistake of thinking that since they tend to like large breasts and plump ass that a woman is going to have the same reaction if a toned guy is shirtless. Meanwhile, while male leads designed for women are often pretty, its usually specific non-sexual, but rather romantic or potentially sensual, interactions that women tend to care about.
yea, where the D jiggle physics at?
@@hamdepaf6686 Exactly - until I see some highly detailed animation of a male jojo character dodging a bullet between his balls in slow motion (which I do not want to lol), we are not even close to equal lol
@@herefortheshrimp1469mam there was an anime were a woman was literally sitting on a dude as he flew and was using his dick as helicopter blades
@@herefortheshrimp1469 I'm a straight guy but that sounds so stupid I kinda want to see it now lol
my first anime was pokemon, but growing up as a girl I always found myself more attached to shonen and the male characters in them; even if the girls weren't hypersexualized, they just weren't given the same depth as their male counterparts (i'm looking at YOU, kishimoto), but also sometimes when they were given depth, they were ultra effeminate and not something i found i could connect with- looking back and being transmasc now, i can really see the sheer disparity of development male characters often are given over female counterparts in shonen, but also how in the shojo i did like, they all primarily featured female leads crossdressing or being gender non-conforming, which played a huge part in why I liked them!
I relate to this. I’m an afab non-binary person and this is gonna be a bit of a vent.
I’ve always like animated tv. I got into anime bc I was a huge Teen Titans fan and wanted something with similar animation. However, anime to me was often disappointing in female representation. I often liked the male characters more bc they had so much depth and strength and the female characters were SO sexualized I couldn’t get through a lot of anime because of it. However my guy friends were often fans of those kinds of animes. I understood that the characters were attractive, but often times the female characters were so sexualized that it became their main attribute and part in the story. I didn’t discover animes like Sailor Moon and Soul Eater until later in life (like last year) and I wonder how much better I would’ve seen myself if I had those kinds of characters. I still think a lot of animes fall flat when it comes to their female characters and I can’t really deal with outright sexualization for the sake of sexualization. I don’t think fan service is a bad thing, but there’s just SO much of it that it’s kinda hard to avoid. However, there are animes coming out with better female characters (right now I really enjoy chainsaw man) so I remain hopeful.
It definitely was a contributing factor in my journey to discovering my gender identity.
Also if u wouldn’t mind letting me know about the gender non conforming animes I would be very thankful 🙏
@nitedread2547 yes this is exactly it!! i loved soul eater back in the day but even that had hypersexualized designs of certain characters that could make it harder to enjoy sometimes! like in the video, it really just became something we had to accept if we wanted to watch shows or read manga. and for the two series, i can't say they've entirely aged well in some cases, but ouran high school host club meant a lot to me growing up, and then a shojo manga called hana-kimi: for you in full blossom! it's about a girl who cross-dresses to get into the all-male school of her track star idol, but it really impacted me growing up and how i started to feel about myself as i got older!!
@@kugrash YES EXACTLY! Love Soul Eater but there are aspects of it I really don’t enjoy. Same goes for chainsaw man. And I hate having to work around it to just relax and enjoy a show.
Thank you for the recommendations! I’ll check them out 💕
yah kishimoto had prettygood female characters and sakura gets better, but boy is she underused after sasori. hinata could show more fights too. and anko, wtf fridge tat interesting underused character.
omg transmasc twin! you and i have had similar experiences hahaha
i love studio ghibli so much. The characters are honestly so relateable and it makes me so happy that these women aren't presented as a damsels in distress. We need more anime like studio ghibli tbh. (also has put my standards way to high LMAO)
So true lol
I consider Re:Zero one of ðem. It doesn't have ðe usual cheap fan-service, and is a Character Study ðat basically treats every character as a protagonist, even if ðe main character is a guy. Jujutsu Kaisen and Mushoku Tensei are good as well. I say don't listen to people when ðey say ðe fan service in Mushoku Tensei is too much. Ðey have no idea what ðey're talking about. It is ðe most mature anime wið fan service you will find for ðis generation. Ðe sexually mature þemes are basically 10/10 in terms of spice but ðey are not cheap or indulgent about it. It's relatively mature, and if you feel anyþing like ðat happens, it's because ðe main character is ðat "Creepy perv" archetype but taken much more seriously and to furðer depþs and nuances, meaning he has a lot of oðer personality traits oðer ðan being horny or whatever. And his horniness doesn't even do anyþing for him since he reincarnated as a child and is physiologically a child. All he comes wið is memories. His first scene in ðe new world will immediately show you how þought out it is. I would honestly love to discuss it wið you guys. Re:Zero and Mushoku Tensei are just really cool shows. And ðere's a reason why ðey were ðe Top 2 Best Novels in Japan.
I mean ghibli girls still have their moments of distress
Yeah, outside of that princess in Castle of Cagliostro. But I think that was his first movie.
One of my very first anime was Princess Tutu, which I am extremely grateful for. It showed me early on that a female character could be the hero (whilst also being extremely silly and flawed in her own way) and that a man could be the “damsel” in distress. In addition, the series actively avoided the “girls are dramatic and petty and can’t be friends” trope by making the female “rival” an extremely kind and complicated person on her own.
Oh, now I really wanna rewatch it.
I need this.
I rewatched Tutu recently! Such a good show!
@@capdahat2598 i haven't seen it in years! I'm glad its as good as I remember
Kinda lame to write strong female characters at the expense of the male characters
@@grinko1222 I think it has to deal with the fact that not all men are strong, nor do they want to be.
Yall bringing up Akatsuki no Yona makes me realize we still haven't gotten a Season 2 😢. The manga is so good
they did it with fruits basket means they can do it with yona 😩😤😤
Yona getting the fruits basket treatment - that's the dream!
skip beat also needs the fruits basket treatment
Yes s2 needs to happen
Tbh I wish the question of "can women like fanservice?" was tackled more in-depth, because for me the thing I think is worth examining is the way many defenders of fanservice in anime will say "plenty of women like the sexy fanservice too" and point to women who like doing cosplays of sexualized female characters (you do kind of tackle this by addressing how you enjoy many of these characters *in spite* of the fanservice around them), women who enjoy sexualized character designs, and women who are just really horny and for one reason or another simply don't let the implications of fanservice get in the way of them being horny.
The common rebuttal to that I most often hear is "Oh those women have internalized misogyny", and while that can often be true I think that jumping to making that conclusion and ending the conversation there denies these women their agency, has really paternalistic overtones, and prevents a meaningful conversation about the myriad ways in which people engage with their sexuality.
I think a lot of the women really horny for them are bisexuals who are in relationships with men, or mostly seek male relationships. They repress the part attracted to women in real life and let it out when it comes to anime girls. Others, like cosplayers probably see themselves represented in the characters, as they'd have huge boobs and proportions not many women have.
I think fanservice can be enjoyable to women for various reasons:
1. Being attracted to women (obviously)
2. Seeing female characters sexualized regularly makes it easier to sexualize women yourself, and even appreciate it(or just overlook it).
3. Enjoying the aesthetics of attractive women
4. Finding these scenes funny and unrealistic
5. Admiration of sexy women (the kinds that dress in more revealing clothing. Not every scantily-clad woman is nuanced or powerful, but they can be interpreted that way, and sometimes they are designed like that. I’m thinking of how bayonetta was designed by a woman)
I actually really appreciate a video like this. I've been watching anime for nearly 30 years now and I'm very used to a lot of the tropes and idiosyncrasies of the medium. I love anime, but it is not without its flaws. And those flaws are especially noticeable to me when I'm trying to introduce my young children to anime. A lot of the things in anime that I've just gotten used to are very inappropriate in general and especially for my young kids. I've become very aware in recent years that anime has no rating system and so it's really difficult for me to pick shows for my children that they can watch and that I'm not going to have to explain to them why the male characters are having nosebleeds all the time...
my dad really tried his best to shield me from it but W parenting
Kodomo tag: Pokemon, Precure and other stuff
@greyborg3846
I'm sorry, but you don't sound very knowledgeable of anime... How on Earth have you been watching anime for 30 years, which is equal to how long I've been watching anime yet you don't know about the numerous anime appropriate for kids?" Anime like Pokemon, Digimon, Astro-Boy, Pre-Cure, Hero Bank, Puzzle Dragon X, Sonic X, Hamtaro, Brave Beats, SD Gundam, and Gundam Build Fighters to name a few.
But that question was rhetorical as I just remembered how many anime fans just follow trends instead of exploring the anime landscape like I and very few seem to do.
