People Like Me Ruin Feminism

The Great Feminist Anime and Manga Review: Moretsu Pirates

Despite it’s title, Moretsu Pirates or Bodacious Space Pirates is relatively restrained in its fanservice and turned out to be a very feminist friendly as well as queer friendly show (canon queer romance!) and a fun watch to boot.

The anime tells the story of Marika Kato, who lives on a planet called “Sea of the Morningstar” in a distant future where space travel is commonplace. Marika is an enthusiastic member of her school’s yacht club, a club dedicated to piloting space crafts. She is suddenly approached with a surprise- turns out both her parents were space pirates sanctioned by the government, and with the death of her father (who she knew nothing about), she set to be the next space pirate captain. With a mysterious girl named Chiaki in tow, Marika has to figure out if space piracy is in the stars for her.

This show is a fun little romp that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It embraces it’s ridiculous premise and just does whatever it wants. Don’t expect it to be heavy on the action- it’s more of a laid back slice of life anime that happens to be about space piracy. The battles that happens are battles of wits and determination, not epic brawls. Often things are just thrown in there to be cool, or fun, or funny.

The great thing about the show is it’s focused on the journeys of a variety of powerful, determined, active and self possessed female characters- there’s a heavy theme of female relationships and female legacy going through it. Marika is a good lead- she’s smart and confident, but like the show she doesn’t really take herself too seriously and clearly has fun with what she does. It’s also nice to see a lady to gets by mainly on wit, leadership and tactical skills, which is what Marika’s all about. She bounces well off the other characters, especially her friend Chiaki, who tries and fails to keep up a cold, distant front in the face of Marika’s all-embracing enthusiasm. Marika also actively strives to be able to stand beside her mother and is trying to figure out who she is in the face of that, so there’s an element of mother-daughter legacy going on here. Despite the fact she’s taking over for her father, she never met him and so doesn’t seem terribly curious in learning about him, despite people constantly comparing them. 

Marika has a lot of strong relationships with several other woman, and it’s really entirely women who drive everything in this series. Marika leads a band of high school girls to kick ass and take names as pirates in the stars. The story is largely about women helping other women forge their paths in life and discover themselves and be powerful and that’s great.

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About the feminist anime and manga reviews

So I want to clarify a few things- that dude isn’t really worth any more of my energy, but it did make me realize there are a few general things about this project I’m doing people may not be aware of.

This project originated because when I was into superhero comics, there were a lot of resources devoted to promoting girl-positive, feminist friendly comics. Because those were hella rare. However, while looking on google for the fun, I could not easily find such resources like that for anime and manga.  The closest I could find was a blog that occasionally did reviews, and it sort of roundly dismissed the magical girl genre so. 

I wanted to make a resource for people like me. Because I really like girls. This is apart from being a feminist- I just love well done female characters because I freaking love ladies. Since age 3, I’ve loved girls and looked for good female characters. I always related to the female characters more. I know not every girl is like this, but that’s always been how it was for me. 

You can turn your head and run into some media about a bunch of dudes doing the same old thing. But a story with a well written, huge variety of female characters? A story that focuses on women? That’s different. That’s not standard. It’s not the same old same old. And I want people like me, who really like women and want to see more stories focusing on them, to find those stories.

I also admired the reviews done by feminist disney where she did in depth reviews of Disney from a feminist perspective- obviously the majority of disney scores pretty low on that, but her reviews are really interesting and valuable because they make people thing about all the different components of our media- really think about the messages being sent.

I wanted to do something similarly in depth, but I wanted to simultaneously promote stuff I liked and get reccomendations for more stuff I like. I wanted to take the anime I’d watched that I thought presented interesting female characters, or better yet actually had lady protags, and see how it measured up with analysis. I’d simulateneously be exploring what was good and unusual about series I liked, warning people for stuff that might bother them on any level in those series, and promoting series I loved and female/queer/etc characters I loved!

When I say “Great feminist anime and manga”, what I mean is feminist friendly and girl-positive anime and manga. Because I think it’s the same diff in what a feminist looks for in entertainment. We just want to see female characters with agency leading interesting lives. We don’t want to actively be punched in the face with how little the narrative cares for female, queer, dark-skinned characters. It’s sad this shit is so rare, but the fact is that it is.

