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
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.
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.
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 😑
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
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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 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.
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
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?
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
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
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!
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.
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… 😂
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.
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.
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.
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?
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 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.
Great video. Don't get caught in the trap of trying to justify yourself to the sexism-deniers. They will just throw a never-ending slew of garbage arguments at you with no intention of ever accepting anything you have to say. There are a lot of toxic anime fans who freak out when you critique their favorite shows, and absolutely nothing you can do to calm them down. Just keep making these videos, keep saying your piece, and don't worry about trying to defend against the thousand different garbage arguments anime fans come up with to pretend anime isn't sexist ("the boys are sexualized too" "it's just not for you" "just watch other shows" "you can't objectify a fictional character" etc. etc. etc. etc.)
I had to reflect on this question as I'm working on my book on navigating fandom in the Y2K. As a kid of the 90's, I'm glad that my intro to anime was Sailor Moon. It was unapologetically girly. It wasn't afraid to showcase different types of girls coming together for a common cause. It didn't talk down on the audience and I appreciated the all female ensemble. I couldn't wait to check out a new episode after school because I had to time my VCR to record each episode because I'm at school. I honestly think it really depends on the genre. Shoujo aimed towards girls has been my haven when I was tween.
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'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.)
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
Growing up as the younger brother, most of what I read was shoujo that I stole from my older sister. 😅 As a high anxiety Middle Schooler (we kinda all were, right?) I found them to be so relatable despite gender. Super Saiyans & Ninjas are cool, but a story where complex feelings are handled with more than just beating the hell outta somebody. And I absolutely LOVED Fushigi Yuugi! That may have been my first Non-Cartoon Network anime. Sheeeit, I'm about to go buy a dvd player just to watch it.
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).
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
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
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!!
Growing up, I loved watching Sailor Moon of course, but also Oscar from Rose of Versailles, Utena from, er, Utena, Ryoko from the Tenchi series and the Bubbglegum Crisis ladies all kick ass.
@@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
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.
Soul eater was my introduction to anime! It definitely threw in my face what made anime different . The energetic fight scenes , unique combat systems , and lots of boobs 😂
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
This was a great video! I’m a teenager rn but when I was younger I watched Little Witch Academia and a couple Ghibli films and it was great seeing absolute #girlbosses as the main characters. I also recently watched Trigun 1998 and I really loved Meryl and Milly. I think it’s just nice seeing true friendships between girls since there’s an idea (especially in high school) that being friends with girls means dealing with a lot of drama, which is absolutely not the case.
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.
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.
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.
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
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'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.
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.
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!
It's so weird to me to hear "woman can be ninjas too". I never had that while watching anything - not that I recall atleast. And I can't really connect to shojou manga, school romance stuff with the typical girl… Okay I really liked Maid-Sama. Don't know why, but yeah, was good. I loved Gaara and L, Gaara because I felt it. I connected to him. And L because he loved sweets like me and he is cool. One Piece I loved because of the story, fights and powers… and chracters.. but it is to long for me. Okay tbh, I connect more to BoysLove than Romance, weird thing Ik But I never thought abot gender or my identity as a girl/woman or had that experince, so it sounds weird to me to hear that.
It sounded weird to me and I'm a guy lol, I never really see it as a "power fantasy" but more like watching cool characters do cool things, I mean it's entertainment after all. Yeah you would want to be cool like them, but not "yeah! I'm ready power lift and be misogynist today" nor "why is this woman being a hero" when everyone loved Mulan growing up , same with shows like PPG, My life as a teenage robot, and Kim Possible, same with movies like terminator or alien. No one that I knew thinks of their gender 24/7 if at all, and nobody used to question women in main roles either.
14:52 YESSSS I loved isekai so much as a child I wished so much for the manga “From Far Away” had an anime adaptation. It’s so good!! But nowadays I don’t even bother if its main character is male because it’s usually the same trope.
Unexpected Colleen cameo. I only found your channel after the algorithm sent me here after I watched all of Colleen’s videos. Glad y’all are connected.
