Women in manga
Apr. 27th, 2008 03:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
woodfaceWith women so much in the attention this week, I think I need to rant a wee bit about how women are portrayed in manga. Not that I can draw a general line, so I should probably say how women are portrayed in Naruto and Bleach.
The first manga that I read was Fullmetal Alchemist and I have to say, it stays a favourite. FMA is to me the best of the best. Maybe this has to do with the fact that it is written by a woman. There's an equality between the female and male characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but none that make me roll my eyes.
Then I started on Naruto and oh boy. I think it's safe to say that Masashi Kishimoto has never in his life seen a woman up close. It's all about the boys and it isn't that there aren't any likable female characters. Anything but. He just reduces them to something weaker.
The main female character is Sakura, but for most of the series before the timeskip all she does is stand back and let the boys fight. She constantly needs to be saved an protected. She has no definitive skill. She's smart and more balanced in her powers, but she's weak. It is even said so by her teacher. She's defined by her crush on one of the boys and it's her one and only drive. To have a boy notice her. To the point where she screws over her best friend for said boy. Then there is the whole arc in which you think that hey, Sakura is finally going to grow up. She notices that she's protected and swears that she won't be like that again.
Of course, the way the arc goes is laughable on itself. Her point of return, when she opens her eyes is marked by her... Wait for it... Cutting her hair off mid battle. When she then faces her opponent, they have memories on cutting flowers and how they fight over a boy and in the end they never really fight, but settle on a tie. You think that at least after all those promises to get powerful she'll actually start training, but no. Instead she spends the rest of the summer bringing Sasuke flowers in the hospital.
You could argue that it gets better after the timeskip in the series. And granted, Sakura finally gets some powers, which immediately make her a Mary Sue. She gets her own fights too and maybe it gets better, but all in all, the women in Naruto are second grade and don't seem to get a whole lot of attention.
All strong fighters are male. There's a few exceptions, but in the end they almost always have to be weaker then the men on their team. Even the Fifth Hokage and supposedly the most powerful ninja in the nation gets lessened. She's best at medical powers, but her one weakness is... blood. She can't stand the sight of it and is reduced to nothing in battle when she sees it. How that works with being a doctor, I don't know. It's just annoying.
Bleach isn't quite as bad as Naruto. Overall the female characters are well worked out and their goals and drives are by far less idiotic than in Naruto. Which isn't hard. There's still an imbalance, though. In fights, it's mostly the men who seem to stand out. The women get their shine, but there's too many battles where they again need to be saved.
I still give it more leeway in Bleach as most of the time there is a reason for it and it seems to work better in the overall storyline. Tite Kubo might actually know some women in real life. Some... There's a lot of aspects, though, that rub me wrong.
There's a few characters that seem to be reduced to something definitely sexist. Take Kon, a modsoul who is obsessed with breasts and wants to jump any pair that he sees. It's funny, though, as he keeps getting kicked in the face. I however have no need of drawings of just breasts in my manga, thank you very much.
There's one girl who name escapes me. She's a classmate of Ichigo and a lesbian with a huge crush on Orihime. The annoyance is that she's pervy. She's constantly trying to jump and feel up Orihime, needing to be hit or kicked by another friend to get her off of the girl. It makes me rage a lot. It's sleazy and borderline homophobic.
Then there's Matsumoto who is actually quite powerful, but her most distinct feature is her huge cleavage... and then there's the storyline where she needs to be completely naked to tackle Orihime to the ground and talk sense into her. I like Matsumoto, but the fanboy service there is annoying.
So um... This has more turned into just a rant than a profound discussion. There are just a lot of aspects in these manga series that rub me all wrong and while I like the stories, it makes me rage and rage. With Bleach, I think it's more an attempt at humour. Perhaps one that isn't meant to be bad, but it constantly fails me and makes me more annoyed than it makes me laugh. With Naruto, it's just obvious that the writer has no fucking clue what girls are and he needs to be hit over the head NOW.
