Anime does this thing where female main characters aren’t really allowed to be confident, especially if they become involved in a relationship. In fact, I’ve seen instances where powerful, confident, and capable female characters had all that stripped away from them the instant a man stepped into the picture (SAO is probably the premiere example of this). But be it from the start or some ill-conceived narrative decision, you end up with shows about a woman or girl who you’d have to fight to hear say a single positive thing about herself and who’s endlessly apologetic for simply existing... until some guy comes along and calls her pretty enough times or that he likes her. Like, I’m sure there are ways to convey lack of self confidence or general insecurity and anxiety definitively without making them llke... that. I’m sure this is less of an “anime problem” and more of a “things written by men” problem but it feels so much more transparent and thoughtless in anime. Shit’s wild.
