Revolutionary Girl; Utena!

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a manga and an anime. The main character is Utena Tenjou, a tomboyish teenage girl who decided to become a prince instead of a princess when she was young (expressed in her manner of dress and personality). She attends Ohtori Academy, where she meets a student named Anthy Himemiya, a girl who is in an abusive relationship with another student. Utena fights to protect Anthy and is pulled into a series of sword duels with the members of the Student Council. Anthy is referred to as the "Rose Bride" and is given to the winner of each duel. As Anthy is thought to be the key to a coming revolution, the current champion is constantly challenged for the right to possess the Rose Bride.

With its plays on such archetypal figures as the Prince, the Princess, or the Witch, and by the literary symbolic role carried out by such plot elements as coffins, thorns, or castles, Utena can be seen as the quintessence of the Postmodernist fairy tale. One important aspect of Revolutionary Girl Utena is that it grabs traditional ideas and perceptions, and twists them around. For example, it is often debated-and indirectly shown, in the series that Anthy and Utena are both the princesses of the prince who is Dios, or Akio, or both. This is in stark contrast to the generally accepted trope that princes have only one princess, whom they unfailingly love and protect. Dios and Akio are both shown to be protective of Utena and Anthy in their own way but are incapable of doing it properly. Dios' self-destructive altruism leads to Anthy position as the Rose Bride, his existence as a powerless spirit, and the creation of Akio. As for Akio himself, it is debated how much he really cares for Utena or Anthy, but his ambition and lust for power ultimately overrides any love he might have felt for them both.

It should be noted that the series invokes sexual themes quite often (especially in the final arc), some of which are incestuous desire, actual incest, and sexual abuse. While these themes are often important within the narrative, they are usually not directly stated or shown in the series. There is somewhat more explicit sexual imagery in the motion picture, although it is still far from pornographic. The omnipresence of phallic symbols, such as swords, towers, and cars, and the sexual connotation of dewy petaled flowers contributes to the sense of urgent sexuality, repressed and otherwise, in the series.

Another very important and recurrent theme is of gender roles (freely chosen or socially imposed), which play a large part in the series, from its very premise in which Utena wishes to be a prince and not a princess. As problematised as gender is in Utena, sexual desire itself is quite fluid; most characters at least hint at having both same-sex and opposite-sex attractions.
Chief among the romantic relationships in Utena is that between Utena and Anthy. It is subtle in the TV series, but less ambiguous in the movie. While Utena (especially in the movie) is boyish, strong, and physically aggressive ("masculine" traits), she is more emotional and innocent than the wearily experienced Anthy.

Much of the series -- arguably, in a way the entire series -- revolves around the transition between childhood and adulthood, and all that implies, notably development of sexual feelings and identity and the loss of "innocence." Most of the characters are estranged from a loved one in their childhood, something which affects them deeply and arguably stunts them, and this relationship is often complicated or corrupted by a sexual element.

Another theme of Utena is the reinterpretation of classic shōjo manga themes and motifs. Examples may be seen in the failure of "heroic" male characters, Utena's refusal to become a princess (and refusal to sacrifice her femininity in order to become a 'prince'), Anthy's subversion of the demure female role, and various plays on conventions in the genre, such as the transformation of outfits and idealized notions of friendship and love.

I love this series, LOVE IT. It embodys so many amazing ideas and actually gives justification to the girl who was always the prince in the pretend games with friends (guilty). Utena (in all her incarnations no matter what) is (one of) my HEROINE(s).

The Painted Doll

I wanted to do a blog reacting just to an image, just to see how it would go. Most people have seen Memoirs of a Geisha, and even if they haven't a Geisha is a powerful symbol of what we think of as Eastern femininity.

My reaction to Memoirs was not as positive as others. Most of my friends loved the movie and had nothing but praise for it. I hated it. The whole idea of living in debt to someone, having your virginity bought, being a dress up doll who entertains, it all seemed sickening. I want to be open to other cultures and understand that these women are highly respected for their work as entertainers and artists (contrary to popular belief, Geisha are not protitutes. That misconception was born of allied occupation in WWII, when prostitutes would mimick a Geisha's makeup. However their kimono's were worn in the traditional fashion indicating a prostitute, American's at the time were ignorant of the difference, and so all Geisha came to be known as prostitutes.). But it was all so depressing, so lonely, so... well for lack of a better word, owned.

Hayao Miyazaki

Most people may not know what studio Ghibli is (mores the pity for them) and even fewer people know who Hayao Miyazaki is, but he's a legend. He's compared to Walt Disney for gods sake! Basically, he's an animation god. His animated films are world renowned and have won many Major awards, competing with live actions films for box office gross in Japan. But the cool thing about Miyazaki is that, "Miyazaki is a feminist, actually. He has this conviction that to be successful, companies have to make it possible for their female employees to succeed too," said Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki. You can see this attitude in Princess Mononoke. All characters working the bellows in the iron works are women. Then there's Porco Rosso. Porco's plane is rebuilt entirely by women. These views are apparent in Miyazaki's films as well, with many memorable, strong female protagonists that go against gender roles common in Japanese animation and fiction. None of these heroins are scantly clad or vapid in any sense, but are all unique and stand out as positive images of/ for women. The imagry is always stunning and the stories moving. So please check out one or two of these links.

