Wednesday, December 8, 2010

"Manly" Animes

Earlier this semester I went to a video gaming and Japanese animation and pop-culture convention named EXPcon in St. Augustine. I noticed a similar panel that was featured in this convention that was in the convention, Anime Festival Orlando, that I went to back in August. This panel discussed "manly" animes.

While I'm not oblivious to the horrible gender norms that are perpetuated through Japanese media and pop-culture, I was not aware of two of the animes that were featured in these two different but similar panels. These animes are named "Fist of the North Star" and "Golgo 13". Both of these animes came out during the mid-1980s and feature high amounts of violence and subjectification of women. "Fist of the North Star" is about a warrior living in a post-apocalyptic world who has the ability to kill his foes from the inside-out by pressing on certain pressure points on the body. "Golgo 13" is about a womanizing professional assassin.

Both of these animes are widely popular amongst men in the anime community. I have never seen any of these animes, nor do I have any wish to do so. Here are two videos that I viewed at the conventions I went to this year:
"Fist of the North Star"


"Golgo 13"


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