@@DemonicRemption They've watched about half of those already. I think the problem is that I never watched a lot of anime that were made for kids. And even things like Pokémon, Digimon, and GBF are all good anime they are all also violent. They're not explicit or gruesome, but they are violent and that's not what I would like my children to be watching.
@@greyborg3846poke is good for 5+
Bisexual woman here. I love bouncing butts and tiddies, legs and tummies, men and women, and of course I love good fanservise.
I've been shamed by people for liking fanservise because "it's wrong for a girl to like it" or 'haha you are dumb for liking fanservice, go and watch rEaL aNiMe" when I was a teen. Unpopular opinion but I think that the real misogyny starts when other people tell a real breathing woman what she should and shouldn't like, no matter how good their initial intentions are.
i guess it bothers me when it distracts from the story.. Plus sexualization often feels objectifying. idk just makes me sad that people are so obsessed with those things.. theres nothing inherently wrong with it.. but like i hate how people focus on those things rather than seeing people for who they are, regardless of their body... idk.. its not just an issue with fanservice in anime i feel, but media in general.. people internally are so much more than how they look..
@@selainx One of the reasons I can't watch anime in front of other people, or in front of my family is because 99% of anime today have some form of fanservice in it, and those scenes will look very very very weird to the normal people who don't usually watch anime. If it's not girls having half their tits out all the time, it's some weird fetishization of a loli/childlike character, or underaged school girls with unrealistic cup size and short skirts looking sus, or they make some weird noises like moaning for no reason.
I've actually thought about it, what are anime that I could recommend to a "normie" who wouldn't feel weirded out by it, and the list is not long, especially when it is a recommendation for a family member.
@@selainxif you feel objectified by a drawing unrelated to you, you should probably do some introspective on that.
Do you personally feel objectified when an irl woman show risky pictures on Instagram or other platform? Probably not, because it has nothing to do with you. Why would that suddenly not apply when the risky pictures are of a fictional character?
@@selainxhow do you objectify someone that doesn't exist?
@@zxcvb3772 tell me this. Why is is absolutely normal to watch someone get mutilated or a execution scene, but wrong if a woman decides to show her tits to her male lover?
When you said anime doesn’t sexualize men, that’s when I knew we watch different types of anime 💀👨🏻❤️💋👨🏼
Beside yaois and shonen ai....which anime sexualised men ?
Showing a male Upper body while being sexy is different as how shows treatfemales tho ... Their direct close ups to boobs or panties in weird poses while the female do t want that !!!! She felt, she didnt know, she has no agency.... Men, happen to exits and being seen while females ....SEE the difference
any recommendations? 👉👈
@@Natalia-mj6eeYuri on Ice, Ouran High School Host Club and Free off the top of my head
Me whose first contact to someone who likes anime (outside of dragonball or anime they didn't knew were anime) besides my brother was a BL loving fujoshi i met in an online chat back in last year of elementary school, who sent me her fanfictions to read and recommended her favourite manga/anime...
Yeah, i saw my fair share of sexualized men in anime/manga in my lifetime.
@@Natalia-mj6ee Hitorijime My Hero is my favorite. However unfortunately there’s a lot more BL manga than actual anime because it’s hard to get that type of thing animated by a studio… 😂
Honestly I always found it really hard to get into anime, I always wanted to but couldn't get past the needless sexualisation. I've never been interested in romance either so finding a "girl" anime to avoid the male fan service that also had the same energy and action as the "boy" animes has been difficult. I nearly stopped watching chainsaw man but I'm really glad I didn't because it proved to be nuanced but still goofy and I love it.
One of the main reasons I enjoy this channel is because I can find good animes that I never would've found otherwise and I'm very grateful for it. It's so nice to feel understood and know that anime isn't just for boys and that it also isn't just romance for girls ❤
to be fair, if you hear people talk about a "GREAT ANIME" and it's super popular and everyone's talking about it, feel free to ignore it. I have never watched Naruto, Bleach, Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, any of that stuff. I have watched some shounen, mind you, but it's just meh.
And while a lot of anime I do like has fan service, a lot doesn't. Such as magical girl anime. I recommend Princess Tutu, Cardcaptor Sakura, Shugo Chara, Mermaid Melody, Little Witch Academia, Pretty Cure (I'd try one of the newer ones, I really like Pretty Cure Delicious Party) and anime that's not magical girl anime. Like Aikatsu!, Acchi Kocchi, Azumanga Daioh, Fruits Basket (watch the newer one), Hibike! Euphonium, Toilet Bound Hanako Kun, Vampire Knight, Lycoris Recoil, Lapis Re:Lights, Red Data Girl, Snow White with the Red Hair, etc etc.
And there's more mature anime you can watch, more childlike, in general just don't go off of popular recommendation all the time. Like literally scroll through pirate websites like gogoanime or something. Or myanimelist.
A lot of anime is also pretty dated, so watch out for that.
In general, get up an anime list together, and try out some yuri anime. And if you do come across fanservice, don't feel bad for being upset. You're allowed to want to feel comfortable.
Symphogear if you need high-energy action with girl power its like a mix of powerpuff girls,magical girl and Gundam
To help get over that even further just understand that anime is a medium not a genre. I think people on the outside think anime is just the popular genre that gets attention and not the rest of the iceberg. One guy called it childish before and im like…well we don’t see films as childish because pixar films like Toy story are popular
@@yukiandkanamekuran Thank you! I appreciate the recommendations! ❤️
prude
Totally agree with your point at 13:57! One thing I like about anime is the character diversity. In so many mainstream shows that I watched before I started watching anime, in order for a woman to be strong, she needed to be cold and distant also (Katniss Everdeen, Captain Marvel, etc.), and anime throws that rule out the window, not just for women, but for everyone (guys can cry too!). And it’s the fact that we’re able to empathize and get to know these characters so well that allows me to really enjoy this medium.
i kinda disagree on the katniss one as the movies left out a lot of her real characterisation but yeah it is kinda the gist of it but i excuse it since it was the only way she could survive in that dystopian world. captain marvel tho? cant defend that movie as much as i like the mcu.
I agree with the statement but I also do have a problem with a lot of the comments and find the video statement a bit contradictory in its understanding of men. She is right about what she said about women and how there are a lot of genres and shows that caterers to their liking and that is good that is what Anime as a franchise should up-hold but at the same time how men and women thinks and view the world aren't the same and whoever says it is are wrong there is not argument in that. Women tends to like details, emotional and impactful quotes something that makes them feel empowered and related. While men are more visual more simple in their wants and needs rather than relatabke they want what they can reach/become, if there is explosions car chase and cheescakes they're happy its the best anime ever for the majority of them men are visual creatures and men as a whole biologically have higher sexual drive so from a marketing stand point give them a big chested women with guns and they're happy best written female protagonist in Anime. The thing I felt like its contradictory is that while there are a great genre for women why are we trying to attack the male gaze genre? this is exactly what Marvel is doing and failed miserably why are we still in 2023 trying to force educate men and shame them for their gaze and likes let them have their bikini boobies girl like who cares I think the statement should be how as that people who consume the genre of more female centric side of Anime how should we improve our products,how should we improve our marketing and how should we expand the market so that these side of genre can get the same respect as Goku flexing and Edging himself for 2 episodes straight, in every male catered genre there is always going to be skimpy girls thats for them and if we wanted to educate men to atleast know that like "hey women are more than just that" then I think concentrating of how the genre of female centered products can expand within the mainstream men have big titted bikini girl so what? Lets stop this concentration of what is in the men's genre and what is in the "male gaze" lets start the topic on how can we improve the market of female catered anime products.
