Have Japanese anime and video games become too stereotyped?

Earlier today i was on another forum and someone mentioned Project Slypheed. I was curious so i looked it up. The game had mediocre reviews not because of game play but because of the stereotypical, anime style characters in the game. references were made to overly-endowed women and stock personality characters. What immediately came to mind as a i read this was Ninja Gaiden Sigma and NGS 2. Every woman in those two games were sporting a F cup or larger save for the villain. It was ridiculous to say the least! Now i understand that Japan is a different culture with different ideas about heroes and characters and such, but sometimes i do wonder. So i’m asking the members of FF Shrine what do you think of Japanese video games and anime when it comes to stereotypes and such.

To an extent it has become very stereotyped, however that’s mainly with the big named companies, i mean you get the same thing in western media too, arguably even more overblown and pointless.

In the end, sex sells, whether we like it or not, the main problem with the direction anime is going is more of a problem of originality imo, i see too many anime’s that copy each other these days.

Western games are no better for this (take The Witcher series for example) – its just that the visuals for everything are exaggerated in Jap products. The treatment of female characters in all mediums (TV, movies, games etc) is still mostly lamentable. Even supposedly empowered female characters are usually still reduced to damsels in distress for the macho hero to rescue at some point.

The reasoning is that the target audience of movies and games is predominantly male, that men really aren’t interested in listening to anything women have to say, only how they look, and that men won’t stand for women being anything more than supporting characters. Its an archaic and insulting set of views that sadly still persist.

sylpheed sure had cliched characters, but the game itself is just awesome.

sylpheed sure had cliched characters, but the game itself is just awesome.

I kinda want to play it but i’m not sure now. 🙁

———- Post added at 12:25 PM ———- Previous post was at 12:24 PM ———-

Western games are no better for this (take The Witcher series for example) – its just that the visuals for everything are exaggerated in Jap products. The treatment of female characters in all mediums (TV, movies, games etc) is still mostly lamentable. Even supposedly empowered female characters are usually still reduced to damsels in distress for the macho hero to rescue at some point.

The reasoning is that the target audience of movies and games is predominantly male, that men really aren’t interested in listening to anything women have to say, only how they look, and that men won’t stand for women being anything more than supporting characters. Its an archaic and insulting set of views that sadly still persist.

That’s what i’m thinking as well. I remember playing Ar Tonelico II and getting kind of disgusted with the moe/loli references on a constant basis.

I-m going the other way now:

Japanese males tend to be too afeminate.
Cloud strife,kuja,hope dante raiden,sephiroth.
Oh yeah tales series has some too,like:genis,and even zelos wilder is a bit afeminate.

Personally:I like very masculine characters.

It is easier to imagine myself in that role if so,then an afeminate character that looks like he or she might be a gay transvestite.

The problem isn-t so much the genre itself,as it is the game designers.The game designers used to be brilliant,but they are starting to hit a blockade.Another problem,is that game designers also want to rush their product to get it out as fast as possible.

American game designers are beginning to fall into the same traps that the japanese have fallen into.

When they are really really good,people don-t complain about the jrpgs or american rpgs they are playing,but when they suck,they really give a bad image of what games should be.

Despite these problems,i do like japanese games,and american games.

Zelda mario metroid and metal gear solid,are some of my favorite japanese game series.

Jap heroes are made that way because anime appeals to both men and women. They are made according to the rules that many vampire characters are constructed (i.e men who combine strength and drive, with beauty, intelligence and sensitivity). Its an attempt to balance the needs of both sexes in such characters. To not just have some growling, muscled, testeterone fuelled lout of a character, who guys can say ‘Man, this guy is a total badass’ but who women will look at and see a childish boy’s fantasy of supposedly appealing masculinity. By the same token though, if taken too far, the character can come across as overly emotional, simpering and ineffectual (which again I would argue, often appeals to neither sex).

Female characters though are badly repesented throughout gaming. There are plenty of strong male characters that engender respect and admiration, but any list containing female characters is highly likely to be some variation of ‘Top Hottest chicks’ etc etc. Because in terms of actual character, the writing for female characters (again in all mediums, not just gaming) is light years behind.

I disagree about the male part:I think overly emotional,is something a bit girly in a way.

Thats not to say grown men dont cry,but not if i see a character like that in a game,crying all the time,wimpering,it gets on my nerves fast.

And the problem isn-t that there arent men who look like women in drag,its that most if not a lot of men dont look that afeminate.

I havent seen many or if any man who looks like a girl as much as sephiroth,with his long hair.
Heck,even rockers dont look afeminate,and it has nothing to do with the long hair.

Its extremely hard to actually to immerse yourself into a whiny brat of a character who is ridiculously afeminate.

I kinda want to play it but i’m not sure now. 🙁

———- Post added at 12:25 PM ———- Previous post was at 12:24 PM ———-

do you like ace combat? yes? then this is the same…. IN SPACE!
dont like ace combat? play it anyway.

You miss the part where I mention that overly emotional is not a good thing. Characters like Cloud and Sephiroth are not overly emotional, but they are shown as people who can have some kind of emotional response other than growling and uttering some random machoisms. Its a balancing act, but one that can work (guys do like characters like Cloud, Squall, Sephiroth etc), if they still seem like strong characters. If you just make a character really, really macho, then it only appeals to guys.

It has nothing to do with just really really macho(god of war main character),rather:That clouds attitude towards his party acting as a drama queen a bit is annoying.

