Prince of Stride & Women in Anime
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- čas přidán 29. 02. 2016
- In which I discuss Prince of Stride at its female character, Sakurai Nana.
Big thanks to my brother for betaing!
Thanks for watching!!
Twitter: @ladyineia
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Oh my god she totally read my mind. Why didn't she become the main character in the actual sport, instead of being the manager.
+kendriX Thanks for watching!! (And yeah, I know right?)
“I want to be the manager!”
Oh sweet lord of mercy I am so sorry you had to experience the disappointment of that sentence.
Haha, that's okay! I survived. Thanks for watching!
This video was pretty great though. You deserve a lot more views.
And in episode 8 it actually shows that she was a runner as a kid! The whole official rules say that the teams can only be co-ed up until middle school but that was just a huge cop-out for me!
The thing that annoyed me most was that our 'main' character isn't hardly treated as one! It only takes looking at the fanworks but it's clear that Riku and Takeru are the mains of this show.
(I'm so mad i'm writing a fanfic with Nana going to honan to be a RUNNER and having to build a team from scratch! aaaaaahhhhhh!)
+Hamster Cosplays Oh my gosh I cannot believe that! Totally a cop-out! And yeah, I watched to episode three initially, and I realized Nana is not even close to the main character. And dude, I would love to read that fanfic, if you ever publish it, do tell me because I'd be so on that story!! Thanks for watching and commenting, it means a lot!
I agree with everything you said. It really bugs me that even as a kid, Nana was still a relationer. If you're still looking for a fanfic with Nana running, this series is pretty good: archiveofourown.org/series/430516
It still follows canon for the most part, but she does run for a bit.
Thanks, I'm glad you relate! I will definitely check that fic out, too. Just reading the descriptions it sounded pretty good. Thanks so much for the comment and the fic rec!
I didn't even realise how much I wanted a girl to be the main character of a sports anime until I saw this video
As a guy watching sports anime it's interesting to hear a girls perspective on these issues great video you earned a sub.
Thanks, I would say the majority of big anime youtubers are guys so I've never heard that many female anime youtubers talk about their perspective on shows, nor female youtubers talk about shows with their gender in mind. That and my utter outrage at Prince of Stride really inspired to make this video! (Thanks for subbing too!)
Something to add is that I actually finished reading the first volume of the Haikyuu manga, and that scene of Kiyoko entering the gym (along with the fanservicey shots) was nonexistent. Its sad how some anime studios would even create a fanservice from a perfectly respected female character.
Wow… I did not know that! I have noticed that anime do up the fanservice for the adaptation when there’s not as much in the original manga. I didn’t know Haikyuu got that treatment too, though. Thank you for sharing! (And for watching the vid!)
I was actually expecting her to open up a female stride club with a bunch of her friends and was already REALLY intrigued because not only does stride seem like a very interesting sport, but i was also looking forward to a Love Live! esque search for members and growing together journey. Buuuut that obviously didn´t happen
Yes! That would have been so amazing! Unfortunately we got what we got.
I don't know if you're aware of this, but prince of stride is originally a otome game, so dating game with reverse harem (female protag, bunch of guys). And the reason why stride as a sport is not really that well explained and so on, is because the focus of this anime is not the sport, but the cute guys. It is also the reason why the main girl is treated nicely and not sexualized, because this is shoujo series, not shounen series like majority of all of the other anime out there (like haikyuu, kuroko no basket, diamond no ace etc). So I would rather see this series as a reverse harem romance anime and only secondary as a sport anime. I, however, completely agree with you on that female characters are very rarely actually important and especially independed in anime. Not just sport anime (if it is not the kind of anime where males just do not exist, something like long riders or idol animes). And I think it is very sad. I am myself a female so maybe I do not understand this very well from male point of view but I guess it is understandable that in shounen/seinen series female characters are sexualized heavily and treated only as a love interest ?? Because that's what male audience wants??? I don't know. But in shoujo/josei anime I don't understand why girls are often so dependent of guys and somehow can't do anything by themselves?? Because that's not what the major audience, so females, want to see?? Right? I would love to see female characters get the spotlight but this kind of reverse harems certainly aren't a good place to search for it, which is also kind of weird because if you look at the regular harem series with a male protag, usually yes they are regular dudes but somehow they are always very powerful and all the time saving the girls. But why is it that in reverse harem that is not the case with the female protag?? I have watched some sport anime, I am not familiar with all of them but if you are looking for another shoujo sport/game anime I would recommend Chihayafuru because that is the only sport anime so far which I am aware at least, which has a female protag which actually plays the game, wins the tournaments and doesn't depend on guys.
So yeah, this was my rant and sorry for my low-ish level English. Also, thanks for great video! It's nice to find another female anime youtuber, since they are quite rare.
Your English is great, no worries!
I did know it was an otome game, and I actually thought it would be more like a reverse harem, but I was surprised that Sakurai didn't seem quite as central in the first episode as you would expect your protagonist to be. I agree with you on all the female stuff, though I have seen reverse harems where the female character is pretty great (Ouran High School Host Club being the premier example!). Chihayafuru has been on my list for a long time! I definitely want to try it.
Thank you very much for watching and leaving such a thoughtful comment! I was motivated to start my channel mostly because I was frustrated with anime female characters and no one was talking about it--mostly because the CZcams anime community is almost completely male voices! Thanks again! Your comment really made my day.