Force education will never work schools proved that it done more harm than good in a lot of cases in these day and age,in theory it might be all great to force stop men from gazing but no it will just result in rebellion lets stop worrying about what the men are gazing on and start to widen and improve the product of female centered genres by just concentrate on said genre if market is big enough men will definitely watch it if the writing and production is good enough men will watch it its always as the old saying goes "to educate men make them think that it is their idea" always till to this day proof to be right
strong, badass, s'xy/beautiful, independent, complex/depth, and etc, female characters in movies
1. ripley (aliens)
2. sarah conner (terminator)
3. jasmine (aladdin)
4. ariel (little mermaid)
5. selene (underworld)
6. alice (resident evil)
7. o'neil (G.I. Jane)
8. lara croft (tomb raider)
9. april o'neil (TMNT)
10. carrie (carrie)
11. the female MCs in many various horror flicks (friday the 13, nightmare on elm street, halloween, hellraiser, etc)
12. charlie (firestarter)
13. aeon flux (aeon flux)
14. princess leia (star wars: 1-6)
15. clarice (silence of the lambs)
16. "the bride"/black-mamba (kill bill)
17. dr. ellie sattler (JP1)
18. ultra violet (ultra violet)
19. adrian (rocky)
20. baby doll and others (sucker punch)
21. rose and cybil and alessa (silent hill)
22. hit girl (kickass 1-2)
23. jessica rabbit (who framed roger rabbit)
24. holly (cool world)
25. diana / wonder woman (wonder woman)
26. blade's mother (blade 1) and the black female hemo-blood scientist partner of blade (blade 1) and the vampire princess (blade 2)
27. trinity (matrix)
28. mia (pulp fiction)
29. cat woman (batman)
30. hermione (harry potter)
31. dorothy (wizard of oz)
32. katnis (hunger games)
33. beatrix/trix (divergent)
34. river tam (serenity)
35. dottie (a league of their own)
36. the girl in riddick
37. rita (edge of tomorrow)
38. alita (battle angel alita)
39. the girl (logan)
40. mystique, storm, jean grey, and etc (x-men)
41. black widow and etc (MCU)
42. Hanna (Hanna)
43. Furiosa (mad max)
44. domino harvey (domino)
45. jess (bend it like beckem)
46. leeloo (the 5th element)
47. mulan (mulan, disney's old/original animated film)
48. Jo (Twister)
49. Guinevere (King Arthur)
50. the female MC in The Ring
51. the female MC in stealth
52. the female MC (morgan/morgana, I think, too lazy to look up, lol) in Cutthroat Island
53. the female MC in million dollar baby
54. elvira (elvira mistress of the dark)
55. evelyn-evie / nefertiti (mummy 1-2)
56. sonya blade (mortal kombat)
57. the female MC in Anaconda
58. the female MC in city of ember
59. the female MC in the mortal instruments: city of bones
60. the female MC in mortal engines
61. the female MC (the nurse) in 28 days later and 28 weeks later
62. the female MC in the Grudge
63. the female MC in Hancock
64. the female MC in Wanted
65. the female MC in V for Vendetta
66. the female MC in the Golden Compass
67. maleficent (maleficent)
68. Elsa (frozen)
69. esmeralda (hunchback of notre dame)
70. the female MC in Annihilation
71. the female kryptonian 2nd in command (man of steel)
72. alice (alice in wonderland)
73. snow white (the huntsman)
74. salt (salt)
75. the psychic rookie (dredd)
76. the girl (actress: keira knightly, but forgot her character name, too lazy to look up) in pirate of caribean
77. lucy (lucy)
78. motoko kusanagi (ghost in the shell, but its uber KRAP hollywood movie of the legendary GiTS, sighs, not deserving of being put here, but it is a strong bad'ss independent female lead, even if they totally got Motoko all wrong, sighs)
and many many many more
@@veen-a2092 "it resulted in rebellion"
That just mean us men must have more self controls lmao.
Like, I myself is a straight man that appreciates some aspects of traditional masculinity, but I also do saw how harmful if us men cannot control ourselves from oozing at women's bodies and frickin rebelled if someone teach us that. Like, are we that utterly stupid to not be able to control ourselves? For me, men not be able to control ourselves is shame, a *big* shame to us really
@@enterurnamehere27 It is true majority of men are indeed "oozing at women with no self-control" to have a fair playground men are biologically born with higher sexual drive than women and due to us living in a more patriarchal world and society majority of men are not taught self-control and discipline the majority of anime-geek culture is dominated by men more than women I really do think that during the late2000s-2010s that we have great female characters these day and age they took it to another level and force "diversity" and force "strong female character" that are just a toxic musculine trait that is being package in a female skin.I do think that anime have a lot of great female characters that are not just eye-candy and I find videos like these a bit hypocritical when they only bashed the eye-candy characters and doesn't explore the numbers of great female characters and then proceed to complain about it as I have stated it is still dominated by male audiences so mainstream anime shows will usually be more catered to a typical straight male gaze and my argument is that thats ok cause thats just one market rather than complaining about that why not concentrate on female gaze or female market anime side to improve how do we expand our market and if we want to expand how can we get some of those typical anime fans to say "oh! this anime is actually quite good"etc...These days its just complaining and whining and I'am actually kind of sick of this culture of whinning,policing,complaining rather than trying to take an action to improve certain market or contents it is so lazy to me cause it is so easy to complain and force demands rather than working for its improvement. It should never be about male gaze vs female gaze in the first place in my opinion it should be about "How do we improve and widen the field of this market?"
Even the video creator herself acknowledge that anime and manga catered to different genres and liking and then proceed to say that women are only sexualised in shounen Ai genre and again Shounen Ai is a male catered genre so the statement of anime catering to different people and genre just make no sense, I truly do understand that a lot of female characters are written like such a waste in some manga but in the end I also understand that that the genre is a male power fantasy and also not acknowledging the fact that there a loads of great written female characters in mainstream anime like Saber from fate stay Night literally all women in fate stay Night tbh,Mikasa,potato girl etc....in AOT badass women characters they don't even show skin or any sort of sexualised they're just badass etc etc etc like there are tons of badass women that are not just eye-candy even in shounen ai is a bit hypocritical statement and lets be fair it is more catered for male target audience it is a male power fantasy show some cleavage or booty if needed for marketing cause in the end of the day the market is a young male and if some women don't like that then there is a Shoujo anime so why are we trying to invade a media that is catered to young men when we already have a media that is catered for women why not just concentrate to better and improve that genre rather than complaining about mens media
This collab was destined to happen! Thanks Ina and Colleen for being voices for girls who love and watch anime and manga.
The fanservice in shoujo is not based on working out and being cool. They don't want muscles in shoujo, I'm facing it. The dudes have gotta be pretty-pretty, not just "pretty," "pretty-pretty!" Like they're from some K-pop group with aegyo. That much.
I think specially Hayao Miyazaki, I’ve admired as having strong independent women as protagonists… and specially in film, it is seen as if it’s always the man that gets that role, and the women’s only purpose is to just be vulnerable almost, just waiting for the man to save them. Hayao Miyazaki has always done differently, he’s shown that any women can have the strength and confidence just as any ordinary man.
A lot of girls definitely like fanservice. They don't like the straight up sexual assault that's labeled as fanserivce.
And most of the time when that happens the character doing it gets punched into next week
@@Jet-ij9zc which is played for laughs and carries zero weight for the characters or the story, making the "consequence" utterly meaningless.
Especially when the character does it on purpose, and you know they're going to be right back at it, again & again.
It's just the anime studio's way of "softening" it so they can get away with it, without getting criticized for it (and it's maybe a flimsy way to make _themselves_ feel better about doing it). It's them having their cake & eating it too. It's still super gross, and you could debate that it's worse than _not_ having instant retaliation at all.
@@Jet-ij9zc oh no, they got a slap on the wrist!
@@TheRealLittleBIGhead You are aware it's a cartoon right
@@BlackieChan7.62 Ye, but cartoons glorifying and perpetuating something awful is obviously still a bad thing even if no actors were directly subjected to it
finding shoujo anime was such a pivotal part of my life lol, I would not be the same person I am today without Kyoko Mogami and Princess Yona.
I really appreciated hearing your thoughts!
YOU KNOW ITS A GOOD DAY WHEN INAKYU posts a video!!!
9:00 its so unexpected to here a Claymore mention today! An underrated anime Gem, dark fantasy epic that just stays intense and interesting, without betraying any sense of audience intelligence
While i agree ghibli has better female characters. I dont agree with labeling Disney princess as damsel in distresses because thats not who they really were. They are just misunderstood
ok so I didn't care about characters' genders when I first started watching anime but today I love seeing badass or overall well-written female characters but it's not because I'm a girl myself (it's probably because I've seen enough good male characters and less good female ones). I never truly understood what is femininity. I'm just myself and don't label my or others' personalities based on their gender, so that may be why I don't get femininity.
Great video, thanks :>❤
Characters genders were not a big deal back in the day. But over the past seven years media has made race, genders and sexulity the main focus on Characters in entertainment.
I really related to what you mentioned about fanservice. When I first started to get into anime I found it really jarring but over time I guess I've become more accustomed to it.
I as a teenager found it weird when I first started watching anime.
