Ask John: Are Sexually Ambivalent Males a New Anime Trend?

Question:
Should it be considered a relatively new trend that male protagonists in a “harem” scenario are portrayed as (for the most part) oblivious to “more-than-friendly” interest shown towards them by females? In Ladies Versus Butlers Hino Akiharu shows virtually no interest when some girls (eventually including his childhood friend Tomomi and the resident ojou/tsundere) start developing feelings for him. In Infinite Stratos I conclude that Orimura Ichika, for the most part, sees these girls only as classmates and/or friends, and no more. The fan base – or certain elements thereof – seems to enjoy the aspect of To Aru Majutsu no Index which addresses the seemingly increasing number of females who are, for all practical purposes, falling in love with Touma, who is portrayed as being completely oblivious to all this attention.

Answer:
It’s relevant and particularly important to distinguish that anime including Ladies vs Butlers, Infinite Stratos, Toaru Majutsu no Index, Mahou Sensei Negima, and Acchi Kocchi are not harem anime but rather anime which include characteristics of harem anime. Within that context, a previously unseen type of male anime character may be slowly emerging, but the now traditional formula of harem anime is not evolving, at least in the means under scrutiny. Harem anime specifically exist to illustrate the Japanese fantasy concept of “moteki,” the idea that any man may spontaneously undergo a period of his life during which time he’s inexplicably exceptionally attractive to women. Harem anime are a wish fulfillment fantasy that give a young man the opportunity to engage with an carefully select his ideal romantic partner from among a selection of candidates. Anime like Negima, Infinite Stratos, Index, and Acchi Kocchi are not about boys seeking romantic fulfillment; they’re action, adventure, and comedy shows. However, the characterizations of their protagonists may reflect previously unseen attitudes in Japanese culture.

Obliviousness to romantic advances may be logical for Japanese anime. In B-gata H-Kei, male lead character Takashi Kosuda never notices that his childhood friend Mayu has a crush on him. Jinta in AnoHana doesn’t recognize that his childhood friend “Anaru” likes him. At least early in the Negima story, Negi Springfield may be too young to comprehend the romantic interest of the older girls that surround him. Typical Japanese boys, especially otaku who don’t frequently socialize with the opposite sex, simply aren’t adept at perceiving subtle suggestion from girls. Notice that in the current Nazo no Kanojo X anime series, Mikoto Urabe has to literally explain to teenage boy Akira Tsubaki that he’s in love, and the couple form a relationship with a blunt verbal contract that removes any subtlety or necessity for interpretation or perception. Boys that lack socializing experience and lack effusive self-confidence don’t presume that they’re attractive or desirable; thus they don’t immediately recognize when girls subtly come onto them. Anime recognizes and incorporates this common fact.

Anime may additionally be starting to reflect a more dire trend within Japanese society: sexual ambivalence. While Negi Springfield may not have understood girls’ romantic approaches when he was a child, by the end of the story, he’s certainly old enough to understand, yet he still exerts no directed response to any of the particular girls. Io Otonashi in Acchi Kocchi seems to be aware that romantic interest exists, but he seemingly half-consciously, half-unconsciously ignores romantic entreaties directed at himself. Kamijou Touma in Toaru Index seems to subconsciously choose to ignore female advances. Orimura Ichika in Infinite Stratos seems to even more obviously intentionally ignore romantic appeals. Real world statistics paired with common anecdote suggest that Japanese men are losing interest in romantic and sexual engagement with women. Real-life engagements are expensive, time-consuming, and, most importantly, emotionally nerve-wracking. So a percentage of contemporary Japanese males prefer non-committal paid sex or self-satisfaction. Contemporary anime seems to recognize and reflect this sentiment in characters like Keima Katsuragi of Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai who prefers the predictability of 2D women over real-life women. Other anime like Infinite Stratos and Toaru Index seem to also reflect this contemporary Japanese attitude that romantic partnerships are more trouble than they’re worth. Genshiken also seems to respond to this philosophy, rejecting it by depicting young men who initial prefer 2D girls then convincing them to at least dial back their stance enough to get real, human girlfriends.

Although anime might actually benefit from otaku watching it instead of dating, I don’t believe that anime is consciously trying to undermine Japanese teen and young adult social relationships or the foundations of Japanese society. In order to stay relevant to Japanese viewer interests, and because it’s created by Japanese artists, anime includes and exhibits ideas circulating within Japanese society. Viewers haven’t seen male anime characters particularly ambivalent towards the opposite sex because anime narratives from the 1960’s to early 2000’s didn’t frequently depict situations or settings that allowed for such character types. Anime including St. Seiya, Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball, Trigun, Rurouni Kenshin, Recca no Hounou, Majutsushi Orphen, Cluster Edge, Busou Renkin, and Fullmetal Alchemist simply don’t utilize narrative structures that surround male characters with several female characters who could develop romantic interests. The male character that fails to see or even consciously ignores female advances has only been possible in relatively recent anime like Tactical Roar, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, Macademy Wasshoi, and Seitokai Yakuindomo which borrow setting concepts from harem anime but aren’t harem anime. I don’t know if the romantically oblivious or ambivalent male anime protagonist is genuinely an emerging trend or just one component of a developing new subtle variation of anime narrative composition, but the character type certainly is limited primarily to contemporary anime and seems to parallel trends in contemporary real-life Japanese society.