Execution of feminism in anime

Aquamirror said:
Meanwhile in Japan: "Nani koree??"

RainyRai said:
I haven't consumed all the feminist anime out there, but I've checked out big names like Utena, and Utena is good, so they're probably all good based on the quality of one series.

S-quare22 said:
Not sure if versailles no bara counts but this anime would make feminists proud (not to mention the strong female leads)
Anyways, this show is heavily-loved here, I guess.

bitchassdarius said:
you are right, they should execute feminists in anime !!! fuck SJWs !!!!

Mizuti1 said:
Maybe it's just me and what I've watched but I was looking through my list and finding it really hard to find anime with some feminist themes mixed in. Can definitely back the others up on Utena though (it's really good), and I'm sure there's others. I just haven't found them yet

holysauron said:

Haven't seen it yet. I actually meant what you think about feminist anime btw. I already know Versailles no Bara, Utena, close to Miyazaki's entire body of work etc. are feminist.


Thanks! sincerely, a feminist.

holysauron said:


Well Ayanami Rei was made with a feminist reason (exaggerating the yamato nadeshiko archetype to such an extent it becomes creepy instead) and Naoko Yamada's body of work can be called feminist, but I'm not sure if she sees it that way. Apart from that Hayao Miyazaki is a feminist and it tends to bleed into his work, Madoka Magica had that one feminist scene, Perfect Blue comes close to #metoo and that's about it from your list.

doodleofsteiner said:
I've been recently watching The Secret of Blue Water (Fushigi no Umi no Nadia), and I just couldn't stop thinking about how much it would be loved if it aired today, specially for the femminist movement.

The main character (one of the 2) is a black, vegetarian girl, and a strong-willed one, but the anime doesn't knock you in the head trying to convince you with this idea, but it leaves it there for you to think about it.

Hoppy said:
Anime is better off without the poison dart frog of a concept called feminism. It will end up like Marvel comics otherwise.

Botan-Chan45 said:
stop!! I don't want these flame wars anymore.

Bourmegar said:
Mind giving me a list of Anime that are Feminist or had feminist moments?

I cannot form an opinion on it yet.....

Hoppy said:
Anime is better off without the poison dart frog of a concept called feminism. It will end up like Marvel comics otherwise.

Kuromii said:
I don't understand what you mean by a feminist anime. Do you just mean anime with a good/strong female lead?

YayaChibi said:
Crawling in my craaaaawwl
Lmao I recommend MAL tomorrow changes its title to anti tumblr list just for april fools lmao

Vlad4o said:
Feminist themes ? Like strong female characters who break the typical gender roles or something else ? Since this can be taken in many different ways.If it's about strong female characters and how they're handled, I'd say anime has lots and lots of strong female characters who are handled quite well in my opinion. In recent years especially it seems that female characters have gotten a lot more stronger than their male counterparts (which is my you'll also most likely see a thread complaining about some male MC being a "beta cuck" because he is weak and requires a girl to save him.)

holysauron said:
Like every other medium in the world anime has its fair share of feminist works. True, they are fewer than what you'll find in the West

zodd0 said:
As I've said many times before; Ghibli was feminist long before Disney was. Several feminist works from the West have been heavily influenced by Satoshi Kon. So I find it funny how people are "anime doesn't have feminism hurrdurrhurr".


I disagree. At least when it comes to film. Even though I've seen thousands of Hollywood films, I seem to have an easier time finding female empowerment within anime.

isahbellah said:
you know what? i don't think i've watched a feminist anime yet (or an anime with feminism elements). Part of me thinks that it's because they're rare but the other part thinks that it's because I didn't dig deep enough.

Some of these that you mentioned are in my PTW list, but I want more.

So give me your recomendations, people! :)

holysauron said:
I know this thread will probably derail just like the other feminism threads but I want to see how this goes anyway.

Like every other medium in the world anime has its fair share of feminist works. True, they are fewer than what you'll find in the West because Japan doesn't really care for the subject but those anime that do exist are here to stay. But what does MAL think about those? How are these feminist themes handled?

Edit: I know lots of feminist works already so you don't need to list them. What I asked about was a general consensus on what you guys think about them.

HyperL said:
>Oh yeah, anime is FULL of feminism.

>Only lists anime from before the 2000s


Yeaaaaah, I'm pretty sure the times were hella different back then.

Pullman said:
I guess I generally like most titles that got listed since they are from a time when feminism wasn't cancerous yet.

