Shônen Anime: The Role of Gender, In and Out
by Mike "VegettoEX" LaBrie

Originally Posted: 16 May 2004

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Japanese animation (here-after referred to as anime) has surged into American homes in the last decade, most notably in the form of programming for young children (such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon). Entire programming blocks have been based around it, mostly after-school blocks on networks such as the WB and Cartoon Network. Anime has been around since the early 1960s with Osamu Tezuka’s classic Astro Boy, yet it is only in the late 1990s that anime made its way with such force into American broadcasting. Domestic companies have been releasing anime for years (originally both English dubbed and subtitled on VHS), but it has always remained a niche market. The 1980s and early 1990s saw several anime broadcast on television, but for the most part these were all “Americanized” for mass consumption. Fans will point to Robotech as a prime example; the American broadcast was actually three completely separate shows spliced together and edited for the American market (Dawley, 2004). The mid-1990s suddenly saw a change in this, as more companies took the chance and began to not only broadcast anime on television or release it to home format, but rather do a combination of both. Interestingly, the anime that becomes popular in the US due to television broadcasting is almost entirely of the shônen genre.

Very broadly, anime can be broken down into two main sub-genres: shôjo and shônen (though one could argue there is a third “family” category, almost exclusively dominated by highly-esteemed director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli). Shôjo literally means “young girls,” and anime in the shôjo style is targeted towards these young ladies. Shôjo is typically drawn and animated with a flowing, beautiful style, with emphasis placed on themes such as love. Shônen (literally “young boys”) on the other hand tends to have a variety of styles to its art, sometimes even dabbling in the shôjo style. Shônen also seems to have a wider sub-breakdown than shôjo does; shônen itself can be of various styles, including “mecha” (giant robots), fantasy-adventure, and/or traditional fighting. While the themes in shôjo anime tend to revolve around love (usually on a one-to-one basis), those in shônen anime take this to a much greater scope. Themes in shônen may include love, but also typically revolve around friendship, loyalty, and honor (a blatantly obvious nod to the old samurai ways of thinking).

Confucian and samurai ways of thinking are abundant in shônen titles. In many of the titles we will explore, the main concepts that Confucius taught seem to be the very foundation to the story and character relationships. A main ideal that Confucius taught was that of one's duty to society, which also leads into the five relationships between people; master/servant, father/son, husband/wife, older/younger siblings, friend/friend (Thomas, 1998). Time and time again in shônen anime, one's duty to society, their family, their friends, their village, etc. are brought up. While American cartoons would typically revolve around a single male character arriving to “save” a female in distress (think of Disney films such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast), shônen anime take this to a whole different (Confucian) level. These traditional “Disney” ideals show up more in the shôjo genre, rather than shônen.

A quick look at popular shôjo titles such as Fushigi Yûgi and Sailor Moon show male characters not in lead roles; they may well be main characters central to the over-all story, but typically take a back-seat as either the “knight in shining armor” to save the central female character, or as only semi-important background characters. On the other hand, shônen anime tend to include female characters from the start as central figures important to the story. While these female characters will almost always be overshadowed by the central male characters (which the young boys, the target audience, are supposedly able to identify with the easiest on a large scale… an entirely different issue to be discussed later), they remain important to the story and important to the fans.

With this idea of Confucianism driving shônen anime, we can very clearly identify several examples and how they differ from the standard American ideals of “cartoons.” Any fan of shônen anime would be able to at least recognize one of the most-spoken lines, “Ore ga... (insert name/place here) o mamoru!” (meaning, “I’ll protect [insert name/place here]!”). The ideal of “protecting,” as stated, tends to be on a much grander scale than simply “saving the princess.” The protecting can even bring in other Confucian ideals, such as that of mutual respect, even among enemies. Rather than protecting an individual, characters are thrown into situations where they must protect, for example, the entire world.

Cultural values of Japan, vastly different than our own, allow for female characters to play pivotal roles in shows targeted at young boys, far different than is traditionally found in American programming for the same target audience. The types of fans that these shows produce are also of a completely different breed than their comparative American counter-parts.