I read this part way through and when I pressed the read more button I was like oh shit that’s a lot of words
Thn i really recommend romantic killer which is on Netflix ..... It has really been a while since I saw a genuinely good reverse harem fl.... U will definitely love it
“Can a girl really be a relationer?” That comment is really upsetting, especially considering what a relationer actually is. I guess if she was saying it because it’s a boys team but the way she phrases it still sounds condescending
I agree with you pretty much on everything, it seems so strange that part of me has to wonder if we just don't put nearly enough value on the "manager" roles in comparison to what Japan does, culturally speaking. Like, are they viewed as much more core to the team over there? Is it generally a more respected position? It's weird enough that I assume there has to be a cultural difference going on here because I'd much rather the show where this character gets involved in the sport by actually doing the sport.
I did some research on this because of your comment, because I was really interested by the idea. I didn't find much, it seems like since sports in Japan generally practice 6 days a week or so, and for 2 to 3 hours each day, that even being a manager is a bigger commitment than being a normal member of a high school sports team in the U.S. (I'm can't speak for any European country). Despite the deeper commitment, it doesn't seem like a manager is considered a core enough member to be culturally all that different, maybe a little more respected since Japan is such a respectful society. Thanks for watching and commenting, you were very thoughtful!!
Thanks! I've liked your videos, from one haikyuu tragic to another.
Finally, someone's speaking up about this! I love sports anime (Haikyuu!! and Chihayafuru are my favorites for sure!) but I am always saddened to see that in the majority of the genre, female characters are sidelined, sexualized, underdeveloped, pushed into stereotypes, and simply made completely unimportant. I feel like Haikyuu!! is an exception to this (yes, Kiyoko's introduction scene bothered me a lot, but as the show goes on she actually gets some development and we see more of her past and her motivations, which I appreciated) because of characters like Yachi, Yui, and Hana. Yachi is kind of a stereotypical "cute manager girl," but with a twist - this job is something that actually brings her confidence up and helps her become a stronger person and her motivations are actually explored and developed. Yui, the captain of the girls' volleyball team, is shown to be strong, resilient, tomboyish, bubbly, not afraid to be unique, loud, and a good leader. Even though her team isn't the best and she's the most passionate and motivated out of all of them, she still leads her team with a strength I wish more girls in sports anime exhibited. She doesn't have any "sexy" scenes - not even a glittery background! - and a lot of her screen time is focused on developing her confidence and how she feels about volleyball, her team, and herself. I could go on and on about her, as she is my second favorite character in the entire series and my top favorite female character, but I'll keep it short for the sake of this comment. Hana, Johzenji's manager, was talked about in one of your other videos, and I was beyond happy to see that. She's another female who, despite being given the manager role, exhibits confidence, character development, a meaningful backstory, and a loud sharp-tongued-ness that is used to make sure the boys know what to do. She's the one that whips them into shape, honestly.
Chihayafuru is a great anime to watch if you want a female lead who actually plays the sport. The main character is a girl named Chihaya who falls in love with the sport of karuta (look it up, it's actually quite interesting) and vows to become the "queen," a title given to the strongest female karuta player in all of Japan - and, since karuta is only played in Japan, that means the strongest in the entire world. She then works to grow a karuta club at her school, which is mixed-gender, since karuta isn't divided by gender until the highest-level challenger tournaments. Although there is some romance in the show and there is the typical shoujo love triangle, it is quite definitely NOT the focus of the show, and the focus is actually Chihaya's work to become the queen. The manga is much better than the anime when it comes to keeping the focus on sports and showcasing Chihaya's strength, so I would recommend that you read the manga before watching the anime. I loved it because I finally got to see a female character who wasn't wimpy, whiny, dependent on boys for everything, quiet, cute, and sidelined to the role of manager. She's up-front-and-center and has dedicated her entire life to her sport, just like Hinata and Kageyama from Haikyuu!!. She even has that dorky, book-dumb but sport-smart, athletic, and hungrily intense personality that those boys (and most sports anime protagonists, or even most shounen anime protagonists) have, which made me beyond happy.
I hate that many sports anime give off the impression that only male athletes are important and have stories worth telling, while female characters can only support them from the sidelines. I'm not saying a manager's job isn't important - as an athlete myself, I appreciate the work that managers and coaching staff do - but I am saying that the "supporting" aspect of the manager has been so emphasized in sports anime as a "girl's job," which goes back to the stereotypes that women can only support men and are not important or strong enough to be involved themselves. Girls have goals too. Girls have motivations, aspirations, and ambitions, just like boys do, and in real life, a lot of those are sport-related. If only anime creators would realize that a large percentage of sports anime viewership is female and that women want to see strong and driven female athletes as main characters instead of always men, they would be able to appeal to a larger demographic and make more money, which is, essentially, the only thing any company wants, especially entertainment businesses like anime.
Another recommendation I have for a female-centered sports story would be the manga Crimson Hero. This one is personally controversial - the main character, despite being a rough, tough, dedicated, driven, and tomboyish girl who builds up a girls' volleyball team at her school against her mother's wishes, becomes emotionally weaker as the series goes on and her romance with one of the boys' team members is developed more. I actually skipped most of the romantic parts and I hated the last chapter beyond description, but the volleyball-related story is amazing and I love how Nobara (the main character) inspires the other girls on her team to push themselves to become stronger than they ever thought they could be and to be stronger than the rest of the school thinks they can be. They show the boys' team, the male and very disapproving principal, and even the other girls at the school that girls aren't just cute, pretty faces with pretty and delicate bodies - they're strong, they're tough, and they've got goals that they will give anything for. All the team members get developed and I personally think that Rena's development is the best. I hated her with a passion when she was first introduced, but as the series went on, she became one of the best, most dedicated, most hardworking, and toughest players on the team as a result of her hard work and dedication. I highly recommend it if you want a female-centered sports story where the girls are up-front-and-center and are given the development they deserve. Even the coach, a tough woman who is introduced later on, gets a backstory and a character arc, showing that even coaches are important. Plus, the manga breaks the mold of having all managers be female, since the boys' volleyball team has a dorky male manager who is often forgotten and left behind by his teammates (even the author forgot about him at one point!).
