Girls in anime are better than girls in American animation

[OtakuMan22]

This is a peculiar phenomenon that I've been noticing recently. It pertains to the portrayal of pre-pubescent and teenage girls in American animation in contrast to anime.

My hypothesis is that American animation stifles the possibilities of young girls by constantly portraying them as "fashion obsessed", cheerleaders, princesses, or fairies, and other fantasy myths that look forward to meeting boys and essentially becoming a growing gross stereotype of young girls... BRATZ!

For my resources, while I do want to focus on American animation primarily, I will reference to other non-animation media such as toys and live-action TV. Examples include: Disney Princesses, Lizzy Mcguire, Winx Club, Bratz, Rugrats All-Growned Up, Paris Hilton, Totally Spies, Kim Possible, Mary Kate and Ashley Olson, and others.

For the contrasting resources, I will stick solely to anime and manga. Examples include: Zatch Bell, Shaman King, Sailor Moon, Azumanga Daioh, Full Metal Panic, and others.


First, a bit about myself and why I'm doing this. I am a 22 year-old newlywed that has big dreams about my future, and one of those dreams is to have kids and raise them on good stuff. Good anime, good TV shows, not to shield them from harmful realities and truths, but to give them a chance to get good ideas for the future, build their imagination, and become good people led by example.

Since I am not one of spending large amounts of cash on anime, (and I spend more on video games over anime right now since I'm studying to be a game director), I often stick to what's on TV. My selection is pretty good thanks to 4Kids TV, Toonami, Adult Swim, G4, Anime Network on Demand.

The televised sources give me a good idea of what to expect my children might watch in the future. I am particularly interested, as is my wife, with the portrayal of girls on kids TV because we hope to have both a boy and a girl (I would like a daughter since I grew up in a family of three boys!) in a few years.

Right now, anime is looking to have some very powerful and inspiring role models for girls. They are strong, good-hearted, not selfish, not overly-sexed up (remember... KIDS anime!), and have a good sense of moral values.

One very striking example of how strong girls in anime can be came from Zatch Bell. While definitly a shonen anime, one of the Mamodo, Tia, is trying to protect her book owner from her one-time friend Maruce. She stands there, facing him head on and takes blow after blow after blow. She reveals her true emotions through her thoughts and flashbacks over what she's been through. Since he used to be her friend, she believes that trusting anyone other than her book owner will lead to her own demise.

When Zatch shows up to help her out, she's not going all gushy about how a guy came to save the day! She's going through emotional turmoil wondering why ANYONE, girl OR boy, would do their hardest to save her. Her previous doubts in trusting others are shattered and she reaches an epiphany that makes her stronger when she puts faith in others and knows not to shut everyone out of her world.

THAT is deep stuff to a little girl! While sure it's a boys show, it is not uncommon for girls to watch boys shows along with shows aimed at girls. However, Tia shines as a great role model on how girls can be strong in their own way if they have some good values in their life. Remember, this is not just physical strength, but the strength to care, trust, believe, and be you because you want to be you!

However, American animation and media aimed at girls appears to be nothing more than a marketing ploy to sell cheap products to young girls. The worst example I can think of is the BRATZ line of toys and now straight to video animation releases (check your Wal-Mart's kids video section. It's there!). Every impression I get from Bratz is that a girls worth is based on her clothes, make-up, hair style, and popularity. Their "individual" is nothing more than a shallow and facetious exterior of an empty shell. Worse, they make girls that are supposed to 10 or 11 look almost 18! How wrong is that! If anything, this has to be the worst setback to the equality of girls since that Barbie doll with the inflating boobs to indicate that she's "growing-up"!

I will grant that not all media or animation aimed at girls sets the gender back by decades. Disney Princesses and the recent Barbie line of dolls (I used to work in a Toy Store 2 summers ago) aren't that bad. Disney Princesses appeals to the young girl who dreams of a fantasy land of magic and castles. The best use of them that I've seen was in Kingdom Hearts where they provided the key to either unleashing hell upon the Disney/Square-Enix universe, or stopping the Heartless!

