This Week in Anime: Girls in Boyland
The column highlights how Akane-banashi, a Shonen Jump series with a female protagonist in a non-traditional setting, reflects a shift in editorial standards toward more respectful treatment of female characters.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime News Network.
Anime News Network's Sylvia and Chris discuss the growing trend of female protagonists in shonen manga, using Akane-banashi as a key example of a series that executes shonen tropes with a female lead without relying on fanservice.
In the latest installment of Anime News Network's This Week in Anime, columnists Sylvia and Chris examine the increasing presence of female protagonists in shonen manga, focusing on the current season's adaptation of Akane-banashi. The series, which runs in Weekly Shonen Jump, follows a young woman pursuing rakugo, a traditional Japanese storytelling art form. The column notes that Akane-banashi employs classic shonen tropes-familial legacy, training arcs, an underdog protagonist-but does so with a female lead who is not defined by fanservice. The writers argue that this normalization of female leads in shonen, while overdue, represents progress from past editorial standards.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime News Network This Week in Anime Girls in Boyland