If that's not really up your alley, you should definitely read the manga Teppuu. It's an MMA manga with a predominantly female cast (all the important characters are female) and they're all the toughest, strongest, roughest, competitive-est, most cutthroat manga girls I've ever seen. The main character is Natsuo, a girl who's so good at everything that she gets completely bored by everything. She ends up being attracted by MMA because it challenges her in a way nothing has every challenged her before, and she wants nothing more than to beat a positive and determined girl named Yuzuko, who beat her in a fight before. Natsuo is a total jerk, but she's competitive as heck and is a great example of an unconventional and strong female athlete in manga. There is absolutely zero fanservice in the manga (sure, many of the fight scenes consist of muscular girls/women in sports bras and shorts beating each other to a pulp and sweating, but it's done in such a respectful way that makes it possible to take these characters seriously, because if you don't take them seriously, they'll literally punch your guts out) and I think it definitely deserves an anime adaptation, if only it was popular enough! The art style takes some getting used to for sure, but it's worth it. Teppuu is the kind of female-led sports story we need much more of, so I highly recommend it! There's barely any stereotypes at all involved and it immerses you in a completely female-driven world of mixed martial arts, and it even touches upon the issues of a lack of funding and support for women's sports, which is a problem in real life that I have taken an interest in, so I was glad to see that the manga included this issue and used it to further develop this criminally underrated yet full-of-breakthroughs manga.
Now, to finish off my Ted-Talk here (lol) I just want to say, thank you so much for starting this channel and giving female sports anime fans a voice on CZcams! So much of the anime analysis community is male, and they don't give voice to the perspective of female viewers. Thank you so much for analyzing sports anime and characters from a woman's perspective and highlighting what needs to be highlighted! I try my best to focus on the girls in sports anime in the way that I can with my channel (I make AMVs and video edits, and I've done a few - and plan to do more - videos that focus on Haikyuu!!'s female characters) but an in-depth anime analysis channel like this desperately needed to be created, and you did it! Female "weebs" aren't the rare phenomenon that many male anime fans think they are, and an intelligent, analytical, and awesome female anime fan is something that CZcams needs more of. Thank you so much! I subscribed to your channel to support this new female voice that really needs to be heard more! If enough girls stand together, we can make our voices heard, and you are the spark that has lit that fire. Thank you so, so, so, SO much - I can't say it enough! - and continue your amazing work on this channel! I support you and what you're doing and I know that as time goes on and you produce more content, more people will support you and the ideas your promote, so keep up the great work! More people need to speak up and you are doing it!!!
Wow! First off, can I just say, this is maybe the most amazing comment I've ever recieved?? I am just floored you watched my video and was so moved to write me such a response.
I just agree with everything you said 100%. Sports anime, also my fave, often struggle to create compelling female characters... I do think Yui is a fantastic example of a show doing right by a female character and allowing her to exist in all her complexity. And I'm glad you love Hana too!! I'm so touched you watched my Haikyuu video too. That is one of my favorites, even though it's my least viewed (along with this one).
Chihayafuru has been on my to watch list for so long and I've never gotten around to it, but you have definitely sold me on it! I am definitely going to watch it now. I heard that the main character is really fantastic, and, from how you describe her, she sounds amazing. Crimson Hero also sounds really interesting! Even with issues, I'd love to check out some female-centric sports anime. Teppu too. I especially love to hear that they feature women in bras and fighting but it never feels disrespectful. That's such an issue for so many sports manga/anime. I'm not as much a manga reader--particularly with sports stories or action oriented stories, I sometimes have trouble following the action and movement in intense scenes... wish I was better at that but I don't think my brain processes that well lol. But I will definitely give them a try still, and for sure watch Chihayafuru.
Again, thank you so SO much! My next video actually should be up your alley. Not sports anime specifically, but it's going to be about My Hero Academia and the sexism within it (while in part being a wider discussion of the male gaze in anime). Sort discussing fanservice, and how you can make female characters hot/sexy without turning them into sexual objects. Fanservice annoys me so much in shounen, sports anime included, and I feel like so many just excuse its inclusion for a variety of reasons, so I'm planning to tackling the most common justifications people give for their inclusion and pick them all apart... honestly a little nervous about it because it's a big topic, but I'm excited too. Sexism in anime inspired me to start this channel, so I feel like I'm going back to my roots! I have enjoyed talking about other topics--random stuff like Hetalia and also Yuri!!! on Ice, I'm really passionate about queer representation in anime too--but feminist approaches to anime is what I want to do most.
Just thank you, thank you, thank you! You distilled exactly why I wanted to make videos on anime CZcams--I wanted to be a female voice who talked about female characters and issues of sexism in what is largely a male space. Comments like these really make me want to keep creating and trying to get people to think critically about the anime they're consuming, especially with a feminist lens. Thank you again, it's hard to put into words how much your comment means. Know I will truly remember it forever. Thank you.
Shut up twitter user
@@filipbabovic8474 bro I don't even have Twitter 💀
One of my childhood favorites is Princess Nine, a baseball anime, but I also super recommend that Taisho era one mentioned below, because that one uses its time period to REALLY talk about girls breaking into a males only sport, whereas princess nine just treats them all like immediately good and believed players.
Thanks for the recommendation! I just added that to my to watch list. I need to have a binge-watching weekend and get through all these great female baseball shows!
YES I WAS SO DISSAPOINTED FOR SO MANY REASONS BY THIS SHOW AND THIS WAS DEFINITELY A PART OF IT!!!