I can’t say for sure that most of the anime I review actively sets out to make a feminist statement- Revolutionary Girl Utena definitely did and statements Naoko has made about wanting to send the message girls are strong (not to mention the “down with sexual discrimination!!!” episodes and stuff) confirms Sailor Moon did to a degree, though I have no idea if Naoko would even be familiar with feminism as a term. Stuff like The Twelve Kingdoms definitely includes sections that very obviously criticize gender roles.

But there’s stuff I’ve reviewed like A Certain Scientific Railgun that I’m absolutely certain did not at all mean to send a feminist message or even know what feminism was (as demonstrated by how hella problematic it was in other parts), but just happened to focus on really dynamic and kickass ladies and their bonds with each other. Maybe they did it because it was different, maybe they did it to appeal to sweaty dudes who want to perv on little girls (actually i’m pretty 100% sure this was a factor), maybe to bring in a female audience. But the fact is, regardless of intent, it is rare enough to find lady characters who drive their own stories, really good fun series that have good female characters and/or focus on women, that women like me can enjoy, that I want to promote the hell out of those. And I also just like analyzing series I like. Intent doesn’t matter. Who cares? It’s what you take from the series, and what you enjoy about it.

And if a woman has written that series? Yes, that’s important to me. Because if a woman is writing a series that has a variety of active female characters that make their own choices, she’s drawing on her own experience to write them- because you do that for all your characters. Which means she is telling her story, she’s drawing on her own view of women, including herself, being active and powerful.If she’s writing something not-standard, that means she has a non-standard view of womanhood, and for a woman to express that is powerful. Because women are encouraged to hate themselves. And women are encouraged to be silent about themselves. They are encouraged not to tell their stories. They are encouraged to marginalize themselves.

So when Hiromu Arakawa writes a shonen series where women are powerful and active and influential and important? Yes. That is fucking feminist. Because she is working in a male-dominated genre, and still telling a story where women like her are important. Because she is refusing to hate herself or represent her gender as unimportant. And if you don’t think a woman has to make an active effort to do something like that, has to push against the tide to do so, I dunno. That doesn’t line up with my experience as a woman. It’s pretty damn hard to be a woman and not be aware the standard is unimportant female characters, that the standard is sexism. I think you probably have to make an active effort not to be aware of that(and society certainly encouraged that). So yeah, you always have to make an active decision “guess what I’m not going to do that”. And that probably means you as a woman want to refect your reality, that you believe women can be powerful and strong, that you want to improve how the worldview of women and put some of that out there. Just a little. And a woman speaking out for herself, speaking about the strength of her gender, the complexity of her reality? That’s the definition of feminism.

If you don’t know what the hell im talking about when I say my review, here:

The Great Feminist Anime and Manga Review

tldr; this is review of stuff I consider girl (and/or other stuff) positive from my perspective as a feminist and the feminist messages I take from that review. THAT’S why it’s called “the feminist review” and if you’re gonna get in a snit about that, the door’s that way.

The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: Angel Beats!

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Angel Beats! intrigued me with it’s premise- basically a boy named Otonashi wakes up with no memory of anything other than his last name. A girl with a sniper rifle named Yuri lets him know that he’s dead. They’re in a sort of limbo for dead Japanese high school students that takes the form of a boarding school. A God is nowhere to be seen, but a girl dubbed Angel seems to enforce the rules of the school. Basically, if long as students behave and go to class like normal kids, they’ll disappear, and no one know what happens to them after that. Yuri is not ready to accept this. She refuses to disappear quietly into the unknown. She seeks to lead a rebellion against the God that gave them all such tragic and short lives, and she’s gathered an organization of likeminded students to fight Angel and then, presumably, her boss. She asks Otonashi to join her, but unable to remember anything, he’s unsure of which side to choose…

It’s an exciting premise, but the most interesting thing about Angel Beats! from a feminist perspective is the casual reversal of gender roles with the male and female lead of the show.

