-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Which of the Big Three/Forbidden Four Animes (AKA the ones huge in 00s) Had The Best Female Characters?
- Thread starter Deleted member 52442
- Start date
Bleach pretty easily. The women there actually do shit and have cool moments.
Soi Fon, Yoruichi, Rukia, Nel, are all better characters when it comes to action than pretty much every other woman in the other series.
One piece has characterization but Bleach wins everything else, style of women in action, diversity, amount, etc
The other two are pretty bad at it. While DBZ has a few women who are ultra important to the fabric of the show, they don't do much in terms of action and there's only a few of them. Naruto is a complete joke.
Soi Fon, Yoruichi, Rukia, Nel, are all better characters when it comes to action than pretty much every other woman in the other series.
One piece has characterization but Bleach wins everything else, style of women in action, diversity, amount, etc
The other two are pretty bad at it. While DBZ has a few women who are ultra important to the fabric of the show, they don't do much in terms of action and there's only a few of them. Naruto is a complete joke.
None of em. Fucking TTGL treated its few female characters with more respect than these three, and it's only now in Boruto that some of the female characters are getting actual characterizations, now that they are adults with adult lives.
Naruto put a minor in this one and she actually looks like a minor.
That's Boruto not Naruto. Also Boruto manga only. I don't think the anime is actually going to do that.
One Piece and Bleach have legitimately badass female characters but the designs are often overly-sexualised. Naruto probably had the least-sexualised designs on average but Kishimoto couldn't help but shoot himself in the foot every time with their character development... so many missed opportunities.
I'm glad Sarada hasn't been ruined in the Boruto manga, but Ikemoto's design for her is pretty bad.
I'm glad Sarada hasn't been ruined in the Boruto manga, but Ikemoto's design for her is pretty bad.
Yep. This is BS a lot of SJ manga seem to be glued too. Right alongside friendship and fights you seemingly always have to have some girl less than 18 created seemingly only for otaku fapbait. It's so gross. I voted OP for the poll though in the end mostly because I think at least I can think of a few more female characters that have more definition to their characters beyond being attracted one of the series male characters in comparison to the other 3. Bleach is probably a close second due to Steven's point about the diversity of the female characters in the series. Unohana, Yachiru, Rukia, and Yoruichi are some of my favorites design and character wise.
Last edited:
No it did not. TTGL had 2 underaged girls, one specifically designed for jiggle physics and the other had every adult male character faun over her which was really awkward. The other female characters barely had any screentime.
As bad as it got overall, Bleach wins this by a country mile. The only two eye-roll inducing female Bleach characters are Orihime (for being the Bleach version of Hinata) and Matsumoto, who's only purpose as a character is "I have boobs" (and she's ultimately a minor character with limited screen/page time).
The diversity of the rest of the female cast, and the amount of shit they do is actually substantial. But I will agree with the post on page one of "which one of these turds taste most like chocolate???"
Can we discuss anime with, idk, actual consistently good female representation?
The diversity of the rest of the female cast, and the amount of shit they do is actually substantial. But I will agree with the post on page one of "which one of these turds taste most like chocolate???"
Can we discuss anime with, idk, actual consistently good female representation?
Nah.
Honestly none of them are super great. They all to varying degrees either sexualize or neglect their female characters from their storylines.
MHA took a singular good step in the right direction with Uchako taking on Bakugo and them having it be an out and out fight, but then it seemed to forget it's female cast existed for the most part and they often just supplement male character journeys. Disclaimer, I haven't read chapters 200~ to current chapter, but that Uchako fight was like chapter 35 or something and we didn't get anything like that since.
The main Shonen Jump series that I feel retreats it's female characters with respect is The Promised Neverland, though I will freely admit that I don't really keep up with most Jump series nowadays. If your looking for a fun Shonen series that doesn't sexualize it's female characters (or for that matter, it's under aged characters), and is fun and creative and smart, TPN delivers on all that. It's effectively the only Shonen I get excited for nowadays.
