Kyoto Animation and the portrayal of female characters

It is almost a year since disaster struck Kyoto Animation (aka Kyoani or KyoAni). But the animation studio is slowly working to get back on its feet, and I am looking forward to their future works, including the next work in the Sound! Euphonium series which will feature the protagonist's third year in high school.

In this post, I actually want to touch on ONE key thing that I like about Kyoto Animation. It is about the studio's portrayal of female characters.

Anime can be very demeaning to girls and women in general, portraying them in highly sexualized way using stereotypes and overemphasizing physical characteristics. Some anime even thrive on such portrayal. But this actually hurts any story, because any character development is watered down by the unrealistic visuals.

Kyoto Animation is different. Somehow, it is able to portray female characters as characters with depth, who can be typical female stereotypes yet avoid being sexualized or outright lewd. Girls can be cute without making them weird. They wear short skirts but somehow do not convey them as being sexual objects.

Kyoto Animation is able to portray girls and women as girls and women. Being female adds to the character's depth, not take away from it. The way a character dresses, wears her hair, walks, talks, acts... female characters can be cute without being empty. They can be cool, pretty, sexy, irritating... but their appearances do not define them. Instead, it is their character that defines their appearances. And that is what draws me to the works of Kyoto Animation. This studio is able to repeatedly use anime as a way to tell a story and not let anime be the story.

Before I go, here is a YouTube video discussing Kyoto Animation which I thought is a good look at it too. Just to share.