But yeah I don't see the point of hammering in the point of calling certain anime feminist over and over again. The positive associations with that term are... dwindling, so it'll just put people off from watching them even when they're fantastic anime.



for some more recent ones with feminist themes of female empowerment:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/23987/Sarusuberi__Miss_Hokusai
https://myanimelist.net/anime/28735/Shouwa_Genroku_Rakugo_Shinjuu
https://myanimelist.net/anime/18679/Kill_la_Kill

holysauron said:

I based my examples on the lists of those who asked. And according to what I know Naoko Yamada's own works are from 2008 onwards and Madoka Magica is from 2011. Both aren't exactly from before the 2000's, are they?

GlennMagusHarvey said:
I'm okay with them.

I think there's a lot of potential to read feminist themes in a lot of works with female protagonists, even if these works don't explicitly talk about "feminism". And in fact, I think that's a good thing that they don't, because "showing" is better than "telling" anyway. And it's interesting how a lot of these shows are well-loved by male audiences, even. For example, the Nanoha series, which is about female characters who are capable fighters, capable leaders, and capable negotiators. The story doesn't need to make a big billboard calling them such. It just needs to stand on its own merits, and it certainly does.

It's ironic how some people are afraid that feminists will "ruin" anime when there are already a bunch of awesome female characters going around and doing all sorts of cool things.

Also, for people who are writing down names of series in their copy-books: enjoy Cross Ange. I dare you.

holysauron said:
Well, I haven't seen a lot of anime movies yet so if you could enlighten me I'd be happy.

zodd0 said:

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/10/hayao-miyazaki-and-the-art-of-being-a-woman/503978/
https://www.hercampus.com/school/u-mass-amherst/why-studio-ghibli-films-are-most-feminist-animated-pictures-today
https://www.themarysue.com/feminism-of-studio-ghibli/
http://screenrobot.com/hayao-miyazaki-great-feminist-filmmaker-time/

https://roosterillusionreviews.com/2016/10/01/saturday-morning-cartoons-the-male-gaze-and-female-identity-in-perfect-blue/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u1J3BIfwG4
https://atmafunomena.wordpress.com/2016/12/03/your-name-interpreting-progress-in-gender-and-rule-breaking/

holysauron said:

I agree with you. Haven't seen Nanoha yet though so I can't commemt on that but how many of them have seen Princess Tutu without realizing how feminist it actually is? I wouldn't want to count the ones opposed to feminism who have a series like that in their favorites either.

About the series you mentioned in your ogher quote: I've never heard of it. I think you misread my post though because the other guy said I only mentioned stuff from before the 2000's which of course isn't true. I did indeed mention Evangelion and Utena amongst others but not exclusively.

GlennMagusHarvey said:
Ah.

FWIW I'm not sure Evangelion really can be counted as a "feminist" work, given that its main story focus is a coming-of-age story of Shinji. Of course, we could discuss how its female characters are portrayed, though I don't think that's really a specific focus of the show overall.

Monster said:
So looking at your comments, essentially strong female characters that are not overly sexualized?
It depends on the series. What is the target audience & will it sell. Anime costs a lot to produce, and the consumer is more than often males.
Feminism themes in anime don't bother me if it's written and executed well, but I highly doubt it will sell well in merchandises.

FunkyNano said:
Topics like these derail because not everyone will share the same definition of feminism. As a political ideology, its fundamental presupposition is the existence of a patriarchy, and none of the shows you've talked about have much to do with that, even if they can be interpreted through a feminist lens.
If by "feminist themes", you simply mean atypical/progressive representations of women, then that's a different story. Though this isn't the definition i'd use, since it's using the term as an umbrella for any story that represents its female characters positively (whatever that might mean to the individual), and isn't that just like, good character writing?

Woman being/learning to be independent (not needing a man to take care of them).

Woman above/rising against male supremacy (bringing fairness to the distribution of power and opportunity).

Woman defying preconceptions and gender roles (dismantling the social construct of what a woman is capable or expected to do/be).

Clebardman said:
Just saw Geneshaft, made in 2001. Humanity is genetically engineered with a ratio of 9 women for 1 man because men have destructive tendencies, and to protect society from that, they're always spied on by a female called a Register.

Was okay. I liked the soundtrack, it was some blend of Led Zeppelin and RATM. Helped me go through full 3d mecha battles (^':

isahbellah said:


I was interested, but then you said "3d mecha battles"

yeeeaaahhh... no thanks lol