I also give credit to the Barbie line of having Barbie go through various good roles such as Doctor, Teacher, and then some. Going beyond fashion has been a great move and puts Barbie in a positive spin. I even recall seeing "Granparent" Barbie dolls complete with gray hair and wrinkly skin. Sure they weren't bad looking for grandparents (this IS Barbie we're talking about here), but the revelation to young girls about growing old can be seen in those dolls.

Stuff aimed at girls in anime does have a marketing force behind them, (Sailor Moon comes to mind), but while they may have heavy marketing, the characters themselves are quite strong. In Sailor Moon, Usagi (or Serena or Bunny for whichever version of Sailor Moon you were exposed to), shows inner strength throughout the series. She deals with trying to find true love, to realizing that she will be a mother and important figure in the future, to having to deal with the loss of friends and continuing to stop a greater evil. She literally has to go through death and rebirth in order to come full circle with her destiny.

One particular moment that really struck me was at the beginning of Sailor Moon StarS. The main baddie from the previous series, Sailor Moon SuperS, had come back and trapped Usagi in a field of flowers where she loses her mind and starts picking flowers like a little girl. Sailor Jupiter shows up, with her senses intact, and tries to snap Usagi out of her daze. While she's trying to do this, Jupiter is constantly being struck and beat, until I believe she dies right before Usagi. When her earring falls off, Usagi spots it and her eyes literally CHANGE at the sight, revealing that things are NOT alright, and that some very powerful force needs to be faced and STOPPED!

You will NOT see something like that in American animation. It simply will NOT happen! If we continue to produce shows like Winx Club (cheerleaders who are fairies) and Kim Possible (cheerleaders who are also spies) and while not America, Totally Spies (spies who might as well be cheerleaders), then I would take every measure possible to make sure my daughter is NEVER exposed to those shows! I will make every effort to find Sailor Moon, Zatch Bell, Shaman King, ANY anime that has positive female role models so that she NEVER has to think she HAS to be popular, and NEVER has to think she needs to be a cheerleader.


My conclusion is this: The future generation of young girls is going to be a step BACKWARD in the female movement for strength, indivduality, and respect as long as shows like I've mentioned before continue to be produced. There needs to be a serious boycott initiated by parents to make sure that their young girls DON'T WATCH THESE SHOWS and DON'T GET INTO THESE TOYS that demean them!

Women and especially girls in anime have strong feelings, thoughts, emotions, and morals that today's generation of young girls NEED! I for one am going to work with my wife to make sure we raise our future daughter right, and I want to hear what you all think about that. What other atrocities or set backs have you seen? What good female examples have you seen in American shows? (One good example I've seen is PowerPuff Girls, but I'll save the Cartoon Network shows for another post)

Please write some feedback. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say.

~Otaku-Man

[EmilLang1000]

Well, I'd believe you, accept that I hung out with theatre people for 4 years and high school, my best friend has a little sister, and I'm a film major, so I work with a lot of actors; needless to say, I've known approximately 150 girls on a pretty personal basis, and most of them DO follow a vaguely fashion-obsessed, etc. lifestyle. So American cartoons, that usually go for portraying people a little more realistically in their personas (not necesarilly physically at all).

As for how they're represented in cartoons, well, I can think of plenty of times when girls are strong characters: Any DC female - Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, etc.; also any and ALL Marvel girls - Jean Grey especially; and if you want to get into the more mainstream, childish cartoons of Disney and the like, what about women like Jasmine, Belle, even Sandy from Spongebob? The one thing is, in America, guys are more inclined to watch cartoons as tehy get older than girls are (girls usually cop out for a drama or sitcom when they're about 11 or so), so it's only natural that people writing for the target audience of teens would make it more likeable for guys. But even cartoons made for teens and older have strong female characters - The Simpsons has Marge, Maggie, and Lisa, and Family Guy has Lois, to just name a few.