The fact is that Otonashi is a sensitive, emotional, bighearted and loving person. He’s not an action guy and not very good at physical fighting. In the beginning, he misses when he fires a gun, causing him to explain “agh! I suck!” and though he improves marginally as the show goes on, he never becomes a real action guy, tending to fall behind and be protected by the others when it comes to physical fighting. But his real value lies in his sensitive soul. Otonashi’s strength bought up again and again is his open emotion and empathy for those around them. The fact that he’s very compassionate and reaches out to understand and connect with those around him is what drives his character. He actually once saves the day by hugging another boy and yelling at him that he loves him. And that’s what saves the day when no amount of physical force could.  Otonashi’s sensitive heart opens the eyes of others and ultimately brings change and understanding to other characters. He also cries a lot, and openly. Obviously, this is all very unusual to see in a male protagonist- he exibits traits that are typically thought of as feminine- hugging and crying to solve his problems while being bad at physical fighting, choosing pacifism, understanding and compassion over violence- and what’s more, these traits are shown to be good for a man to have by the narrative, and highly valued. This narrative shows traditionally feminine traits as powerful, and that a man who has the traits is strong rather than weakened. He also treats the women around him with respect and admiration and isn’t afraid to openly rely on their strength and praise them for it, which is great.

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Other Feminist Manga and Anime Reviews

The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: Angel Beats!

Angel Beats! intrigued me with it’s premise- basically a boy named Otonashi wakes up with no memory of anything other than his last name. A girl with a sniper rifle named Yuri lets him know that he’s dead. They’re in a sort of limbo for dead Japanese high school students that takes the form of a boarding school. A God is nowhere to be seen, but a girl dubbed Angel seems to enforce the rules of the school. Basically, if long as students behave and go to class like normal kids, they’ll disappear, and no one know what happens to them after that. Yuri is not ready to accept this. She refuses to disappear quietly into the unknown. She seeks to lead a rebellion against the God that gave them all such tragic and short lives, and she’s gathered an organization of likeminded students to fight Angel and then, presumably, her boss. She asks Otonashi to join her, but unable to remember anything, he’s unsure of which side to choose…

It’s an exciting premise, but the most interesting thing about Angel Beats! from a feminist perspective is the casual reversal of gender roles with the male and female lead of the show.

The fact is that Otonashi is a sensitive, emotional, bighearted and loving person. He’s not an action guy and not very good at physical fighting. In the beginning, he misses when he fires a gun, causing him to explain “agh! I suck!” and though he improves marginally as the show goes on, he never becomes a real action guy, tending to fall behind and be protected by the others when it comes to physical fighting. But his real value lies in his sensitive soul. Otonashi’s strength bought up again and again is his open emotion and empathy for those around them. The fact that he’s very compassionate and reaches out to understand and connect with those around him is what drives his character. He actually once saves the day by hugging another boy and yelling at him that he loves him. And that’s what saves the day when no amount of physical force could.  Otonashi’s sensitive heart opens the eyes of others and ultimately brings change and understanding to other characters. He also cries a lot, and openly. Obviously, this is all very unusual to see in a male protagonist- he exibits traits that are typically thought of as feminine- hugging and crying to solve his problems while being bad at physical fighting, choosing pacifism, understanding and compassion over violence- and what’s more, these traits are shown to be good for a man to have by the narrative, and highly valued. This narrative shows traditionally feminine traits as powerful, and that a man who has the traits is strong rather than weakened. He also treats the women around him with respect and admiration and isn’t afraid to openly rely on their strength and praise them for it, which is great.

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The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: Michiko e Hatchin

 Michiko e Hatchin or Michiko to Hatchin is a 2008 anime series that takes place in fictionalized Brazilian/Latin American setting, and the heart of it is the relationship between Michiko Malandro and Hana Morenos, a woman and a little girl on the run together.

            Michiko breaks out of prison and crashes into Hana’s abusive foster home on a moped, rescues the young girl and they set out on a mission to find Hana’s father, Hiroshi, who was Michiko’s ex-lover. On the way, they are pursued by Atsuko Jackson, a cop who has a complicated past and an even more complicated relationship/rivalry with Michiko. Hana and Michiko have to deal with scams, attempts on their lives by paid professionals, gangsters and their own clashing personalities during their journey.

