Children love stories of animated heroes that are easy to relate to, colorful, and fun. While Disney has become more progressive, many Disney princesses don’t give kids the right ideas about feminism and independence. There are a handful of exceptions (Mulan and Merida being two obvious ones), but the princesses often rely on men to rescue them. Instead of teaching girls to expect a savior and teaching boys that women need saving, give them more forward-thinking, progressive heroes through anime.
A Note of Warning: Anime isn’t just for kids, so parents need to be careful and screen or review titles before showing them to children.
Is a feminist series has been hotly debated, but it’s hard not to see the positive influences. The story follows a teenage girl, Usagi, as she fights for love and justice against the evil minions of the Dark Kingdom.
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Usagi enlists the help of her friends, and the girls form the Sailor Senshi (“Sailor Warriors”). The warriors cover a broad spectrum of girls, including geeky Ami, sporty Makoto, and the more bubbly and air-headed Usagi. There are queer characters as well, at a time when the American dub had to remove episodes containing them.
Explores feminist themes and tropes through its characters, it’s the relationship between Usagi and her primary love interest, Tuxedo Mask, that is really something special. Tuxedo Mask initially isn’t all that kind to Usagi, but the two eventually fall for one another.
Unlike many of his Disney hero counterparts, Tuxedo Mask supports Usagi at every turn and admits freely that she is stronger than he is. He’s often a bit of a dude in distress, needing Usagi or the other Sailor Scouts to rescue him. He also agrees to do most of the child-rearing of their daughter, Chibiusa, as he knows Usagi has enough on her plate with saving the world. Compare this to the Disney prince, who tends to be testosterone-driven and often reinforces traditional gender roles, and it’s easy to see why
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Fit into a one-size-fits-all mold. In the anime, a male college student named Keiichi accidentally dials the Goddess Help Line and is granted a wish. That wish? For Belldandy, who inspires him with her kindness, to live with him forever.
Is feminist because Belldandy may be a Yamato Nadeshiko, which is a traditionally ideal Japanese woman, so it’s simply part of who she is. Feminism doesn’t mean that traditional roles have to disappear, as some women enjoy being domestic homemakers; feminism is about allowing women to have that choice. (Also: Belldandy happily agrees to the arrangement, and her consent is important here.)
Most importantly, Belldandy has a life that’s totally separate from Keiichi. She has superpowers and a job as a goddess and important relationships with her sisters. Other women in the series find fault with Belldandy’s “perfection” and her traditional ways, so the creator is clearly aware of the tropes at play.
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Belldandy shows viewers a way to be feminist and still be yourself, even if that’s by following patriarchal traditions. Disney princesses, especially in older films like
Have no agency of their own. They exist to be pretty, to cook and clean, and to sing with animals. Their dreams and ambitions aren’t even mentioned. Characters like Snow White and Aurora are only cartoonish stereotypes of women, whereas Belldandy is a more honest representation.
Is a hilarious, adorable anime about Tsukime, a girl obsessed with jellyfish. Tsukime lives in an all-female apartment complex with five very different women, including one crossdresser. (The character isn’t coded trans*, he’s hiding from his political family by dressing in drag. That and he likes being pretty.)
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. The women are not defined by the men around them, and some even refuse to date because they’re not interested. This is a story about gender and sexuality and what it is to be a woman, and it’s all wrapped in bubbly animation with great humor.
While Disney has recently begun tackling issues of gender and sexuality, even small steps like a lesbian couple in Finding Dory have been met with backlash. It’s not likely we’ll see a Disney film as open about gender as
, featured a female Avatar, Korra. Korra is a rebellious 17-year-old from the Southern Water Tribe. She’s hot-headed, bold, and seemingly fearless, but she has to grow up so she can serve as the Avatar.
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Korra’s growth throughout the series translates directly to her personal relationships. The end of the series serves as a great queer pop culture touchstone and one that can be used to introduce kids to ideas about sexuality.
