(Left: Haruka Nanase from Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club, Right: Yang Xiao Long from RWBY)
Hey everybody, how's it been? As you all know, my last post (from about two months ago, cries*) was about a little mini-review of the anticipated swimming anime Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club. I've watched every released episode as of now and while I can say that is a slice of life anime its got some decent storytelling and a lot of fanservice with young men as the objects of said fanservice. For those who don't know, fanservice in anime is when, well, you service the fans by giving them what they want. When the term first appeared, it generally meant just pleasing fans of specific anime shows by showing off the common themes within that specific anime.
However, as of now the term as changed meaning (as do a lot of words). Now, fanservice usually means eye candy a.k.a showing off characters from a sensual or sexual lense and female characters are predominantly at the center of fanservice however it can also apply to male characters. The aforementioned Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club uses fanservice on the male characters as shown in the above picture-- the main character Haruka is cooking breakfast wearing nothing but an apron and speedo. This is often a fantasy among women for depicting the ideal man. So, now you are still asking: "Okay, what does this have to do with feminism and egalitarianism?"
A while ago a friend of mine, Lilitu, wrote a post on her tumblr about how Silent Hill 3 had some feminist themes, albeit they may have been unintentional. To read her post click here. She made some excellent points about one of my favorite games, things that I had not considered before. Lilitu later redirected me to her older post about feminism and egalitarianism in the popular 1990s anime Slayers, a series that I still have yet to see. Part one of that post can be found here and part two here.
So, now the answer that question from earlier. After reading Lilitu's posts, I got thinking. I had not really thought about it before but I had realized that there are some animes out there that do have feminist and egalitarian themes, and like with Silent Hill 3 they might've been unintentional on the writers' part. Now before we start, I am just going to state a disclaimer: I am not a feminist, nor am I an anti-feminist. No feminist qualities influence my life with the exception of me being a history student and studying the history of feminism along with some feminist theology within my religious studies courses. Also, I will using some animes made outside of Japan for examples, as I do not believe country of origin should dictate the anime's usage to the topic, and I will examine about 4 anime.
The first anime I'd like to address is the mind trip known as Ergo Proxy, a series set in the far future with a dystopian society where humans coexist with robots and servant-like androids called AutoReivs. AutoReivs have a variety of functions to which they serve humans with. In the main plot, there is a virus which infects the AutoReivs which causes them to become self-aware, commit violent crimes, question reality, and overall upset society's order. Behind the scenes, there are certain humanoids lifeforms called Proxy which are believe to hold secrets of mankind. The series also has slight hints of Gnosticism as its theme; Gnosticism is a religion and/or philosophy that can be described as an alternate Christianity where views of femininity vary.
The show's main female protagonist Re-l Mayer (pictured above) is what brings out the feminist themes in the anime. Re-l is the granddaughter of the city's leader and is constantly under surveillance from those around her. Re-l is an inspector/officer from the city's Citizen Intelligence Bureau, not really a job for the privileged heiress of the city's leader; as such many expect Re-l to follow in her grandfather's footsteps and take on a less physical role than one that is similar to a police officer. She has a rebellious nature particular against many of the male characters within the series which adds the feminist elements, Re-l does not have many interactions with other female characters (nor are there many other poignant female characters within the series beside the Monad Proxy and Pino). Despite this rebellious nature, Re-l still has her "snotty privileged" attitude about her, so much so that in the original Japanese dub she addresses the main male protagonist Vincent as "omae (お前)", a word for "you" in Japanese that is very informal in nature and shows how the speaker is of higher status than those they are addressing.