In conclusion? Arakawa is god. *uses Hawkeye icon to prove it*
The first manga that I read was Fullmetal Alchemist and I have to say, it stays a favourite. FMA is to me the best of the best. Maybe this has to do with the fact that it is written by a woman. There's an equality between the female and male characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but none that make me roll my eyes.
Then I started on Naruto and oh boy. I think it's safe to say that Masashi Kishimoto has never in his life seen a woman up close. It's all about the boys and it isn't that there aren't any likable female characters. Anything but. He just reduces them to something weaker.
The main female character is Sakura, but for most of the series before the timeskip all she does is stand back and let the boys fight. She constantly needs to be saved an protected. She has no definitive skill. She's smart and more balanced in her powers, but she's weak. It is even said so by her teacher. She's defined by her crush on one of the boys and it's her one and only drive. To have a boy notice her. To the point where she screws over her best friend for said boy. Then there is the whole arc in which you think that hey, Sakura is finally going to grow up. She notices that she's protected and swears that she won't be like that again.
Of course, the way the arc goes is laughable on itself. Her point of return, when she opens her eyes is marked by her... Wait for it... Cutting her hair off mid battle. When she then faces her opponent, they have memories on cutting flowers and how they fight over a boy and in the end they never really fight, but settle on a tie. You think that at least after all those promises to get powerful she'll actually start training, but no. Instead she spends the rest of the summer bringing Sasuke flowers in the hospital.
You could argue that it gets better after the timeskip in the series. And granted, Sakura finally gets some powers, which immediately make her a Mary Sue. She gets her own fights too and maybe it gets better, but all in all, the women in Naruto are second grade and don't seem to get a whole lot of attention.
All strong fighters are male. There's a few exceptions, but in the end they almost always have to be weaker then the men on their team. Even the Fifth Hokage and supposedly the most powerful ninja in the nation gets lessened. She's best at medical powers, but her one weakness is... blood. She can't stand the sight of it and is reduced to nothing in battle when she sees it. How that works with being a doctor, I don't know. It's just annoying.
Bleach isn't quite as bad as Naruto. Overall the female characters are well worked out and their goals and drives are by far less idiotic than in Naruto. Which isn't hard. There's still an imbalance, though. In fights, it's mostly the men who seem to stand out. The women get their shine, but there's too many battles where they again need to be saved.
I still give it more leeway in Bleach as most of the time there is a reason for it and it seems to work better in the overall storyline. Tite Kubo might actually know some women in real life. Some... There's a lot of aspects, though, that rub me wrong.
There's a few characters that seem to be reduced to something definitely sexist. Take Kon, a modsoul who is obsessed with breasts and wants to jump any pair that he sees. It's funny, though, as he keeps getting kicked in the face. I however have no need of drawings of just breasts in my manga, thank you very much.
There's one girl who name escapes me. She's a classmate of Ichigo and a lesbian with a huge crush on Orihime. The annoyance is that she's pervy. She's constantly trying to jump and feel up Orihime, needing to be hit or kicked by another friend to get her off of the girl. It makes me rage a lot. It's sleazy and borderline homophobic.
Then there's Matsumoto who is actually quite powerful, but her most distinct feature is her huge cleavage... and then there's the storyline where she needs to be completely naked to tackle Orihime to the ground and talk sense into her. I like Matsumoto, but the fanboy service there is annoying.
So um... This has more turned into just a rant than a profound discussion. There are just a lot of aspects in these manga series that rub me all wrong and while I like the stories, it makes me rage and rage. With Bleach, I think it's more an attempt at humour. Perhaps one that isn't meant to be bad, but it constantly fails me and makes me more annoyed than it makes me laugh. With Naruto, it's just obvious that the writer has no fucking clue what girls are and he needs to be hit over the head NOW.
In conclusion? Arakawa is god. *uses Hawkeye icon to prove it*
