Women in Manga

In a thread on Comics Worth Reading, I ended up mentioning briefly that if I'd made this blog three years ago, it would have ended up all about manga, now it's definitely not.

The basic reason is that I think we tend to get tired with what we start with and our interests tend to move outward. Most folks start with American comics because they're a lot easier to get, but I've always been weird. :-)

As I said on the blog, I think it's only that every genre/medium has its particular stylistic quirks that get old after a while. I still love manga, but now it's more about specific stories and authors than the field at large.

See, ironically, what I grew tired of with manga is its portrayal of female characters, which in its own way I find is no less (and no more) sexist than American Superhero comics.

In my experience women in Japanese comics all tend to fall into a few groups:

1. The Bishoujo (beautiful young girl): Usually a school girl in a uniform that has a cute long skirt that inexplicably floats up to flash a glimpse of undergarment toward the reader. She's young and undoubtedly innocent. She's usually ditzy if she's the main character, with a good heart. And is occasionally surrounded by friends who can be classified in terms of: the Brainy One (always with either short hair or cute glasses...I never knew glasses could be a fetish before going to Japan), the Tough One (who is often very tall and gets into fights like the boys), and the Aloof One (who is beautiful but colder).

The good thing about the Bishoujo is that she's empowering in a sense. The Bishoujo is not the smartest or the strongest girl around. She is the everygirl. She succeeds because she is pure-hearted and determined. Often, compared to actual girls in Japanese society, she is more outspoken and forward.

The bad thing is that the Bishoujo is very rarely proactive. Because she is innocent, she can never really be the instigator of romance except in childish ways, for example (and for the rarer, older Bishoujo, she must always answer sexual advances with "Iie! Dame yo!" The notion that good girls don't is very prevalent in Japanese society even moreso than here.) The virgin/whore dynamic is in full swing. And it is a pet peeve of mine. Her rivals might be sexually aggressive, but her role in a romance is usually to coo her boyfriend's name, giggle, and possibly hug him (especially if he is a particularly taciturn character.)

And as for the plots, while she shows herself to be strong and determined, she is always in a situation never of her own making. She is thrust into a position of prominence and has no idea what to do. She falls into an other world, she is presented with a magic wand by a talking cat, she is attacked by a monster without knowing why. She's being made to dress as a boy to attend school because circumstances mean she can't attend as a girl. Now I don't really have anything against the normal person in extraordinary circumstances plot, but very rarely do you see a character that's chosen to be what she is without being somehow pushed into this. (Lina Inverse from Slayers is a notable exception, being a female main character that's on her adventure because she wants to be and is a powerful mage because she wants to be. But I would say most are not so dynamic.)

And if there's ever a situation in which two girls, one scholarly and ambitious, one dim and ditzy and reluctant end up as pseudo-rivals, the heroine is always the dim, ditzy girl. The ambitious girl is usually an enemy (whether duped or of her own will)...(see Fushigi Yuugi or 12 Countries for an example). If both girls for example believe they are the proper leader of the group or a reincarnation of a princess, or whatever, it doesn't matter how talented, smart or regal the ambitious girl is, the "chosen one" will turn out to be the dim, ditzy "normal" girl.

The Bishoujo is 95% of all female main characters. Very rarely will you have a main character female that is an adult or a career woman. I won't say it can't happen, but it's very rare.

2. The Mother: with variations such as the Older Sister. Her sole purpose to the story will be to act as the wise female maternal influence on the main characters. She will rarely, if ever, get plots beyond this, unless they are romantic subplots in which she becomes an older (but still beautiful) version of a Bishoujo.

On the plus side, the Mother is usually a wise and influential character. On the minus side, she's rarely significant to the plot.

3. The Femme Fatale: She's evil usually. Sexual, beautiful, spirited. The Femme Fatale is usually the most interesting female in the whole bunch. Thus she's usually evil and denigrated in shoujo manga (manga directed toward girls). She is always in very revealing clothing.

In shounen manga (manga directed toward boys), the Femme Fatale might end up in a love-hate attraction with the hero, and even seduce him. The hero and the femme fatale will (almost) never settle down with one another though.

If there is ever a situation in which the Bishoujo and the Femme Fatale are fighting over a man (and this happens a LOT), the Bishoujo will always win. And the Femme Fatale will always be evil, resorting to unfair cheating and dishonorable plots. (Usually to show why this supposedly sane man would choose a simpering, ditzy twit over a vibrant, beautiful woman).

The manga/anime Cowboy Bebop's Faye Valentine is one of the few main female characters that is a Femme Fatale rather than a Bishoujo. She does not end the series (anime at least, I don't recall if the manga has ended) with a male character. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, mind you, but Femme Fatales almost never win in terms of romance and if they do end up in a relationship, they usually end up subdued and unrecognizable compared to their former selves.

On the plus side: Femme Fatales are usually great characters: willful, intelligent, competent, ambitious and sexual.

On the down side: This is usually portrayed as a bad thing.
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Now there are always exceptions to this. There are exceptions to everything after all. But I don't really think the Bishoujo's panty shots (especially in cases with supposedly middle school girls) are any better than Vicki Vale's ass.

Now really, I'm sure you could put all superhero comic heroines into similar arbitrary categories and say similar things. I don't really think one is better or worse than the other. But me personally, I'll take the Birds of Prey, Powergirl, Stargirl and Wonder Woman any day. Your own mileage may vary.

(However, I still love Faye Valentine)