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 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 appreciate this video a lot, thank you. You gave voice to some things I've felt but not really understood. I'm an old fart that is starting to get back into anime, because of my younger family members' growing interest. They've been gracious enough to let me tagalong as they experience Miyazaki and it's been really fun to hear and share our perspectives on aesthetics and themes. However, as we near the end of the collection and they've grown keen to find new animanga, I've had some apprehensions with engaging further because of the issues you've raised here along with a few other common motifs of which I've grown wary. By no means would I infringe on them finding stories on their own or intrude on what they want to see independently. I want them to have the same freedom that once brought me into animanga, because the medium has so many riveting stories and ideas not reflected elsewhere. But when they asked me to provide recommendations and help find them new animes, I've been somewhat at a loss and until now, confused as to why I've been so reticent. Not only did your video clarify this dissonance, it's given me some new genres to explore and, if they want, watch together. Thanks!
I love this video so much!! Going to watch the other parts of the series now 🥰 I always loved Fullmetal Alchemist because the female characters were so strong and not needlessly sexualized. (Also the creator is a girl, which I found out later.) Claymore holds such a dear place in my heart, as does Ghibli - I felt very seen and supported and motivated by them.
yes many women can like fanservice, many women love characters wether male or woman being sexualized if you dont thats ok but dont act like you are in the moral highground above others cause that makes you look bad, japan know who the target audience of most animes are and thats men and most men like the sexualized aspect of anime wchis is normal and they cater to them something that the west is failing so at least i can say i respect them for doing what they love and giving the audience what they want hope they keep providing fanservice and ecchi for many years to come. and if you like fanservice or at least tolerate it i respect that
What a cool video! You have definitely earned a new subscriber. While I am not a woman, I’ve always related to women’s stories and (many times) experiences. I was always considered an ‘other’ because I enjoyed things that were seen as ‘only made for women’ and I would always wonder why it was such an issue for people. Shoujo manga has always made me feel represented because I never related with the power fantasy male shonen stories (nor do I relate to the label of male anymore) because it was never who I was, and I didn’t like that girl characters in most shonen were later just put into the ‘wife of main character’ arc that is always written. The recent Barbie movie was also a game changer for me too, because I think that it’s a great visual representation on how the patriarchy works, and the effects it leaves on both women and men. Again, thank you for making this video !! 🙌🙌
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.
I've always loved anime ever since I was 5 and saw Sailor Moon on TV. I usually watch the more popular animes airing every season (mostly shonen) but this past year, I've had to hop off the shonen train just because of how tired I am of seeing the same tropes, fan service and female characters written poorly. I found you and Colleen's YT channels and I've been watching/reading so much shojo and josei this past year and I'm truly happy. So many gems I've slept on because I was too busy watching the popular shonen shows. I'm having to play catch up! I'm so glad more and more people are appreciating shojo/josei and it's thanks to the youtubers who make videos and recommend them. Thank you!
I just rediscovered you (I don't remember when and to what video I subscribed on) It's a joy to watch Also, guy, mostly avatar I could trust Anime, there's always the "bracing for when the disappointment would come" And then the moments: like cardcaptor was in the tower, so overwhelmed by her burden
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.
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 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.
Except Mononoke all those ladies are in distress
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.
Casually calling Bakugo's "wife beater" a "woman respecter" is top tier content. Subscribed.
lol I loved that
Imma start calling them that now 😂
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 😑
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
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
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.
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
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+
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
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.
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
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
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 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.
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.
YOU KNOW ITS A GOOD DAY WHEN INAKYU posts a video!!!
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!
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.
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 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.
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
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
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
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
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!
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.
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 censor blur over the feet is PEAK content creator genius.
ommgggggg i definatelyy was not expecting this collab like i love both inakyu and colleen m so happyy, thank youu for this
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… 😂
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.
I watch the first season and it was great
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.
The magical girl genre was so groundbreaking of how anime is designed for the modern day
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
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?
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’m a female…I like fan service…pls let me live 😂
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.
Great video. Don't get caught in the trap of trying to justify yourself to the sexism-deniers. They will just throw a never-ending slew of garbage arguments at you with no intention of ever accepting anything you have to say. There are a lot of toxic anime fans who freak out when you critique their favorite shows, and absolutely nothing you can do to calm them down. Just keep making these videos, keep saying your piece, and don't worry about trying to defend against the thousand different garbage arguments anime fans come up with to pretend anime isn't sexist ("the boys are sexualized too" "it's just not for you" "just watch other shows" "you can't objectify a fictional character" etc. etc. etc. etc.)