Sam Hart writes:

It is difficult to formulate an argument about the gender and racial inequalities in video games without an understanding of where the majority of video games come from. In 1994 over seventy percent of video games released in America were originally designed in Japan. Despite this fact, many researchers have attempted to argue about these issues using American concepts of inequality. This is something that is clearly erroneous and will lead to inaccurate results.
(Hart, 1997).

Hart is absolutely correct in this “analysis of an analysis,” so to speak. Anime even takes this to a completely new level; rather than a certain percentage of video games coming from Japan, with anime (by its very nature), 100% comes from Japan! It is literally impossible to do an analysis of scholarly nature from a strictly American-standpoint. These products are not directly made by Americans or for Americans, yet are analyzed from this standpoint. In order to effectively analyze the products, we must examine both the culture it originates from and the culture it is indirectly placed into (being our own) at the same time.

Several shônen shows will be analyzed for their portrayal of women (and men) and reasons for/of fandom, all from different backgrounds and success in North America: Shin Seiki (Neon Genesis) Evangelion (one of the earlier dubbed programs released on VHS in America); DragonBall Z (one of the most popular shows worldwide, which has been broadcast on American television since the mid 1990s); and Naruto (a show yet to be officially released in North America, but is already making waves of hype among anxious fans).

While the shows to be analyzed are all of the shônen genre, but both males and females will be interviewed. While the shows are primarily targeted at young male viewers, many of them retain huge female followings. If a show is marketing and directed towards males, why are these boundaries crossed over into female fans? “The boundaries between how people designated male are expected to behave and how people designated female are expected to behave are sometimes redefined, negotiated, or violated.” (N. Lerman, R. Oldenziel, A. Mohun, 4). In this case, it is the shows, themselves, that are “designated” one expected behavior, yet take on completely different ones from time to time.

Our first show of analysis will be the 1990’s classic DragonBall Z (sometimes referred to as simply DBZ). DBZ is actually the continuation of the original DragonBall, all of which is based off of the original manga by Akira Toriyama. Running from 1989 to 1995, DBZ has become a worldwide phenomenon. DBZ was brought to North America in 1995 by FUNimation Productions, Inc.; it has remained on the air, nonstop, since that time (albeit shifting from syndication to its later, more popular, slot on Cartoon Network’s Toonami programming block).

DBZ revolves around a hero by the name of Son Goku, who we find out is actually an alien of the “Saiya-jin”; a race of powerful warriors that destroy planets for potential galaxy “real-estate” agents. Upon hitting his head as a child, Goku forgets his mission to destroy Earth, and instead winds up becoming its protector. DBZ features a plethora of female characters that are little more than background characters (wives, mothers, general friends), but there is one female character that stands out, in particular, with fans. This character follows a typical trend of shônen anime in that she is introduced as a villain, but eventually becomes a friend and ally to the heroes. This character is Jinzôningen Juuhachigou (“artificial human number eighteen,” here-after referred to as “#18”). Why is this character so popular with fans, male and female alike? For some more insight, I turned to Maggie Ricco, who runs the popular fansite Lovely Cyborg (www.lovelycyborg.com), dedicated to DBZ’s #18.

Like many fans, Ricco first found the show through her peers. “All [of] my friends had been watching it since it had been on at 6 am, so when it came on [Cartoon Network], I finally had the chance to really watch it.” Ricco notes that one of the aspects of the show that drew her in was the focus on the villains (specifically, that of Vegeta). “Plus, I was trying to get familiar with all [of] the characters, so I watched everyday.”

An abundance of characters is something that shônen anime are well known for. While the shows may initially start out with a small group of closely-knit characters, they eventually branch out into quite large casts of characters. Ricco explains that she felt “behind” her friends (in terms of knowing what’s-what and who’s-who in the show). Interestingly, she explains that every single friend of hers that was “into” the show was male (noting that during this time period, she was thirteen years old and about to enter high school).

Anime fans, just as fans of any other genre of hobby, enjoy expressing their love and fandom in different ways. Whether it be maintaining websites (as Ricco would later do), editing music videos, writing “fanfics” (fictional novels based on pre-existing shows and characters) or dressing up as characters, fans attempt to further connect themselves with the shows.

