On Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime (where most waifu avatars come from):
"Generally, all the main characters are female. Male characters tend to be rare, sometimes entirely absent from the series. The context is oftentimes a girls’ high-school or something similar.
"And all the characters are ultra-feminine blobs of cuteness who tend to express their utter joy in life in the most cheerful and dramatic ways possible, or at least represent various stereotypes of femininity that exist in Japanese culture. They showcase purified, sterilized, highly idealized versions of femininity.
"So this is like My Little Pony and 'bronies' then, right? Adult men creating a subculture around cartoons made for young girls?
"Well, not quite. These anime are made for men. The official target demographic is more often than not 'seinen,' meaning adolescent boys and young men, sometimes older men even. Which is also why the female characters are frequently covertly or overtly sexualized. (I won’t even get into the whole pedophilic aspect of it.)
"The Japanese seem to have learned to turn the repressed femininity of young men into profit.
"By the way, said representation of female characters is not unique to CGDCT. Romantic comedies, action anime, and really any genre of anime frequently contain female characters of the same nature. One doesn’t need to indulge in die-hard CGDCT subculture to be bathed in this representation of joyful hyper-femininity.
"For the repressed lonely boy, getting into such anime is first of all a way to indulge in the joys of femininity in a way he himself finds acceptable. It may not be entirely socially acceptable for young men to watch “girly” anime, but the male-dominated subculture around them, and the knowledge that the anime are 'officially' made for young men, provides sufficient self-justification to overcome the internal fear of indulging in the 'girly.' Moreover, the female characters are not only adored, but frequently also sexualized, which provides further masculinity-conformant justification.
"Eventually, since the anime girl represents all those repressed emotions in the purest, most concentrated way possible, and as the boy indulges more and more in the media, he is overcome with the desire of becoming like her. A strong identification with the cute anime girl forms. He finally admits he always wanted to be soft and gentle like her, carefree and cheerful like her, enjoy life in its fullest without the heavy chains of masculinity, like her.
"And a belief in 'female gender identity' begins to form."
- Dr. Ray Blanchard, world's foremost troon typologist
"Generally, all the main characters are female. Male characters tend to be rare, sometimes entirely absent from the series. The context is oftentimes a girls’ high-school or something similar.
"And all the characters are ultra-feminine blobs of cuteness who tend to express their utter joy in life in the most cheerful and dramatic ways possible, or at least represent various stereotypes of femininity that exist in Japanese culture. They showcase purified, sterilized, highly idealized versions of femininity.
"So this is like My Little Pony and 'bronies' then, right? Adult men creating a subculture around cartoons made for young girls?
"Well, not quite. These anime are made for men. The official target demographic is more often than not 'seinen,' meaning adolescent boys and young men, sometimes older men even. Which is also why the female characters are frequently covertly or overtly sexualized. (I won’t even get into the whole pedophilic aspect of it.)
"The Japanese seem to have learned to turn the repressed femininity of young men into profit.
"By the way, said representation of female characters is not unique to CGDCT. Romantic comedies, action anime, and really any genre of anime frequently contain female characters of the same nature. One doesn’t need to indulge in die-hard CGDCT subculture to be bathed in this representation of joyful hyper-femininity.
"For the repressed lonely boy, getting into such anime is first of all a way to indulge in the joys of femininity in a way he himself finds acceptable. It may not be entirely socially acceptable for young men to watch “girly” anime, but the male-dominated subculture around them, and the knowledge that the anime are 'officially' made for young men, provides sufficient self-justification to overcome the internal fear of indulging in the 'girly.' Moreover, the female characters are not only adored, but frequently also sexualized, which provides further masculinity-conformant justification.
"Eventually, since the anime girl represents all those repressed emotions in the purest, most concentrated way possible, and as the boy indulges more and more in the media, he is overcome with the desire of becoming like her. A strong identification with the cute anime girl forms. He finally admits he always wanted to be soft and gentle like her, carefree and cheerful like her, enjoy life in its fullest without the heavy chains of masculinity, like her.
"And a belief in 'female gender identity' begins to form."
- Dr. Ray Blanchard, world's foremost troon typologist
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