Despite the glaring flaws of the English localization that Funimation did, the anime adaptation of Ouran Highschool Host Club was exactly what I needed to see when I was a tween and early teenager who didn't know he was trans yet. When I still thought I was a girl, Haruhi was exactly who I needed to see say what I was also thinking. She genuinely didn't care what gender people saw her as, and that made me feel more normal. The fact that it also had boy characters who were allowed to be pretty and emotional in both comedic and dramatic ways definitely helped me feel less... _incorrect,_ for lack of any better terms. Specifically Tamaki being a hopeless romantic, and Honey getting to be cute and cheerful in ways that in hindsight read to me as "girly" when I was like 12 are important things for how I conceptualize my own trans masculinity now. I wasn't "less of a girl" for what was in hindsight my egg behavior- since that label really did feel right at that time -and I'm not "less of a man" now for being a hopeless romantic that likes sweets and cute things. The English dub is really bad about the Zuka Club (at least in the first episode they're in, anyway) and _weirdly_ transphobic about Haruhi's crossdressing dad, but I do think I'd be worse off now if I didn't see it when I did. Relentlessly 2000's as it is, it still means a lot to me.
This isn't even mentioning how Sailor Moon got me through my second mental hospital stay, or how Pokémon, Black Butler, and Studio Ghibli have helped me find my footing and scrape together enough self-confidence to talk to people over the years. Heck, I could go on for ages about how important the manga Uzumaki is to me as the first actual horror thing that kept me up at night after I first read it and somehow actually protrays a really healthy romantic relationship in a genre you'd least expect to find it. Anime was important to me as a girl, and it's now even more important to me as a boy- _especially_ shoujo. Never underestimate shoujo anime and manga. Tomie ran in a shoujo horror magazine. _Tomie._ There really is something in that pool for everybody if you bother to look.
Ouran High School Host Club was the first medium of cross dressing I could stand. It did not make me uncomfortable, or embarrassed. It is something I have not come across before or since
Ps I'm a trans guy
Yes girls can like fan-service
The censored feet got me dying laughing 🤣🤣🤣
The Promised Neverland is more important of a Shonen but the female characters are important to the story (one is a protag) and are written very well. There is absolutely no sexualization whatsoever. They all have there own goals and have strengths and weakness of their own. I strongly recommend the anime and manga for girls or really anyone that want to see something like that.
@@whatsyourname9581 I know if may feel tp be the bare minimum, but many people whould still write it in that way. Underage girls are still heavily sexuilaized in anime.
I watch the first season and it was great
As a huge Ghibli fan, I would LOVE to see this topic 17:27 have it's own video. I’ve never thought about why I love the Ghibli movies and protagonists so much growing up, but the points laid out made perfect sense, and I would love to hear more of an analytical viewpoint on this!
Just go watch cinema therapy since she copied them anyway
What a goofy notion that two people can’t talk about the same subject without it being labeled as “copying”. I for one, would love to hear Inakyu’s personal thoughts and opinions on this topic because I enjoy her analysis style. Calling it copying is just silly imo. If you prefer cinema therapy’s content, then why not just watch their stuff?
@@brianna3275 no I'm saying like word for word...to the last detail. Anyway not here to argue with a stranger ur insignificant
I dont really like fan service as a guy since I feel like im getting patronized, like the animators think I dont care about their story if there isnt big boobs on the screen. Its like those joke tiktoks about kids not being able to listen unless there is subway surfers playing in the background. I love jjk since I can like female characters for being good characters rather than for being hot.
That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with fan service but the rather the immaturity of how it's depicted. Shonen manga is for little boys. So a lot of the fanservice is done with that in mind just like the simplistic stories of good triumphing over evil through the power of friendship and hardwork
@@FencingMessiah*for teenage boys
@@Jet-ij9zc Same thing
Fanservice is largely done because mangakas and animators like it.
I related so bad with the shoujo part haha. I'm just a mexican guy in my mid 20s and have been watching anime since I was like 5. I was always exposed to girl shows (not just anime) because of my sister who is 6 years older than me.
Eventually, when I really got into anime, I always found shoujo so comforting to read/watch. Even today I'd say about 80% of my current manga list is filled with shoujo and josei. It's insane the amount of stories people are missing out on just because "they're for girls" as if it was a bad thing.
Embrace shoujo fellas, you won't regret it.
I love that Anime has something for everyone. The women are beautiful and the men are strong but in anime their characterization and story is what really draws one in.
Your diagnosis: mental retardation
By the way, strong males are trash
As someone who has been watching anime since i was a child, i took a very long break watching it in my teen years due to the exact issues you discussed. I have recently rediscovered my love for anime and i realized that there is sooooo much other anime other than the popular ones (which i do enjoy lol). Im even reading mangas now 😊
Dude , same here !!! I’ve been reading a lot of manga lately I discovered lately. I finally broke off my break from anime because of some the fan services, I didn’t mind but at some point it was insane , before you’ll get laughed at or scare the normal girls . Personally I like mangas more because I feel like it’s less cringe, depending on what series I’m reading or watching
your mention of yoko from ttgl in the beginning really nails down why it's okay to enjoy something while also criticise it. yoko is an incredible and amazing character .... who just so happens to have a really rough introduction in the series. she will always be one of my favourite anime characters, because even though trigger kind of went for the "have your cake and eat it too" approach, at the very least, they made an incredible character in spite of the fanservice (and tbh if it weren't for her age, id probably be less critical. ffs i feel like im too old for this show now because of the pre-timeskip arc 💀)
i think you nailed it why anime was so interesting to me growing up. ive always been obsessed with cartoons growing up, but i found myself drawn specifically to the variety of stories told by anime. sure, some of the fanservice laden shonen annoyed me, but i also grew up loving sailor moon too. there's so many different stories that, while some of my favourite cartoons are western make (my first and second favourite animated shows are not anime!) i will never take for granted how much the world of japanese animation introduced me to how diverse and challenging storytelling in "cartoons" could be.
Yoko's fanservice has never been somehing that diminished her character. She's good looking AND a wonderfully written character, part of the reason many young boys (the main target for the anime) became to appreciate her was also because of how the anime shows her body.
It's not just eye candies, fanservice sometimes serves as a mean to focus your attention to a specific character in order to better appreciate their development. That's the same logic they used when they made Kamina as such a badass and cool character; his epic lines and action moments are fanservice too, but without them we wouldn't find him so relatable and iconic.
We westerners have a problem with sexualization because of the christian tradition that tells us sex is impure, lust is a sin and women should only have sex for the purpose of having children. Japanese don't have this bigot mentality about sex and nudity, so they treat sexualization as any other narrative device to keep you focused on the character and enjoy even more the scenes
The collab we never knew we needed.
Any video that mentions Fushigi Yugi gets an automatic thumbs up for me. Love that anime, it also one of my core favorites that shaped my anime experience as a teen.
Tasuki is my first love
Am planing on watching it but am a bit unsure should I give it a chance 😊
Fushigi Yugi fans assemble. XD
@@outakuchan1222 I believe yes. It has a lot of great characters, serious topics but with some comic relief built in, and one of the rare times a shoujo series got a full anime adaptation to complete the story. The OAVs aren't as solid but still good.
The magical girl genre was so groundbreaking of how anime is designed for the modern day
Can't believe you mentioned Shoujo Isekai without mentioning Magicknight Rayearth. That's still one of my favorite Isekais of all time.
And totally agree with you about Ghibli's heroines. They are what people should strive for when writing about a Strong Heroine. They are strong and independent but they EARNED all of those traits and not because someone else handed down the power to them. That's why they are so powerful and relatable.
BTW, I'm a guy but I like reading Shoujo manga and I know there are lots of male fans like me out there.
Its definitely a series due for a revival.
Hell yeah dawg "The Rose of Versailles" is my Number one GOAT for a reason
Shoujo slaps
There are also two lesser known Shojo-esque anime that came into my mind. Escaflowne and The 12 Kingdoms. Both feature a young female character who learn over time more about themselves and their surroundings. Escaflowne is more romance and mecha fight oriented (every genre is included in the anime, drama, comedy, horror etc.) Twelve Kingdoms focuses more on politics and social norms (more critical)
go to any nerd convention and see how many girls cosplaying love fanservice
Good video. With that said, this video seems more like "Can Women like Anime in Spite of
Fanservicer" rather than "Can Women like Fanservice."
