Friday, January 12, 2007

Maybe it's the whole feminine mystique thing...

...but I'm confused.

As most of you probably know, I'm a girl. And like any self-respecting girl, I find guys to be mind-bogglingly messed up. Since most of the people reading this are probably guys, unless it's really only my friends that read this, I thought I'd ask you some questions. Because really, you're strange.

*Why do you have problems with girls' series, playing as a girl in games for ability or plot reasons rather than because the PC is cute, and reverse harem series if they're not Ouran? We watch/play/read those things that are targeted at guys, no problem. Generally.

*What is your fixation on drawing shoujo heroines from cute, unoffensive series in less clothing than episode seven's Lavinia "Nice Oppai" Reberth?

*Yaoi fangirls annoy me too, but why do you condemn them and then loudly proclaim yourself as a yuri fanboy? Seems like hypocrisy to me.

*Why do you buy figures of characters you don't even know? I can see why I would, because there aren't many male figures that look decent. But there are PVC girls wherever you go, so you would think...

*The whole manly pride thing is just strange. But whatever. Speaking of which, I go moe over Marcel-sama as well as Inaba Souta from Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara Dream Saga, so ha.

*When we have shown you too much shoujo anime, just say so; do not decide that we are hinting that you go ouji-sama on us. Although only my boyfriend has done this.

*Seriously, why do you not hold grudges unless someone dies? It's like you don't care about anything.

Feel free to leave your own retorts in the comments. After all, I said this, I should be able to take it.


I feel your pain, Suigintou

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

*Ill watch shoujo no problem, in fact, several of my favorite series are shoujo. As for games I never play as a female character unless its for plot/story/ability.

I can't recall ever having played as a female character because I wanted to watch a polygonal ass wiggle.

*Straight men tend to like women dressed in provocative, or little clothing, simple as that really.

*While I don't enjoy Yaoi and am somewhat fond of Yuri you wont find me telling someone else what to like.

*I don't own a single PVC figure. I have some mini-figures that came with anime and a handful of more action-figure type things but not a single PVC figure. Guess I would rather spend the money on more DVDs and electronics I guess.

*Im not big into the whole manly pride thing myself, I'm quite happy to admit I'm useless with any power tool bigger than a drill for example.

*As I said before I actually like shoujo anime. Never tried the Ouji-sama thing myself either. Never even thought of it until now actually.

* Life's too long to hold a grudge. If I held a grudge for every little thing that happened I'd hate everyone instead of just most people.

I'm not exactly your typical male anime fan though. For example I watch almost no mech shows and watch a shockingly low number of action series.

Anga said...

Okay, I don't think I'm kind of person you targeted these questions, but few answers anyway.

"*Yaoi fangirls annoy me too, but why do you condemn them and then loudly proclaim yourself as a yuri fanboy? Seems like hypocrisy to me."

I watch both yuri and yaoi, it's not really any kind of problem for me. Why should it be?

"*The whole manly pride thing is just strange. But whatever. Speaking of which, I go moe over Marcel-sama as well as Inaba Souta from Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara Dream Saga, so ha."

What manly pride?

Anonymous said...

Regarding girl characters in games and anime, I find that I'm naturally drawn to picking the girl as my heroine when I have the choice, even though I'm a guy. If there are ability or plot reasons to do so, so much the better. If the heroine has a romance waiting for her in the story somehwere, I enjoy that too. I know I'm an exception here. So it's a mystery to me why others don't enjoy it too.

As far as cute & unoffensive girls being drawn undressed, you just have to realize that if someome is female and attractive, any non-homosexual guy is going to want sex with her. It is a base instinct. Muslims deal with the issue by making sure all their women are covered hair to toe in drastic clothing. Every other society in the world teaches their males to suppress that instinct most of the time. Fan writers are prone to put those fantasies on paper and publish them.

Given I'm not a really yuri fanboy, I can't really comment on yaoi fangirls. But, I can tell you straight, yaoi scares me. Yuri is kind of fun to watch, but it's hotter if there is a possiblity of the pair accepting a guy for a threesome. But I don't go out of my way to watch those kind of stories. I wouldn't be suprised if the opposite is true for a girl, that yuri might be offensive, but intimacy between two not-blatantly-homosexual guys might be fun to watch. Chalk it up to gender-culture shock.

I don't really have the money to buy figurines. But if the character is cute or pretty, I'd be tempted to take the figurine home on that merit alone. It's art.

Regardless of gender, should we be holding grudges? It is not that I don't care. But a grudge is a painful thing to hold for any length of time. It just feels better to forgive and move on than to get obsessed over something. But rarely anthing is that black and white. It's better still just to resolve the issue.

Anonymous said...

Sorta overgeneralizing, here. There are many guys who like shoujo stuff. Me, for example, it's my forte. I'll take it over any other genre anyday. Just make it look nice and move me.

