(Apr. 10, 2020 2:09 AM)XSabxManiacX Wrote: Beyblade isnt really sexist in terms of marketing, since people have been using marketing techniques throughout time. It certainly isnt rare, like how certain shows are targeted for girls but boys also enjoy them. Beyblade is just constantly advertised for boys and is also put into the boys’ toys section in stores. For the anime, the first couple generations incorporated a certain number of female Bladers (moreso than what Burst did). In the anime, theres no intended sexism though some implications that boys are more into it
However, what IS sexist is the Burst series’s case. Hiro Morita wanted to create a major female character but the idea was rejected and therefore, no major female Bladers really existed
Senpai, you've returned!
Wow….I’ve missed a lot on this site. Umm, honestly, at least the Original series and the Metal saga’s has some good female characters or ones that got something (Emily, Sophia, Salima), heck Mariah’s a fan favorite…though she’s never gotten her own bey. Mal and Madoka exceptionally were handled well, actually getting involved in the sport, heck Madoka saved Rock Leone from being broken beyond repair.
The issue is with execution. Its cool V Force added Hillary but people could find her equally annoying or equally endearing. And yeah Christina is an good supporting character, but its kinda odd Burst is the only series where only two female supporting characters are active bladers but neither of them have their own unique bey. And the sad part is Sasha and Ichika pretty damn cool as characters overall, at least they were interesting and got more to do than some other characters in their own season (no shade to God/GT).
And I know some female bladers have had a bad problem with The Worf Effect, but you can have a string of losses and still have a meaningful battle/win/loss or still have character development.
Seriously, I’m pretty sure despite the editors (which let’s be real, some editors have screwed up or stopped their mangakas/writers from exploring more could details), but you’d think the fan demand would over ride this by now. Fan demands vs editors sometimes works out in the fan’s favor….like Morita isn’t sexist, heck no, but his editors are. If they weren’t they would let him do it, cuz its clear he can do it well.
Seriously, even anime fans point out battle, toy shonen (wait does Beyblade count as shonen), female characters are kinda inconsistent overall, but we’ve seen before they’ve done effort. Any writer should be able to write any character regardless of what gender they are.
Like I don’t think a female would be immediately interested or necessarily need a female rep. Like yeah write more female characters, just write them well, and people will gravitate regardless of the gender. But that’s my point, if you can do it or in Beyblade Burst’s case, write 66% to 95% characters well and all of them just so happen to be male, changing the genders for like 1-3 out of 16 for another season and keep the consistent writing shouldn’t be hard.
Maybe its the WMGST minor in me…but I don’t think Beyblade is sexist, and not Japan in its entirety either since while there is a lot o sexism from what I’ve known, in their writing, they’re above and beyond the west in some cases. I just don’t think Morita should be limited. Just let him make a cool cat who just happens to be a female.
If they won’t let him, I might as well start writing that fanfic one day.