Do anime fans HATE strong female characters?

Red_Keys said:
Retarded shitposts on youtube removed of context don't mean anything

Moogle-Magic said:
I'm actually desperately searching for more shows that star strong female characters like the ones in Claymore. All I ever seem to find is fucking fanservice anime with girls 'fighting' that do exactly what that (kind of sexist) guy said: flashing their tits and panties.

And I don't think anime fans in general hate strong female characters, of course, there are some assholes, but the main problem is that there are not many of them. And the ones that are being sold as ''strong independent female characters'' are just shitty tsunderes and female supremacists, so there's a stigma around it.

I've been called a shitlord myself for disliking anime with girls in them, but honestly, I couldn't care less what gender the characters are. As long as they're well made characters, gender shouldn't matter. The thing is that there are more good male characters than female characters, who are often used for 'waifu material', fanservice and boosting up the sales. That's all imo.

Darius said:
Idk if that makes sense but when a male does the same thing you somehow don't question anything and on the contrary - start to resepct the guy lol

I know it's weird but that's just how it feels like

DarkAnimeAngel said:
Strong female characters are my favourite. I can't stand weak female characters, they're so annoying. (Same thing applies to girls in real life)

I am a tom-boy girl, and I find that Shounen is way better than most Shoujo's and I hate the weak girl stereotype.

flannan said:

Can you give some examples?

Darius said:
It is not in female's nature to be strong, that's why. It just doesn't feel natural. When a female mc is acting strong it always feels like she is trying to prove something and that's annoying. Idk if that makes sense but when a male does the same thing you somehow don't question anything and on the contrary - start to resepct the guy lol

I know it's weird but that's just how it feels like

Darius said:
It is not in female's nature to be strong, that's why. It just doesn't feel natural. When a female mc is acting strong it always feels like she is trying to prove something and that's annoying. Idk if that makes sense but when a male does the same thing you somehow don't question anything and on the contrary - start to resepct the guy lol

I know it's weird but that's just how it feels like

SuzuMine-chan said:
(Sorry if I'm being rude but I think your commentary is very offensive, imo)

GlennMagusHarvey said:

not so much "offensive" as much as "stupid" lol

flannan said:

Yeah, it's totally weird. When the MC is made of rubber, and the party includes a swordsman who fights with three swords at once and a reindeer (I have no idea what's his story), people saying "strong female fighters don't feel natural" are totally weird.
Yes, all of anime is strange enough that minor stuff like gender shouldn't bother people.


Why people are never bothered by emotionless "strong" male characters, like Guts? I don't think there is any reason female characters can't embody the same archetype.


Can you give some examples?


Actually, a lot of viewers complain about main male characters not being strong enough (for any value of strong). For example, Ikari Shinji, lead of NGE.
If you ask me, I like battle harem leads a lot more than comedy harem leads. Even though they aren't that much different in personality, but battle harem leads are brave and strong on the battlefield.


I don't feel the author should chew everything for the viewers. Only the parts he/she considers important.


Why would you bother making proper armor if it's going to get stripped off them anyway?
Still, I like Dog Days' "ablative armor" explanation (basically, the armor is designed to be destroyed, protecting the wearer in the process, and that's the best armor in the setting).


Ignoring youtube comments is perfectly reasonable thing to do. Youtube comments are just as devoid of humanity as 2ch and similar sites. Even MAL is a reasonable place in comparison.

Laionidas said:


Exactly, if you're just setting up a story to basically facilitate fan fiction, then you're not writing.

Star Wars was just horrible alltogether though. I quite like the franchise, though I'm not a real 'fan' I guess, while my little brother just looks at it like any other movie. Both of us had to force (no pun intended) ourselves just to sit through the full length movie. Characters, script, design, effects, everything was just terrible. Maybe not from a technical perspective, but there was literally nothing that surprised me, and everything just oozed 'PC Disney Cash Cow'. Let's forget about it.

SuzuMine-chan said:


What?? ¬¬ Are you a troll or are you just s*****?? For your own knowledge, I've met a lot of females who are a lot more strong than males (in my class, for example, there are no boys good in sports but many girls enjoys and practise well sports). So, "female's nature" is also to be strong, not just to be a housewife.

