Posting another edit on this topic so soon after the last may be redundant, but Iāve got the urge to discuss itāeven in editing form, though Iāve found that thatās quite helpful and creates a space to seriously talk about and criticize it.
I hope i covered all the misogyny but itās very possible Iāve missed somethingā¦
Ashihara DOES write his female characters well, they arenāt sexualized in the actual content (the blurbs,,, well). Itās so much more than is typical in a lot of media, especially animanga. In a recent repost, Corvical said that Ashihara writes them as characters before women(or smth along those lines)and i agree, that put it into words well. But it feels like, despite that, they canāt escape the underlying fact that theyāre a woman.
He as an author does SO much right that caring so much about what he doesnāt can seem overdramatic,, but even with all thats right, even BECAUSE so much of it is good, the fact that theres still these misogynistic and creepy additionsāeven racism, which I tried to add to this edit. Its the whole Ubashima and Izukacha gag. Really, out of everyone, Yuma mistook two of the very few dark skinned characters(and only girls actually)as men?āis so disappointing.
Also the majority of his cast are children, teens. Those comments about their bust size are extremely unnecessary and just gross. Also thanks to Corvicals repost, i remembered that his editor(s) is also weird af and was able to add things for that, so thank you thank youš
I mean seriously who comments on a 13 year old childās breastsā¦
I chose this song, even though there were few lyrics, because I think it fits where we are as a fandom regarding world trigger and ashiharaās issues. Its SO close to being perfect, the woman are well written just like any male character and they arenāt used for fan-service or sexualized. Itās so refreshing in a sea of content that treats women like objects and additions to the male characters. But then thereās the bio-essentialist reasoning that isnāt backed by science at all for why most of the female characters are operators. The role with little focus thats the most domestic, away from the actual fighting. Donāt get me wrong operators are awesome and very important, corner stones of the teams really. But it is a little telling that theyāre literally all women despite Ashihara saying that men could be operators as well. And thereās the gross blurbs, especially Kitoraās, and the other weird comments about the female characters chests or even hips. The stark difference in amount of female vs male combatants(something like 17 vs 68). Sexual harassment elite Jin, which if it WAS to show Jinās character it wasnāt a great way. The racism too.
All that goes to say, Ashihara is an amazing writer and artist, his works incredible, but he is NOT without his issues and should not be treated as such.
This is probably the last edit like this for a whileš§ posting one after another after another is redundant and while these things should be discussed, itās not like you gotta spend every waking second criticizing the media you likešāāļø Probably wont be the last last time though, or the only thing I address with editsā¦ I might make one addressing the sexualization of minors and pedophilic ships thats extremely prominent in this fandom at some point? It might be fiction but its still gross and man its everywhere in this fandomš
