Feminine Imagery in Shōnen Manga

8/3/2019 Feminine Imagery in Shnen Manga

1/40

Feminine Imagery inShnen Manga and Japans Masculinist Cultural Nationalism

A Paper written for the course

PoS 251.5: Women and Politics in Asia

by

Hansley A. Juliano

MA PoS

Submitted to:

Dr. Ma. Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza

Submitted on:

October 15, 2011


2/40

It is perhaps not an exaggeration, in a way, to say that manga (Japanese comics) is

continuously growing to become one of the hallmarks of Japanese popular culture (and, in fact,

one of Japans marked cultural contributions to the current configuration of global society). Their

ever-wide readership (both within Japan and globally) and the subsequent adaptations of such

graphic literature into the multimedia screen (television or film) serves as a testament to their

endurance as among the leading print media that enjoys a large readership/consumer base. The

continuously-growing popularity of manga as a medium of popular culture has inspired a lot of

speculation and discourse with regards to their significance to reader behavior and how they

shape the viewpoints of their audiences.To some, they are either the bane of Japanese society which serves as a lenient space

where the reader demographic (usually boys and young men) are allowed to live out their

infantile concupiscence; when university students began to read children's manga instead of the

classics. By spending hours with their noses buried in children's manga books, obtuse students

demonstrated their hatred of the university system, of adults, and of society as a whole, and

[r]eading children's manga came to be considered somewhat risqu and underground (Kinsella

1998, 292). To others, they are a revolutionary space of communication and story-telling which

allows for the further dynamization of expression and thought-making, a potent configuration of

text which precisely highlights the multiplicities and complexities of varying world-views:

Manga are in line with the current literacy revolution, as traditional reading is being expanded

into postmodern readings that combine print text, graphic images, and sounds. It is not surprising

that the multimodal and iconographic features of manga attract consumers across age groups,

cultures, languages, and genders. (Schwartz and Rubinstein-vila 2006, 48). As it might be

always understood, the purposes of the texts as they are presented have particular purposes and

2


3/40

views, even if the claims to expression and image-building are somewhat made out to be value-

free or solely for entertainment purposes.

Shnen manga, as is indicated in the name, is a designated genre of manga that is trained

towards the demographic of boys and young men. Usually, the narratives of adventures,

challenges, frustrations and hopes would be tackled, with the protagonist(s) embarking on such

against their age-mates, colleagues, or even the existing status quo as a whole. Often, though not

always, the worlds they inhabit would be fantasy situations where, it might be argued, only the

persons will limits the possibilities available to everyone. The emphasis on the perceived values

of masculinity such as daring, cunning, creativity, courage and growth would be prevalent,where reflection, thought and speech would either be held only on equal footing or as an

afterthought to the main selling point of struggles and epic battles. It is not surprising, therefore,

that the genre would also develop new ways of constructing the underdog type of hero to

entertain and enlighten male audience (ibid., 45).

These types of stories go beyond the genre so much that it is not uncommon to mistake

the aesthetics and values espoused byshnen manga as a universal or staple characteristic of the

manga medium as a whole. It is not therefore surprising that such discourses and texts would

also shape not only reader behavior but also the perception of manga as a text into itself by

people not exactly attached to it. It is not surprising to hear, as have been mentioned earlier, how

manga is perceived as a conduit of perpetuating the irresponsible childishness of its patrons.

However, it would perhaps be a disservice to believe wholesale in the argument that artifacts of

popular culture are sheer manifestations of immature mentalities. As a conduit and text-manifest

of the mores and the perceived limits of imagination that the people involved in their production

(and for that matter, the society such produced texts are situated in) hold by, such texts are

3


4/40

important for an insight as to the continuing valuation of what Japanese society holds valuable in

terms of societal reproduction and behavior formation. It perhaps important to remember, at this

point, how Theodor Adorno asserts that [t]he representations of living reality becomes a

technique for suspending its development and thus comes to occupy that static realm which

revealed the very essence of variet (1991, 71). By airing and popularizing claims, images and

ideas through popular culture, it is quite inevitable that such aired perceptions/values will shape

the behavior and views of their consuming public, whether subtly or even blatantly.

Having established such, it is for the purposes of my current study to point out how, in

theshnen genre of manga and its television/film adaptations (anime), young boys' and men'sadventures, challenges, frustrations and hopes, would be the central focus of the narrative, with

women usually playing support roles or merely fetishized and only given value in proximity to

masculine characters. The plethora ofshnen manga and anime, especially those considered to

be groundbreaking in their genre, have codified a majority of such representations of women as

either vital to the success of the male protagonists, or are otherwise grave roadblocks and fatal

distractions for the protagonists to achieve their goals. In this respect, one might argue that

manga, like any other artifact of popular culture defined and produced by the constructs and

structures of print-capitalism, is similarly patriarchal and objectifying of women in this respect.

But we digress. Contemporary representations of female characters inshnen, in fact,

imply evolving and complex image-repertoires where women are actually becoming a

normalized part of the genre (and, as such, suggest images of women playing toe-to-toe with

men). My study, therefore, would strive to pinpoint and analyze how such structures of texts and

identity-formations and made prevalent in the production and consumption dynamics of the

manga literary device. We would see that despite (and in many ways, because) of such evolving

4


5/40

representations of women in Japanese culture-situated literature, such representations and images

of emancipation cannot exactly be value free. Considering the feudal and masculinist cultural

nationalism undercurrent of Japanese culture which backs the image, the repopularization of

such archetypes within the most accessible print popular culture among the youth and related

demographics suggests a continuing nostalgia for the techno-muscularist age of Imperial Japan.

Its reproduction as a social norm in contemporary Japanese society reinvigorates its masculinist

ethic which, tied to the failed project of imperial nation-building, has not yet fully recovered.

For the purposes of this study, we will serve to analyze twoshnen series that have been

(and remain to be) popular within the shnen audience from recent memory: KishimotoMasashisNaruto (running since November 1999) and Arakawa HiromusFullmetal Alchemist

(published from August 2001 to June 2010). These two series were chosen by virtue of the

length of their serialization and due to their remarkable deconstructions and reconstructions of

the stereotypes and standard storytelling devices that have hallmarked the shnen genre for the

past decades. More importantly, these series are set in worlds that could be deemed multicultural

and epic in their scope, which gives the study a considerably large amount of feminine

representations to analyze.

