@@sekaihunter9378Nah there's tons of amazing female characters and protagonists in anime. They are top tier for sure. But they definitely aren't alone
You can tell the author of Skip and Loafer has spent a lot of time observing people. There were several times I thought to myself "yeah, this is how people actually think and behave" while reading/watching it. All characters feel real and relatable
Unless they state theu are a tomboy or that they want to be like men then they don't act like men. I see people use this for characters that they don't think a feminine enough when in real life a lot of women would be basically acting like men regardless of how they see it
2:38 If Bocchi is standard for competency, then almost all power fantasy genre would have no chance, because portraying "realism" in fiction is already hard and limited and requires REAL person's skills, so "realism" is a requirement to be attached to characters? 🤔
I was sold on Apothecary Diaries from the beginning, but what REALLY stood out to me is how the show handles its audience and medical care. The moment in which Maomao does CPR on a man stood out to me. Because she handled the situation in all seriousness, did the proper method and acted exhausted afterwards. It's the first time I've seen CPR handled like that. Usually the character is flustered or embarassed about doing it, in some cases even saying "aaah...a kiss!" but this wasn't the case here. It wasn't used as a plot device to make the leads kiss. VERY refreshing to me. Each time Maomao took on the role of a nursing too, like nursing the concubine back to health after the powderpoisoning. Especially as a nurse in training, I was extremely appreciative of her competence and how those things were handled. They were correct and actually well done.
I REAAALLY don’t get the “ahh! Kiss!” Trope for CPR lol like yes when you think about doing it when it’s not actually happening it feels awkward but bro who in their right mind would see someone that’s literally lifeless and think “b-b-but we’ll kiss!!” Instead of “oh crap I need to save this person rn”
@@hiimluna2069 Exactly! Like come on, seconds count in case of initiating CPR, there's really no time fot that. You can be awkward afterwards, if you REALLY want to be.
we have those cpr training dummies at my hospital and you're right, definitely tiring. On the floor it wasn't too bad but on a table, oh dear god I was tired in less than a minute.
Also the little bit with her father afterwards giving here the "what if" with the charcoal, to help her understand what could've gone wrong if her assumption was incorrect.
I love Mao Mao so much. To see such a compelling character excel in a world where she’d naturally be in the bottom of the barrel (and she is in the beginning of the show) due to her gender to finally seeing her shine while being competent is so much fun.
Watching Frieren and The Apothecary Diaries airing together at 24 and 28 episodes is like watching the Halley's Comet pass by close to Earth's orbit and never come back again for a lifetime. Just like how magically rare and beautifully long that anime season was. 🥺
@@HabenaChoudhury I re-watched them too about ten times now since early this year because I couldn't find myself watching another anime for months just not to tarnish the memory of how good they are. 🥺
I remember an episode in Frieren where she talks about how elves are going extinct because they don't reproduce much, then sometime later she enters a shack only to find a very handsome, very muscular and very shirtless HUNK of an elf. A bunch of alarm bells sounded in my head, I thought "Oh no, she's gonna blush, scream 'KYAAAA HENTAI' and slap him in the face, isn't she?'. But nope, she was like "Sorry, I didn't know it was occupied", and the elf dude was like "Oh, by all means come in! Just help me lit the fire". And there was no sexual tension, no blushing, no "will they wont they" through the whole episode. They just waited out the winter in the shack, like normal adults would. It was this moment that sold Frieren to me. Sure, it had great animation, beautiful art and fantasy worldbuilding, but we have lots of those already, its nothing new. But an anime where a female character acts... normal? Reasonable, even?? Without following overdone anime female tropes??? B*tch, count me in!
Frieren's always been a nonchalant character so i wasn't even worried when I saw that scene 😤 girlie's just gonna brush it off like it's a normal tuesday and we love her for that skjskdjsj
@@cocoabean6010 Not out of the question in a survival situation. Frieren may be powerful, but the snow and ice can frostbite any flesh. Sometimes if you travel through dangerous territory, you just gotta do what you gotta do
@cocoabean6010 it was part of survival. And even if the dude tries to do anything, Frieren had probably already thought of several ways to defuse the situation from a simple escape, to restraining, to possibly murder. She's not stupid. The guy's not stupid. It's just survival.
I think my personal favorite female led anime is actually Ascendance of a Bookworm. Myne is one of my favorite female leads, entirely because she's the more relatable nerdy goofball of a goblin. While being very distinctly herself. Nobody could be her but herself. Both because of her flaws and her strengths are uniquely hers. She's like Maomao in that she's so overwhelming obsessed over her favorite thing, books. That it blinds her survival instincts to the extremes at times. But at the same time, it's not used for laughs, it's used to showcase her childish nature is still there even though she was previously a college aged woman before getting stuck in her new body. At the same time she's extremely competent in all things books and learning. She came from our world and had a full college education and was working to become a librarian. But ironically some of the first bits of competency she shows are actually not from that, but rather, the small things she took for granted like learning how to make her own hair soap with her mom because her mom wanted to bond with her. and now she's sharing that with this new world.
Speaking of detective like anime (in the video), it reminded me of Kotoko as well, from Kyokou Suiri. Though, technically, that anime has dual protags (male & female), well they are a couple, but still. I like her quite a lot, too.
Dude, I love ascendance of a bookworm! The author of the light novel thought out so many details of every character and aspect of the world they created. Truly a masterpiece
I was just going to write about Myne but saw this and you've said it way better than I would have Myne is my favorite character of all time since I've watched the anime but I recently finished the light novel and it portrays her character in a way that's unlike any other It fully uses the medium of novels and we see every thing from her perspective Her thoughts feelings I've cried watching and reading ascendance of a bookworm more than any other thing It is my favorite series ever and I hope more people talk about it
@@Anas-oo4ro honestly I have to thank trash tier waifu here on TH-cam for doing gods work. If it wasn't for him doing his deep dive videos I would have never dived into the LNs, and would have missed so much. And if you haven't see his deep dive content. Even having read it yourself his content is fucking amazing.
There's also Sawako Kuronuma from Kimi ni Todoke. Her character type's trope suggests helplessness in need of saving, but she was perfectly fine and capable albeit completely isolated and alone. While it took Kazahaya to draw her out, she rose up to the challenge and faced her weaknesses out of her own will. She looks helpless, but she's a heroine.
Idk, I know I’m definitely in a huge minority when it comes to with that show, but honestly there were just too many times I found both the female lead and male protagonist to just be unbearable. I just feel like there were way too many moments and scenes where I’m just face palming and thinking to myself ffs to both of them that even though I know like it’s irrational of me to sort of hate, and like I get that that’s just apart of the character development it just made me associate the show more with feeling frustrated I guess.
Except she eventually gave in to Kazehaya's sexual advances because she saw how much he wants it. It was consensual, true, but they did it for different reasons. In the end, she did it to make him happy. Trash ending for what was once my Top 1 anime of all time.
The thing about Frieren that set it above most to me is its theme. Regrets and making amends to put it simply. As a man in his 40s I think that some of Freieren is somewhat lost on young anime fans. As you kind of need a certain level of life experience to understand some character motivations. It is also beautifully animated. As I get older I lean more towards stories that I would have called ‘boring talking episodes’ as a young lad. But now I enjoy the time spent filling out a world and exploring characters as much as the flashy set pieces. Anyway good video.
I’m also in my forties, and I too was caught up in Frieren’s themes of regret, loss, and time passing. There were moments I felt anxious for what Frieren might miss because she simply didn’t understand how fast time moves for humans.
We are truly in the golden age of anime, fullstop. We are constantly getting new and continued shows that blow my mind in quality, writing, animation, and CARE. Some days I watch an episode and wish I could send a big thank you card to the entire staff that worked on it simply because they have all had such a profound impact on me through their art...
@queenlolo1384 I'm not commenting for those people. I'm commenting for those who are willing to be curious. There's more preference diversity among anime fans than you think.
@@strangeturtle5947 Men statistically don't watch anything other than Seinen or Shonen. If you're mad at facts, then tell men to stop being so closed minded.
Freiren and Bocchi were written by dudes and so was stuff like Kaguya. Implying that women know how to write female characters well solely cause their gender is laughable when you consider 2000s era problematic Shoujo(with SA and Abuse of girls) and stuff like Twilight and Fifty shades of Grey.
@@korotoumousamassi1421 I would like to correct the first part of your statement. Frieren and Bocchi were both written by female authors, with only the anime adaptation of Frieren being written by a male. Though they both share the same director Keiichirō Saitō. It is true that many details were added in both anime's adaptions. So it would be better to say that they were written by talented individuals, and not people of a specific genre. So i kind of agree with you on your second part by saying that it is not the genre of a person that makes a good writer.
@@Yuyukobeat Correction, the illustrator for Frieren is a woman, the author's gender isnt revealed yet. And yes, the gender doesn't determine how they write good female characters. Though as a guy, i don't know if girls relate more with a female mangaka or nah. I do think the trashy shoujos really tickle their funny bones though, just the right amount of delulu for the love interests i guess.
@@Anonymous-td9fl I alway thought Frieren's author is a female. But from a quick google search, pretty sure the author of Frieren is male. He/She used to be assistant of "The World God Only Knows" which I think is a big hint. Maybe that why frieren had large male audience.
Just a guess but it could be because shoujo/josei are specifically targeted towards a female demographic? Lol. Also like how shonen/seinen is filled with poorly written female characters shoujo/josei is filled with poorly written male characters, so that's probably off putting as well.
@@yes-gs2rd most of the poorly written characters are shounen, there's less seinen than you think there is. Seinen doesn't refer to mature content, it refers to mature stories, typically with an adult lead.
I think that the introduction of streaming as a model in the anime industry has really pushed them to actively pursue works which might've been shelved a decade ago as risky investments when much of their profits were from Blu-Ray sales. That someone like Keiichiro Saito can go to a Madhouse or CloverWorks and propose adapting a female-led off-beat manga like Bocchi or Frieren and succeed I think is in part because these studios believe they'll likely find a place for it on a content-hungry streaming platform.
It isn't just Bocchi, Frieren, or Maomao either. Fuko from Undead Unluck, Ushio from Summer Time Render, the cast in Girls Band Cry, there's so many current shows with female main characters who carry the show or drive the story, and yet still don't get as much attention when they're in shoujo or josei
Not sure I agree with this totally. Most of these anime including the comment above mine were all adapted from at worst semi-successful manga. There's less anime originals being released today then there was a decade ago so if anything they're taking less risks. I mean a show about cute girls in a band doing cute things isn't exactly an original or hard idea to pitch. I'm sure the immediate profits they can get from streaming platforms play a part in choosing what shows get the green light but as far risk taking goes? Eh.. it really don't look much different to a decade ago. To be honest it's similar as far as female-led shows or shows with female deuteragonists go, it's honestly not that different to a decade ago. I do think it's better though.
@@yes-gs2rd the adaptations slowed the pacing down giving more attention to details while also avoiding fillers. i don't know if that was a thing back then.
It's like one of those writer's lists of how to make a good character: 1) competent 2) have compelling flaws 3) draws you in when watching (Darth Vader, and also Ellen Ripley) 4) easy to root for 5) gender informs the writing, but does not direct it Almost like good character writing is good character writing, regardless of gender.
Also men get more backlash with writing bad female characters because of the… history of humanity. Like you can’t assign women as subhuman in your culture for a thousand years, and expect to get praise when you write the stereotypes that were used as a justification for human rights violations.
My favourite female protagonist will probably always be Kumiko from Sound Euphonium. There’s a perfect balance between her competency & her flaws, she’s deeply charming right off the bat, she’s so easy to route for to the point where it’s infectious, and while definitely not DEFINED by her gender given the nature of the story, she still feels like a distinctly female character. I’ve just never seen a more compelling example of a protagonist driving the narrative. She has such a great arc & affects those around her in such an interesting way. An incredible protagonist in every way. Also all the “Kumiko Noises” are so funny to me.
What's interesting to is that for most of the show, she is very passive and not the driving force of the series. The final season is all about her finally becoming that force for not just the story, but herself. Such a great series!
