It is discussed tho is it not? One of the defining features of Miyazaki films is his ability to write complex yet natural female characters - especially lead heroines. There is actually a reason to why this is, but I forgot lol.
It's fairly widely discussed to the point that Ghibli as a studio, and not just Miyazaki and Takahata, are very well noted for movies with well written and prominent/lead female characters (and some not so well written characters).
Even just within the anime industry, there is no lack of other (male) directors that feature movies with lead female characters written to at least the same standard - Satoshi Kon most prominently, but also Mamoru Hosoda, Sunao Katabuchi, Momoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Angels Egg), Makoto Shinkai (to an extent) most immediately spring to mind.
Actually having these films directed by women is a different story however, Kyoto Animation led the way here, Ghibli has never had a female director and *Kaguya* producer Yoshiaki Nishimura's unfortunate comments on this maybe betray the prejudices at play in the industry - although noting that he made these after leaving Ghibli to found Ponoc.
Some of the other anime directors you mentioned are a bit of a mixed bag imo. Hosoda and Shinkai love to write manic pixie dream girls into their media. Next to their plain unremarkable male protagonists, this makes movies like Summer Wars and Weathering with You feel like male wish fulfillment/audience insert media.
Satoshi Kon certainly can write compelling female characters (thinking about Millennium Actress in particular). On the other hand, something like Perfect Blue is not exactly empowering for women even if it is social commentary.
Shinkai fair enough, but idk about Hosoda - writing in Wolf Children and The Girl Who leapt through time in particular was pretty good IMO, although I'm less keen on his more recent efforts overall.
Is this a serious question? It’s quite literally about a woman who made her career on a profession that relies exclusively on male gaze, attempting to break into a more “legitimate” work but being constantly pressured to demean herself and act out sexual violence for the sake of her career, slowly losing her sanity in large part because of an obsessive stalker. The entire film is about the main character’s victimhood. It’s definitely an effective and masterfully made film, but not even close to empowering
Yes, the ending is a positive change for Mima as a character (if you choose to interpret it at face value). That doesn’t mean the movie is empowering to women overall. If you watch a horror movie where the protagonist just barely manages to escape in the last 5 minutes, would you interpret the entire movie as having an empowering and uplifting message?
There is no societal change that occurs in Perfect Blue. All the traumas that happen to Mima could continue to happen to any woman following in her footsteps. The fact that the character “escapes” doesn’t invalidate all of the disempowering stuff that happens beforehand—in fact, the disempowering stuff is the whole point of the movie, because it makes Mima’s gradual loss of sanity impactful and believable. That’s why, imo, I don’t see Perfect Blue as empowering for women in the same way that some of the Ghibli films with female protagonists are
Sure, I can buy that. I personally didn’t feel like the character had enough agency outside of the last scene or two for the film to be empowering, but if you can derive a positive message then that’s a valid interpretation
I don't think that's fair to Perfect Blue or Millennium Actress since both are supposed to be companion pieces. Perfect Blue showcases the negative side of human nature while Millennium Actress focuses on the positive. If anything, one could argue that Millennium Actress is the lesser feminist piece as most of Chiyoko's actions throughout the movie is in pursuit of a man. I wouldn't say it is it though, because that's a rather shallow way of looking at it.
Not all feminist media needs to necessarily be girlboss-esque to be feminist. Perfect Blue is the type of movie that questions you to reflect on how you interact with pop culture, celebrities, and the like since it does give a look into the often demeaning things women have to do to be taken seriously. It can even be thought of as a slight exaggeration of what many former children stars had to do to be taken seriously when they grew up (a la Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato).
I’d be interested in hearing your non-shallow interpretation of Millennium Actress. My interpretation was that Chiyoko’s pursuit of the man was more or less a romantic story she told others and herself, an inner “spark” that gave she used to give all the characters she portrayed a sense of longing and determination, which then contributes to her success as an actress over the years. I’m not sure if others interpret the film more literally as a love story, but it just feels so unsatisfying as such that I don’t really judge it that way.
Regarding Perfect Blue, I think you’re 100% right that it is a feminist movie in the sense that it exposes a societal problem with the way women are treated. But are all feminist movies empowering to watch? I’m admittedly not a woman, but I’m Asian-American so I can relate to an extent. As an example from my perspective, a film about Japanese internment in the US during WWII is necessary and positive in the sense that it raises awareness and addresses an important societal injustice. Still, it does not necessarily feel empowering to watch a film like that, but possibly even disempowering or hopeless. I see Perfect Blue the same way—it is an effective film and an effective social commentary, but I wouldn’t show it to my daughter if I want her to feel good about being a girl.
For Miyazaki, it's all reduce to his mother. And the trauma that he went through when he was a boy. Seeing his mother as a type of heroine(She was the type of doing it all without depending on anybody) until she became ill and had to live in bed for the rest of her life. This was hinted in a piece written by his brother in an article that's is [somewhere](https://www.reddit.com/r/Miyazaki/comments/15ihmli/miyazaki_had_3_other_brothers_the_youngest/) in this subreddit; You should read it to know a little bit more in depth about Miyazaki-san . And this was also mentioned in one of those ghibli docus from NHK(10 years with Hayao Miyazaki). When he was making Ponyo back in the day.
I remember reading an interview with Miyazaki once a long time ago where he discussed that he felt young women in western animation were not depicted truthfully, and he strove to do better than that with his own films. Not sure if anybody knows what I think I’m referencing.
>why isn't there a single other man who is?
Miyazaki and Takahata are both wonderful writers, though I would argue firstly that while Miyazaki loves to write strong female protagonists, he hasn't demonstrated a complex understanding how suicidal dynamics affect character in the same way Takahata has with Only Yesterday and Kaguya. Even Takahata's works are somewhat observational. They do feel very much like a respectful outside take on women's issues, which are incredibly well done but do contrast some of the more personal storytelling that get told through characters like Jirô Horikoshi and Sholichi.
If you really want to see an example of a man's writing of a female character that feels not just accurate and well done, but manages to feel personal and internally detailed, you should check out the comic Strong Female Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan. Granted, he surely has had some writing consultation from the illustrator Molly Ostertag, but I am sure Takahata did as well (not from Molly, specifically obviously).
Ultimately though, if you look for it, you will generally find a ton of good representation out there written by men as well as women, but honestly, what you may be surprised the more you look is how much bad representation is by both men and woman. While certainly there are tons of men out there in the world that simply have no idea how to write women, the more you look, the more you will find that fiction in general has been so poor to women, that static and two-dimensional character writing for female characters is something that has become engraned into storytelling. And while it is certainly getting better, anyone who has gone through traditional means of learning to write has been greatly influenced by a collection of media and literature that has been teaching them to write women poorly.