“... fanfiction writing also helped to develop and solidify relationships with various friends, online or otherwise. Whether they were sharing their texts with each others – or ... writing their friends into the narratives in a more literal sense – fanfics appeared to serve as “social glue.”
(Chandler-Olcott, K. & Mahar, D.)

Ricco explains that she had previously “role-played” Sailor Moon (a shôjo anime) on AOL, but as DragonBall Z started becoming more and more popular, she switched over and looked for a female character to role-play, eventually finding #18. “Really, it was like ‘Oh, she sounds cool. A cyborg? Endless energy? Nice.” I asked Ricco if there was any reason why she specifically chose a female character to role-play; DragonBall Z is not as well known for its female characters as it is for its (over abundant) male characters. The female characters the show does have tend to be mothers and wives, with only a few exceptions (such as #18; and even she falls into this stereotype later on in the show). “It hadn’t occurred to me at that point that I could play a male if I wanted to. At the same time, none of the male characters interested me enough to play. This is the Namek saga cast, though. The lack of decent female characters (not naggy) in that saga was what led me to look online for one I did like.”

Ricco notes an interesting point in the show. During the American broadcast, DragonBall Z was put on hiatus for quite some time after its producer, FUNimation Productions, lost its syndication distributor. During this time (and even after a deal with Cartoon Network), only the first two seasons of DragonBall Z were aired in North America. During this point, the only female characters in the show were Chi-Chi (the wife of Goku, the show’s main hero), and Bulma (a character who had been with the show since the beginning, but was merely a human with no “special” fighting qualities, save for the “naggy” character Ricco refers to).

An interesting situation is brought up here: within the anime community, it is possible for this identification to cross gender boundaries, especially with the role-play community. While Ricco ultimately chose a female character to play, it is extremely plausible that she could have chosen a male character; it is likely that many role-players do this very thing. It is not just the fans, though, that are crossing these boundaries. In response, anime itself is changing due to its own fans and technological advances. A. Sandberg writes of the show Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (a TV series sequel to a classic cyber-punk anime theatrical film):

Depictions of shapely, scantily clad women are standard in Japanese comics and animation, and this series gladly provides them. But the message is subtly subversive: These bodies are literal commodities, shells their inhabitants can exchange if they feel like it. Kusanagi is female only in the sense that she wears female bodies, apparently to complement her favorite watch. No longer the key to identity, gender becomes a convention.
(Sandberg, A., 2004)

Gender is something that seems to merely “exist” in anime; the ability to identify with a character does not necessarily even rely on “being the same gender” as said character. This becomes even more interesting with characters such as Kusanagi, as mentioned above, and #18 from DragonBall Z — either purely computerized androids, or humans with cybernetic enhancements. Where is the line of gender drawn? Does it even exist? It would seem as if D. Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto were indeed coming true. “By the late twentieth century, our time, a mythic time, we are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs” (D. Harraway, 150). Are we truly all cyborgs, or does the de-gendering of these characters simply making them more accessible? Or, does that truly do make us cyborgs? “Technology, too, can be analyzed in layers of identify, structures, institutions, and representations,” (N. Lerman, R. Oldenziel, A. Mohun, 5). The technology presented in the shows, and the fact that the shows themselves are a form of technology, allow for these broad ranges of experiences and identifications.

What drew Ricco to this character, a gendered cyborg? Ricco explains that while at first #18 was just the “Cool, she fights, too!” type of character, she later found much more depth to identify with her. “I really liked her story, the fact that she was a villain but more complex than being ‘pure evil.’” Reform from “good” to “evil” is a recurring theme in shônen anime, and #18 is no exception. While she is initially brought into the cast as an ultimate villain, even she is forced to fight for her life (temporarily even losing it), and eventually turns to the side of good... even falling in love with and marrying one of the heroes (the character Kuririn).

So what exactly about the character drew Ricco in?