The Social Significance of Manga and theShnen-Shjo Nexus

A diversion into the discussion of the social position of manga should be made. As

mentioned above, the space of manga as a growing avenue for the proliferation of ideas outside

the standard realms of idea-production and consumption cannot be underestimated. For the

purposes of illustration, Sharon Kinsella has noted how, even since the 1970s, the medium is

already growing to encompass a variety of sectors and age demographics:

5


6/40

As the manga industry matured in the 1970s and 1980s, the age and gender ofthe readers became increasingly heterogenous. Demographic categories, reflectingthe actual gender and age of the readers of specific magazines, partly transformedinto stylistic categories, describing the style and content of the manga. Animportant factor contributing to this slippage between magazine readerships, has

been the gradual ageing of the original generation of manga readers. As the firstgeneration of young adults to read childrens manga magazines in the 1960sgrew older, publishers followed them by producing stories of interest tosuccessively older readers. (Kinsella 2000, 48).

Having, literally, grown with its consumer base and demographic, it is not a stretch to

emphasize that manga could already lay claim to (and is already practicing) the rubrics and

particularities of culture production where realities and fictions become fluid and reflective of

each other's peculiarities and contradictions. In a way, although it was expressed in a morepessimistic and savage dismissal, Theodor Adornos understanding of the dynamics of popular

texts (referred by him as mass culture) does create behaviors and notions which would be very

much define not only how the consumer relates to the product, but how the traditional dynamic

of consumption and production is already blurred and diffused. As it is implied, the consumers

fasten on the culture-masks proferred to them and practice themselves the magic by which is

already worked upon them. They become a collective through the adaptation to an over-

mastering arbitrary power. Participation in mass culture itself stands under the sign of terror.

Enthusiasm not merely betrays an unconscious eagerness to read the commands from above but

already reveals the fear of disobedience (1991, 96).

The dismissal of manga enthusiasts (usually lumped under the blanket label used for all

Japanese consumers of popular culture, otaku) has been long in standing. In many other ways

that has labeled most manifestations of popular culture and recreation (such as video games) as

detrimental to social integration, so has manga been perceived as an assault on the constructs of

Japanese social unity as well. As was witnessed during 1965 to 1975, anti-manga activism has

6


7/40

been carried out by combinations of local citizens organizations, the PTA, local government,

voluntary organizations and national quasi government agencies, understood as a political

response to more generalized proi-manga activity in society in the form of the expansion of the

manga business (Kinsella 2000, 139). As to be expected of conduits of such a culture, it would

not be surprising if resistances would be made, considering that their forms of habituation and

appreciation of the texts and meta-texts employed in manga culture has effectively bound them

into new communal structures. It has built a new arrangement via its cultural capital, even if the

acquisition of such will not enhance ones career, nor will it produce upward class mobility as

its investment payoffs. Its dividends lie in the pleasures and esteem of ones peers in acommunity of taste rather than those of ones social betters. Fandom, then, is a peculiar mix

of cultural determinations. On the one hand it is an intensification of popular culture which is

formed outside and often against official culture, on the other it expropriates and reworks certain

values and characteristics of that official culture to which it is opposed. (Fiske 1992, 34).

The existence, maintenance and proliferation of the consumption and dynamic-

preservation of manga could therefore be understood as fraught with, but nevertheless sustained,

by its contradictory situation in Japanese society. While it is seen as a modern phenomenon (and

in fact arguably alien to traditional Japanese cultural markers), the conduits of manga production

are actually complicit into creating new spaces of identity participations that are not antagonistic,

but actually complementary to the evolving markers of Japanese identity. At this point, it is

important to remember that Japanese identity (and nationalism as it is magnified) is already

consideredfragmentary, In the sense that different social groups and different individuals have

different perceptions of and attitudes towards the ways in which Japanese national identity and

solidarity should be reaffirmed and reconstructed (Yoshino 1992,223). From here, we can

7


8/40

actually say that the notions of community-building and pedagogical meta-texts (that come out

of a Japanese society that exists with such popular cultural markers as manga) would also

explain how the images of womens identities and roles in society are constructed and evolving,

and how they continue to permeat Japanese representations of women, even in non-Japanese and

non-realistic contexts. As texts which are shaped for and are inevitably shaped by the circulative

economy of the global space which is filled in by Japan, manga should be seen as discursive

apparatuses that quickly respond to and/or reveal social, often problematic phenomena,

providing insights into a myriad of socio-cultural, psychological and economic issues of a post-

modern society, and so involve multi-dimensional viewpoints within a social imagery. (Bryceand Davis 2006, 7).

With this, it is similarly important to deal with the question of why this study chose to

focus on the representations of theshnen genre and not that which precisely deals with feminine

representations in general, which isshjo. The politics of Japanese masculine representation of

women has yet to be given serious consideration or review, especially when considerable

transformations of gender dynamics are happening in contemporary Japanese society to date. As

observed,

the Japanese concept of femininity has expanded, to at least accommodate ifperhaps not encourage the adoption of activities and traits that were onceexclusively masculine. Because the Japanese concept of masculinity did notexpand alongside that of femininity, this occurrence has threatened Japanesemasculinity by appropriating some of its features, features which then became lessvaluable as they became less exclusively masculine. Thus, the concept ofmasculinity which heavily depends on simply being not feminine could not helpbut be threatened by a broadened interpretation of feminine. Societal tension hasresulted from this seeming inability of the Japanese model of masculinity toadapt. (Harrell 2007, 3).

8


9/40

Similarly,shjo representation is already expanding in spaces of literature regarding the

genres representation of women, suggesting how despite the seeming suggestion of a universal

rubric of representation inshjo, [i]dentity formation is a fluid process and that we should not

immediately assume that a fixed identity exists for Japanese women; in fact, there are other

determining factor[s] shaping Japanese women's linguistic practices and the identity expressed

through language use. Many factors, such as one's occupation and the conversational settings can

also affect a Japanese woman's language choice (Ueno 2006, 24). As the aforementioned study

of Ueno invites us, there are more spaces for discussing the evolving views and methods of

women's representation inshnen manga, which involve multifaceted images of the feminine,albeit still marked with cultural weights.

