Just yet another example of the emo-subsersive shoujo female lead
I was recently watching a Taiwan soap opera while munching down my dinner. It was an epic story about love, easily summarized into men who cheated on women, and stupid women who goes all emotional while hanging on to those jerks like they are pots of gold. There was this sudden surge of anger raising up my guts when these women continue to cling like leeches like no tomorrow. Suddenly, this idea provided a good reminder of the pet peeve I have about the portrayal of females in anime.
Those bloody damsels in distress (DID)! What is the purpose of their existence?
If there is something I really hate in anime, it’s the almost certain transformation of the strong and supposedly cool female lead becoming a total damsel in distress, or as I dubbed it “The useless piece of woman crap that deserves to die, NOW!” I mean, how many times have you found yourself going all yahoo at a very cool female lead, only for the writer/mangaka to make a complete 180 turnaround and make her an eternally useless lady that needs the main lead to rescue her all the time. I am looking at you, Rukia of Bleach and Sakura of Naruto! These two huge shounen series really turned me off so badly, that my stomach recoiled in complete anger over the continual stupidity churned out to make the male lead look like a hero.
This is particularly prevalent in shoujo series. People who knows my anime preferences would know that my favorite anime genre is shoujo. In fact, I will unmanly (don’t mind my butchering of the English language) go into squeals when I find the two leads in the series become so in love with each other. What I hate, is the extremely contagious stereotype where the female lead suddenly becomes emotional due to jealousy, due to rain and due to everything possible in the irrational mind of this DID. I seriously wonder if authors do that just to annoy the living lights out of the readers before bringing the good stuff.
I can understand that this “DID” characterization is done to pluck on your conscience or your sympathy or whatever emotional gland that it is meant to trigger. However, producers often forget that this DID is not meant to be a silver bullet. For the first time, there will be a strong effect because the female lead has a moment of weakness, and the big hero comes to save the day. Then, he saves the day the second time. By the fifth time he saves the hapless female who cannot seem to find herself out of trouble, you really could not be bothered whether she gets saved or not. In fact, you might be feeling the same way as I do, wishing that she would die to be finally taken out of her misery. Or perhaps, a better way is to get cut out from the anime/manga soon.
Honestly though, do anyone actually appreciate the damsel in distress? What are your reasons? Perhaps you can convince me of this seemingly stupid idea.
37 Comments
It really depends on just how high your tolerance is, I guess, and how well the plot-twist that led to the character’s condition was executed.. For example, ignoring long-held characterization just so a male lead can rescue someone with boobies? Sorry, but I can’t sympathize. On the other hand, when someone likeable becomes a distressed damsel because of something ASTRONOMICALLY out of her league? I’m fine with it.
If it is the latter scenario, sure I can accept it. I will be a very cynical bastard not to consider a very good plot where someone turns into distress when something absolutely overwhelming spanked them right in the face. Sure, I do agree. Generally, those of the latter recover eventually, and continue to become the kick-ass heroines. So, I say, you go girl.
However, there is a perhaps a more disturbing undercurrent or perhaps trend underlying this hatred. Authors or mangaka have tried to pull too many cheap tricks in order to tug on the sympathy of the reader. Once, the reader will feel the impact. Twice, they might still go ahead. Thrice, it just gets really tiring. This is a vicious cycle in which they are desensitized from these damsel-in-distress techniques. Is it perhaps bad writing, lazy writing or simply teenagers nowadays just care about the boobs? I don’t know, but I do shudder at the last thought.
What I feel very strongly is that most authors don’t notice how they are hurting themselves with such backward depiction of females. I guess it’s the target group that manga/anime are reaching out to. I don’t know about you, Rei, but I am personally very troubled that even up to now, women (despite being unreal anime/manga characters) are still portrayed in a very sexual or useless manner. Sure, there are more anime/manga with more female power, but they are still in the minority.
I think we’re looking at the issue through our own cultural/personal biases, and forgetting the target audience of some of the stories that use this storytelling device, chiefly the Japanese, who are NOT paragons of Gender Equality in Literature.
Do note I’m purposely not mentioning otaku with severe self-confidence issues who pine for idealized female figures they can SMOTHER… I mean, ‘protect’.
congratulations you just killed mario.
