During this time when widespread debate hovers over the depiction of women in film, Japan’s top animators have long created heroines who are layered compared to those presented in the United States. These characters are not just for show, they’re who the filmmakers believe in.
These heroines often play a crucial part of the film, and Japanese animations have demonstrated their place in film excellently. There’s Suzu from “Belle,” Mitsuha from “Your Name,” and Chihiro from “Spirited Away,” to name a few well-respected heroines.
Like many teenagers, Suzu, from Mamoru Hosoda’s “Belle,” is an introverted girl who lives her whole life on the internet. The music she listens to reflects on the love and pain she has experienced, especially since the death of her mother, who died drowning while saving a child from a flooded river. Suzu misses her mother dearly, yet is also angered that her mother sacrificed for a child whose name she didn’t even know. Suzu went as far as quitting her passion for music, something her mother has encouraged her to do in the past.
In a video call interview, Hosoda stated “It felt very new. Similarly, what we tried to do in ‘Belle’ is not build a character, but build a person: someone who reflects the society in which we live.”
“Your Name,” the movie that broke the box office records also has an influential female lead in the film. The main protagonists are: Mitsuha, a girl in the town of Itomori and Taki, a boy living in Tokyo as a student. Their bodies swap without notice, as they wake up in each other’s bodies having to navigate the other’s daily life. As time passes by, Taki takes initiative and goes on a trip to find Mitsuha’s town, only to find that the town was destroyed three years earlier by a devastating meteor strike. There was a time gap between when Mitsuba first started experiencing body swap 3 years prior to the main storyline and Taki 3 years after the destruction of Itomori.
They meet briefly at twilight, when the boundaries between worlds become permeable in Japanese mythology, and formulate a plan to save the people of Itomori. When Taki vanishes after twilight ends, Mitsuha starts immediately. She eventually resolves to overcome her fear and save hundreds of lives. But Mitsuha showed that what she can do any other capable high school girl could also do. She didn’t need superpowers to save the day.
Shinkai later revealed in an interview, “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. That’s what I wanted Mitsuha to do, who I wanted her to be.”
Lastly, in Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning “Spirited Away,” the young protagonist Chihiro starts out as any other adolescent: bad-tempered and childish, However, throughout the film she develops unrealized resources of strength, courage, and love, transforming her from a sulky girl to a more confident compassionate young women.
“I wanted the main character to be a typical girl in whom a 10-year-old could recognize herself,” Miyazaki explained through a translator in an interview. “She shouldn’t be someone extraordinary, but an everyday, real person — even though this kind of character is more difficult to create. It wouldn’t be a story in which the character grows up, but a story in which she draws on something already inside her that is brought out by the particular circumstances.”
Other heroines such as Taeko from “Only Yesterday,” Chiyoko from “Millennium Actress,” and O-Ei from “Miss Hokusai” are also notable. Takeo represents little tragedies such as losing childhood years, Chiyoko represents obsession and O-Ei portraying the experiences of women in modern Japan who are escaping sexism.
These heroines often play a crucial part of the film, and Japanese animations have demonstrated their place in film excellently. There’s Suzu from “Belle,” Mitsuha from “Your Name,” and Chihiro from “Spirited Away,” to name a few well-respected heroines.
Like many teenagers, Suzu, from Mamoru Hosoda’s “Belle,” is an introverted girl who lives her whole life on the internet. The music she listens to reflects on the love and pain she has experienced, especially since the death of her mother, who died drowning while saving a child from a flooded river. Suzu misses her mother dearly, yet is also angered that her mother sacrificed for a child whose name she didn’t even know. Suzu went as far as quitting her passion for music, something her mother has encouraged her to do in the past.
In a video call interview, Hosoda stated “It felt very new. Similarly, what we tried to do in ‘Belle’ is not build a character, but build a person: someone who reflects the society in which we live.”
“Your Name,” the movie that broke the box office records also has an influential female lead in the film. The main protagonists are: Mitsuha, a girl in the town of Itomori and Taki, a boy living in Tokyo as a student. Their bodies swap without notice, as they wake up in each other’s bodies having to navigate the other’s daily life. As time passes by, Taki takes initiative and goes on a trip to find Mitsuha’s town, only to find that the town was destroyed three years earlier by a devastating meteor strike. There was a time gap between when Mitsuba first started experiencing body swap 3 years prior to the main storyline and Taki 3 years after the destruction of Itomori.
They meet briefly at twilight, when the boundaries between worlds become permeable in Japanese mythology, and formulate a plan to save the people of Itomori. When Taki vanishes after twilight ends, Mitsuha starts immediately. She eventually resolves to overcome her fear and save hundreds of lives. But Mitsuha showed that what she can do any other capable high school girl could also do. She didn’t need superpowers to save the day.
Shinkai later revealed in an interview, “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. That’s what I wanted Mitsuha to do, who I wanted her to be.”
Lastly, in Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning “Spirited Away,” the young protagonist Chihiro starts out as any other adolescent: bad-tempered and childish, However, throughout the film she develops unrealized resources of strength, courage, and love, transforming her from a sulky girl to a more confident compassionate young women.
“I wanted the main character to be a typical girl in whom a 10-year-old could recognize herself,” Miyazaki explained through a translator in an interview. “She shouldn’t be someone extraordinary, but an everyday, real person — even though this kind of character is more difficult to create. It wouldn’t be a story in which the character grows up, but a story in which she draws on something already inside her that is brought out by the particular circumstances.”
Other heroines such as Taeko from “Only Yesterday,” Chiyoko from “Millennium Actress,” and O-Ei from “Miss Hokusai” are also notable. Takeo represents little tragedies such as losing childhood years, Chiyoko represents obsession and O-Ei portraying the experiences of women in modern Japan who are escaping sexism.
