Just because a girl is strong and smart doesn’t mean she is treated with respect. Just because a girl is weak doesn’t mean she is a princess who needs to be rescued.
It’s easier to write a full post instead of a little comment – this is the trigger. The main reason is even though I’ve complaint to everyone and everywhere that Bakuman sucks I’ve never talked about why.
image@eshuu
Mashiro Moritaka’s mother: A typical Asian mother, she has little to no voice in her family, worries about her son and whines about his study a lot. Many people complain about her husband’s statement about women but in Japanese society, it’s considered normal. Sexism lvl: side character.
Azuki Miho: The innocent lovely type, she is shy but she is the one to act most of the times when Moritaka and her relationship calls for, not Moritaka. That can either mean she has to change for the sake of her “future husband”, or it’s her trait, so I’ll just leave it there. She doesn’t have many friends, doesn’t hang out much either so with the pace of her life, she will become a housewife. She is active in her career but it’s unlikely she will be particularly successful or will continue working for a long time. Probably will be someone like her mother. Typical girlfriend in shounen. Sexism lvl: she is typical.
Azuki Miho’s mother: A MILF. Just a grown-up version of Azuki. Sexism lvl: side character.
Miyoshi Kaya: Typical modern girl. She has no special talent, no particular hobby, no job, no excellent skill. She has been following Takagi Akito since middle school and her life revolves around him. Like Azuki, she doesn’t have many friends or hangs out much, she spends most of her time helping Takagi and Mashiro, literally their maid but without payment. She is energetic and can be understanding but most of the time she is just dumb and talkative. Most attractive trait confirmed by author: big boobs. Sexism lvl: she is typical.
Aoki Yuriko: An used to be independent and talented mangaka who had her own ideal and worked hard for her goal. She appeared as a cold and distant mangaka at first but as the manga went on, she was revealed to be a naive, inexperienced and not-so-hard-to-be -fooled girl. In romance, she was tossed around by 3 people, first she fell in love with Nakai because of his sincerity but was insulted later when he had another girl and gave up on him. She became interested in Takagi when they decided to help each other and kept in close contact, she withdrew happily when she knew about his girlfriend. When she was convinced to draw ecchi manga, Fukuda helped her with her drawings, the focus left her after that but it’s likely that she had taken a liking to Fukuda. As a mangaka, Aoki believed in herself and want to drew something artistic but when her career at JUMP had trouble, she was convinced and agreed to draw ecchi manga, putting her belief aside for something else. Note that, only Aoki has to change to continue, all other male mangakas at JUMP (except Nakai but only because he gave up) draw what they want. She also used Takagi and Mashiro’s stories in her manga with little to no change, it either means she is too inexperienced or has no talent in the genre she is told to work with. Sexism lvl: high
Iwase Aiko: An intelligent and strong willed girl but has a weak heart. She loves Takagi and can’t get over his lack of respect toward her to move on with her life, instead they have been hunting her since middle school, to the point she decided to draw manga just to get his attention. She put aside her literature career to pursuit manga even though she doesn’t have any interest in them just because of Takagi. Unlike Aoki, who is used by the author to create drama, Iwase is used by other characters to make Takagi and Mashiro draw better manga, she is treated like a tool and all she does is for the sake of that role. Her editor Hattori Akira approached her with the intention of using her to give a push to Takagi, all the time he spent helping her with her story, he didn’t think about how to help her become a better mangaka, but he thought about how this was helping Takagi and Mashiro, what to do to help them with their situation. He used her and didn’t even try to hide it in his thought. Then there was the switching editors thing, both Iwase and Takagi write serious stories, Hattori is good at them while Miura is bad at them. And because Takagi needs Hattori, they were switched for his sake even though Iwase is still in the middle of her story. Her new editor Miura treats her worse than Hattori since he doesn’t know how to keep his thoughts to himself like Hattori and isn’t skilled enough. He roots for Takagi and Mashiro, he doesn’t have any advice to give her, he isn’t enthusiastic about her scripts. Basically all he does is receiving her scripts and deliver them to Nizuma Eiji. Iwase’s co-worker Eiji doesn’t look at her, he does think she has talent, he likes her story, but that is it, Eiji only wants her to continue her good work so that Takagi and Mashiro will be more motivated to do better. Iwase also lacks confidence when it comes to her attractiveness because of Takagi, he has been hunting her so much that she was unable to form a romantic relationship. She seek desperately for the approval and acknowledgment of the opposite sex both for her talent and her look. That explains why she went after Hattori even though he is no where near attractive and he is as old as her father (estimated). Sexism lvl : max.
Conclusion: So here we have 2 female characters that their lives totally depend on other men in one way or another – Miyoshi and Iwase. A female mangaka whose the only way to stay at JUMP is drawing something she doesn’t know anything about and isn’t good at – Aoki. A sheltered girl, a milf and a stay-in-the-kitchen woman. If only they didn’t bring Iwase back, I wouldn’t have to drop this series.
Coming up next: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! female characters – they are actually not damsels in distress.