It would've been SO COOL to have a co-ed team (since there are so many dudes in the intro, there's no way they're just gonna magically be girls that she can make a girls stride club with). Maybe make it thing, that they are the only co-ed team, and maybe she has one specific ability or affinity that makes up for the physical/athletic difference making itself known between girls and boys in that age. Maybe she's extra fast or agility-gifted or specific jumps or vaulting techniques or is boss at psyching opponents out or blocking them at turns or something. Just like Hinata's lack of technique is made up by his agility and speed in Haikyuu.
I recommend watching taisho yakyuu musume! It's an anime about girls in the taisho era of japan (1912-1926) trying to form a baseball club! It's a really good show and all main characters are female and playing sports!! It's one of my favorite sports anime to date.
Thanks for the rec! That show has been on my to watch list forever, but I really really want to try it because it sounds right up my alley!
I agree so much with everything you say. Especially the rant about the female character(s) image in sports anime.
Thank you so much! I’m glad it resonated with you. It really does irritate me, and I’m actually planning another video about female characters images in anime... it’s a very important topic!
I was really hoping this would be a video exalting Prince of Stride for doing something innovative and cool regarding female representation in anime. I was all excited to add it to my watch list. Alas, it wasn't to be, but I like your style of editing and video-making in general. I hope you continue to make other projects in the future!
Haha, yeah, I wish I could have made that video, but unfortunately it wasn't what I hoped it would be. Thank you so much, though! I am really glad you enjoyed it and I hope you'll like whatever I make next!
Hopefully something like what we wanted to see will come along soon. Thank you for making this and the other few videos on your channel! I'm not particularly into sports anime or hetalia, but I enjoyed all of them and the hetalia ones made me nostalgic for what of that show I did watch ahaha!
Anyway I'm subscribed now, so whenever you put out something new I'll check it out as well! Best luck.
I feel exactly the same way about Sakura. I ended up watching this video because I literally typed in the words “do we even got to see sakura run” and I guess the answers no. I don’t even need her to run in the competitions just the be involved maybe in practice or something as it’s my understanding the sport is meant for only males. When they showed us the clip with her and her father at a race she had won I was hopeful but unfortunately that was for nothing😭. I’ve seen in the comments that princess 9 is being suggested but why are there no recent sports anime that have female leads and even if they could be somewhat coed or the female lead could somehow take the world by storm and make male only sports coed.
Yeah, I really want to check out Princess Nine and Chihayafuru, which I know both have female leads, but I'm disappointed that no mainstream sports shows are led by female protagonists lately...
I feel like female main characters in sports shows was more of an old anime thing. The ones I know of are shojo shows, but they probably went unheard of due to shojo beginning to focus mainly on relationships and the time period being inconvenient for Western audiences.
+WalkingGirlKoi Yeah, there was a bunch of old sports shows featuring girls, but in the last decade or two there's been very few (Cross Game and Chihayafuru are the ones that come to mind). There were a bunch in the 70s about women's volleyball, but it's a shame they never gained much popularity, and a shame that those kinds of shows aren't prevalent now. Thanks for watching and commenting!
When I originally watched Prince of Stride I hadn't actually realized that I was a girl yet (I'm trans) but I remember complaining to my friends about literally everything you talked about in this video for nearly a week straight. I was probably fairly annoying about it actually since none of them had seen the anime (:p). I thought parkour was the coolest thing in the world back then and I was shattered when she was just unceremoniously sidelined.
Honestly I didn't realize at all how much I had been waiting for someone, ANYONE, to echo my long forgotten feelings about this anime. You've set an agitated piece of my soul to rest, bless you.
Haha, I am so glad I could help give you some solace all these years later! I had a similar experience of being annoyed but not knowing anyone who actually watched it and could discuss these issues with me... leading to this video's creation lol! Thanks for watching!!
Ok. I’ll be honest. I love this video. I personally thought the main girl was perfect as a relationer but I think it’s completely valid for a viewer to find disappointment in her role. However, I genuinely feel like stride as a sport is not possible without her role. Without a relationer, stride ends up being a dangerous and disorganized mess of people basically running through a maze. I completely agree that she seems sidelined. But I personally feel like that’s due to how they show relationers rather than how they show her character. Because I personally think a relationer is one of the most important and active parts of the sport. I just think they didn’t give enough emphasis on just how important her role is so it looks as though she was sidelined. Either way, I think it’s perfectly valid to be disappointed in how they handled her character but I personally think it’s an issue with how they handled the relationer role rather than her character itself.
Been many years since I published this video but so glad to have new folks discover it! I do think it’s interesting to have her in such a critical role… I wish maybe we saw relationers in the video she watched at the very beginning? So that from the audience’s perspective, that’s given prominence in the sport. It’s tricky when you have to convey a whole new sport, like Stride. Thank you for watching and commenting! I appreciate it.
lol I had the same reaction, I was so pissed off when I found out she wanted to be the manager...I was a bit happier when she was chosen as the relationer O~O I still like the anime tho, but I hope in future seasons/episodes she wants to try out striding, ends up being really good and plays as a sub or a permanent...strider?
ik that's a little bit too much to hope for, but o well :3
If they did make her a permanent strider in future seasons (if there is another season) I would be pleased, but I seriously doubt they would. It would be so cool tho if it did happen. Thanks for watching! c:
I absolutely loved your video
these are my exact thoughts.
and in next season ( if there is ) I want Nana to run along side the boys win over them !!
😶
Thanks! If that did happen in another season, I'd have to make another video because it would be so awesome!
Bummer... Shame that this show presented Sakurai this way... I agree with your points. I found myself laughing a lot of time too, though 😂. I love hearing your insights on these! Subbed.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Great video! Agree with your points on both female "manager" characters in sports anime, and Prince of Stride, specifically.