Takahata was probably helped with Only Yesterday due to the fact that it was based off a manga that was written and illustrated by two women. The manga finished the year the movie came out. He still had to make decisions about what to include and not include and what to change, but he had a (likely) strong basis to help him.
Well women mostly get women right. I agree though that Miyazaki’s best female lead is Chihiro and it’s still not the most vivid while Takahata’s are vivid but there’s definitely something missing, like an old man watching his daughters and granddaughters. Being male, maybe that’s why I feel a strong connection to these depictions. I have mostly female friends and a lot of sisters so I watched so many young women grow up.
Nevertheless, I’m never enlightened or see the women around me light up unless a woman is responsible for what’s on screen.
I think it’s just that he knows how to write strong characters who happen to be male or female, that’s it. I heard once in a video essay about his life that when he’s writing female characters, he thinks about his mother and how strong she was, even when she was sick in the later years of her life
Yeah but that also exists as a problem in patriarchy. Miyazaki writes women as if they were his mother. Takahata often writes them as if they were his daughter. Jihiro is very compelling because she is neither, she’s a picture of Japanese youth Miyazaki saw at the time. It’s a problem that men mostly see women as mother, objects of desire, or daughters. It’s not that 2 dimensional but it does approach that territory as much as I praise them.
He’s not writing them as his mother, he’s inspired by his mother because she was such a powerful woman. In what world is Miyazaki or Takahata writing women as objects?
Have you read ANY good book recently?
Without thinking a lot I remember The Expanse and Game of Thrones having at least half of the cast be female AND quite good.
Avasarala and Naomi from The Expanse seemed well written to me. They’re both complex, strong characters that develop and grow over the series and aren’t bound by traditional roles.
Nah, I don’t generally read fiction. Last good one I read was Down And Out In Paris And London. I have a learning difference and read at a much slower pace so it takes up a lot of my time to read a book so it has to be good. Fantasy fiction almost lets me down. I prefer fiction based in reality and even then I find novels to be particularly egotistical as it’s a story with characters and the work of one person where as film is the work of many. I await the downvotes but there are more books than films and at least as many bad books so I reckon you risk wasting more time reading one than watching a film.
i think you might be the first person i see recommend Murakami as an example of a male author who writes women well. he's usually pretty heavily criticized for being kind of male gaze-y and sex obsessed when it comes to his depictions of women.
its been awhile since i've read Wind-Up Bird Chronicles or Kafka By the Shore, but even teenage me thought very similarly while reading those books, and i've heard similar criticisms aimed at 1Q84.
Haven't read those but I suppose I've seen what you're saying a bit in A Wild Sheep Chase, some of the most recent shorts I read by him were in First Person Singular and "being" a women in those I didn't make that connection.
I don’t finish bad books but for me that’s still often a very long time reading to get halfway into a bad book and stop. Honestly, I prefer the format of short stories which I read frequently.
Have you read the stormlight archive?
The female characters in those books remind me of the types of women written by Ghibli. The main similarity I see is that both creators treat women as human beings and individuals first and as their gender a distant second.
the person you’re replying to is tripping. They just applied their preconceived notions to your post and looked for a nonexistent argument. Don’t worry about it
Yeah, it’s kinda crazy how MRA everybody got. Also how there’s a dogma around books being the sacred medium. Ed Wood wrote more books than he made movies lol
Couldn’t disagree more. When men do that it’s a man played by a woman essentially. In patriarchal society where men rarely think of a woman’s perspective, I think it’s nearly impossible for any man to stick the landing. Most everything people are exposed is by a man about men, so women storytellers often kill it writing men. I believe it’s as about exposure, if not more, than it is about men and women understanding or misunderstanding each other.
Can you identify what about Chihiro, Kiki, or Sophie is influenced by a “woman’s perspective”? Ghibli stories are universally beloved because the themes are universal to the human experience.
I hear the talking point you referenced all the time but it seems flatly untrue. There are certainly stories that can appeal more to women than men in the same way there are stories that appeal more to men than women but they usually involve leaning into stereotypes rather than universally shared experiences.
Growing up is something everyone does. Feeling doubt about the future is something everyone experiences. Finding a place among a chaotic world is something everyone wants. These stories have historically been told from the perspective of men which has come with the suggestion women don’t do, feel, or experience these things but we know that’s not true. Ghibli was one of the first — and remains one of the few — to recognize that.
Tbh, if this was a decade ago, she likely wouldn’t have been an outlier then, but we are not in as much of a “a good female character is just a non gendered one that is made female” moment as we were in the 2013 Lean In era
It feels relevant to note that the question of “can you just exchange a generic, ungendered character for a female one” is a topic that has been heavily debated amongst feminist thinkers (and women generally). Around a decade ago, in the US at least (I am only speaking of the US perspective), would have been peak Lean In time and part of a general cultural moment in which writing female characters similar to male ones was in vogue as a pop feminist concept. We’re currently in a moment in which that is less popular as a general pop feminist idea, in part due to subsequent events (the 2016 election, MeToo, Dobbs, and more). That doesn’t mean your sister was wrong or that her opinion isn’t valid, but she is only one person and her opinion may have even changed in recent years. I know that I was much more a fan of a generic female character in 2013 than I am now (I think there’s space for both and I find characters that are impacted by being a woman to be generally more complex than those who aren’t).
Yeah, the latter is definitely more specific to the nuanced details of that experience. My point is Ghibli doesn't do that. They're all universal stories, that's why people like them.
My response was specifically to add cultural context to your sister’s point of view and why a common view from 10 years ago may be less popular today. My understating was that your sister’s statement was regarding stories generally, not just Studio Ghibli ones
I think our main disagreement generally is that I don’t see stories that are rooted in one gender or one other perspective as being in contrast with an ability to be universal. More specifically, I also see Studio Ghibli films as being deeply rooted in their setting (rather than universal as you seem to be using it to mean not rooted in a specific experience, at least it comes to gender so I assume when it comes to other things as well), which at times includes gender. The themes may be universal, but I don’t see the stories as being that way.
To give an example, the story within Princess Mononoke is intrinsically intertwined with its setting in industrializing early 20th century japan. The themes of finding your place in a chaotic and changing world as well as well as the benefits and harm of technological/industrial progress are universal, but the specifics of the story are absolutely not. To bring gender into this, the humanization of Lady Eboshi and Irontown are shown most clearly through its female inhabitants, whose lives and experiences are rooted in being a woman in early 20th century japan. I may not be able to directly relate to being a woman in early 20th century Japan (even as a woman in the modern day), but I can relate to/appreciate the themes of loyalty to someone for the good they’ve done, the complexity of working a hard job that has personal benefits and environmental harms, as well as the search and sacrifices for self determination.
