ALL THE WOMEN IN THE WORLD, UNITE!

Greetings everyone. I wanted to make a quick post about what I had in mind for quite a while because I realized I started enjoying short anime more and more than its longer peers and these three I’m going to mention really deserves recognition. The main point these three short anime have in common is that they all portray a very important picture: women in their daily lives.

While male characters have thorough characterization and multi-layered personalities, habits and such, female counterparts are not so lucky in that area. This issue is not only in anime/manga, but in every aspect of media we consume. However, these three short anime made me realize how I needed to watch these women in their daily lives, explore their layers and interaction with the outer world. Be it the problems in the workplace, a dinner in some local restaurant or discussing “womanly” things with your friends, the topics seem so mundane at first. Yet, they are not covered by media, which is s shame.

Without further ado, let’s hop on to the short anime train.

AggressIve Retsuko

Chronicles of Retsuko! This show is so relatable in every aspect, I think everyone would be hooked on it the very first second. However, I’m going to make another point, underlining the hardships she had as a woman. Her relationship with other women from work; the way she loses herself when she sees other women doing makeup in the toilet, occupying the whole mirror or the time when they went to yoga or drinking are more or less ‘womanly’ problems.

You can feel her pain about not being in a relationship, though being expected to, not wanting to do makeup just for going to the market but being looked upon or being expected to entertain her co-workers during company dinners. I should note that regardless of the problems, it’s a show everyone needs to watch. I’m sure you will be able to find something to relate to.

Wakako Zake

Aahh, this show! It seems so plain at first sight. However, I never knew I needed to watch a show where a woman goes to a different diner or restaurant every night and just enjoys her meal. This show is pretty important, even groundbreaking because it’s just her. Her thoughts, her ideas, interests, character without a love interest to define herself on, no men are hitting on her, there isn’t even an interaction with other people apart from small nods here and there. Just her, food and booze and it’s amazing because it’s new and exciting.

If you’re looking for action or development, this show might not be for you, however, I recommend Wakako Zake exactly for its simplicity. An ordinary woman, dwelling in her daily life and dinner time is the prime time of her day. Watching the protagonist enjoy her food is definitely a sight to see.

OshIete! Galko-chan

And questions similar to this. Oshiete! Galko-chan’s first episodes start off with questions regarding female body/issues and we get to listen three close friends, Galko, Otako and Ojou, talking about what they know. These three young women are really different than each other, yet their friendship is exemplary and so healthy. It’s not ideal; they sometimes break the other’s heart or misunderstand each other but they make sure to apologize and fix whatever is broken in between. The issues they address are what we women discuss in our daily lives, that’s why as a woman, I enjoy their bickering about tampons, food, bra size, horoscopes or manga.

There’s another part that I really liked about the show. The moment I saw Galko’s representation, I thought she’d be the stupid, big breasted blonde who is ridiculed and objectified. However, she is far from that, even though she has her ridiculous times, she is embraced and never looked upon as the dumb blonde. Every other character has the same balance and frankly, if that’s not groundbreaking I don’t know what is.And please, can we just focus on this scene?

The body types? Anyone? Look at how different they are from each other!! How natural and comfortable everyone is represented. This is how real high school girls look like and I cannot tell you how important this scene is.They are not sex objects we are expected to ogle, they are human beings. I can go on for ever when it’s about this show.

I know this post is short and somewhat carelessly done but I just thought better than nothing! Hope to see you in comments, take care!!