Like many Otaku, I spend time thinking about why 
Anime and Manga are not popular in the United States. The obvious answers 
like "Americans are the product of a Puritan attitude that says cartoons and 
comics are only for young children" come to me first. While that is true, I 
think that it is only part of the answer (a pretty big part but only a part.) 
I recently have been thinking about women's roles in anime and manga and it 
occured to me that many manga and anime titles can be seen or will be seen as 
sexiest in America. I am not saying that the Japanese are right and the 
Americans are wrong or vice-versa nor am I supporting sexism; I just think 
that the femminst (among other groups like Disney and conservatives) movement 
has helped a little to create an apprenhisve market for anime in America.
			There are of course some manga and anime titles that 
are very sexist towards women in any society. The most obvious of these are 
hentai series like "Erotic Torture Chamber." But other non-pornographic works 
such as almost anything by Leiji "Manly Romance" Matsumoto are also extremly 
sexist no matter how you look at it from any cultural perspective. The 
character of La Mime from the Captain Harlock universe is an excellent 
example of Matusomto-san's sexism. La Mime is a female android who acts as a 
secretary of sorts for Captain Harlock. The most striking thing about La Mime 
is that she has no mouth yet speaks anyway. The message is clear, 
Matsumoto-san feels that women have certain roles to play in life and talking 
is not required of them to complete their role hence the lack of mouth on La 
Mime's robot body. Yet despite the adsence of a mouth La Mime talks anyway 
and disobeys her place in society.
			But it is not the balatantly sexiest works and 
characters that worry me. The things I see causing more problems are the 
scenes and characters which can be debated about sexist content or not. 
			An excellent example of a scene that could be 
considered sexist in America is in Tenchi Muyo in Love (TMiL) when a 
seventeen year old Masaki Achika says she wants to be a "Bride" when asked 
what she wants to be when grows up with a extreme blush on her face. If one 
keeps in mind that the greater amount of action in TMiL takes place in Japan 
during the year 1970 then Achika Masaki's answer is extremly understandable 
because it is typical to the culture and the time period.  However, I feel 
that many feminsts would protest the film if hypothetically it was released 
in US Movie theaters because it sends "the wrong image to young women and it 
tells them that they should stay at home and take care of the children." Is 
Achika Masaki's answer sexist? Possibly. Was it intentional on the part of 
the writer and director? Probably not. If it is sexiest, is her answer wrong? 
No. I have no problem with women working or wanting social advancement and I 
will always support the idea of women in the workplace in all positions but I 
still like Achika Masaki's answer of wanting to be a bride. Sexist or not, I 
find her answer to be noble and romantic. She does not care about social 
status or money but she obviously cares about love and family which are more 
important or at least should be more important than social status and money.
			The feminist response to Achika Masaki can also be 
used aganist she house wife poster models like Kasumi Tendou from Ranma 1/2 
and Belldandy from AMG. Belldandy and Kasumi Tendou are some of the nicest 
people in anime and if you know a person who is like them in real life than I 
consider you blessed and lucky. It is very hard to hate or dislike either of 
them unless you only like anime "babes" (i.e. Lum from UY, Ryoko from Tenchi 
Muyo, Ifurita from El Hazard etc.) Kasumi and Belldandy are as sweet as can 
be but would be considered very "counter revolutionary" in the United States 
henceforth they would be amoung the enemy because they are not like the 
feminsts.
			What do you think? Am I on the mark or over 
analyzing? It's probaqbly a combination of both. This essay is completly 
hypothetical and pretends that anime was more main stream in American Culture.