They are exhausting.
@@Drstrange3000critiquing is fine, but alot of sexism arguments are stupid and nonsensical!
@@cuu9350what?
Where was this comment when I fell into the trap of arguing with them😅
@@cuu9350 eh. maybe ppl can mind their own business then? like if u see something thats stupid, you can just ignore it.
I had to reflect on this question as I'm working on my book on navigating fandom in the Y2K. As a kid of the 90's, I'm glad that my intro to anime was Sailor Moon. It was unapologetically girly. It wasn't afraid to showcase different types of girls coming together for a common cause. It didn't talk down on the audience and I appreciated the all female ensemble. I couldn't wait to check out a new episode after school because I had to time my VCR to record each episode because I'm at school. I honestly think it really depends on the genre. Shoujo aimed towards girls has been my haven when I was tween.
I’m bisexual so I enjoy fanservice just as much as guys do (except for certain series).
The collab we never knew we needed.
omg I saw a really good video about why boys like anime so I'm excited to see this !!!
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'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.)
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
Growing up as the younger brother, most of what I read was shoujo that I stole from my older sister. 😅 As a high anxiety Middle Schooler (we kinda all were, right?) I found them to be so relatable despite gender.
Super Saiyans & Ninjas are cool, but a story where complex feelings are handled with more than just beating the hell outta somebody.
And I absolutely LOVED Fushigi Yuugi! That may have been my first Non-Cartoon Network anime. Sheeeit, I'm about to go buy a dvd player just to watch it.
IK a lot of shonens are like that but Naruto is not a good example to use.
Also women definitely enjoy fanservice shounen ai expressions in works like "Free!".
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).
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.
The censored feet got me dying laughing 🤣🤣🤣
The twelve kingdoms is a gem. By far one of the best adventure anime. One of the best examples of the heroes journey and world building out there
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
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
What an outstanding cross over!! Love everything about this. Stan both y'all's channels ✨💖
Yes girls can like fan-service
Growing up, I loved watching Sailor Moon of course, but also Oscar from Rose of Versailles, Utena from, er, Utena, Ryoko from the Tenchi series and the Bubbglegum Crisis ladies all kick ass.
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
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.
how is this video so long and yet so surface level 😭
Soul eater was my introduction to anime! It definitely threw in my face what made anime different . The energetic fight scenes , unique combat systems , and lots of boobs 😂
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
Omgggg you and Colleen are two of my favourite youtubeers for anime commentary videos ...dammm i am too happy 😭
This was a great video! I’m a teenager rn but when I was younger I watched Little Witch Academia and a couple Ghibli films and it was great seeing absolute #girlbosses as the main characters. I also recently watched Trigun 1998 and I really loved Meryl and Milly. I think it’s just nice seeing true friendships between girls since there’s an idea (especially in high school) that being friends with girls means dealing with a lot of drama, which is absolutely not the case.
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.
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?
It’s always sad when I get to the end of your videos. They’re great!
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 like how you pronounce Ghibli two different ways in the span of 3 seconds😂
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!
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
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 I was happy seeing Colleen! Great video all around 🥰 I just really love when creators I like work together!
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
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!
It's so weird to me to hear "woman can be ninjas too". I never had that while watching anything - not that I recall atleast. And I can't really connect to shojou manga, school romance stuff with the typical girl…
Okay I really liked Maid-Sama. Don't know why, but yeah, was good. I loved Gaara and L, Gaara because I felt it. I connected to him. And L because he loved sweets like me and he is cool. One Piece I loved because of the story, fights and powers… and chracters.. but it is to long for me.
Okay tbh, I connect more to BoysLove than Romance, weird thing Ik
But I never thought abot gender or my identity as a girl/woman or had that experince, so it sounds weird to me to hear that.
It sounded weird to me and I'm a guy lol, I never really see it as a "power fantasy" but more like watching cool characters do cool things, I mean it's entertainment after all. Yeah you would want to be cool like them, but not "yeah! I'm ready power lift and be misogynist today" nor "why is this woman being a hero" when everyone loved Mulan growing up , same with shows like PPG, My life as a teenage robot, and Kim Possible, same with movies like terminator or alien. No one that I knew thinks of their gender 24/7 if at all, and nobody used to question women in main roles either.