I always loved fanservice moments as a kid as long as they were between whoever I was shipping in the series. 😂 All the other moments I was desensitised to. I watched my anime on youtube and back in the day, people posted the most crazy, uncensored shows there. I was so small and stupid. I remember my favourite anime at 10 was Panty & Stocking. Before that I had watched ranma, Please Teacher, Ikki Tousen. These shows were not for my age group AT ALL but they did introduce me to sexuality, they also made me more open to same sex relationships and taught me not to judge girls by what they wear because they have the ability to be badass, no matter how they dress (be this in a skimpy uniform, full on armour or an adorable dress). I love all facets of anime honestly. So yes I like fan-service, not for the same reasons that guys like it, but because it represents how anime is free to do whatever the hell it wants. (Which I love but is both good and bad 😅)
I watched Ranma when I was 11-12 with my mom and we both found nothing majorly wrong with it! From what I remember, the “fanservice” consisted of bathing scenes and some bikini outfits. My mom had no problem with either because she knew women wearing bikinis at the beach and taking baths were regular behavior. Plus, Akane stuck up for herself and didn’t take any crap from Ranma, so she was a positive role model in that regard. I’m 16 now and Ranma kind of helped with undoing the aversion to the slightest bit of nudity that my heavily Christian father instilled in me, so I’ll always thank it for that!
The censor blur over the feet is PEAK content creator genius.
I love these types of videos, I'm a woman myself so seeing other girls and women who I relate to makes me very happy. I for sure need to get into more shoujo, I have seen many, but I still think the majority of stuff I watch is clearly meant for boys, and while I do like plenty of these anime, I am sure I am missing out on so many stories that were created by other women.
Also if you want a show that has well written female characters then watch Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood. Every character is important and the story is made by an amazing female mangaka. She only had one moment if fanservice and that was with the one character for a one time gag. Never happens again. The best female character in the series in my opinion is Mrs. Izumi Curtis. She is powerful and the mentor of the main protagonist, also having no over sexualization of her and her character is not just one thing. She is a character that will steal your heart.
I agree. Not to mention that Izumi and her husband are my favorite couple in that series. They have such sweet interactions and I love how their relationship is still going strong even after the terrible loss of their child and not being able to have any more.
@@britt6184 I love the relationship and I think it is the best as well. Ed and Rin are the second. But I love how he is always there to catch her when she is not okay and how she is someone you can rely on when you need help. Also my favorite scene of her are when she met both homunculus and attacked them. Then introduced herself.
I am one of the boys but I have always waaaaaay preferred shoujo for all the reasons you said! They feel more like real people with actual thoughts that I a regular person would have. Big ups to Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, Little Witch Academia, Yona of the Dawn, every Ghibli movie ever, and to the goat of all time The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Really great video!!
@phantomxero1x447 Very low
Definitely missed Revolutionary Girl Utena there.
most badass girl in anime, while addressing directly what it means to be the prince, and a woman in a story
I'm just a guy and don't feel like I should comment here, but I haven't seen one of my favorite "shojou type" anime mentioned. "Land of the Lustrous"
It's similar to Claymore as in the cast is primarily women.
All the characters are distinctive and beautifully written and they all help each other grow and learn.
I'm genuinely upset more people haven't heard about it.
Land of the Lustrous is technically a seinen (adult male demographic), though it's kind of a funny case where it feels like it slides more into "seinen as a default, any-gender demographic" than "seinen for men." I'd also put Hourou Musuko/Wandering Son in this camp. These kinds of series are drawn and written by women and have a very tangible shoujo/josei feel, as you noted, but because they are technically categorized as "male demographic" it's hard to figure out where to fit them in this conversation. The shoujo/josei label in and of itself does often lead people to write series off, while those same people may give more leeway to series like Land of the Lustrous because it's 'seinen.' When you look at the discussion around the dearth of shoujo/josei anime or how low quality they are, for example, it's not a coincidence that Land of the Lustrous and Wandering Son were actually given well-produced, high budget anime adaptations, in contrast to shoujo or josei manga getting lower budget or non-existent anime adaptations. (Though Land of the Lustrous got hit with the 'no second season' bat, so maybe it's a real josei after all 🥲)
It's a complicated subject! But Land of the Lustrous is a beautiful series and I agree with your recommendation. (Though I dunno if I'd consider the cast to be female character representation, since they're kinda genderless, but they do definitely read as more feminine to a western audience.)
It is pretty annoying that shounen anime has to be criticized from a female standpoint while it is FOR BOYS originally and should not need to care for what girls think while shoujo anime can keep only catering to girls exclusively. The usual crap of only the "male gaze" being problematic but the "female gaze" is a-okay.
It’s just the same “ew that’s for boys, this thing for girls is superior” stuff from elementary school. I see this happen for any hobby or media that seems to be mostly partaken in by men, or directed at men (comics, sports, games, novels, etc), from women who don’t necessarly even like it, but still watch or partake in the media despite accusing that hobby or media sexist. You’ll see some women critsize Shounen or any media as “male gaze” as a bad thing, acting as if the target audience literally wasn’t male or if their own targeted media doesn’t do the same things that can be deemed “objectfying”.
ommgggggg i definatelyy was not expecting this collab like i love both inakyu and colleen m so happyy, thank youu for this
I’m bisexual so I enjoy fanservice just as much as guys do (except for certain series).
I can, and I’m a woman. 💜
7:18 hard disagreement on the dudes aren’t made to be looked at as sexy seeing as how dudes got shirts and pants off and you’re acting as if men and women don’t think muscle isn’t sexy that’s cap dudes btw do it because it gets you stronger healthy and sexy as for fan service it’s a gray area same with gore and can be it’s own genre a pillar of anime better to stay then not makes it unique
"Can women like fanservice?".
That is a gem question to ask these days...
I mean, you just have to look at cosplay/convention to see that the answer is a resounding yes.
I’m sorry but once I see a underage girl being sexualized I have to turn off the anime. I can not continue supporting it.
Ok but objectively having your guy be ripped off flexing their abs like Zoro is sexualising males... if you don't think so then like, idk what to say other then that's blatant sexism as guys can get sexualised.
The issue with her argument and others who have the same mentality is that they only look at male Characters in media for men and be like : " um Actually guys aren't Sexualized they're power fantasy "
However they don't look at media aimed for women like shojo and BL when they make this argument because men are Sexualized and objectified there, albeit differently
THANK YOU. The problem is that in media, when the men are being sexualized, when the male character has a shirt that exposes his chest, or is shirtless and muscular or is naked even, women view it as “oh well that’s what MEN like” or don’t view it as sexualization at all no matter what, yet those same women say they want equal sexualization of these characters (which is a lie).
It doesn’t matter if you want it to be equal if you disregard the male characters being sexualized, and you only care to pay attention about “sexualization” when it happens to female characters, which in that case, why would the writers listen to you then? Your clearly not the intended audience regardless of if the sexualizing is equal, you just hate it that they sexualized a female fictional character.
My distaste for fanservice relies solely on the way the women are written in a show. I don't hate it at all when the women are well rounded characters who are badass in their own way. They don't even need to be as strong as the men, if they are still *needed* for the story to be successful. One Piece and Fairy Tail hit that for me. One Piece *needs* Nami and Robin, and Fairy Tale *needs* Erza and Lucy. Especially Erza, but I always liked Lucy. Also, One Piece gave us Zoro, who is somehow both male and female fan service. Thank you Oda for blessing us with that man 🙏 If there's equal fan service for women that *understands* what women want (even if it's on accident) the anime also gets a free pass from me.
But when the women are ONLY there to be fan service or love interests, that's when I am VERY bothered by it. Or when it's OBVIOUSLY minors, especially when the anime is catered towards an older audience.
I got to the Zoro part of the video and I wanna say, it's Zoro's himbo energy that makes the fan service, not his shirtlessness. Tho I don't mind it 👀
Mh not so sure about fairy tale, did we watch the same show lmao
I like how you pronounce Ghibli two different ways in the span of 3 seconds😂
Lesbians like me just like fanservice for the good old fashioned reason.
omg I saw a really good video about why boys like anime so I'm excited to see this !!!
I really liked this video! I am a straight guy, and wanted to make sure anime the medium that i love to interact with wasn't just misogyny for misogyny's sake. I like your disection of the surface level perception of anime and how it truly is more than that. There are tons and tons of anime and manga for women, written by women and have strong female leads. Its a shame that some bad characters can indeed be female and written by females but the same can be said for men too. I just want competent writers making competent characters and stories. You made me realize that...