Happy that somebody mentioned kumiko! Shes so well written protagonist, and i love how human and flawed she was. How realistically were her problems held. Shes definitely one of my favourites!
I was looking for this comment. Her and Violet Evergarden are probably the most well-written and have the best character development among all female mc's in the past 10 years.
In defense of Apothecary Diary's Mysteries having little depth... ... Actually, I'm not going to defend them at all. The Medical Mystery aspect of the story is actually somewhat misleading. As someone who's been reading the translated novels, the actual mysteries are actually not very important, in my opinion. It's not what you remember when coming away from the stories anyway. Oh no, the seaweed is poisonous! Not actually as important as to why the brother did it. The core and beating heart of Apothecary Diaries is actually the complexities of relationships and society. The mystery of the incident is not as important as the emotions and motivations of the stories and characters. What's important isn't that the mystery ghost lady is actually a consort's scheme. What's important is why she did it. The most important part of that episode is her backstory, the tragedy of her situation, her and her lover's quiet determination and strength, and their heartfelt conclusion. Rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae of a compelling mystery and trying to solve the puzzle box, The Apothecary Diaries use easy to understand and easily explained mysteries as a vehicle to deliver the stories that matter. My favorite aspect of The Apothecary Diaries is its core message when you drill down deep enough: That even in an oppressive society full of oppressive class/gender divides and horrible circumstances, you will find kindness and love everywhere. Sometimes this kindness will cause people to do horrible things (like in Foumin's case) but the motivation is love. People are not as hopeless as Maomao's cynical worldview would believe. These can come in big and little ways. Like when government officials look the other way because they don't want to harm an innocent life. Or when Jinshi initiates a coverup to protect the innocent from "Execution of all family related to the criminal". Maomao herself cannot help herself when she sees people in need. The Apothecary Diaries is so compelling because it's a weirdly accurate reflection of the real world even though it's set in a completely different society with different surface values from ours. It's as cynical as it is optimistic. Anyways, lovely video essay as always. I love it when a pey video drops!
This! The beautiful thing about apothecary diaries is that it shows the complexity of human nature, especially the stories of women. The basis of the whole story either being in a brothel or the concubine’s palace was a brilliant place to showcase the stories of women who are usually dug away in favor of the male counterparts. Take the ghost dancing one for example. In most of their shows, the story would be about how a young man is fighting his way up the ranks of the military so he can save his lover from the concubine palace. You will be experiencing and feeling his emotions and only see her as the reward at the end. But in apothecary diaries, she is the focus of the story, and it gives the woman’s perspective. Something that lots of popular media lacks.
You are right have been reading them as well, but as a chemist, I appreciate that the science mentioned is accurate so far haha but the focus is not so much the how though I like that they are thorough at explaining the process bc you learn something new but it always has to deal with the why. Why are people complex? Another that focuses more on the why is the Raven of the inner palace. But that one has more fantasy in the effect.
💯 agree. If I'd tag a genre on The Apothecary Diaries, it would have to be a palace-fighting drama, not a medical mystery series. As someone who has watched a sht ton of both genres, it is the social commentary/ethical conundrums that matter, less the particulars of what plant or powder.
I agree with you, however I will defend the mystery aspect of Apothecary Diaries BECAUSE while individual mysteries are not particularly deep, the series is good at reminding the audience that each individual mystery adds up to a larger whole. Even if a single chapter/episode's conflict is resolved relatively quickly, the series is still giving us info about the world and characters that's relevant to the larger mystery at play and the overall political situation. Episode 19 is a good example, where she realizes that the seemingly isolated/insignificant situations from the previous 5-6 episodes actually WERE all connected.
Ascendance of a bookworm is one of my favorite animes. While it might connect more with women, the characters and world are so well written and fun to watch and read about that I just love it. It also feels calming. Shows made for men tend to either come off strong, deep, or action packed and I generally like it that way. But getting a story where my mind feels relaxed and I can just take in the characters and the world around them feels refreshing. I guess even men need a bit of feminin feel to help us calm our minds.
I agree. I think people whether they are male or female should experience/appreciate the cool aspects of the opposite gender. People shouldn’t be limited to only like things specific to a certain gender
If there is any one anime that I would like to point out with some of the strongest female lead(s) that I would seriously recommend anybody that is a fan of the music genre as a whole to watch, that would be Hibike! Euphonium. At the start of the series, the protagonist is (intentionally) not very likeable. She doesn't feel like a character who would be a protagonist. She's very flawed an indecisive and always very distant from everything. As you follow her journey throughout the story, you watch her change and become a better person and by the end of it, you're left with some of the most human feeling characters in a series. This is a show I'd recommend to anybody that's a fan of music anime and especially to Pey after seeing his top 10 favorite series, it really feels like a show you'd enjoy.
So, part of what is going on with Maomao, is that the show is a romance dressed up as a detective series. Even if the mysteries are not super solid, they are still fun. As for stakes... Frieren is based around the most fragile of stakes. Emotion.
Frieren just brings peace to our mind. No need for complex overpowered character, it shows normality. A young girl exploring the world, finding the meaning of love and being silly. I can say "she's not like other girl" confidently. She is not overly smart, she falls for simple treasure box. She needs assistance but does not mean she can't live alone. She is overpowered but that does not mean she can just use magic go do anything easily( in the beach cleaning ep it took like 1month to clean it). She was yet to lean about love but could knock out a very strong hero with a chu~~
its so annoying when writers think that a good "strong female lead" is always manly or something and just end up being tomboys, it just says even more about how female characters are portrayed in anime.
When characters are written like you could actually meet them in real life and have a conversation with them it's really good. When characters are written with just tropes and have no substance you don't get much.
These are four of my favorite shows from the last few years, it’s weird to see all of them talked about in one place lol. I really appreciate how succinct and thoughtful your scripts are. Thank you for the video!
The reason there are too few female protagonists in anime is actually the author, no the audience. The audience enjoys anime with both genders as protagonist but it is hard to write a good character of opposite character when you will mostly be telling the story from their perspective.
This doesn't make sense to me since I've seen female authors nail male protagonists. Take full metal alchemist. The author is a woman but she does an excellent job with both her male and female characters.
@@StarlessTerrace I'd sooner place my wager that the decrease in control via editors and companies helped the most. (I'mma use "creators" instead of author's 'cause the visual aspect is also affected) Japan is still chill wherein only local sales matter (hence ~moe~ is guaranteed to pay) and digital sometimes still doesn't count even when local, but for years now, there's been stable alt means for creators to get money and followers without them. And they don't even have to make it a fulltime career to do so. This makes it even more important when they're still growing or already have more than enough to make an impact, rather than them trying to appeal to company reps just for the chance to face being stonewalled or career failure at every turn (or even blacklisted if they refuse to bend). Like, yeah, it added to the oversaturation of inadequate wannabe creators who only improve on quantity count, but the talented/promising ones are no longer entirely lost. And with creators less likely disincentivized at every level that it's "impossible" to do as they please, they're also forming negotiation points and/or connections as they progress. Audience sometimes fails to recognize gems every time they manage to debut, hence the long-known history of editors/companies ruining series to try to make it palpable or simply get it canceled. That's normal everywhere. But if these gems are able to be created and only need a polishing for a broader audience when the chance arrives? That only adds a new breath of life in the world of mainstream that otherwise ignored its merits.
@@StarlessTerraceI think from a writing standpoint it's because the authors approached the characters not as a how would a guy/girl approach this situation, but rather how would a person with this personality approach the situation. Things like Frieren, FMA, etc you could replace the lead with the opposite gender and for a lot of the writing it would not matter. Obviously it's going to put an immediate thought of discomfort in anyone's mind since the character designs are so iconic, how could it possibly work the other way, but looking at dialogue and situation handling, etc it was never their anatomy running the show it was their personality.
I'm hooked on the Apothecary weekly/monthly manga update. I just love everything about the story telling, the characters, and especially when the story unfolds and everything becomes unexpected more interesting and captivating and Maomao's uninterested towards Jinshi😅 , and every character plays an important roles and how the story is based on traditional Chinese medicine, l just love more and more, ldk how many times l re-watch all the episodes 😂 and l'm waiting for season 2 can't wait.
I've seen the inyaku video, too, I think the TH-cam algorithm had connected your channels before you realized it. But her video is also very good, it's cool that you mentioned it and linked it!
FMAB is an old-ish anime but I felt like it also had pretty amazing female characters that shined despite not being the center of attention. I love Frieren and MaoMao too...
I think one reason for a sudden surge of great female protagonist is a shift of storytelling. While eastern media has always been focusing more on their characters conflict rather than environmental conflict compared to western counterpart, I feel like recently stories has started to focus more on internal conflict rather than external. This gives us more time to understand each of the protagonist (and in frieren's case, most characters) better. It is less about protagonist understanding enemies (Fullmetal Alchemist) and more protagonist understanding themself (Bocchi the rock). While the presence of antagonist is still a thing, it's not as highlighted. Two of my favorite recent anime other than one mentioned in the video are Mushoku Tensei and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer. Both of these anime are adventurer anime set in fantasy world and both protagonists are decently strong and wants to get stronger. Sounds like a typical shounen, except that the 'boss' battle isn't exactly monster but really is themself. Especially for Unwanted Undead Adventurer. The anime itself at a glance looks like a souls game with edgy protagonist and giant boss battles. But the final episode of S1 doesn't feature this. It brings up 'why' the protagonist wants to be an adventurer in the first place. This really brings everything in the story a proper closure as it's the direct opposite of how he started the story. This anime brings up the talk of trauma and ptsd without being depressing but still properly respecting it. Without leaning too much on stereotypes, females have always been the ones that is said to be stronger emotionally. This, I think makes it easier for the author to address internal problems. Even the two shows I mentioned had great female characters supporting the main male protagonist in understanding themself. p.s. hot take but, retroactively thinking many of the past Main characters, male or female, are not exactly great in the first place. They're just popular. Characterization has really improved overall in recent years.
i feel like it's because the characters are a reflection of how humans actually feel and behave. We natrually gravitate towards something that feels familiar to us, or people and places that share the same feeling. We want to relate and to be seen. So when we see a person or character that strikes us as a good character, it's because the character shares the same traits as we do. It doesn't mean that we need to share the same backstory, it's also the behaviors and decisions or hesitations they make that feel refreshing. I also think its even more refreshing in mainstream media where a lot of characters are not overreacting, can be contradicting because we are too, and have charisma but in their own way. It's also interesting to see a character who is quiet and introverted but not where they just become a tsundere and unrealistic person
It's a bs that manga / anime has "predominantly male audience". Even shounen that is dedicated to boys ages 12 - 18 is no longer reflective of its own demographic as half of the people reading and watching shounen are women. Same for any other manga / anime targeted at specific group. People who say this argument are most probably westerners who have no idea that manga and anime have demographics in the first place. Anyway, I feel like before manga and anime were heavily limited due to weird ideas of editors, especially those that get serialized via Shounen Jump. Female characters were rarely allowed there to be well-rounded and often felt like afterthoughts, like one dimensional cardboard figurine. Good writing in regard to women could be only expected from mangaka who themselves were women like Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist). Ofc it's still true for modern manga and anime (like Frieren), but I feel like more male mankaga finally learned how to write female characters as people. And let's not forget about other manga magazines and manga directed at different demographics. Shoujo and Josei are also evolving albeit I can't really compare due to my lack of insight. But it'd be foolish to assume that shoujo and josei didn't change with time. Though it's definitely true that shounen manga needed the most in regard to maturing and still need a lot of work, but with authors who care I can see it happen very quickly.
@@iasked9392 Love it. I knew of Berserk. Of JoJo i only knew that Araki used Vogue covers when he drew the poses for his characters (and that's why all men in JoJo are so homoerotic because they pose as women from Vogue covers). Oh and I also remember that entire sports anime genre is based on one very sapphic tennis manga that was most probably shoujo (hence why all sports anime are by default gay).