            Michiko e Hatchin at its core is about two women against the world, taking it on together. It’s true that Michiko states that her goal is to reunite with her lover, but let’s just say her motivation is more complex. The idea that Michiko is just bringing Hana along as a bargaining chip so she can get back with Hiroshi is bough up as a point of conflict a lot in the series, but it’s explored well -not really a spoiler to say Michiko cares about Hana in her own way.            

What’s more, it’s clear from the beginning that Hana herself isn’t really as interested in seeing her Dad, and this only intensifies as the series goes on and she becomes less and less impressed with her Dad- she sticks with Michiko because she loves her and this is the first adult she’s met who actually genuinely cares about her.  Hana and Michiko have a complicated and nuanced relationship- everything’s not sunshine and flowers. They fight a lot because Michiko’s reckless, tenacious nature can clash with Hana’s caution and sensitivity. Hana suffers from her previous abuse and abandonment issues, so she is especially prone to acting out when Michiko leaves her for any period, and gets incredibly jealous when Michiko has dalliances with men- meanwhile Michiko has had a hard life and therefore is not equipped to be the perfect guardian- she can be unintentionally neglectful and has a short fuse that can manifest in some bad stuff.

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The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: Simoun

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Simoun

The premise of Simoun is that it takes place in a world where everyone is born with breasts and a vagina, and everyone is basically identified as female by society until they are seventeen. Once someone hits that age, they are able to go to a magical spring to choose their sex. At least, in the land of Simulacrum., they are. One other land (Argentum) uses surgery because they don’t have a spring. The spring isn’t the only thing Simulacrum possesses that other nations want. They also possess mysterious aircraft called Simoun, thought to be chariots of the gods. The Simoun can outfly everything else, and also draw shining trails in the sky called “Ri Maajon”. These designs are usually used in prayer rituals, but also can destroy enemy airships in war. As a result, other countries wage war against Simulacrum to capture the Simoun.

Only priestesses who haven’t yet gone to the spring and chosen their sex can fly the Simoun, and they have to do so in pairs. As a result, these supposedly sacred young people get dragged into the war and into using what are supposed to be sacred vessels as weapons.

Obviously, the premise itself is heavily tied to concept of gender, and the very concept deconstructs the idea that ones gender identity must be tied to the sex they were born with In a very sci-fi sort of way, the system in place in Simulacrum can relate to some of the stuff trans people deal with. The process of the Spring is similar to transitioning after surgery in that it all doesn’t happen instantaneously. The breasts slowly shrink, the voice slowly deepens, and the adjustment of the body is gradual. To drive this point in, the series has an all-female voice cast, so even the adult men clearly all originally had higher voices that just went a little deeper. Also, people can not really be interested in changing sex regardless of gender identity, in the same way that a person who is transgendered may not want a surgery even if they can do it, so apparently to incentivize the change, more career options are available for men in this society.

A lot of the characters in the series are uncomfortable about the idea of permanently choosing a sex, meaning they clearly don’t identify completely with either a male or female gender identity. Their feelings are not derided or invalidated, but explored. It is clear that society disapproves of those who don’t want to choose, and some characters struggle to escape that. One girl finds herself very unhappy after choosing her sex, presumably because she thought something inside her would change with that decision, and it didn’t, and she found this wasn’t to her liking. The social constructions of gender aren’t heavily discussed beyond these struggles being presented, though there is a very nice discussion that questions the idea of wanting to become a man to protect someone else or “be strong”. A lot of the development is wrapped up in the idea you shouldn’t choose your sex based on what you want to be for other people, but what you want to be  for yourself. Which is a pretty great message.

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looking through my tags and remembering how wonderful this anime was about gender and queer love holy shit

See the rest of my reviews of manga and anime from a feminist perspective here

The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: Read or Die, Read or Dream and R.O.D. the TV (OVA, manga, anime)

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Read or Die

Read or Die is a franchise centered around the idea of fighting evil…with LITERACY! Or more accurately, mutant paper manipulating powers that allow those blessed with the abilities to form paper into ‘anything from flying machines to bizarre creatures to stuff that can slice through metal. These “Paper Masters” are typically quirky bibliophiles.

The series spans several media and each continuity is separate though they share concepts and characters. There’s the light novels that started it all, the Read or Die manga, the Read or Dream manga, the Read or Die three episode OVA and the 26 episode ROD the TV anime that acts as a distant sequel to the OVA and unites the characters of the Read or Die and Read or Dream continuities. I’ll outline all these different stories and what’s good or bad about them in comparison to the others in their own sections.

