Hey you said something about the my hero academia creator being unhinged about sexism, do you mind explaining?
I tried to write like, a thorough explanation of this and it just got longer and longer and longer and I have not touched this series in actual years and yet I've still got all these receipts a;lkjk;lfasd.
So rather than trying to build the whole massive case, here's a pared-down version. It's normal to have sexism in media, and shounen manga especially. Everyone does it. The level and mode and intentionality and so forth all vary, but of course it's there.
What's not normal is to have lots of varied and interesting female characters with discernible inner lives, and on-page discussion of how sexism is systemic and unjust and holds them back in specific ways, and then also deliberately make consistent sexist writing decisions even where they don't arise naturally from the flow of the narrative.
Horikoshi is actively interested in gender and sexism, he's aware of them in a way you rarely see outside of the context of, you know, fighting sexism. He is hung up on the thorny issue of what women are worth and deserve and how power and respect ties into it. He genuinely wants, I think, to have Good Female Characters, and not be (seen as) A Sexist Guy!
But. He doesn't actually want to fight sexism. He displays a lot of woman-oriented anxieties, and one of the many churning paddlewheels in his head seems to be that he knows intellectually that morally sexism is bad, but emotionally he really feels like it ought to probably be at least partly correct.
There are so many things I could cite, and maybe I'll get into some of them later, but the crowning item that highlights how the pattern is 1) at least partly conscious and deliberate and 2) about Horikoshi's own weird hangups rather than simply cynical market play, is Mineta Minoru.
The writer has stated Mineta is his favorite character. Mineta is also designed to be hated--that is, he is a particularly elaborate instantiation of a character archetype normally deployed to soak up audience contempt and (by being gross and shameless and unattractive and 'unthreatening') make it possible to include a range of sexual gratification elements into the narrative that would compromise the main characters' reputations as heroic and deserving, if they were the actors.
Good Guys don't grope girls' tits and run away snickering in triumph, after all. Non-losers don't focus intense effort around successfully stealing someone's panties. Nice Girls don't let themselves be seen half-dressed. And so forth. You need an underwear gremlin for that. So, in anime and manga, longstanding though declining tradition of including such a gremlin, for authorial deniability.
Horikoshi definitely uses him straight for this purpose, looping in Kaminari as needed to make a bit work. And yet he has Feelings about the archetype itself.
The passages dedicated to the vindication of Mineta, then, and the author's statements about him, let us understand that Horikoshi identifies with the figure of the underwear gremlin. He understands the underwear gremlin as a defining exemplar of male sexuality, at least if you are not hot, and finds the attached contempt and hostility to be a dehumanizing attack on all uh.
Incels, basically.
It's not fair to write Mineta off just because he's unattractive and horny (and commits sexual harassment). Doesn't he have a mind? Doesn't he have dreams? Doesn't he have human potential?
So what's going on with Horikoshi and gender, as far as I can figure out, is that he knows damn well that women are people and are treated unjustly by sexist society, but however.
He also understands the institutions of sexism as something protecting him and people like him from life being nebulously yet definitively Worse, and therefore wants to see them upheld.
So you get this really bizarre handling of gender where obviously women's rights good and women cool, women can be Strong, and the compulsory sexualization imposed by the industry isn't them or the author, and so forth.
But also it's very important that in the world he controls, women never win anything important or Count too much, and that jokes at their expense that disrupt the internal logic of their characters are always fair game, that women asked about sexism on TV will promptly get into catfights amongst themselves, and they are understood always in terms of their sexual and romantic interests and value, and sexual assertiveness and failures to perform femininity well enough are used to code them as dangerous and irrational, and that the sexy costumes are requisite and will never be subverted or rebelled against--at most they might be circumnavigated via leaning into cute appeal.
And that Yaoyorozu Momo, who converts her body fat into physical objects, is being frivolous when she wants to use money to buy things instead (rather than as sensibly moderating her Quirk use) and is never encouraged to eat as much as possible at every opportunity to put on weight and even shown being embarrassed by hunger (even though Quirk overuse gives symptoms that suggest she's been stripping the lipids out of her cell walls or nervous system to keep fighting) and always, no matter how many Things she has made, has huge big round boobies.
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We only see each other at funerals
(On Jason, Thalia, Nico, Bianca, and their parallels/connections)
The Titan's Curse (Rick Riordan), @/anxiousmaya_, Right Now (Gracie Abrams), The Battle of the Labyrinth (Rick Riordan), Joan of Arc (Mary Gordon), The Lost Hero (Rick Riordan), Episodes Toward and Elegy for Halley's Comet (Lindsey Drager), Jason Grace (Riordan Wiki), The Gods Show Up (Michael Kinnucan), The House of Hades (Rick Riordan), What the Living Do (Marie Howe), The House of Hades (Rick Riordan), Planet of Love (Richard Siken), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), Tangerine (Nolune), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), The Blood of Olympus (Rick Riordan), I Bet On Losing Dogs (Mitski), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), @/abhorarchive (Twitter), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), Seventeen (MARINA), The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan), @/rollercoasterwords, The Tyrant's Tomb (Rick Riordan), @/the-overanalyst, Where Things Come Back (John Corey Whaley), Grit (Silas Denver Martin), Softcore (The Neighbourhood), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), Frost (Mitski), @/moonbends, I'm Your Man (Mitski), Sun Bleached Flies (Ethel Cain), The Tower of Nero (Rick Riordan), Three (Sleeping At Last), My Art
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There are only so many fanfics that use the entirety of DC as cardboard cutouts to prop up bat family characters that I can read before I go berserk.