I never found cloud or sephiroth particularly interesting,and i find cloud to overract a bit.
Sephiroth doesnt overreact,but his turn to evil,and designers forcing it down our throats is extreme.

I found that sephiroth had the potential to be a really good interesting hero,and also very much an anti hero.Instead,we get a villain who isn-t very villainous,and gets his 80=90 percent of his screen time stolen by hojo and shinra and jenova.

He also keeps playing out the role of lackey,and yet,square enix wants to force us to believe he was in control.
It just isn-t very well developed.

Heck,sephiroth had the makings of a great tragic hero,someone we could relate to.If square had followed it,we would have someone we truly felt sorry for,plus:The added abilities would be cool if it was in real time,and we could kick ass.

sylpheed sure had cliched characters, but the game itself is just awesome.
Trust story.

Personal, I don’t give a fuck.
If the story is good, why does it matter if it’s got a black dude who loves fried-chicken and steals crack?

Apparently with Japanese logic, it’s usually fanservice = people are gonna actually play/watch this shit

A lot of good games/anime make it out of that logic like the naruto ultimate ninja/clash of a ninja series, Street Fighter series and Blood Plus.
There are actually much less generic things but they’re getting harder to find /:

Yeah, I would say they are sterotyped, but so are western IPs, as well. It’s easier to cater to your demographic if you know (or think you know) what they want. Any variances to the tropes and formulas would mostly be minute to allow for variation. Out of all the RPGs I played that came out of Japan, I could fit them all in four or five templates. There’s nothing wrong with that inherently, unless a particular game did not try to get out of formula (i.e. very cliched). Even then, I would care more about how fun the game is compared to how formulaic it is.

The problem with JRPGs is that they USED to have GREAT story telling that you just couldn’t get from most other genera.

I could sit through a rather mediocre battle system IF the story and characters were worth it…

But a game with boring game play + mediocre story + bland characters = screw that.

The new tales game was not to my liking,at least the demo.Suikoden has done some really strange outfits as well.

Aviso de redirecci�n (http://www.google.es/imgres?q=suikoden+4+main+character&um=1&hl=es&sa=N&biw=1920&bih=931&tbm=isch&tbnid=LeqnO4u5_wH_aM:&imgrefurl=http://www.thunderboltgames.com/reviews/article/suikoden-iv-review-for-ps2.html&docid=nF1YgJ8aZHI-tM&imgurl=http://src.sencha.io/http://www.thunderboltgames.com/s/reviews/ps2/suikoden4_5.jpg&w=480&h=335&ei=ieR5T6PnJ-Kn0QXpuqycDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=315&sig=115379441510012776431&page=1&tbnh=125&tbnw=167&start=0&ndsp=58&ved=1t:429,r:23,s:0&tx=105&ty=75)

He looks kinda strange.

Aviso de redirecci�n (http://www.google.es/imgres?q=suikoden+1+milich+oppenheimer&um=1&hl=es&biw=1920&bih=931&tbm=isch&tbnid=B5eDAHJ3n7BoUM:&imgrefurl=http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/63903/lets-play-suikoden-episode-24-the-end&docid=AE9gcj3wtcnpBM&imgurl=http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e95/schide66/Suikoden%252520LP/1-66.jpg&w=720&h=480&ei=iOV5T5LiFYWP0AWz3uicDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=191&sig=115379441510012776431&page=1&tbnh=130&tbnw=160&start=0&ndsp=47&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=105&ty=64)

Strange because i never imagined someone so.. anal about looking good.

I’m currently Replaying Valkyrie Profile, with the Attempt to actually complete the game this time.

And I agree Anime and JRPG it kinda fell into the Stereotype and COMPLETELY INTENTIONALLY.

Lolicon stuff is very present on VP for example, and the game does not holds itself with the Sexual Innuendos and Orientations in the Characters Arc.

And yeah, the Japs are actually more concerned and pay more attention to their mass audience in their country. Ergo the Jap regular audience prefer Bishonen and affeminate characters over anything that looks regularily masculine. It’s a cultural thing.

Also in terms of gameplay they prefer to make games with more emphasis on the exaggeration, this a be the Bullet Hell games, the JRPG’s that have an extreme rate encounter with emphasis on grinding. Case of most Atlus and Nippon Ichi games.

Historically speaking, with all the LeoMania Upheaval after the Titanic Movie and after seeing the poor reaction that had Metal Gear Solid 1 for the female jap gamers. They came with the Idea of Raiden as the New Lead Character for MGS2. And of course MGS wasn’t the only game that have fell in this cycle. Resident Evil Code Veronica had Steve, a character that was modeled taking Leonardo Di Caprio as Template.

This changes backfired in the West.

As Vrykolas said, it’s the attempt to make male characters appealing to both male and female gamers. But the Conceptions of aesthetics and the trends surrounding this in Japan and Korea Specifically are for the most part completely different compared to the Western audience.

To check more information regarding this check this Article.

Why Japanese Games are Breaking Up With the West from 1UP.com (http://www.1up.com/features/japanese-games-breaking-west)

Although Recently I saw over the Internet more Asian gamers more appealed to Western Games. Mainly because the are kinda jaded with the divisive nature that many Japanese games have. Referring that Almost all games look like Manga or Anime and it looks more Unreal when compared to Western Games.

Also this: Ar tonelico ENG – (Gameplay 05) I for Innuendo – YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoODv8LVib8)