If you're interested in some sports anime that treat girls better, I highly recommend watching both Cross Game and Chihayafuru, where the female characters are treated very well, and are just as good at the sports as the male characters, if not better.
+bcom32 Thank you so much, I'm really happy you agree!! I've had Cross Game on my list to watch for a while, but I hadn't had Chihayafuru, I'll definitely check those out. Thanks for the recs!
high quality stuff here. subbed
+Wibble Wobble I'm glad you liked it, thanks!!
Good vid. Enjoyed it. Subbed.
Thanks for watching and subbing! I'm glad you liked it!!
It seems as if Nana is conformed into the typical female standard of "staying by the side lines and letting the guys take over". Seeing a girl strive to take such an ambitious role might have been seen as "too much" and "too hard" to squeeze in by MadHouse.That isn't necessarily a bad thing though. It would have been interesting to see her run but she seemed content with just being the relationer, and she was happy. And I do understand your point of view in regards to her moving so far away just to be a manager. However, it's a role nonetheless that holds just as much importance as the runners. If anything, it holds more importance since the runners won't know when to start running, which would throw off the entire team.
I get it may have been hard to have her as a runner, for Madhouse, but I'm not sure I agree that a relationer is an equal role. I made the point that her timing on the relation was actually pretty bad because they almost miss the takeover zone--and that the idea of a relationer isn't completely logically sound considering she wasn't shown talking over the timing with the runners. She seemed to be eyeballing it more than anything. Still, maybe later in the show she gets better as a relationer and it actually seemed important, I would understand your point more.
you NEED to talk about Haruka from Uta no Pince-sama. btw loved your commentary
Thanks for this review. I appreciate your thoughts, as well as the warning that a girl doesn't actually play the sport along with the guys.
I'm currently watching a sports anime you might find enjoyable. It's called Taishou Yakyuu Musume, or Taisho Baseball Girls. As the name suggests, it's set during Japan's Taisho era, in 1925; Japan is beginning to modernize, and western influence is being eagerly embraced. One of those influences is baseball. After Akiko is told by her baseball player fiancé that a woman's place is in the home, Akiko decides to form an all-girls baseball team to beat his team. The story follows the struggles the girls go through to form their team and learn the game, and the effort they put in to improve as baseball players. It's a 12 episode anime. As of this moment I am on episode 10, and I've had tons of fun watching the series.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I have heard of that show and I think I might check it out! I needed a new show to watch and I'd love sports one with female characters. I also love shows set historically (Kids on the Slope is great, set in 1960s Japan, is great and is one of my faves), so it sounds totally up my alley! Thank you for the recommendation!
domestic girlfriend is an anime / manga written by a woman. Was hoping you had analyzed it but still happy you make this thoughtful content.
6:13 "armin hair" don't do my boy kohinata like that 😭😭
There's another anime I heard of called Harukana Receive which focuses on women's volleyball. But idk if it's for a female audience or a male since I'm assuming there will be a lot of fanservice in it. Regarding Prince of Stride, even I was extremely disappointed that Nana's character is just so bland and why is all what she wants is to be a relationer? It just doesn't make sense why would she travel such a long distance to just be a relationer. If you talk about Gou from Free, it still makes sense why would she want to be a manager given she was pretty much into boys plus she wanted Rin to patch up with his Iwatobi friends.
With Nana, I wouldn't say it would've been fair to have her run along side the boys as a player because women's sports and men's sports are different. Considering the fact that there are physical differences between the male and female body since men naturally have more muscle mass.
But yeah, it would've been much more interesting if she become part of a women's stride club or something of that sort.
I'd reccomend Aokana: Four Rythm across the Blue for anyone looking for a female oriented sport show!
I found out as I was watching it that it was originally a dating sim aimed at guys with girls being the date targets, but the show has no romance in it! The main guy you would have played in the game becomes a secondary character and the girls' manager as the girls are the ones on the team. We follow one girl new to the sport in particular and her development in the sport and with her friends and teammates. The sport itself is really cool to watch (its called flying circus despite not being 'circusy') and I would describe it as a combination of racing, boxing, and flying.
btw, while you're talking in the video, my mind went: "is she -- A STRIDER?!" *flashes picture of aragorn*
HMM?? Telcontar?? in MY anime???
Hahahah this issa exactly what i was feeling every single thing you said is accurate 😂
I’m glad I was able to capture how frustrating this show could be haha! Thanks for watching ☺️
You need to watch princess nine. It's also a sports anime and it is amazing!!!
SNAPPSS. SPOT ON COMMENTARY!!!
Thank you so much! 💛
I think a somewhat sports anime where the female lead participates alongside the two male leads is Chihayafuru. It's not "sports" per se, it's about a card game called Karuta.
I loled. Then cryed. Than loled. Cryed again. I agree with everything. This first episode is more disappointing, than that huge mistake they almost make in like 80% of romance animes, that there is no kiss scene, even not in the end. Like you have been wasting that 8 hours of your life, waiting only for that tiny romantic moment as the blossom of that 12-24 episode suffering of the stupid characters at the very and, and then nothing happens. At least I got disappointed already in the first episode, so I'm not wasting my hopes. Still awesome anime though, gonna watch till the end. But as a female runner, I just died a little bit inside. Sorry if bad english.
Your English is totally fine! I'm so glad you agreed. Maybe the show is enjoyable otherwise, but I haven't watched the rest of it yet. Thanks for watching and commenting!
i was sad when she said manger
I was sad too, my friend... Thanks for watching though, I really appreciate it!