My current study would, therefore, focus more on the employment of content analysis.

Through close readings and inspection of the aesthetics employed and how the narratives of the

texts were written, we will subject the chosen representations of women (as they are weaved into

the narrative of their respective series) and see how it suggest images of femininity that negotiate

with its own view of "how to be a woman." We will see that while they are employing such

means to make these characters stand out as feminine characters, they are similarly made into

active agents who are visibly relating (and shaping) the environment they habituate in, outside

traditional representations. We will also perhaps see how, in their employment of such

mechanisms, they struggle with themselves on whether their actions are still consonant with their

feminine identity: they are either subjected to dilemmas of whether they should consider it

disjunctive to their femininity, or if their femininity is disruptive of their participation in society.

Finally, through my discussions and analyses, we will also note how do the backgrounds of the

female characters (and their actions as they played out in the narrative) suggest how the society

9


10/40

in which they live in view their capability and importance, by virtue of their being an individual

and as a woman.

Dere () asform: Otaku Typologies of Women

A discussion of feminine representation in manga would not be complete without a

consideration of the usual types of feminine characters present in such literature. A basic

definition of such could be gleaned from various information sources on manga and anime in the

internet, but are not exhaustively maintained or considered orthodox (in a sense, they could be

considered informally institutional). For the purposes of relevance to the current studys

discussion, three types will be taken into consideration:

Tsundere (). Such characters are classified as usually aloof, irritable or violent,but can be sweet and loving in private, especially when she/he is with someone she/hecares about. The term used is supposedly rooting from two other character types:tsuntsun () or aloofness/bluntness and deredere () or being affectionate (Aoki2011). Examples of characters types identified as such in other media would include theschoolgirl and paranormal entity Suzumiya Haruhi in The Melancholy of HaruhiSuzumiya, Tendo Akane ofRanma and Asuka Langley Sory ofNeon Genesis

Evangelion. Kuudere (). A general definition available would be "a female character who isnormally cold and unassuming but later reveals a softer and kinder side (Wikipedia2011). Characters falling under this category are usually considered otherworldly ordifferent from their peers, which perhaps makes social interaction difficult for them.Iconic examples would include Ayanami Rei ofNeon Genesis Evangelion, C.C. ofCodeGeass and Tomoe Hotaru (Sailor Saturn) ofSailor Moon. While a tsundere and akuudere have similar distant relationships with their male counterparts, a tsundere wouldusually engage in active aggression (whether via slapstick comedy or serious distancing),while a kuudere is apparently content with maintaining a level of aloofness.

Yamato Nadeshiko (). Most identifiable with traditional Japanese culture, the

yamato nadeshiko is a complex appreciation of the feminine character, usuallycharacterized as feminine, chaste and devoted to her husband, always respects and obeysher husband, and is able to cope with domestic concerns. Apparently, the valorization ofsuch still roots from Second World War propaganda, where the wives of servicemenshould be "gentle and delicate but also be able to endure all the pain and poverty of lifewith her husband and the country, and should always be ready to fight (Bullock 1994).The strength of character of theyamato nadeshiko with regards to her husband is in hercapability of subtly pointing him to the right direction.

10


11/40

These images seemingly uniformly present an image of a woman empowered despite her

positionality within the family/social hierarchy. It is perhaps important to note that despite

Orientalizing tendencies which lump many women outside European confines as weak-willed,

it is similarly important to take into account Japanese renditions of social accommodation, honne

() and tatemae (). The seeming-disconnect of appearance and substance in Japanese

society is usually attributed to a dynamic of responsibility to be responsive and sensitive, where

relational cues are not the sign of communication closely watched, condescending and

precautionary between two autarchies, two personal empires (each ruling over its Ego, the

little realm of which it holds the key); it is only the feature of a network of forms in which

nothing is halted, knotted, profound (Barthes 1982, 68). While the representation of women in

shnen manga (by virtue of the seemingly-sanitizing process of fictionalization and culture-

free representations) are somewhat outside the realm of reality, it precisely calls to mind, all the

same, the particular texts of representation and formation for women that are prevalent in

Japanese society as they are reproduced. As we delve into further detail in the representations we

will analyze, we will see that the marks of Japanese views of women (and femininity) conjunct

to the masculinist status quo remain salient and present, albeit modified in directions that may or

may not have been intended by the authors and producers of such literature.

Steam-punk Cultural Nationalism inNaruto

The narrative of the world of Kishimoto MasashisNaruto seeks to redefine what a

ninja is, beyond the stereotypical representations of the secret agents/assassins of the Sengoku

and Edo period. As portrayed in the series, the ninja are the military forces of their countries and

the mercenary forces of other communities that need their services. The setting of this world has

11


12/40

endured decades of warfare between ninja villages, sparked by the various interests of people

within those countries or, similarly, people fomenting dissent and bloodshed.

As expected of any action-orientedshnen manga, it would involve the struggles of a

young boy seeking for acknowledgment through contest. Uzumaki Naruto, a hyperactive,

obnoxious yet well-meaning outcast seeks to prove himself as ashinobi worthy of the

acknowledgment of his village, as well as the respect of his peers. His outcast status was,

supposedly, brought about by being the container of a malevolent spirit: the Nine-Tailed Demon

Fox, which was responsible for the destruction of the village he lives in years prior. Along the

way, he gets embroiled in the continuing struggles and power plays not only within countries,but with the international threat of the criminal organizationAkatsuki, which seeks to collect the

malevolent spirits like the Nine-Tails to wreak destruction in the ninja world.

