Ask John: Are Female Characters in Current Anime Getting Stronger?

Question:
I’ve notice that lately female characters are getting stronger and stronger whereas male characters are getting weaker and weaker. Is this a trend, or is it just me?

Answer:
Honestly, it’s always difficult to prove or disprove the presence of trends in anime without examples, but in this case I’ll do my best to compose an answer by providing my own examples. Judging by this year’s anime, I personally don’t see a significant, undeniable movement toward focusing on strong and dominant women and weak or insignificant men. But that doesn’t mean that such a trend isn’t occurring. In fact, upon close inspection, there are examples that support this theory.

Over the past several years Japan’s anime output has been heavily dominated by the “moe” fetish – a concentration on adorable, sweet girls, and “tsundere” girls that satisfy Japanese fans’ psychological craving for affectionate chastisement. But an opposing reaction to that trend may be slowly, subtly developing. Or rather, anime characteristics that predate the “moe” wave may be resurfacing. Anime from the 1980s and 1990s include countless examples of powerful, aggressive women from the Dirty Pair to Gunsmith Cats to Ghost in the Shell. But the 2000s have been largely dominated by pining, melancholy schoolgirls drawn from dating simulation computer games. While titles like Air, Kanon, Utawarerumono, and the upcoming Clannad that concentrate on females who seemingly exist just to gratify male egos are still prevalent, there are also an increasing number of anime that feature independent, dominant female characters.

Ikkitousen Dragon Destiny, Seirei no Moribito, and Claymore all concentrate on physically powerful and aggressive female warriors. The later two specifically involve female warriors protecting weaker, younger male companions. Hime, Lisa, and Reiri in Kaibutsu Oujo are all more competent and physically more powerful than male protagonist Hiro. The cast of female ninja in Himawari all physically more capable than primary male character Hayato. The female cast of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is frequently more responsible for controlling events than male character Keiichi Maebara. San of Seto no Hanayome often seems more composed and in control than male protagonist Nagasumi.

A number of current anime series depict male characters serving under females including Kaibutsu Oujo, Hayate no Gotoku, Zero no Tsukaima ~Futatsuki no Kishi~, and Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei. Similarly, Ayano Kannagi of Kaze no Stigma is an aggressive, proud leader. Male character Ootani in Love Com is consistently depicted as ignorant compared to the physically bigger Risa Koizumi. Similarly, Lucky Star presents Minoru Shiraishi as Akira Kogami’s under appreciated assistant. The female characters in Denno Coil outshine male character Kenichi Harakawa and reign over Daichi Sawaguchi’s clan.

Virtually all of these examples are subtle ones that aren’t especially obvious unless one is specifically looking for them. Even collectively I don’t think these current examples definitively establish a new trend of female empowerment and receding male presence. Specifically, I don’t think that these examples can be, or should be taken as evidence that dominant female characters are the wave of the future, destined to brush aside “moe” and become the new overt, dominant theme for hardcore fan oriented anime. But this rise in dominant female characters may be a sign of a growing weariness with the omni-presence of “moe,” a growing interest in thematic diversity, or a resurgence of older, traditional anime themes.