There are a lot of guys that like Ouran. A LOT. Look at some of the big ani-blogs run by males, they praised Ouran. I do not deny that there are some that are just too homophobic, but with that amazing J.C Staff animation, there's nothing to hate... except for a Hunny episode.

"*Straight men tend to like women dressed in provocative, or little clothing, simple as that really."

I dont watch yaoi, but I dont condemn it. And if there are fat, loud, and obnoxious yuri guys, I'd hate 'em too.

"I don't own a single PVC figure". Girls dont have dolls?

Screw manly pride on the internet. It's not like we'll all meet each other one day.

Oh. I LOVE SHOUJO ANIME.

"Life's too long to hold a grudge."
Sometimes you just hate someone with a passion.

I'm not attacking you, I just think you're drawing conclusions from looking at the wrong people and spending too much time on Gaia or some one dimensional place of similar nature.

Sana Jisushi said...

That's probably true. (Although I'm not sure which parts were directed at me and which were at my last commentor, in some areas. ^^;)

I just decided to vent because there appears to be less clean, well-drawn fanart of Tokyo Mew Mew than of most eroge. And hey, it got people talking, didn't it?

Unknown said...

A fellow female here, but did you ever consider that people buy PVC figures for artistic merit? Also, I've bought figures of chicks from series I got into BECAUSE of the hawt figures. And I don't think buying a figure of a girl you think is a turn-on is that perplexing, even if you're not familiar with her or the series she's from. Why does it even matter? Chances are, if it's a quality PVC figure anyway, she's from an eroge, and you're better off not even knowing her likely crappy stereotyped bullshit ~personality~ (Wild GENERIC CHILDHOOD FRIEND CHARACTER has appeared! TRAINER OTAKU uses FOND MEMORY attack. Critical hit! It's super effective! GENERIC CHILDHOOD FRIEND has decided to fuck TRAINER OTAKU senseless until the END OF TIME. TRAINER OTAKU has completed GENERIC EROGE).

Most yuri fans don't seem to be the obnoxious hypocrites you seem to think they are, at least in my experience. Yes, I love me some girlsex, and I speak for myself and a large part of the yuri fanbase when I say that we don't tend to be nearly as repugnant as yaoi fans (if only because the yaoi-loving community is rather oversaturated with FYGs). Perhaps that's a distorted perception of mine, but I'll let you be the judge.

Sana Jisushi said...

Aria, I in no way meant to criticize PVC figures as a concept. I have a couple too, actually! I just thought it was odd that a demographic with the industry targeted towards it would move outside of characters it knew. And you're right, some yuri fans aren't that bad. I just get mad because shouldn't it be a celebration of love and a recognition of difference, not a fanboy magnet (or FYG magnet, conversely)? Anyway, I'm glad I got people talking.

Anonymous said...

I'm a woman who buys figures of female characters I don't know...where does that leave me? ;) Actually, I buy them for the aesthetics; "Girl from H-game I've never heard of" always looks so detailed and well made.

Anonymous said...

*Why do you have problems with girls' series, playing as a girl in games for ability or plot reasons rather than because the PC is cute, and reverse harem series if they're not Ouran? We watch/play/read those things that are targeted at guys, no problem. Generally.

You’re right, but I’m afraid I can’t really explain it. Reverse harem annoys me because it places the male characters in a situation where they appear submissive or subservient to the female character, which really isn’t how I like to view relationships, or at least it’s not how I enjoy seeing them. But this isn’t to do with the reality of the multiple guys after one girl scenario, but more so the execution of those series.

*What is your fixation on drawing shoujo heroines from cute, unoffensive series in less clothing than episode seven's Lavinia "Nice Oppai" Reberth?

It is arousing to depict the corruption of innocence or purity; no one is interested in seeing the slutty characters any more revealing than they already are. You might not take kindly to this assertion, but after a lot of thought I think that this is inherently a masculine trait.

*Yaoi fangirls annoy me too, but why do you condemn them and then loudly proclaim yourself as a yuri fanboy? Seems like hypocrisy to me.

Because there is a stigma attached to the label of yaoi fangirl which has arisen from their own behaviour under that affiliation, whereas you don’t really hear horror stories about obnoxious yuri fans. Yaoi fangirls tend to be

*Why do you buy figures of characters you don't even know? I can see why I would, because there aren't many male figures that look decent. But there are PVC girls wherever you go, so you would think...

There’s a fairly obvious answer to that question: Because they are either very attractive and hence I may feel moved to own it, or my desires as a collector may push me to spend money where it is not required from time to time. But a lot of what makes a figure worth buying is not the fact that you know the character, but the physical look of the figure itself.

*The whole manly pride thing is just strange. But whatever. Speaking of which, I go moe over Marcel-sama as well as Inaba Souta from Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara Dream Saga, so ha.