, no one questions Korra’s gender (or that she’s a person of color) when she’s revealed to be the avatar. There are strong women in positions of power, including a no-nonsense police chief who serves as one of the series’ best secondary characters. The female characters are fully-fleshed out and given equal treatment to their male counterparts.
As the majority of Disney’s princess stories take place in a Western past, their worlds reflect our patriarchal histories. Even more enlightened stories, like
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, feature worlds where gender is an adversity to overcome. Korra has many things she must battle to fulfill her destiny as the avatar, but her gender plays no role.
Is a groundbreaking anime with its deconstruction of gender, sex, and tradition among the best in media. It is easily the most “feminist” anime on this list.
Was designed to pander to young girls, but it turns traditional tropes on their head from the beginning. This subversive anime focuses on themes of manipulation and the suppression of women’s voices. Every female character has an arc that, in one way or another, subverts the expected.
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Utena herself is a bit of an oddball. She refuses to wear a girls’ uniform, plays sports with boys, and enjoys swordfights. She wants to be a powerful prince and rejects passive femininity. Even as she does this, she must examine what it means to challenge social norms and what impact that has on her personal identity.
Utena’s primary relationship in the series is with her Rose Bride, Anthy. Utena enters a sword-fighting competition where the winner receives Anthy’s hand. Though Utena hates the way Anthy is subjugated, she wants to defend and protect the more feminine woman. Utena eventually confronts her own hypocrisy, and the series’ ending is a brilliant twist on its complicated gender politics.
Is something that can only exist in anime because Disney wouldn’t touch this with a 50-foot pole. It’s a shame, too, as this kind of experimentation with storytelling and subject matter would be a refreshing boost to the tired princess formula.
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A cinephile before she could walk, Danielle comes to by way of CNN, CHUD.com, and Paste Magazine. She loves controversial cinema (especially horror) and good cinematography; her dislikes include romantic comedies and people's knees.The Roaring Twenties are right around the bend! Before we turn that corner and leave the Turbulent Tens behind us, we wanted to lavish some love on the standout titles of the last ten years.
After that, we counted everyone’s votes, with Top 5 picks carrying extra weight, and managed to winnow the list down to 25 titles. Managing Editor Dee (who should probably go outside more) is the only person on staff who’s seen every show on this list, and in her very professional opinion: “Damn! My teammates have good taste.”
Very loosely! We’ve highlighted the top two titles, then categorized the others based on both the overall number of votes and any Top 5 picks. We’ll explain the rankings in more detail in each category.
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To keep readers from feeling too overwhelmed, we’ve kept most of the write-ups short and sweet, instead linking to other places on the site where you can get more information, like detailed discussion and content considerations or warnings. We’ve included more information on the few titles we’ve (somehow) never recommended before now.
We talked about compiling a Top 5, but since anime films are less accessible than TV series, the staff just hasn’t seen that many altogether. We wound up with a couple of clear standouts (
) and then a lot of single-vote titles and no proper way to sort them. So, we opted to just focus on TV anime. Feel free to ask us our faves (or tell us yours) in the comments, though!
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If there’s something that slipped under our radar and you think it’s a top-tier series other feminist-minded viewers would enjoy, please let us and your fellow readers know in the comments!
Made everybody’s list, cracked four Top 5 lists, and was the #1 pick from both Chiaki and Dee. This historical fiction is a modern masterpiece: a nigh-perfectly crafted series featuring some of the most impressive direction, writing, acting, and cinematography that visual storytelling has to offer.
It’s a love letter to the performance arts; a thoughtful exploration of storytelling; a powerful meditation on the inevitability (and importance) of change; a quiet challenge ofgender norms; a beautiful tale of found families and forgiveness; and a nuanced character study featuring an array of complex, contradictory figures and a fascinatingly layeredqueer-coded(arguably ace-coded) protagonist. It’s an analytical feast and an emotional haymaker, warming and breaking our
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