Re-l was constantly rebelling against her grandfather so she could get away from him and his influence (as mentioned in the last paragraph about her joining the Citizen Intelligence Bureau), she constantly tries to get her AutoReiv Iggy (who is basically male, but since he is a robot and not a human has no real gender) from following and monitoring her, she takes advantage of Daedalus Yumeno's love for her, and she keeps telling Vincent (who loves her and whom she loves back) that he doesn't need to keep rushing in to save her. It is clear that Re-l is able to fight and take care of herself, for the most part anyway. Now, Re-l does not hate men and again the issue with Ergo Proxy is that there are not a lot of other female characters that Re-l interacts with so many will question the feminist themes. Gender equality is not established or mentioned in the city where Re-l and Vincent live, however within Re-l specifically the feminist themes persist. She doesn't want anyone helping her, she doesn't want to be her grandfather's "little princess", nor does she want someone who loves her to keep fighting for her or protecting her just because they love her.
However, Ergo Proxy is not an anime with fanservice. There's maybe a brief scene in the first episode where Re-l begins to undress for a shower but nothing is explicitly shown nor is the camera view focused on one part of her body. So, Re-l is not objectified as some feminists would put it however she is almost always covered from neck to toe in the same outfit. Many feminists could argue that Re-l is being forced to cover up, just as many feminists argue that Muslim women are being forced to cover via the hijab or burqa. Well, no one is forcing Re-l to cover up, maybe the animators and character designer since they technically keep her that way but its not forced upon her in the show. However, anybody who has watched Ergo Proxy knows that Re-l still has definitive sensual figure that even though her clothing hides can still be seen as being attractive.
It is this physical appearance of Re-l that may live up to feminist standards. Not showing anything but still knowing she has an attractive body. And again, her personality and attitude towards men and herself show a feminist theme. As I stated before however, I do not think that these specific feminist themes were intentional. Moving away from Ergo Proxy, we moved to an anime series that was made right in our (to those whom it may apply) backyard, again it should not matter if the show was made in Japan or not for it to be considered anime as long as it fits the animation style.
(Avatar: The Legend of Korra)
Okay, I know this is probably going to make some heads tilt but just hear me out. I am not only referring to The Legend of Korra but also the original series The Last Airbender (I would've have put both pictures but since the second season of LoK debuted the night before I began writing this I just put this picture). For starters, in the original Last Airbender there are four different nations that are sprawled across the globe the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads (that last of the four is practically extinct in the original series). Each nation had examples, albeit they were limited, of how the status of men and women were in their individual societies. The Fire Nation was at best an example of an egalitarian society, one might not immediately recognise this due to how they were seen as the enemies in the original series.
In the Fire Nation, there seems to be no issues between the genders, it seems like equality is almost expected of everyone in society. As shown with Zuko's and Azula's childhoods, it seems both boys and girls are tasked with the same work and no aid was given to either one of them and if and when both had overcomed said work they were given the same amount of respect and awards. As shown on the Avatar Wiki, the Fire Nation saw that unity can ensure prosperity (click here and here) which required equal treatment of both genders. Even when Azula temporarily named herself as the Fire Nation's next ruler she still went by the title Fire Lord rather than Fire Lady or Princess and no one took issue with the change in gender for the title. Furthermore, the Fire Nation is not against women joining the military as seen throughout the series; in fact, when Prince Zuko fights the Kiyoshi Warriors (whom I'll be discussing next) early in the series he is neither intimidated by them nor does consider weak. However, it is not Azula who takes up the feminist ideals and the one who does may not seem that way at first.
Now before I mention that said person, we will look at the Earth Kingdom; the person who fits the feminist ideals is not from the Earth Kingdom but still there needs to be clarification. The social issues behind the Earth Kingdom are never established as such gender roles and equality are never mentioned or looked at, but like the Fire Nation there is apparently some hint of egalitarianism. Avatar Kiyoshi was a female avatar from the Earth Kingdom, a strong and powerful woman who is the first mentioned female avatar (but not the first female avatar) in the series. She established the Kiyoshi Warriors to protect her home island, a band of all-female warriors all of whom seemed to be respected on their island and throughout the Earth Kingdom; according to the original series men were not forbidden from joing the group however very few ever joined in its history. When the Kiyoshi Warriors are first introduced, the character Sokka doubts their abilities and strength, this is mostly due to the fact that he comes from the Water Tribes were women do not serve in the military. Eventually Suki, the current leader of the Kiyoshi Warriors in the Last Airbender (I assumed that they are disbanded by the time of Legend of Korra) teaches Sokka that the Kiyoshi Warriors are able to defend themselves well enough despite being girls.