Johnnyd3rp said:


I agree with you that women are not just housewifes but the example you gave is pretty stupid. That men are physically stronger than women is a fact.

SuzuMine-chan said:
It isn't a fact... It's just that a lot of women don't make exercise because of stupid stereotypes and men do because of the same. But anyway, show me the proof of why it is a fact and I will believe you.

JonasTheJay said:
I get that this is pretty extreme and doesn't represent the entire anime community, but it really got me thinking. Sometimes I just get the feeling that anime fans dislike strong fictional females. If you look at battle shounen series with female protagonists (fan service shows excluded, so half naked women don't count), there aren't really a whole lot: Claymore, Soul Eater, JoJo Part 6 Stone Ocean and that's pretty much it. Maybe you know a few others, but you can't deny that the amount of anime/manga with action girls is pretty low. When it comes to all-female casts, then you really only got Claymore and nothing else. Is there really no demand for series like this?

I do realize that shounen are targeted at boys. However manga like Hxh or One Piece have in reality a relatively broad audience of all genders and ages (especially in Japan). It's not like these kinds of manga wouldn't sell well, because some 8 year old boys would be like "ewww girls". Also most moe manga like K-On are also targeted at guys (either shounen or seinen). So the demographic is hardly a good argument and shouldn't hold back creators from writing more tough female characters, right?

Of course there are some great series with a male MC, that also happen to have good female support characters (for example NGE or Gintama). But female protagonists in these kind of series are still super rare, which pisses me off to no end, especially since only very few people seem to care about this issue. Do you think I'm exaggerating or can you relate to my displeasure?

LoneWolf said:
Id say most people on this site prefer female characters to male characters, cause they are more cute and easy to fap to. Personally I don't give a fuck a good character can be well written despite their gender. Its just that most female characters are shitty archetypes and waifu-bait. There are a also shitty male chars that are blank slates and generic AF, but the amount of crappy waifu-bait female chars far outnumbers to boring generic male characters.

GlennMagusHarvey said:


Kinda funny how shounen gets flak for weak boys sometimes. :P Maybe it's because the focus is on the people around the self-insert character.

Johnnyd3rp said:


It's a fact, take for example the times from the 100m at the Olympic Games. Probably there are women that don't lack talent compared to the male counterpart but they still can't compete with them.

There was the discussion if female athletes with high levels of testosterone caused by illness should compete or not.

SuzuMine-chan said:

Well, the two things at once. But I became offended by that comment because I'm really tired of listening people say: "Girls are weird", "Act like a boy and not like a girl" and much more stupid sexist things... U know, stupid people say stupid things

Johnnyd3rp said:


I agree with you that women are not just housewifes but the example you gave is pretty stupid. That men are physically stronger than women is a fact.

Wensbane said:


She's strong, sure. But she tends to lose her head sometimes.

metArt said:
Tired of dull female characters.. I think in general a lot of anime like to play stereotype.

SuzuMine-chan said:
It isn't a fact... It's just that a lot of women don't make exercise because of stupid stereotypes and men do because of the same. But anyway, show me the proof of why it is a fact and I will believe you.

Drunk_Samurai said:


It is a fact. It's basic biology. Doesn't mean that all men are stronger or faster.

Laionidas said:


First that comes to mind is Balsa Yonsa, from Seirei Moribito:


Then there's Atsuko Chiba from Paprika:


Haruhara Haruko from FLCL,.. yeah.

Ichihara Yuuko from xxxHOLic:


Magata Shiki from Subete ga F ni Naru:

TheBrainintheJar said:


Shinji Ikari is a lone case. Popular male characters in any type of fiction aren't always strong. Holden Caulfield and Clyde (American Tragedy) are some of the most developed characters you'll find in fiction, and they're horribly flawed. Look at any Pixar film, and the characters aren't strong at all, but have a lot of downsides they struggle with. Woody isn't as charming without his big ego.

Why can't we think of female characters as complex? Why the dichotomy of 'strong' vs 'weak'?

I don't want the author to spill everything, but I shouldn't write the story between the lines. I shouldn't think of things also happening in the 'fictional world' that the author just didn't write. I shouldn't imagine relationships that were never mentioned. I need to only find meaning in the content the author put forth.

