Like any mass media product, anime has widespread cultural impact, and as such needs to be evaluated critically for its gender dynamics

Most anime, percentage-wise, is consumed by children, making negative gender stereotypes especially damaging

Japanese women, more-so than in first world countries, are marginalized in the workplace

Most Japanese women are part-time workers or stay-at-home mothers, despite being highly educated

Having a salaryman husband is key

OL (Office Lady) culture is a good example of how Japan treats its female professionals

Patriarchal ideals are still strong in Japan, specifically for child-care

Fanservice girl: no utility beyond partial nudity

Examples: Queen's Blade, Kanokon, Kiss x Sis, harem shows in generalShows objectification, relative worth of females

The mother: Nags the protagonist, then makes him dinner.

Examples: Chi Chi from DBZ, Hiroko from Hajime no Ippo, many other shonen moms

Reflects Japanese values of housewives

The objective: Save her and complete your quest!

Examples: Yuria from Hokuto no Ken, Holly from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Nico Robin duringEnies Lobby in One Piece, Rukia during the Soul Society Arc in BleachStandard damsel in distress trope, but the key here is when formerly useful characters becomeuseless so they can be saved

Most of my examples are from Shonen, because it's emblematic of the problems in the genre as a whole, and by far the biggest market in the anime industry

Shojo, Seinen and Josei have their own problems, which I will detail on the next slides.

While male role-models in Shonen may want to rule the world, become the strongest or become rich, girls just want Senpai to notice them.

This gives a young, impressionable girls a warped perspective of what they shouldbe aiming for in their lives, for someone else to validate them.

While this is also not exclusive to anime/manga, it's particularly pernicious with seriesmeant for young girls

Seinen series rarely have any women at all, especially in major roles.

This is reflective of the trend of increasing singleness among middle-agedJapanese men; they don't have women in their lives and don't want them intheir fiction either.

Josei manga, intended for adult women, does generally have gender-positive characters and stories. However, owing to its target audience, it sells far less than all other types of manga.

Recommendations: Chihayafuru, Nodame Cantabile, Gokusen

Male characters in anime are typically either very weak-willed or stereotypical manly men, reinforcing typical gender stereotypes.

These are less damaging, overall, than the negative female stereotypes, because the male characters are generally successful heroes.

Madoka Magica has multitudes of strong female characters, but the most interesting in terms of gender dynamics is Madoka’s stay-at-home father.

The Madoka universe is filled with unreal buildings, magic, and somehow the most unrealistic thing is Madoka’s dad.

For the first 5 parts, most of the story of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is about men saving women.

Part 6 is about a woman saving herself. This part was widely critically acclaimed, but the author fought with editorial over it and eventually moved magazines as a result of the disputes.

A series about a young female tennis player, this manga is all about feminine self-sacrifice.

While it’s hard to clarify without deep spoilers, this is an example of a truly realistic (flawed, but still good) independent female character.

Because Japan is a male-centric society, anime simply reflects what Japan is like.

Some media, like the works of Studio Ghibli have decent feminist material, but they're few and far between.

Japanese culture has to change for anime to change, so it will take a long time.