The particular village in which Naruto lives in, Konohagakure, promotes a social

philosophy called the Will of Fire, which denotes an intense desire of protecting the village at

the cost of ones life. Whatever gender or background a person has, a shinobi of Konohagakure

is expected to live out such exemplary service to their village and comrades. Other villages

featured in the narrative have either similar or drastically-different valuation of their ninjas code

of conduct. It is in this context that we will analyze the feminine characters which are situated in

such contexts, and how they are represented via their actions. For this section, we will classify

the characters to analyze in three categories: the youngerkunoichi (female ninja), the female

authority figures featured in the series, and the mothers of key characters involved

Adolescent Femininity in the Time of Warfare

12


13/40

Being brought up in a militia environment, most girls who entered the Ninja Academy

are expected to train themselves into competent warriors without sacrificing their femininity and

grace. As Konohagakure in the Land of Fire is a community that values peace despite its

vigilance in protecting its borders, it seeks to sustain a nurturing community that is able to

socialize people to act decisively during times of war, capable of reintegrating them to

productive labor during times of peace. The characters are similarly shaped by their villages

experiences and hardships, as well as their relationships with their age-mates. Due to the

narrative ofNaruto centering around the events between these two villages, it is not surprising

that the female characters most readers would recognize come almost exclusively from them. Wewould look at two characters from Konohagakure: Haruno Sakura and Hyga Hinata.

Being the teammate of the main character, Haruno Sakura would be one of the most

recognizable female characters in the series. As the sole female in Team 7, she is usually the one

who witnesses the conflicts between the protagonist Uzumaki Naruto and his rival, Sasuke from

the elite Uchiha clan. She started out as technically the weakest of the three, with her strengths

being only her textbook intellect. As befitting a standard tsundere, she would seemingly act

hostile on Naruto while fawning admiration over Sasuke, the more battle-competent of the two.

However, when both of them were put out of commission due to injuries sustained with a strong

villain, she was cornered in pursuit by other ninja who were willing to kill them to get the

valuable artifacts they were supposed to hold on. Reflecting on how she has become too reliant

on them, she chose to stand up and do her best to protect them, risking her life (see Fig. 1.1).

13


14/40

Fig 1.1. Sakura cuts off her hair in order to be able to fight. [2001 reprint Shueisha]

She would later apprentice herself under Tsunade, the greatest medical ninja of

Konohagakure who would later become the Hokage, leader and caretaker of the village

(Kishimoto 2005). This apprenticeship would earn her an increase in wisdom, knowledge and

strength which she would employ effectively when she is deployed to battle, especially

noteworthy when she was assigned to be among the lead medics for the Third Division of the

Allied Shinobi Forces, when the Fourth Shinobi World War was declared.

Her emotional maturation, however, would still appear to be contested. When Sasuke

escaped from Konohagakure in order to align himself with the criminal ninja Orochimaru (in

pursuit of more power), she was adamant on bringing him back. However, when she saw that

Sasuke was already irrevocably following the path of vengeance and violence, she was unable to

convince him to turn back (and almost fell victim to his blade), had it not been for Naruto

14


15/40

arriving in time to save her. Seeing how she has less resolve than Naruto to bring back Sasuke,

she resigned herself, saying: I can't do anything The only thing that remains for me is to

believe in them! (ibid. 2010b). While we might be tempted to think that Sakuras development

as a person was stunted and is not worthy of a feminine heroine, it is indeed implied that it is in

her emotional vulnerability that she is more equipped to handle such a complex and seemingly-

hopeless situation maturely. The decision to entrust the task of redeeming Sasuke to Naruto, it is

not as much a declaration of surrender but an acknowledgment of her limits as a person.

A similar strain of being affected by Narutos optimism and determination would

characterize the development of Hyga Hinata, the second most recognizable female characterfrom Konoha. While she was initially defined by her extreme shyness and ineptitude, it cannot

be denied that she is a person of good will and kindness. Heir to the elite Hyga clan, she was

initially expected to step up as the next leader by virtue of being the daughter of the current clan

head. However, due to her lack of self-confidence, she was passed over by her father in disgust.

This would deal a greater blow to her self-image, until her contact with Naruto showed to

her how, indeed, she has good qualities that would make her a fine kunoichi if she would want it.

As such, when she fought her more competent cousin Neji (who berated her precisely for her

weaknesses), she strove to fight him on equal footing, even if it was a losing match for her (ibid.,

2001). From then on, she was able to develop her strengths as a competent fighter, although her

shyness around Naruto (who she began to develop feelings for) remains. It is not until she found

Naruto in a life-threatening battle against Akatsuki leader Pain that she takes into the field and

strives to fight the powerful foe, even openly declaring that shes willing to sacrifice her life for

Naruto because she loves him (see Fig. 1.2). Even if her attempt ended with her nearly getting

killed, it caused Naruto to explode in rage and move forward to defeat Pain.

15


16/40

Fig 1.2. Hinata moves forward to protect Naruto. [2009b reprint Shueisha]

It is not beyond reason for us to classify Hinata as ayamato nadeshiko following all the

characteristics mentioned earlier: the image of fragility, yet with the determination to struggle for

what is right. That Naruto would later acknowledge this sacrifice of hers (and with it, her

strength) does suggest that women have the capacity to move above such limitations imposed on

them by their surroundings and their own insecurities.

The Strength of Feminine Authority

In such a way that the images of adolescent femininity do suggest the necessity of pro-

activity as its element, the more it is somewhat visible in women characters that are in positions

of authority. While they are expected to rule their domains in equal (if not superior) efficiency

than their male colleagues, they also struggle with their desire to assert their being women

without endangering their position in their community. In the two characters we will look at,16


17/40

Tsunade of Konohagakure and Terumi Mei of Kirigakure, women in authority continuously

traverse the fine line between emphasizing their scruples as women and projecting an image of

fortitude and certainty that cannot be suspected of weakness.

Being the incumbent Hokage of Konoha, Tsunade continuously projects a determined

and blunt demeanor whenever she speaks with her subordinates or colleagues. It must be said

that taking on such a responsibility was a great leap from her personality. Despite her heritage of

being part of the Senju clan which founded Konoha, she became disillusioned with the post when

she saw her loved ones who desired the post die horrible deaths during times of war. However,

witnessing Narutos determination to gain the post for himself, as well as seeing how her belovedhometown is being assaulted by the machinations of Orochimaru and Akatsuki, convinced her to

return and take the reins of leadership (ibid., 2003).