MHA took a singular good step in the right direction with Uchako taking on Bakugo and them having it be an out and out fight, but then it seemed to forget it's female cast existed for the most part and they often just supplement male character journeys. Disclaimer, I haven't read chapters 200~ to current chapter, but that Uchako fight was like chapter 35 or something and we didn't get anything like that since.
The main Shonen Jump series that I feel retreats it's female characters with respect is The Promised Neverland, though I will freely admit that I don't really keep up with most Jump series nowadays. If your looking for a fun Shonen series that doesn't sexualize it's female characters (or for that matter, it's under aged characters), and is fun and creative and smart, TPN delivers on all that. It's effectively the only Shonen I get excited for nowadays.
Get real.
As much as a shit on bleach ....it def had the best female representation.
People talking about sexualization of bleach characters?
Matsumoto, Halibel, Nemu(maybe) and final arc suit Orihime are pretty much the only sexulized characters.
Matsumoto is portrayed as a super confident girl who loves the fact she has big tits and wants to show them off...more power to her.
Halibel has no excuse that was fan service no doubt.
Final arc Orihime was fan service again, but it was addressed in universe.
The rest of the characters all have moments to shine and have pretty well defined characteriizations that i think are told pretty well all things considered.
Tatsuki was such a wasted opportunity....thats a character I kept hoping would turn into something but Kubo seems to have forgotten about her as the story progressed.
And Kubos fashion covers are still some of the best ive ever seen for any Manga.
What the heck is with One Piece having the best? Nami's last actual fight was against Kalifa in Water 7 and Robin's in Skypeia. For a battle shonen, them being relegated to beating fodders is a shame.
Bleach is far from perfect representation, but at least the women did fight and their fair share of fights besides fodders, and when they lost, it wasn't without a fight. Rukia actually achieving Bankai, killing a major villain and becoming a Captain was a satisfying arc for a battle shonen.
Bleach is far from perfect representation, but at least the women did fight and their fair share of fights besides fodders, and when they lost, it wasn't without a fight. Rukia actually achieving Bankai, killing a major villain and becoming a Captain was a satisfying arc for a battle shonen.
It's still a major part of the franchise, and Kishimoto specifically approves of what goes on with the manga I know that much. When the original manga-ka okays it and it looks like that...yeah that's not good.
Then in Bleach you have the whole Shinji and Hiyori thing. Hiyori is literally a 100+ year old loli character and it's implied the two have a thing for each other or used to. Of course like all things in Bleach it's underdeveloped so it's hard to say for sure, but it raises a few eyebrows.
For Shonen anime from that period, Gintama would be answer as well.
Oh okay since it's been brought up, yeah the answer is Black Clover lol. Noelle doesn't get left behind in terms of power while also participating in a lot of the fights and getting cool development and this new saga has already guaranteed that she will stay in the spotlight. And beyond her, the female characters in general get to be involved in pretty much all of the action while being some of the coolest and strongest of the series.
I like to think sidelining the female characters (and supporting cast in general) is a mistake Tabata learned not to repeat from older things like Naruto as part of some "battle shonen passing of the torch" I like to imagine happens and hopefully improves aspects of the genre.
Last edited:
OP
OP
I was thinking about that moment before I made this thread. I would have liked to make a new thread about the biggest animes atm but I don't really know what they are. Maybe my hero, demon slayer, and ???
Probably Naruto?
DB had good female characters, they were just made hilariously irrelevant after a time, much like most of the cast.
It's hard to get past how Oda draws women.
I've heard Bleach gets better, but that's well after I stopped caring, lol.
They all clear the extremely low bar of "Not As Bad As Bakuman", so that's something, I suppose.
DB had good female characters, they were just made hilariously irrelevant after a time, much like most of the cast.
It's hard to get past how Oda draws women.
I've heard Bleach gets better, but that's well after I stopped caring, lol.
They all clear the extremely low bar of "Not As Bad As Bakuman", so that's something, I suppose.
One Piece
Bleach
DB/Naruto can be argued for third or fourth.
Robin is one of the most important people in the World, Nami was heavily featured during Whole Cake, Big Mom, Carrot, Pudding, the entire island if Dressrosa was under control thanks to a girl.