But again, Suki is more egalitarian than feminist and if you think that fan favorite Toph Beifong is "feminist" then that is incorrect. Yes, Toph does rebel against certain characters to defend herself but its not due to her gender. The first time she's introduced, Toph's parents claim that she cannot help herself or fight due to her blindness. So Toph's struggle in the series is more for showing people that being blind is not always a disadvantage. She even benefits from her blindness by increasing her other senses in order to help her fight.
As for the Air Nomads, not much can be said as in the original series Aang is the only one left and everyone else was killed by the Fire Nation. The Air Nomads' society seemed to be a theocratic one analogous to a Buddhist-based society as shown with the existence of monastic orders of monks and nuns. It is interesting to note that when Buddhism originally started out it only consisted of male adherents, but some time after the Buddha's enlightenment and initial teachings he was approached by Mahapajapati Gotami who was both his aunt, foster mother, and childhood nurse. She originally asked him to let her to be apart of the sangha (or Buddhist community) to which he refused. After cutting off her hair and wearing yellow robes, she approached him again and with the aid of one of his disciples she convinced the Buddha to let women be apart of Buddhism. The reason I bring this up is because after the acceptance of women into Buddhism, many women who became bhikkhunis (Buddhist nuns) later recorded in personal tomes that being apart of the sangha freed them from the pain of being a housewife or servant.
So, if the Air Nomads are based on such Buddhist societies there may have been egalitarianism. But again, it is not with the Air Nomads that we find a "feminist character". It is within the Water Tribes that we find a feminist-like character, and that is Katara.
In her Silent Hill 3 post, Lilitu points out that the main female character, Heather Mason, is deemed by the titular town's religious cult to be "the Mother of God" and that is her only role that is important to them. The Northern Water has a more spiritual connection to the world than the south, some that the sequel Legend of Korra expands upon. It is possible that the Northern Water Tribe's spirituality maybe the reason for the women's roles as the Southern Tribe seems to have a more egalitarian view of women and Sokka has no quarrel with Katara waterbending (unless she comically harases him), however that is only suggestion and there's no real evidence to support it, perhaps Legend of Korra may tell us more. Anyway, it is Katara who at most represents feminism in the Last Airbender, but only to the Northern Water Tribe. Katara makes a point to the bender Pakku that she and the other female waterbenders should not just be limited to the role of healing and that she is perfectly able to fight.
Katara kept this view till the Last Airbender's series finale and was able to to defend herself. She notably fought alongside Zuko against his sister Azula, a fight that greatly damaged him due to him throwing himself in the way of Azula's lightning that was aimed at Katara. Zuko only wanted the fight Azula alone at first because he thought it solely dealt with his honor, something he had hoped to obtain since the series' beginning. Azula's defeat was not due to her gender but due to her mental instability and overconfidence. Both Katara and Zuko, despite bending different elements, were equal in power and strategy showing that there was equality between the two (to see Zuko's and Katara's final battle with Azula click here).
As for the Legend of Korra, the sequel series, I cannot say for sure that there is any feminist themes or characters. Egalitarianism seems to be overall accomplished. Korra is looked down upon some characters but not do to her gender. They recognize that she is the avatar, and as such may only give her credit and respect due to that statues. Those who look down upon Korra only do so because they believe her avatar training is incomplete, especially her connecting to the Spirit World (as referenced in the above paragraphs).
As stated multiple times over, these feminist and egalitarian themes may be completely unintentional. Nevertheless, its goes to show that anime is not just Japanese cartoons filled with fanservice. This is not the end of this topic, I will be reviewing about two more (possibly three) anime in mind to further look into the topic. Two other animes in mind are Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club and RWBY, I may review Day Break Illusion. I hoped that you read this post with care and if you have any questions, post away. See you soon.
PART 2 with Free!, RWBY, and possible other title coming soon!