Just to point, what I felt, what I loved about Skip and Loafer, I felt it too in *Kimi no Todoke* I call these series "sisters in souls" for the fun because they are pure and passionate about what they talk and represent. I'm anime only in Skip so I'll see if the series set appart or not but yeah, I rank these two equally in my top 10 of all time too (expect I have another classement for movies animes, for me it's not the same media while being obviously the same but you know). And to quote you, I had a shift when watching these two series too. A comprehension that slice of life _is good_ even *excellent* and when your mood is there, that can be the most rewarding genre to watch :3
It can be summarized as make a character who is capable of many things, chasing a goal, give relatable quirks, but struggling with personal flaws . . . who just happens to be female. - Bocchi has an ambition to gain recognition as a guitarist but ironically made an obstacle out of her character is her struggle with social anxiety, but made friends along the way. - Maomao's intelligence is finally recognized by those of positions of power, solved many mysteries, created many connections, despite being oppressed by the hierarchical world around her for being born of the peasant class. - Frieren as the best medium for the audience's lens to understand how immortality numbed her to feel relationships of anyone with a limited lifespan than her, is changing herself to be meaningful around people. What these three have in common is their own unique personalities, abilities, and struggles versus themselves to overcome, creating an interesting universal storytelling theme that is relatable by everyone and appreciated even by the male fandom as characters to aspire to. Not as the next waifu material, and are not lecturing anybody centering on the fact that they are female like Hollywood does with its shitty movies today.
I really like the way you bring up the 5 pillars but 4 characters and get us wondering followed not long after by explaining where you got the idea from. Keeping us hyped per se and getting us a little more interested in the final reveal. Idk why but that stood out to me.
Yooo, that screen wipe at the beginning was clean. Anyway, I love how you broke this down into these pillars. I've seen other videos on the topic and few are able to clearly explain what sets good characters apart. You've also made me curious enough to watch Skip and Loafer. I've been bouncing from anime to anime and struggling to latch onto anything. One of those was Apothecary Diaries which I'm glad you mentioned. The characters did seem great even though I haven't finished it, but, as you mentioned, the episodic mystery nature of it didn't suit me well. Vinland Saga I put up with for longer, but is also starting to feel like there isn't really a clear thread other than following the life of Thorfinn... but I'm getting side-tracked here. This made me wonder how you feel about the females of more recent shounens. I think JJK has some really good ones, though they don't shine nearly as much as the ones you mentioned. Attack on Titan I'm a bit bitter about. The females in AoT get far more respect than in most shounens, but I also think that they weren't really able to be both deep and having leading roles except maybe Hange. And then My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer just make me sad with how they treat their female characters...
perfect moment to recommend akagami no shirayuki hime/ snow white with the red hair!!! its quite amazing imo especially the manga and it has a bery enjoyable female lead ❤️
Eh, Anime has always had great female leads. Some of my favourites include: The Rose of Versailles Akage no Anne Aria Series Chihayafuru Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex Kino's Jouney (2003) Apothecary Diaries Monogatari Series Frieren Land of the Lustrous Princess Tutu Psycho Pass (Season 1) Gunbuster Fruits Basket A Place Further Than the Universe Nana Onisame e... 86 Spice and Wolf Hibike Euphonium Twelve Kingdoms Shinesekai Yori Kemono no Souja Erin Katanagatari Kaguya Sama Love is War Yona of the Dawn Ya Boy Kongming! Serei no Moribito Black Lagoon Ergo Proxy Galaxy Express 999 Haibane Renmei Heike Monogatari Made in Abyss Madoka Magica Revolutionary Girl Utena Honourable mention to Glass Mask which I've heard great things about but haven't seen yet
I don't entirely disagree, but I think you gotta stop and think about how popular most of the anime you've mentioned have been even at their peak. Some of the titles you mention are also questionable imo and/or have good females but still have them viewed from a deeply male perspective. For example, I love Motoko "Major" Kusanagi from GitS, but she's barely female or even human, which made for interesting philosophical exploration and an interesting character overall, but the extent of her femininity stops mostly with Batou's interest and her very mild teasing of secondary characters. I thoroughly enjoyed Psycho Pass (season 1 only, very important lol), but I can't even remember the main character's name. She was fine and certainly female, but she's not particularly memorable. She's more like a very good instrument to a great plot. So yes, we've always had great females in anime, but how many were great females as opposed to great characters and how good and popular were those anime in the grand scheme of things? That's without getting into how many were tastefully looked at versus plainly objectified, which people can never agree about...
@@OhmIsFutileI'd still put a lot of these up against Frieren or Mao Mao. Sure they aren't as mainstream but they are written just as well. My list was definitely aimed at how good the anime were not necessarily the female protagonists themselves that's why Kusunagi and Akane are there despite not being the most rounded characters. But even then, I don't think there's anything inherently special about the female protagonists were getting today compared to the past
@@Ash_Wen-li That's fair. Part of my point is that some of the females are just good characters that happen to be female as opposed to good female characters... which is certainly a thin nuance but a nuance nonetheless.
Just wanted to note, that Land of the Lustrous has no female leads. The gems have no gender (and it's kind of a crime that there's no second season yet. The manga gets so good). But nice list.
There's also Princess Yona from Yona of the Dawn. She is an incredibly strong character, who at first seems fragile, but soon (in order to survive) learns to lead and protect the people she loves. She faces many situations of life and death, of tension, of danger, and always faces it with her head held high. This manga started in 2012 and is still ongoing. It's very worth it. They also adapted a season (available on Crunchyroll)
I would also recommend fruit basket. It's a very well written anime with a female protagonist. It's light hearted, Funny and really delve down into different types of traumas which can make some of the characters easy to relate to ans understand.😊
I have watched the first 3 episodes of the Spice and Wolf remake. And it made me uncomfortable, the way her body was presented and all. Didnt find the MC and her too interesting. I want to give this show a true chance, but I gotta know why. Like what is it about the show that people praise so much?
@@artblob Just watch it and you'll see. One of the best character dynamics in all of Animanga. Moreover the fanservice you're talking about is only in the first few episodes
@@artblob genuinely, the relationship between Holo and Lawrence is one of the best slow burns. It’s a story full of hope, happiness, heartache, and healing. It’s similar to Frieren, in the sense that you aren’t able to understand or connect to the characters until you’ve watched a few episodes in. But when you do find that point of connection the characters become incredibly charming and lovable, and you can’t help but root for them even if you know things may not always turn out all right.
@@artblob yeah what they said, their dynamic is unrivaled in my opinion, and the nudity does not feel very sexual to me, just like naturalistic I guess hard to explain. Just watch it!
@@davidpotts7116 I actually liked Holo considerably less after reading the LN, to the point of dislike. It explains too much which make Holo unintentionally toxic and petty when I think the author's intention was to make her haughty and endearing. The anime and manga doesn't have this problem because they can't explore as deeply her thinking and motivations.
i've been very delightfully surprised on how many female protag that has been very well written so far, personally back then the only good example on a very well written female protag was Yona from yona of the dawn, from the weak willed princess that was shaking in fear of the betrayal to learning through grief and challenges never faces before, she learn to be able to stand for herself and the naivety in her princess day seem so far
I always go into videos made by men on this subject ready to close the tab because I often disagree on what makes for a well-written female character and then I get mad, but I think this really hit the nail on the head! I'm not overly familiar with any of these examples besides Frieren (I watched one episode of the Apothecary Diaries but didn't really care for it so I haven't seen more), but I would say that the female characters I tend to like the most, be they protagonists or not, tend to check off these boxes. I think maybe the reason I disagree often is just a different opinion on what's "charming" sometimes, and the people who make me mad just don't realize the things they're talking about are actually subjective there...well, anyway, good video!
Man... I'm going to be so distraught when This running series ends. It brings me so much joy hearing these well written and intellectual looks at such an amazing anime from someone who's voice is honestly so soothing. Please keep up the great work!
I don't know if you like reading as much as you like watching anime, but in case you do; I think you'd really enjoy "Your Throne". It is a webtoon series who's protagonist i consider one of my favourite written female characters. She is very different from the characters shown in your video, in a sense that she wants all audience to perceive her as 'perfect' and she is always several steps ahead of the reader mentally. She has much less flaws sawn at the beginning of the series, but as the story progresses you are sort of excited to see her missteps.
MaoMao and Frieren are our -heroes- heroines. Why are they not real 😭😭🤣 Yep we don't really care about character's gender. They just happen have a very good and interesting protagonist that happens to be a female. Wish some writers would understand this Baby Steps and Skip&Loafer?? Wow, no one ever talks about these anime. Love them too especially Mitsumi!!
no one is talking about emma. though people might see her as delusional optimistic, she carries her ideal into reality, she made her unrealistic plans workable. she sacrificed a lot for her family and people she loves. she went through huge betrayal all her life and still able to remain unchanged in her character and ideals. she's one of my favourite female protagonist of all time
I love this video - you honestly never miss with the insightful and positive commentary. Your analysis videos are a breath of fresh air when so much more often I see rants and "XYZ sucks and here's why". Female protagonists are such an underused choice for writers - they can be so much more nuanced and thoughtfully written than they have historically been and it's great to see they're finally getting that. This video has successfully convinced me to watch Skip & Loafer finally, because I really want to fill that hole in my heart that so many other anime have left wanting. Keep up the great work. Your videos are an instant click for me.
I will say a caviate for Apothecary Diaries is that the first season only covers the first two books, while I'm pretty sure in Japanese they're up to like, book 14. There's a lot more of the story left to be told that is slowly revealed over time as Maomao and Jinshi age and find themselves encountering different situations. She (and Jinshi) have a lot more character development left to go from where the first season. Though I think it applies to other shows at well, TAD is just a notable example in that it's set up is fairly quick, but the plot is on the slower side as the world expands more and more
ALRIGHT FINE I'll rewatch all these shows again 😫🥰 I've watched several of your videos just now and I'm getting amped about Apothecary Diaries and especially Frieren
@@nauvir2046 "I did watch all those from this video." That's the point... All of those series are Seinen and Shonen. Neither of them are Josei or Shoujo.
@@nauvir2046 Shoujo recs: - Basara - Yona of the Dawn - Rose of Versailles - Ooku - Please Save My Earth - Skip Beat - Glass Mask - Fruits Basket - Nana - Cardcaptor Sakura - Sailor Moon - Revolutionary Girl Utena - Tomie - Kageki Shoujo - Sukeban Deka - Oniisama E (Dear Brother) - Life - Queen's Quality Josei recs: - Paradise Kiss - Chihayafuru - Gokusen - River's Edge - Pink - Helter Skelter - Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai I'm not as familiar with Josei, but I've started reading more. I'm just two years, I've read those Josei series, along with other Shoujo, Seinen, and Shonen series.
Awesome video as always thanks for sharing your thoughts, I have watched all the shows mentioned except skip and loafer, and I loved the shows because the characters were so good, I had no idea how much they all had in common and their differences, your video made me realize that I have just been consuming media without analyzing it, which is not a bad thing, but for me this is an eye opener. Gotta add skip and loafer to my watch list. Thanks for the video
Damn how I've resonated with you at @9:12 . I love battle shonnens like any other, but I could never put in my top list AoT HxH or One Piece on top of let's say Apothecary Diaries or Frieren.
@@debangan So you don't care about strong female characters? Yikes... No wonder you like overrated Frieren and trash Violet Evergarden. They aren't actually good characters...
As a girl who doesn't like romance-y stuff you see in most shōjo/josei media, I've been actually interested in watching Frieren/Apothecary Diaries as of late. Sorry if the next thing sounds bad because I'm not making this take with enough context, but if you asked me if I'd rather watch Nana or the other two anime I mentioned, I would choose Frieren/Mao Mao anytime
Something to note, these traits are things ANY character should have, not just female characters. I've always thought it's as easy or hard to write a female protagonist or character as it is a male one. You can usually write your character as neither and add in the gender later UNLESS the story being told is directly involved and affected by the gender of the character (like MaoMao). I think the other three characters mentioned in this story could easily be males and work just as well from a purely writing perspective.
Anime has had great female leads for a long time, especially if you look outside of shounen. Even the shows with male leads often have strong female supporting characters that might even outshine the protagonist. I think your young age might be showing a bit here
Undead Unluck, Summer Time Render, Dandadan, Hell's Paradise, and anything from josei especially have fantastic FeMCs, and you don't hear people talk about them very much because of that male bias sadly
I don't think an argument is being made that great female characters didn't exist previously. It's that there is seemingly an increment of quantity and quality of great female leads in recent times, which is something I'd lean towards agreeing with. Particularly among the mainstream anime series.
