Old-school shounens were really bad with their depiction of women.
New shounens are trying, somewhat.
All demographics watch shounens, so can we PLEASE get equal representation?
If you love watching stories with hardworking, powerful characters and epic, cinematic fights, you are watching shounens. And if you watch shounens, you might notice that the best, most powerful and most respected characters are usually guys, with girls being secondary to the story — if even that. And we don’t know about you, but it kinda frustrates us.
Old-school shounens were not the best for women
In the original Dragon Ball, there were three recurring girl characters — Bulma, Launch and Chichi. All three were there mostly for comedy and fanservice, and let’s be frank, Toriyama completely forgot about Launch. Then in the Z era, he introduces a single powerful woman in Android 18 — she even gives a proper beatdown to Super Saiyan Vegeta! — only to completely sideline her until the end of Super once Cell comes into the picture.
In Naruto, we have Sakura (useless), Hinata (practically not there), Tsunade (who’s not allowed a single major win) and other girls of differing levels of incompetence. In Bleach, we have Rukia and Orihime (both damselled at different times, both are constantly forgotten by the plot).
One Piece somewhat subverts this trend, as Nami and then Robin are important members of the crew — but neither is a true powerhouse, and both are mostly there for fanservice purposes (just like 99% of the story’s female cast, including minors).
New shounens are trying, if barely
In My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia), we are introduced to plenty of girls with powerful quirks, including those in 1-A. And some of them (like Uraraka and Miruko) even get their chance to shine — once in a blue moon, only to be forgotten immediately after so that Deku, Todoroki and Bakugo could get their screen time (seriously, WHY was Uraraka not included in Stain storyline?!). The rest of the time? They’re just there for fanservice.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, there are some very impressive depictions of women in Nobara and Maki, and this time there’s not much fanservice either! Except, these girls are also constantly forgotten in lieu of the guys of the cast.
Shounen is not a panda
Look, we get it, “shounen” literally means “for boys”, and is made with boys aged 12-18 as the target demographic. But it and seinen are the only two genres that heavily feature cinematic action between colorful casts of superpowered characters, and that’s something people of all ages and genders can appreciate. So can we please get more shounens that pay as much quality attention to women as they do to men, and not in the fanservice sense either?
Seriously, WHY?
Summary:
Old-school shounens were really bad with their depiction of women.
New shounens are trying, somewhat.
All demographics watch shounens, so can we PLEASE get equal representation?
If you love watching stories with hardworking, powerful characters and epic, cinematic fights, you are watching shounens. And if you watch shounens, you might notice that the best, most powerful and most respected characters are usually guys, with girls being secondary to the story — if even that. And we don’t know about you, but it kinda frustrates us.
Old-school shounens were not the best for women
In the original Dragon Ball, there were three recurring girl characters — Bulma, Launch and Chichi. All three were there mostly for comedy and fanservice, and let’s be frank, Toriyama completely forgot about Launch. Then in the Z era, he introduces a single powerful woman in Android 18 — she even gives a proper beatdown to Super Saiyan Vegeta! — only to completely sideline her until the end of Super once Cell comes into the picture.
In Naruto, we have Sakura (useless), Hinata (practically not there), Tsunade (who’s not allowed a single major win) and other girls of differing levels of incompetence. In Bleach, we have Rukia and Orihime (both damselled at different times, both are constantly forgotten by the plot).
One Piece somewhat subverts this trend, as Nami and then Robin are important members of the crew — but neither is a true powerhouse, and both are mostly there for fanservice purposes (just like 99% of the story’s female cast, including minors).
New shounens are trying, if barely
In My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia), we are introduced to plenty of girls with powerful quirks, including those in 1-A. And some of them (like Uraraka and Miruko) even get their chance to shine — once in a blue moon, only to be forgotten immediately after so that Deku, Todoroki and Bakugo could get their screen time (seriously, WHY was Uraraka not included in Stain storyline?!). The rest of the time? They’re just there for fanservice.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, there are some very impressive depictions of women in Nobara and Maki, and this time there’s not much fanservice either! Except, these girls are also constantly forgotten in lieu of the guys of the cast.
Shounen is not a panda
Look, we get it, “shounen” literally means “for boys”, and is made with boys aged 12-18 as the target demographic. But it and seinen are the only two genres that heavily feature cinematic action between colorful casts of superpowered characters, and that’s something people of all ages and genders can appreciate. So can we please get more shounens that pay as much quality attention to women as they do to men, and not in the fanservice sense either?
