Oddly enough, it isn’t otome-ge as a genre which can arguably be considered rather unfair in its treatment of heroines, but rather, the people it caters to who are most unforgiving when it comes to the judgement of a heroine. No matter the target demographic, it will have its share of dynamic protagonists, as well as those who are mere surrogates who lack emotional depth. While there are the supposed ‘blank template’ heroines, there are certainly several others who defy that stereotype. Just like how for every good-natured hero in eroge, there are just as many cruel and remorseless men. Yet the assumption persists that female protagonists are written the worst, with the most flaws and least likeable characteristics.
While it may be understandable to first make that assumption, considering some of the most well-known otome-ge are infamous for their problematic portrayal of abusive relationships, it doesn’t justify the amount of hatred for the starring young ladies, that comes often from women themselves.
To many, a girl who is unable to consistently endure her burdens, no matter how difficult the circumstances, who is torn between romantic options, or who displays naïvety and innocence is called a weakling or useless, despite her own strengths as an individual. There are also instances when a heroine is dominant and unwavering, and these traits are considered offensive and vindictive. It is a contradictory logical knot: a perfect heroine incites boredom, but a heroine with flaws earns her derision.
“Doormats”, “idiots”, and a slew of derogatory names are mostly directed at the more idealistic and sweet-tempered heroines, and while some may indeed fit the description of being powerless and gullible, it is often more undeserved than the frequency of its use suggests. Which begs the question: If such terms are entirely inappropriate, why are they used so often? Why is it that optimism and purity are considered to be signs of low intelligence, a dislikable personality, and unjustifiable reactions? Why are such faulty judgements used as justification for contempt, and why does the heroine receive so much hatred, while the heroes are excused? Simple bias, perhaps, or it may very well be that the accusations reflect more on the audience’s sense of judgement than the one supposedly deserving of it.
While initial impressions may be strong, I find that too many are eager to hate and insult, preferring the cheap satisfaction of schadenfreude that comes with easy blame, instead of distancing themselves and trying to follow a definite reasoning behind such misguided opinions. While it is simpler to mistake ignorance or pacifism for stupidity and the like, in the end, it only gives the hasty detractors an image of egotism and superficiality, instead of serving as any proof of superiority.
Such a good read! Very well-written!
On the topic, I think it’s very different for everyone playing visual novels in general. I sometimes tend not to think of myself as the heroine, since she sometimes say/make choices I wouldn’t and instead see her as just main character. This I can imagine upsets a few people, since they want to be as much in-role as possible. It’s also depends on the setting/characters and even such things as which game I recently finished (and how the heroine in that game acted) that can change my opinion on the otome-ge I’m currently playing. In the end I think it’s about taste/mood/personality of the reader.
That’s true, it does depend on individual judgement. For me, though I just see so many actually good heroines being called “bad” (like Nazuna from Gekka Ryouran Romance or Chizuru from Hakuouki), and so forth. Which just got me wondering why people think the way they do…is it just a personal matter of taste, ect. I guess you really have to consider the game’s time period, the setting/culture, and the heroine’s personal history as well, and how that can influence her actions.
This is why your blog is one of my favorite stalk ever. You always managed to outline every little details so neatly~ (I hope you won’t find me a creeper, though ^^;)
Anyhow, I’ve to partially disagree regarding Chizuru’s hatred. From what I see, Chizuru frequently topped on favorite otome heroine poll in Japan. Yes, she is hated, though mostly by western fans which I blamed in culture’s variances.
Actually, what got me into VN is my details’ obsession. That, and I really enjoyed analyzing characters with psychological flaws; Hakuouki; Shikkoku no Sharnoth. Given that, I don’t really mind seeing the romance taking backseat.
Though for characters as damaged as in Gekka, I see Nazuna as a light for them and I believe the story could be very entertaining if the methods used to corrected their way of thinking is done properly instead of Nazuna also sinking into darkness.
I think most stories are just good at raising questions and laying out problems instead of providing justified resolutions. But this is WHY we loved VNs so much eh, since there are so many things to ruminate and discuss about.
As for me, I rarely views the heroine as myself since like Yumii said, they would normally opt for choices I would never pick. I’m comfortable enough with viewing them as a medium for another character’s explorations, and if they’re given a special circumstance (Ex: Fiona from BWS), I’ll TRY to understand their predicament and appreciate them.
God, this is why I loves story/character-driven instead of romance-driven VNs lol. Thanks for this piece, I shall be anticipating your next analysis. ^^
Just wondering, will you be playing Shinigami to Shoujo / DRAMAtical Murder? I heard these two spawns numerous thought-provoking questions about life / death / humanity. I’d love to hear your analysis on them if you ever going to play it.