I HATE romance stories so I didn't have high hopes on Frieren, also because I've felt disappointed watching animes that people call 'peak' or 'must watch' again and again. But Frieren and Dungeon Meshi were so well written and animated that I can't help but rewatch and read the manga because I love the characters so much. It's been a long while since I love and anime and the entirety of the cast, male or female. I haven't watched the Apothechary Diaries, I'm looking forward to once I have the time.
I love your videos, I've been eating them and leaving no crumbs for the past few weeks in a very delicate time of my life. I cry often watching them, which is something I love. I just want to add to this something about skip and loafer. I've watched all four of these anime, frieren is one of my two favorite anime of all time. And while all four make my heart warm when I watch them, skip and loafer is just top of the list in that regard (altho, my other favorite anime wins: welcome do demon school, Iruma-kun). It's so well made and it shows all the strength of a good slice of life anime. But there's something else I want to mention in a video that talks about gender. The first time mitsumi's aunt appears I thought "wait is this a trans woman?" and being a trans woman myself I thought " well, maybe it's just me looking for representation". But then the scene in the subway happens and by that moment I was convinced she was. And we finally get to see she's actually trans and not only that, but she's amazing, capable, human and loved. I cannot thank skip and loafer enough for that. In a media where trans people are usually the butt of the joke, they gave us a really compelling character. And it made me so happy.
3:00 watch "Hibike! Euphonium", it's a masterclass. I believe art is a medium through which perspective is taught. This anime, on it’s surface is about a high-school band, and it’s story to achieve the gold medal at their national competition. However, it’s hard to describe how captivating this anime is. The animation is stunning, the sounds are beautiful, but most importantly, the relationships of the characters are so pure, that even when the frustration hurts, I can’t help but smile and shed a tear. The directors and studio put a lot of thought into each character’s mental model, their development, the framing of the camera lens, and more. It’s something you’ll be able to instantly tell, because each scene, the characters’, and the story’s development, are so masterfully done, that it feels real in hindsight. *the ending of S3 was perfect :3* *kyoto animation is a masterclass studio ;0* Watch Order: S1 - 14eps Movie 1 (just the ending for competition scene) S2 - 13eps Movie 2 (optional) S3 - 13eps Liz and the Blue Bird Movie (can watch after S2 or 3)
Totally agreed. It’s my favorite anime of all time but if we only compare it to other music anime nothing even comes close. And as you said it’s very hard to describe how captivating this anime is. 3 months after the ending and I don’t think I’m still over episode 12 lol.
@@mukhammedabusuveilim3468 I still tear up when I hear the oboe solo’s echoed descent in `liz and the blue bird.` That film to me is a masterpiece of a masterpiece, it really feels like everything has subtle meaning, and the emotion in finial ensemble scene was so poignant, it left me speechless. With God’s will, one day I will be in a position to properly show my appreciation to these films :3
While I don't disagree with much of this video, I will say that we should not (1) see trends in what could easily be coincidence, and (2) fall for recency bias. There was a time when we had Ghost in the Shell: SAC, and earlier when we had Evangelion, both of which had kickass female protagonists.
I love Skip and Loafer so much, it's such a comfort anime where all the main characters are interesting and actually communicate and learn to resolve their problems
Have you ever seen Yona of the Dawn? It one of my favorite shows of all time. The manga started releasing in 2010, the anime in 2014. The anime adaptation only lasts one season, but it’s very faithful to the manga (which is still continuing strong as ever). Yona is such an amazing female protagonist. She starts as a weak, naive, helpless princess, but after her father is murdered and she’s forced to leave her castle, she decides she has to become stronger. The story follows Yona as she grows, matures and plots to take her throne and kingdom back from the one who overthrew her. There’s lots of side characters (male and female alike), who also feel like they have so much depth and personality to them. The worldbuilding and action are amazing too, and there’s lots of interesting political stuff going on later in the manga that’s just so fun to read. It’s such an amazing series, and I love it so much.
I find it interesting how the modern female protagonist exists at the intersection between being built for consumption and subjectivity. It feels like there is a desire to present a subjectivity that people can latch onto, but does not assert itself so strongly as to undermine the "waifu" mode of consumption which dominates almost every sphere of anime production. This results in flaws that have to be tempered by overwhelming virtue and overwhelming appeal in other areas. Not that this hasn't kind of always been a major factor in how women were portrayed in anime, but there may have been times when it was more okay for them to have some appealing traits drowning in a litany of flaws, and still be considered empathetic and entertaining characters. Edit: Like, I am glad we don't have many Rudeus Grayrats among female protagonists, but perhaps we could stand to appreciate slightly messier women in our fiction, esp. as main characters.
interesting and not talked about thing to bring up. I am a woman, a while ago I read firepunch, in it is a female character that I loved because she's strange in many ways and reminded me of myself like I've never seen represented before (more extreme of course), her name is Togata, she has an obsession with movies, she's very nonchalant in an uncomfortable way, the way she behaves isn't necessarily associated with stereotypical female behavior but that wasn't brought up which I loved, she's just who she is at this point in the story. However, I got sad at the end when she shows that there's this one thing she's not nonchalant about in an almost psychopathic way : She always wanted to be a man... It seemed out of character to me that she as a person would even care about something like her gender, she transcended gender in my mind until she's seen crying at the thought of never being the opposite gender and It made me wish that just because she had a deep interest and understanding of a discipline and behaved in a certain way, she still wouldn't be associated with maleness, I wanted her to exist as is but SHE'S SO COOL, SHE HAD TO WANT TO BE A DUDE AT THE END and that's not a horrible thing but I wish we had more "strange" female characters without them needing to be trans or a full on tomboy or associated with maleness. It feels like : girls can be THIS not THAT and if not, they have to be trans or something, a girl who has an autistic obsession with movies, well she'd rather be a boy, a girl needing to be strong in a story, well she's only written strong until overshadowed by a male character at some point without good reason. It's like false hope. It's like people thinking that girls with short hair have to be gay to make the choice to cut their own hair that short not because it's just the choice they made. a female character doesn't need to be attractive to be cool, attractiveness and s*x appeal is overated. I want more undeniably cool female leads without them having to be nice and pretty, I want more female L's or rudeuses and whatnot. Those have always been my favorite characters, the weirdos because they interest me not because I'd want to be friends with them in real life.
I don't know what analysis did you do for your essay, because my perception till this point is that there are more female protagonist in anime than anywhere else, so here's the thing, categorize by demographics, if you're only looking at shonen, then you'll get a majority of male protagonists, but also almost everything is action, go to shoujo or seinen and there's a vast majority of female lead and a broader genre variety
To be honest, I love watching female lead protagonists/side characters written decently because it makes me feel human. Most of the female characters I've watched that are poorly written always made me feel dehumanized. Its like they always pay attention to the gender, sexualise them, and make them overly objectified or just not valuable to the story, and that's just why it's so dehumanizing. Not only this won't effect me, but it effects kids mostly and gives the idea that female characters aren't more valuable than males. This will even lead to little girls objectifying themselves too, and that's why we need more well-written humanized characters to change that mindset.
Same. Although I'm not surely how recently you've gotten into anime, there's a lot of amazing female led anime from a decade or two ago like Akatsuki no Yona or Princess Tutu that aren't as well known to more recent fans, which is a shame. Two decades ago my refuge from sexualisation and fan service was shojo and josei, but unfortunately we've been getting a lot less of those adapted recently
I love these amazing videos you are putting out. I was really interested in seeing more of your videos and when I look in the description box i saw you are Pey the Musician! From the Atrioc lore. I see that you have found your own niche as well. I love the content and I look forward to more videos like these.
While it definitely had it’s problems, the female characters in my first ever manga, Inuyasha are still some of my favourites. Kagome, who is def the protagonist in spite of the title, feels like a genuinely relatable, real teenage girl. Strong ≠ Good character. I like characters that are unapologetically women, they can be insecure, girly, emotional.. hell, they can have crushes!!?. Real women do too and achieving things despite having actual flaws and challenges is just much better than being overpowered and perfect
Maomao and Frieren visiting us weekly back to back was a huge blessing
We were so spoiled in winter/spring this year
Maomao and Frieren are easily the top 2 anime female protagonists, no, female characters, period. Change my mind!
@@sekaihunter9378Nah there's tons of amazing female characters and protagonists in anime. They are top tier for sure. But they definitely aren't alone
And Coco is coming next year to join the big three
fr fr i miss that a lot D:
You can tell the author of Skip and Loafer has spent a lot of time observing people. There were several times I thought to myself "yeah, this is how people actually think and behave" while reading/watching it. All characters feel real and relatable
What’s incredible is that the author could so accurately paint how people act in a very compassionate way
I'll have to remember this comment
Waah I'm so happy Skip and Loafer is on the list!!! It's sooo great, indeed the way each character is painted is very beautiful!!
If you want to read real and relatable read books not fantasy books 😂😂😂
I AGREE. their grasp of human emotions and behavior is astonishing... everyone feels like a real person it's lowkey terrifying
I like MaoMao and Frieren because they arent trying to make women who act like men. But instead strong well written women.
EXACTLY! Let your strong women enjoy being women. 😭
Unless they state theu are a tomboy or that they want to be like men then they don't act like men.
I see people use this for characters that they don't think a feminine enough when in real life a lot of women would be basically acting like men regardless of how they see it
Mao Mao acts like a guy to me. Not a masculine guy but a dweeb.
2:38 If Bocchi is standard for competency, then almost all power fantasy genre would have no chance, because portraying "realism" in fiction is already hard and limited and requires REAL person's skills, so "realism" is a requirement to be attached to characters? 🤔
No.
I was sold on Apothecary Diaries from the beginning, but what REALLY stood out to me is how the show handles its audience and medical care.
The moment in which Maomao does CPR on a man stood out to me. Because she handled the situation in all seriousness, did the proper method and acted exhausted afterwards. It's the first time I've seen CPR handled like that. Usually the character is flustered or embarassed about doing it, in some cases even saying "aaah...a kiss!" but this wasn't the case here. It wasn't used as a plot device to make the leads kiss. VERY refreshing to me.
Each time Maomao took on the role of a nursing too, like nursing the concubine back to health after the powderpoisoning.
Especially as a nurse in training, I was extremely appreciative of her competence and how those things were handled. They were correct and actually well done.
I REAAALLY don’t get the “ahh! Kiss!” Trope for CPR lol like yes when you think about doing it when it’s not actually happening it feels awkward but bro who in their right mind would see someone that’s literally lifeless and think “b-b-but we’ll kiss!!” Instead of “oh crap I need to save this person rn”
@@hiimluna2069 Exactly! Like come on, seconds count in case of initiating CPR, there's really no time fot that. You can be awkward afterwards, if you REALLY want to be.
we have those cpr training dummies at my hospital and you're right, definitely tiring. On the floor it wasn't too bad but on a table, oh dear god I was tired in less than a minute.
Also the little bit with her father afterwards giving here the "what if" with the charcoal, to help her understand what could've gone wrong if her assumption was incorrect.
True
I love Mao Mao so much. To see such a compelling character excel in a world where she’d naturally be in the bottom of the barrel (and she is in the beginning of the show) due to her gender to finally seeing her shine while being competent is so much fun.
Watching Frieren and The Apothecary Diaries airing together at 24 and 28 episodes is like watching the Halley's Comet pass by close to Earth's orbit and never come back again for a lifetime. Just like how magically rare and beautifully long that anime season was. 🥺
Yup l'm still revolving around them re-watching it
@@HabenaChoudhury I re-watched them too about ten times now since early this year because I couldn't find myself watching another anime for months just not to tarnish the memory of how good they are. 🥺
Fr till this day that season remains my fav I hope they air again at the same time , that was the best time of my life
I remember an episode in Frieren where she talks about how elves are going extinct because they don't reproduce much, then sometime later she enters a shack only to find a very handsome, very muscular and very shirtless HUNK of an elf.