SAME I WANTED TO CRY
I'm just going to make just a sports webcomic about girls in sports because I just want to see girls be unforgivingly passionate and strong like sports animes like to show, because I love Haikyuu but the girls are most of the time just there to be support, and cool cool, i get it, but it's just soooo common I'm sick of it. Just imagine Haikyuu with girls, funny, competent, and strong girls. They laugh together and fight together( and each other) , they have strengths and have weaknesses varying personalities but just wanna do the sport and become the best.
If you do, please link it to me. I'd love to read it. I really wish there were more recent sports anime with girls as leads. There's so much to explore there. (Thanks for watching!)
@MahouShoujane YES this sounds like a really cool idea!! I've been considering writing a novel or drawing a comic about a girls' volleyball team that's similar to Haikyuu!!, where the girls are just as rough, tough, competitive, and driven as the boys, and are the leaders of their own story. If you ever do this webcomic, PLEASE send me the link! I NEED it!! And I will let you know if I ever make my story :-)
not sure if this fits since it's a bit of a different sports anime but inazuma eleven does have female characters join the main team(granted the 1st and 3rd of the original series and 1st of the followup series don't have this but every other season does), now it is a bit of a different maybe more kiddy sports anime but there are several notable female characters who can keep up and surpass some of their male counterparts
I wanted to love this anime maybe because i was a former runner in track in field but i was deeply disappointed by the first ep
My biggest complaint regarding the anime aside from the art style being a huge downgrade compared to the original LN, is Riku essentially replacing Nana as the main protagonist. I was introduced to the series via the otome game and I did not like him at all when I finished his route. So seeing your least favorite character (who already gets lots of attention due to being one of the two poster boys) getting upgraded to central protagonist in an adaptation was pretty gut-wrenching. Nana was the MC/POV character in the LNs and otome, why couldn't the anime have the same courtesy?
Fun fact:
Haikyuu and Prince of Stride Alternative's creators are best friends since high school
Oh wow! Where did you read that??
LadyIneia i was searching in google for some random anime facts cuz i like collecting them
Ok I'm really, really happy to see a female talk about anime in an analyst kind of way, and I see potential to grow here, but I feel like your vid is overlooking some important facts. Stride is based on an otome game, and Haikyuu and KnB are based on *shounen* manga, meaning their target audience is actually male while Strides's is female. In an otome game, you are the girl character, and the point is romancing the pretty guys. Anime adaptations of otome game's lead females tend to lack personality for this reason, this is also why there's no fanservice for Sakurai.
The anime audio you mixed in was much louder, I'd suggest normalizing the sound. The manager point is a cultural difference I think, so I don't find it that unbelievable. Sometimes you can't do the thing but you still want to be close to it. I can understand that. Like an artist who can't make art full time becoming an art teacher.
Thank you for watching and leaving a thoughtful comment! I really appreciate that.
I knew Prince of Stride was a otome game adaptation, but I thought that meant there'd be MORE opportunity to have a female character as our focus, even if her personality would be weak. Revolving around her and her relationships with the boys rather than just the boys--that's what I thought the show would do. I was wrong, unfortunately. I wish I had mentioned it in the video though, because I do think it is important to consider the source material.
As for sound, I have learned to normalize audio! My newer videos sound a lot more level, thankfully, if you've gone and listened to them. This was my first attempt at really making a video like this, so I hadn't learned how to edit audio yet.
I do think managers are a bit different in Japan, and I actually did some research that showed there's kind of a culture around "cute girl managers" in media, and even in real life, but I don't think that a cultural difference should completely eliminate the chance of having a female character with a more active role, you know? I do understand the feeling of being a part of something without becoming fully involved, though, I just thought Sakurai wanted to commit more from what she said leading up to her revealing that she wants to be a manager.
Thanks again for watching and commenting!
No problem, I'm sorry I didn't check your more recent vids first before leaving a comment like that. They sound good! I agree that its valid to criticize it from a western perspective that favors active female characters, but I think it's also worth mentioning that the shows target audience of Japanese girls don't care if their otome adaptation has an active female character. Having her be active might make her more unrelatable for Japanese girls, but that's just speculation based on the otome adaptations I've seen and games I've played. Most seem to operate under 'the less character traits the better' ethos. Japan is not as enamoured with feminism as the west is. In analysis videos, I think it's important to look at why a character is the way they are. I can understand why you were mislead about Sakurai's goals, but I never would have assumed that she wanted to be part of the team. I think changing her role to a more active one is not common in the otome genre. Sure there are a fair amount that have a more active female, but usually the heroine is differentiated from her harem by having a slightly different role, like how Haruka is a composer in Utapri and not a member of the unit, ect.
I agree with you alk the way. :3
Thanks! I'm glad you do! c:
Someone give me a sports anime where girls and boys both plays together I find it funny
Hey, why don’t you try watching Bambo Blade
@@Flamingfeet I don’t watch a lot of anime 😭. But I’ll try( the art style have to be good for me to read too)
😊👍👍
i completely agree.
+NethermanGaming I'm glad! I wasn't sure if anyone really agreed with me, so thank you!!
Good vid. Love feminist analysis of anime
Totally agree when she said manger I was 😧
I was so shocked and then so mad!
How about Natsu from baby steps. She is love interest, but also really good in sport and have own dreams
I watched ten or so episodes of Baby Steps and absolutely adored Natsu! I have to go and finish it, but she definitely is an exception.
Many people chose to be at the sidelines because they are too afraid to make actual effort or participate in group activity, because they think that they embarace themself if they are active and fail. Managering a club is something that you can put at your resume.
I AGREE TO THIS !!?!??!!!
NICE!!
I'd say Yawara and Baby Steps are pretty good examples of sports shows that include women in prominent or lead roles. I agree that the tease in this show was pretty insulting. Good video, liked and subbed.
