The exact same trope exists, gender reversed, in most shojo series like "Cardcaptor Sakura," "Sailor Moon," and "Princess Tutu." The trouble is that shojo have all but disappeared in recent years, subsumed by the moe/cute girl and josei/young woman genres. Most of the fantasy and action shows popular in the West just aren't aimed at girls of this age group. The only recent shonen I can think of that has a true female lead is "Soul Hunter," which has Maka, who still has to share the role with a lot of others.
If you look back at the 80s and early 90s, the action girls were everywhere - "Bubblegum Crisis," "Dirty Pair," "Patlabor," "Armitage," "Iria," and "Slayers" - but they were mostly seinen and comedy heroines. I think their disappearance in favor of moe girls has a lot to do with the changing demographics of anime - the industry is now pandering to the hardcore otaku base a lot harder than they used to, and shojo never sold very well in the West.
When you get away from the typical cookie-cutter Shonen Jump-style titles, you do get some stronger supporting girls like Yoko from "Gurren Lagaan" and Re-L from "Ergo Proxy," but you really have to look for them.
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Date: 19 Sep 2010 06:06 pm (UTC)The exact same trope exists, gender reversed, in most shojo series like "Cardcaptor Sakura," "Sailor Moon," and "Princess Tutu." The trouble is that shojo have all but disappeared in recent years, subsumed by the moe/cute girl and josei/young woman genres. Most of the fantasy and action shows popular in the West just aren't aimed at girls of this age group. The only recent shonen I can think of that has a true female lead is "Soul Hunter," which has Maka, who still has to share the role with a lot of others.
If you look back at the 80s and early 90s, the action girls were everywhere - "Bubblegum Crisis," "Dirty Pair," "Patlabor," "Armitage," "Iria," and "Slayers" - but they were mostly seinen and comedy heroines. I think their disappearance in favor of moe girls has a lot to do with the changing demographics of anime - the industry is now pandering to the hardcore otaku base a lot harder than they used to, and shojo never sold very well in the West.
When you get away from the typical cookie-cutter Shonen Jump-style titles, you do get some stronger supporting girls like Yoko from "Gurren Lagaan" and Re-L from "Ergo Proxy," but you really have to look for them.