Shirtless, strong dudes aren't really for women at all. Their for young boys to try and insert themselves into the power fantasy of being strong and able to tear apart a city block with a single punch. Like in the last season of demon slayer there is a shirtless enemy with stone dragons. I remember going "This guy is so fucking cool and imposing." He looks cool cause he is strong and shirtless.
I want you Inakyu to continue to make whatever videos you want! I am glad this one exists cause many girls are sure to go through the same worries about how fanservicey and horny anime can be. And become unable to relate to anything this medium can offer.
Or you know you can just be a normal person and laugh at how ridiculous it is.
It's annoying how multi-layered fan service is, given it's weird mix of marketing and differences in cultural norms. western live action shows, like Game of Thrones and West World are very much guilty of the same, but it is rampant across the board with anime. You can kind of shrug it off as "sex sells, especially around the target demographic", but it really does feel pervasive. That's not to say there isn't also a great deal of sexism and poorly written women across the board too. The women in Naruto are prime examples. Not only do they get the short end of the stick on character development, I can't recall a single time a woman ever won a fight against a man in the entirety of the series. At least, not cleanly. (canonically, Sasori LET himself be killed)
It's just such a shame shoujo aren't more popular. I loved Cardcaptor Sakura, Escaflowne, and Inuyasha as a preteen. I have fond memories of laughing at how flustered Syaoran would get around Sakura with my younger brother, even... I'm in my thirties now, and it's frustrating to watch the medium get absolutely saturated with jiggle physics, harems, and generic power fantasies. it's like growing up on healthy food and watching the next generation get served nothing but Hot Cheetohs. It's a disservice to everyone. young women learn to accept being objectified and portrayed as damsels without agency, and young men develop "nice guy syndrome", which is to say they get it in their heads that performing a series of stereotypically polite actions (aka treating women like actual fucking people) is supposed to unlock some sort of sex/affection prize because that's how it happens in every other anime nowadays 🙄
Mutli-layered is one thing. But where's the line... If a girl goes out and puts on a dress to look good, and she show's a bit of cleevage... is she now technically doing "fan-service" to the general public? What about a character doing the same thing, wearing the same dress? Posting the same images to their fictional instagrams? Can characters not do what real girls do, without it being "fan service"? I think the feminist agenda to scrutinize any and every female character is going a bit too hard these days, because currently probably every television show in the world has some feminist somewhere going "that's sexist//fanservice" while others would actually say "it's female empowerment". Meanwhile, any and every male character is fine... apparantly... the double standards of feminists is so obvious to everyone else...
What we need to combat hyper-sexualized fan-service, is not to attack any and every instance of female characters in media, but rather choosing our battles carefully and also distinguishing between "bad storytelling" in general and "bad sexist writing", because a lot of characters that are just.. poorly written... are taken by feminists as "sexist" characters. (of course, exclusively when it's female characters). For instance, a male character without agency is just a boring character. Most people agree. But lo and behold, a female character without agency... IS SEXIST WRITING! well, according to some of the more delusional feminists. When a male character is saved by someone else, it's a nice moment of heroism and someone being saved. But lo and behold, if a female character gets saved??? IT SEXIST. Well, accoridng to delusional people.
Feminists, fix your standards and cut the drama, or continue to not be taken seriously by anyone but yourselves.
I got sold on claymore when my friend said "okay imagine Berserk But...….females".
Clare truly is Guts' Long Lost Sister of the Sword, grins :D
As a guy claymore is a really great manga. Made it to chapter 266, but it was great. Berserk is also amazing.
I’ve loved anime because it helped to see the girls with big boobs like me unashamedly bouncing around with my body image. Even though they meant it as a joke, it was up front for all to see without the threat of another person getting on them to put them away because the men don’t understand that they just can’t deflate them like how men in churches think they function.
And feminists say that anime has unrealistic female body standards.
@@gandalainsley6467It does, and it's not just about breasts. As a woman with big breasts myself, there is a difference between larger breasts and breasts that fully have a mind of their own/breasts that are impossibly large and/or placed on children (e.g., Dragon Maid).
@@ladynoluck Dragon maid is not a child, just a tiny lady. There are a lot of those in real life. Also yes I know that some anime have interesting sizes of booba.
@@gandalainsley6467 I'm talking about the child-coded teen with breasts the size of 4 heads each. Not the main Dragon Maid character.
@@ladynoluck I don't know who that is. The show wasn't for me so i did not get far.
🤔 demonslayer is misogynistic? I mean there is definitely fanservice but there seems to be quite a few powerful women in the series overall 🤷🏻♂️
When everything is misogynistic... nothing is....
I truly appreciate this kind of videos.
When I try to talk about how women are portrayed in anime there's always a kind of tired response that goes "Well, it's just part of the medium"
Which I guess, fair enough, but it's still important to talk about it and try to understand it.
While I have enjoyed the video quite a lot, and I do feel like it provided me with new insight, I can't help but feel it failed to be about fanservice. It's more of a, "yes, fanservice sucks, but here's what doesn't have it and is fun!" Hell, going by the timestamps, the fanservice portion of the video is shorter than the ad read (although the section "anime is more than shounen" did also touch on the topic). The video seems to paint all type of fanservice as bad, and while it is the case most of the time, I do believe it can be done in a tasteful way. There's a difference between, "haha, isn't SA funny?" in show like Fire Force, and something out of Chainsaw Man. Seeing it on your shelf, I had expected it to come up at some point and was quite surprised to see it never did.
Talking about Ghibli female characters, Shizuku from Whisper of the Heart needs more attention and the reveal of When Marnie was There totally fooled me-if you know you know
Another good mention is Skip beat, about a girl driven by revenge/betrayal by becoming an actor but found passion in it. There's an old anime but it's only 24 episodes while the manga is 280+ chapters and art got so much better now
What an outstanding cross over!! Love everything about this. Stan both y'all's channels ✨💖
Also women definitely enjoy fanservice shounen ai expressions in works like "Free!".
I would argue some animes such as Fairy Tail do sexualize men for a female audience. It's clearly presented in a suggestive way sometimes, but for sure there is only a few in comparison.
how did you get it, muscular males are not sexual objectification, muscular males are disgusting, and only the males themselves and short-sighted females like them, but muscular females are cool, of course if anime makes muscular females, it is of course just as pathetic as everyone else in anime
Now do some math, consider the statistics for ratios of how many male vs female viewers there are of anime - you'd probably find that in a world where 50 % of audience were female, you could forsee a huge increase in sexualization of males.
Also we could count all the shirtless guys as being sexualized.... because unlike the statements in this video, "shirtless men" does absolutely nothing for normal males, and is not part of any "bro-fantasy". Come on now, lets count what you'd count in a gender bended scenario... at least do that...
Also lets factor in how attraction works differently in general for the two genders. For males it's frankly too easy to be attracted, and super-duper easy to cater to it for the writers of anime, anytime, anywhere. When writers have the same intention to arouse female audience, it'd be done less blatantly and it'd seem more like a "romantic" storyline, which I bet the feminists are going to ignore, "since it's so nice with romance" - must go nicely with those double standards, it's still about arousing the audience.
But yes, even despite all this, I'd say females are obviously more sexualized than males. The point is just... it's not really an extreme difference.
No need for the maths here. I mean, you probably SHOULD be able to forsee a huge increase in sexualization of males in a perfect world. But can you realistically forsee it in our modern era despite the 50% female audience? I really doubt it for now.
I don't think she's entirely wrong with the shirtless men being a part of a bro-fantasy and being made for a male audience. I think there is a difference to make when it's sexualized and when it isn't. When it's presented in a not particularly sexualized but still suggestive way, I think it's indeed made for the bro-fantasy life, like it would be for girls' make up, haircut to make them look pretty and so on. The difference is quite subtle though I'll admit. I agree that man sexualization definitely exists in animes though. It's just really rare in comparison to female sexualization.
There is fundamentally no difference regarding how attraction works between the two genders. It's just general social differences deeply rooted in society writers clinge to and reproduce as if it was a biological truth because they've always been told it is this way. And the audience does as well, just like she said with female writers who reproduce these tropes of differences in attraction like men are easier to attract and things like that. Trying to attract women with romance is also one of these old tropes, like only girls read shojos. The reality is vastly different. Not going for the tropes means explicit sexualization should also be presented to girls. I think the problem is just it's never presented to girls the same way in the first place so as a woman you can even start to believe you have to love romance because you're a girl.
As she says in the video, the first anime audience is still men so the difference in sexualization between both genders is still huge. Even in a gender bended scenario, woman sexualization is still way more present on average.