Female… fighter… cyborg. She's not part of the gang. She's not virtuous or proud like Goku and Vegeta. She's like a normal person thrown into the mix. I dare say she is THE most normal person, except for being a cyborg, which really wasn't something she chose to do.
(Ricco, personal interview)

“Normal person.” “Thrown into the mix.” “... wasn’t something she chose to do.” These are all quotes that we will find coming up during each interview, all concerning different shows and different characters of different genders, from fans of different genders, themselves. Why is this? How is it that fans can pick out different characters, even within the same show, and claim unique identification with them... listing the same reasons as another fan might list for a completely different character?

With this female perspective on #18, I turned to a male fan, as well, to see how his thoughts would correlate with a female fan’s, such as Ricco. Julian Grybowski is the co-maintainer of Daizenshuu EX (www.daizex.com), one of the oldest and most respected DragonBall fansites on the Internet.

I asked Grybowski, 19, how he initially “got into” the show. “To be honest, it was the fighting. I was 13, and at a time in my life where things were just pretty rough. [I] wasn't getting along with people, a parent had taken ill, and I had to 'find myself' as all teenagers must do.” Grybowski goes on to explain that the show was a “safe outlet” for his aggression, but as time passed and he grew older, he found other elements of the show, which he became engrossed in. (This kind of personal revelation in regards to shows will prove to be a recurring theme with interviewees and their fandom, as will be noted in later sections.)

“I've always been a fan of science-fiction stories, as well as a little drama, and DBZ had a little of both. I liked how each character had a distinct personality, and a certain outlook on life.” Grybowski explained how he found himself identifying with Gohan, “... just a child, thrown into a situation he couldn't control... he showed remarkable strength of character and willingness to help those in desperate need.” Grybowski's comments on Gohan would draw strong comparisons to characters in Naruto, discussed shortly hereafter. Without even going into a different show, Grybowski’s analysis of the male character of Gohan falls almost completely in line with Ricco’s analysis of #18. Both claim their “identity-characters” are extremely distinct from the other characters on the show, and are thrown into situations in which they have no choice. Perhaps it is this latter situation that draws the fans in, rather than the actual characters? Both Ricco and Grybowski indicate adolescence as the time period in which they became enthralled with the show, a time period when children are expected to be confused and awkward as they grow into adulthood. While the character of Gohan is a child, #18 is cited as being in her late-teens, yet (possibly due to her cybernetic enhancements) “acts” much older. It is fascinating that two completely different types of characters would draw in two viewers of different sexes for the same reasons.

Grybowski offered an interesting perspective on the show, taking us outside of our cultural confines. “All of the women in DragonBall Z are heavily independent, strong-willed people. This actually stands in contrast to the general stereotype for Japanese women: submissive and weak-willed.” Sure enough, the females in the show do indeed go against the “good wife / wise mother” cultural role Japanese women are expected to follow (Roden, 2002).

Although Toriyama has stated that in general, he doesn't like women who are as aggressive and outspoken as the ones he creates, I find that it creates a sort of balance in the story -- that even though they are underrepresented in general, the women who are in the series make up for that by knowing exactly who they are and what they want.
(Grybowski, personal interview)

Despite Toriyama's apparent dislike of these “kinds” of females, he went out of his way to include them in his story. I asked Grybowski his thoughts on #18, specifically; referring to her as an “... enigma, because she rarely reveals her emotions,” Grybowski concludes by noting “not being a woman myself, I can't really comment on how 'realistic' she is as a person. However, I can say this: she's got my respect.”

It was extremely interesting to find a male and a female fan of the show both cite completely different characters as being the ones they identify most with, yet citing the same reasons for identifying with them. As noted, this will prove to be a recurring trend in the interviews. Why, though? Do shônen anime in some way inherently lend themselves to identification by their viewers?

DragonBall Z is a show that has been available on television and home formats for years, in America. It has had time to gain its fan-base, and allow them to express their fandom in different ways. A recent show in Japan is already being regarded by many fans as “the next DBZ”; this show is Naruto. Its author, Masashi Kishimoto, is well known for being a fan of Akira Toriyama (the author of DragonBall), and the influences of DBZ are blatantly apparent in Naruto. The show revolves around a group of pre-teen children at ninja training school, all attempting to make their way up the ranks of ninja (genin, chônin, jûnin, sannin). While the show initially concerns only a group of three students (two male and one female), the show quickly evolves into a cast of dozens with children of both sexes.

