I was browsing YouTube videos lately and stumbled upon a video by Jesse Cox. While quite a funny video, one of his lines that stood out to me was when he mentioned that there were “animu ladies” in the game and that he assumed they would be “in various states of dress” which was quickly proven true. The cliche that anime and manga are only about sexualizing female characters is irritating to me but, unfortunately, it is also very easy to for me to see how this stereotype is perpetuated.
Let’s start with why this is a common outlook both outside and within the otaku community. I recently wrote an article titled “Fan Service: Past, Present and Future“. In it, I detailed how prevalent fan service featuring females in provocative outfits, positions and situations have become in anime and manga. Much of this comes down to merchandising where figurines, body pillows, plushies etc have become a vital source of income to publishers.