Naruto has to be the most sexist show of all time

[Tarliki]

Rewatching Naruto, which is my childhood favorite anime and the favorite anime of everyone in my family, I realize just how many problems this series has and just how terribly aged certain aspects of the writing are. Don't get me wrong, there are still many things I love about Naruto and things that have aged better than I imagined, specifically the presentation of certain themes, however notwithstanding all that there are some things that aged so poorly it feels disgusting, things like pacing, character development, plot holes. However the thing that aged the worst in Naruto is its treatment of female characters and its sexism.

Naruto is a deeply misogynist show. I would argue the most sexist show ive ever seen. Almost all female characters in the show are reduced to very blatant and sexist female stereotypes of damsels and male love interests, with little agency or autonomy for any of the female characters. majority of the females in the show are literally just healers who have to be saved by the male characters, are reduced to housewives and only housewives by the end, and their entire character arcs literally revolve around their male love interest. The only thing the females in this show offer are love triangles and healing the male characters who do all the badass fighting and story telling.

I wish Naruto wasn't so damn sexist, id otherwise enjoy it.

 

[Misery]

Honestly Naruto is, to me, an example of what I could call "mass produced anime". These are the series that just... keep... going... FOREVER not because they're actually good, but because they sell. And so whatever element is thought to be selling them will just endlessly repeat. Heck, that's why even though Naruto "ended", it actually has not, with Boruto continuing it.

Another good example is One Piece. Just... why. WHY is that still going.

And looking at those series, they're just so... incredibly generic to me. I dont mean that they look bad or that they're badly made, but it's more like the result of what some corporate focus testing groups thought would hit big, and that was made into new episodes, and that's IT.

As for the bit about the females in the show, well...

Just imagine me gesturing towards a bunch of harem anime shows, and... yeah. It aint just Naruto, that's for bloody sure.

A focus on female characters being "sexy" or "cute" or KYAAAA over all other aspects is something that sells, so it keeps being made. Until horny anime nerds get bored of OMG WAIFUS WOW BEST GIRL, this crap will continue. I mean heck, there's an entire genre that is often just called "cute girls doing cute things". Often as brainless as it sounds.

Honestly I miss older anime stuff. I mean LONG before Naruto and the like. Anyone remember Slayers? No? Ugh


Also the spellchecker knows the word "Naruto". This bothers me on a fundamental level. No, I dont know why, it just does.

 

[Qoyote]

Exactly how I feel about Naruto. It's even worse when you realize Naruto came out at the same time as Fullmetal Alchemist and mostly after Stone Ocean. We had Jolyne Kujo before Sakura.

All my friends are girls (women? We're on the bubble) and the way pop culture shows women is so far from anyone I've ever met, sometimes I have to talk to them just to bring myself back to reality. It's bizarre.

And yet Naruto has a huge female fanbase lmao, figure that out

P.S. Slayers' been on my list for a million years and I keep hearing good things about it.

P.P.S. I haven't seen most of FMA so don't spoil it plz

 

[Misery]

Slayers' been on my list for a million years and I keep hearing good things about it.

It was brilliant. Granted it can vary a bit depending on which specific one it was. Slayers Try is the one I'm most familiar with.

It's definitely from another era though, I can say that much. They seriously dont make anything at all like that these days.

 

[Markness]

It was brilliant. Granted it can vary a bit depending on which specific one it was. Slayers Try is the one I'm most familiar with.

It's definitely from another era though, I can say that much. They seriously dont make anything at all like that these days.

I own most of Slayers. NEXT is a classic and everything featuring Lina and Naga is a must watch. I forget that the light novels have been license rescued by J-Novel Club. I want to read them and hopefully they will go past where Tokyo Pop left off.

As for the topic, Naruto isn’t that bad for the problems you mentioned. Dragon Ball, YuYu Hakusho, and Toriko have those issues as well.

 

[Qoyote]

Also, haven't seen that many anime but if you didn't like Naruto you'll hate Fist of the North Star!

 

[Markness]

Also, haven't seen that many anime but if you didn't like Naruto you'll hate Fist of the North Star!

Oh yeah! Women get sidelined so badly in that one and I think it’s even worse in the original manga. I remember Kaioh’s sister being introduced only just to be killed off within a few pages! Women in Naruto at least don’t have that happen and some even get to defeat named characters. Mamiya struggled with nameless thugs in Fist and even gave up fighting on Rei’s wishes.

 

[Tarliki]

Oh yeah! Women get sidelined so badly in that one and I think it’s even worse in the original manga. I remember Kaidoh’s sister being introduced only just to be killed off within a few pages! Women in Naruto at least don’t have that happen and some even get to defeat named characters. Mamiya struggled with nameless thugs in Fist!

Why are so many anime sexist??

 

[Markness]

Why are so many anime sexist??

