Birdy the Mighty: It's Obviously A Woman's World

Shounen Alert!

So far, Birdy the Mighty is the only action/adventure shounen anime that stars, a female lead. That means a female lead with power in spades and superhero-like strength. Let's recap, this might be the only shounen anime with a STRONG female lead. Strong enough to break your face! hahahaha

Why aren't there more shounen anime out there with female leads, like this one? All of the others are cult interests, like vampires or Halloween towns. Do all girls like vampires and Halloween? That's not the way... Or one day everyone will wake up and the female species... will be gone, presumably to Hogwarts or something. Or they'll be the new villains ..._(O.O)_... Aaaaaah NOooo!

But why not regular heriones???

As anime nerds, we already know that some girls are just regular shounen heroines. But there aren't enough themes and main characters to help a girl out. There should be a long list of shounen, not even "shounen", of action/adventure anime starring girls. Stereotypically, the word shounen refers to boys anime, kind of like the superhero cartoons of Japan. But, then why did you guys in Japan make this one? Just to fly in the face of your own conventions? Make more... Please?

Anime like Birdy the Mighty, show anime fans that it is possible. "Birdy" or her Earth codename, came to Earth from a distant planet to investigate powerful alien criminals that go to Earth to do bad stuff. As events unfold, a human boy gets in the way of a fight. The bad guy uses the boy as a body shield (bravery at its finest or is it typical cowardly bad guy behavior) and Birdy disintegrates him with a full body punch. So... the boy has to be revived on her planet and in the meantime Birdy has to share her body with him... As in, let him use it so he can keep going to school, have a social life, and get good grades. But she still fights aliens when he gets home from school.

Birdy is a typical shounen main character with all the shounen features. She's stubborn, optimistic, brave, impervious to evil, and loves a good challenge. She stands up for what's right in the face of danger and stronger enemies. Plus she can also think with such a hard head...

In fact, if she doesn't wear her superhero suit, she might be a tomboy. If I were a girl, she would be one of my favorite shounen/shoujo heroes and I would lament the anime industry for taking so long to get onto the bandwagon. 

In short, they need to make more strong female leads for anime. For otaku. For you and for me. For the world. For the FREAKING UNIVERSE!

You can catch Birdy the Mighty for free, streaming on Hulu.com

Modeling is her side job!

I always knew there were Otaku like me out there...

LGBTQ Characters in Anime

If there's any kind of media that's tolerant of all kinds of peoples, it's probably anime. Popular media in general is welcoming and making new roles for LGBTQ characters. However, popular media kind of only sees LGBTQ people as kind of sexual (or sex-u-al), as if they don't have their own unique personality traits and quirks that make them cool characters in their own right. Anime, takes LGBTQ characters to the next level and gives them cool anime traits that make them kind of awesome, anime awesome...

Tiger and Bunny's Fire Emblem

The epitome of lean, refined muscle and an inferno of firepower. The perfect shounen hero, except that he would rather choose between Tiger or Bunny than any of the other characters in the show. At first, he seems very flamboyant almost like the poster child for the gay Afro-character but as the show goes on he becomes a true hero. That's because in addition to being on a show for heroes he is actually fearless, cares for, and protects the weak. Check out a cool AMV with Fire Emblem right below, it's from our own studio and youtube channel.

MM!'s Mio Isurugi

Mio comes off as a girly girl and she is. But psychologically, Mio is a dom and can never actually be a girly girl. She'd rather have a stereotypically male role than a female role, which makes her different, sort of like she can walk both sides of the street. Through the show, she unlocks her peer's inner hentai or variation from the norms of attraction. Just by being around her, one guy came out of the closet and the other main character, the male lead Taro Sado, was able to express his own masochistic desires to the max. Making Mio Isurugi and the Taro a compatible match, but not the straightforward average heterosexual pair.

One Piece's Emporio Ivankov

The Okama Kingdom in One Piece, is a social community of LGBTQ located in one of the lower levels of Impel Down, the most deadly prison in One Piece. Impel Down is famous of destroying the hopes and dreams of the toughest pirates and criminals. It has levels dedicated to subzero temperatures and some levels dedicated to arctic temperatures, others to bloodthirsty monsters. However, the Okama Kingdom, headed by Imperio Ivankov (pictured above) is a flourishing social community with all the amenities of home, in a hidden corner of the expansive prison. The only price to be there is that Ivankov will change your body to the gender you're not comfortable with or take ten years off your life span with his injection power. Ivankov himself or herself, can change genders at will.

A Few Things About What it Means to Be an Otaku

Otaku, a term that originated in Japan. At first the term was used to refer to someone who had an abnormally high obsession with anime, manga, Japanese idol stars, or jpop. The term has been through it's share of controversy, just like any other controversial term for people. Now otaku is a great thing to be, especially if you're into Japanese the great arts like anime and manga. Also, there are some things that set otaku apart from normal fandom and even normal people.

I'd like to talk about these things, in light of NYAF's last year at comiccon and also because I feel they are important for readers of our blog.

I've realized a few things about what it means to be an Otaku or someone who is very passionate about anime or manga.

1. Otaku don't follow conventional rules. If you're looking for otaku to be happy with the rules of society, keep looking. Many otaku won't vote this year, because both candidates are boring among other reasons. Many otaku work regular jobs but it doesn't really matter, because we know that the best part of the day revolves around anime or J-music. We don't follow rules for the sake of the system but for the sake of ourselves and the anime we love so much!

2. Otaku can't be depended upon to fit stereotypes. Oftentimes you'll find otaku guys dressed as anime girls or girls dressed as guys. We'll watch anime about masochists who just seem to fit in with sadists, lolicons, and gays (Such as the anime MM!). We watch anime that makes light of racism and classism by punching a one-percenter in the face (Such as the anime One Piece). We can't be depended upon to satisfy society's will because like an anime character would say, "Break through it!".

3. Otaku and American comics don't mix. NY Comiccon had merged with NY Anime Festival a few years back. Now they're getting rid of NYAF! You can't merge with anime and throw it away! You can't throw away otaku! If there's anything of note, it's that another anime convention will take it's place or NY will forever be at a loss toward Otaku. Sure superman is great but all otaku know Goku would kick his butt!

Enjoy! ~

Share what it means to be an otaku in the comments section below!