Kaiser Maulwurf I haven't seen Yawara yet, but I have seen some of Baby Steps and I'd agree. Natsu is an interesting example because she plays the sport of the male main character but is better than him and on a different, higher level.
Thanks for watching and subbing! I'm glad you liked it!
They tricked us BYE they really made the lead a female character to grab our attention THEN TOSSED HER ASIDE LIKE?!1
It's AWFUL! So irritating.
I was like this is going to be like chinayafuru (check that out its a really good sports(?its karuta that kinda counts?) anime that is centered around chihaya ayase a "beauty in vain" she is pretty but kinda a tomboy(?) she was what you would've expected prince of stride to be when it was the first few seconds/ minuets. chihaya has no breasts yet the male lead loves her and she is good ate karuta and makes a club and leads it and is the ace through out the series, she has her faults and the animes has many too, but, it didn't demote her just being a "body shower" *sigh* some animes these days ahemmm fairy tail ahemmm I didn't say anything. please don't be offended because I believe its true.
Yes! That show is my next plan to watch. I’ve only heard good things. And dude, I literally stopped watching Fairy Tale after the first episode because I couldn’t STAND how focused they were on the main girl’s (Lucy’s?) body. I completely agree she is just made to show her body and that’s so gross ugh... Thanks for watching, commenting, and the show rec! I will definitely check it out!
I agree i though this Anime is really a reverse Harem 😂😂....just saying😅
all complaints about like women not being good enough at parkure , cause of testorerone or something. go out the window when they intruded the whole , "there is an part part of the sport that is more technological that guides the other striders " just make that part of the sport really important , and I she can be still be considred and be vallued as part of the team , also isn't she the protagonist in the virtual novel?
I don't think she can become a runner, it was mentioned girls couldn't become runners after junior high (I think?)
Yeah, someone told me that gets mentioned later in the show. Still--as of episode one, the viewer doesn't know that. Thanks for watching!
Baby steps Natsu
She's great. I haven't finished Baby Steps, I watched about half the first season, but she immediately stood out to me as a character who exists outside the main character who is accomplished and has her own goals. That's a show I have to revisit eventually.
Yes I like this show so much :)
Thing about this video is that your equating I LOVE THIS SPORT to I AM ACTUALLY GOOD ENOUGH AT THIS SPORT TO PROFESSIONAL COMPETE IN IT. Because I knew someone when I played basketball who quite literally joined our basketball team and was happy to be a SUBSTITUTE who never played, he was happy to just involved in the sport that he loved so much. I assume that she's experiencing the same thing with stride.
Ok, a take
Female roles in sports animes can be a bit tricky and I can see why they could struggle with it a lot here
Because there is a reason why sports are split by gender. (or sex depending on the "should trans people be in their gender's team or their agab team" argument) Not really for any gender roles or anything but because men are generally a lot stronger, taller, faster, etc. It's not because they're "just inherently better" or whatever. It's because testosterone is a hormone purposefully made to make people gain muscle faster and easier, tone muscles to be faster, etc.
It's why feminism vs rape culture is so important, because women generally can't defend themselves against a man unless they are trained (and the man isn't or has inferior training) they can use their surroundings to their benefit, or they are in a group
Animes that have a power system that makes physical strength on its own practically irrelevant have no excuse. It would be nice to see a female sports anime. I can just see why they wouldn't have a female character take part in a male sports anime as part of the team. (but it would also be nice to see a Hinata type arc, where they are disadvantaged in their area but have something that makes up for it)
edit: Just realized that this was posted 6 years ago but I'm ignoring that and continuing
>It's because testosterone is a hormone purposefully made to make people gain muscle faster and easier, tone muscles to be faster, etc.
I mean the anime did have a way of fixing this problem tho , just make the role of an relacioner actually important , like she has to be good with her timing with how she tells the guys to start running like she has to know thier personal bonds or whatever so she is able to tell them the exact words to they do not lose time , maybe add more complexities like there are cameras everywhere in official tournaments and she can give them a heads up of how is the rest of the race
I hated this anime as a kid, watched it right after haikyuu. The sport just felt so dumb
A problem with your synopsis: you don't know that Sakurai traveled all the way to Tokyo JUST to join a school. It was most likely a business trip from her parents or something to do with them in the sense that she was forcefully moved. She may have just been trying to get the most out of the situation...not to mention the name of the show that you didn't overlook at all: "PRINCE of Stride" so she is not really suppose to be the main character in the show. Watch a different anime for a main a female pro(an)tagonist because there are a lot so don't complain about gender issues.
That's true-although the show never gives me reason to think she traveled for any other reason than joining than particular stride team. Her passion for the sport seems to suggest that's her main motivation for going to that school, but there could be another reason.
The name thing is true as well, although I would say that anime names don't always reflect exactly what the show is about. The Prince of Stride could one of the mysterious characters from the opening race and she could have still been the main character.
I do watch other shows with female protagonists but the point of the video was to point out a missed opportunity of having a female lead here that could be really interesting for a sports anime because so few sports shows have a female hero.
@@LadyIneia her passion comes from her father, who has his own team. She becomes the manager to also go against her father team. She does have a reason, also this anime has an otome. I think they meant her to be an main character in the otome. And not in the anime, more like a side character. The anime shows off the plot and boys more. While the otome shows the romance
Are you trying to argue that highschool sports clubs, where puberty has for the most part totally taken hold, should show women to be on equal or superior physical ability to men? Because one of the fun side effects of being a sexually dimorphic species is that men and women are not the same physically and that comes out most obviously in post-pubescent sports.
