I think the biggest problem I have with Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought There! is how inconsistent it is. Because the animators obviously know how to draw practical modern armor.
And they can draw practical fantasy armor based loosely on historical armor.
And they clearly know how to draw badass women in practical modern armor.
But when it comes time to draw a warrior woman in practical fantasy armor…
They just can’t do it!
(Granted, the Rose Knights’ armor isn’t entirely terrible, but it’s still not as protective as the male equivalent.)
Of course the character in the skimpiest, most blatantly sexualized armour is a brown lady (making her an elf doesn’t make it better). On top of that, this serves as a pretty good discussion piece for another common query we get:
“What about armour that’s impractical but not sexual?”
The question is, largely impossible to address specifically because of it’s open nature, but there important thing to understand with designing fictional anything is that everything that makes it stand out from “real” should stand out for a reason – or the audience will assign a meaning.
In this case, it kind of feels like the main reasons they assigned them were CreepyMarketing Guy and because everyone else in fantasy is doing it to so we may as well too – which suggests that a lot of potential was compromised for the sake of cheap, generic sexualization.
I think the biggest problem I have with Gate – Thus The JSDF Fought There! is how inconsistent it is. Because the animators obviously know how to draw practical modern armor.
And they can draw practical fantasy armor based loosely on historical armor.
And they clearly know how to draw badass women in practical modern armor.
But when it comes time to draw a warrior woman in practical fantasy armor…
They just can’t do it!
(Granted, the Rose Knights’ armor isn’t entirely terrible, but it’s still not as protective as the male equivalent.)
Of course the character in the skimpiest, most blatantly sexualized armour is a brown lady (making her an elf doesn’t make it better). On top of that, this serves as a pretty good discussion piece for another common query we get:
“What about armour that’s impractical but not sexual?”
The question is, largely impossible to address specifically because of it’s open nature, but there important thing to understand with designing fictional anything is that everything that makes it stand out from “real” should stand out for a reason – or the audience will assign a meaning.
In this case, it kind of feels like the main reasons they assigned them were CreepyMarketing Guy and because everyone else in fantasy is doing it to so we may as well too – which suggests that a lot of potential was compromised for the sake of cheap, generic sexualization.
Surprise, surprise! The guy who did the apologist “parody” of Milo Manara’s infamous ButtSpider Woman cover and who just wouldn’tback downfrom doingmore when it kept being criticized, throws a hissy fit and leaves DC under the pretense of Greg Rucka, the writer, “censoring” a butt out of his optional Wonder Woman cover.
Surprise, surprise! The guy who did the apologist “parody” of Milo Manara’s infamous ButtSpider Woman cover and who just wouldn’tback downfrom doingmore when it kept being criticized, throws a hissy fit and leaves DC under the pretense of Greg Rucka, the writer, “censoring” a butt out of his optional Wonder Woman cover.
We did comment on this not long ago but partially I also wanted to address that a lot of responses we got tended to focus on it as though it was mostly an issue in RPGs.
The reality is you see it in all kinds of video games, in comics (sometimes while throwing other cultures under a bus) and most forms of media (hence the cliches about the seductive student trying to corrupt her professor, remarkably similar to the author, and lure him into an affair despite his virtue).
Ultimately mostly what this tends to boil down to is the desire to continue marketing women’s sexuality as a consumable product while claiming to be progressive and that others are just doing it wrong (yes, these people pretty much do maintain that real women are doing being a woman wrong).
So yeah, as a general rule if you need to break the fourth wall to justify why your female character is flaunting her sexuality despite the massive impracticality involved or you plan to blame women (one way or another) then our advice is: Don’t.