I swear to god. Every character that has ever been shipped with a bat or coexists on the same team as a bat is owed an apology.
How many Young Justice fanfics that solely revolve around Tim must exist? How many Titans fanfics centered only on Dick? Why is it a herculean task to find a Justice League fanfic without Bruce as the main character?
And then even when you do find a fic that seems like it's balanced, everything still revolves around the bat. Like Kon, Cassie and Bart have nothing else going on in their lives except Tim and Tim's issues or thinking about Tim. Like Donna and Wally and Roy just cannot function if they aren't spending every waking moment thinking about Dick.
I'm... Guys. I'm at my limit. I swear to god. We need to make a Batman tag and surgically remove all these fics and quarantine them there. We'll keep the actual DC fics and they can do whatever the fuck they want in their own tag. It's getting ridiculous how hard it is to find fanfic that's actually DC related and isn't just 'The BatFam Show'.
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show don't tell
(and how to apply it)
I know I write about this a lot, and maybe I should elaborate a little. "show, don't tell"—use description in your writing, rather than saying it outright. and I think the difference is, really, for the reader: whether they are in the story, or outside of it.
you know what we read for: to escape, to find a new world. but would you rather truly live the adventure, or skim through texts about it?
here it is, simply.
showing - describing, telling things to the reader without saying them outright.
telling - showing something to the reader without any fancy words.
and doing this, it makes the characters more real. tangible, not a fantasy.
but they don't need to be all the time. so when do you use it? an easy way could be to write it all out, the way you intend it to be. do you see the world felt, or a variation of it, scattered throughout the writing? try swapping out how they feel with description that shows the reader it. do you use adjectives such as "pretty", or "big"? they're variable in different situations. use metaphors, similes, to show us that's its' pretty.
and then send your writing to someone. to a friend, to a relative, for anyone but yourself to read it. you want them to think "oh, that's pretty", rather than you tell them, because how would they know? if they understand you intention, and if they feel something, you know you must be doing something right.
*though with all writing advice, I should say this doesn't apply to everyone! writing advice is advice, and that's all it is. excellent writers get by without applying this, and they get by with using this.
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Four times Jiang Cheng protected someone
Bonus: Two times Jiang Cheng was protected by someone
Yet, at the same time, Wen Zhuliu was closing in on Madam Yu. He looked as if he was about to knock her down. Jiang Cheng hurried, "Mom!"
He immediately gave up on Wang Lingjiao and threw himself over.
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - Chapter 58 - Poisons - Part 3
That, at the town we passed on our way, when you were buying food, a group of Wen Sect cultivators caught up. That, I discovered them early and left where I sat, hiding at the corner of the street and didn't get caught, but they were patrolling the streets and would soon run into you outside.
That this was why I ran out and distracted them.
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - Chapter 110 - Concealment - Part 4
Jiang Cheng heard the voice as well. In an istant, his face had turned white, "Sis? Sis! Where are you? Where are you?"
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - Chapter 78 - Nightfall - part 3
With a roar, Nie Mingjue grabbed at Jin Ling. Both Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling had backed away to the corner of the wall, unable to retreat further. Jiang Cheng could only stuff Jin Ling behind him and unsheathe Sandu, which at the moment was unable to use spiritual energy, forcing himself to fend off the attack.
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - Chapter 107- Concealment - Part 1
Bonus:
Lan Wangji grabbed Wei Wuxian's shoulder with one hand, letting Wei Wuxian stand behind him, and with his other hand he forcefully pushed away Jiang Cheng's hand. Rage could be seen hidden within his eyes. Although his push held no spiritual energy, it was quite powerful in terms of strength. The wound at Jiang Cheng's chest ripped apart again. Blood surged.
Jin Ling cried, "Uncle, your wound! Hanguang-jun, spare some mercy!"
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - Chapter 102- Hatred - Part 5
Nie Mingjue's heavy fist punched through a body.
But the body was neither Jiang Cheng's nor Jin Ling's.
Wen Ning blocked himself before the wall, in front of the two of them. With both his hands, he grabbed Nie Mingjue's iron arm and slowly pulled it out of his chest, leaving behind a large, hollow hole. There was no bleeding. Only a couple of black organ crumbs fell out.
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - Chapter 107- Concealment - Part 1
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(Sanuso NSFW / Not explicit tho)
If Sanji ever caught Usopp smoking I think he'd moan on the spot and would start malfunctioning. Like. His brain would instantly stop working and it would only be filled with Usoppsmokingusoppcigaretteusoppusoppusopp- And while he's having a whole sexual crisis wondering why the hell he finds Usopp smoking so hot, Usopp has no idea what the hell is going on.
Imagine Usopp smoking just because he smokes from time to time, just not as much as Sanji because that's fucking insane for an average person like him. And suddenly he has his boyfriend stuttering and blushing and visibly shaking next to him because he's... Smoking? Usopp finds out rather quickly that for some reason that does something to Sanji.
My brain is going wild with ideas right now but... Let's say Sanji ends up sitting on top of Usopp and let's say Usopp shotguns Sanji. The cook is a whimpering mess and Usopp isn't even trying to be sexy.
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