While she is indeed a hard taskmaster (especially to her apprentice Sakura), she is

nonetheless a very benevolent leader, working restlessly to ensure the security and stability of

her village. It is precisely this motherly sense of responsibility, in a way, that demands her to

efface her ability to let her emotions take hold of her, choosing to mourn the deaths of her

colleagues (like her old teammate and adviser Jiraiya) silently when no one is around her. This

also drove her to over-exert herself in saving all the citizens of Konoha when Pain destroyed the

village in one fell swoop, falling comatose in the process (ibid., 2009a). Fortunately, she was

able to recover in time for the declaration of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

While Tsunade could be very serious when it comes to her work, her counterpart in

Kirigakure, Terumi Mei, is somewhat more relaxed and confident in her being a woman. In a

sense, Meis context is more difficult: Kirigakure, wracked by various civil conflicts, came to

dread ninja with bloodline limits or hereditary skills/organic weapons, even organizing purges

17


18/40

to eliminate ninja with such attributes. Mei, other than being a woman, also inherited two

bloodline limits (ibid., 2010a) However, she did become able to rise through the ranks.

Mei as a person appears to be very cheerful and doting of her subordinates, in order to

inspire their confidence and fighting spirit. Moreover, she seems to be very playful even in

battle, flirting with her enemies (especially if they are handsome, such as Uchiha Sasuke) before

ruthlessly attacking them. She is, however, very touchy on the subject of her marriage prospects.

Being unmarried in her thirties, she has developed the comical habit of taking insult into any

mention of her being single. Such a portrayal, perhaps, also suggests how a womans being a

leader should not run counter to her identity as person with quirks and desires.

Fig 1.3. Mei assaults Sasuke. [2010 reprint Shueisha]

Subverting the Dead Mother Syndrome

18


19/40

A discussion of feminine identity would not be complete without considering one of the

hallmarks of feminine status: motherhood. While being a mother might be traditionally viewed

as an inconvenient situation which would merit a womans retiring from her career path, the

portrayal of mothers inNaruto does suggest something different. While they are, indeed,

expected further to focus on their responsibilities as housewives, nothing stops them from taking

an active part in the battlefield if they would so desire. More interestingly, considering the

supernatural setting of the story, mothers are even capable of transcending death in order to give

aid to their suffering children, if the situation would so need it. For the purposes of brevity, we

would look at two deceased mothers of two principal characters who, literally, aided theirchildren from beyond the grave: Uzumaki Kushina of Konohagakure and Karura of Sunagakure.

Uzumaki Kushina, a hot-blooded kunoichi in her youth, was chosen to be the second

container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, a responsibility which would demand a clear mind and

a loving heart. With her own determination and the support of her future husband, Minato

Namikaze (who would later become Hokage), she was able to balance her responsibilities as a

ninja and as a housewife. However, when she gave birth to Naruto, she and her husband was

assaulted by a mysterious attacker which released the Nine-Tails, ending with both her and

Minatos death. Before they died, however, they were able to seal the Nine-Tails into Naruto,

together with their souls, in order to keep it in check. When Naruto, years later, sought to control

the Nine-Tails for himself and was on the verge of losing, her soul acted immediately to

intervene, disabling the Fox and reminding Naruto of her love for him. With this, he was able to

defeat the Fox and harness its power for his own. (ibid., 2010c).

19


20/40

Fig 1.4. Gaaras sand forms into Karuras image. [2011 reprint Shueisha]

Karura, on the other hand, would have a less-savory (but no less-inspiring) situation. As

the malevolent spirit under Sunagakures control, the One-Tailed Shukaku, also needed a human

host, her husband (the Kazekage) offered up his son for the task. Even if it would cause her death

and a life of suffering for her son, Karura was determined to make sure it would succeed,

promising that she would always protect her son, Gaara. Later on, when Gaara, now the

Kazekage and field commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, was being overwhelmed by

powerful ninja raised from the dead, Karura manifested in the sand used by her son as a weapon,

protecting him and the ninja under his command from their assault (see Fig 1.4).

Woman-Alienated and Woman-Asserted in Fullmetal Alchemist

20


21/40

IfNaruto is very much in touch with its definition of Japanese culture and how gender

typologies are somewhat preserved (albeit heavily modified by the narrative), we can

categorically say that on the other hand, Arakawa HiromusFullmetal Alchemistis heavily-

shnen in its aesthetics and metatextual configuration, with most of the key plot points taken by

the male protagonists and characters. Considering that the representations involved in Fullmetal

Alchemistare actually more multi-cultural in scope, differentiations would be largely

advantageous to our analysis of feminine representation. In this section, we would have the

privilege of taking into consideration the feminine characters as individuals situated in their

particular contexts. These characters will show us how, even at least subtly, the feminine

characters play indispensable parts to the value of the narrative.

The story is set in a fictional world modeled after Europe and Asia where the art of

alchemy (transmuting materials and elements into other objects) is functional and weaponized.

Protagonists and major characters are from the country of Amestris (a synthesis of Victorian

England and Bismarck Germany). Being set in a time of progress and material development

analogous to the era of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, it is not surprising that such an

narrative would employ a lot of developments not only technologically but in societal

relationships as well. The proliferation of alchemy as a science useful to daily life and the life-

saving capacities of auto-mail (mechanically-engineered prosthetic limbs) created

opportunities for labor and education available to both men and women.

21


22/40

Fig 2.1. Rush Valley inFullmetal Alchemistsuggests a space of modernity that, by virtue of itstechno-muscular trading specialization, is a masculine space where feminine participation (and in

fact, innovation) is novel and appreciated. [2002 reprint Square Enix]

The protagonists, Edward and Alphonse Elric, seek to undo the damages done to their

bodies after a fatal attempt to revive their deceased mother. Their search for the way to this end,

the Philosophers Stone, embroils them in the struggles which put to question the very history of

Amestris (in relation to its long-standing history of violence and conquest) and alchemy itself.

Alchemy in Amestris, it was revealed, is controlled and corrupted by the shadowy rule of

Father, a homunculus responsible for the decimation of the ancient city of Xerxes 400 years

prior. The protagonists father, Van Hohenheim, is actively working himself to subvert such a

22


23/40

situation. Parallel to these are the struggles of a handful of people from Xing (analogue of

Imperial China) and the persecuted race of Ishvalans (synthesis of Jews and Southwest Asians).

