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Everyone in the anime community hails Hayao Miyazaki as the one director who writes women well. The female protagonists of Studio Ghibli films are role models for anime fans who are longing for great representation without any s*xualization.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Windwas one of Miyazaki’s earliest films directed and written by him. Even the original manga was all his brilliant mind. The titular protagonist of the film is one of his most beloved too.
The portrayal of Nausicaä isn’t black and white, she’s incredibly complex and seeks understanding rather than violence, despite living in a dangerous world. She values all living beings and her sense of adventure attracts the audience.
On the subject of Nausicaä’s appearance, Hayao Miyazaki talked about the distaste he has for the way Japanese animation chooses to lean into fetishizing women, as well as the reason behind why he chose (or rather didn’t have a choice) to make her appearance attractive.
Hayao Miyazaki believes in balancing the looks and personalities of his female characters
Women in anime are often given just looks without a real purpose in the show other than being the love interest for their male counterparts. Some of them are inevitably s*xualized by the audience themselves who love to fetishize the most innocent of characters too.
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Hayao Miyazakihas always detested this sentiment,calling anime “trash” in his famously misunderstood quote. However, it doesn’t mean the directorwasn’t immune to thinking he needed to make his characters cute too.
Inan interview alongside the author, Ryu Murakami, Hayao Miyazaki talks about the reason why Nausicaä had to be portrayed as “lovely,” and the careful balance he needed to make sure her personality shines more. Keeping in mind that the translation isn’t accurate, he states:
It’s difficult. They immediately become the subjects of rorikon gokko (play toy for Lolita Complex guys). In a sense, if we want to depict someone who is affirmative to us, we have no choice but to make them as lovely as possible. But now, there are too many people who shamelessly depict (such heroines) as if they just want (such girls) as pets, and things are escalating more and more.
His explanation was a counter to Ryu Murakami’s stating that when a female character looks lovely, that’s all she needs. Whether that was a joke from the author’s side is not entirely clear but it’s rather derogatory to imply that.
Hayao Miyazaki then defends the reason why Nausicaä looks were made to be lovely because female characters already get enough hate by existing. Thus, a strong female character needs to have a near-perfect appearance to counter any negative reactions from the audience.
Has anime lost its way of representing women?
While it certainly isn’t true that anime has zero strong female characters, the way many of them are poorly written or mistreated speaks otherwise. Whether it’s their lack of purpose in the series ortheir unrealistic appearance, anime women deserve better.
Studio Ghibli, however, has consistently written women-led stories with strong convictions and personalities. Hayao Miyazaki knows how to write realistic women by just observing humanity.
The newer generation of anime seems to be breaking away from the poorly written women towards better representation.Maomao fromThe Apothecary Diarieswould’ve been appreciated by Hayao Miyazaki, and no one candeny how cool Momo fromDandadanis.
The Apothecary Diaries’ Maomao Stands Apart from Dandadan’s Momo Despite Both of Them Being Incredibly Smart Main Characters
There’s still a lot of work to be done toward better representation of women in anime, considering how anime fans continue to s*xualize and undermine them.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Windis available on Netflix.
Bidisha Mitra
Articles Published :802
Bidisha is an Anime Content Writer at FandomWire with over 700 published articles. With over 7 years of writing experience, she’s versatile and adept. When she’s not writing, she’s also a voice actor on the side.Bidisha is currently continuing to learn Japanese and gets more fluent everyday. Her expertise is One Piece, Bungo Stray Dogs, and Haikyuu, but has been watching anime for over a decade. She was previously a Content Writer reviewing the latest Kpop music.