DrGeroCreation said:
Just imagine the shitstorm if Sayaka was a guy and acted as melodramatic as she did.

RipperIsHere said:

Most female characters are too sexualised or weak and need a hero in anime... I'm surprised female anime fans haven't caused a ruckus about it yet. I agree with you completely, however it does make you appreciate a decent strong female character when they come along. Like seeing a mythical creature in real life(for lack of a better metaphor).

flannan said:

This is the problem with that kind of thinking.
Sure, you might prove that men have, on the average, 10% more power level than women. But it does not matter, because the final fight is going to be between the MC (power level 1000) and the villain (power level 10 000). These 10% are not going to matter at all. Only the powerup that makes the MC 20 times stronger (power level 20 000) matters.


Did it really not sit well with the audiences?


I have no idea what kind of show American Tragedy is. Probably not the kind of show I watch.
But I've seen at least 3 male action leads that catch flak for not being badass enough. Besides Shinji, there is Amano Yukiteru ("Yukki") from Mirai Nikki and Arita Haruyuki from Accel World.
Occultic;Nine's Gamon Yuuta annoys a lot of people too (but that show is not action). And don't forget all those people who complain that harem MCs aren't manly enough to rape all the girls.

To quote another poster,


-----------------------------------


Why do people keep saying being sexy takes away from being strong? It's not like major male characters dress for practicality. Especially in anime. (looks at a certain orange ninja, looks at Laharl the half-naked demon lord, looks at Conan the Barbarian...)

flannan said:

Did it really not sit well with the audiences?

TheBrainintheJar said:



Have you watched Episode IV? It's a great lesson in basic storytelling. Forget about the Extended Universe and all that. It's a pure heroic journey about defeating an evil empire.

Darius said:
Women belong to the kitchen.......

Creatiwiti said:
Now that's just cheap bate. At least try harder.

flannan said:

This is the problem with that kind of thinking.
Sure, you might prove that men have, on the average, 10% more power level than women. But it does not matter, because the final fight is going to be between the MC (power level 1000) and the villain (power level 10 000). These 10% are not going to matter at all. Only the powerup that makes the MC 20 times stronger (power level 20 000) matters.

mitthrawndir said:


I really liked Claymore as well and would love to see more action oriented/fantasy anime like that. Sure, Claire wasn't exactly my favorite, but the show made up for it with the variety in the rest of the cast.

Has anyone brought up Psycho Pass?? I thought Akane was a really great example on how a female lead can develop into a 'strong' character without magic or some ridiculous plot device. She is present in most key action scenes if I remember correctly, along with the male leads, but it's believable and balanced... i.e. she's not physically strong but rather more tactical.

I guess it might not really be the genre being discussed, but it came to mind lol.

flannan said:

Yeah, it's totally weird. When the MC is made of rubber, and the party includes a swordsman who fights with three swords at once and a reindeer (I have no idea what's his story), people saying "strong female fighters don't feel natural" are totally weird.
Yes, all of anime is strange enough that minor stuff like gender shouldn't bother people.


Why people are never bothered by emotionless "strong" male characters, like Guts? I don't think there is any reason female characters can't embody the same archetype.


Can you give some examples?


Actually, a lot of viewers complain about main male characters not being strong enough (for any value of strong). For example, Ikari Shinji, lead of NGE.
If you ask me, I like battle harem leads a lot more than comedy harem leads. Even though they aren't that much different in personality, but battle harem leads are brave and strong on the battlefield.


I don't feel the author should chew everything for the viewers. Only the parts he/she considers important.


Why would you bother making proper armor if it's going to get stripped off them anyway?
Still, I like Dog Days' "ablative armor" explanation (basically, the armor is designed to be destroyed, protecting the wearer in the process, and that's the best armor in the setting).


Ignoring youtube comments is perfectly reasonable thing to do. Youtube comments are just as devoid of humanity as 2ch and similar sites. Even MAL is a reasonable place in comparison.

RipperIsHere said:

Most female characters are too sexualised or weak and need a hero in anime... I'm surprised female anime fans haven't caused a ruckus about it yet. I agree with you completely, however it does make you appreciate a decent strong female character when they come along. Like seeing a mythical creature in real life(for lack of a better metaphor).