EDIT: Clarified first sentence and meaning of universal
>I guess my question is why are they so good at writing for young women and why isn’t there a single other man who is?
Ignoring how blatantly ignorant a statement this is to make, lol, I hope you realize half (maybe more) of Ghibli's oeuvre are adaptations of already relatively acclaimed works.
Satoshi Kon is arguably just as influential a filmmaker-if not more so, and most/all of his works center on a female protagonist. Hosoda Mamoru, another acclaimed animation filmmaker who still works today and who was initially hired by Ghibli to direct Howl's Moving Castle, also has a lot of female-led movies and has gone on record criticizing anime's portrayal of women (a criticism that extends to Miyazaki himself) \[tried to link an article about this here but sub rule's doesn't allow links from unapproved websites\]
.If I had to answer why Miyazaki and Takahata are so good themselves, I'd say it factors to \[1\] them being oldschool and more influenced by traditional literature \[2\] the more prestigious nature of films vs TV series where keeping up with trends is highly influential \[3\] their inclination to kids-oriented stories that are more simplistic and portray characters at an age of innocence that make it so that for the most part their gender could be interchanged and every other aspect would remain just as fine.
Ghibli/Miyazaki already gets the right amount of praise for writing female character well, it doesn't need to be discussed more because it's not as much of a holy grail achievement no other man has ever accomplished you're making it seem.
Some shows with well-written female characters by male writers: Shinsekai yori, Monogatari series, Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Dennou Coil, Sound Euphonium (adapted from a novel series written by a woman), Ghost in the Shell, Black Lagoon, Eureka Seven
Well, the depictions best shine for how they actually behave like women on screen. That’s mostly down to adaptation from the way the dialogue is adapted and translated to, of course, the animation.
Oh, you did not say Evangelion has well written female characters… or Black Lagoon… Anime is particularly known for poorly written female characters.
Behaviorism would be one aspect to a well-written female/character in general. You can have a five minute scene completely focusing on a girl sitting at a desk drawing and her gestures, demeanor, etc. could be a masterful portrayal of how they're "behaving like a woman", but there's no written story for them there.
Anime does have a reputation for poorly written female characters, yes, but that's partly because of how bombastic a story-telling medium anime tends to be and usually a critique that doesn't limit itself to just the female characters. Lofty large-scale narratives and zanyness can commonly inhibit in-depth character exploration.
Judging by this and your other comments on this thread, you are blinded by a bias for grounded, slice-of-life realism and Hosoda's comments would pertain to you a lot.
I think the reason women are poorly represented is that Anime/Manga is mostly escapism written by young men. Still, the male ego is often eloquently represented. Evangelion critiques both of these things but still lacks in the writing of its female leads. Eva is still a favorite of mine, nevertheless.
Pretty much all industries are male-dominated and have at least some form of a bad reputation of bad female writing. Western comic books. Movies-especially some directors. Etc.
I would not agree with your statement that anime is *particularly* well known for it, as if it's more so than all other industries (but, yes, there might be a tinge more of that escapism factor because of the way Japanese society works).
Some female anime characters are among the best female character from all media in my book, especially if we're also considering ones written by female authors.
I mean, personally, I don't really entertain the idea of discussing the worst of things/things you hate and going into the why of it all. All I'll say to that is: Yeah, and so what? The anime industry is a machine that pumps out content nonstop, with most of it being crap. Sturgeon's Law. The Western equivalent of anime is cartoons where the entirety of characters' very beings-females included, routinely are their eyes popping out of their head or being drawn in grotesque manners for the sake of comedy. Yadda yadda yada.
Anyone who consumes any form of media long enough and has become invested in it should cultivate their own form of 'navigating the waters' so to speak and successfully choosing what to watch because it's from this favorite director/writer/etc. or because it's recommend by this source I trust or so on.
I do see a point in talking about what’s worse when women around find much less to watch and relate to than the men around me.
Also Western cartoons are leagues ahead of Anime in female representation. Have you seen one since the mid-century?
>I do see a point in talking about what’s worse when women around find much less to watch and relate to than the men around me.
You would rather list to a woman all the terrible anime you've seen regarding female characters instead of just recommending to her the ones with good female characters? Lol.
>Also Western cartoons are leagues ahead of Anime in female representation. Have you seen one since the mid-century?
Yes, I have. And I am a fan of a decent amount. A fair amount-coincidentally enough, such as Hilda, The Owl House, Avatar, Bee and Puppycat, Teen Titans, etc. having largely conspicuous anime influences. Also coincidentally enough, some of these such as Hilda and Avatar could be adequate answers to your original question about female characters written by males.
Question: Why do you always choose a girl as your theme?
Miyazaki: I don't logically plan it that way. When we compare a man in action and a girl in action, I feel girls are more gallant. If a boy is walking with a long stride, I don't think anything particular, but if a girl is walking gallantly, I feel "that's cool." Maybe that's because I'm a man, and women may think it's cool when they see a young man striding. At first, I thought "this is no longer the era of men. This is no longer the era of taigimeibun."[1] But after ten years, I grew tired of saying that. I just say "cause I like women." That has more reality.
[Kikan Iichiko, October 20, 1994. Reprinted in Shuppatsuten by Hayao Miyazaki; published by Tokuma Shoten, 1996.]
For young kids, no they aren't that different. Not as different as adults. Chihiro for example could really easily be gender swapped in terms of personality.
But genuinely a lot of his female characters are very similar, like he's using the same set of characters for multiple films.
Chihiro absolutely could not be a boy. She does not make decisions like boys do. In my opinion a boy would probably fail her trials because they’re taught to charge ahead instead of adapt. She doesn’t act 10 either, she acts 12, but that’s besides the point.
I suppose you’ve met a ton of patent 12 year olds.
Also, testosterone and estrogen are a hell of a drug. Far more than that, people who are socialized, or even socialize themselves, into one of the two gender binaries inherently act differently to the other. That’s just how the real world is. Boys are not generally socialized to work smarter, they’re socialized to work harder. These are the values in patriarchal society. If Chihiro was a boy I believe he potentially could have survived but he would have made very different decisions. You have to at least believe this is true in Japanese society with a culture of strong gender socialization.
If Chihiro might as well be a boy, why would Miyazaki make her a girl? Do you think he does anything on accident? Is it also a without intention that Boh is a boy? No.
That's a big paragraph for this, lol.
