Most mecha anime is equal parts male wish-fulfillment and a boys coming of age story. There's nothing inherently wrong with writing shows like that and a lot of my favourites are just this type of story. There is a universal quality in the stories of Amuro or Kamille being trust into war, essentially adulthood, and realizing that their actions and inaction affect others, or Simon learning to believe in himself, or -- Well you get my point. I like these stories, but sometimes the focus on men gets annoying.
The problem with a lot of mecha anime is what they do to the female characters. Since they are written about boys/men for boys/men, the women often end up being entirely defined by their relationships with men. For example, Lalah Sune isn't important as a person because all that matters is her impact on Char and Amuro. Even worse is the tendency to make a female character's entire inner life about romance or supporting her man (See: Ranka Lee. Everything I do or don't do depends on how things are going with Alto).
The can sometimes become very frustrating to me as a woman watching these shows. Which is why I tend to fall in love with the few shows that do it right. One of these shows is Bubblegum Crisis. I can't remember what made me love the show as a 14-year-old, it could have been the gritty cyberpunk setting or simply because rampaging robots are awesome, but I know that I keep coming back to the show years after because I get to see women who are as fully human as any cartoon character can be kicking ass. Priss, Linna, Sylvia, and Nene aren't the cute girls sitting on the sidelines cheering their men. In fact, there is no romance for the lead characters. They kick ass. They have their own life, interests, and day jobs. They aren't just there because the guys need a romantic interest or attention and I love them for it.
Oh, who am I kidding. The really important part of Bubblegum Crisis is the cheestastic 80s music:
---
P.S. If you are remotely interested in anime, check out We Remember Love. I've spend a good part of my day reading the archives of this blog and at this point I gotta say it's my favourite animeblog.
[ SECRET POST #6560 ]
10 hours ago
10 comments:
Thank you very much for the shout out!
I've attempted to add you on gtalk as well.
--
On topic: Regarding Gundam and lousy writing of female characters, I daresay Tomino Yoshiyuki is quite the misogynist for most of his career; reaching a low point in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. All her females up to that point are liabilities, save for villains (with the exception perhaps in Lady Hamon and Matilde in Mobile Suit Gundam but you may remember how they ended up though).
Tomino wrote very impressive female characters in Turn A Gundam. Truly, it is a Gundam anime where the females really carry the narrative. Quite impressively done, really. In all cases, the Tomino weirdness is ever present though.
Among newer mecha anime, I suppose Yoko Ritona of TTGL is not bad at all. Also note Talho, perhaps Dianne, and notably Ray (Beams) from Eureka SeveN.
But if you're looking for female dominated mecha anime written for men, do see GAINAX's Gunbuster and Diebuster OVAs. Those are quite relevant to your interests I wager.
I have tried, with Foolie Coolie and Ghost in the Shell, to find good things about anime. But somewhy I just cannot get past the absolute standardization of the animation. I mean, Mike Mignola's Hellboy series is drawn completely differently than Ben Templesmith's Wormwood series, but I could pick up any two mangas or turn on any two animes and I'd have a difficult time telling them apart. And it is true, indeed, that Marvel and DC Comics are virtually indistinguishable in style. As such, it is very well possible that the reason I have found anime monochromous is that I am just seeing the Marvel and DC of anime?
I'm not trying to dump all over your parade here, I honestly want to understand and perhaps you can explain?
ghostlightning,
The thing is, it's not just Tomino being a misogynist. It's an entire genre geared for men and a social structure that tells men that women are wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, etc. while missing that they are also independent human beings. It makes it unusual to find female characters who aren't largely defined by how they relate to a man in the show.
As far as TTGL goes, I stopped watching it a few episodes in because Kamina annoyed the hell out of me and I can't make a very educated comment on Yoko, but from what I saw it was looking like she would turn into another female romantic interest.
Eureka SeveN, Gunbuster, and Diebuster are all my way too long "to watch" list.
Toaster,
I think it's probably that you're see a very small slice of the anime and manga pie and assuming that it's representative of a whole body of work. You're also probably looking for similarities rather than the differences and seeing X characteristic as common to anime/manga and therefore concluding that it's all the same. Part of it is that there is a certain "style" that comes from the need to simplify the art. Over several decades some things have become standard. But it's more of a starting point and each artist/studio does their own thing to it. It would be insane to say, for example, that Leiji Matsumoto's work looks the same as Hayao Miyazaki's.
OK, that's entirely fair: I probably haven't seen a very broad spectrum of anime. I quite liked the "Ghost in the Shell" movie, but turning on G4 at night and finding yet another anime of people waging war through mechas seems annoying. If you looked at DC Comics, it could very easily be said that the pre-Crisis X-Men looks almost exactly like Joss Whedon's "X-Men".
So where's a good place to start?
So where's a good place to start?
I don't even know where to start. It depends a lot on your tastes because there are several sub-genres that very, very different and some may be off putting. There's also the question of length. There are relatively short movies and there are 100+ episode shows. But I've tried to make a list of some of my favourites:
-Cowboy Bebop: I honestly don't know anyone who hates this show. It's got style, awesome music, and bounty hunters in space.
