Anime Double Standards: How Men And Women Are Treated Differently

Anime double standards have always existed because double standards in real life is legit.

In the eyes of anime creators, designers and authors – it might not matter much.

After all – it’s fiction. It’s not supposed to represent the real world unless it’s intended.

But critics, haters, feminists and SJW’S don’t agree. Going as far to say anime is “misogynist”, one of the funniest buzzwords coming out the USA.

Used by women with an authoritarian attitude towards Men and depictions of women in the media that they don’t like.

Are Anime Double Standards Legit?

It’s as real as gravity and big titty women on the front cover of a XXX magazine.

I’m neutral when it comes to all this so that’s how I’ll approach this post.

Here’s the anime double standards few haters and critics will ever admit to.

How Men Are Treated In Anime:

1. Male anime characters used as “punching bags” to vent women’s frustration

Let’s start with the famous “punch the guy in the face” trope we see again and again in the anime industry.

The same trope self righteous Feminists never mention.

We’ll use an anime like Toradora to make a point.

Taiga Aisaka is one of the main characters in this slice of life/romance by J.C Staff.

She’s your typical Tsundere who falls for the main character: Ryuuji Takasu but is too proud to admit it.

And that’s where the trope “punch the guy in the face” starts to play its role.

For the first 5-ish episodes of Toradora – Ryuuji is abused over and over again. Almost to the point of making me QUIT Toradora before giving it a second chance.

100% of the scenes where this takes place is unwarranted.

Ryuuji’s a good guy and he never does anything uncalled for to ask for it. But this is all for the sake of comedy.

This is something we see in the anime: Ookami San And Her Seven Companions.

Ryouko Ookami, one of the main characters, is a boxer and knows how to fight.

This makes her a “tom boy” but that’s besides the point.

The other main character: Ryoushi falls for Ryouko Ookami. But her being a Tsundere? She punches and abuses Ryoushi at every chance she can get.

Again – this is all for the sake of comedy. And us guys being the people we are, just like Men in general, we never “mass” complain about it or make it a big deal.

I’m guessing that’s because we know this is fiction and it’s not meant to be taken too seriously. That’s part of the humor.

Only an insane person would take anime as gospel for real life and allow it to distort right vs wrong and real world principles.

A fact that heart broken Feminists (who “woman’s-plain” Lol) aren’t able to understand or comprehend in the west. Because everything is about how they feel, and bending the world to their will.

2. Gay male characters being used to please the female audience

This one is interesting because I don’t see too many people mentioning it, if at all. Or “daring” enough to talk about it.

In the anime community there are two genres for both audiences:

Yuri.
Yaoi.

Yaoi is equal to Yuri in the amount of anime that have been produced for each genre (39 as of November 2019).

Yaoi is obviously BL (boys love) and everything gay that comes with it.

Or if you wanna put it another way…

It’s fan service for women

The irony of this is women don’t seem to have an issue with this. And they never complain about it either (women outside the industry mostly).

Even though the definition of equality is… all things being equal. Meaning gay fan service is no different to the ordinary fan service where female characters show a little skin.

But double standards towards anime try to say otherwise because it’s convenient.

And this doesn’t end with anime that are “strictly” Yaoi either.

Yuri On Ice and anime that are like it – these anime include Gay or feminine male characters who act and behave a certain way to please the female audience. Or in other words – “fan service”.

That’s fine, but the hypocrisy is interesting seeing as how it’s treated when the shoes on the other foot.

3. Male fan service is “down played” by the same women who enjoy it

You’re not gonna sell me an Apple and then try convincing me it’s a Banana. That’s BS.

That’s exactly how Male fan service is treated by the same people who criticize the fan service in general.

Women, just like Men, are aroused when they see certain body parts of the opposite sex. Fictional or not.

That’s the whole point of fan service, and in the case of Male fan service – guys with their tops off, Hench, muscular and all the other clichés are the types that appeal to the female audience.

But even still – this is “downplayed” by Feminists and critics outside the industry because it’s inconvenient and doesn’t fit their agenda.

Accepting the truth would mean their whole argument falls like domino’s, and their pride won’t allow that to happen.

4. Male anime characters being portrayed as “feminine”

Male anime characters to some degree, and depending on what anime genre we’re talking about – they’re spineless and don’t have a backbone.

A lot of the time they’re weak (or they start out that way if it’s Shounen), and sometimes it’s the female character who wears the pants. While the male character is the one in the skirt.

Let’s use Darling In The Franxx as an example.

Zero Two is the main female character. With Hiro being the main male character.

From start to finish – Hiro essentially does whatever Zero Two tells him to do. Or put another way – he’s a f*cking YES man.

Hiro doesn’t have a mind of his own. The type of guy who will please everybody, but never himself.

Zero Two on the other hand is portrayed as the leader, the one who calls the shots and so on.

That’s not a problem in itself, but this is a common trait in plenty of anime series with a double standard people overlook.

Sometimes this double standard is taken to an extreme as well to paint the image of some sort of hierarchy.

Erza Scarlet is another example of this, but the comparison between male characters isn’t an issue in FT so it’s not worth mentioning.

