Quote from JETHRO_TULL

It is interesting to note that while there is a great amount of anime and manga that portrays the Nadeshiko stereotype as perfect there is also plenty that shows just the opposite. Frail, young, or even childish women as being "super human" in some respect. Like there is an inherent inward strength in women that transcends any that the stongest man can attempt. This dichotomy is shown in many cultures as the Madonna-whore complex. By giving a archetype to the perfect woman men instill thier insecurities in it. Thus any woman capable of surpasing this archetype while still ecompassing most of its characteristics can have an inherent control over any man. Thus the pure Madonna, passive, quiet, can become the domineering whore.

Face it men are very insecure so although we need this Nadeshico type dream woman that we can dominate and control, we need the superior super girl type even more for guidance and limitations.

Everyone has seen Evangelion by now right? Look at the women there from  Rei to Asuka to Misato. Each of these women shows a varying degree of the Nadeshico type mixed with the whore or the super woman.

 I guess.

All of those are still classical archetypes of women, and as such, still define women in an entirely male context. You'll find that even the supposed "domineering whore/tsundere" is placed on a tight leash - it's nothing more than stimulus-response behavior. It's simply a more sophisticated sort of control. The question isn't so much whether the girl is a Nadeshico type so much as whether you can see her distinctly as an individual outside of her relevance to men.

Of course, as fans we tend to immediately sort newly discovered characters into familiar boxes, so it can be difficult to distinguish whether the so called "archetypal behavior" is the result of the author or of the reader. 😛

Quote from CatzCradle

Quote from xombiemonkey

hmm. You may have a point. But isn't most manga unrealistic and sexist most of the time? Most manga girls are probably trying to imitate the perfect Japanese female.

Still, the concept of the perfect Japanese female seems very backwards and old fashioned in today's society to me. Manga is like that most of the time because it's fiction. Plus, I think many of those which are "unrealistic and sexist', are written by males or those with a narrow point of view.

Bravo! Bravo! -Claps-

Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?

Polite bump.

Such a boring personality. You might as well buy a pet! What kinda guy likes those type of women? Well, we are talking about Japan though. (And yeah, yeah, I know that said image has a lot of cultural history behind it and all.) Still, it's such an outdated ideal. I don't think anyone uses it anymore. 😐

source: animenewsnetwork

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hmm.. for me... Maria Ozawa would be the perfect japanese female if we're talking about appearances 😀 😀
😃

[img]http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp235/carlQT_2008/Tsunayoshi_sig_by_Radic4L.png[/img]

Kizaru, the only person who can say Ben Beckman without his lips touching

just CARL is fine