The Old School Otaku Lounge

Article I dug up from The Guardian (UK broadsheet) here; http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/ma ... nime-women

"Ninjas, inventors, scientists: anime's female role models
Where were the gutsy pink-haired heroines of Japanese anime when I was growing up? I had to make do with Lady Penelope"

(FWIW, I still feel that Lady Penelope was quite the kick-ass character.)

Interesting that the female leads are the ones from the 2nd gen in "Otaku; Japan's Database Animals", or the ones we all grew up with and loved. Would she report back with the same opinion regarding today's moéblob exports?

Also! US ladies especially; we never got Rose of Versailles/Lady Oscar, Georgie, Candy Candy on mainstream TV; general 'girly' shows. My Italian illustrator friends practically wept for our loss upon hearing this. In the UK, we got either boy's cartoons or mutually-gendered "kids" cartoons, nothing really for girls (we got 12 eps of US-dub Sailor Moon on at 7am on terrestrial UK TV in the morning. Once, in the late 90's, years after it's inital Japanese release).

...Do you think Western English speaking females had to be tomboys to "acceptably" be "into" cartoons? And that powerful female leads were appealing after watching the cyberpunkiness of anime like BGC, was being a bit of a tomboy an advantage to not having this type of barrier to enjoy anime initially? That romantic love triangles were also appealing to tomboy anime fans because of the initial Shonen Jump/boy's story angle?

/Food for thought

UK girls had the Four Marys in "Bunty"; from the field hockey pitch to math class there isn't a mystery they couldn't solve!

Bunty, Misty, Jackie etc didn't really speak to that many girls. Too much horse-riding (I have still never ever rode on horseback) and boarding school "japes".

FWIW, I believe they all died out in the 80s. English girls want to grow up very quickly. No magazines have comics in them.

You mean to tell me not every English girl dreams of being a ballerina/show rider whose father is in prison for being unjustly accused of a crime and she and her crippled younger brother are forced to live with their evil aunt - in a haunted house? British girls' comics are LYING TO ME!!!

I probably have way too many issues of Bunty, Tammy, Jinty, Jackie, School Friend, etc. I do enjoy them on a camp level, but to be honest there are some gems in there among the junk. Certainly the girls' comics were better than the boys comics of the time - apart from 2000 AD and bits of Star Lord & Battle, most of the late 60s-70s-early 80s comics for boys were terrible, and not in a good way. The girls comics seemed to have better artwork, and while the pop music features are amazingly nonsensical and dated, at least they're a respite from the endless parade of WWII trivia and model kit ads for the boys.

I wrote about British girls comics at Mister Kitty a few times.

Great read. Thanks!

Hahah~ best reply ever, Dave !

I wrote about British girls comics at Mister Kitty a few times.

Fantastic, thanks for sharing!