I’ll have to disagree with you on Nazuna. She does help each love interest with their issues in a healthy way in many endings, although in others she certainly does slip more into darkness. But that’s exactly what I find so fascinating about her. She’s the first otome-ge heroine I’ve ever seen who is actually borderline yandere. She’s an accessory or an accomplice to crimes, and what other heroine has become so desperate to be with the one she loves that she is willing to be corrupted right alongside them? Of course, I have a major weakness for yandere, so I’m biased.
I wasn’t considering DRAMAtical Murder, unfortunately. I did take a look at Shinigami to Shoujo and it looks promising, but it’s not the highest priority on my backlog right now.
Thank you for your support! ●´∀｀●
I’m one of those people who dislike Chizuru, but it was largely due to the extreme plot railroading in Hakuouki. I’m aware that it’s partly because it’s a Shinsengumi game and the audience expects certain things when something is about the Shinsengumi, namely, tragedy, a series of entirely preventable human errors leading to a catastrophe, believing in your ideals when you’re on the wrong side of the war, et cetera. Because of that and historical constraints, it’s difficult for Hakuouki to actually do much with its characters. There are plenty of opportunities for Chizuru and the guys to make better decisions that would make their lives better, but they can never do it for the aforementioned reasons : circumstances will always work against them. This is reasonable. What is aggravating, however, is how clearly these circumstances were foreshadowed to the reader and yet the characters remain entirely oblivious—in history, mistakes would be nuanced and difficult to recognize as such until some time has passed, hence it makes sense that everything erupts in catastrophe. In Hakuouki, bad decisions are immediately telegraphed to the reader (multiple times on different occasions ad nauseum, even) and recognized as such by everyone, Chizuru most of all due to her emotional perceptiveness, but for some reason they never do anything about it even though it’s entirely within their capabilities to do so, story-wise.
In Japan, this enhances the tragic feel of it, since most people who plays the game know at least the basics of the story beforehand. Since tragedy is what they want, they love what they get. In the West, where even if the player knows the history they are unlikely to come equipped with the appropriate cultural expectations, Chizuru’s inactions seem clueless at best and hand-wringing doormat at worst (although I would personally say that it’s not at worst). Unlike many of the other heroines who unfairly got the ‘stupid doormat’ label, she actually had the chance to improve things and let them go, and when she does something it’s too little and too late. Understandably from a meta perspective, very understandable. It can still be aggravating, just because it COULD be handled better.
tl;dr, Chizuru’s problem is mostly less-than-stellar writing and genre restrictions, from my point of view. Yes, I actually read tragedies pretty often. Honestly, I think the Hakuouki boys should get some of the flak directed at her, too, but I guess they don’t because they’re hot.
(Although I see nothing wrong with Nazuna, honestly. She’s….perfectly reasonable. And while I’ll admit that the sheer prevalence of Do’S and casual molestation in jouseimuke genres has been tiring me out, leading to some schadenfreude on my part—because it’s been ongoing for almost fifteen years and once you think you get a break, it’s back, and everybody in shoujo/otome circles assumes you also want it because you’re a girl and especially now it’s so prevalence, so in-your-face, so forced on you via magazines and ads, even in material where it’s not the selling point, you can’t easily dodge it like other kinks*—I don’t think it’s valid to dismiss a game because the heroes are not prince charmings, the heroines are not Princess Leia and the game sports unhealthy themes. Most of the world’s literature depicts unhealthy relationships; it’s what makes them fascinating. And Gekka was….actually a rather interesting game, IDK why people hate it).
*Although, I think the prevalence is in some morbid ways fascinating. Would love to discuss it more, but alas, all the discussions soon turn into dissing whenever I tried.
Well, I don’t really agree with you on your dislike for Chizuru, but at least you made your line of logic clear that’s not just “I hate because she’s useless!” or “I hate her because she’s weak!”. I personally think she’s very strong, emotionally if not physically, and I think she was helpful, even if not in combat. She’s certainly nowhere near as passive as others make her out to be.
But thank you for explaining your reasoning. Taking the time to explain makes you a lot more reasonable, rather than if you had just said “this is how I feel, everyone else is wrong”.