Despite Naruto not officially being released in anime form, yet, in America, it has already gained an impressive fan-base and audience (through word-of-mouth, downloadable subtitled releases, and manga). As with DBZ, I approached both a male and female fan concerning their love of Naruto, and attempted to piece together why a show that is not yet even available in their country would be so popular with them.

I approached Dave McKeen, an amateur anime music video editor who has recently created some award-winning Naruto videos about his love for the show. I asked McKeen what about the show brought him in and cliched it; it is the characters, themselves, that did so. McKeen identifies the main character, Naruto, as the character that he latched on to. “Here is a guy who doesn't choose his own fate; he is an effect of circumstance... and he has to deal with that, without knowing why he is different,” explains McKeen. Misunderstood central male characters seem to pop up time and time again in shônen anime, and its fans manage to identify with them while transcending age. While McKeen is an adult, he feels that the characters in Naruto go through the same kinds of situations and emotions he did as a child, which somewhat puts life in perspective. “I think many people can relate,” McKeen goes on. “There are a lot of good morals in the show, as well, like sticking by your friends.” This seems to be a rather obvious toss-back to the Confucian ideals explained earlier, in the friend/friend relationship. “The show focuses on teamwork; they divide the ninjas into teams and get them to work together. Naruto and Sasuke don't really get along for quite some time, but they develop a mutual respect for each other, and eventually get over their differences and biases.” While discussing the roles of the characters in the grand-scheme of the story, McKeen notes that every character plays their role; no single character is a sole “hero,” and everyone contributes, “... even Sakura.”

Sakura is the female member of the core group of three characters in the show (being Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura). At various points in the show, different male characters all vow to “protect” Sakura. While some have a “crush” on her, others do not, yet still vow to protect this female peer of their own age. I asked McKeen why he thought this. At first, he offered the explanation, “Well... probably due to the male-dominated society; they feel a need to protect others.” As he continued, the explanation began diverging from this, and once again seemed to jump back to the Confucian ideals. “Yeah, they have their crushes, but a layer below that they are friends, as well. Naruto emphasizes that a lot [recently in the show], that he needs to protect his comrades; that he has something to fight for.”

“Something to fight for” pops up time and time again in Naruto; the need to validate one's own existence. This appears to be a very deep concept for something targeted towards a younger audience. Once you get past the seemingly stereotypical surface of the show (ninjas fighting other ninjas), we are brought into a world of inner struggle and turmoil within the minds of children that even adults are able to relate and identify with. This, however, is but one male who identifies with the (male) characters in the show. Naruto does indeed have a large female audience, as well, though; what would one of these female fans note about the show? Would she still identify with the typical Confucian male ideals of duties to society and friendship?
I asked Virginia “Ginny” Sheehan how she found her way into Naruto fandom. As with many anime fans, Sheehan found the show through word-of-mouth. “… I re-watched the first three [episodes] and saw episode four… and I was pretty much hooked after that. The character of Kakashi drew me in.” Quite a contrast from McKeen’s response, Kakashi is the adult mentor figure of the “core-three” (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura).

Kakashi is your typical fan girl fodder, but I fell for him. I loved the mysteriousness of the character, and how calm and cool he was. And of course, he's an amazing fighter. But I also liked how he would just walk around and read dirty novels - it adds a kind of human element to him, and brings him down to the level of an ordinary guy. Also, it was great seeing a cool character whom was over 12.
(Sheehan, personal interview)

I asked Sheehan why she felt she identified more with an adult character; were the attitudes of the children too foreign to her? Did she actively seek out an older character to identify with? Sheehan explains that while she empathized with the children characters and could understand their situations, she did not feel that these situations fell in line and were “… not current in my own life. Having an older character there meant having a character with adult issues, which was something I wanted to see along side the children's issues.” Sheehan also believes that as the show later demonstrates, “…many of the children deal with issues that are beyond their years.” She explains that earlier in the show, “…it was your typical ‘Kid is an outcast, doesn't fit in’ kind of thing,” but evolves into a show that places the children in situations where they must deal with more “adult” issues, such as death. “This is not to say kids don't ever deal with these issues, but it was a real change from the more juvenile themes early on.”