Can agree with some points here, but attraction do really work differently for the genders generally speaking. The research that supported your views that I found, was quite jarringly reductive of how attraction works (and often super politically charged and biased, btw). For instance a big part of the research was tests where they show sexualized pictures and measure brain activity to compare differences between genders, in order to conclude there's no difference between them when the brain activity seems to "flare up similarly" in similar areas. So the whole premise for the test, is a reductive understanding of attraction based on... images and flaring brain activity? What about actions, words, gradually getting to know somebody, what about the real world, the real experience of feeling attraction. What about romance? Does the test measure that? It's not a reliable method. There's so much more to attraction than what the biased excuse for "science" by liberal agenda on the topic makes it out to be. And when I looked at people's answers about their own attraction, there seems to be much more difference in the way females vs males answer. I suggest doing this, really go and google and find forum posts with people sharing how they believe they are attracted.
But anyway, this is just a typical case of "statistics and numbers are easy to manipulate to mean anything". The biased agenda you're talking about is trying to make it seem like there are no differences between males and females, in order to achieve some notion of equality... but it's just another case of spreading misinformation for sake of politics.@@kyurei4478
@Exsulator2 I sadly have to disagree here though. Attraction doesn't work differently for the genders in general. The differences rather reveal in isolated cases, not a generality. I didn't pick a particular test to say this and point at an invalid research right away. Your own claim seems reductive in the first place. The studies that support a difference between male and female attraction are already heavily influenced by the internalization of the patriarcal tropes which biases thiese results and provoke these differences. It's well known that all of this starts from infancy. Beside that, it's actually a less biased way to measure it by looking at the brain activity directly. Words are also much more left to interpretation and don't necessarely produce the same effect from one individual to another. It's a reductive understanding of attraction solely based on your own opinion on attraction. All the points you're mentioning: action, getting to know somebody and so on are already common to both. But all of these aspects themselves are heavily influenced and shaped by our social context. Even brain activity despite being the most detached aspect to measure isn't totally unbiased cause it's also used to it. It's specifically by detaching it from the real world that you can measure it as fairly as possible cause the world isn't supposed to have any sort of influence if these differences are fundamental and excluded from any context. Doing it another way would be heavily biased. Maybe there is more to attraction, I don't deny that. But the origin of it is only cultural and social constructions and has nothing to do with biological origin. No need to try to validate someone's own profound beliefs through Science to try to legitimate it more by creating clans between men and women. Modern society is already doing its work even without such claims. No need to try to discredit any scientific research by bringing politic either. Of course there is differences in many people's responses because of the influence of their social context that shapes their habits. We prefer directly hiding or ostracize the different responses as if they were insignificant and out of normality and don't actually exist whitout even questioning why many answers are identical and why these different answers exist. Exactly, it *seems* to be. But when you don't listen to people but actually observe their daily behavior, you'll realize that these differences are actually more superficial. An answer needs to be formulated, instinctive actions and behaviors don't. Dishonesty is very common too. I suggest reading actual scientific research instead of asking people things they've always been used to mimic and receive the same way since childhood. If you search on forums and Google you'll probably find very standard and genderless answers and comments, as well as the exact opposite with feminist or macho opinions. But I guess these extremes ones obviously aren't real because they could never be acceptable right? This double standard is just an excuse for saving prehistoric tropes about human biology. The only differences are the ones humans create for themselves by giving some sort of meaning to simple biological and functional differences like color, origin and so on. At least other animals aren't dumb enough to fight against the other gender of their own species which is nonsensical and simply suicidal.
Statistics and numbers don't mean anything from the moment you guide it a certain way from the origin (which isn't a fatality but it's at least better to be conscious of it). The biased agenda is the one desperately trying to make you believe there is fundamental differences between men and women when it comes to attraction to conserve any form of patriarcal influence caused by the fear of redefining the view on reality and losing points of reference installed since millenias of historical biased opinions and laws on gender. Everything humanity has been doing through History is slowly making it disappear through Science and wisdom anyway. Equality isn't something to achieve but something that has always naturally existed and would simply be in peace if humans could stop assuming differences that have no actual biological basis, only to validate their subjective view. They've been doing this since the dawns of time because of their judgemental nature. All of this caused by the ego of wanting to keep a form of edge over women by a fear of feeling inferior and the taboo of admitting things women do that aren't socially accepted for their gender. You'll notice that every man or woman who doesn't care about these two notions whatsoever behaves in a much more similar way. And these two notions are inherited from our social context but it's slowly disappearing thankfully. That's why you can see more and more exotic behaviors for men and women cause people stop giving any form of meaning to genders and dare to free from it. The laws of attraction don't have to exist.
when i was younger i used to like fanservice (cuz i was queer) but at the same time it made me compare my body to other girls a lot. i was 11 but it made me think how if i had no boobs i was unnatractive and no guy would ever like me. that stopped after watching other type of animes other than the ones filled with fanservice. though it let me feel attracted towards women, even if I didn't put it into words at that time, it also had those counterpoints and made me feel bad about myself and other women
I was in a similar situation.
So you missed all the fanservice involving flat-chested girls, and there's A LOT
Omgggg you and Colleen are two of my favourite youtubeers for anime commentary videos ...dammm i am too happy 😭
how is this video so long and yet so surface level 😭
No I never liked the intrusive fanservice It’ll pull me out of the zone and roll my eyes😭
This video was great! Really appreciate sharing your experience and perspective!
Glad you enjoyed it!
A few thoughts:
- I remember that one of the things people noticed about manga in the 2000s was how much of it was aimed at a female audience *and* how much of it was drawn by women.
- I do think that women like the shirtless men because…they draw and share horny fan art of their favorite male characters. Power fantasies and horny fantasies are not necessarily exclusive.
- Inuyasha was the high water mark for isekai; nothing has topped it since.
- Although I liked my action series, I sometimes read the girly stuff and enjoyed it, and I don’t consider myself that progressive (side note: my fave character in Gundam Wing was…Lucrezia Noin, followed by Relena Peacecraft.)
- I watched Sailor Moon in my middle school years, but I never told anyone at school at the time.
- The male gaze is 100% legitimate when the content is aimed at a male audience. It’s a tool like any other storytelling device.
And let's remember lots of the animes we criticize for having a big amount of female sexualization and male gaze moments are SHONEN, which literally means "anime made for an audience of adolecent boys"
@@ultimatejager4058 That’s true. Not all anime - or media, for that matter - is for everyone.
YEAHHH a fellow GW women liker!! Some 15 years ago I swear literally couldn't walk down the internet street without running into a Relena hater. It was so frustrating when she was such a great character with so much depth and growth. Noin was great too, and Sally Po was super underrated. (I love Une too, but that's more of a guilty pleasure. I just was so wildly entertained by how off the wall she was in so many directions.) GW's cast of female characters had so much dynamism and variety. Super underappreciated.
I can't attest to the quality of the anime since I've only read the novels, but if you liked Inuyasha and you're looking for another good isekai, I recommend The Twelve Kingdoms.
The one thing I'll say about the shirtless men is, it's not that women don't like it, it's that it's not made for the purpose of appealing to women. Otherwise there'd be a lot more slash fanart of DBZ 😂 That's not hot to girls, it's just cool to guys. Most later stuff is drawn 'prettier' so the muscles become more appealing to women into dudes, but that's incidental. That's why it's not equivalent to cheesecake fanservice of women, which IS made and intended for dudes into women (even though women also enjoy it!) But since the 2000s it's been more and more the case that shounen is aware of its female demographic and /does/ increasingly play into it on purpose. (Stuff like Kuroshitsuji is technically published in a shounen magazine, lol.) But if you look into it, it's not shirtless muscular men that women really get into, it's the emotional bonds, charisma, and good-looking faces. That's why shoujo and josei doesn't really have a lot of artists who are good at drawing muscular men 😂 Shirtless men in shoujo look borderline anemic
@@kazmori6981 Yup, I never understood the hate for Relena. Maybe it was because her parts weren’t as action-heavy, or maybe her involvement took away from the “toughness” of the show? I don’t know.
I have heard of Twelve Kingdoms, but I never got around to it. If I do try it, it’ll likely be through its anime.
Regarding muscular men, I think the rough female equivalent is pretty dresses. The dresses *can* look good to men depending on the length, shape, and cut, but scenes of ladies in lovely dresses are generally not aimed at men; they’re aimed at women, since they embody the female power fantasy of being the best-looking (and thus the most powerful socially.) So I recognize what you - and Inakyu - are driving at now.
