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Japanese Fruitiness

So why do Japanese games depict men in such a feminine looking way ? is it


  • Total voters
    149

Oracsbox

Guest
So what is it with the Japanese making dudes look like strange ladies
Cloud-Strife-final-fantasy-vii-36896643-600-600.jpg

Adam_And_Eve.jpg

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Zed Duke of Banville

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They're appealing to Japanese women, whose distribution of tastes in men's appearance differs considerably from that of American/British/French/German/Russian/whatever women.
 

laclongquan

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I blame both Japanese and Korean Pop culture, in which boys bands still present and exert heavy influence. Also the manga's shoujo genre is contributing its own heavy influence, with women's preference for girly men.

Shoujo genre is important because its artists and readers also affect the games' artists. So they like to draw/make girly men characters.

Compare that to US culture where boys bands fade, and no equivalent to shoujo genre in comics.
 

A horse of course

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It's the same in China et al. Their definition of a "well-groomed" or "sharply dressed" man would seem thoroughly homosexual to us. I will say that the "grizzled" masculinity of today isn't quite the same as the depiction of masculinity in, say, the 1950s and 20th-century pulp novels.
 

Tigranes

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Masculinity goes through phases, like everything else sold for fashion today. Wait a while and gruff unwashed truck drivers will be in again and every JRPG protagonist will scratch their balls proudly while you watch the unskippable cutscene
 

oscar

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Some women are attracted to slim, moderately muscled, clean-looking men (alright I won't make apologies for the hairstyles). Our roided out, buzzed hair protagonists with a permanent five o'clock shadow and all the emotions of a brick stem from 80s action movies.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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They're appealing to Japanese women, whose distribution of tastes in men's appearance differs considerably from that of American/British/French/German/Russian/whatever women.
It's the same in China et al. Their definition of a "well-groomed" or "sharply dressed" man would seem thoroughly homosexual to us. I will say that the "grizzled" masculinity of today isn't quite the same as the depiction of masculinity in, say, the 1950s and 20th-century pulp novels.
Some women are attracted to slim, moderately muscled, clean-looking men (alright I won't make apologies for the hairstyles). Our roided out, buzzed hair protagonists with a permanent five o'clock shadow and all the emotions of a brick stem from 80s action movies.
These really can't be overstated. Since Raiden was mentioned before, it does bear mention that part of the creative process behind Raiden was making a second protagonist appealing to the (Japanese) female demographic whose response to Snake could be summarized as "who is this unattractive scruffy old man." This is a pretty sharp contrast to the West, where if you look at Sexiest Man Alive sort of contests which are dominated by older men of the silver fox variety.

Additional note in case of Japanese is that the aforementioned roided out man look is nowadays more associated with homosexuality over there.

Not like it's only women either, we are talking about a country where the classical metaphor for masculine warrior ideal is the cherry blossom. It's a pretty long-running preoccupation (perhaps even obsession) with youth.

I blame both Japanese and Korean Pop culture, in which boys bands still present and exert heavy influence. Also the manga's shoujo genre is contributing its own heavy influence, with women's preference for girly men.

Shoujo genre is important because its artists and readers also affect the games' artists. So they like to draw/make girly men characters.

Compare that to US culture where boys bands fade, and no equivalent to shoujo genre in comics.
Dunno about it being a cultivated thing entirely. I mean, chicks everywhere are super-into yaoi when they discover it. It's like the female equivalent of:

:shredder:
 

Jacob

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I personally don't understand what's feminine about these guys though. Do they wear skirt? No. Feminine colored clothing? No. Are they docile, stay-in-the-kitchen guys? Nope. They even have well-defined muscle that in real life can only be achieved by regular workout. Of course old men who doesn't clean their excess body hair are ugly. Why would women want them?
 

Oracsbox

Guest
I personally don't understand what's feminine about these guys though. Do they wear skirt? No. Feminine colored clothing? No. Are they docile, stay-in-the-kitchen guys? Nope. They even have well-defined muscle that in real life can only be achieved by regular workout. Of course old men who doesn't clean their excess body hair are ugly. Why would women want them?
:notsureifserious:
You don't have to wear a dress and be making a sandwich in the kitchen to be feminine and those pictures above show very feminine "men".
Why is it some of you think the only other option is old ugly men or roided out cavemen ?
Also why was my thread moved ? I'm not just talking about JRPG characters.
 

Endemic

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Jul 16, 2012
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Depends on the game in question.

Some of your allies in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 -

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It's a pretty good SRPG in gameplay terms too, occasional RNG fuckery aside.
 

Oracsbox

Guest
Ok at the risk of this thread going down a very strange path.These old actors Jack Palance,Clint Walker and Ron Ely are what I think of as masculine men not roided out or feminine.
1588_jack-palance_1.jpeg

Clint-Walker.jpg

Or Jack Elam
jack-elam.jpg
 

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