Gender Incompetence: Difference between revisions
m
clean up
m (update links) |
m (clean up) |
||
Line 31:
** Series that have an [[Unwanted Harem]] component (Such as ''[[Rosario + Vampire]]'') also avert this, since it'd be bad both if the guy was useless (Why would the girls like him if he's [[The Load]]?) and the only useful one (Kinda sexist).
* The anime OVA of ''[[Read or Die]]'' was very good about the balance between gender effectiveness, but not as much with the TV series, even though the vast majority of the series' main characters were female. During the final chapters of the series, they seemed to do a lot of losing, crying and getting captured, despite the fact that they are physically capable of killing the bad guy at any time with their awesome superpowers.
** To be fair, there was emotional manipulation involved on the Joker's part, the kind which has one go into existential crises (and even Junior, who is a guy, goes through it and is captured). And he has henchmen briefed on the [[Paper Master
*** On the other hand, Junior isn't the most masculine of characters.
* ''[[Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu]]'' is made of this. Almost every male character (Except teachers) is dumb or suffers from [[The Worf Effect]]. Some [[Take a Level In Badass]] to compensate, but even then they're still mostly [[Butt Monkey
* The first season of the ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' anime was quite unfair with its female characters, most barely getting to fight or only fighting once for a plot event, then not anymore. The most [[Egregious]] example might be Kusuha, who only deploys for one fight ''so she can get captured''. Thankfully the second season averts this and makes both guys and girls awesome.
* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'': Anime only, Customary variety. Sakura never really manages to become an [[Action Girl]], instead having the party do all the fighting while she is reserved for situations needing a [[MacGuffin]] solution. The other women in the anime are also basically told to [[Stay in the Kitchen]].
Line 52:
*** She has also earned a doctorate and singlehandedly came up with a plan to save Earth from superintelligent cats. With science.
** Although Homer and Bart are usually shown as being less intelligent than Marge or Lisa, they're perhaps more likeable (at least until Homer's [[Jerkass]] tenancies went into orbit) and socially adept, balancing things out somewhat.
** ''Futurama'' plays this trope straight with Fry and Leela, with the former being almost functionally retarded and the latter virtually a [[God Mode Sue]] (when she isn't showing signs of being a selfish jerk). With the rest of the show's main characters, it's less clear-cut
*** While it is clear that Leela is the most competent fighter and pilot in the group (despite a tendency to crash through billboards), those are the only areas where she is particularly exceptional. She mainly comes off so well because Fry is incredibly incompetent in almost every way.
**** For example, it should be noticed that Fry is (for some reason) successful at getting women in the series, while Leela only picks losers and leads an exceedingly lonely life. There are different types of competency.
**** He's also very flexible most of the time, adapting quickly to changing conditions, cultures, etc. Most normal people would have a much harder time coping with skipping a thousand years of history even if they weren't leaving much of a life behind them.
**** Lastly, Fry has the problem [[Disability Superpower|of lacking a Delta Brainwave]], which is a straight inconvenience whenever the Brainspawn aren't a factor in whatever the current plot is. In spite of this, he frequently acts only about as dumb as the other characters around him.
* It often seems this way in ''[[Kim Possible]]'', where pretty much all male characters are either incredibly annoying, evil, useless in a fight, or some combination of the above. Slightly subverted in that many of them do get at least a few instances where they get to shine, and many of them are [[Techno Wizard
** Kim's dad and brothers seem perfectly competent (and her brothers' future selves are buff ass-kickers), though.
* Generally averted on [[Archer]]. Most, if not all, of the characters are at about the same level of (in)competence. Pretty much everyone is screwed up emotionally or mentally, with no overt correlation between level of competence or emotional state and gender.
| |||