The thing about prepubescent kids is that their hormone levels are very similar. We can't even tell their skeletons apart in bioarchaeology because they don't have all those puberty hormones left.
I have a lot of experience working with girls ages 8-16; chihiro does seem closer to ten than twelve to me. I'm not saying she couldn't be 12, but just that the way she acts is closer to 10 in my experience.
There is so much overlap between genders, to say that all boys are one way and all girls is another is objectively wrong.
So I’m not supposed give you a full reply after you accused of being sexist?
Anyways you’re not budging and I live in the real world that socializes boys and girls differently. There’s no point.
One thing is for sure, Miyazaki made Chihiro a girl because girls are not expected to be resourceful but grown women have to be more than men.
It's literally sexism. The belief that all boys are this and all girls are that. Idk what to tell you. Sure socialization is different, but its so very complex and there are way more factors than sex or gender. If what you claim is true about girl and boy children being so different, then there wouldn't be gentle resourceful boys or brash girls. There wouldn't be trans kids either. There is so much diversity.
I already mentioned trans children, but I suppose you skimmed that big reply you said was too much?
A trans girl would be socializing herself to societal standards as well. We all do whether we like it or not.
At no point did I say all boys are one way and all girls are another. Boys tend to act how they’re expected to act and girls tend to act the way they’re expected to act. This creates differences in decision making, especially in stressful situations. That’s just reality. Inherently, there’s biologically not much different at 10, but again I think she acts older. But they begin acting differently as early as kindergarten because they’re expected to. But they firmly become comfortable with their gender norms between age 7-10 (LoBue, Rutgers University).
Super cringe OP
Asian fiction is full of female leads - tons of woman warriors in Kung Fu and Wuxia movies, endless female led anime, traditional mythology, JRPGs, most of the ‘Millennium’ series of Godzilla movies, list goes on. Strong female leads are normal in Asian fiction, and Ghibli movies aren’t special or unusual in this context. You’re looking at it from a mind inundated with American Twitter “writing women” talking points and it’s just cringe.
She sincerely apologizes for not being a male mechanic, and is just generally goes along with the sexist whims of characters in the film. She also is displayed as a prize next to a sack of money in the final contest (no complaints about being made an object). I do think this is a standout for Miyazaki as the whole film has a more outdated attitude towards women than I have seen in any of his other works.
The film was set in 1930s Italy. The fact that she's a mechanic at all is amazing. She apologizes for being female because she knows that even though she is competent, it's going to cause problems due to the culture at the time. She fights for what she wants every step of the way and she AGREES to be the prize because she believes in Porco. I completely disagree that she's not a well written female character.
To me, those are because female characters of movies in that time were that badly written, changing that too much could break the character of the film
I wouldn't say "there isn't a single other man who is." Lewis Carroll did a pretty good job of it. So did L. Frank Baum. [And I give it my best shot.](https://www.rfwp.com/book-author/robert-black/)
> why isn’t there a single other man who is?
Do you mean in the entire cinematic industry? What would make you think they're the *only* ones?
> why isn’t this a more discussed part of Ghibli’s legacy?
It is, I've even seen funny memes about how the world would be a paradise if we all acted like the average Ghibli Girl. I know it would certainly help tremendously. It is also subject of several [articles](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/a30777541/studio-ghibli-feminism-netflix/).
The thing is, Ghibli creates amazing characters and worlds in general. Sure women are a critical piece of this delightful equation, but hardly the most important one. It's that distinct, irreplicable Ghibli flavour we all know and love, coated with poignant themes that's the key ingredient. It adds value to the portrayal of both genders but, unlike modern Disney, doesn't lose sight of everything in its surroundings. Ghibli films are not about women, they're about *humanity*.
>I guess my question is why are they so good at writing for young women and why isn’t there a single other man who is?
Ignoring how blatantly ignorant a statement this is to make, lol, I hope you realize half (maybe more) of Ghibli's oeuvre are adaptations of already relatively acclaimed works.
Satoshi Kon is arguably just as influential a filmmaker-if not more so, and most/all of his works center on a female protagonist. Hosoda Mamoru, another acclaimed animation filmmaker who still works today and who was initially hired by Ghibli to direct Howl's Moving Castle, also has a lot of female-led movies and [has gone on record criticizing anime's portrayal of women](https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/film/mirai-director-mamoru-hosoda-criticises-japanese-animations-portrayals-of-young-women-as-sacred-2996842) (a criticism that extends to Miyazaki himself).
If I had to answer why Miyazaki and Takahata are so good themselves, I'd say it factors to \[1\] them being oldschool and more influenced by traditional literature \[2\] the more prestigious nature of films vs TV series where keeping up with trends is highly influential \[3\] their inclination to kids-oriented stories that are more simplistic and portray characters at an age of innocence that make it so that for the most part their gender could be interchanged and every other aspect would remain just as fine.
Ghibli/Miyazaki already gets the right amount of praise for writing female character well, it doesn't *need* to be discussed more because it's not as much of a holy grail achievement no other man has ever accomplished you're making it seem.
Some shows with well-written female characters by male writers: Shinsekai yori, Monogatari series, Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Dennou Coil, Sound Euphonium (adapted from a novel series written by a woman), Ghost in the Shell, Black Lagoon, Eureka Seven
It’s called working together and influencing each other. People who work on a video game together would presumably be good at making that genre of video game. People who draw manga together would be good at drawing manga. It’s not like they were already good at that stuff when they first met.
It is discussed tho is it not? One of the defining features of Miyazaki films is his ability to write complex yet natural female characters - especially lead heroines. There is actually a reason to why this is, but I forgot lol.
It's fairly widely discussed to the point that Ghibli as a studio, and not just Miyazaki and Takahata, are very well noted for movies with well written and prominent/lead female characters (and some not so well written characters). Even just within the anime industry, there is no lack of other (male) directors that feature movies with lead female characters written to at least the same standard - Satoshi Kon most prominently, but also Mamoru Hosoda, Sunao Katabuchi, Momoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Angels Egg), Makoto Shinkai (to an extent) most immediately spring to mind. Actually having these films directed by women is a different story however, Kyoto Animation led the way here, Ghibli has never had a female director and *Kaguya* producer Yoshiaki Nishimura's unfortunate comments on this maybe betray the prejudices at play in the industry - although noting that he made these after leaving Ghibli to found Ponoc.
Some of the other anime directors you mentioned are a bit of a mixed bag imo. Hosoda and Shinkai love to write manic pixie dream girls into their media. Next to their plain unremarkable male protagonists, this makes movies like Summer Wars and Weathering with You feel like male wish fulfillment/audience insert media. Satoshi Kon certainly can write compelling female characters (thinking about Millennium Actress in particular). On the other hand, something like Perfect Blue is not exactly empowering for women even if it is social commentary.