These are just the last few arcs before Wano that featured big moments with these characters. This is to say nothing of the importance of Shirahoshi or side characters like Baby 5 and Viola. This is all stuff after the time skip.
Bleach
DB/Naruto can be argued for third or fourth.
Robin is one of the most important people in the World, Nami was heavily featured during Whole Cake, Big Mom, Carrot, Pudding, the entire island if Dressrosa was under control thanks to a girl.
These are just the last few arcs before Wano that featured big moments with these characters. This is to say nothing of the importance of Shirahoshi or side characters like Baby 5 and Viola. This is all stuff after the time skip.
DBZ didnt hit big in America till the 00's and as many of you know, Americans can be pretty myopic when it comes to their entertainment.
Having not read/watched much One Piece I would go with Naruto, visually speaking I think the female cast is varied and pretty well designed
Having not read/watched much One Piece I would go with Naruto, visually speaking I think the female cast is varied and pretty well designed
For Shonen anime from that period, Gintama would be answer as well.
Oh okay since it's been brought up, yeah the answer is Black Clover lol. Noelle doesn't get left behind in terms of power while also participating in a lot of the fights and getting cool development and this new saga has already guaranteed that she will stay in the spotlight. And beyond her, the female characters in general get to be involved in pretty much all of the action while being some of the coolest and strongest of the series.
I will never stop advocating for Charmy to get her own series spin off
As well as Nel who was a cute imouto-like girl you could protect as well as a mid-riff sporting, stacked hottie readers could lust over at the same time!.... :/
I would not mind that at all cause Charmy's great and more Charmy is always welcome.
Haven't watched Naruto or One Piece, but at least I know that the main female character married an abuser and psycopath, so... yikes. Also I'm fully aware of how female characters are designed in One Piece, so that's another yikes.
So that leaves me with Bleach and Dragon Ball. Between these two, I would say Bleach, and not so much. Rukia is an excellent character, capable of defending herself and kicking her enemies, but what Kubo did to her in SS is bullshit. Same with Inoue in Hueco Mundo. And then both hardly have any presence later. Of course, there are other female characters, but they have terrible design choices (looking at you Matsumoto and Neliel).
Dragon Ball... lmao. Still can't believe they didn't give Pan SSJ in GT because Goku had to save her. 18, Bulma and Videl are cool, but then they just become housewives after getting married, which is a big no. The biggest offender is Videl. At least they seem to rectifying themselves in Super. Bulma, despite not being a warrior, proves to be helpful to Goku and Vegeta. And 18 participated in the Tournament of Power. And we got Caulifla and Kale.
So that leaves me with Bleach and Dragon Ball. Between these two, I would say Bleach, and not so much. Rukia is an excellent character, capable of defending herself and kicking her enemies, but what Kubo did to her in SS is bullshit. Same with Inoue in Hueco Mundo. And then both hardly have any presence later. Of course, there are other female characters, but they have terrible design choices (looking at you Matsumoto and Neliel).
Dragon Ball... lmao. Still can't believe they didn't give Pan SSJ in GT because Goku had to save her. 18, Bulma and Videl are cool, but then they just become housewives after getting married, which is a big no. The biggest offender is Videl. At least they seem to rectifying themselves in Super. Bulma, despite not being a warrior, proves to be helpful to Goku and Vegeta. And 18 participated in the Tournament of Power. And we got Caulifla and Kale.
Yep,
Ladies That Smash Life's Balls - The Women of Gintama
Tony takes a look at some of the notable and inspiring female characters from Hideaki Sorachi's smash comedy/action series, Gintama.
yattatachi.com
Basically, most of the women have agency. They're not props or foils.Yep,
Ladies That Smash Life's Balls - The Women of Gintama
Tony takes a look at some of the notable and inspiring female characters from Hideaki Sorachi's smash comedy/action series, Gintama.
Kishimoto has said that he gave "carte blanche"control over sequel designs to Ikemoto meaning he can draw them however he wants.
lol almost couldn't recognize Orihime because her hair is pink for some reason.
Yeah ERA unfortunately has a hard on for neverending fillers.