Miyazaki's Biography and Works Summery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsUZvc-nwtM

A Short Compelation of Scenes from Various Works (HIGHLY suggested)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTuZlSAF5rE

Video Games: The Boobs and the Bad Rap

We've all seen video games with girls in tight, barley there outfits. These girls are usually big breasted and rail skinny to the point that when people do the math, that if a person was comparable in size, her spine would literally snap. Many of today's fighting games actually have "jiggle settings" in the menus so you can control just how much the women's breasts bounce when they move. Just take a look at the girls a gamer website elected as "the hottest video game girls."

http://www.good-thing.net/pictures/hottest_video_game_woman.php

The gaming industry argues that these women have compelling back stories and are strong, independent characters that are just as respected as the male characters. Yet for some reason we don't see resin 1/10 scale model kits of the male characters being made in removable swimsuits (or LESS).

Check out this DOA (Dead or Alive) video!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_PXsAXbDus

lol and that's the most PG one available

Claymore: Women and the Sword

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZYTMTgvSI

^Watch that trailor it is AWESOME^

In a world where humans coexist with creatures called Yoma (sentient monsters that feed on human organs, aka demons) a nameless and highly secretive organization has created an order of warriors called Claymores to protect humans from the Yoma, for a fee. One Claymore warrior, Clare, struggles to hold on to her humanity while she fights the Yoma. As a child, Clare was adopted by the Claymore Teresa. Teresa rebels against the organization by killing humans in an attempt to protect Clare; and is subsequently killed (Claymores can only slay Yoma), so Clare volunteers to become a Claymore using Teresa's flesh to take revenge on the Awakened Being, an exceptionally powerful form of Yoma, who killed her. With determination and her human friend Raki by her side, Clare overcomes her low demonic power by honing the skills she inherited from Teresa, and other Claymores. As the series progresses, she becomes stronger and a better fighter, gradually earning the respect of strong allies and coming in conflict with the shadowy organization, the top Claymores who support them, and many powerful Awakened Beings.

This all sounds pretty good for women; as only a woman can become a Claymore. But to do this she must relinquish her body by transmuting her flesh with a Yoma's to gain the powers necessary to fight them. She becomes a Claymore, which isn't just a honorary title but a species in itself. She is no longer human, cannot age, live among humans, and every time she fights she risks loosing the last part of her human soul to the Yoma powers she inherited (An Awakened Being is a Claymore who lost their humanity after battling too long or too hard). These women are servants to the organization that created them, they wander slaying Yoma where they find them, and are feared second only to the Yoma.

So why is it that when a woman becomes a powerful force she becomes inhuman, even though she is still capable of feeling? Why is a powerful woman a demon, when a powerful man is respected? Not only that, but during the series it mentions a race of male Claymore's, they were more powerful but less useful, because they used their demon powers too often (thereby becoming demons) because the use of it resembled sexual release, thereby also inferring that the old belief that women have no sex and no sexual pleasure is true.

(All things considered though, I love this series)

Japan's Advances in Women's Rights... WHATS THE HOLD UP?!

Argh, long article about abuse...
http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/summer02/fulcher.html

Okay, so how stupid is it that it's taken them this long to admit that there's a problem? I think the reason is because only lately (like, the past twentyish years) have women actually been admitting to the fact this goes on. A HUGE part of Japanese culture is based on upholding the honor of your family and your spouse. To report your abusive husband would be to shame him in public, something that even today in many Japanese minds is worse than being in said relationship. Most women would rather go back to living in their families households than shaming themselves/their spouses/ their children/ or their families. What Japanese women are starting to figure out is that if your husband beats you, he's shaming himself. You're not the one doing it by reporting him, and that shame shouldn't/ doesn't have anything to do with your children or your family or you.

Weddings in Japan

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Japan- Acting like a little kid?

So I found a short little article about social pressures on women in Japan to conform to popular stereotypes portrayed in anime.
http://www.animereviews.org/archivelist.cfm?Ed=30&t=Women_in_Anime

While personally I don't favor any anime titles that do this, I won't deny their existence (or how flat out boring and annoying they tend to be). The majority of the titles that portray the "cute little girl" as being the most attractive are fluffy romance series that I don't spend time watching, but a lot of girls do. After reading this I started to think about all the anime conventions I had been to, where American girls who spend a lot of time watching anime always acted bubbly and giggly to an annoying degree. I always just ignored it and said it was probably because they were just really excited for con or because they were dorky middle schoolers (anime has had a big flood of pre-teen fans showing up thanks to shows like Naruto being aired in primetime slots on cartoon network). But now that I think about it they're behavior might be the result of all those candy-coated titles that are being so readily translated these days (when I was younger most of the titles brought to the U.S. had been aimed at boys, so it was mainly giant robots and violent gunfighter anime where the only women present were as serious, dangerous, and gun-toting as the male cast, Sailor Moon was the closest thing to a "girly anime" in those days).

Obviously the whole idea is creepy to Americans. The whole concept of acting like a innocent child to be more desirable to us reeks of pedophilia. What you kind of have to understand and take into account is that in Japan, cuteness is everywhere. It's culturally embraced and celebrated on all scales (In government publications, public service warnings, office environments, military advertisements, and commercial airliners use cute mascots. Corporations sell millions of dollars in cute mascot merchandise; Hello Kitty, Pokemon etc). It isn't thought of as juvenile or inappropriate when used in almost any context, it's just the way things are, for whatever reason, it's just the culture. (And no, pedophilia is NOT endorsed)

But how do I personally feel?
I'm an American, and the idea of twenty and thirty somethings acting like children to attract men... well... as much as Japanese culture fascinates me... I think it's creepy.