At this point, Sheehan had not mentioned the character of Sakura. I found it interesting that she cited an adult male character as her “favorite,” and was intrigued to hear her thoughts on the young, female character.

Sakura I think has potential to be an interesting character when she matures. However, I do not like her very much in the show now. For one thing, she's a silly schoolgirl. I used to be a silly schoolgirl myself, and it's embarrassing. For another, she is not a very strong character. While she does have her moments, over all she is just another damsel in distress.
(Sheehan, personal interview)

It was surprising to hear this kind of analysis of the show and its female character, especially since all preceding interviews had supported the idea of setting anime apart from their American counterparts (such as the Disney examples originally cited). I asked Sheehan to go a little further, and explain her thoughts on Sakura’s relationships with other characters in the show, especially Ino, Sakura’s childhood friend/rival. Sheehan explains that Sakura is a prime example of her earlier notations on the show.

Ino and Sakura have a juvenile schoolgirl relationship. They were buddies as kids, and then they both got a crush on the same boy, so a rivalry started between them. It's one of those juvenile themes, like I mentioned earlier, that I can understand and it is interesting to watch... but I don't particularly relate to it myself at this point in my life.
(Sheehan, personal interview)

Perhaps identification with characters truly does cross gender and age boundaries…? While earlier interviewees identified characters near their own age, the citing of #18 from DBZ and Kakashi from Naruto are interesting choices. These are characters that vary greatly from the “norm” in the shows, and seem to attract an older audience for reasons that both parallel the other characters, or completely transcend them.

Both DBZ and Naruto are well known for being very approachable action shows for young boys. While there is absolutely character development, plot twists, etc. in these shows, they are first and foremost general action shows. Our next show of analysis is at another spectrum of the shônen genre, a very deep and psychological show called Neon Genesis Evangelion. The masterpiece of creator Hideaki Anno, Evangelion first presents itself as almost a tribute to the “giant robot” shows of the past, placing a fourteen year old boy with parental and self-esteem issues in a life-and-death situation of piloting an Evangelion unit to save the world from invading alien-type creatures referred to as “Angels.” As a few episodes pass, however, the dark nature of the show begins to be realized, delving deep into Christian mythology, the fragile human psyche, and much more.

I asked Ian Roberts (www.absolutedestiny.org), an amateur anime music video editor and teacher at Oxford University, his thoughts on the show. Roberts notes that the show’s “eclectic mix of cliché and depth” drew him in, after hearing about it from so many other fans. Roberts went on to explain that while he initially identified with Shinji Ikari (the show’s main protagonist, a fourteen year old boy), this eventually shifted over to Misato Katsuragi, an adult female member of the NERV organization (which coordinates the Evangelion units and their defense against the invading “Angels”) and mentor-figure to Shinji. When Roberts initially began watching the show, he notes that he found himself sympathizing with Shinji above all other characters; the typical “estranged adolescent.” As time moved on and Roberts moved on, he found himself identifying with Misato more; “Nowadays I'm a young adult teacher, so it's easy to sympathize with Misato who is having to juggle career, love life and makeshift parent all in one.”

We moved on from a discussion of personal identification to one concerning the actual show and its characters and themes. Even then, the conversation would return to the subject of being an adolescent in an adult’s world, and how easily viewers can identify with this situation the characters find themselves in. Roberts noted that all three of the children Evangelion pilots (Shinji Ikari, Asuka Soryu, and Rei Ayanami) all hate each other for the ways they handle the situations. At the same time, they are forced (even as adolescents) to enter an adult world by cooperating with each other and building their relationships on these misunderstandings and cooperation (somewhat of a parallel to Naruto, as seen in the interview with Sheehan). Roberts explains that he identifies more with Shinji’s way of thinking and dealing with his emotions more than any other character’s; Shinji distances himself and bottles up the pain, rather than (for example), Asuka’s “flagrant arrogance and self-assertion,” which he embellishes on by further explaining, “I’m not a fan of putting other people down to make myself feel better.”