A bunch of alarm bells sounded in my head, I thought "Oh no, she's gonna blush, scream 'KYAAAA HENTAI' and slap him in the face, isn't she?'. But nope, she was like "Sorry, I didn't know it was occupied", and the elf dude was like "Oh, by all means come in! Just help me lit the fire". And there was no sexual tension, no blushing, no "will they wont they" through the whole episode. They just waited out the winter in the shack, like normal adults would.
It was this moment that sold Frieren to me. Sure, it had great animation, beautiful art and fantasy worldbuilding, but we have lots of those already, its nothing new. But an anime where a female character acts... normal? Reasonable, even?? Without following overdone anime female tropes??? B*tch, count me in!
Frieren's always been a nonchalant character so i wasn't even worried when I saw that scene 😤 girlie's just gonna brush it off like it's a normal tuesday and we love her for that skjskdjsj
She’s just too old to care
Is it normal tho? Rooming with a random dude. For the whole winter?
@@cocoabean6010 Not out of the question in a survival situation. Frieren may be powerful, but the snow and ice can frostbite any flesh. Sometimes if you travel through dangerous territory, you just gotta do what you gotta do
@cocoabean6010 it was part of survival. And even if the dude tries to do anything, Frieren had probably already thought of several ways to defuse the situation from a simple escape, to restraining, to possibly murder. She's not stupid. The guy's not stupid. It's just survival.
THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD VIDEO!! and thank you so much for the shout out 😂
Collab when ?
I think my personal favorite female led anime is actually Ascendance of a Bookworm. Myne is one of my favorite female leads, entirely because she's the more relatable nerdy goofball of a goblin. While being very distinctly herself. Nobody could be her but herself. Both because of her flaws and her strengths are uniquely hers.
She's like Maomao in that she's so overwhelming obsessed over her favorite thing, books. That it blinds her survival instincts to the extremes at times. But at the same time, it's not used for laughs, it's used to showcase her childish nature is still there even though she was previously a college aged woman before getting stuck in her new body.
At the same time she's extremely competent in all things books and learning. She came from our world and had a full college education and was working to become a librarian.
But ironically some of the first bits of competency she shows are actually not from that, but rather, the small things she took for granted like learning how to make her own hair soap with her mom because her mom wanted to bond with her. and now she's sharing that with this new world.
Speaking of detective like anime (in the video), it reminded me of Kotoko as well, from Kyokou Suiri. Though, technically, that anime has dual protags (male & female), well they are a couple, but still. I like her quite a lot, too.
agree Rozemyne also my favorite female MC
Dude, I love ascendance of a bookworm! The author of the light novel thought out so many details of every character and aspect of the world they created. Truly a masterpiece
I was just going to write about Myne but saw this and you've said it way better than I would have
Myne is my favorite character of all time since I've watched the anime but I recently finished the light novel and it portrays her character in a way that's unlike any other
It fully uses the medium of novels and we see every thing from her perspective
Her thoughts feelings
I've cried watching and reading ascendance of a bookworm more than any other thing
It is my favorite series ever and I hope more people talk about it
@@Anas-oo4ro honestly I have to thank trash tier waifu here on TH-cam for doing gods work. If it wasn't for him doing his deep dive videos I would have never dived into the LNs, and would have missed so much. And if you haven't see his deep dive content. Even having read it yourself his content is fucking amazing.
The MCU could learn some things from anime about writing female leads. All of western media could, actually.
The MCU could learn a few things from High School level Creative Writing Courses.
pls no anime is the worst place to learn how to write anything
@@scottallen4569the mcu could learn from a middle schoolers fantasy
@@Luigimaestro the mcu could take notes about compelling character arcs from "a very hungry caterpillar"
@@cobyedwards2693the mcu could learn from the alphabet song
We were spoiled as hell with Frieren on Friday and MaoMao on Saturday for 20+ straight weeks.
There's also Sawako Kuronuma from Kimi ni Todoke. Her character type's trope suggests helplessness in need of saving, but she was perfectly fine and capable albeit completely isolated and alone. While it took Kazahaya to draw her out, she rose up to the challenge and faced her weaknesses out of her own will. She looks helpless, but she's a heroine.
seconding sawako, she has great development onward that really made me love the show/manga.
Really awesome
Idk, I know I’m definitely in a huge minority when it comes to with that show, but honestly there were just too many times I found both the female lead and male protagonist to just be unbearable. I just feel like there were way too many moments and scenes where I’m just face palming and thinking to myself ffs to both of them that even though I know like it’s irrational of me to sort of hate, and like I get that that’s just apart of the character development it just made me associate the show more with feeling frustrated I guess.
True and she was gold in her era. I really love her m ;-;
Except she eventually gave in to Kazehaya's sexual advances because she saw how much he wants it. It was consensual, true, but they did it for different reasons. In the end, she did it to make him happy. Trash ending for what was once my Top 1 anime of all time.
The thing about Frieren that set it above most to me is its theme.
Regrets and making amends to put it simply. As a man in his 40s I think that some of Freieren is somewhat lost on young anime fans. As you kind of need a certain level of life experience to understand some character motivations.
It is also beautifully animated.
As I get older I lean more towards stories that I would have called ‘boring talking episodes’ as a young lad. But now I enjoy the time spent filling out a world and exploring characters as much as the flashy set pieces.
Anyway good video.
Frieren is literally just a Shonen with a budget, and that's what attracted you to it.
I’m also in my forties, and I too was caught up in Frieren’s themes of regret, loss, and time passing. There were moments I felt anxious for what Frieren might miss because she simply didn’t understand how fast time moves for humans.
We are truly in the golden age of anime, fullstop. We are constantly getting new and continued shows that blow my mind in quality, writing, animation, and CARE. Some days I watch an episode and wish I could send a big thank you card to the entire staff that worked on it simply because they have all had such a profound impact on me through their art...
AKATSUKI NO YONA. The manga is majestic and the definition of growth when it comes to a female lead.
You know these people don't care for anything outside of Shonen and Seinen
@queenlolo1384 I'm not commenting for those people. I'm commenting for those who are willing to be curious. There's more preference diversity among anime fans than you think.
@strangeturtle5947 Amongst female anime fans, yes. Amongst men, no.
@queenlolo1384 Oh boy. You gotta talk to more people.
@@strangeturtle5947 Men statistically don't watch anything other than Seinen or Shonen.
If you're mad at facts, then tell men to stop being so closed minded.
Most of these series are also written by women also, which can explain why they're so good!
Freiren and Bocchi were written by dudes and so was stuff like Kaguya. Implying that women know how to write female characters well solely cause their gender is laughable when you consider 2000s era problematic Shoujo(with SA and Abuse of girls) and stuff like Twilight and Fifty shades of Grey.
@@korotoumousamassi1421
I would like to correct the first part of your statement. Frieren and Bocchi were both written by female authors, with only the anime adaptation of Frieren being written by a male. Though they both share the same director Keiichirō Saitō.
It is true that many details were added in both anime's adaptions. So it would be better to say that they were written by talented individuals, and not people of a specific genre. So i kind of agree with you on your second part by saying that it is not the genre of a person that makes a good writer.
@@Yuyukobeat Correction, the illustrator for Frieren is a woman, the author's gender isnt revealed yet.
And yes, the gender doesn't determine how they write good female characters. Though as a guy, i don't know if girls relate more with a female mangaka or nah. I do think the trashy shoujos really tickle their funny bones though, just the right amount of delulu for the love interests i guess.
@@Anonymous-td9fl I alway thought Frieren's author is a female. But from a quick google search, pretty sure the author of Frieren is male. He/She used to be assistant of "The World God Only Knows" which I think is a big hint. Maybe that why frieren had large male audience.
@@tawan6921 the name is pretty masculine ngl. Also, correction to my own statement-frieren illustrator isnt confirmed to be female.
I wish men consumed more shoujo media :c
the golden age of female protagonists have always been here, there's plenty of it in shoujo/josei...
Pains me that men don’t even bother looking at shoujo. 🙃
Just a guess but it could be because shoujo/josei are specifically targeted towards a female demographic? Lol. Also like how shonen/seinen is filled with poorly written female characters shoujo/josei is filled with poorly written male characters, so that's probably off putting as well.
@@yes-gs2rd most of the poorly written characters are shounen, there's less seinen than you think there is. Seinen doesn't refer to mature content, it refers to mature stories, typically with an adult lead.
@@Ghorda9 I know what seinen is yeah.
@@Ghorda9 Also that's not how I would describe seinen at all but anyways.
I think that the introduction of streaming as a model in the anime industry has really pushed them to actively pursue works which might've been shelved a decade ago as risky investments when much of their profits were from Blu-Ray sales. That someone like Keiichiro Saito can go to a Madhouse or CloverWorks and propose adapting a female-led off-beat manga like Bocchi or Frieren and succeed I think is in part because these studios believe they'll likely find a place for it on a content-hungry streaming platform.
It isn't just Bocchi, Frieren, or Maomao either. Fuko from Undead Unluck, Ushio from Summer Time Render, the cast in Girls Band Cry, there's so many current shows with female main characters who carry the show or drive the story, and yet still don't get as much attention when they're in shoujo or josei
Not sure I agree with this totally. Most of these anime including the comment above mine were all adapted from at worst semi-successful manga. There's less anime originals being released today then there was a decade ago so if anything they're taking less risks. I mean a show about cute girls in a band doing cute things isn't exactly an original or hard idea to pitch. I'm sure the immediate profits they can get from streaming platforms play a part in choosing what shows get the green light but as far risk taking goes? Eh.. it really don't look much different to a decade ago. To be honest it's similar as far as female-led shows or shows with female deuteragonists go, it's honestly not that different to a decade ago. I do think it's better though.
@@yes-gs2rd the adaptations slowed the pacing down giving more attention to details while also avoiding fillers. i don't know if that was a thing back then.
I would disagree. So much Shoujo and Josei is overlooked.
It's like one of those writer's lists of how to make a good character:
1) competent
2) have compelling flaws
3) draws you in when watching (Darth Vader, and also Ellen Ripley)
4) easy to root for
5) gender informs the writing, but does not direct it
Almost like good character writing is good character writing, regardless of gender.
Also men get more backlash with writing bad female characters because of the… history of humanity. Like you can’t assign women as subhuman in your culture for a thousand years, and expect to get praise when you write the stereotypes that were used as a justification for human rights violations.
My favourite female protagonist will probably always be Kumiko from Sound Euphonium. There’s a perfect balance between her competency & her flaws, she’s deeply charming right off the bat, she’s so easy to route for to the point where it’s infectious, and while definitely not DEFINED by her gender given the nature of the story, she still feels like a distinctly female character.
I’ve just never seen a more compelling example of a protagonist driving the narrative. She has such a great arc & affects those around her in such an interesting way. An incredible protagonist in every way. Also all the “Kumiko Noises” are so funny to me.
I went through all the comments to see if anyone mentioned Sound Euphonium or Kumiko. She’s definitely one of my favourites too!
What's interesting to is that for most of the show, she is very passive and not the driving force of the series. The final season is all about her finally becoming that force for not just the story, but herself. Such a great series!
Happy that somebody mentioned kumiko! Shes so well written protagonist, and i love how human and flawed she was. How realistically were her problems held. Shes definitely one of my favourites!
I was looking for this comment. Her and Violet Evergarden are probably the most well-written and have the best character development among all female mc's in the past 10 years.
Her character development from S1-S3 was a thing of beauty.
0:55 Or it's not about the number of shows but rather the quality of writing
“Only one..” THE number one has a female lead protag that’s AWESOME!!
I've been a fan of Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the shell for years.
We remember the Major! 🦾
We've been getting great leads for decades, I agree.
I like Maomao slightly more than Frieren.
For the shows themselves it's vice versa, but again, I like one slightly more than the other.
They're my fav
Yeah, I would say Frieren is more subtle character.
In defense of Apothecary Diary's Mysteries having little depth...
...
Actually, I'm not going to defend them at all.