Ask John: Is Anime Sexist? – AnimeNation Anime News Blog

 

[Sylas]

It's been a decade or two since I watched it but I still remember how embarrassingly useless the female characters were.

That first tournament that had these epic fights between very powerful individuals laying it all down, meanwhile the fight between the two girls may have been them just slapping at each other.

And that there was tis group of three powerful adults, one was a woman that was so terrified of blood I think she like fainted at the sight of it. It was incredibly blatant even to my young mind.

But in the end, it's because, one, Japan is almost certainly one of the most sexist nations amongst the very wealthy nations.

Two, the whole manga/anime industry, at least some genres of it, are extremely male dominated which leads to these views never being challenged at all.

And finally, I think Naruto started in like the 90's, so whatever Japan is now in this regard, it was certainly worse back then.

But there are some exceptions to this trend, for example Attack on Titan. While hardly some feminist manifesto, it simply treats its female characters as just people. They don't wear skimpy outfits into battle for no apparent reason and while the main female character is rather flat and one note and mostly defined by her relationship to the male lead, there's a solid half dozen of secondary female characters that each all have their own things going on, their own motivations, that do important things at different points and even show different takes on femininity.

In the end, what's required is an artist willing and interested in telling a serious tale and with the confidence to avoid the trops prevalent in their medium and culture. It's just that not a lot of people do that.

 

[Atrapa Almas]

Well, they are made on Japan by men...

Full Metal Alchemist and Demon Slayer were made by Japanesse women and are way better.

And Avatar is a great example of an inclusive anime.

I like very much Miyazaki animes, they are very female oriented and that has lots of merit considering his age and being Japanesse.

 

[Tarliki]

Well, they are made on Japan by men...

Full Metal Alchemist and Demon Slayer were made by Japanesse women and are way better.

And Avatar is a great example of an inclusive anime.

I like very much Miyazaki animes, they are very female oriented and that has lots of merit considering his age and being Japanesse.

Avatar to me is the gold standard on writing well written female characters. Katara, Toph, Azula and Suki are all badass yet unique and interesting female characters with motives and personality that goes beyond their boy love interest, something Naruto struggled to do with its 100 female characters whose only motivation in the story was getting their boy crush to like them back. Uggghhh

 

[Atrapa Almas]

Avatar to me is the gold standard on writing well written female characters. Katara, Toph, Azula and Suki are all badass yet unique and interesting female characters with motives and personality that goes beyond their boy love interest, something Naruto struggled to do with its 100 female characters whose only motivation in the story was getting their boy crush to like them back. Uggghhh

Not only with male-female inclusion. I think Toph is autist.

My favourite character on the serie.

 

[Qoyote]

That first tournament that had these epic fights between very powerful individuals laying it all down, meanwhile the fight between the two girls may have been them just slapping at each other.

Oh yeah, Sakura vs Ino. I remember that. Good character development in that scene, the battle was more important to them than most of the guys, but the actual fight left something to be desired. Also the writer said he wrote Sakura the way he did to be relatable to girls. Chew on that one.

Tsunade's the one afraid of blood, right? She was the only woman I actually liked. There was some sexist stuff (she uses a spell to hide her age and the camera always pans away from her real face, like a fiftysomething woman is too horrifying to see) but there's a good character behind that.

Fulll Metal Alchemist and Demon Slayer were made by Japanesse women and are way better.

I only read a little FMA but she even writes boys more realistic. She can laugh at some of the macho stuff which is refreshing after other battle manga.

 

[Tarliki]

Not only with male-female inclusion. I think Toph is autist.

My favourite character on the serie.

My favorite female in the show is Toph but she is arguably one of the least Autistic characters in fiction. Her deft and clever use of sarcasm, as well as displaying none of the symptoms of autism, makes it hard for me to see her as autistic.

 

[Knower of nothing]

I assume the problem here is real life sexism translating to bland character writing. I'm a bit skeptical about the direct correlation however because you definitely don't need to be sexist to write a lame one-dimensial archetype character, but I'm sure it contributes to patterns of type casting in design and role.
Then again even there I find myself questioning if it's really a big deal. Can't be a crime to write a bad character. I've not been convinced in either direction. Love my realistic depth in characters as much as the next guy, but also recognize the value of flat writing, definitely not something you can just slap into a hierarchy.

 

[Atrapa Almas]

My favorite female in the show is Toph but she is arguably one of the least Autistic characters in fiction. Her deft and clever use of sarcasm, as well as displaying none of the symptoms of autism, makes it hard for me to see her as autistic.

Oh! I did use sarcasm a lot, Its not common among ASD2-3 but pretty common in ASD1 I think. I see in Toph many problems to fit in the group, she misunderstood a lot of things, its very black and white in her emotions, values, and actions. She also was a disaster as a mother, not being able to understand the emotions of her daugthers. Actually I found a post about it: Autistic Toph Bei Fong

Its probably not as clearly autistic as Giyu Tomioka, but I feel so identifed with her.