-Serial Experiments Lain: I really have no idea how to explain this series except that it's weird in a good way.
-Death Note: A brilliant but bored high school student gets a notebook that allows him to kill anyone he wants. He then sets out to cleanse the world of criminals which pits him against the world's best detective. There's also a manga which you can read here
-Fullmetal Alchemist: Wiki summarizes it pretty well as "Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques known to man, the story follows the brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, who want to restore their bodies after a disastrous failed attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy."
-BECK: Kid has shit taste in music, meets a brilliant guitarist, learns better, forms a band.
-Aria the Animation: On a terraformed Mars covered in water a girl wants to become a gondolier. I have no idea why this show is so charming, but it is.
-Legend of Galactic Heroes: If you can devote yourself to 110 episodes of epic space opera and politics, watch this anime.
-Anything by Hayao Miyazaki: My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononke, Spirited Away, anything really
And the obligatory "people waging war through mechas" because it's kind of my favourite genre:
-Neon Genesis Evangelion: It's not so much about the mecha as it is about the psychology of the characters who are all monumentally fucked up in a somewhat believable manner. It's basically Freud with mecha.
-Macross Plus: It's not about waging war. It's about relationships, fighter jets, crazy AI, and music.
-Mobile Suit Gundam Movies: This is the classic "people waging war through mechas" and the beginning of my favourite anime metaseries.
-Turn A Gundam: This is "people waging war through mechas" set in the future where we've gone back to Victorian era technology. Also, it proves mecha can be used for transporting livestock, doing laundry, and all manner of peaceful stuff (even if they can wipe out all technology from here to Jupiter)
how to get viagra viagra results viagra cialis soma and viagra prescriptions free viagra buy cheap viagra online viagra vs cialis buying viagra online viagra alternative lowest price viagra viagra rrp australia cost levitra vs viagra viagra suppliers in the uk cheapest viagra prices how long does viagra last
I read that Apple is offering unlocked iPhone 3GS? Is it true? I know you can buy unlocked iPhone from ebay for example, but can I buy the new iPhone 3GS unlocked from Apple? If so would you give me a link or a how to do it? Thanks!
[url=http://forexrobot-review.info]best forex software[/url] [url=http://wow-ruination.clanplanet.co.uk/index.php?action=profile;u=2326]unlock iphone[/url]
This is my first post I'd like to congratulate you for such a terrific made site!
thought this is a nice way to introduce myself!
Sincerely,
Hilary Driscoll
if you're ever bored check out my site!
[url=http://www.partyopedia.com/articles/anniversary-party-supplies.html]anniversary Party Supplies[/url].
[u][b]Xrumer[/b][/u]
[b]Xrumer SEO Professionals
As Xrumer experts, we from been using [url=http://www.xrumer-seo.com]Xrumer[/url] for the benefit of a wish immediately now and remember how to harness the titanic power of Xrumer and turn it into a Banknotes machine.
We also provide the cheapest prices on the market. Many competitors desire charge 2x or temperate 3x and a lot of the time 5x what we responsibility you. But we feel in providing great mending at a debilitated affordable rate. The whole something of purchasing Xrumer blasts is because it is a cheaper variant to buying Xrumer. So we train to stifle that contemplating in rebuke and yield you with the cheapest censure possible.
Not only do we be suffering with the greatest prices but our turnaround time for the treatment of your Xrumer posting is super fast. We intention secure your posting done to come you know it.
We also cater you with a ample log of successful posts on contrary forums. So that you can see also in behalf of yourself the power of Xrumer and how we get harnessed it to benefit your site.[/b]
[b]Search Engine Optimization
Using Xrumer you can wish to realize thousands upon thousands of backlinks over the extent of your site. Scads of the forums that your Install you force be posted on get exalted PageRank. Having your association on these sites can really serve establish up some cover dignity back links and uncommonly as well your Alexa Rating and Google PageRank rating via the roof.
This is making your site more and more popular. And with this better in popularity as well as PageRank you can expect to see your area definitely downright high in those Search Locomotive Results.
Conveyance
The amount of see trade that can be obtained aside harnessing the power of Xrumer is enormous. You are publishing your plat to tens of thousands of forums. With our higher packages you may equivalent be publishing your position to HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of forums. Imagine 1 post on a stylish forum drive usually enter 1000 or so views, with announce ' 100 of those people visiting your site. Now assume tens of thousands of posts on fashionable forums all getting 1000 views each. Your shipping ordain function because of the roof.
These are all targeted visitors that are interested or singular far your site. Imagine how divers sales or leads you can achieve with this considerable gang of targeted visitors. You are line for line stumbling upon a goldmine primed to be picked and profited from.
Keep in mind, Transport is Money.
[/b]
GET YOUR CHEAPLY DEFAME TODAY:
http://www.xrumer-seo.com
Post a Comment