Why is anime/manga filled with some many males now who take a backseat to just about everything that happens? Yet, we're expected to believe that women flock to these idiots like flies to sugar.

My personal diagnosis is, it's aimed for otakus who want to believe that being a loser is okay. They want to so badly believe that they themselves can get girls by simply being passive and letting the whole world step over them, they pathetically live through these protagonists, who're design to psychologically mirror them. For instance, I'm fairly certain that there are traits shared by these type of male protagonists and their otaku counterparts: never having a girlfriend, being a virgin at a late adult age, incapable of living independently from an older female figure (their mommy), psychologically ten when it comes to sex...etc...

So, when male protagonists like these come along in harem anime, they're exalted and held to a pedestal. Because, even though those of us who're firmly grounded to reality, now that such things can not and will not happen, certain groups of people will take it as fact that if they're nice and overwhelmingly kind, hot chicks will flock to them. Forgetting that there is a huge difference between being a nice guy and being a coward, with no social ability or having little self-respect.

Then there are also the ones who're so afraid of being judge as inept in life situations, that they prefer to let the women handle the workload. By this, I mean male protagonists who're incapable of doing anything useful throughout the entire series and constantly having to be shielded by the female character(s) or secondary male character(s). It's pathetic.

It would be one thing if they start out as such at the beginning of a series, however, to carry the same habit and not change for the better once throughout the entire series, yet still being able to garner the love and attention for several 'warrior princesses' is more than unbelievable, it's sickeningly pathetic, and a slap in the face to all the capable male characters in anime. Especially if the secondary male(s) are the ones who've grown and changed throughout the series.

My real concern is, is that what we're telling out young men today? That's it is okay to not take charge of a situation. To not learn and grow, wanting something more than to just be an object of affection (if they can even manage to become one). Thinking that being a pathetic 'nice guy' will help them attract women?

Where are my Rambos? Where are my John Waynes? Where are my James Bonds of anime/manga? Fictional male figure roles that tells young men to aim for something more than just a useless, confuse, high school student. Where are the young male protagonists in anime from my youth who believed and fought for justice? Where are the heroes of my youth who, though saved the princess in wait, choose to stay with the fiery peasant girl? Where? Where?!

Can we not see those characters more often? Can we not please give our young men something else to idolize besides overly sensitive emo-male characters?

*takes in a deep breath*

Okay, I feel a bit better now. So, what do you folks think? Do I have anything valid here, or am I just like that old lady who lives with cats?

You have a good point.. I usually hate those kind of male protagonists.. >_>

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huhhh, i just dont read this kinda stories ^_^
shoujo doesnt have them they have pathetic girls instead....

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i like shojo ai (lol no loser guys)

Which is why I have a tendency to read YAOI or Shonen Ai. For one thing, guys are WAY cooler in those stories. Second, girls who tragically fall inlove with those guys are attracted to a trait that a girl in reality would find attractive in a guy: IE good looks, great attitude, and the willingness to assert themselves.

I guess all the cowboys are up Brokeback Mountain.

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there's kurosaki ichigo. he's a badass mofo. let's see....there's onizuka eikichi. he's a badass.... and a whole bunch others. I feel u though. If i could say one thing to these "girly men" it would Basically be a man and grow a pair.

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I am kind of like that, like if a fight is started related to my I will run from it, but if the fight is started related my friends, I don't like much of being in charge, but when everybody's thought is "I don't know... maybe" I do speak my mind. I sometimes feel equal to those "nice guys" (almost all the time for that matter), but I do like to see manga in which the guys are the oposite of me, since when we seek an story we like to seek people who do things that we can't do, not people who are slow and magicly find happiness in the end.
By the way I do have a bit of a cowboy life since I know how to horseride and am learning how to loop , but I don't ge curious of the "other side" like those in Brokeback Mountain.

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Cite examples. Because "anime/manga" is barely telling us what you're talking about.


What you're citing here are examples of Western values, and the worst is that most of them are highly individualistic by nature. It seems like you're forgetting that we are talking here about manga (Japanese graphic novels) and anime (Japanese animation). Those mediums of entertainment are not aimed at an Occidental audience, but at the Japanese. If you know even a bit about the Japanese society you should know that while most Western societies glorify individualism, in Japan it is generally regarded as a negative characteristic since it is associated with selfishness, the opposite of the concept of Giri that is so highly valued.


Really, I find difficult to believe that somebody who is criticizing forms of Japanese entertainment have never heard the concept of Amae.


Now you're beginning to make more sense. So all this time you were talking about the classical "Harem" subgenre, eh?


Good heavens...


Are you aware that all those examples are the embodiment of Western individualism and values? Those same values that the traditional Japanese society has considered almost a kind of social problem throughout almost all the Post-war period?

Look, manga and anime are Japanese in origin and are intended for Japanese consumers. What you have been doing in this topic is criticizing anime and manga for not conform to Western standards, beliefs and values. For me at least, it's simply hypocritical for a foreigner to claim that forms of contemporary Japanese popular art are inappropriate because they don't reflect Western ideals of gender and sexuality.

At the beginning of this topic you asked: "Where have all the cowboys gone...?" and now I answer you with another question: "Have Japanese cowboys even existed to begin with?"

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Hmmm...a very good and valid points. I'll admit, I have nothing to contradict your points. And I'm not such an egoist that I'll try to pull things out of thin air to try to make me seem correct.

My little rant is simply a rant and I don't feel like wasting time to set up for an argument I posted on a whim. I will state that it was a Japanese friend who opened my eyes to these concepts in anime/manga. So it is not simply a foreigner's view. Yes, I took to my views to an extreme, but simply because I felt I was on a roll.

All that aside, where do you think all the japanese cowboys go?