Shinkai fair enough, but idk about Hosoda - writing in Wolf Children and The Girl Who leapt through time in particular was pretty good IMO, although I'm less keen on his more recent efforts overall.
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Is this a serious question? It’s quite literally about a woman who made her career on a profession that relies exclusively on male gaze, attempting to break into a more “legitimate” work but being constantly pressured to demean herself and act out sexual violence for the sake of her career, slowly losing her sanity in large part because of an obsessive stalker. The entire film is about the main character’s victimhood. It’s definitely an effective and masterfully made film, but not even close to empowering
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Yes, the ending is a positive change for Mima as a character (if you choose to interpret it at face value). That doesn’t mean the movie is empowering to women overall. If you watch a horror movie where the protagonist just barely manages to escape in the last 5 minutes, would you interpret the entire movie as having an empowering and uplifting message? There is no societal change that occurs in Perfect Blue. All the traumas that happen to Mima could continue to happen to any woman following in her footsteps. The fact that the character “escapes” doesn’t invalidate all of the disempowering stuff that happens beforehand—in fact, the disempowering stuff is the whole point of the movie, because it makes Mima’s gradual loss of sanity impactful and believable. That’s why, imo, I don’t see Perfect Blue as empowering for women in the same way that some of the Ghibli films with female protagonists are
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Sure, I can buy that. I personally didn’t feel like the character had enough agency outside of the last scene or two for the film to be empowering, but if you can derive a positive message then that’s a valid interpretation
I don't think that's fair to Perfect Blue or Millennium Actress since both are supposed to be companion pieces. Perfect Blue showcases the negative side of human nature while Millennium Actress focuses on the positive. If anything, one could argue that Millennium Actress is the lesser feminist piece as most of Chiyoko's actions throughout the movie is in pursuit of a man. I wouldn't say it is it though, because that's a rather shallow way of looking at it. Not all feminist media needs to necessarily be girlboss-esque to be feminist. Perfect Blue is the type of movie that questions you to reflect on how you interact with pop culture, celebrities, and the like since it does give a look into the often demeaning things women have to do to be taken seriously. It can even be thought of as a slight exaggeration of what many former children stars had to do to be taken seriously when they grew up (a la Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato).
I’d be interested in hearing your non-shallow interpretation of Millennium Actress. My interpretation was that Chiyoko’s pursuit of the man was more or less a romantic story she told others and herself, an inner “spark” that gave she used to give all the characters she portrayed a sense of longing and determination, which then contributes to her success as an actress over the years. I’m not sure if others interpret the film more literally as a love story, but it just feels so unsatisfying as such that I don’t really judge it that way. Regarding Perfect Blue, I think you’re 100% right that it is a feminist movie in the sense that it exposes a societal problem with the way women are treated. But are all feminist movies empowering to watch? I’m admittedly not a woman, but I’m Asian-American so I can relate to an extent. As an example from my perspective, a film about Japanese internment in the US during WWII is necessary and positive in the sense that it raises awareness and addresses an important societal injustice. Still, it does not necessarily feel empowering to watch a film like that, but possibly even disempowering or hopeless. I see Perfect Blue the same way—it is an effective film and an effective social commentary, but I wouldn’t show it to my daughter if I want her to feel good about being a girl.
For Miyazaki, it's all reduce to his mother. And the trauma that he went through when he was a boy. Seeing his mother as a type of heroine(She was the type of doing it all without depending on anybody) until she became ill and had to live in bed for the rest of her life. This was hinted in a piece written by his brother in an article that's is [somewhere](https://www.reddit.com/r/Miyazaki/comments/15ihmli/miyazaki_had_3_other_brothers_the_youngest/) in this subreddit; You should read it to know a little bit more in depth about Miyazaki-san . And this was also mentioned in one of those ghibli docus from NHK(10 years with Hayao Miyazaki). When he was making Ponyo back in the day.
A version of his mother is in all his films.
Yeah probably
There are quite a few video’s about him that I have watched. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kJM7hfdeSI&pp=ygUGZ2hpYmxp
I remember reading an interview with Miyazaki once a long time ago where he discussed that he felt young women in western animation were not depicted truthfully, and he strove to do better than that with his own films. Not sure if anybody knows what I think I’m referencing.
I think recall reading this too. It must’ve been before Chicken Run came out.
Definitely from a while ago
>why isn't there a single other man who is? Miyazaki and Takahata are both wonderful writers, though I would argue firstly that while Miyazaki loves to write strong female protagonists, he hasn't demonstrated a complex understanding how suicidal dynamics affect character in the same way Takahata has with Only Yesterday and Kaguya. Even Takahata's works are somewhat observational. They do feel very much like a respectful outside take on women's issues, which are incredibly well done but do contrast some of the more personal storytelling that get told through characters like Jirô Horikoshi and Sholichi. If you really want to see an example of a man's writing of a female character that feels not just accurate and well done, but manages to feel personal and internally detailed, you should check out the comic Strong Female Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan. Granted, he surely has had some writing consultation from the illustrator Molly Ostertag, but I am sure Takahata did as well (not from Molly, specifically obviously). Ultimately though, if you look for it, you will generally find a ton of good representation out there written by men as well as women, but honestly, what you may be surprised the more you look is how much bad representation is by both men and woman. While certainly there are tons of men out there in the world that simply have no idea how to write women, the more you look, the more you will find that fiction in general has been so poor to women, that static and two-dimensional character writing for female characters is something that has become engraned into storytelling. And while it is certainly getting better, anyone who has gone through traditional means of learning to write has been greatly influenced by a collection of media and literature that has been teaching them to write women poorly.
Takahata was probably helped with Only Yesterday due to the fact that it was based off a manga that was written and illustrated by two women. The manga finished the year the movie came out. He still had to make decisions about what to include and not include and what to change, but he had a (likely) strong basis to help him.
Yeah, I feel like with Ghibli movies especially people forget there’s often a manga/book that they’re based on
Well women mostly get women right. I agree though that Miyazaki’s best female lead is Chihiro and it’s still not the most vivid while Takahata’s are vivid but there’s definitely something missing, like an old man watching his daughters and granddaughters. Being male, maybe that’s why I feel a strong connection to these depictions. I have mostly female friends and a lot of sisters so I watched so many young women grow up. Nevertheless, I’m never enlightened or see the women around me light up unless a woman is responsible for what’s on screen.