This article was awesome. Recently in the past 2 years I’ve been getting into a lot of translated otome games. I noticed a pattern with all the games that I really dislike.The Heroine is always very weak,innocent and apparently flat chested. The guys who are experienced with women fall head over heels for her innocence as if that’s some rare gem among 15 year old’s in ancient and modern japan. I don’t mean that I hate the character because she can’t fight but I mean the basic otome girl is a young girl who has the personality of a push over cry baby who’s only goal in life is to get a husband and is always described as a plain face girl yet can get the hottest elite of guys without actually trying. This girl also is very sweet and gentle all of the time and animals love her…really everything does. (Basically all shoujo and a complete FREAKIN MARY SUE) I completely agree with your article.
If you don’t mind me asking, since your more experienced with otome games do you know why japan seems to force players to play the same retard not relatable mary sue character? And why is it in most otome games the guys aren’t interested in any females other than you? (it’s like all the beautiful women with good personalty died off leaving you the only one remaining. I’m trying to think of the culture differences ) I just love VN otome games, but I can’t stand it when I’m suppose to be the character and I have no options to be mean to a character, have a life outside of the guys, have a normal flaw that isn’t considered “cute” or just not be whinny because I’m so plain and flat! all the time.
You’re doing exactly the same thing that I’m berating in my article, so how can you possibly agree with me when I am defending the sort of quiet, sweet, gentle girls that you’re attacking?
The “Mary Sue” character type is a fallacy. Because it has such vague qualifications for a heroine to be described as one, it can be applied to anything, and it cannot work as a label. Say, for instance, there’s a strong, masculine heroine who wins in fights. They would be called a “Mary Sue” for being “too strong and perfect”. But then, you’re attacking the shyer, sweeter heroines for being “too weak” and also calling them a “Mary Sue”. They’re a “Mary Sue” if they complain because they whine too much, yet they’re also called a “Mary Sue” if they don’t say anything, because it must mean that they’re a spineless doormat. They’re a “Mary Sue” if they don’t attract men because they’re heartless, man-hating bitches, but if they do attract romantic attention, they’re scheming whores, or a “Mary Sue”. The label doesn’t work because it can be twisted to fit any meaning, until it has now come to simply mean a girl you don’t like, for no proper reason. Which is the definition you’re using. The “Mary Sue” term is a scapegoat for those who don’t want to supply proper evidence and explain why being sweet or likable is somehow a negative character flaw.
Even heroines I dislike, I have never complained about because they’re “whiny and too flat”. Rather, the heroines I dislike are not the type who are sweet, kind, and timid, or even if they’re lacking in self-esteem or confidence. The heroines I do dislike are heroines who assume destructive behavior is romantic, and encourage it because they are so deluded. Of course, how the story is framed is important as well. If the otome-ge or eroge is legitmately trying to convince me that abuse is romantic, of course, I’ll hate it. But if the heroine is encouraging her sadistic partner, and it’s clear that the poor thing is insane, that I can enjoy as a good example of how such destructive relationships don’t work. Then she becomes pitiable, rather than frustrating.
So, what exactly are you agreeing on with me on? I’m not addressing the genre’s treatment of heroines in this essay, but the audience’s perception of them. Your comment is the perfect example of the attitude that this entire essay is disapproving of.
I agree with “many heroines serve as nothing more than sexual toys or mindless dolls, what makes it all the more disheartening in the otome genre“. I also agreed about the making of a heroine too perfect equals boredom and too flawed equals people disliking her for that reason and it contradicts.(And your perception of the otome characters did fit what I had thought about all of them) I just don’t like the naive innocent heroine being pushed around and it never comes up as a issue in the story, they just accept the abuse as love or don’t do anything at all (Guy rapes or degrades her but it’s okay because his in love, the issue never comes up again and everything is hunky dory. I don’t think I out right hate sweet characters just them doing nothing in the face of abuse. I guess I call sweet nature characters Mary Sue because I feel that they aren‘t realistic, like these characters are “too“ good to be true which makes it hard for me to get into their stories. Being sweet, naive, and innocent aren’t horrible it’s just that there only flaw is the very reason their loved because they are too sweet, innocent and naive. I don’t want to read about some horrible asshat girl either it would just be nice if there was a sort of balance between the two.
(Maybe it’s because of my real life experiences with abusive behavior and people)).In Magical Diary the heroine there is a normal sweet, naive, nice magic girl. In one of her dating options the guy does something unspeakable to the heroine I was okay with the heroine because she had the opinion to hold what he did in front of him and ask him why did he do it if the player chose to do so. I just can’t take playing a game were a character is abused and it’s never an issue. (it’s like their saying this is how things should be without actually saying it) I think I got off topic when I was talking about shoujo’s, and I‘m probably getting off topic now. Hmmm I could have misunderstood the article too :( sorry about that.