The shows that portray girls as being fashion-queens are marketed towards girls whom are like that; lots of Animes that have strong female leads are usually action or slapstick comedy shows that appeal more to a male audience (Ranma, Kenshin). And yes, there are some shows like Rayearth, Utena and BSSM (Sailor Moon) that have strong female characters, but let's not forget that Usagi is still a girly-girl when you get right down to it. Ontop of that, don't forget shows like Macross, where character like Lynn Minmei are never very strong at all. It's hard to say that either side of teh ocean depicts womens' roles in any exact manner.

[OtakuMan22]

So American cartoons, that usually go for portraying people a little more realistically in their personas (not necesarilly physically at all).

I agree with you in that fashion can be fun for the fairer sex. My wife has been a strong tomboy all her life, and only recently has she realized that's it pretty fun to have painted nails and toes and the like. It's fun for girls, yes, but the point I'm trying to make is that it's not EVERYTHING!

When I see stuff like girls on Winx Club and Bratz, sure they revel in the joy of fashion and make-up, but THAT'S IT! There's no substance behind them!

I can think of plenty of times when girls are strong characters: Any DC female - Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, etc.; also any and ALL Marvel girls - Jean Grey especially

I agree that these are very fine examples of strong women, but I'm looking for strong GIRL characters! People who are not 35 or 3500 (as may be the case for Wonder Woman). Also, what are the odds that girls will get into superhero stories, animated, comic, or otherwise?

and if you want to get into the more mainstream, childish cartoons of Disney and the like, what about women like Jasmine, Belle, even Sandy from Spongebob?

I mentioned in my original post that there are some good traits and qualities in the Disney Princesses. Preferably in the ORIGINAL movies and stories back when Disney was alive, but still... I give them some cred (thank Kingdom Hearts for that). As for Sandy from Spongebob... I just have a problem with Spongebob in particular. It's too far out there and just hard to get into because I have too much intelligence for it. (If it is an intelligent show, then that can be discussed elsewhere). Besides, sure there are girls that watch Spongebob, but can they truly relate to a Texan underwater squirrel?

(girls usually cop out for a drama or sitcom when they're about 11 or so),

True, but what concerns me most is what she'll be watching BEFORE she turns 11! Remember, like I said, I would like to have a daughter someday, and I or her mother will have to be there and watch the same things she watches UNTIL she's 11! That is a LONG time! Plus, what she watches and what she gets from it can affect her GREATLY!

And yes, there are some shows like Rayearth, Utena and BSSM (Sailor Moon) that have strong female characters, but let's not forget that Usagi is still a girly-girl when you get right down to it. Ontop of that, don't forget shows like Macross, where character like Lynn Minmei are never very strong at all. It's hard to say that either side of teh ocean depicts womens' roles in any exact manner.

With Usagi, yes she can be a girly-girl and so on, and that's okay. However, what we see quite often in Sailor Moon is that she's MORE than just a girly-girl and has some substance to her in the ways of feeling and her relationships with others. Once more, it shows that she can be strong herself along with her friends in a way that's deep and impactful!

And with Lynn Minmei, there's always going to be the exception to the rule. Not every female character in anime is a good female role model. Some are just there to please guys *COUGH*EIKEN*COUGH*. The point is though that in shows aimed for girls there, there are more strong role models in Japan than there are here in the states. In shows aimed for boys, there are strong girl characters as well as weak ones, but the stronger ones usually have the best roles. I admit that there are some strong female leads in young boys shows here in the states too (April O'Neil from Turtles, and even Dot from Reboot), but I still can't find them in GIRLS shows, the shows my daughter would most likely watch before 11!


Before I wrap this post up, I did say in my last post that Cartoon Network has Powerpuff Girls which are actually quite good role models. One's a tomboy, one's a goody-goody, and another just enjoys the cute things in life, just don't piss her off! The characters have some substance, a good backstory, and the writing has some wit and injokes that even adults will get. An 11 year or younger girl will probably get something good for this show, and even get into some action. Other good female characters include the daughter of Ms. Foster in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and also Kiva from Megas XLR. Cartoon Network has had a lot of smart writers and has come up with some good characters. Not all of them are winners (Kids Next Door), but they have some good ones.