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I edited this review a LOT, cutting down on a lot of the excess (this was one of my most unwieldy early reviews) clarifiyng things and adding all the pictures. Finally, I remember to reblog the updates.

See the rest of my reviews of manga and anime from a feminist perspective here

The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: RideBack

RideBack is a twelve episode anime adapted from a manga of the same name. The story takes place in a near future where an organization called the “Global Government Plan” is in power and it focuses on Rin Ogata.

Rin followed in the footsteps of her late mother as a ballerina but she injures her leg during a performance and gives up her passion. At her college she happens upon a club devoted to racing on machines called RideBacks - a robot-motorcycle hybrid. Rin finds herself enamored with the machine and the way she moves with it is reminscent of her passion and experience with ballet. But the machines are also deeply involved with a government conspiracy and Rin finds herself caught up in it.

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The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: Sailor Moon Part 3, the final chapter

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Race and Culture: The whole franchise is very Japan-centric so there’s not much in the way of other cultures. However, there are a few instances of positive representation of some other races, one being a major character. Sailor Pluto is consistently darker-skinned than the other characters, (in the anime, her skin tone can vary from a shade or two darker to noticeably and significantly so, but in the manga it’s always apparent). According to Naoko Takeuchi, this is because she’s half-Romani. Obviously, she’s a hero and how rare is it to find a positive, non-stereotyped example of a Romani character in media? I just wish that aspect of her could have been touched on in canon!

In addition, Kunzite has darker skin and in the manga is “in charge of the Middle East” and it’s hinted this was where he precided thousand years ago, so it’s possible he’s supposed to be Middle Eastern. In PGSM he’s played by a Japanese man though.

There’s also a side-character in one of the episodes of the S Season of the anime who is very dark-skinned- judging from her name (Elsa Gray) she’s probably meant to be either African-American or African-European. She was shown to be talented at running (enough that she initially dodged the monster attacking her) and the other girls admired her. She was also more significant than your average side character as she introduced Haruka and Michiru, THUS DESTINY WAS MADE. She was also hinted to be queer. There’s actually a really neat little doujinishi starring her, check it out!

LGBTQ:  Sailor Moon is a franchise wonderfully full of queer stuff. Haruka and Michiru are one of the most famous lesbian couples in anime. Badass lesbian superheroes in a happy and stable relationship!

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And finally, this was edited and made picture-ific as well.

The Great Feminist Manga and Anime List: Sailor Moon Part 2

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Haha wooooooooow I really couldn’t limit myself could I. SORRY. This is basically like my essay on the manga only with a wider scope you’ll see similar points made SORRY COULDN’T STOP TOO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT I LOVE IT TOO MUCH. Part three’s coming.

Women and Gender:

Sailor Moon is a series that is unquestionably focused on the growth and power of young women and strength of the bonds between them.

The very premise of it is that women shape the fate of the universe. They are what holds the universe together and are its last and first line of defense. Every single planet and star and satellite has a woman who represents it (A Sailor Senshi/Soldier), who rules it and protects and fights for it, who controls its very fate. You’re going to be hard pressed to find any other story that says women are important, women are essential; women are powerful on such a complete and cosmic scale. What’s more, the mythology of Sailor Moon is that things are pretty fantastic when women are in power- women can be the best rulers and protectors if they put their mind to it. The Queen of the Moon used to protect us all and it was pretty sweet. In the future, women will be in power again and it will also be pretty awesome. Sailor Moon verges on feminist utopian fantasy, unflinchingly saying that girls are good enough to run the world.

Another obvious premise of Sailor Moon is female legacy and community. Sailor Moon’s power is never going to die, and it will be passed on from woman to woman from generation to generation. Sailor Moon inherited her power from a powerful woman in the past and the series makes it clear she’s going to pass it on to her daughter and the a new generation will also take on the roles of the Senshi. There will always be powerful women, and these women have the support and legacy of powerful women from the past to stand on and to carry on proudly. These girls don’t just save the world, they end up running it, and they change it in a real, positive and permanent way.

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Pictures and minor edits over here too!