In the world of anime it is well known that its fans, the “otakus” are usually people who are outside the classic stereotype that has damaged its image for a long time, but sometimes there is a sector of them who are in the minority, but are usually quite loud in forums and social networks on the internet, with quite strident, unconventional, politically incorrect and even in some cases a little out of place opinions. Today this small group is in the news again due to a very peculiar discussion in a famous Japanese forum where obviously anime and its “female protagonists” are at the center of this debate.
Otakus are “concerned” that there are more girl leads than boy leads in anime lately.
Recently, an entry in a famous Japanese forum, there would be a quite heated discussion among Japanese otaku, as the publication reported as a curiosity that the most popular and recent anime was having more female protagonists and not the classic male protagonist and that this was a growing trend. Anime such as “Bocchi The Rock“, “Lycoris Recoil“, “Oshi no Ko“, among others, were some of the most representative and had caused more repercussion in their premiere and throughout their broadcasting season.
This evidently generated many reactions among anime and manga fans in Japan, since many said that it was “normal” that studios and new stories bet and focused on beautiful and pretty girls as protagonists instead of maladjusted male protagonists with unreal harem fantasies or isekai type stories, since it was more attractive and captivating for the average viewer stories like the first ones. But that was not all, a sector of otakus felt that this was not as innocent as it seemed.
This small group of Otakus opined that this was due to the influence of the “F Collective” and their discourse towards men as evil and the cause of all problems, and that this had evidently affected and permeated the anime industry, resulting in fewer and fewer stories focusing on the male protagonists of yesteryear. Another group in the comments also referred ironically and mockingly that this was the only way for anime fans to have some female interaction, since at this point they were surprised that there were people “still watching anime”.
Finally, there were also comments that emphasized that this situation mattered very little to them, as long as they were yuri or “girls love” stories, since those were very important for the industry and the otaku community in Japan. Although the female protagonism is growing in anime lately, it is due to the fact that many stories in which they participate, also have many elements that make them very interesting for the general public and that give them a different touch than the “shonen” we are used to and where we see more men as protagonists.
For our part, we can only say that the stories where more women than men participate are also very captivating, as well as the great majority that this beautiful industry gives us, so otaku have many to choose from, and this is a great sign that this medium continues to grow by leaps and bounds and we hope it continues to give us many works that leave us impressed and captivated alike.