From here, one might get the assumption that this particular world is, indeed, run solely

by men or masculine authority figures. However, we would precisely show that the narrative

takes the adage behind every great man is a woman and inverts it to its head. It is implied that

it is precisely because there are strong women behind their character development that men are

able to achieve overwhelming feats of daring. Since Amestrian society is organized between a

nexus of peace and war, it is not surprising that feminine characters would be either

characterized by their staying in the sidelines or by being in the battlefield themselves. As thefollowing character studies would show, of women asserting their views (and actually doing

something) on the world they live in inevitably shape how male characters act.

Confident Protagonist Femininity

The female supporting characters portrayed inFullmetal Alchemistare comfortable with

their femininity, showing how their identity as women emphasizes their sizeable contribution to

the narrative and the society which they occupy. This section would focus on four characters

under such templates: Winry Rockbell, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye and Izumi Curtis.

Being the childhood friend of the Elrics and Edwards highly-skilled auto-mail mechanic,

it is inevitable that Winry would be one of the most important female characters in the story.

Orphaned when her parents, both doctors, died on duty during the Ishval Civil War (which

brought about the pains and struggles of the aforementioned Ishvalans), she would mask her

loneliness and isolation by being a source of strength and inspiration for the Elric brothers with

her grandmother Pinako. Her story, as tied in the narrative, involved her support for the Elric

23


24/40

brothers, as well as discovering the circumstances behind her parents death, which she took with

some level of acceptance not without much trauma involved. Her relationship to Edward Elric,

one of the main protagonists, deserves special mention here as well. While she is precisely aware

of her limitations as a valuable companion to a person always involved in combat and dangerous

situations, she nonetheless values her responsibility to her clientele. She can technically be

classified as a tsundere character type by virtue of her manhandling of Edward whenever he

misbehaves (or destroys his auto-mail limbs) and simultaneous concern for him. Unlike standard

tsundere types, however, she is actually independent enough to be capable of holding on her own

and pursuing her own career in life, outside the exploits of the two men closest to her.

Fig 2.2. Winry demands Edward to win his final battle. [2008 reprint Square Enix]

24


25/40

Nevertheless, that she emphasizes that shes always behind Edwards efforts imply this

desire for her to balance her own advances as an auto-mail mechanic and as someone beside the

person she values (see Fig. 2.2). As their relationship is very well reciprocated (even if they are

not emphasized), it came as no surprise that she marries Edward at the end of the manga. While

it was not noted whether her domestic duties made her retire from her auto-mail industry, her

characters development denotes that she herself would not allow it to happen, considering how

she noted that people, even men, who just sit[s] around are boring (Arakawa 2010).

For her part, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye is likely classifiable as a kuudere. The daughter of

Colonel Roy Mustangs alchemy mentor (Berthold Hawkeye), Riza serves as his trusted aide-de-camp and assistant. With her quick wit and professional demeanor, she is technically the one

who keeps the uptight-yet-lazy colonel into doing his responsibilities as an officer of the

Amestrian military. Her level of confidence and professionalism, it would appear, stems from her

nightmarish experience of fighting (and slaughtering) in Ishval as a sniper, where she was

responsible for direct kills of countless Ishvalans they were ordered to exterminate. As someone

who shares this ugly experience of compelled murder with Mustang (as well as being the

caretaker of her fathers alchemy research), she saw it fit that she stand by him and help him

reform Amestris from being the warmongering nation it has become. Moreover, being the person

Mustang chose to protect [his] back with the order that if [he] steps off the path, [she] can

shoot [him] anytime (Arakawa 2006), she serves as the moral compass which guides him in his

struggles within the shady upper echelons. It must be understood that her complicity and regret

in participating in Ishval, even if it was undesirable, is her responsibility:

It was my decision to trust you and pass my father's research on to you. I alsomade the decision to join the academy in hopes of improving the lives of thiscountry's people. As much as I regret what's happened, I can't escape the fact that

25


26/40

it was my choices that brought me to this position. I'm a killer, and no amount ofdenial or repentance can absolve me of that. (ibid.)

This desire to effect change binds the both of them very effectively, with Mustang

sending out his orders for action and Hawkeye executing them efficiently with his other

subordinates. The narrative also emphasizes how Roy Mustang, as an official and as a person,

values his friends and subordinates very much that he is always willing to go to the field and

share the danger with them, even if it would be fatal for him. Nevertheless, even with her

multiple responsibilities, she does find time for her own self-expression, showing her femininity

26


27/40

when outside duty. Riza is in fact capable of subverting her superior very often, especially when

27


28/40

Fig 2.3. Riza prepared to shoot Roy Mustang while talking him out of his consuming desire tomurder. [2009 reprint Square Enix]

he has almost dangerously crossed his personal sense of righteousness, almost consumed by the

desire to avenge his fallen comrades (see Fig. 2.3). With their mutual promise of living and

dying together, Rizas outward aloofness to her predecessor belies all the more her continuing

affection and valuation of him. While her actions and capacity would almost classify her as

yamato nadeshiko, her active demeanor of putting Mustang in line places her as kuudere.

A similar level of confidence and comfort (albeit with its comical extremes) would

classify the elder alchemist Izumi Harnet-Curtis. Having been witnessed by Edward and

Alphonse while rescuing a town from a flood with her alchemy, they apprenticed themselves

under her, through which she subjected them to intense survival training for a month. When they

28


29/40

passed this examination, she subjected them to further harsh combat and alchemical exercises.

Her skills, strong will, and ruthlessness, it appears, stems from her own training of being

abandoned in the snowy mountain range of Briggs for a month, where she managed to survive

fighting wild bears and raiding the supplies of the Northern military headquarters (earning a

notorious reputation along with it among the soldiers of Briggs).

With such a background, one might be tempted to think of her as hardly feminine at all.

But in fact, her being a woman is one of the things she is most proud of, always introducing

herself as a housewife to other people. Moreover, she has taken it upon herself to serve as a

surrogate parent to the orphaned Elric brothers. That she was guilty of human transmutation(i.e. reviving the dead) was a lesson she tried to emphasize to them to not try at all (having lost

her organs as punishment, although gaining the capacity to automatically perform alchemy as a

side effect). Thus, when she learned how Edward and Alphonse did it anyway (with disastrous

consequences), she was infuriated and rebuked them, albeit comically. Nevertheless, she did

comfort them in their predicament and began treating them as her equals (see Fig. 2.4).