Let me guess, it was Ai you watched.
Not too sure who Ai is. I haven’t watched much anime for a long time due to work. X_X
A Taiwan soap opera drama which broadcast on weekend evenings. Are you taking about that, Panther?
I really hate that soap opera. It’s like every other Taiwan soap operas I’ve heard. My mother hated that too. I have no idea what drives old ladies to watch these kind of programs (No offense, those of you who watch this show and like it, but I don’t think anyone would.)
I really hate these types of shows (Taiwanese soaps) too, seems like the producers and scriptwriters take about two days to come up with the script and let it run for years and years on end, relying on the actors’ improv skills (and lack of)…
Some years ago I asked some girls I knew the same question.
In the end, they weren`t able to remember the names of the persons in the s.o. very well. Additionally the plot summary of episodes more than two weeks ago was nonexistent (the 2 mins of plot in 25 mins episodes).
It`s static noise which satisfies the really basic needs of some human beings: being sad / happy / anxious .. without overusing one`s brain.
Actually soap operas are quite interesting. Like this study about the effects of soap operas to the child birth rate and womens rights in Brasil 2008
But they are probably no static noise anymore.
It all depends on the way it’s presented. Cool, even strong girls can be damsels in distress without suffering for it. For example Chidori from FMP basically has the role of a damsel in distress, but she’s still quite likable to me. I say for example, but that’s really the only example I can think of right now. XD
Still japan is rather backwards when it comes to their view of women. That’s well known. What I find worse than the damsel in distress is the total fixation on marriage nine out of ten girls in manga/anime seem to have. The one out of ten is when the girl is the protagonist of a seinen manga like Claymore or Gunnm. Whenever I hear/read one of those nine girls say how they want to be a beautiful bride or some such I get a headache. This whole concept of defining themselves through their husband is really annoying. It’s far worse in my opinion than them being cast as the weak girl in need of rescue.
I agree with you completely. I have no qualms of Chidori. In fact, she kicks so much ass that it’s fine. However, the majority of the females portrayed in this DID personality are so obnoxious based on the reasons I gave, and briefly mentioned by you. In addition, I think it’s the traditional mindset of a Japanese family where women are supposed to stay at home, and be a beautiful bride, while the man becomes a breadwinner for the family. I cannot really agree with that since I am slightly more liberal than your typical Asian in that way, but meh.
I could probably write a short article based on that “I wanna be married”. Nice idea ^^
Yeah I know what you mean I mean come on what happened to women being these strong people why is that in all animes they are pieces of shit I mean come on only in fighting animes are they ever strong and most of the time it’s because of some terrible past that haunts them. None of the girl I know are like that normally and I know that as a girl myself (yes I am one) we can be strong without this past horror or some guy being with us.. Can we please get on that is really strong without this past, (and without macho looks, make her cool).
An American comic blog linked to an article with a 2009 review of American comics.
I only read European Comics, so i am not informed .. but that person went angry over the same fact and cited some (ie. Marvel) comics of 2009 where all the tough women confessed to be raped some time ago .. and that`s why they are so tough, they said in the comic.
.. don`t need to mention that the male hero was sitting in front of them etc etc.
If this blug entry was citing the correct comics, it`s not only an Asian problem.
Of course not. It’s not an Asian problem. In fact, it is not even an anime issue. I was trying to highlight how it is terribly prevalent in anime, among other forms of media. Honestly, I do not need my women in anime to be so independent that they do not need men. I just don’t need to be instant emotional wrecks whenever anything that might not even kill a single ant. Seriously, it goes into a much bigger question: characters being one-dimensional. That’s bad.
I beg for mercy. It`s 1 am here and I exceeded my amount of allowed spelling mistakes by 5 already.
.
I understood what you, Impz, wanted to say so no panic.
Mine was a “By the way, did you, Erica, know that someone said the same just recently in a 2009 review..”
I don`t mind 1 dimensional character designs for entertainment reasons. But it must be done well .. . It`s art too
(Attention: dry insider? joke)
If you would always try to be politically correct in considering the beliefs of every small ethnic/ .. group out there, you have cleared the first stage of “How to become German”.
I`m sorry, I can`t enlighten you too
.