I don’t quite get it, but pride and honour are not strange. From a sociological perspective they are traits that are logically implanted in the human species as one of the endless means of natural selection. It’s sort of like an imperative to reach your full potential in confrontation, and hence ensure that the social ladder is properly set. They can be destructive thing, but destruction is a part of the advancement and growth of a species.

*When we have shown you too much shoujo anime, just say so; do not decide that we are hinting that you go ouji-sama on us. Although only my boyfriend has done this.

This hasn’t happened to me so I can’t comment.

*Seriously, why do you not hold grudges unless someone dies? It's like you don't care about anything.

Holding a grudge is meaningless when you actually think about it. Men’s social behaviour revolves more around direct confrontation and competition, and as such the social differences between people are resolved through such means, rather than prolonged resentment. Personally this seems much more efficient; girls are more likely to argue or fall out and ruin their relationship through stubborn indignation, whereas guys can have a fierce argument and forgive watch other fairly quickly so we can get on with our lives. So perhaps I should ask you why YOU hold grudges?

You seem perplexed by the male gender, but we are honestly quite simple once you acknowledge the fact that we are competitively destructive and possessive, and emotionally more detached than females (which could be called more rational :p). Girls are much more incomprehensible. Your much more complex social behaviour is mind-boggling at times, and your emotional attachment to certain things seems quite wasteful of your energy. Of course it makes sense given your sex-role as the mother gender.

Anonymous said...

As most of you probably know, I'm a girl. And like any self-respecting girl, I find guys to be mind-bogglingly messed up. Since most of the people reading this are probably guys, unless it's really only my friends that read this, I thought I'd ask you some questions. Because really, you're strange.

To Be Honest there are girls who are more messed up then some guys.
Seriously -.-

mm firstly,i dont have any problems playing with female characters..if theres plot reasons,it would be greatly appreciated.

*What is your fixation on drawing shoujo heroines from cute, unoffensive series in less clothing than episode seven's Lavinia "Nice Oppai" Reberth?

mm people have their own likes and dislikes just like some girls like to see naked boys some guys like to see little clothing/naked girls

for me I don't really care,i'll just think [oh shes drawn with little clothing -.-"]and move along... you cant really get angry everytime you see something like,there would be no end to it.

*Yaoi fangirls annoy me too, but why do you condemn them and then loudly proclaim yourself as a yuri fanboy? Seems like hypocrisy to me.

just like there are bullies at school.Just leave them alone...

*Why do you buy figures of characters you don't even know? I can see why I would, because there aren't many male figures that look decent. But there are PVC girls wherever you go, so you would think...

Sorry I dont own a single PVC character.Not even tempted to buy them.

*The whole manly pride thing is just strange. But whatever. Speaking of which, I go moe over Marcel-sama as well as Inaba Souta from Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara Dream Saga, so ha.

PS:i dont care -.-"

*When we have shown you too much shoujo anime, just say so; do not decide that we are hinting that you go ouji-sama on us. Although only my boyfriend has done this.

If your refering to grandfather then its Ojii-Sama.
Because Ouji sama = Maggot Sama.

Anonymous said...

First of all, I'm a girl and I guess I must not be self-respecting because I've experienced the *opposite* of you.

Guys tend to be less messed up then girls. Or at least less irritating about their messed-up-ed-ness.

I don't have anything really to say about provocative female attire or creating figurines thereof, but, as a fan of yaoi, I feel the need to defend my fandom.

I haven't personally experienced the rabid fangirl phenomenon. But, as I explained to another male manga fan, I think it might be simply excused as "young + hormones". Just like the gangs of young men who wander around hooting and hollaring at any likely female.

Further, I think the "Fat Yaoi Fangirl" is something of a myth. I don't think Yaoi fans are fatter, then average, then any other subset of the female population. (And they certainly appear to have a larger precentage of hot asian chicks then any other subset of the female population. Outside of a science faculty or asia.)

Even looking at yaoi or other anime/manga conventions doesn't give a good idea of what the average yaoi fangirl looks like. People who travel to spend time with other people who share the same fan interests don't tend to be... *ahem*... the most well-adjusted or attractive members of the species.

Even having said that, however, the number of hot girls at yaoi-con far exceeded the number at ANY OTHER SINGLE CONVENTION I've been at.

So there you go.

Fat Yaoi Fangirls

Sana Jisushi said...

Look, I did not mean to paint you all as squealing FYGs. I just happen to agree wholeheartedly with the tragically lampooned writer of "My thoughts on yaoi", that is, that rabid fangirls are just as bad as right-wing nutjobs. And paranoid fanboys, at that.

Unknown said...

yaoi fangirls are in-atly hyppcritial, you do know that there's no suzakuXlulu fanfic for geass, but tons of dracoXharry for harry potter? Truly, truly scary