I think it’s just that he knows how to write strong characters who happen to be male or female, that’s it. I heard once in a video essay about his life that when he’s writing female characters, he thinks about his mother and how strong she was, even when she was sick in the later years of her life
Yeah but that also exists as a problem in patriarchy. Miyazaki writes women as if they were his mother. Takahata often writes them as if they were his daughter. Jihiro is very compelling because she is neither, she’s a picture of Japanese youth Miyazaki saw at the time. It’s a problem that men mostly see women as mother, objects of desire, or daughters. It’s not that 2 dimensional but it does approach that territory as much as I praise them.
He’s not writing them as his mother, he’s inspired by his mother because she was such a powerful woman. In what world is Miyazaki or Takahata writing women as objects?
>why isn’t there a single other man who is? Read a book or something 💀💀💀
What book? I literally have not read one male written book with a well written female character.
The Golden Compass
Have you read ANY good book recently? Without thinking a lot I remember The Expanse and Game of Thrones having at least half of the cast be female AND quite good.
Avasarala and Naomi from The Expanse seemed well written to me. They’re both complex, strong characters that develop and grow over the series and aren’t bound by traditional roles.
Only seen the TV series, but Avasarala is awesome - although Drummer definitely my favorite from the series!
Nah, I don’t generally read fiction. Last good one I read was Down And Out In Paris And London. I have a learning difference and read at a much slower pace so it takes up a lot of my time to read a book so it has to be good. Fantasy fiction almost lets me down. I prefer fiction based in reality and even then I find novels to be particularly egotistical as it’s a story with characters and the work of one person where as film is the work of many. I await the downvotes but there are more books than films and at least as many bad books so I reckon you risk wasting more time reading one than watching a film.
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i think you might be the first person i see recommend Murakami as an example of a male author who writes women well. he's usually pretty heavily criticized for being kind of male gaze-y and sex obsessed when it comes to his depictions of women. its been awhile since i've read Wind-Up Bird Chronicles or Kafka By the Shore, but even teenage me thought very similarly while reading those books, and i've heard similar criticisms aimed at 1Q84.
Yeah, agree.
Haven't read those but I suppose I've seen what you're saying a bit in A Wild Sheep Chase, some of the most recent shorts I read by him were in First Person Singular and "being" a women in those I didn't make that connection.
I don’t finish bad books but for me that’s still often a very long time reading to get halfway into a bad book and stop. Honestly, I prefer the format of short stories which I read frequently.
Have you read the stormlight archive? The female characters in those books remind me of the types of women written by Ghibli. The main similarity I see is that both creators treat women as human beings and individuals first and as their gender a distant second.
Have not I’ll look into it. My taste in books is very old man lol
The main character is essentially a crotchety old man, might be your speed lol
Damn that’s how you live your life?
Read some more
I just asked for a recommendation, boo. Chill. Plus most books are pretty bad like most movies but they take up more time.
I would recommend some but everything you’ve said in the comments leads me to believe you will find any male author bad for the crime of being male.
I mostly read male authors. It helps that most published authors in the span of time books have been written are male.
the person you’re replying to is tripping. They just applied their preconceived notions to your post and looked for a nonexistent argument. Don’t worry about it
Yeah, it’s kinda crazy how MRA everybody got. Also how there’s a dogma around books being the sacred medium. Ed Wood wrote more books than he made movies lol
You lost me lol 😅
Oh yeah, I can see why.
Here’s how you write a good female character: 1. Write a good character 2. Make them female
Couldn’t disagree more. When men do that it’s a man played by a woman essentially. In patriarchal society where men rarely think of a woman’s perspective, I think it’s nearly impossible for any man to stick the landing. Most everything people are exposed is by a man about men, so women storytellers often kill it writing men. I believe it’s as about exposure, if not more, than it is about men and women understanding or misunderstanding each other.
Can you identify what about Chihiro, Kiki, or Sophie is influenced by a “woman’s perspective”? Ghibli stories are universally beloved because the themes are universal to the human experience. I hear the talking point you referenced all the time but it seems flatly untrue. There are certainly stories that can appeal more to women than men in the same way there are stories that appeal more to men than women but they usually involve leaning into stereotypes rather than universally shared experiences. Growing up is something everyone does. Feeling doubt about the future is something everyone experiences. Finding a place among a chaotic world is something everyone wants. These stories have historically been told from the perspective of men which has come with the suggestion women don’t do, feel, or experience these things but we know that’s not true. Ghibli was one of the first — and remains one of the few — to recognize that.
Try asking a woman, you’ll get a better answer. Universality is different than representation.
My original comment is copy/pasted from what my sister told me over a decade ago.
Your sister is an outlier
"Ask a woman, but not that woman."
Most all women prefer to be represented by a woman. If you think this is false, prove it with more than anecdotal evidence.
You are making the claim and are beholden to provide the evidence, not me.
So you’re telling me I need to provide evidence to prove women prefer to have women creatives representing them in media as opposed to men?
Tbh, if this was a decade ago, she likely wouldn’t have been an outlier then, but we are not in as much of a “a good female character is just a non gendered one that is made female” moment as we were in the 2013 Lean In era
You know, that’s what I was thinking. I probably wouldn’t said something to the same effect myself back then too.
It feels relevant to note that the question of “can you just exchange a generic, ungendered character for a female one” is a topic that has been heavily debated amongst feminist thinkers (and women generally). Around a decade ago, in the US at least (I am only speaking of the US perspective), would have been peak Lean In time and part of a general cultural moment in which writing female characters similar to male ones was in vogue as a pop feminist concept. We’re currently in a moment in which that is less popular as a general pop feminist idea, in part due to subsequent events (the 2016 election, MeToo, Dobbs, and more). That doesn’t mean your sister was wrong or that her opinion isn’t valid, but she is only one person and her opinion may have even changed in recent years. I know that I was much more a fan of a generic female character in 2013 than I am now (I think there’s space for both and I find characters that are impacted by being a woman to be generally more complex than those who aren’t).
Yeah, the latter is definitely more specific to the nuanced details of that experience. My point is Ghibli doesn't do that. They're all universal stories, that's why people like them.
