Part two, because I exceeded the maximum comment length when I tried to post this all together:
Belldandy
1. I can't divorce her from her context. As a character, she's great. As an oppresive representative of the ultimate ideal of Japanese femininity, and as the ultimate representative of fanboy wish fulfillment, she sucks. I wish that I could enjoy her as a character, and just conveniently forget about the fact that she was created as a sexist masturbatory fantasy. But I can't.
2. Speaking of #1, I hate the way that every anime incarnation of Ah! My Goddess (including, and especially, the most recent TV season) has to portray her as wimpy, helpless, and constantly in need of a rescue. At least in the manga, she can hold her own and kick righteous ass. But in the anime, for some reason, every writer and director has to portray her as helpless. I think that has a LOT to do with the whole "idealized representation of Japanese femininity" thing, actually. Because our wimmins have to be wimpy and helpless and need protecting, right? (Gah, I blame the whole moe trend for that.) I think that the most egregious example of this was the season finale from Ah! My Goddess Sorezore no Tsubasa. The problem: Hild traps Keiichi in a spell. The solution? In the manga, Belldandy would have kicked Hild's ass. I mean, there's precedent for that. Every time Hild (or any villain) shows up in the manga, Belldandy kicks her ass. But in the anime? Belldandy curled up in a fetal position and cried for twenty minutes, until Keiichi came along and saved her. What. The. Hell.
3. Kikoku Inoue's "Belldandy" voice. Graaaaaaaa.
Crowley
1. He's a yuppie. I hate yuppies. But I'll actually give Crowley a pass on this, because he's a yuppie specifically because he knows that being a yuppie is an exercise in pure evil. As opposed to, you know, people who are yuppies because they actually believe that they're good people.
2. There's not enough Crowley. He's such a fantastic character, he deserves waaaaay more source material than a flimsy little novel. He and Aziraphale could easily support an entire series of novels, if you ask me. Or a TV series. Or a comic book series. Or something.
3. His fandom sucks. The fanficcers and fanarters have this weird (well, more like predictable but exasperating) tendency to turn him into a weepy angstpot, a wibbly bishounen, a sadistic rapist, or whatever other demon vampire yaoi archetype you can think of. Which is infuriating, because it's like just because he's a demon, and just because he happens to have a humorously strained friendship with an angel, then he automatically must be beautiful and tragic and completely, utterly gay!!!
no subject
Belldandy
1. I can't divorce her from her context. As a character, she's great. As an oppresive representative of the ultimate ideal of Japanese femininity, and as the ultimate representative of fanboy wish fulfillment, she sucks. I wish that I could enjoy her as a character, and just conveniently forget about the fact that she was created as a sexist masturbatory fantasy. But I can't.
2. Speaking of #1, I hate the way that every anime incarnation of Ah! My Goddess (including, and especially, the most recent TV season) has to portray her as wimpy, helpless, and constantly in need of a rescue. At least in the manga, she can hold her own and kick righteous ass. But in the anime, for some reason, every writer and director has to portray her as helpless. I think that has a LOT to do with the whole "idealized representation of Japanese femininity" thing, actually. Because our wimmins have to be wimpy and helpless and need protecting, right? (Gah, I blame the whole moe trend for that.) I think that the most egregious example of this was the season finale from Ah! My Goddess Sorezore no Tsubasa. The problem: Hild traps Keiichi in a spell. The solution? In the manga, Belldandy would have kicked Hild's ass. I mean, there's precedent for that. Every time Hild (or any villain) shows up in the manga, Belldandy kicks her ass. But in the anime? Belldandy curled up in a fetal position and cried for twenty minutes, until Keiichi came along and saved her. What. The. Hell.
3. Kikoku Inoue's "Belldandy" voice. Graaaaaaaa.
Crowley
1. He's a yuppie. I hate yuppies. But I'll actually give Crowley a pass on this, because he's a yuppie specifically because he knows that being a yuppie is an exercise in pure evil. As opposed to, you know, people who are yuppies because they actually believe that they're good people.
2. There's not enough Crowley. He's such a fantastic character, he deserves waaaaay more source material than a flimsy little novel. He and Aziraphale could easily support an entire series of novels, if you ask me. Or a TV series. Or a comic book series. Or something.
3. His fandom sucks. The fanficcers and fanarters have this weird (well, more like predictable but exasperating) tendency to turn him into a weepy angstpot, a wibbly bishounen, a sadistic rapist, or whatever other demon vampire yaoi archetype you can think of. Which is infuriating, because it's like just because he's a demon, and just because he happens to have a humorously strained friendship with an angel, then he automatically must be beautiful and tragic and completely, utterly gay!!!