Anime is such a sophisticated form of television production. The most popular movies and television series are a showcase of animation, artistry and storytelling. For manga adaptations of anime, especially those with a large fanbase, the transition of the story from paper to the screen is something that comes with large expectations. The most popular, identifiable anime characters that have transcended the nerd circle into parts of popular culture are Pikachu, Sailor Moon, and Goku from Dragon Ball who was chosen as the Tokyo Olympics mascot. I see the appeal of anime is similar to those who game. Some watch it casually. For others it is their main hobby or interest. Anyway, the introduction to anime is often dominated by male characters. Finding female characters who are not overly sexualized, have developed personalities,  and have competent skills can be a hurdle. But the male characters have a widely likeable appeal with a different sort of masculine image than Batman. 

Shounen is a category of manga targeted towards boys between the age of 12 and 18. Shounen is the most popular type of manga. There is a different category of manga that is targeted towards girls of the same age range. Shounen manga tend to be action oriented but can cover genres of comedy, romance, and mystery. There is a lot of diversity within the shounen category, while shoujo tends to be limited to romance. Why is shounen more popular than shoujo? There are several reasons. First, shounen can be diverse in appeal even though it is targeted towards boys. Japan is a society that is patriarchal and is dominated by men in many sectors of life such as work and politics. Therefore, the gendering of entertainment is one way that Paula England’s thinking about the progress of feminism in the current day holds true “… that women are most likely to challenge gender boundaries when there is no path of upward mobility without doing so,” (2010). In order for women to be included in anime/manga pop culture worldwide, they are encouraged to watch and read things targeted towards boys. I’m not saying that girls watching/reading shounen is bad and that they should read/watch shoujo, but I am saying that it is not acceptable for shoujo to be the most popular category of manga/anime by being consumed by both boys and girls. 

Manga is published weekly or monthly in magazines. For categories like shounen which has a large audience and is a respectable category, a chapter of a series are published weekly. The most famous magazine is Shounen Jump. If an author’s work is published in Shounen Jump, it is likely very popular and will have an anime adaptation. Anime adaptations are akin to movie adaptations for book series. Some of the most visible anime characters have been pop figures for over 30 years. Goku of Dragon Ball Z has been animated since 1989 and was published in manga since 1985. Goku is this super strong human-appearing alien with the ability to gain new abilities through every story arc. Power ups occur regularly through popular shounen storylines as the character develops new abilities and moves for his personal battle arsenal. One Piece featuring Monkey D. Luffy has been published since 1997 and has sold approximately 443 million copies of volumes of its series. These stories are lifelong ones and inform people worldwide. Even if the viewership is intended to be maturing boys, the audience is more diverse than that. 

The first part of the formula for many shounen main characters is that they have a tragic backstory. Is one of their parents dead or nonexistent in the series? Probably. Do they have any friends? For the most part no. Do they have big dreams? Yes. Luffy wants to be King of the Pirates in a world full of pirates. Naruto wants to become the leader of his ninja village hometown where was ostracized from birth to the age of 13. Through ups and downs, these characters learn about what is important to them, how to become mentally strong, and how to protect their recently found loved ones. Usually they are the non-aggressors in fights with villains in the series. They fight to defend the people they care about and to achieve their goals. They want to be friends with everyone due to the fact they grew up without friends. Lastly, they don’t care about breaking the rules because they have to do everything they can to protect the people they care about and they are the “chosen one.” Most of these characters are between the age of 12-18, the same age as the target audience. They are characterized to reflect some of the circumstances their audience may face: an absent parent, social isolation, and hope for the future. These characters provide an opportunity for boys to see a model who is overcome incredible disadvantages such as lack of experience and weakness in order to become someone inspirational, loved, and strong. These characters exalt these characteristics for men. The women characters showcase different features. 

Many manga authors are men. There are popular female authors who write shounen manga and have been commercially successful in Japan and internationally, such as Rumiko Takahashi creator of Inuyasha and other successful manga series and Hiromu Arakawa of the Fullmetal Alchemist series. There is author Naoko Takeuchi of the popular shoujo series Sailor Moon. The manga authors of long running popular series like One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Detective Conan, Naruto are all men. Why does it matter that the authors are men? Well, the way the female characters are drawn is something outstanding. Their breasts are obnoxiously huge and their waists are small as a toothpick, like an exaggerated Barbie.

In Naruto, the most prominent female character has a crush on the series villain for the entire first half of Naruto. She was a girl with a crush who found the main character annoying. That was her character. Compared to the Dragon Ball series, at least she was a part of the main storyline. Although One Piece has inhuman portrayals of women in the series, many of the women, like Robin, are mentally and physically strong with complex backgrounds, even if they are constantly sexualized by the “pervert” character. The female characters can be strong but they often fall within tropes such as criminal, headstrong woman, alcoholic, clueless victim, or love-obsessed at the beginning of the series. Not all women characters are like this, but they are common enough that a seasoned anime watcher would have seen these types of characters in multiple stories. These tropes would not be bothersome if the women characters were developed from the get-go. Shounen is targeted towards boys but has mass appeal to fans of all genders all over the world. 

Superheroes are predominantly male characters. The Avengers has one lady officially in the group. Anime characters from Japan do the same thing. I cannot critique Japan’s domination of male heroes in manga and anime without acknowledging that the U.S. does the same thing. Many storylines of popular action films revolve around male characters, especially old series like Bond. But in Japan, there is a certain type of masculinity conveyed through the popular anime characters. Characters like Naruto, Goku, and Luffy deal with the painful trials differently. They are optimistic and charismatic even though they have experienced the most painful life experiences that some viewers could not even imagine. Even so, they are able to form inspiring relationships with the people they meet and are able to change the world they live in. Issues with this male-centric representation of “world changers” does show that even if there are powerful women around, maybe only a man has the ability to be a “world changer.” Even though shounen manga are targeted towards boys, there is an audience that are not girls who might want to see diverse representations of themselves and their abilities in anime so that they find a more humanized interpretation of girls in these shows.

Written by Zoe Clark

Sources:

England, P. (2010). The gender revolution: Uneven and stalled. Gender & society, 24(2), 149-166.