14:52 YESSSS I loved isekai so much as a child I wished so much for the manga “From Far Away” had an anime adaptation. It’s so good!! But nowadays I don’t even bother if its main character is male because it’s usually the same trope.
"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.
Unexpected Colleen cameo. I only found your channel after the algorithm sent me here after I watched all of Colleen’s videos. Glad y’all are connected.
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.
I love that you mentioned Escaflowne! 😅
This video was great! Really appreciate sharing your experience and perspective!
Glad you enjoyed it!
The shojo isekai bit dragged me back to watching Inu Yasha and Escaflowne and getting bootlegs of Fushigi Yugi from my bowling buddy. Bless.
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 appreciate this video a lot, thank you. You gave voice to some things I've felt but not really understood. I'm an old fart that is starting to get back into anime, because of my younger family members' growing interest. They've been gracious enough to let me tagalong as they experience Miyazaki and it's been really fun to hear and share our perspectives on aesthetics and themes.
However, as we near the end of the collection and they've grown keen to find new animanga, I've had some apprehensions with engaging further because of the issues you've raised here along with a few other common motifs of which I've grown wary. By no means would I infringe on them finding stories on their own or intrude on what they want to see independently. I want them to have the same freedom that once brought me into animanga, because the medium has so many riveting stories and ideas not reflected elsewhere. But when they asked me to provide recommendations and help find them new animes, I've been somewhat at a loss and until now, confused as to why I've been so reticent. Not only did your video clarify this dissonance, it's given me some new genres to explore and, if they want, watch together. Thanks!
I love this video so much!! Going to watch the other parts of the series now 🥰
I always loved Fullmetal Alchemist because the female characters were so strong and not needlessly sexualized. (Also the creator is a girl, which I found out later.)
Claymore holds such a dear place in my heart, as does Ghibli - I felt very seen and supported and motivated by them.
yes many women can like fanservice, many women love characters wether male or woman being sexualized if you dont thats ok but dont act like you are in the moral highground above others cause that makes you look bad, japan know who the target audience of most animes are and thats men and most men like the sexualized aspect of anime wchis is normal and they cater to them something that the west is failing so at least i can say i respect them for doing what they love and giving the audience what they want hope they keep providing fanservice and ecchi for many years to come. and if you like fanservice or at least tolerate it i respect that
What a cool video! You have definitely earned a new subscriber. While I am not a woman, I’ve always related to women’s stories and (many times) experiences. I was always considered an ‘other’ because I enjoyed things that were seen as ‘only made for women’ and I would always wonder why it was such an issue for people. Shoujo manga has always made me feel represented because I never related with the power fantasy male shonen stories (nor do I relate to the label of male anymore) because it was never who I was, and I didn’t like that girl characters in most shonen were later just put into the ‘wife of main character’ arc that is always written. The recent Barbie movie was also a game changer for me too, because I think that it’s a great visual representation on how the patriarchy works, and the effects it leaves on both women and men. Again, thank you for making this video !! 🙌🙌
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.
I've always loved anime ever since I was 5 and saw Sailor Moon on TV. I usually watch the more popular animes airing every season (mostly shonen) but this past year, I've had to hop off the shonen train just because of how tired I am of seeing the same tropes, fan service and female characters written poorly. I found you and Colleen's YT channels and I've been watching/reading so much shojo and josei this past year and I'm truly happy. So many gems I've slept on because I was too busy watching the popular shonen shows. I'm having to play catch up! I'm so glad more and more people are appreciating shojo/josei and it's thanks to the youtubers who make videos and recommend them. Thank you!
shounen burn out can be real but yesss the shoujo train is happy to have you! you are too sweet!! thank you!!
I just rediscovered you (I don't remember when and to what video I subscribed on)
It's a joy to watch
Also, guy, mostly avatar I could trust
Anime, there's always the "bracing for when the disappointment would come"
And then the moments: like cardcaptor was in the tower, so overwhelmed by her burden
No I never liked the intrusive fanservice It’ll pull me out of the zone and roll my eyes😭
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