After a year and a half through the pandemic, anime has seen a rise in popularity. People of all ages have spent hours on streaming sites binging and investing in this genre because it have thought-provoking storylines, endless possibilities and relatable characters. As anime continues to broaden their demographic to more young female viewers, it is important to analyze how women are representation on their media.
Every anime viewer has come across at least one show that portrays their female characters with exaggerated body proportions, sexual attires or using them as a story line progression tool, typically as the love interest, rather than developing them as their own individual. This could be concerning to younger viewers especially when animators go out their way to provided “fanservice” for the male audience which could warp people’s perception of women.
Body types in Anime
The portrayal of women in anime normally goes two way. It reflects the Japanese beauty standard with the petite and innocent-like appearance because Japan is a country that puts a lot of value in thinness being one of the main component of a woman’s beauty, so it is very rare to see a female character that branches out from the slim cookie- cutter type. Another type is female characters bodies are depicted disproportionally to appeal to the male gaze. The anime industry leans so much into the sexualizing of women that it has become a trope for Japanese cartoonist to emphasize the typically feminine aspect of their female character bodies. For example, in One Piece, the character Nami was first shown as a normal sized breast woman and it was not long before her appearance has changed to her breast tripling in sizes and her wearing a constant bikini top.
Women Clothing in Anime
Female character is all form of media has to deal with ridiculous and unrealistic outfits that is only used to make them more sexually attractive. It typically never has anything to do with the character’s personality or role in show. In My Hero Academia, Momo Yaoyorozu is a fifteen year old girl with the power type to create any non-living material and object from her skin. She is depicted to have a very revealing outfit that is she opens up occasionally as a gag that serves no purpose other than making her look “hot.”
Female Character Development
For the most part, anime has a problem with writing well – written female characters. Many lean into the “main characters saves the poor girl’ trope which causes female characters to lack in personalities and character development. Most, if not all of their interactions and wants is centered around the male mc. We have seen this with Naruto, Death Note and My Hero Academia. A reason for this is because the anime community is predominantly male but many manga writers like Gege Akutami, Koyoharu Gotouge, and Hajime Isayama are starting to break the cycle by treating their female characters just like the male characters; giving them a proper background history and personal agency.
Animators and creators have to understand with more women starting to watch anime, so it is important for them to change the current standard of representation of women in anime and to do right by their female audience by portraying them accurately.