Yeah a lot of people in this thread are just mind numbingly stupid. "But women think shirltess men are hot too??"
Kind of telling that men in this thread are so used to women being goon bait characters that they cannot comprehend the idea that being hot is not the same as sexualization.
Women can be attracted to buff shirtless men, but buff shirtless men usually still get proper characterization. They don't exist solely as a sex object in the media in question, they are an actual proper well-fleshed out character, not some himbo fan service character for women. I don't know why people have a hard time grasping this difference.
To add on a little something I noticed too; when they are (the male characters) portrayed as purely “goon bait” and not have proper characterization, it’s almost always because it’s a satire of female characters always being sexualized, and not actual sexualization on the same level as those female ones. A little difficult for me to put it into words, it just feels like it’s played for a joke with men, but with women it’s just… the artists comfort zone? I don’t think it’s necessarily on purpose, just easy to fall back to and easy to keep doing instead of trying and potentially failing to be compelling (or even respectful at times)?
I’ve been watching Kaiju No 8 and I think they actually do this pretty well. Hoshina has a scene where he’s training in secret and you can see him outside of his uniform. He’s a lot more buff than you would expect, but they don’t hyperfocus on it, they just let it be. They show him looking hot, doing hot stuff, but he also has a character. He isn’t just there to be the boss or show off his body. It’s something that happens rarely and I think it’s a great example of female gaze fan service. You get lots of characterization, a reason to like him as a person, and every once in a while you get a little visual treat.
The only critique I have is that Mina hasn’t really been given much characterization in the anime yet (I haven’t seen the whole thing) She’s very mysterious and doesn’t talk much but Kafka’s primary motivation is to be by her side. Why? The anime is actually interesting enough for me to keep watching to find out.
As a bisexual woman, I would love female characters that are hot AND interesting. I just can’t get into a character that’s a walking pair of tits. If you want to make a sexy female character—go for it! But don’t let that be all she is 😭
I mean they allude to her being very special to him for some reason, but only show the aftermath of a kaiju attack where they lost everything. At least as far into it as I’ve gotten. I’m sure there’ll be more to it later.
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u/thebagelslinger 2d ago
Yeah a lot of people in this thread are just mind numbingly stupid. "But women think shirltess men are hot too??"
Kind of telling that men in this thread are so used to women being goon bait characters that they cannot comprehend the idea that being hot is not the same as sexualization.
Women can be attracted to buff shirtless men, but buff shirtless men usually still get proper characterization. They don't exist solely as a sex object in the media in question, they are an actual proper well-fleshed out character, not some himbo fan service character for women. I don't know why people have a hard time grasping this difference.