Animanga Feminist Meta, Installment #1--Bleach
So, in order to prompt myself to post actual, like, content more often, I'm inaugurating a new series of anime/manga reviews, with a particular analytical viewpoint.
LJ fandom is so female that I'm surprised we don't all menstruate in tandem, but anime, especially the stuff that makes it to mainstream US distribution, is often very much geared to a male audience. I know that the depiction of female characters or gender/sexuality issues has often come up in conversation with some of you on my f-list as a reason why one series or another didn't sit right with you.
Thus, this series of short feminist analyses of various animanga titles is intended to be both a recommendation list and a jumping-off point for a discussion of what we DO want to see.
With that said, on to the first review: Not surprisingly, BLEACH by Kubo Tite.
The wildly popular manga series Bleach has been running in weekly installments in Shonen Jump since 2001 (with the anime version beginning in 2004). A plot summary can be found here on the Wiki page for those who are unfamiliar with it.
With certain features like large, dramatic fighting and training sequences, a large cast but a single extremely powerful main character, and a noticeable lack of emphasis on relationships and romance, Bleach is solidly with the shonen action genre, and related to other popular series such as Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Dragon Ball.
While Bleach does devote a great deal of ink to fighting and male bonding, it also represents an important evolution in the genre. Overall, character motivations and development are more realistic and significant than in other shonen series--"Memories in the Rain" is remarkably intense writing for a title that is also known for its screwball humor. More specifically, its female characters (while admittedly not half the full cast) are unusually prominent, varied, and well-developed for the genre, and some of them display considerable fighting spirit (like Tatsuki and Rukia) and prowess (like Yoruichi and Matusmoto). Uryuu and Yumichika, both important male characters, have non-traditional gender roles, although this is occasionally played for laughs.
On a less positive note, while Bleach does have strong female characters, they are often co-opted as victims to further the plot. A woman in peril has kicked off two of the major plot arcs, and the self-abasing attitude of the captives makes one wonder what happened to their former strength. Like the "woman in peril" archetype, the "sainted departed mother" archetype is also overused in the series, to the point where the only married women we know of were mentioned in flashbacks about character motivations.
As mentioned above, Bleach focuses relatively little attention on developing relationships. Therefore, most characters' sexualities are left undeveloped--the only exception being Chizuru, who is, quite interestingly, a self-proclaimed lesbian. The series does not have many homophobic overtones (unlike much entertainment geared towards teen male), and is quite friendly to alternate interpretations.
Want that condensed?
Bleach is a smarter-than-your-average-shonen series that still hasn't quite worked out the kinks of including women in a male-oriented genre, but still has plenty of room for fans to work out their own answers to those problems.
Next time, on Animanga Feminist Meta: Saiyuki, or, "What Happens When a Yaoi Fangirl Writes Shonen".
LJ fandom is so female that I'm surprised we don't all menstruate in tandem, but anime, especially the stuff that makes it to mainstream US distribution, is often very much geared to a male audience. I know that the depiction of female characters or gender/sexuality issues has often come up in conversation with some of you on my f-list as a reason why one series or another didn't sit right with you.
Thus, this series of short feminist analyses of various animanga titles is intended to be both a recommendation list and a jumping-off point for a discussion of what we DO want to see.
With that said, on to the first review: Not surprisingly, BLEACH by Kubo Tite.
The wildly popular manga series Bleach has been running in weekly installments in Shonen Jump since 2001 (with the anime version beginning in 2004). A plot summary can be found here on the Wiki page for those who are unfamiliar with it.
With certain features like large, dramatic fighting and training sequences, a large cast but a single extremely powerful main character, and a noticeable lack of emphasis on relationships and romance, Bleach is solidly with the shonen action genre, and related to other popular series such as Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Dragon Ball.
While Bleach does devote a great deal of ink to fighting and male bonding, it also represents an important evolution in the genre. Overall, character motivations and development are more realistic and significant than in other shonen series--"Memories in the Rain" is remarkably intense writing for a title that is also known for its screwball humor. More specifically, its female characters (while admittedly not half the full cast) are unusually prominent, varied, and well-developed for the genre, and some of them display considerable fighting spirit (like Tatsuki and Rukia) and prowess (like Yoruichi and Matusmoto). Uryuu and Yumichika, both important male characters, have non-traditional gender roles, although this is occasionally played for laughs.
On a less positive note, while Bleach does have strong female characters, they are often co-opted as victims to further the plot. A woman in peril has kicked off two of the major plot arcs, and the self-abasing attitude of the captives makes one wonder what happened to their former strength. Like the "woman in peril" archetype, the "sainted departed mother" archetype is also overused in the series, to the point where the only married women we know of were mentioned in flashbacks about character motivations.
As mentioned above, Bleach focuses relatively little attention on developing relationships. Therefore, most characters' sexualities are left undeveloped--the only exception being Chizuru, who is, quite interestingly, a self-proclaimed lesbian. The series does not have many homophobic overtones (unlike much entertainment geared towards teen male), and is quite friendly to alternate interpretations.
Want that condensed?
Bleach is a smarter-than-your-average-shonen series that still hasn't quite worked out the kinks of including women in a male-oriented genre, but still has plenty of room for fans to work out their own answers to those problems.
Next time, on Animanga Feminist Meta: Saiyuki, or, "What Happens When a Yaoi Fangirl Writes Shonen".