But you picked the two with the most promising possibilities. Rukia was quite descent in some parts of the first arcs and she faced the fight at least. But she`s so tied by inner restrictions in the last months .. buh.
Sakura was always a weird character but they gave her some pretty good play time when Gaara`s beast was taken. And now, she definitely sucks in the manga.
I am looking forward to Kaicho wa Maid-sama or however they will name the show. The manga is quite nice and at least, she always fights, she is creepy … and they can`t turn her to something as dump as Orihime, who is able to walk against the wall with open eyes. Hopefully I will mentally survive the maid scenes ^^.
And no comment about the problems with female rights. I`ll start to write my master thesis in a huge European research project with 40+ men and 1 woman besides me. They are really nice there ^^ but it`ll take some time for them to realize that I am not a girlfriend or a clerk at the conference.
.
We made it that far, there`s no way we would stop now
I also am tired of strong female anime characters ruined because they turned into emotional disasters, especially in anime series where the male lead is also a pushover. I love walking pillars of moe as much as the next guy in cutesy anime, but you can’t just take your butt-kicking, sword-wielding female lead and suddenly change her personality that drastically for the sake of such an overused plot device. So it’s really refreshing when I watch a series with a female character who breaks the mold and shows her emotional side in a realistic way like Horo from Spice and Wolf.
Horo epitomizes the traits I want to see in a strong female lead. She has great self-confidence and is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She’s witty and won’t take crap from anyone. But, she also has a more vulnerable side to her, which she slowly reveals through her feelings of fear and jealousy throughout her travels with Lawrence. I don’t want to spoil Spice and Wolf for anyone, but I want to say that it will take a LOT for another anime to replace it as my favorite anime simply because I am in love with Horo for her amazing personality and looks!
Besides Horo there is also Erin of Kemono no Souja Erin. Both of them are great in their own way.
Ooo! Thanks for the recommendation, Mel. I’ll be sure to try out that series. Production I.G. is quickly becoming one of my favorite studios. I can’t wait for the finale for Kimi ni Todoke.
Hmm Yano – chan is cool. But I am mostly sitting in front of my screen, waving with my arms and mumbling to our undetermined couple: “Move it pals! Lifetime is restricted!”.
If your female hero don`t need to be witty at any costs and you can watch a sports + slice of life + romantic anime, then try Cross Game also.
Agreed, I hate it when confident and assertive female characters become putty due to a weaksauce harem lead…
Are there any shows (anime) where there’s at least some other male character who is (more) awesome enough to challenge the weak male lead for the female leads?
I really can’t give you any enlightenment, some anime series drive me crazy for the same reason. I quit watching Bleach because they couldn’t manage to save Rukia in about 50 episodes and I knew that after they succeeded, someone would just go and screw it up again.
That said, I think a large measure of how much I appreciate the DiD scene relies on how intelligent the person in distress is. There’s a difference between a character that just consigns themselves to their fate, and one that tries to actively play a role in their own rescue. Someone above mentioned the Mario series, and yes, it is built on the Damsel trope. On the other hand, the Paper Mario series of games put a different spin on the idea. In between chapters, Peach runs around in whatever location she’s been captured at trying to find a way to escape, while she gathers information or sabotages her captor’s efforts. They write this at a kind of base level, but it’s proof of concept that any series can do it. A good, strong captive will find a way to help her rescuers help herself.
I totally agree with you. Damsel in Distress is a pain in the ass for people who want to see ACTION, KICK ASS, PWNAGE, EPICNESS, BAM, KAZOOM! and etc… I do not understand either why authors/mangakas do this, but whatever.
However I disagree with Rukia in Bleach being considered as a Damsel in distress. Honestly I have to say that Inoue Orihime, who SAYS she wants to get stronger, but REFUSES to ACT when she has the chances to thus, becomes the damsel in distress princess. When you compare the two, you realize that Rukia does so much more despite the times that she has been protected, than Orihime who does almost nothing at all, especially at the most crucial times ever. *shrugs* But that’s just my POV.
Well, I was trying to give examples to the tune in which a promising great character turns all DID at you, making you recoil in anger. To me, it is more sinful for a character that is initially pleasant and interesting to turn into a complete DID, rather than a DID for the start (aka this big-breasted sob). Seriously, Orihime just mops and mops and mops, and does nothing. Her only purpose is her boobs, and god, I DON’T EVEN LIKE HUGE BREASTS TOO!