@@rawlenyanzi6686 yeah exactly! I think that's a large part of why some women enjoy cheesecake/fanservice, too (along with just being attracted to other women obv). Being hot=higher social value, not just in the eyes of men. It feels good to look good!
I think it's a more complicated subject than just "fanservice good" or "fanservice bad," or for that matter "power fantasy good" or "power fantasy bad." I think these kinds of depictions can be super fun and inspiring and fulfilling, but on the other hand the more kids compare themselves to these images the more they can have a toxic impact on girls and boys both tbh. Between media depictions and everyone posting themselves on social media, it feels like standards for appearances keep going up, and eating disorders and stuff like that go up right along with it. There's stories about like teenage boys dying from steroid overuse and stuff these days. I worry for kids man.
I disagree with dragon maid. We all know what the fanservice is catered for. Pedophiles fly in the docks. Being a ''silly fun'' anime is not an excuse to dehumanize and objectify women.
The editing was great. Also I liked that I got more shoujo recommendations. It was also great how you sounded naturally enthusiastic and encouraging when discussing this topic. I really like this video as someone who is getting used to shoujo and expanding my taste
ahh thanks Q!
Card Captor Sakura,
I will never forget this sunday morning, when I was about 15 years old and I thought I woke up so early I could watch some TV. so I sneeked into the living room, trying to not wake up anyone just to find my father watching a strange show I didn't knew. he looked at me, shocked, embarrased, than explained the plot to me. it was the 6th episode and up until than he watched it every sunday morning by himself while having his first cup of coffee to relax. he said he thought it was a movie he could play in the background while reading newspaper (like, you know, for having some noise around you), but he realized it was a show and he needed to know the ending, because he was not able to life without knowing the ending of stories he begun. it was quite hilarious. since than we would watch it together, it became out little secret. at the end, he thought it was quite a nice series he would want his granddaughter to watch (if he got one someday), because he thought it would be inspiring for little girls.
As a guy I started to enjoy anime more when I opened myself up to watching genres outside of shonen action, especially when I discovered how much I get sucked into romance anime particularly lol. That being said, I felt uncomfortable since so many of them would lewd the women who were usually high schoolers. Discovering shojo romance specifically has been great because for me it feels like a relaxing change of pace for an anime that’s more calming and fun, while also giving two lead characters that actually feel like equals, compared to a few nameless shonen romance I’ve encountered.
Great video!!
same found myself slowly drift away into shojo and slice of life romance.
the "uncomfortable" part is always bullshit.
It’s always sad when I get to the end of your videos. They’re great!
I LOVE this conversation. I'm 28 and found anime likely when I was 4-5 too, my sisters liked Sailor Moon and I would catch Dragon Ball on at night. Then I found Mew Mew Cute, then Magical Witch Do Re Mi, before I knew it I was ripping Vocaloid songs from Nico Nico onto my iPod shuffle. Chobits, Host Club, and Lucky Star in particular were hugely influential to me (for better or worse).
because of your account it made me watch tokyo ghoul. i've been into watch a lot more anime this year because i grew up watching a lot & eventually when i went back to tokyo ghoul & watched it for the first time it was awesome. i think the storyline is intensifying, well-thought-out, and built to keep the audience in trance. it's so good. i really wanted to watch first season but there was an ambiguation on the character having white hair & being older & i thought it was in season 1 it was suppose to happen based off the online pictures. that's why i suddenly went to season 2. there was a huge misunderstanding.
I'm a guy who grew up on shounen anime because, like your upbringing, that's all that was featured around me. But with some help from GA pals around me, I found so many wonderful shoujos that were so refreshing. Despite what some people think, I simultaneously love a lot of content for boys/men but get absolutely tired of it as the default. I want to see romance, emale action and whatever else these mediums can provide. I'm so thankful the superhero genre is dying off and that we're getting movies like Barbie to hopefully set up trends in Hollywood. Beautiful points all around and I'll be subscribing for more!
I feel like there's an untapped gold mine of Shojou anime murder mysteries/thrillers. Anything relating to serial killers or (true) crime seems to have an overwhelmingly female demographic but there's not much anime or manga that caters to that for some reason.
@@crediblesalamander8056 I'm feelin it. Let's call up some professionals to get on it
Oh my god a crossover episode with one of my favorite Women-Centric Anime/Manga Channels?! I had already subbed pretty early into the video, but wow this makes me want a podcast with all of the prominent women ani-tubers!
Love this video but also find it really sad how we're all just desensitized now to fanservice/female objectification/the sexualization of minors/misogyny in animanga 🙃
Fan service mostly is used for teenage boys. That is why its so much in shonen so yeah girls will be objectified there because teenage boys are horny as shit and horny sells well. As for sexualization of minors, they are not real people. I never could understand you people who have problem with that. The main demographic for shonen is teenage boys , so it would make sense that girls that would be sexualized would be teenage girls most of the time. Only time it gets weird for me is when an adult character in the show hits on a teenager or show tries to push that kind of romance.(its rare though) Maybe because I don't want to have sex with animation it does not bother me that in the show they are underage. I would need an explanation for the misogyny though because I have seen couple of times people who is not the main demographic for shonen mentioning it but I never have gotten a good example of it when I ask.
@@gandalainsley6467 They have problems either because they're simp desperately trying to score pussy, or because they're common women, aka extremely jealous of any woman (real or fictional) that is younger and more attractive than them as they instinctively know that's their most valuable trait and always will be.
That's why you get 40 years olds telling you being attracted to 25 years old is "pedophilia".
@@gandalainsley6467
That was a lot of words just to say you’re oppressed for people finding this weird
@@whoknows9085 I guess you never have gotten an explanation for anything. I just explained why its there.
@@gandalainsley6467
I saw and all it did was make you look even more suspicious
A person says they personally are uncomfortable with minors, fictional or not, sexualized and that is like a hate crime to you people for some reason
It’s also a weird explanation if I might add. You went from “of course teenage boys want to sexualize girls, they are horny” to “no these minor girl characters aren’t sexualized, they are fictional, you’re dumb” which just isn’t consistent in logic. Either they are sexualized for the purpose to be sexualized for an audience(unfortunately grown people are turned on by these minors too, let’s not be obtuse), or they can’t be sexualized because no one actually wants to do a fictional character
Oh I was happy seeing Colleen! Great video all around 🥰 I just really love when creators I like work together!
Great video! It’s close to impossible for perfect media to exist. Every show is likely going to have things you dislike, and the things you dislike might not be the same thing they dislike or I dislike. Or the things you dislike change from age 15 to age 30. Being a fan of anime means needing to be critical of what is depicted. So many shows have poor examples of sex, or violence, or nihilistic death. You’re constantly making judgements about what’s acceptable or disturbing, and choosing when you can ignore the problems or need to drop a series. One of the strengths of good shows is not being so heavy handed or moralistic, but in being grey or ambiguous in the characters’ flaws. It requires a critical eye that not all viewers are willing to provide.
Like Evangelion?
I forgot Escaflowne. 12 Kingdoms. This is why we love anime.
it's not supposed to be realistic. it's supposed to be entertaining and satisfy our fantasies. the body types aren't meant to be realistic and it doesn't enforce standards. literally just let us have fun
That's why East Asian people have a lot of insecurities and depressions.
I grew up on shows like highschool dxd and other harems from 12-14 and this definitely hurt me and my image of women as a young girl, I can't imagine what shounen shows with ecchi does to young boys who watch it unquestioningly. I think ecchi is completely fine in an anime that is specifically ecchi centred. But in stuff like my hero academia, one punch man, demon slayer.. I don't think there's any reason for it to be in there. It can easily set a kid off on a path to only watch the worst stuff they can get their hands on as a kid (redo of a healer, prison school) like I did.
see the anime's rating. redo is +18 and prison school is 16+, you shouldn't see this outside of the appropriate age.
@@EC-qz2kw that obviously doesn't matter to most children
Speed Racer and Astro Boy were my first anime when I was a little kid in the 1970s. I've watched some of the current crop of popular shounen shows, but have been looking back to earlier eras in search of more shoujo and josei manga and anime. I really like the differences in storytelling style and content.
What about all of the sexy husbandos with their shirts always off? Men and women are both sexualized. There is fan service for everyone
I rewatched Natsume's book of friends recently and cried a lil, bc he's such a relatable character and princess jellyfish oml. Those shows just take me back lol. When it comes to fan service I think of those sparkly scenes with cute/pretty characters, the other stuff doesn't interest me.