Sometimes another channel might hit paydirt (Invader Zim's Gaz), but to actually stick with it... forecast is cloudy...

Anyone else got two cents to chip in?

~Otaku-Man

[dokool]

My hypothesis is that American animation stifles the possibilities of young girls by constantly portraying them as "fashion obsessed", cheerleaders, princesses, or fairies, and other fantasy myths that look forward to meeting boys and essentially becoming a growing gross stereotype of young girls... BRATZ!

She built/invented, like, <i>everything</i> they used in that show. You can't top that.

[OtakuMan22]

She built/invented, like, everything they used in that show. You can't top that.

Okay, I give props off to you on that one. Plus if anyone remembers, she lost her father and actually says that in the first episode she appears in (or at the least the one where they all get together).

While a good example, she comes from a show that is years old (Although I admit I have the NES game and do fondly remember watching it) and unless it comes out on DVD (which it should) getting a little girl to watch it today would be hard to come by.

I'm mostly focusing my attention on what is out now. TV, toy stores, and the like for local stuff, DVD or translated manga for anything from Japan. (Toys would count too though)

~Otaku-Man

[Otohiko]

There's obviously a problem with generalizing everything heh - so dokool points out a good exception - one among a solid number of them at that.

That said, I generally agree with the original poster's sentiment though, if we do go on a more generalized level. This is, fundamentally, one of the reasons why I stopped watching television. Fashion-obsession and dull materialism is probably my biggest turn-off when it comes to girls, and I see enough of it in real life...

...which, to me, seems to indicate that perhaps the best way to set role models for kids is by being one yourself rather than letting the damned box do the job.

[OtakuMan22]

...which, to me, seems to indicate that perhaps the best way to set role models for kids is by being one yourself rather than letting the damned box do the job.

OOOH! Good comeback!

You are right that being the best role model out there is important and crucial, but a parent can't always be there for their kids whether because of work or other obligation that requires immediate attention (like say unclogging a toilet, fixing something around the house, or cooking food). When times like these arise, it is a comfort, AND good parenting, to know what your kids are watching and it is especially good if you know that what your kid is watching is okay with you and something that you believe will not only entertain, but give something back to the viewer.

It is also beneficial if the parents sit down with their kid sometimes to watch their favorite shows with them. If you had a daughter, and Winx Club was on the air, would you WANT to sit down and watch that show with her? But if she wanted to watch something more akin to Rescue Rangers, then it's easier on the parents, and it provides good fun for the kids.

I am in no ways suggesting that the box replace parenting. It's just that as a future parent to be, I want to know that when TV time does come around for the kids, that they watch something that isn't total fashion-obsessed crap!

I remember back near the end of my time in high-school. There were girls walking around with the PLAYBOY LOGO on their tanktops! Their clothes and fashion was gaudy, outrageous, and the way they acted definitly did not make them look, well, intelligent.

That is the LAST thing I would want to happen to my girl (keep in mine, I am still a newlywed, so whether or not I have a daughter is yet to be seen), so that is why I am concerned with the toys and the TV, and the perception she gathers.

I believe that she would gain a better perception of what potential there is for women and what a women could be from anime as opposed to most American cartoons and toys like "Bratz". While there are always exceptions to the rule, the vast majority and the popularity of certain shows NOW will likely affect the future shows and trends unless something is done about it.

Worse, it can personify itself in total stupid twits that are the physical manifestation of what a girl should NOT become. Paris Hilton... I am looking at you!

~Otaku-Man

[staces]

I'm not a big fan of most American cartoons, but I think that (IMO you don't have to agree) there is an overwhelmingly huuuuuge discredit done to women in anime. Of course there are exceptions, duh, but on the whole anime females aggravate me sooooo much! They tend to be stupid, clumsy, loud mouthed, vaguely-stalkerish, yet still pure and innocent sex objects that male leads protect and save. Then the villany women are bitchy seductresses. . .

Don't get me wrong, there are certain female anime characters that I love, but I think, from all that I've seen, there are a lot more bimbo anime girls than there are American cartoon bimbos.