29


30/40

Fig 2.4. Izumi Curtis forgives the Elrics fatal mistake. [2003 reprint Square Enix]

The Ambiguities of Action Ladies

While the protagonists supporting characters do suggest that women can (and should) be

comfortable with their being women despite being thrust into situations of conflict, the narrative

also shows how there is the possibility of women being compelled to forego their being feminine

due to their responsibilities and preferences for participating in what is still largely mens

world. Nevertheless, such seeming-rejection of the less-savory aspects of being feminine

actually emphasizes more how their being women is not a problem, but in fact is a tool for them

to achieve the goals they expect to attain. For this section, we will look at two other supporting

characters whose objectives may not exactly be in line with (or even opposed to) the

30


31/40

protagonists: the Xingese warrior Lan Fan and the commander of Fort Briggs, Major General

Olivier Mira Armstrong.

Lan Fan is among the handful of characters from the eastern country of Xing, present in

Amestris by virtue of her being the bodyguard of the prince Ling Yao. Searching for a

Philosophers Stone as a means to curry favor for Ling Yaos attempt to succeed the Xingese

emperor, she serves as his protector together with her grandfather F.

What we might mark peculiar of Lan Fan is her mode of outfit: a warriors black

jumpsuit with armor and a full-face mask that hides her features. While it is a standard procedure

for their warriors to wear concealing wardrobes (to hide their identities from enemies, not unlikethe stereotypical ninja), it also highlights how Lan Fan hides her femininity from view and in

practice, in order to serve her master more efficiently in battle.

For Lan Fan, her duty of protecting Ling Yao is paramount, and is willing to sacrifice her

life for this cause. Even if Ling was very adamant on keeping his subordinates alive at great risk

to him (living by the adage without his people there is no king), she counters it by saying that

if the people lose their king, the people would be lost. With this, she cuts of her arm in order to

lead their enemies into a goose chase, allowing both of them to escape.

31


32/40

Fig 2.5. Van Hohenheim correctly deduces Lan Fans intentions. [2009 reprint Square Enix]

Nevertheless, it cannot be hidden how her feelings for Ling Yao are actually emphasized.

When Ling Yao was possessed by the renegade homunculus Greed (at his own will), Lan Fan

immediately strove to gain a new auto-mail arm to return to active duty and pursue him. Her

devotion to him, in many ways, goes beyond the realm of clan service, so much that when the

assault party that Edward Elric began to split up and she was left with his father, Van

Hohenheim, the latter practically asked her to begin searching on her own (see Fig. 2.5).

However she wants to hide her femininity and personal feelings in the line of duty, it

nevertheless shows. Her devotion and deference to her male master, in a way, does emphasize

how, despite her ruthless exterior, she is very much a yamato nadeshiko as it is portrayed.

32


33/40

On the other hand, Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong seems to have this great

aversion to being accused as feminine in any respect (see Fig. 2.6), building a reputation for

being ruthless and fearless so much that even battle-hardened men are scared of her. Being born

in the illustrious Armstrong family, she has been brought up to excel and perform feats of daring

on her own, surpassing even her only brother (and highly-masculine) Alex Louis in this respect.

Having been stationed in Fort Briggs, the military base protecting Amestris against the northern

country of Drachma (an analogue of Soviet Russia) has charged her with creating an

impenetrable border defense.

It is not surprising that Olivier would work towards such ends with more pragmaticmeans and forceful efficiency. As she has proudly emphasized, she has trained the soldiers of

Fort Briggs under the iron law of survival of the fittest", which makes them an unflinching,

monolithic fighting unit. While camaraderie is a value for her, she does not tolerate weak-willed

people, and she applies this standard even to herself. As she declared to the Central Command

generals who are belittling the Briggs soldiers fighting capacity with her as hostage, if I bite

the dust here, it would only prove that I wasn't fit, and they would cast me aside. They are

unflappable. Undeterrable. And they can act with or WITHOUT me. THAT is what makes a

Briggs soldier. Don't treat the idea that I've raised them as superficial (Arakawa 2009).

While she does have a sense of honor and empathy with other people who value

friendship and their loved ones, she can be somewhat insensitive to others when it comes to the

achievement of her goals. While this is not to be considered a character flaw on her part, it must

be understood that it comes from being part of a system (the military) that precisely disciplines a

person to serve the interests of the institution above ones personal scruples. It must be noted,

33


34/40

Fig 2.6. Mustang and Armstrong exchange information and jibes. [2008 reprint Square Enix]

however, that while she is a strict commander, she is nonetheless very much flexible when it

comes to compromise, hinting at that very space of resistance Armstrong employs as a woman.

That she would be willing to play up to her femininity when it is necessary shows how she was

able to deceive the devious Lt. General Raven into exposing crucial information about the shady

actions of the military, before killing him immediately (ibid. 2007). It must be noted in this sense

that while Maj. Gen. Armstrong does have uses for her femininity when the situation calls for it,

she will never emphasize actively on it at all, considering that she views standard actions of

femininity as unbecoming her situation as a combat-oriented military official. She did, however,

begin reflecting on the possibilities of not being too harsh on her being a woman when she found

34


35/40

herself battling with the aid of Izumi Curtis, an action-oriented woman herself who is still very

much compassionate and feminine, as discussed in earlier paragraphs.

Paradoxical Formation

Having conducted this review of feminine representations inshnen manga, as well as

the contexts they are situated in, it is important to look at how, precisely, these images continue

to contribute to an imaging of Japanese society and the feminine subjects it is composed of. As a

majority of the cases we analyzed suggest, the readership of such literature do create

subjectivities regarding women as, first and foremost, complementary to men, and that their

actions towards self-realization, it would appear, could only be made visible as long as they

support the maintenance of structures and societal dynamics that are, inevitably, linked with the

masculine status quo.