The Medical Mystery aspect of the story is actually somewhat misleading. As someone who's been reading the translated novels, the actual mysteries are actually not very important, in my opinion. It's not what you remember when coming away from the stories anyway. Oh no, the seaweed is poisonous! Not actually as important as to why the brother did it.
The core and beating heart of Apothecary Diaries is actually the complexities of relationships and society. The mystery of the incident is not as important as the emotions and motivations of the stories and characters.
What's important isn't that the mystery ghost lady is actually a consort's scheme. What's important is why she did it. The most important part of that episode is her backstory, the tragedy of her situation, her and her lover's quiet determination and strength, and their heartfelt conclusion.
Rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae of a compelling mystery and trying to solve the puzzle box, The Apothecary Diaries use easy to understand and easily explained mysteries as a vehicle to deliver the stories that matter.
My favorite aspect of The Apothecary Diaries is its core message when you drill down deep enough: That even in an oppressive society full of oppressive class/gender divides and horrible circumstances, you will find kindness and love everywhere. Sometimes this kindness will cause people to do horrible things (like in Foumin's case) but the motivation is love. People are not as hopeless as Maomao's cynical worldview would believe. These can come in big and little ways. Like when government officials look the other way because they don't want to harm an innocent life. Or when Jinshi initiates a coverup to protect the innocent from "Execution of all family related to the criminal". Maomao herself cannot help herself when she sees people in need.
The Apothecary Diaries is so compelling because it's a weirdly accurate reflection of the real world even though it's set in a completely different society with different surface values from ours. It's as cynical as it is optimistic.
Anyways, lovely video essay as always. I love it when a pey video drops!
This! The beautiful thing about apothecary diaries is that it shows the complexity of human nature, especially the stories of women. The basis of the whole story either being in a brothel or the concubine’s palace was a brilliant place to showcase the stories of women who are usually dug away in favor of the male counterparts.
Take the ghost dancing one for example. In most of their shows, the story would be about how a young man is fighting his way up the ranks of the military so he can save his lover from the concubine palace. You will be experiencing and feeling his emotions and only see her as the reward at the end. But in apothecary diaries, she is the focus of the story, and it gives the woman’s perspective. Something that lots of popular media lacks.
You are right have been reading them as well, but as a chemist, I appreciate that the science mentioned is accurate so far haha but the focus is not so much the how though I like that they are thorough at explaining the process bc you learn something new but it always has to deal with the why. Why are people complex? Another that focuses more on the why is the Raven of the inner palace. But that one has more fantasy in the effect.
💯 agree. If I'd tag a genre on The Apothecary Diaries, it would have to be a palace-fighting drama, not a medical mystery series. As someone who has watched a sht ton of both genres, it is the social commentary/ethical conundrums that matter, less the particulars of what plant or powder.
I agree with you, however I will defend the mystery aspect of Apothecary Diaries BECAUSE while individual mysteries are not particularly deep, the series is good at reminding the audience that each individual mystery adds up to a larger whole. Even if a single chapter/episode's conflict is resolved relatively quickly, the series is still giving us info about the world and characters that's relevant to the larger mystery at play and the overall political situation. Episode 19 is a good example, where she realizes that the seemingly isolated/insignificant situations from the previous 5-6 episodes actually WERE all connected.
@@sonlen796 TRUE the way all the incidents were connected was genuinely so fun to see unfold.
Ascendance of a bookworm is one of my favorite animes. While it might connect more with women, the characters and world are so well written and fun to watch and read about that I just love it. It also feels calming. Shows made for men tend to either come off strong, deep, or action packed and I generally like it that way. But getting a story where my mind feels relaxed and I can just take in the characters and the world around them feels refreshing. I guess even men need a bit of feminin feel to help us calm our minds.
I agree. I think people whether they are male or female should experience/appreciate the cool aspects of the opposite gender. People shouldn’t be limited to only like things specific to a certain gender
If there is any one anime that I would like to point out with some of the strongest female lead(s) that I would seriously recommend anybody that is a fan of the music genre as a whole to watch, that would be Hibike! Euphonium.
At the start of the series, the protagonist is (intentionally) not very likeable. She doesn't feel like a character who would be a protagonist. She's very flawed an indecisive and always very distant from everything. As you follow her journey throughout the story, you watch her change and become a better person and by the end of it, you're left with some of the most human feeling characters in a series.
This is a show I'd recommend to anybody that's a fan of music anime and especially to Pey after seeing his top 10 favorite series, it really feels like a show you'd enjoy.
best anime
So, part of what is going on with Maomao, is that the show is a romance dressed up as a detective series. Even if the mysteries are not super solid, they are still fun.
As for stakes... Frieren is based around the most fragile of stakes. Emotion.
you baited me into watching "skip and loafer" and "bocchi the rock"
They are both awesome really.
Best baiting that can happen ngl
Haven't watched Skip and Loafer myself but likely going to... and Bocchi the rock is amazing!
same and now skip and loafer is one of my favourite pieces of fiction oat (both the anime and the manga)
8:31 I can't not hear her singing "Now this hoard of treasure is Miiiiine!"
Frieren just brings peace to our mind. No need for complex overpowered character, it shows normality. A young girl exploring the world, finding the meaning of love and being silly.
I can say "she's not like other girl" confidently. She is not overly smart, she falls for simple treasure box. She needs assistance but does not mean she can't live alone. She is overpowered but that does not mean she can just use magic go do anything easily( in the beach cleaning ep it took like 1month to clean it). She was yet to lean about love but could knock out a very strong hero with a chu~~
its so annoying when writers think that a good "strong female lead" is always manly or something and just end up being tomboys, it just says even more about how female characters are portrayed in anime.
When characters are written like you could actually meet them in real life and have a conversation with them it's really good. When characters are written with just tropes and have no substance you don't get much.
These are four of my favorite shows from the last few years, it’s weird to see all of them talked about in one place lol.
I really appreciate how succinct and thoughtful your scripts are. Thank you for the video!
The reason there are too few female protagonists in anime is actually the author, no the audience. The audience enjoys anime with both genders as protagonist but it is hard to write a good character of opposite character when you will mostly be telling the story from their perspective.
This doesn't make sense to me since I've seen female authors nail male protagonists. Take full metal alchemist. The author is a woman but she does an excellent job with both her male and female characters.
@@StarlessTerrace I'd sooner place my wager that the decrease in control via editors and companies helped the most.
(I'mma use "creators" instead of author's 'cause the visual aspect is also affected)
Japan is still chill wherein only local sales matter (hence ~moe~ is guaranteed to pay) and digital sometimes still doesn't count even when local, but for years now, there's been stable alt means for creators to get money and followers without them. And they don't even have to make it a fulltime career to do so. This makes it even more important when they're still growing or already have more than enough to make an impact, rather than them trying to appeal to company reps just for the chance to face being stonewalled or career failure at every turn (or even blacklisted if they refuse to bend). Like, yeah, it added to the oversaturation of inadequate wannabe creators who only improve on quantity count, but the talented/promising ones are no longer entirely lost.
And with creators less likely disincentivized at every level that it's "impossible" to do as they please, they're also forming negotiation points and/or connections as they progress. Audience sometimes fails to recognize gems every time they manage to debut, hence the long-known history of editors/companies ruining series to try to make it palpable or simply get it canceled. That's normal everywhere. But if these gems are able to be created and only need a polishing for a broader audience when the chance arrives? That only adds a new breath of life in the world of mainstream that otherwise ignored its merits.
@@StarlessTerraceI think from a writing standpoint it's because the authors approached the characters not as a how would a guy/girl approach this situation, but rather how would a person with this personality approach the situation. Things like Frieren, FMA, etc you could replace the lead with the opposite gender and for a lot of the writing it would not matter.
Obviously it's going to put an immediate thought of discomfort in anyone's mind since the character designs are so iconic, how could it possibly work the other way, but looking at dialogue and situation handling, etc it was never their anatomy running the show it was their personality.
Most manga writers are women
Your videos have really become a highlight of my weeks! Always so thoughtful and positive!
Last time I was this early, Flammel was still alive
Last time I was this early, Kraft was still a warrior
Grandpa?
@@Namelessducky yes, child.
I'm hooked on the Apothecary weekly/monthly manga update. I just love everything about the story telling, the characters, and especially when the story unfolds and everything becomes unexpected more interesting and captivating and Maomao's uninterested towards Jinshi😅 , and every character plays an important roles and how the story is based on traditional Chinese medicine, l just love more and more, ldk how many times l re-watch all the episodes 😂 and l'm waiting for season 2 can't wait.
I've seen the inyaku video, too, I think the TH-cam algorithm had connected your channels before you realized it. But her video is also very good, it's cool that you mentioned it and linked it!
@pey talks anime, I hope you read this. Your analysis is so thoughtful, I cant believe you don’t have more subs. Keep it up!! Golden content
FMAB is an old-ish anime but I felt like it also had pretty amazing female characters that shined despite not being the center of attention. I love Frieren and MaoMao too...
Psycho pass, Yona of the dawn, Promised Neverland, Serial experiments, Black Lagoon also has great MC
I think one reason for a sudden surge of great female protagonist is a shift of storytelling. While eastern media has always been focusing more on their characters conflict rather than environmental conflict compared to western counterpart, I feel like recently stories has started to focus more on internal conflict rather than external. This gives us more time to understand each of the protagonist (and in frieren's case, most characters) better. It is less about protagonist understanding enemies (Fullmetal Alchemist) and more protagonist understanding themself (Bocchi the rock). While the presence of antagonist is still a thing, it's not as highlighted.
Two of my favorite recent anime other than one mentioned in the video are Mushoku Tensei and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer. Both of these anime are adventurer anime set in fantasy world and both protagonists are decently strong and wants to get stronger. Sounds like a typical shounen, except that the 'boss' battle isn't exactly monster but really is themself. Especially for Unwanted Undead Adventurer. The anime itself at a glance looks like a souls game with edgy protagonist and giant boss battles. But the final episode of S1 doesn't feature this. It brings up 'why' the protagonist wants to be an adventurer in the first place. This really brings everything in the story a proper closure as it's the direct opposite of how he started the story. This anime brings up the talk of trauma and ptsd without being depressing but still properly respecting it.
Without leaning too much on stereotypes, females have always been the ones that is said to be stronger emotionally. This, I think makes it easier for the author to address internal problems. Even the two shows I mentioned had great female characters supporting the main male protagonist in understanding themself.
p.s. hot take but, retroactively thinking many of the past Main characters, male or female, are not exactly great in the first place. They're just popular. Characterization has really improved overall in recent years.
In terms of protagonists, Frieren and Asa/Yoru clear for me. 10/10, would watch and read again
Yup
I think this is your strongest video ever. Thank you for this great work
i feel like it's because the characters are a reflection of how humans actually feel and behave. We natrually gravitate towards something that feels familiar to us, or people and places that share the same feeling. We want to relate and to be seen. So when we see a person or character that strikes us as a good character, it's because the character shares the same traits as we do. It doesn't mean that we need to share the same backstory, it's also the behaviors and decisions or hesitations they make that feel refreshing.
I also think its even more refreshing in mainstream media where a lot of characters are not overreacting, can be contradicting because we are too, and have charisma but in their own way. It's also interesting to see a character who is quiet and introverted but not where they just become a tsundere and unrealistic person
It's a bs that manga / anime has "predominantly male audience". Even shounen that is dedicated to boys ages 12 - 18 is no longer reflective of its own demographic as half of the people reading and watching shounen are women. Same for any other manga / anime targeted at specific group. People who say this argument are most probably westerners who have no idea that manga and anime have demographics in the first place.
Anyway, I feel like before manga and anime were heavily limited due to weird ideas of editors, especially those that get serialized via Shounen Jump. Female characters were rarely allowed there to be well-rounded and often felt like afterthoughts, like one dimensional cardboard figurine. Good writing in regard to women could be only expected from mangaka who themselves were women like Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist). Ofc it's still true for modern manga and anime (like Frieren), but I feel like more male mankaga finally learned how to write female characters as people.
And let's not forget about other manga magazines and manga directed at different demographics. Shoujo and Josei are also evolving albeit I can't really compare due to my lack of insight. But it'd be foolish to assume that shoujo and josei didn't change with time. Though it's definitely true that shounen manga needed the most in regard to maturing and still need a lot of work, but with authors who care I can see it happen very quickly.