No, not at all. I make the point half way through the video that gender separation is sports is completely logical phenomena because there are physical differences between men and women, but I say that I think the _narrative_ would be more compelling if Sakurai founded her own female stride club or at least somehow tried to compete in the men's sport rather than being reduced to a manager/relationer role.
You have successfully agitated me.
Can you honestly not read a character type that is so common with the "Sports Anime Genre" that it is basically a given. (She's the Yachi of Stride) and I could peg her as that during the 1st episode.
2. it makes since not to explain Stride straight away so learning what it is can feel more natural and since we don't have a legit interest in the characters yet since, ya know FIRST EPISODE it's a great way to intrigue and thus hold an audiences' attention.
3. You saound like a freaking "feminist" social justice warrior! WHOMS RANT is causing ME to RANT (You've turned me into the people I hate)
3. (Please, Please Tell me somebody else has pointed this out after this was uploaded) if so I can not find it in the comment section.
I didn't now this while watching the show but I like to at least look things up on Wikki if I have questions about something.
This is the 1ST sentence of Prince of Stride WIKKIPIDIA page: Prince of Stride (プリンス・オブ・ストライド Purinsu Obu Sutoraido) is an otome game.... otome game = DATING SIM!
To think I was considering subscribing to you after watch one of you Haikyuu!! videos.
Get bent!
Thank you for watching my video. I am glad that it at least aroused intense emotions in you, even if they were not entirely positive.
As for your criticisms, I politely disagree with them.
1. I did not peg Sakurai as a manager because, unlike every other sports anime I've watched, we followed this female character around for over the first half of the episode as the central figure. Yachi, if we ignore the fact she only debuts in season 2, is not followed around as the main character, even in the episodes where her storyline is being explored. The only episode that comes close to this is episode 3 of season 2, where Yachi is central focus for the first five minutes and then on and off the rest of the episode, until the end where she is mostly the main focus again, albeit with Hinata as her co-star. Yachi's first ever introduction is in the previous episode, though, and she doesn't show up until halfway through and we don't follow her about as if she's the main character for more than about three minutes. After that, while she is focused on, she is sharing the spotlight with Hinata and Kageyama, then later the rest of Karasuno.
Sakurai, on the other hand, is the main focus on the show for the first half of the episode easily. She shares the spotlight with Riku a bit, but at the very least I assumed initially they were going to be an eventual couple and would serve as co-protagonists, or more likely Sakurai as a protagonists and Riku as a deuteragonist.
We don't follow Yachi around in episode one before we meet Hinata. We meet Hinata first and Yachi wayyy later. We meet Sakurai first and Riku soon after, but not before focusing on Sakurai's journey to school and introduction in the classroom.
If by your Yachi comparison that it was Yachi's upbeat, classic sports anime manager attitude that shows in Sakurai, I still disagree. Where Yachi and other managers share Sakurai's relative positivity and sweetness, it's not very often they have a deep passion for the sport. Usually they get into the sport because of the main character encouraging them (Hinata with Yachi), or they do it on a whim and slowly get into it, or they have a sibling or someone involved in the sport and are passionate for it but clearly as someone supporting others--in other words, their interest emerges either because of someone else, or they aren't particularly interested in the sport itself. Sakurai has a level of passion for stride that seems on par with a lot of shounen protagonists, simply because of her own experiences of watching others. It honestly reminded me of how Hinata in Haikyuu!! got into volleyball by watching it on TV, as I compared it in my video. Hinata is our main character in that show--the first person we see who has a deep interest in a certain sport that a show is about. Sakurai is in the exact same position, all set up to be the main character.
2. I agree, keeping stride somewhat mysterious does draw us in. My main qualm is that the Stride's rules are not properly explained before the big race--what I would assume is supposed to erase the mystery and reveal the majesty of stride. By the end of the race, the rules have been vaguely explained but the sport itself is still pretty confusing.
3 (the first one). I would call myself a feminist. I apologize for causing you to feel like you have turned into something you dislike. That was not my intention.
3 (the second one). I agree, no one else has pointed that out before! In researching this video, I did notice that this was based off an otome game/dating sim. Because Sakurai is the main character in these games and the boys are characters you romance, I assumed Sakurai would be the main character in the anime and it would either capture a few moments from each of the romantic paths with each boy, or it would choose one boy and do that romance. From the start of the episode, I assumed Riku was going to be her love interest, and, as I mentionned earlier, her deuteragonist. After watching and reflecting on it, I was still puzzled by why the anime seemed to be positing Riku and Takeru as the main characters when Sakurai is the heroine of the Prince of Stride game and you would romance one boy. So wouldn't it make sense that the show would be a sporty romance where Sakurai is the main character and she falls in love with one boy? Not a Free!-like show where cute boys are the main focus with some fanservice between them. Even if they did the reserve harem approach with moments between everyone and Sakurai, Sakurai would still be the main character and linchpin of the show. I don't understand how the fact it was a dating sim game would make my assumption that Sakurai would be the main character wrong--if anything, it makes it more confusing why they completely sidelined her.
And yes, I did look up stride on the wiki afterwards, but I felt since the concept was so central to the show, it should have been better explained and I shouldn't have had to go on the wiki.
I hope I cleared up where I stand on your criticisms at the very least. Thank you again for your comment and for watching my video, even if you didn't like it.
Feminist?? Name an anime that is a female sports that is explicitly focuses on them and the intent isn't inherently sexual. Seriously the lack of explanation can be appreciated if done right; but after maybe 2 3 episodes the viewer needs to get an idea of the sport. Haikyu for example. It explains the sport and does a good job at it. Is it always accurate? Of course not. But it gives enough context for people to know what the sport or anime is about. And no need to be aggressive.
You don't understand this sport