Quickie anime linkspam.

[nenena]

1. Nina has a point.

2. Roundtable discussion of women in the anime/manga industry. Really interesting stuff, and a lot of it sounds very, very familiar. Bamboo does fall into the "feminist"-is-an-icky-word trap, though, which is disenheartening. Also, DO NOT READ THE FORUM COMMENTS if you value your sanity.

3. First look at anime Iron Man. I realize that Tony Stark comes in many flavors, yet I'm really not surprised that "broody Stark" would be the particular flavor deemed most likely to appeal to Japanese audiences.

Comments

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

ANN won't let you direct-link, apparently. ^^;; But I'd just finished reading the latest. Ahh, internet wank. You shall be the doom of us all.

Loved Bamboo's round table, but I didn't read the forum yet. What's the deal?

OMG IRON MAN. I hope you can appreciate how hard it is for me not to descend to the levels of fangirl squealing. Suffice to say, I shall be looking forward to it. GREATLY.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Oh whoops, I didn't even realize that I'd linked to the Nina image instead of to the comic page. (I always click to view the full image, so that was what was in my browser bar when I unthinkingly C&P'd the URL.) Fixed!

As for the ANN forums...

The very first comment is a dude complaining about how he's sick of women always talking about sexism, and how there can't really be that much sexism in the "Western" world, no really, there just isn't.

The third comment is some guy demanding pics of the roundtable guests.

Within the first ten comments there's a guy going off on a rant about "feminazis" and how they hate men, there's a guy arguing that the uptight reviewers have no sense of humor ("To me, sexism is where someone doesn't give a job to someone because of their sex, or something like that. Structuring a joke around a stereotype is hardly sexism, in my opinion"), and somebody else actually says, and I quote:

I find it funny how fairness always seems to be a one way street. Not that I have anything against an anime column done by four chicks, it's just that all this sexism they preach against went out during/after WWII. The example Casey gave of modern sexism was hilarious. If that's honestly offensive to you, then there really is no hope for America. Women are not oppressed in America or by anime stereotypes. The fact that you're writing this column is proof of that.

It goes downhill from there. 117 posts and counting.

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm reading through that as we speak. Someone posted a link to a feminist article on Disney princesses, which I'm looking at now. I wish people could recognize that being a feminist doesn't necessarily mean being a bitchy man-hater.

You'll notice, in the anime industry, a lot of male fans have declared themselves "anti-yaoi" fans, because they feel that it encourages women to objectify men. Which is an entirely unfair statement. If men can get away with all the stay-in-the-kitchen, boob-jiggling, panty shots prevalent in anime that caters to their demographic (and act all indignant when roll our eyes at such absurdity) then we should be more than free to entertain notions of our own, often in WAY less humiliating ways than men do, without being actively attacked in articles and such.

But that's just one example.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

You'll notice, in the anime industry, a lot of male fans have declared themselves "anti-yaoi" fans, because they feel that it encourages women to objectify men. Which is an entirely unfair statement. If men can get away with all the stay-in-the-kitchen, boob-jiggling, panty shots prevalent in anime that caters to their demographic (and act all indignant when roll our eyes at such absurdity) then we should be more than free to entertain notions of our own

Yes. This. Quoted for truth. Criticizing yaoi for being "objectifying" is monumentally stupid, especially when that criticism is coming from a fanboy with eighteen bookshelves full of harem anime.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

I'd say part of the issue is the fact that some men view it as anti-het. Personally, I have no problem with male fanservice (what's good for one is good for the other), but I do have problems with anti-het

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

It's the double-standard that bugs the shit outta me. ;o(

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

I did think it was good that someone cited Itazura na Kiss in those comments, though. When I first started watching that anime, I really, honestly liked it.

I quickly became horrified when it started to tread that old "girl-can't-be-happy-without-her-man" shtick. What's worse was the fact that, since it was written by a woman and glorifies such endeavors as empowering, few fans actually realized its true nature.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Oh God yes I HATE that. And then there's always the inevitable response that "Well it was written by a woman, so it couldn't possibly be sexist!" Argh. NO. Nobody ever said that women couldn't be sexist. And quite a lot of us are. (*headdesk*) Ann Coulter can go on national television and claim that women are so stupid that they should all be denied the right to vote... And idiots STILL try to cling to the idea that nothing said/written by a woman could be sexist.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't recommend using Ann Coulter as a sample of any demographic exist the batshit insane.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

exist=except.

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

That's right. It feels like a lot of modern female authors in Japan have finally shaken that "woman must walk two steps behind man" mindset, but we're still far from perfect...

[furikku.livejournal.com]

I keep trying to read the roundtable thing but I keep having the irresistible urge to scroll back up and go, "Awwww!" at the title image.

Also that Nina comic is 100% true.

[miss-breeziness.livejournal.com]

I loved that comic. :D