Her long, glossy hair rippling down her slightly arched back, her big eyes downcast and her tiny hands clutching a book or two. Her voice is just as innocent as she appears, and her modesty knows no limit. Her marks are of course all perfect.
“I want to protect her,” one of the male characters nearby thinks. He isn’t the only male thinking those exact same words, perhaps with some variations now and then.
It seems the japanese Y chromosone is overly fond of heroism and the classic damsel in distress. I thought it was just a thing in that one manga that I tried, but seeing how the same situation presented itself in several different manga series (they were of different categories even!), it seemed no longer like a coincidence.
They like their girls cute, innocent and helpless.
EH? What about those girls who kick ass? The girls who can do more than faint or scream inside their heads (seriously, why don’t they actually scream out loud?) while being harassed?
What? Too unhelpless for the guys to show off their muscles and play hero of the day? “How unlady-like! You’ll never get married.” Sheesh. Japanese people. Their work show off their way of thinking to some degree.
I admit that I do fancy the idea of a shiny knight coming at my rescue and sweep me away, it’s only natural for a girl after all. Especially for a girl which romance is like a drug to her, but the weaklings of some girls are starting to annoy me.
I have nothing against the guy saving the girl, only the girl herself if she is the typical helpless and weak-minded kind. Rescue the girl, save her, treat her nice and show her kindness. Deliver her some cheesy lines if you will, but please don’t give me a weak X chromosone.
Don’t you male lot appreciate some tougher ones?
Oh yeah, I give up the sketch routine :D
Listening: Some pretty scores by a Norwegian amateur composer
Reading: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (Am. fantasy)
Watching: Merlin ep. 3 (a new and promising BBC fantasy drama!)
Updates:
++ agree with heika.
I get what youre saying. I HATE it when the girls are all weak and : ” AHH please help me.. AHHH” *faint* ” XP I mean, grow a backbone girl! Sheesh! YOu can’t always depend on the others around you. Stand up for yourself and show them who is boss!!!! It’s seen as a bit pathetic from my point of view. That’s why I have always liked heroines who are strongwilled in any kind of genre: Both in books, manga and film.
Those girls who are weak have probably never heard of GIRL POOOOOWER!
But at the same time i get it that whole knight in shining armour thing. But i wouldn’t want him to do all the work for me in “beating the monsters” XP Intead of standing on the sidelines and swooning i would rather FIGHT RIGHT ALONG SIDE WITH HIM!!
For me i guess the whole knight in shining armor thing is more about the chivalry and the romance than the protection………….but then again…….the protection thing isn’t that bad either……as long as i get to do some self-defensing as well ;P
I hate weak girl characters unless they have some depth to them. Especially when all the boys seem to like them, and not care that their character is as shallow as a puddle. Because it’s CUTE and MOE to be totally dumb and helpless and faint from looking at a suggestically sexual picture (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, I’m looking at you).
Though, I can’t actually say I’ve read that much manga with girl characters that weak. Maybe it’s just not that type of manga I pick up. I mean, the main character in Fruits Basket seems kinda weak, but she really tries to protect everyone else. She’s actually pretty strong in a way, living on and trying to be happy after the death of her mother even when almost noone else in the family wants to take her in. I also really like NANA, and out of the two main characters in that, one is definitelynot weak and the other starts out kind of weak, but really grows as the story goes on.
Characters are rarely that weak if they have some depth to them.
Nii-san: You forgot to answer what you prefer. ;O
Balalaika
DAMNIT! :O
..and i forgot to mention Balalaika. Go Russian Mafia boss!
I’ve read a lot of manga with _strong_ girl characters… Black Lagoon being one of them. But of course.. in most “everyday” manga and such the girls are rather weak. But I think most guys are that too (particularly main-character-guys). I could probably rant a lot about it, but I wont. Check out Black Lagoon instead. Because it kicks ass and you have to love Revy and Eda. :D
Always nice for a guy to be able to prove himself strong for a woman, men do like to feel like protectors and all, I know it’s in my blood :P
On the other hand I’ve found myself thinking the same thing, some of the female characters “innocence” (japanese mangaka have an interesting perspective on innocent…) and all that are often too exaggerated, to the point where it’s just stupid and I get this urge to stop reading.
Well, either that or the girls are so strong and abrasive we’re unable to sympathize with them until they “give up” acting strong and go all “mushy and innocent” or whatever.
Then again, if the mangas weren’t about stereotypes they wouldn’t be particularly special now would they, so I guess that despite all the stupidity we still prefer the portrayals that way. Then gripe online. I’ve done it on a few forums around the world, but I still keep reading the same stupid type of mangas all the time…. ><