Both. I'm also looking for anime where the female characters don't spend a series being empowered and strong, only to fall for the guy in the end and live "happily ever after" in a restrictive paradigm (see also: Mulan, although it's Disney, not anime). Does this make sense?

Hmm...Kino's Journey, maybe? Kino definately puts aside the stereotypical female identity - then again, she puts aside her entire feminity, along with all the other identifying factors like age or nationality, only agreeing to perceive herself as a traveller. Still, would she count?

Hmm. I don't believe that heterosexual relationships are disempowering to female characters. It depends on how it is handled. Some of them are, but when treated equally, I don't believe that women are subservient just because they are in relationships with men.

Certainly, in a lot of anime (and media in general) there is exploitation of women's bodies through fanservice. Even though Code Geass has this, it also features some really strong female characters and an equal partnership between the main male character and a woman.

Naruto has some really cool female characters, such as Shizune, Yuugao, and Tenten.

Maria-sama ga miteru has almost exclusively a female cast, and they are all interesting characters.

I haven't watched that much anime so I can't really be sure of others.

Avatar: The Last Airbender isn't really anime, but it has awesome female characters.

You would probably want to stay far away from Death Note if you're looking for feminist anime. The worst thing about that series is the sexism and gender stereotypes.

If you want a magical girl anime that may stand a chance of being on your list, you need to look at the older series like Magic Knights Rayearth. (Yes, mid-90s is old school now.) Admittedly, all three female leads end up in a pairing(one-sided or not), but I never saw it as detrimental to their characters or the plot.

Probably Moribito and Witch Hunter Robin, too.

Also, instead of trying to watch anime and hoping it's feminist-friendly, look up the titles on Wikipedia or ANN and read the summaries.

Like_Autumn wrote:

Naruto has some really cool female characters, such as Shizune, Yuugao, and Tenten.

Are you sure you mean Tenten and not Temari? There's also Kiba's mom and sister. In the grand scheme of things, though, Naruto is horrible to female characters. I'm not sure if the characters we mentioned outweigh the lack of depth from Sasuke-fangirls Sakura and Ino, and to an extent, Neji-fangirl Tenten who is the least developed second-tier character ever.

Extremely gory and violent but...


Claymore.

Male cast is lolwat and you basically have silver-eyed girls wielding giant swords and killing stuff. Add some personality to the cast and BAM. More interaction with the women in combat to survival. No damsel in distress sort of thing either-very strong female leads in it.

( I'd recommend the manga to the anime. I also don't want to spoil anything. )

Last edited by Arreat (10-15-2009 11:34:25 PM)

Considering the state of Japanese society and pop culture besides that, there are a lot of anime (and manga) that are going to make some effort, that are feminist in some senses, but that may fall short of (hardline) expectations from another cultural perspective.  Just bear that in mind.

Nadesico surprised me with how it handled its female characters and love/sex/intimacy.  There's the making of a harem comedy with Akito, sure, but the model-building bit between two side characters was nicely done.  She just wants someone to share a hobby with, and (admittedly horndog and married with child) science monkey Seiya tries to turn it into a seduction because he thinks he should.  The multiple-widow pilot, playing it off as a joke as much as she can.  And it passes the Bechdel Test, too.  Who knew, right?

I think that a romantic coupling at the end of a story doesn't invalidate it as feminist or as valid entertainment, for that matter. There's a difference between that and when a female character gives up her freedom and life or identity to get the other person, and the narrative treats it as if this is a happy event.  And the non-surrendering doesn't imply it's an explicitly feminist story (I mean, Cutey Honey would qualify, wouldn't it, and Gunsmith Cats?).  Just saying.

Another, with problems, but worth a look is Armitage III, which is trying to do something (exceptionally heteronormative at times) with gender and behaviour.  Feminist fascist government, murders shot as unpleasant but still clearly sexualized affairs, the castrated Adam and artificial Eve stuff.  I think its reach exceeds its grasp, sociologically, but the reach is there.

The Queen Emeraldas two-parter (four parts of six, really, but no Eng edition for the second two, and no five and six for anyone), would be good to check out, as well, since it's dealing with a post-coupling scenario (he's dead, Jim), and therefore sticks mostly to examinations of youth, freedom, yearning and Space Nazis.

Anybody want to make a case for Mask of Glass or Please Save My Earth?

Last edited by Decrescent Daytripper (09-06-2012 05:37:55 AM)

Mylene wrote:

In that case, how does Boys over Flowers qualify to be on the list?  Makino does pretty much that--stands up to the bullies and then ends up dating one just the same.  Moreover, I always found it to be a rather abusive relationship, where she takes plenty of emotional and physical abuse from the boyfriend.

phew, for a second there i thought you were actually saying that Makino is a feminist character. i agree with you, Makino's relationship with Domyouji is certainly abusive. i totally hate Boys Over Flowers because it was a potentially great feminist anime but ultimately failed due to the horrible relationship between Makino and Domyouji. there are others who view Makino as being strong and a feminist but i just can't view her like that. i don't understand how a 'strong' female character will fall in love with the guy who bullys her in very disturbing ways. isn't that Stockholm's Syndrome?

Makino's character starts off great and i love that she stood up to the F4 but in the end, she really is not much to write home about and i don't believe Boys Over Flowers qualifies as feminist anime...to me, it is more along the lines of Twilight and Bella being a feminist character is certainly arguable.

w/r/t feminist anime, i can't think of any that has not being mentioned right now but i know a few feminist manga.