It is interesting to note that while both of these characters are fourteen-year-old children, they act in vastly different ways. I put out the idea that perhaps there was an intentional role-reversal going on with Shinji and Asuka; typically at this age (most notably in a classroom setting), it is the girls who keep to themselves, while the boys over-exert themselves and flash their arrogance. Roberts believes that a role-reversal with Shinji and Asuka may be an over-simplification; he believes that each and every teenage character in the show embodies a different aspect of every teenager going through adolescence.

Shinji is of the quiet, sensitive nature. Kensuke is the nerdy geek, and Toji is the hardheaded stubborn passionate one. Asuka is the brash arrogant image obsessed type, Rei is the subservient quiet distant type, and the class representative is soft and over sensitive type.
(Roberts, personal interview)

Interestingly, while Roberts noted that he now identifies more with a female character, he continued to bring up both the male and female characters throughout our discussion, and all of the ideals they embody. Does this abundance of characters and ways of thinking allow anyone to approach this show? It is an extremely complex show that requires a great deal of attention from the viewer, but these characters obviously have something to them, much more than would seem on the surface, that keeps the fans attached to and identifying with them.

Does the fact that Evangelion is geared towards a slightly older sub-audience within the shônen genre have anything to do with the fact that Roberts, a male well past the expected demographic, can find something in both male and female characters of the show to identify with? Perhaps not; we have witnessed the same occurrences with both DragonBall Z and Naruto, two shows aimed at the younger Japanese audiences. While Naruto and Evangelion take the same initial route with their main protagonist characters (Naruto and Shinji, respectively), the shows spin off into vastly different directions. The confused and innocent young male character is merely the beginning for these shows, which seem to care little what their audience is comprised of.

In the end, perhaps it doesn’t matter from which standpoint you analyze a show; obviously, fans from different nationalities are able to identify with these characters and their situations. Whether the character is male, female, child, or adult, it seems to be the underlying themes and situations that engross them. Where-as American shows such as Powerpuff Girls are designed for a specific audience (such as aiming a show about young girls for young girls with specific situations and themes in mind only for these young girls), which is backed-up via their marketing, even gendered-genres in Japan seem to cross boundaries. Even though when anime is brought to America, it is typically marketing the same as an originally American product, it may be that it simply doesn’t matter. “… kids are the same all over the world,” says R. Nowicki, senior VP of sales and marketing for 4Kids Entertainment, responsible for bringing Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! to America (Schnuer, 2003).

Perhaps the expansion of fandom into areas other than simply “watching” allows for fans to connect with the show on these varying levels. Chandler-Olcott & Mahar’s study of fan fictions among adolescent fans brings up fascinating points about how children are using technology to extend their friendships and connections. Taking this a step further would be the role-playing that Ricco explained; these fans go so far as to actually partake in the imaginary universe of the characters using technology as their medium. These experiences and “multiliteracies” would be incredible subjects of further study, themselves.

Was Harraway correct? Will we all eventually become “cyborgs,” which will in turn allow us to identify and connect with anyone and anything? Perhaps this is a grand stretch, but the early indications are present in shônen anime. Despite it being an inherently gendered genre, we have proven that it does not matter whether the characters are male or female, young or old, or even human in the first place; what matters are the underlying themes, which completely transcend gender and technology.

Contact: VegettoEX@aol.com

REFERENCES:

Chandler-Olcott, K. & Mahar, D. (2003). Adolescents’ anime-inspired ‘fanfictions’: an exploration of multilieracies. Journal of adolescent & adult literacy. 46 (7), pp. 556 – 567.

Dawley, K. (2004). A brief history of Robotech. Retrieved May 02, 2004, from http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/aug01/ao_0801_1.shtml.

Grybowski, J. Personal interview. April 28, 2004.

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