5. Male anime characters portrayed as pervert weirdos

And then there’s the anime double standard of male characters portrayed as perverts.

Anime boys are exaggerated when it comes to how horny they are around girls. And everything related to that.

That’s fine. Anime is a projection, and a lot of time it’s not to be taken seriously anyway because it’s fictional.

A lot of the time this is based around comedy and can be done in a tasteful way.

Good Luck Girl is a comedy series that does a good job of this.

And then there’s an anime like Dragon Ball Z where there’s the “old man pervert”, aka – Master Roshi. Who started the whole cliché in the first place.

So what’s the problem?

The problem, or the “double standard” is the way female perverts are treated in anime.

For some reason – the outrage mob on Twitter, or even blogs and websites themselves never seem to talk about it.

Women get a “free pass”.

Let’s take this anime for example: An Angel Flew Down to Me.

The main character is a pervert, and a straight up pedo with weird fetishes for cute children.

This is obvious from the first episode and only bias would try to deny it because it’s convenient to.

Reverse the gender roles and the world would burn to the ground.

This anime dropped in Summer 2019. I haven’t heard or seen a single person, journalist, vlogger or anyone complain about it. Or “outrage” about the theme of this anime.

This is double standards at play.

People are quick to b*tch about male characters who’d do this kind of thing (which has never happened to this extreme), but if it’s a woman? It’s all laughs and f*cking giggles.

A reflection of the hypocritical societies we live in I suppose. Especially in the WEST.

How Women Are Treated In Anime:

6. Damsels In Distress who need “saving” 24/7

Female anime characters (not always) are treated like weak women who have nothing to offer and aren’t capable of depending on themselves. Or doing anything “difficult” without needing a helping hand.

The new 2019 anime has an element of this. It’s called Assassins Pride.

The female protagonist is weak and it’s only after the Assassin steps in to train her that she gets “stronger” and finds her way.

Though it’s not the best example so here’s another.

As much as I love Bleach – this anime has an element of this as well.

Orihime Inoue might have a nice personality, but outside of that – as a character, she doesn’t offer much to the overall series.

Orihime is either the one “healing” everyone when they’re damaged, or she’s standing on the sidelines like a damsel. Unable to do anything to make an impact on the story.

She’s basically the female version of Hiro in Darling In The Franxx. But 10X worse.

It only makes me question why Orihime is even in the story when Rukia Kuchiki is a better representation of a good female character.

7. Female characters are treated as “the upper-class”

This goes back to point #1 about male characters being used as punching bags in the name of comedy.

I noticed in a lot of anime, male characters are treated like they’re in some sort of “lower” hierarchy. Where women are sitting at the top of it.

This is obvious when you see the way male anime characters are treated over the smallest things they do around women.

We all know the famous “what are you looking at, pervert?” line in your typical school or romance anime.

The act of a guy looking at a girl he’s attracted to turns into backlash, as if he’s done something wrong. And sometimes it turns into the guy getting the sh*t kicked out of him for something so innocent.

When it’s the other way around though, as double standards work, it’s cute and everything is all fine and dandy.

I love that women appreciated in the anime industry. In fact – that’s one thing I love about anime. How women are “over” represented and put in the limelight.

But women are sometimes placed on a pedestal and are capable of getting away with murder.

A realistic representation of “real life” I guess.

It’s a double standard I see extremists and critics overlooking all the time.

8. No more than fan service and cliché moments

Yes – even I’ll admit it because I have no ego about this. Female anime characters are sometimes treated as fan service and don’t offer much to the plot.

I say “sometimes” because this doesn’t happen all the time. The only person who claims it does is someone who hasn’t watched too much anime (I’ve seen 100’s).

But let’s get back to the topic.

As much as I love Fire Force right now – Tamaki Kotatsu is one of those characters who’s used as fan service and nothing more than that.

A lot of the time she’s caught up in a silly situation and Shinra ends up “touching” her in an awkward way.

This plays out during a fight when Shinra comes to protect Tamaki.

I’m the kinda guy who appreciates a good story and well written characters.

I don’t mind fan service when it makes sense, but this is the kind of fan service I’m not into.

My point is though – this is another anime double standard because it doesn’t happen as often when the shoe is on the other foot. Even if that’s because anime’s audience is geared towards male teens.

The difference is though I’m not gonna “fake outrage” about it. That’s some insecure sh*t, and it’s arrogant as well.

What about objectification?

I’ll get into that in another post. There’s a double standard there as well, and more I wanna say that some people ignore.

The last thing I’ll say is this.

Another double standard I didn’t bother to mention is how male characters are usually stronger than female characters.

You know why I didn’t mention it? Because it’s NOT a double standard. And it’s not sexist either.

In the real world Men are 9/10 stronger than women. That’s non debatable unless you’re an idiot.

To me – that’s why the male characters tend to be stronger in most shows, and are portrayed that way.

I don’t think this is an issue since it’s realistic, but at the same time it doesn’t hurt to have female characters who are stronger (it’s fiction after all).

If you can think of more double standards, share it.

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