Fun fact: Bersek and Jojo's bizarre adventure has shoujo as its inspiration! With jojo's author actually wanting a girl protagonist!
@@iasked9392 Love it. I knew of Berserk. Of JoJo i only knew that Araki used Vogue covers when he drew the poses for his characters (and that's why all men in JoJo are so homoerotic because they pose as women from Vogue covers). Oh and I also remember that entire sports anime genre is based on one very sapphic tennis manga that was most probably shoujo (hence why all sports anime are by default gay).
Just to point, what I felt, what I loved about Skip and Loafer, I felt it too in *Kimi no Todoke*
I call these series "sisters in souls" for the fun because they are pure and passionate about what they talk and represent. I'm anime only in Skip so I'll see if the series set appart or not but yeah, I rank these two equally in my top 10 of all time too (expect I have another classement for movies animes, for me it's not the same media while being obviously the same but you know).
And to quote you, I had a shift when watching these two series too. A comprehension that slice of life _is good_ even *excellent* and when your mood is there, that can be the most rewarding genre to watch :3
When anime YTber start quoting Brandon Sanderson you know shit is about to be done right
nana and nana are both great leads also! i loved both of them and found myself so immersed in all rhe drama and the little stuff that happened to them
It can be summarized as make a character who is capable of many things, chasing a goal, give relatable quirks, but struggling with personal flaws . . . who just happens to be female.
- Bocchi has an ambition to gain recognition as a guitarist but ironically made an obstacle out of her character is her struggle with social anxiety, but made friends along the way.
- Maomao's intelligence is finally recognized by those of positions of power, solved many mysteries, created many connections, despite being oppressed by the hierarchical world around her for being born of the peasant class.
- Frieren as the best medium for the audience's lens to understand how immortality numbed her to feel relationships of anyone with a limited lifespan than her, is changing herself to be meaningful around people.
What these three have in common is their own unique personalities, abilities, and struggles versus themselves to overcome, creating an interesting universal storytelling theme that is relatable by everyone and appreciated even by the male fandom as characters to aspire to. Not as the next waifu material, and are not lecturing anybody centering on the fact that they are female like Hollywood does with its shitty movies today.
I really like the way you bring up the 5 pillars but 4 characters and get us wondering followed not long after by explaining where you got the idea from. Keeping us hyped per se and getting us a little more interested in the final reveal. Idk why but that stood out to me.
Yooo, that screen wipe at the beginning was clean. Anyway, I love how you broke this down into these pillars. I've seen other videos on the topic and few are able to clearly explain what sets good characters apart. You've also made me curious enough to watch Skip and Loafer. I've been bouncing from anime to anime and struggling to latch onto anything. One of those was Apothecary Diaries which I'm glad you mentioned. The characters did seem great even though I haven't finished it, but, as you mentioned, the episodic mystery nature of it didn't suit me well. Vinland Saga I put up with for longer, but is also starting to feel like there isn't really a clear thread other than following the life of Thorfinn... but I'm getting side-tracked here.
This made me wonder how you feel about the females of more recent shounens. I think JJK has some really good ones, though they don't shine nearly as much as the ones you mentioned. Attack on Titan I'm a bit bitter about. The females in AoT get far more respect than in most shounens, but I also think that they weren't really able to be both deep and having leading roles except maybe Hange. And then My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer just make me sad with how they treat their female characters...
perfect moment to recommend akagami no shirayuki hime/ snow white with the red hair!!! its quite amazing imo especially the manga and it has a bery enjoyable female lead ❤️
Eh, Anime has always had great female leads. Some of my favourites include:
The Rose of Versailles
Akage no Anne
Aria Series
Chihayafuru
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex
Kino's Jouney (2003)
Apothecary Diaries
Monogatari Series
Frieren
Land of the Lustrous
Princess Tutu
Psycho Pass (Season 1)
Gunbuster
Fruits Basket
A Place Further Than the Universe
Nana
Onisame e...
86
Spice and Wolf
Hibike Euphonium
Twelve Kingdoms
Shinesekai Yori
Kemono no Souja Erin
Katanagatari
Kaguya Sama Love is War
Yona of the Dawn
Ya Boy Kongming!
Serei no Moribito
Black Lagoon
Ergo Proxy
Galaxy Express 999
Haibane Renmei
Heike Monogatari
Made in Abyss
Madoka Magica
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Honourable mention to Glass Mask which I've heard great things about but haven't seen yet
I don't entirely disagree, but I think you gotta stop and think about how popular most of the anime you've mentioned have been even at their peak. Some of the titles you mention are also questionable imo and/or have good females but still have them viewed from a deeply male perspective. For example, I love Motoko "Major" Kusanagi from GitS, but she's barely female or even human, which made for interesting philosophical exploration and an interesting character overall, but the extent of her femininity stops mostly with Batou's interest and her very mild teasing of secondary characters.
I thoroughly enjoyed Psycho Pass (season 1 only, very important lol), but I can't even remember the main character's name. She was fine and certainly female, but she's not particularly memorable. She's more like a very good instrument to a great plot.
So yes, we've always had great females in anime, but how many were great females as opposed to great characters and how good and popular were those anime in the grand scheme of things? That's without getting into how many were tastefully looked at versus plainly objectified, which people can never agree about...
@@OhmIsFutileI'd still put a lot of these up against Frieren or Mao Mao. Sure they aren't as mainstream but they are written just as well.
My list was definitely aimed at how good the anime were not necessarily the female protagonists themselves that's why Kusunagi and Akane are there despite not being the most rounded characters. But even then, I don't think there's anything inherently special about the female protagonists were getting today compared to the past
@@Ash_Wen-li That's fair. Part of my point is that some of the females are just good characters that happen to be female as opposed to good female characters... which is certainly a thin nuance but a nuance nonetheless.
@@OhmIsFutileYeah that's could be a whole discussion in and of itself which would be very interesting.
Just wanted to note, that Land of the Lustrous has no female leads. The gems have no gender (and it's kind of a crime that there's no second season yet. The manga gets so good). But nice list.
There's also Princess Yona from Yona of the Dawn. She is an incredibly strong character, who at first seems fragile, but soon (in order to survive) learns to lead and protect the people she loves. She faces many situations of life and death, of tension, of danger, and always faces it with her head held high. This manga started in 2012 and is still ongoing. It's very worth it. They also adapted a season (available on Crunchyroll)
I liked how it started but then it was just dropped like a typical "advertising for manga" so I wonder if it'll be continued at all.
This person doesn't care for Shoujo
I would also recommend fruit basket. It's a very well written anime with a female protagonist. It's light hearted, Funny and really delve down into different types of traumas which can make some of the characters easy to relate to ans understand.😊
I’m glad you did a video covering apothecary diaries 🙏
You should watch Spice & Wolf if you haven’t. Holo is genuinely my favorite character in any show and has all of these traits in spades.
I have watched the first 3 episodes of the Spice and Wolf remake. And it made me uncomfortable, the way her body was presented and all. Didnt find the MC and her too interesting. I want to give this show a true chance, but I gotta know why. Like what is it about the show that people praise so much?
@@artblob Just watch it and you'll see. One of the best character dynamics in all of Animanga. Moreover the fanservice you're talking about is only in the first few episodes
@@artblob genuinely, the relationship between Holo and Lawrence is one of the best slow burns. It’s a story full of hope, happiness, heartache, and healing. It’s similar to Frieren, in the sense that you aren’t able to understand or connect to the characters until you’ve watched a few episodes in. But when you do find that point of connection the characters become incredibly charming and lovable, and you can’t help but root for them even if you know things may not always turn out all right.
@@artblob yeah what they said, their dynamic is unrivaled in my opinion, and the nudity does not feel very sexual to me, just like naturalistic I guess hard to explain. Just watch it!
@@davidpotts7116 I actually liked Holo considerably less after reading the LN, to the point of dislike. It explains too much which make Holo unintentionally toxic and petty when I think the author's intention was to make her haughty and endearing. The anime and manga doesn't have this problem because they can't explore as deeply her thinking and motivations.
Maomao and Mitsumi are honestly amazing and unique characters with a unique and a amazing plot for them to follow...such wonderful stories
i've been very delightfully surprised on how many female protag that has been very well written so far, personally back then the only good example on a very well written female protag was Yona from yona of the dawn, from the weak willed princess that was shaking in fear of the betrayal to learning through grief and challenges never faces before, she learn to be able to stand for herself and the naivety in her princess day seem so far
There has always been well written protagonists... Y'all just only watch Shonen and Seinen...
You hit the mark with these 4. Blue eye samurai does this mold as well.
I always go into videos made by men on this subject ready to close the tab because I often disagree on what makes for a well-written female character and then I get mad, but I think this really hit the nail on the head! I'm not overly familiar with any of these examples besides Frieren (I watched one episode of the Apothecary Diaries but didn't really care for it so I haven't seen more), but I would say that the female characters I tend to like the most, be they protagonists or not, tend to check off these boxes. I think maybe the reason I disagree often is just a different opinion on what's "charming" sometimes, and the people who make me mad just don't realize the things they're talking about are actually subjective there...well, anyway, good video!
Man... I'm going to be so distraught when This running series ends.
It brings me so much joy hearing these well written and intellectual looks at such an amazing anime from someone who's voice is honestly so soothing.
Please keep up the great work!
I don't know if you like reading as much as you like watching anime, but in case you do; I think you'd really enjoy "Your Throne". It is a webtoon series who's protagonist i consider one of my favourite written female characters. She is very different from the characters shown in your video, in a sense that she wants all audience to perceive her as 'perfect' and she is always several steps ahead of the reader mentally. She has much less flaws sawn at the beginning of the series, but as the story progresses you are sort of excited to see her missteps.
I have to say I really enjoy your videos. Thank you for your hard work.
MaoMao and Frieren are our -heroes- heroines. Why are they not real 😭😭🤣
Yep we don't really care about character's gender. They just happen have a very good and interesting protagonist that happens to be a female. Wish some writers would understand this
Baby Steps and Skip&Loafer?? Wow, no one ever talks about these anime. Love them too especially Mitsumi!!
she and I in that one part, love the vids bro
no one is talking about emma. though people might see her as delusional optimistic, she carries her ideal into reality, she made her unrealistic plans workable. she sacrificed a lot for her family and people she loves. she went through huge betrayal all her life and still able to remain unchanged in her character and ideals. she's one of my favourite female protagonist of all time
I love this video - you honestly never miss with the insightful and positive commentary. Your analysis videos are a breath of fresh air when so much more often I see rants and "XYZ sucks and here's why".
Female protagonists are such an underused choice for writers - they can be so much more nuanced and thoughtfully written than they have historically been and it's great to see they're finally getting that. This video has successfully convinced me to watch Skip & Loafer finally, because I really want to fill that hole in my heart that so many other anime have left wanting.
Keep up the great work. Your videos are an instant click for me.
I will say a caviate for Apothecary Diaries is that the first season only covers the first two books, while I'm pretty sure in Japanese they're up to like, book 14. There's a lot more of the story left to be told that is slowly revealed over time as Maomao and Jinshi age and find themselves encountering different situations. She (and Jinshi) have a lot more character development left to go from where the first season.
Though I think it applies to other shows at well, TAD is just a notable example in that it's set up is fairly quick, but the plot is on the slower side as the world expands more and more
ALRIGHT FINE I'll rewatch all these shows again 😫🥰 I've watched several of your videos just now and I'm getting amped about Apothecary Diaries and especially Frieren
Violet Evergarden is by far my favorite female protagonist, hands down
Please watch more anime with female leads...
@ why? I did watch all those from this video. I just mentioned my favorite one.
@@nauvir2046 "I did watch all those from this video."
That's the point... All of those series are Seinen and Shonen. Neither of them are Josei or Shoujo.
@@queenlolo1384 so.. why don't you recommend some?