Shouldn't we have a set criteria for what constitutes Anime to be Feminist?

Does the show itself have to have a positive feminist theme or would having at least one positive feminist character in the series also count?

If yes, do these character(s) have to be self proclaimed feminists or even worthy role models?

If not, how do you define a positive feminist character/show?

Hellsing is worth mentioning. Although the leading spot is shared between both a woman and a man, the show basically portrays Sir Integra's (f) role as the leading General in the war to rid the world of demons through controlling her vampire servant and employing field strategy. Along the way she has to deal diplomatically with other powerful, albeit conniving and spiteful organizations and maintain her control over every situation she is manipulating. There's some ridiculous stuff with neo-nazis and I recommend Manga over either anime, but the core message of a woman being powerful and rational and getting the upper hand over her male adversaries stays the same.

Bluesky wrote:

I'd say the more modern adaptation over the older one, as I distinctly remember some of the team getting their boobs out for no particular reason during a 'changing into powersuits' scene. Which probably qualifies as fanservice.

But in Bubblegum Crisis 2040 the main characters feel more stereotypical, and have more shallow personalities, and the resident tough chick Priss seems to fall in love with Leon simply because he's a ripped guy. And Daley is back in the closet, and Chief Todo is more ambigiously dark-skinned. I still consider the original series more progressive than the new one, even in the feminist front, despite of the brief fanservice. While Sylia in the old OVAs is a figure of female empowerment, her counterpart in 2040 is an emotional wreck with daddy issues and bouts of irrational rage.

I'll second the mentions of Princess Tutu and Claymore.  Especially Claymore.  It's a shounen series, but the cast is almost entirely female.  The characters are interesting and well-developed and sympathetic.  In fact, taking a more feminist lens to this anime: In most women warrior series, there are usually one or two female fighters and the rest are male; the woman is still a rarity defined by her femaleness as different from the masculine norm.  In Claymore this is reversed.  Because Claymores are women by default, nearly the entire cast is female.  As such their femaleness is barely noticed (in other words: being female is not The Single Most Important Defining Aspect of their character).  They are the unmarked gender.  It is the males who stand out and are identified as different, both by the characters within the show and by the audience, as we become accustomed to having every new force that appears be female.

It's also nice to hop on over to the Claymore forums and see the huge debates that go on about which woman is the strongest/toughest/most badass etc.  Because as much as folks decry the lack of feminism in anime, I'm hard pressed to think of any show here in America that does this.  But stop after episode 20 or so.  As was mentioned, the manga is better; the anime's ending leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, it's old school, but I would throw Slayers on this list. 

I'd also definitely consider Crest of the Stars (and its sequels, Banner of the Stars) feminist.  It is a space opera in which the culture of the alien race (the Abh) is gender egalitarian, and this is reflected in the character cast.  There are also some interesting aspects of family life that are revealed.  For instance, all Abh are single parents.  A man or a woman asks someone else to share their genes to create a child, and then the one who wanted the child raises it as a member of his/her family.  So the name system isn't patrilineal or matrilineal; it depends entirely on who your parent is (if a mother, your name comes from her; if a father, from him.  This is how the family naming system works).  There's also an interesting story arc about a planet of criminals in which the prisons are segregated by gender.  When the government that controls the prison colony abandons it, the women section pleas with the conquering Abh to except them as refugees, as the men are trying to break into their section and take it over.  This story could have gone wrong in so many ways, but I think it's handled well.

Last but never least, Twelve Kingdoms is a fantastic anime based on a series of light novels.  On the surface it's another schoolgirl-goes-to-other-dimension story, but don't let this fool you in the slightest.  It is a series of intense political drama, war, Chinese mythology, and a lot of complex and realistic character development.  In the world of the twelve kingdoms, each kingdom has one ruler and one kirin.  The kirin is a magical beast born to find the one destined to rule.  Once it makes its choice, that ruler becomes immortal and reigns until either they become corrupt and the kirin falls sick and dies, or until they are killed.  This show has a huge cast and the central characters are a girl chosen as a queen, a princess cast out of her fallen kingdom, and a girl who was sold as a slave.  I can't recommend this series enough.

Decrescent Daytripper wrote:

Necroing to ask: Has the state changed, at all, in the past two years?

I watched a little too much The World God Only Knows assuming he'd eventually grow up to be Akio, you know? (Now I can't finish it, 'cause it's off Crunchyroll, at least where I'm at.)

Does loli dominate the anime today, or is it just that young kids are drawn more often as young kids than they were ten/twenty years ago, when we could periodically forget Touga or Minmei are teenagers? And... other thoughts I want someone more articulate than me to have here.

Chihayafuru is a great one that just came out recently. It's about a girl who is introduced to a game called Karuta by her friends. She loves it and decides to pursue it competitively. In the mean time, she drags along with her the club members she finds and recruits. All the while, her best friend is in love with her, but she doesn't address it because she's kinda busy being awesome.

Mouretsu Space Pirates is also a good one, with a strong female lead. The storyline is kinda half-assed, however.

I do agree with earlier posts though -- we need to define what feminist anime constitutes.

And what!? Kino is a GIRL!? DA FUCK.