Female Protagonists Are Freer than Male Protagonists, Says Writer
A Japanese writer has sparked an interesting discussion about character creation: He claims that female protagonists are freer to write than male protagonists. According to him, some recent Gundam characters would be a good example of this.
The discussion began when the writer known as Kanda Yamato explained why he often writes female protagonists in his works. In his opinion, male characters today end up carrying too many expectations, while female characters have a little more freedom to act, make mistakes, and show their emotions.
And he went even further, using several Gundam protagonists to explain his point of view.
Female Protagonists Are Freer — Male Protagonists Face More Pressure
According to Kanda Yamato, male protagonists are often expected to fulfill a series of roles imposed by the audience. They need to be strong, make decisions, protect others, take responsibility, and often serve as the main force driving the story forward.
The writer summarized the idea by saying:
“Male protagonists have too many roles expected of them, so they have very little freedom.”
And, according to him, this can make it harder to write a male protagonist without some members of the audience criticizing his actions. To explain his opinion, the writer mentioned characters from several recent Gundam works.
One of the examples he mentioned was Bellri Zenam, the protagonist of Gundam: Reconguista in G. Bellri is officially presented as the series’ protagonist and becomes involved in a major adventure after encountering the G-Self.
In Kanda’s view, Bellri is a character who shows concern for the people around him, yet he still ended up receiving criticism and even being labeled as having psychological problems by some viewers.
He then mentioned Kira Yamato from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED as another example of a male protagonist who became the target of a lot of criticism.
The comparison becomes even more interesting when we get to Machu, the protagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX.
According to the writer, while male characters like Bellri and Kira are often judged for their actions, Machu can act more freely and is even praised for seeking her own freedom.
“If Machu Were a Man, She Would Receive Much More Criticism”
The post ended up sparking a discussion among Japanese users, with some people agreeing with the idea.
One commenter pointed out that male protagonists are often expected to possess some kind of “strength” and act as the person who drives the story forward.
Another user pointed out that a male protagonist can rarely simply be someone who needs to be protected or prefers to go with the flow. There is an expectation that he should not “depend” on others and should be responsible for protecting his companions.
Another comment made an even more interesting observation: as a male protagonist gains more companions, he may eventually be pressured into taking on a kind of fatherly role.
Female protagonists, on the other hand, are not always expected to take on the same level of responsibility.
There were also people who partially agreed with the idea but pointed out that this could create other limitations for female characters.
One person commented that female characters have more freedom to cry, run away, or show their emotions without receiving the same kind of criticism that a male protagonist would.
On the other hand, there may be a different kind of limitation when it comes to physical violence against these characters.
Some fans disagreed with the interpretation of Bellri and Machu, arguing that the characters have very different personalities and circumstances, and that it is not so simple to say that one of them is “freer” simply because she is a woman.
Others argued exactly the opposite: if Machu were a male character, she would probably receive much more criticism for some of her actions.
One comment summed up this opinion by saying that if Machu were a man, he would be “much more heavily criticized” and would probably end up being a difficult character to like.