Anyway, I do agree that in terms of degree, Orihime should be a more classic example but I was trying to show characters who transit from one role to another role due to the mangaka’s different direction for the character. I don’t like that.
Good to see you back again boss.
Well I suppose for lesser males it stems from their own inherent weakness and is an attempt to reconcile the desire to protect with their own inadequacies. As for girls it could be that they just want to be whisked away like a princess. Still in the case of the latter I don’t see how being a tough bastard and getting swept away by love are mutually exclusive.
Considering how much you liked Ranka I am pretty sure that left a bad taste in your mouth, made worse by Sheryl who put a whole lot of effort into not being the damsel in distress. Perhaps you need to remember the good times of Saiunkoku Monogatari
Well, I finally took some well-deserved leave from my work while going on a vacation to the United States. So, it’s a good time to relax and write an entry.
AARGHHHHHHH, stop reminding of that stupid abnormal green-haired bitch! SHE IS AN ABNORMALITY, I TELL YOU. Honestly though, Ranka really left a very bad taste in my mouth because she was like trying so hard to do everything and improve… Then suddenly, she just transformed into “I love my brother, I am emo, I will do nothing, blah blah blah” Seriously, the DID was so different that I wish she was raped by some evil aliens with huge tentacles and then closed into a small capsule while being left to die in space. Seriously.
I have to be honest and say that I didn’t really like Sheryl initially because her character was bashful and frankly annoying. However, as the series grew on, I become more and more enamored by the strength and inner beauty of Sheryl. Despite being stripped of her status, her dignity and even her love, she continued to move on, press on, struggle against the odds. I believe that she is the modern woman. She loves without any reservations, she does whatever she wants without any reservations and always try her best to pursue her dreams and comfort those in despair. She made me fall in love <3
Hmm…this gives me an idea of a story that centers about this problem, but with a gender twist (A guy being helpless and needs to be saved by a central female character every time he gets into trouble, whether if he’s involved or not.)
Anyway, the ‘damsel in distress’ kind-of story has been going around for centuries. Blame the earlier establishments of this format of story, since some authors are influenced by their ideas and all. So much that it has become a natural, but overused stereotype as time goes by.
And about the Asian problem, nuh uh. Even Western stories also do revolve around a damsel in distress. From what I’ve experienced so far in TV dramas (The good ones, and not the crappy soap operas) [Glaring at Taiwan soap opera with 1000+ episodes telling the same thing over and over with no variations] there are some female leads who are quite independent and most often does not need the male lead to help them with anything, unless if the problem is really, really crucial and like a spot that can’t be erased.
Back to the topic, I’m also writing a story; and my female lead of the story is quite independent and does not whine ‘Help me, I need you’ or ‘Emo emo emo I can’t do anything, I am dumb, I am useless’ all the time.
It’s funny you post a picture of Yuuki from Vampire Knight. CONSIDERING I FUCKING HATE THAT SERIES.
I too bang my head on the wall over the DID syndrome. The question of course, is which is worse? Girls who act like that from the beginning, or girls who start out cool but then do a 180 and turn into the antithesis?
I’d like to bring up Kyouko from Skip Beat! as a good “damsel in distress”. She’s been saved from tight spots a few times, but she’s always remained blessedly herself.
Hmm… In some ways, Rukia’s change of behaviour could be justified due to the fact that she had shamed her all-important Nii-sama and the Kuchiki name, and that she had always relied on the men around her: Ichigo as a result of his close resemblance to Shiba Kaien – who was her very important Vice Captain, and who died at her hands (or so she believed at that time), Renji who she grew up with, and perhaps even the kindness of Ukitake Taicho whose validation she relied on since Byakuya was emotionally withdrawn… In some ways, her self-confidence was still new and very fragile, and when she was charged and sentenced, her self-worth shattered. But her complete resignation to live during that arc irritated me; she’d made a decision to give Ichigo her powers, she could have at least accepted her fate with her head held high.
I remember watching D.Gray-Man and thinking Lenalee was so pretty awesome, but after a while, all she did was CRY. And then I hated her. I forgave her once she got her sense back, took all that emotional baggage, and used it to kick some butt.
