The female characters in anime films are very similar to everyday people, dealing with the complex emotions of reality. This is purposefully done by the creators.
The top Japanese animators have been creating female heroes who are more lifelike and intricate than many of their American counterparts. The Japanese characters have wrongdoings and tempers and flaws, which come with talents and resilience.
One example is Suzu from Mamoru Hosada’s film “Belle” Although she lives on a screen, she has a life of her own: her alter ego, the pop diva of the internet of U. But offline, she is a reserved high school girl living in a tiny town. Her past experiences inspire her songs, even if they are sad memories, like the death of her mother, who drowned saving a child from a river. Despite her songs reflecting what she’s been through, it shows her love and pain.
Suzu misses her mother, but she’s also angry at her for giving her life for “a kid whose name she doesn’t even know.” Her anger went so far that she almost decided to abandon her musical talents because her mother supported them. American films may express a character longing for a deceased or missing family member, but some films leave out important details. For an example, in “Beauty and the Beast”, the movie mentions her father, but never shows her mother. The same mistake happens in “Aladdin”.
Another film with an impressive female character is Chihiro, from the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away”, created by Hayao Miyazaki. At first, Chihiro has an overprotected, and underdeveloped personality, represented by her “skinny legs and sulky face”. But after facing the trials in Yubaba’s Bathhouse, a place for spirits to rest after being tainted and soiled by pollution from humans. The trials make her learn to have strength, courage, and love. Early in the film, she runs like a picky child, but later, when she is running to rescue a friend, she runs hard, going all out.
Many more characters in Japanese films have traits that oppose each other, flaws and imperfections and talents and gifts, which blend in a perfect melody. These films show not only how women and girls can be strong, but also that not all characters have to be perfect, like in American films, where the girls like Rapunzel from Tangled, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and most other American movie characters who are all almost ‘damsel’s in distress’. We need characters to be strong-minded and characters that pursue their goal. Characters like Suzu and Chihiro, and many, many more from Japanese films.
The top Japanese animators have been creating female heroes who are more lifelike and intricate than many of their American counterparts. The Japanese characters have wrongdoings and tempers and flaws, which come with talents and resilience.
One example is Suzu from Mamoru Hosada’s film “Belle” Although she lives on a screen, she has a life of her own: her alter ego, the pop diva of the internet of U. But offline, she is a reserved high school girl living in a tiny town. Her past experiences inspire her songs, even if they are sad memories, like the death of her mother, who drowned saving a child from a river. Despite her songs reflecting what she’s been through, it shows her love and pain.
Suzu misses her mother, but she’s also angry at her for giving her life for “a kid whose name she doesn’t even know.” Her anger went so far that she almost decided to abandon her musical talents because her mother supported them. American films may express a character longing for a deceased or missing family member, but some films leave out important details. For an example, in “Beauty and the Beast”, the movie mentions her father, but never shows her mother. The same mistake happens in “Aladdin”.
Another film with an impressive female character is Chihiro, from the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away”, created by Hayao Miyazaki. At first, Chihiro has an overprotected, and underdeveloped personality, represented by her “skinny legs and sulky face”. But after facing the trials in Yubaba’s Bathhouse, a place for spirits to rest after being tainted and soiled by pollution from humans. The trials make her learn to have strength, courage, and love. Early in the film, she runs like a picky child, but later, when she is running to rescue a friend, she runs hard, going all out.
Many more characters in Japanese films have traits that oppose each other, flaws and imperfections and talents and gifts, which blend in a perfect melody. These films show not only how women and girls can be strong, but also that not all characters have to be perfect, like in American films, where the girls like Rapunzel from Tangled, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and most other American movie characters who are all almost ‘damsel’s in distress’. We need characters to be strong-minded and characters that pursue their goal. Characters like Suzu and Chihiro, and many, many more from Japanese films.
