Throughout the past few decades, Japanese animated film directors developed numerous relatable female characters with profound, captivating, and complex nuances. In these animes, these characters possess many layers of artificial realism and create influential connections with their audiences.
Since Japanese animated films have small casts, directors can incorporate more personal visions into their work. According to Charles Solomon, a journalist from the New York Times, the inspirational characters of Japanese anime “… have faults and weaknesses and tempers as well as strengths and talents. They’re not properties or franchises; they’re characters the filmmakers believe in.” Two of these nuanced feminine characters in Japanese anime starred in “Only Yesterday” and “Your Name.”
“Only Yesterday” by Isao Takahata was an anime released in 1991. The female protagonist, Taeko, has an unexciting job and a small apartment in Tokyo. She is a single woman at the relatively old age of twenty-seven. Bored with her dull life, Taeko decides to visit some cousins she stayed with as a child.
On this trip, she discovers her fifth-grade self accompanying her and this triggers a flood of her childhood memories that rush back into her mind. With this remarkable story of self-discovery, Taeko decides to find a husband and improve her life.
Another legendary anime director, Makoto Shinkai, broke Japanese box office records in 2016 with “Your Name.” This film is a body-swapping teen rom-com that reflects on the trauma many Japanese still suffer after the disastrous 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
“Your Name” deconstructs the concept of gender, invalidating society’s traditional notions regarding masculinity and femininity. The film is a transcendent journey across time and space, wherein the dual protagonists, Mitsuha and Taki, are inescapably tethered together by the red string of fate.
After they swap bodies and time, Mitsuha marvels at the attractions of Tokyo. Taki draws the town of Itomori as he sees it through Mitsuha’s eyes, but he eventually realizes that Itomori was destroyed three years earlier by a devastating meteor strike. Wanting to warn Mitsuha, Taki contacts her through Shinto-inflected magic. They meet at twilight when the boundaries between worlds become permeable in Japanese folklore. Together, they laugh, shed tears, and vow to meet again. Significantly, they also create a plan to save the people of Itomori.
Mitsuha uses her intelligence and determination to overcome her fears and save hundreds of lives. She proves that anyone can report danger and save lives.
Commenting on his work, Shinkai remarked, “… Mitsuha still loses her hometown; she moves to Tokyo. Since the 2011 earthquake, Japanese people have been living with the fear that our cities may disappear. But even if that happens, even if we have to move somewhere else, we go on living. We meet someone special.”
With these two profoundly developed female characters in these two wonderfully directed animes, it is essential to know that anyone, regardless of gender, age, or race, can leave a lasting impact on the world.
Source:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656284719014x984517939433084800/For%20the%20Most%20Complex%20Heroines%20in%20Animation%2C%20Look%20to%20Japan%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
Since Japanese animated films have small casts, directors can incorporate more personal visions into their work. According to Charles Solomon, a journalist from the New York Times, the inspirational characters of Japanese anime “… have faults and weaknesses and tempers as well as strengths and talents. They’re not properties or franchises; they’re characters the filmmakers believe in.” Two of these nuanced feminine characters in Japanese anime starred in “Only Yesterday” and “Your Name.”
“Only Yesterday” by Isao Takahata was an anime released in 1991. The female protagonist, Taeko, has an unexciting job and a small apartment in Tokyo. She is a single woman at the relatively old age of twenty-seven. Bored with her dull life, Taeko decides to visit some cousins she stayed with as a child.
On this trip, she discovers her fifth-grade self accompanying her and this triggers a flood of her childhood memories that rush back into her mind. With this remarkable story of self-discovery, Taeko decides to find a husband and improve her life.
Another legendary anime director, Makoto Shinkai, broke Japanese box office records in 2016 with “Your Name.” This film is a body-swapping teen rom-com that reflects on the trauma many Japanese still suffer after the disastrous 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
“Your Name” deconstructs the concept of gender, invalidating society’s traditional notions regarding masculinity and femininity. The film is a transcendent journey across time and space, wherein the dual protagonists, Mitsuha and Taki, are inescapably tethered together by the red string of fate.
After they swap bodies and time, Mitsuha marvels at the attractions of Tokyo. Taki draws the town of Itomori as he sees it through Mitsuha’s eyes, but he eventually realizes that Itomori was destroyed three years earlier by a devastating meteor strike. Wanting to warn Mitsuha, Taki contacts her through Shinto-inflected magic. They meet at twilight when the boundaries between worlds become permeable in Japanese folklore. Together, they laugh, shed tears, and vow to meet again. Significantly, they also create a plan to save the people of Itomori.
Mitsuha uses her intelligence and determination to overcome her fears and save hundreds of lives. She proves that anyone can report danger and save lives.
Commenting on his work, Shinkai remarked, “… Mitsuha still loses her hometown; she moves to Tokyo. Since the 2011 earthquake, Japanese people have been living with the fear that our cities may disappear. But even if that happens, even if we have to move somewhere else, we go on living. We meet someone special.”
With these two profoundly developed female characters in these two wonderfully directed animes, it is essential to know that anyone, regardless of gender, age, or race, can leave a lasting impact on the world.
Source:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656284719014x984517939433084800/For%20the%20Most%20Complex%20Heroines%20in%20Animation%2C%20Look%20to%20Japan%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