But of course anime just HAAAAS to be superior to American animation in every possible facet so of course I'm wrong, right?

[Arigatomina]

Thinking back on cartoons for little girls - keep in mind I'm 25 now. The first ones I can remember are 'Might Mouse' - where the main girl was a helpless damsel tied to traintracks. Cutsy cartoons like My Little Pony and characters like Rainbow Brite (who had the coolest cartoon horse), Strawberry Shortcake (who had the best smelling toys any kid could want, between her and the blueberry girl), She-ra (sp - the female He-man) who I didn't really like that much because she was always in a bikini, the neat girl off Silverhawks (she was a good one, but I think that was a boy's cartoon), another strong female in Thundercats (but again, that was a boy's cartoon), and then a few years down the road I fell in awe of Storm off the original xmen series (boy's cartoon), etc.

You know what I find when I look back? My favorite cartoons (after I hit 5 and started to integrate my own imagination into the 'stories' I watched on tv) were the boy's cartoons. Most of the girls I knew as a kid watched those same 'boy' cartoons. We all had the coloringbooks and action figures.

Now that I watch anime, guess what? I still like the 'boy's cartoons' - shonen anime. Sure, I'll pull out a cutsy girl anime now and then(CardCaptor Sakura), but my favorite anime are the ones supposedly made for boys.

Maybe the problem isn't that we don't have good enough cartoons made 'for girls' - maybe the problem is that we think girls only want to watch crap made "for girls." Instead of trying to reform the shows aimed at girls, we should be trying to get the girls to watch the shows that are good - no matter who those shows were 'made for.' If no one watches the crap, the ratings drop and they go off the air. You aren't going to get rid of the Winx Club by arguing that girls should be raised on better 'for girl' cartoons. I know a lot of young boys who love that show because - like me - they find the stereotypes hilarious. It's a preppy girl goes to Hogwarts cartoon, pure and simple. If you don't want your children to watch the show, don't let them watch the show.

I'll never understand how parents can blame any sort of media for influencing their children. If you're going to leave your child unattended, knowing your child is naive (or stupid) enough to jump off a roof trying to fly because he can't tell pretend from real, then it's your fault for not supervising your child. No child that young (or that stupid) should be left unattended - not even to sleep - unless they're properly secured (meaning no unlocked windows for the kiddies to jump out of, no television for the kiddie to turn on and spot R rated breasts at the age of six, no poison sitting on the table for the kid to take a few gulps of, etc). It's not the media, it's the parents who think the media is responsible for educating and babysitting their children.

It makes me wonder if anime has led little girls in Japan to mimicking harem anime and bouncing their breasts for any guy around - to get that wonderful fanservice going. There's plenty of unsuitable anime, the idea is that the parent (supervisor) picks what is suitable and screens out what isn't. If you can cut out the unsuitable anime for your little kids, I'm sure you can cut out the unsuitable cartoons the same way. It's just a matter of actually watching your child.

But don't ask me. I'm not having children. Why? Because I believe a parent is responsible for *everything* that child does until he or she moves out of the house. If I don't want that responsibility, I'm not having kids.

[EmilLang1000]

I'm not a big fan of most American cartoons, but I think that (IMO you don't have to agree) there is an overwhelmingly huuuuuge discredit done to women in anime. Of course there are exceptions, duh, but on the whole anime females aggravate me sooooo much! They tend to be stupid, clumsy, loud mouthed, vaguely-stalkerish, yet still pure and innocent sex objects that male leads protect and save. Then the villany women are bitchy seductresses. . .

Now that I think about it, I think he's right in most cases.

Oh, and I missed one that fits both the "fashion-loving" and "empowered" aspects: Kim Possible. She still is a teen girl with all the problems that brings (or at least as much as Disney will allow - Asuka has her beat on that), but she also is very strong an determined when it comes right down to it.
She seems more like the typical American heroine: one who can kick butt and take names, but who's also feminine enough to admit (or at least show) that they can be frail at times (and btw, heroic guys are exactly the same; even the hardasses like Wolverine and Batman have been known to cry and through fits from stress or loss from time to time)