It would not be a high assumption, in a sense, if we would argue that this continuing

consumption of such narratives of representing women as strong relation to men to be the

manifestation of a certain nostalgia for the image of women as complementary to men, not as

independent agents of their own. The aesthetics of representing women, as might be gleaned

from the texts above, seeks to re-establish a sense of equilibrium lost after the defeat of the

Japanese masculinist ideology during the Second World War. In the recent exhibit of the Ayala

Museum entitled Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today, an

understanding of such evolving image-repertoires is suggested:

[I]t was an invented history by re-making imported American culture intoJapanese, such as cars and cameras. The consumers in the 1970s who, havingsuch a frail culture as background, sought for stronger narratives are calledotaku. Otaku turned their eyes away from real armaments and devoted themselvesto space battleships and making chronological tables of sci-fi wars. In that sense,otaku are those who are more conscious of the fictional aspect of reality. But

35


36/40

during the 1990s, the consumption behavior ofotaku changed. The trend ofefficient consumption started affecting their fictitious world which is moe.The consumer desire was directed to the world of animations. (Tomohiko 2011,15).

There is, in many ways, a feeling that the Japanese level of public masculinity and virility

is being lost, especially considering that Japanese nationalism emerged as a desire to be

considered equals by the Great Powers of the late 19 th century as well as maintain its integrity as

an Asian nation (Benner 2006, 37). As such, the manifestations of culture and systems became

highly populated by images and structures which denote the preservation of such status quo, with

women being very much capable and alluring but only according to the limits that masculinity

allows. However, such imaging, in many ways, continues to evolve and, perhaps, belie the

seeming fantasy towards preservation, in fact supplying the discourse of feminine emancipation

in Japanese society.

The fact that the images presented here are of women that are capable of struggling with

the societal norms created by patriarchal and violence-prone systemic relations imply that, even

with the preservation of the outward image of women as deferent, there is always the tendency to

actually resist such stereotyping and create avenues of discourse-production that are determined

and developed in feminine terms. In the same way that women are expected to be capable of

holding out for themselves while enjoying their gender-specified privileges, it is not beyond

imagining that women can similarly appreciate the subtleties of regulation that women are

subjected upon and, as such, craft appropriate responses so they can continue to traverse such

spaces and possible faultlines.

More importantly, the pedagogical value thatshnen manga representations of women

carry cannot be underestimated. By precisely creating avenues of forming mens templates of the

feminine and women not as subjects of fetish or utility but dynamic identities they have to

36


37/40

engage and learn from, their capacity for establishing relationships with people along lines of

gender sensitivity and acknowledgment would be facilitated.

The texts analyzed in this preliminary study, in a sense, have not yet been fully

exhausted. Representations of women and manga continually evolve even with the shnen genre,

as new narratives are being produced by artists and writers who continue to make the field of

manga a seedbed for new ways of viewing fiction and the fictive nature of reality. Further studies

would do well in expanding beyond character interpretations and analyses, mapping perhaps the

evolution of feminine representation across the years, with their subtleties and value-formations

as they are situated both in their internal narrative and the meta-texts employed by the mangaproduction process itself. An appreciation of such artifacts of popular culture and how they

represent women, I believe, would continue to make us more capable of sensing how the

relationships between women and society denote how they are being talked about in spaces they

have not taken for themselves.

Bibliography

"Glossary of anime and manga," in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2011.

, accessed October 10, 2011.

Adorno, Theodor. The Culture Industry. London and New York: Routledge, 1991.

Arakawa, Hiromu.Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 5. Tokyo: Square Enix, 2003.

37


38/40

_______________.Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 6. Tokyo: Square Enix, 2003.






Aoki, Deb. "Tsundere," inAbout.com Manga. 2011.


Barthes, Roland.Empire of Signs. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982.

Benner, Erica. Japanese national doctrines in international perspective, in Naoku Shimazu, ed.,

Nationalisms in Japan. Oxon: Routledge, 2006. 9-41.

Bryce, Mio & Davis, Jason. "Manga/Anime, Media Mix: Scholarship in a Post-Modern, Global

Community" in Michael Atherton Ed., CAESS (the College of Arts, Education and Social

Sciences) Conference: Scholarship & Community, University of Western Sydney, 2006. 1-10.

Bullock, Ben. "What is yamato nadeshiko?" insci.lang.japan FAQ. 1994.


38


39/40

Fiske, John. "The Cultural Economy of Fandom," in Lisa A. Lewis, ed., The Adoring Audience:

Fan Culture and Popular Media. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.

Harell, Megan. "Slightly Out of Character: Shnen Epics, Doujinishi and Japanese Concepts of

Masculinity," in Virginia Review of Asian Studies, 2007. 1-16.

Kinsella, Sharon. "Japanese Subculture in the 1990s: Otaku and the Amateur Manga Movement,"

inJournal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Summer, 1998), pp. 289-316.

_____________.Adult Manga: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society.

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000.

Kishimoto, Masashi.Naruto, Vol.6: "Sakura no ketsui!! (!!)". Tokyo: Shueisha,

2001.

________________.Naruto, Vol. 9: "Neji to Hinata ()". Tokyo: Shueisha, 2001.

________________.Naruto, Vol. 19: "Uketsugumono ()". Tokyo: Shueisha, 2003.

________________.Naruto, Vol. 27: "Tabidachi no hi!! (!!)". Tokyo: Shueisha,

2005.

________________.Naruto, Vol. 46: "Naruto kikan!! ( !!)". Tokyo: Shueisha,

2009a.

________________.Naruto, Vol. 47: "Fin hakai!! (

!!)". Tokyo: Shueisha, 2009b.________________.Naruto, Vol. 50: "Suir no shit!! (!!)". Tokyo: Shueisha,

________________.Naruto, Vol. 52: "Sorezore no Dainanahan!! (!!)".

Tokyo: Shueisha, 2010b.

39


40/40

________________.Naruto, Vol. 53: "Naruto no shussh ()". Tokyo: Shueisha,

2010c

________________.Naruto, Ch. 548: "Naruto vs. Itachi!!" ( VS !!)" in Weekly

Shonen Jump, August 8, 2011.

Schwartz, Adam and Eliane Rubinstein-vila, "Understanding the Manga Hype: Uncovering the

Multimodality of Comic-Book Literacies," inJournal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol. 50,

No. 1 (Sep., 2006), pp. 40-49.

Ueno, Junko. "Shjo and Adult Women: A Linguistic Analysis of Gender Identity in Manga

(Japanese Comics)" in Women and Language, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2006. 16-25.

Yoshino, Kosaku. Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan: A Sociological Enquiry.

London: Routledge, 1992.

Feminine Imagery in Shōnen Manga

Documents