@@nauvir2046 Shoujo recs:
- Basara
- Yona of the Dawn
- Rose of Versailles
- Ooku
- Please Save My Earth
- Skip Beat
- Glass Mask
- Fruits Basket
- Nana
- Cardcaptor Sakura
- Sailor Moon
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Tomie
- Kageki Shoujo
- Sukeban Deka
- Oniisama E (Dear Brother)
- Life
- Queen's Quality
Josei recs:
- Paradise Kiss
- Chihayafuru
- Gokusen
- River's Edge
- Pink
- Helter Skelter
- Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai
I'm not as familiar with Josei, but I've started reading more. I'm just two years, I've read those Josei series, along with other Shoujo, Seinen, and Shonen series.
Awesome video as always thanks for sharing your thoughts, I have watched all the shows mentioned except skip and loafer, and I loved the shows because the characters were so good, I had no idea how much they all had in common and their differences, your video made me realize that I have just been consuming media without analyzing it, which is not a bad thing, but for me this is an eye opener. Gotta add skip and loafer to my watch list. Thanks for the video
Damn how I've resonated with you at @9:12 . I love battle shonnens like any other, but I could never put in my top list AoT HxH or One Piece on top of let's say Apothecary Diaries or Frieren.
Frieren is literally a Shonen
Great video. YA LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY!!!
Lets go new frieren reminder just dropped
This video is just slowly telling me to watch these animes again
I just realised that all of my top 3 fav animes have female protags - Yuru Camp, Violet Evergarden, Frieren
Please watch actual good anime with female protagonists
@ Like?
@@debangan Shoujo and Josei series for one. 🙃
@@queenlolo1384 As a male, I do not find such stories interesting.
@@debangan So you don't care about strong female characters? Yikes... No wonder you like overrated Frieren and trash Violet Evergarden. They aren't actually good characters...
So far. Apothecary diaries, and Sound! Euphonium. Are my TOP, nothing has been as good as these either. I LOVE both of these series!!
As a girl who doesn't like romance-y stuff you see in most shōjo/josei media, I've been actually interested in watching Frieren/Apothecary Diaries as of late.
Sorry if the next thing sounds bad because I'm not making this take with enough context, but if you asked me if I'd rather watch Nana or the other two anime I mentioned, I would choose Frieren/Mao Mao anytime
Good thing all Shoujo and Josei isn't romance...
I watched another one of your videos before this one, but this video got the subscribe lol I’m definitely a fan
Something to note, these traits are things ANY character should have, not just female characters.
I've always thought it's as easy or hard to write a female protagonist or character as it is a male one. You can usually write your character as neither and add in the gender later UNLESS the story being told is directly involved and affected by the gender of the character (like MaoMao).
I think the other three characters mentioned in this story could easily be males and work just as well from a purely writing perspective.
great video like always
Anime has had great female leads for a long time, especially if you look outside of shounen. Even the shows with male leads often have strong female supporting characters that might even outshine the protagonist.
I think your young age might be showing a bit here
Undead Unluck, Summer Time Render, Dandadan, Hell's Paradise, and anything from josei especially have fantastic FeMCs, and you don't hear people talk about them very much because of that male bias sadly
I don't think an argument is being made that great female characters didn't exist previously. It's that there is seemingly an increment of quantity and quality of great female leads in recent times, which is something I'd lean towards agreeing with. Particularly among the mainstream anime series.
@@maizeman90I'd still disagree with that statement aside from them just being more mainstream. The quality and quantity has always been there
I HATE romance stories so I didn't have high hopes on Frieren, also because I've felt disappointed watching animes that people call 'peak' or 'must watch' again and again. But Frieren and Dungeon Meshi were so well written and animated that I can't help but rewatch and read the manga because I love the characters so much. It's been a long while since I love and anime and the entirety of the cast, male or female. I haven't watched the Apothechary Diaries, I'm looking forward to once I have the time.
I love your videos, I've been eating them and leaving no crumbs for the past few weeks in a very delicate time of my life. I cry often watching them, which is something I love.
I just want to add to this something about skip and loafer. I've watched all four of these anime, frieren is one of my two favorite anime of all time. And while all four make my heart warm when I watch them, skip and loafer is just top of the list in that regard (altho, my other favorite anime wins: welcome do demon school, Iruma-kun). It's so well made and it shows all the strength of a good slice of life anime.
But there's something else I want to mention in a video that talks about gender. The first time mitsumi's aunt appears I thought "wait is this a trans woman?" and being a trans woman myself I thought " well, maybe it's just me looking for representation". But then the scene in the subway happens and by that moment I was convinced she was. And we finally get to see she's actually trans and not only that, but she's amazing, capable, human and loved. I cannot thank skip and loafer enough for that. In a media where trans people are usually the butt of the joke, they gave us a really compelling character. And it made me so happy.
The subway scene and way they handled mutsumi's aunt as a whole was outstanding. Just seemed like a masterclass in thought out character writing
3:00 watch "Hibike! Euphonium", it's a masterclass.
I believe art is a medium through which perspective is taught. This anime, on it’s surface is about a high-school band, and it’s story to achieve the gold medal at their national competition. However, it’s hard to describe how captivating this anime is. The animation is stunning, the sounds are beautiful, but most importantly, the relationships of the characters are so pure, that even when the frustration hurts, I can’t help but smile and shed a tear.
The directors and studio put a lot of thought into each character’s mental model, their development, the framing of the camera lens, and more. It’s something you’ll be able to instantly tell, because each scene, the characters’, and the story’s development, are so masterfully done, that it feels real in hindsight.
*the ending of S3 was perfect :3*
*kyoto animation is a masterclass studio ;0*
Watch Order:
S1 - 14eps
Movie 1 (just the ending for competition scene)
S2 - 13eps
Movie 2 (optional)
S3 - 13eps
Liz and the Blue Bird Movie (can watch after S2 or 3)
Totally agreed. It’s my favorite anime of all time but if we only compare it to other music anime nothing even comes close. And as you said it’s very hard to describe how captivating this anime is. 3 months after the ending and I don’t think I’m still over episode 12 lol.
@@mukhammedabusuveilim3468
I still tear up when I hear the oboe solo’s echoed descent in `liz and the blue bird.` That film to me is a masterpiece of a masterpiece, it really feels like everything has subtle meaning, and the emotion in finial ensemble scene was so poignant, it left me speechless. With God’s will, one day I will be in a position to properly show my appreciation to these films :3
While I don't disagree with much of this video, I will say that we should not (1) see trends in what could easily be coincidence, and (2) fall for recency bias. There was a time when we had Ghost in the Shell: SAC, and earlier when we had Evangelion, both of which had kickass female protagonists.
I love Skip and Loafer so much, it's such a comfort anime where all the main characters are interesting and actually communicate and learn to resolve their problems
strongly agree. love that show
I love both frieren and myne from asccendance of a bookworm.
Myne, Mafia Boss Myne, or Darth Myne? Ooooh, or the Mynechant?
I love them both!!! Such refreshing animes
Golden age of female lead was in the 90s most old isekai have female leads like miguc knight rayeatth and fushigi yugi
Have you ever seen Yona of the Dawn? It one of my favorite shows of all time. The manga started releasing in 2010, the anime in 2014. The anime adaptation only lasts one season, but it’s very faithful to the manga (which is still continuing strong as ever). Yona is such an amazing female protagonist. She starts as a weak, naive, helpless princess, but after her father is murdered and she’s forced to leave her castle, she decides she has to become stronger. The story follows Yona as she grows, matures and plots to take her throne and kingdom back from the one who overthrew her. There’s lots of side characters (male and female alike), who also feel like they have so much depth and personality to them. The worldbuilding and action are amazing too, and there’s lots of interesting political stuff going on later in the manga that’s just so fun to read. It’s such an amazing series, and I love it so much.
This person doesn't care for Shoujo, and you know that
I find it interesting how the modern female protagonist exists at the intersection between being built for consumption and subjectivity. It feels like there is a desire to present a subjectivity that people can latch onto, but does not assert itself so strongly as to undermine the "waifu" mode of consumption which dominates almost every sphere of anime production. This results in flaws that have to be tempered by overwhelming virtue and overwhelming appeal in other areas. Not that this hasn't kind of always been a major factor in how women were portrayed in anime, but there may have been times when it was more okay for them to have some appealing traits drowning in a litany of flaws, and still be considered empathetic and entertaining characters.
Edit: Like, I am glad we don't have many Rudeus Grayrats among female protagonists, but perhaps we could stand to appreciate slightly messier women in our fiction, esp. as main characters.
interesting and not talked about thing to bring up.
I am a woman, a while ago I read firepunch, in it is a female character that I loved because she's strange in many ways and reminded me of myself like I've never seen represented before (more extreme of course), her name is Togata, she has an obsession with movies, she's very nonchalant in an uncomfortable way, the way she behaves isn't necessarily associated with stereotypical female behavior but that wasn't brought up which I loved, she's just who she is at this point in the story.
However, I got sad at the end when she shows that there's this one thing she's not nonchalant about in an almost psychopathic way : She always wanted to be a man... It seemed out of character to me that she as a person would even care about something like her gender, she transcended gender in my mind until she's seen crying at the thought of never being the opposite gender and It made me wish that just because she had a deep interest and understanding of a discipline and behaved in a certain way, she still wouldn't be associated with maleness, I wanted her to exist as is but SHE'S SO COOL, SHE HAD TO WANT TO BE A DUDE AT THE END and that's not a horrible thing but I wish we had more "strange" female characters without them needing to be trans or a full on tomboy or associated with maleness. It feels like : girls can be THIS not THAT and if not, they have to be trans or something, a girl who has an autistic obsession with movies, well she'd rather be a boy, a girl needing to be strong in a story, well she's only written strong until overshadowed by a male character at some point without good reason. It's like false hope. It's like people thinking that girls with short hair have to be gay to make the choice to cut their own hair that short not because it's just the choice they made. a female character doesn't need to be attractive to be cool, attractiveness and s*x appeal is overated. I want more undeniably cool female leads without them having to be nice and pretty, I want more female L's or rudeuses and whatnot. Those have always been my favorite characters, the weirdos because they interest me not because I'd want to be friends with them in real life.
also the girl from heavenly delusion, I thought she was so cool and then we find out it's a boy in a girl's body.
Yeah, at this point I get my fill of messy female protagonists mostly from manhwa like Villains Are Destined to Die or Your Throne
I don't know what analysis did you do for your essay, because my perception till this point is that there are more female protagonist in anime than anywhere else, so here's the thing, categorize by demographics, if you're only looking at shonen, then you'll get a majority of male protagonists, but also almost everything is action, go to shoujo or seinen and there's a vast majority of female lead and a broader genre variety
To be honest, I love watching female lead protagonists/side characters written decently because it makes me feel human. Most of the female characters I've watched that are poorly written always made me feel dehumanized. Its like they always pay attention to the gender, sexualise them, and make them overly objectified or just not valuable to the story, and that's just why it's so dehumanizing. Not only this won't effect me, but it effects kids mostly and gives the idea that female characters aren't more valuable than males. This will even lead to little girls objectifying themselves too, and that's why we need more well-written humanized characters to change that mindset.
word for word
Same. Although I'm not surely how recently you've gotten into anime, there's a lot of amazing female led anime from a decade or two ago like Akatsuki no Yona or Princess Tutu that aren't as well known to more recent fans, which is a shame. Two decades ago my refuge from sexualisation and fan service was shojo and josei, but unfortunately we've been getting a lot less of those adapted recently
@@kjarakravik4837 oh rights its just those sort of animes gets praised and glazed over a lot like arent they tired of gooner animes lol
I love these amazing videos you are putting out. I was really interested in seeing more of your videos and when I look in the description box i saw you are Pey the Musician! From the Atrioc lore. I see that you have found your own niche as well. I love the content and I look forward to more videos like these.
Only Ogs remember the early thumbnail of this video.
While it definitely had it’s problems, the female characters in my first ever manga, Inuyasha are still some of my favourites. Kagome, who is def the protagonist in spite of the title, feels like a genuinely relatable, real teenage girl. Strong ≠ Good character. I like characters that are unapologetically women, they can be insecure, girly, emotional.. hell, they can have crushes!!?. Real women do too and achieving things despite having actual flaws and challenges is just much better than being overpowered and perfect