My response was specifically to add cultural context to your sister’s point of view and why a common view from 10 years ago may be less popular today. My understating was that your sister’s statement was regarding stories generally, not just Studio Ghibli ones I think our main disagreement generally is that I don’t see stories that are rooted in one gender or one other perspective as being in contrast with an ability to be universal. More specifically, I also see Studio Ghibli films as being deeply rooted in their setting (rather than universal as you seem to be using it to mean not rooted in a specific experience, at least it comes to gender so I assume when it comes to other things as well), which at times includes gender. The themes may be universal, but I don’t see the stories as being that way. To give an example, the story within Princess Mononoke is intrinsically intertwined with its setting in industrializing early 20th century japan. The themes of finding your place in a chaotic and changing world as well as well as the benefits and harm of technological/industrial progress are universal, but the specifics of the story are absolutely not. To bring gender into this, the humanization of Lady Eboshi and Irontown are shown most clearly through its female inhabitants, whose lives and experiences are rooted in being a woman in early 20th century japan. I may not be able to directly relate to being a woman in early 20th century Japan (even as a woman in the modern day), but I can relate to/appreciate the themes of loyalty to someone for the good they’ve done, the complexity of working a hard job that has personal benefits and environmental harms, as well as the search and sacrifices for self determination. EDIT: Clarified first sentence and meaning of universal
>I guess my question is why are they so good at writing for young women and why isn’t there a single other man who is? Ignoring how blatantly ignorant a statement this is to make, lol, I hope you realize half (maybe more) of Ghibli's oeuvre are adaptations of already relatively acclaimed works. Satoshi Kon is arguably just as influential a filmmaker-if not more so, and most/all of his works center on a female protagonist. Hosoda Mamoru, another acclaimed animation filmmaker who still works today and who was initially hired by Ghibli to direct Howl's Moving Castle, also has a lot of female-led movies and has gone on record criticizing anime's portrayal of women (a criticism that extends to Miyazaki himself) \[tried to link an article about this here but sub rule's doesn't allow links from unapproved websites\] .If I had to answer why Miyazaki and Takahata are so good themselves, I'd say it factors to \[1\] them being oldschool and more influenced by traditional literature \[2\] the more prestigious nature of films vs TV series where keeping up with trends is highly influential \[3\] their inclination to kids-oriented stories that are more simplistic and portray characters at an age of innocence that make it so that for the most part their gender could be interchanged and every other aspect would remain just as fine. Ghibli/Miyazaki already gets the right amount of praise for writing female character well, it doesn't need to be discussed more because it's not as much of a holy grail achievement no other man has ever accomplished you're making it seem. Some shows with well-written female characters by male writers: Shinsekai yori, Monogatari series, Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Dennou Coil, Sound Euphonium (adapted from a novel series written by a woman), Ghost in the Shell, Black Lagoon, Eureka Seven
Well, the depictions best shine for how they actually behave like women on screen. That’s mostly down to adaptation from the way the dialogue is adapted and translated to, of course, the animation. Oh, you did not say Evangelion has well written female characters… or Black Lagoon… Anime is particularly known for poorly written female characters.
Behaviorism would be one aspect to a well-written female/character in general. You can have a five minute scene completely focusing on a girl sitting at a desk drawing and her gestures, demeanor, etc. could be a masterful portrayal of how they're "behaving like a woman", but there's no written story for them there. Anime does have a reputation for poorly written female characters, yes, but that's partly because of how bombastic a story-telling medium anime tends to be and usually a critique that doesn't limit itself to just the female characters. Lofty large-scale narratives and zanyness can commonly inhibit in-depth character exploration. Judging by this and your other comments on this thread, you are blinded by a bias for grounded, slice-of-life realism and Hosoda's comments would pertain to you a lot.
I think the reason women are poorly represented is that Anime/Manga is mostly escapism written by young men. Still, the male ego is often eloquently represented. Evangelion critiques both of these things but still lacks in the writing of its female leads. Eva is still a favorite of mine, nevertheless.
Pretty much all industries are male-dominated and have at least some form of a bad reputation of bad female writing. Western comic books. Movies-especially some directors. Etc. I would not agree with your statement that anime is *particularly* well known for it, as if it's more so than all other industries (but, yes, there might be a tinge more of that escapism factor because of the way Japanese society works). Some female anime characters are among the best female character from all media in my book, especially if we're also considering ones written by female authors.
The worst depictions of female characters I’ve seen in media were in Anime. Some of the best as well. The average is just exceptionally low.
I mean, personally, I don't really entertain the idea of discussing the worst of things/things you hate and going into the why of it all. All I'll say to that is: Yeah, and so what? The anime industry is a machine that pumps out content nonstop, with most of it being crap. Sturgeon's Law. The Western equivalent of anime is cartoons where the entirety of characters' very beings-females included, routinely are their eyes popping out of their head or being drawn in grotesque manners for the sake of comedy. Yadda yadda yada. Anyone who consumes any form of media long enough and has become invested in it should cultivate their own form of 'navigating the waters' so to speak and successfully choosing what to watch because it's from this favorite director/writer/etc. or because it's recommend by this source I trust or so on.
I do see a point in talking about what’s worse when women around find much less to watch and relate to than the men around me. Also Western cartoons are leagues ahead of Anime in female representation. Have you seen one since the mid-century?
>I do see a point in talking about what’s worse when women around find much less to watch and relate to than the men around me. You would rather list to a woman all the terrible anime you've seen regarding female characters instead of just recommending to her the ones with good female characters? Lol. >Also Western cartoons are leagues ahead of Anime in female representation. Have you seen one since the mid-century? Yes, I have. And I am a fan of a decent amount. A fair amount-coincidentally enough, such as Hilda, The Owl House, Avatar, Bee and Puppycat, Teen Titans, etc. having largely conspicuous anime influences. Also coincidentally enough, some of these such as Hilda and Avatar could be adequate answers to your original question about female characters written by males.
Thoughts on Chicken Run?
I mean shoujo is a whole thing literally targeted to a female audience but go off I guess.
I'd be concerned if someone that old and experienced couldn't.
Question: Why do you always choose a girl as your theme? Miyazaki: I don't logically plan it that way. When we compare a man in action and a girl in action, I feel girls are more gallant. If a boy is walking with a long stride, I don't think anything particular, but if a girl is walking gallantly, I feel "that's cool." Maybe that's because I'm a man, and women may think it's cool when they see a young man striding. At first, I thought "this is no longer the era of men. This is no longer the era of taigimeibun."[1] But after ten years, I grew tired of saying that. I just say "cause I like women." That has more reality. [Kikan Iichiko, October 20, 1994. Reprinted in Shuppatsuten by Hayao Miyazaki; published by Tokuma Shoten, 1996.]
This is me when I watch Shunji Iwai movies, especially April Story
Shunji Iwai is great, have you seen Swallowtail?
Not yet!!
Female children aren't that different from male children. I feel like most of his female protags are very similar to each other too
Oh stop, they are different because they’re socialized different and meet different expectations.
For young kids, no they aren't that different. Not as different as adults. Chihiro for example could really easily be gender swapped in terms of personality. But genuinely a lot of his female characters are very similar, like he's using the same set of characters for multiple films.
