Hello everyone,
Today let's talk about something different than the usual anime coverage and let's give a look to one of the most common phenomenon in anime that somehow during the course of the years become oblivious to most of us.
I'm talking about the "Bishoujo Phenomenon", the rule for which every anime series (talking about male oriented one, of course) must have one or many beautiful girls fit in the storyline as important or recurring characters in order to be famous.
While this may sound strange or difficult to believe, try to think about the series you watched in the last 5 years and try to tell me one series who doesn't have a BEAUTIFUL girl into a main/recurring role...
Honestly I can only think of a couple of popular titles with such a feature and while the series were watched by lots of males I'm not even sure they're male oriented in the first place...
This may tick off many peoples out there who still thinks that "fanservice is evil and unnecessary", because as we know fanservice (in the form of beautiful girls in the male oriented series) is an integral part of pretty much every story with some small exceptions.
Be it in an open way like what we got with Infinite Stratos, Cube x Cursed x Curious, etc.. or in a subtle one like what we got in Fate Stay Night, Code Geass, etc...
In order to better explain this concept and try to understand its implication, let's try to think about what could have happened if we replaced all the bishoujos in some plot-heavy anime with a male counterpart (or a "normal looking girl" like the ones from Jellyfish Princess).
Let's start up with one of the most acclaimed anime series from pretty much all the bloggers of the world which I positioned #7 in the anime series rankings named Code Geass. Who doesn't know Code Geass?!
It's famous for great and deep storyline, charming main character and interesting villains! Let's try to change every female in a recurring position (except for Lelouch's mother for obvious reasons) with a male and see what happen!
What would have been of Lelouch and C.C. close "friend" relationship? What about Euphemia and Shirley's tragic and emotional deaths? What about Nunnaly's position as weak and frail sister together with the shock after the first Fleya launch? What about Lelouch and Kallen?!
Let's now talk about a more recent successfull series I positioned #2 in the anime rankings named "Steins Gate". It is definitely a story with a solid plot and many twists and one of the masterpieces of the last years.
Let's change all the lab members to be males and see what happen. Would it still be interesting in the first place in this new way? Will Mayuri's massive quantity of death be shocking at the same level using a male character instead of a female one?
What about the whole Okabe/Kurisu love/hate relationship? What about the sadness we all got after reading Suzuha's mail from the past (the one in which she talks about her failure)?
I think that both series would have been ruined (at least for my standards) by changing the current composition of the cast because, in a way, the "emotional link" the girls provided was a vital part of the story.
The question I ask myself in this situation is "where to draw the line?". Is there really a correct quantity of beautiful girls to put in a particular anime series?
From my (terribly biased for anyone who read this blog from more than two weeks) point of view, there should not be any kind of limit on the quantity of bishoujos in an anime series!
Because in the end the more bishoujos, the better! We may even have to fight less between us when claiming our new wifes...:P
And you? What do you think of the presence of fanservice (and bishoujos) in the current anime series?!
Do you have an idea to make a male-oriented series that doesn't rely on beautiful girls in any main/recurring role and still be successfull?!
See you soon,
feal87