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Women representation in Japanese media thought
Friday, 7 March 2025 17:37A bit rambling, but it’s really weird whenever I see Western anime fans wanting more female protagonists or female characters in the spotlight in Japanese media. As someone who has consumed a lot of Japanese media for more than a decade, this has never been an issue for me?
Like, Japan has a lot of media aimed at women, with female characters as the main lead or in the spotlight. But then again, when Westerners say this, it often turns out they consume a lot of fucking shounen genre or animanga series, which are generally aimed at teen boys and have predominantly male casts. It just makes so much sense, lol.
Like, no, for real, I get annoyed whenever people say Japanese media underrepresents women, as if Western media isn’t guilty of the same thing. In fact, I dare say Japanese media is very women-friendly because you can find A LOT of series with majority female casts, female main leads, female perspectives, or those targeted toward women. Shoujo, Yuri, and Josei are right there. Even BL, with all-male casts, is often authored by women and occasionally offers unique perspectives on masculinity/manhood through the lens of women, sometimes even including feminist (A lot of BL omegaverse has this) & homophobia commentary. Like, I’m begging you to please lurk more and explore genres outside freaking shounen and mainstream stuff.
It’s not just that, even most media targeted at male otakus often has a lot of female characters in focus and the spotlight, with many well-written female characters as well!
As an otaku myself who’s mostly into bishoujo/danseimuke media, it’s bizarre whenever I hear Westerners saying, “Japanese media has a woman representation issue.” What do you mean? Anime is overwhelmingly feminine and dominated by female characters, lol.
“But it’s for the male gaze!” Sure, but there’s Shoujo, Josei, and a lot of Yuri authored by women. And even if it’s for the “male gaze” or “aimed at men,” there are still well-written female characters, and these series often focus on women. Don’t get me wrong, I also understand the criticism of male-gazed female characters, and it’s valid if people don’t like it!
But I just don’t like people generalizing entire genres and mediums as trashy just because they cater to specific audiences or dismissing them as “invalid.” Even if you’re not into it, there’s still good work out there in those genres/mediums. For example, I’ve found some compelling queer and feminist-friendly messages in trashy ecchi manga and moe anime aimed at men.
It’s also very ironic when these same people hype up Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Madoka Magica, Gundam Witch from Mercury, Ghost in the Shell, etc., as peak feminist works because they focus on female leads, even though those series are created and written by men and targeted at male demographics. (Nothing wrong with these series, btw, I love them too.)
TL;DR: If you want more women in your animanga, please read/watch works that feature women, are written by women, and are targeted at women. Also, trying to dismiss works by women just because they have a lot of male casts doesn’t make you a feminist, you’re still being sexist by undermining female-authored works, btw.
Like, Japan has a lot of media aimed at women, with female characters as the main lead or in the spotlight. But then again, when Westerners say this, it often turns out they consume a lot of fucking shounen genre or animanga series, which are generally aimed at teen boys and have predominantly male casts. It just makes so much sense, lol.
Like, no, for real, I get annoyed whenever people say Japanese media underrepresents women, as if Western media isn’t guilty of the same thing. In fact, I dare say Japanese media is very women-friendly because you can find A LOT of series with majority female casts, female main leads, female perspectives, or those targeted toward women. Shoujo, Yuri, and Josei are right there. Even BL, with all-male casts, is often authored by women and occasionally offers unique perspectives on masculinity/manhood through the lens of women, sometimes even including feminist (A lot of BL omegaverse has this) & homophobia commentary. Like, I’m begging you to please lurk more and explore genres outside freaking shounen and mainstream stuff.
It’s not just that, even most media targeted at male otakus often has a lot of female characters in focus and the spotlight, with many well-written female characters as well!
As an otaku myself who’s mostly into bishoujo/danseimuke media, it’s bizarre whenever I hear Westerners saying, “Japanese media has a woman representation issue.” What do you mean? Anime is overwhelmingly feminine and dominated by female characters, lol.
“But it’s for the male gaze!” Sure, but there’s Shoujo, Josei, and a lot of Yuri authored by women. And even if it’s for the “male gaze” or “aimed at men,” there are still well-written female characters, and these series often focus on women. Don’t get me wrong, I also understand the criticism of male-gazed female characters, and it’s valid if people don’t like it!
But I just don’t like people generalizing entire genres and mediums as trashy just because they cater to specific audiences or dismissing them as “invalid.” Even if you’re not into it, there’s still good work out there in those genres/mediums. For example, I’ve found some compelling queer and feminist-friendly messages in trashy ecchi manga and moe anime aimed at men.
It’s also very ironic when these same people hype up Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Madoka Magica, Gundam Witch from Mercury, Ghost in the Shell, etc., as peak feminist works because they focus on female leads, even though those series are created and written by men and targeted at male demographics. (Nothing wrong with these series, btw, I love them too.)
TL;DR: If you want more women in your animanga, please read/watch works that feature women, are written by women, and are targeted at women. Also, trying to dismiss works by women just because they have a lot of male casts doesn’t make you a feminist, you’re still being sexist by undermining female-authored works, btw.