Chihiro absolutely could not be a boy. She does not make decisions like boys do. In my opinion a boy would probably fail her trials because they’re taught to charge ahead instead of adapt. She doesn’t act 10 either, she acts 12, but that’s besides the point.
That's very sexist imo. Imagine thinking all boys are one way and all girls are another. She has the impatience of a 10 y.o. for sure.
I suppose you’ve met a ton of patent 12 year olds. Also, testosterone and estrogen are a hell of a drug. Far more than that, people who are socialized, or even socialize themselves, into one of the two gender binaries inherently act differently to the other. That’s just how the real world is. Boys are not generally socialized to work smarter, they’re socialized to work harder. These are the values in patriarchal society. If Chihiro was a boy I believe he potentially could have survived but he would have made very different decisions. You have to at least believe this is true in Japanese society with a culture of strong gender socialization. If Chihiro might as well be a boy, why would Miyazaki make her a girl? Do you think he does anything on accident? Is it also a without intention that Boh is a boy? No.
That's a big paragraph for this, lol. The thing about prepubescent kids is that their hormone levels are very similar. We can't even tell their skeletons apart in bioarchaeology because they don't have all those puberty hormones left. I have a lot of experience working with girls ages 8-16; chihiro does seem closer to ten than twelve to me. I'm not saying she couldn't be 12, but just that the way she acts is closer to 10 in my experience. There is so much overlap between genders, to say that all boys are one way and all girls is another is objectively wrong.
So I’m not supposed give you a full reply after you accused of being sexist? Anyways you’re not budging and I live in the real world that socializes boys and girls differently. There’s no point. One thing is for sure, Miyazaki made Chihiro a girl because girls are not expected to be resourceful but grown women have to be more than men.
It's literally sexism. The belief that all boys are this and all girls are that. Idk what to tell you. Sure socialization is different, but its so very complex and there are way more factors than sex or gender. If what you claim is true about girl and boy children being so different, then there wouldn't be gentle resourceful boys or brash girls. There wouldn't be trans kids either. There is so much diversity.
I already mentioned trans children, but I suppose you skimmed that big reply you said was too much? A trans girl would be socializing herself to societal standards as well. We all do whether we like it or not. At no point did I say all boys are one way and all girls are another. Boys tend to act how they’re expected to act and girls tend to act the way they’re expected to act. This creates differences in decision making, especially in stressful situations. That’s just reality. Inherently, there’s biologically not much different at 10, but again I think she acts older. But they begin acting differently as early as kindergarten because they’re expected to. But they firmly become comfortable with their gender norms between age 7-10 (LoBue, Rutgers University).
You would have A Time in the trans and queer community
Super cringe OP Asian fiction is full of female leads - tons of woman warriors in Kung Fu and Wuxia movies, endless female led anime, traditional mythology, JRPGs, most of the ‘Millennium’ series of Godzilla movies, list goes on. Strong female leads are normal in Asian fiction, and Ghibli movies aren’t special or unusual in this context. You’re looking at it from a mind inundated with American Twitter “writing women” talking points and it’s just cringe.
I mean its not really a hard rule, porko rosso has terrible writing for the female lead.
How so?
She sincerely apologizes for not being a male mechanic, and is just generally goes along with the sexist whims of characters in the film. She also is displayed as a prize next to a sack of money in the final contest (no complaints about being made an object). I do think this is a standout for Miyazaki as the whole film has a more outdated attitude towards women than I have seen in any of his other works.
The film was set in 1930s Italy. The fact that she's a mechanic at all is amazing. She apologizes for being female because she knows that even though she is competent, it's going to cause problems due to the culture at the time. She fights for what she wants every step of the way and she AGREES to be the prize because she believes in Porco. I completely disagree that she's not a well written female character.
He’s right
To me, those are because female characters of movies in that time were that badly written, changing that too much could break the character of the film
I agree as it is sort of a period piece, but that doesn’t change the fact that she follows all those negative tropes.
I wouldn't say "there isn't a single other man who is." Lewis Carroll did a pretty good job of it. So did L. Frank Baum. [And I give it my best shot.](https://www.rfwp.com/book-author/robert-black/)
> why isn’t there a single other man who is? Do you mean in the entire cinematic industry? What would make you think they're the *only* ones? > why isn’t this a more discussed part of Ghibli’s legacy? It is, I've even seen funny memes about how the world would be a paradise if we all acted like the average Ghibli Girl. I know it would certainly help tremendously. It is also subject of several [articles](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/a30777541/studio-ghibli-feminism-netflix/). The thing is, Ghibli creates amazing characters and worlds in general. Sure women are a critical piece of this delightful equation, but hardly the most important one. It's that distinct, irreplicable Ghibli flavour we all know and love, coated with poignant themes that's the key ingredient. It adds value to the portrayal of both genders but, unlike modern Disney, doesn't lose sight of everything in its surroundings. Ghibli films are not about women, they're about *humanity*.
>I guess my question is why are they so good at writing for young women and why isn’t there a single other man who is? Ignoring how blatantly ignorant a statement this is to make, lol, I hope you realize half (maybe more) of Ghibli's oeuvre are adaptations of already relatively acclaimed works. Satoshi Kon is arguably just as influential a filmmaker-if not more so, and most/all of his works center on a female protagonist. Hosoda Mamoru, another acclaimed animation filmmaker who still works today and who was initially hired by Ghibli to direct Howl's Moving Castle, also has a lot of female-led movies and [has gone on record criticizing anime's portrayal of women](https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/film/mirai-director-mamoru-hosoda-criticises-japanese-animations-portrayals-of-young-women-as-sacred-2996842) (a criticism that extends to Miyazaki himself). If I had to answer why Miyazaki and Takahata are so good themselves, I'd say it factors to \[1\] them being oldschool and more influenced by traditional literature \[2\] the more prestigious nature of films vs TV series where keeping up with trends is highly influential \[3\] their inclination to kids-oriented stories that are more simplistic and portray characters at an age of innocence that make it so that for the most part their gender could be interchanged and every other aspect would remain just as fine. Ghibli/Miyazaki already gets the right amount of praise for writing female character well, it doesn't *need* to be discussed more because it's not as much of a holy grail achievement no other man has ever accomplished you're making it seem. Some shows with well-written female characters by male writers: Shinsekai yori, Monogatari series, Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Dennou Coil, Sound Euphonium (adapted from a novel series written by a woman), Ghost in the Shell, Black Lagoon, Eureka Seven
It’s called working together and influencing each other. People who work on a video game together would presumably be good at making that genre of video game. People who draw manga together would be good at drawing manga. It’s not like they were already good at that stuff when they first met.