The “Damsel in Distress” is one of the cheapest tricks in the bag for creating drama. It annoys the hell out of a lot of people, but somehow it won’t die out. Interestingly, it fuels both chivalry (the man thinking he must save this poor thing) and chauvinism (the man thinking this poor thing NEEDS me) – which aren’t so far removed from each other.
“Damsel in Distress” is a plot device for stories since the time of fairy tales so it is alright to see them in anime as they are… but at least they don’t do nothing but cry and if they do, they’ll annoy me to no end since there won’t be chances for them to change…
and i think for a character to change from crying all day to becoming stronger for her own sake will be one good plot device in storytelling.
Berserk is one of the few series that manages to do it legitimately. The author transforms a strong, female lead character into an innocent, emotional wreck, and the change is TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY BELIEVABLE within the context of that world. Since you’re 18 years of age, you should check this series out if you haven’t done so already.
For strong female leads, check out The Twelve Kingdoms. It’s got some of the most kick-ass multidimensional female characters ever. I’m not exaggerating. All of the major female characters start out useless, but become more and more kick-ass as the series progresses.
To Executive Otaku: I’d love to see a review of that show and I think many others would agree with me too.
I agree with you being a believable idea in Berserk, but the mangaka has dragged it on way too long. I need Casca back to fighting form.
I’ll also plug Erin of Kemono no Souja Erin. She’s probably the best female lead of the last year, if somewhat idealised.
But to be honest this is a trope dating back hundreds of years. and before that you were lucky if there were any fleshed out women at all.
i think it’s all because 99% of the writers and directors around the world are male, so generally they’re bad at writing women. Similar to the way romantic novels written by women have terribly written men (though bizarelly a lot of these stories written by women are just as bad with DiD, if not worse (IE 90% of all shoujo).
On the male side of things we sometimes swing too far in the other direction and have women who for all intents and purposes act like men. A woman doesn’t need to act like a man, or be badass, to be a “strong” character. Unfortunately we often end up with one or the other, and very few girls who are close to realistic.
Yuuki from Vampire Knight man was she useless how did someone not eat her and she was suppose to be some kind of guardian to keep the vamps in check :/ useless to even the end.
Well Impz, you can watch Queen’s Blade season 1 and 2, which has a female lead that will not disappoint you towards the end of the series.
Oh my, the great Impz himself is back (temporarily anyways). So to celebrate this magical occasion I shall throw in my comment as well.
I agree with what you wrote, namely that Damsels in Distress are annoying and make you facepalm until your face is a duplicate of your hand. As the people above said part of it might be related to Japanese stereotypes but I think there is another reason as well. It’s an easy plot. Most DID’s are involved in romance mangas and as such their inclusion solves two problems fort the author, first off there is a plot and while this plot is carried out, romance is developed. It’s really just an easy button for any author to push. The easiest way to avoid this is obviously enough making a heroine who is badass and can kick any macho guys ass all the way to the moon. Examples would probably be characters like Chidori. Now I don’t think the females have to be strong and beastly in order to avoid being DID’s. Take a look at Fruits Basket, Honda is a wishy washy soft girl but not once did she come off as annoying. This was probably because she always tried to make a difference and not moan about waiting to be rescued. One of my favorite mangas of all time Kanata Kara has a soft heroine. But I love her because she knows her limits and always does whatever she can and never tries to pull of a stunt that would only get her into trouble.
My apologies for writing this comment so late, but I only saw this post today and as a hater of the damsel in distress stereotype I couldn’t help but comment. For me if a manga has a strong female lead then it’s almost always going to be a good manga regardless of whether it has a good plot, good art or whatever else.
Ahaha, Bleach essentially using this formula as the main plot pivot, think Rukia AND Orihime, unimaginative author (except for his design).
2 Trackbacks
[...] I WILL MAKE YOU MINE was both creepy and cringe-inducing in all the ways that Hinano, Crusader and Impz have previously smackdowned about. I suppose it was an attempt to follow-up the interesting [...]
[...] I WILL MAKE YOU MINE was both creepy and cringe-inducing in all the ways that Hinano, Crusader and Impz have previously smackdowned about. I suppose it was an attempt to follow-up the interesting [...]