FANSERVICE AND THE USE OF THE FEMALE GAZE – A CASE STUDY OF JUJUTSU KAISEN, FROM MANGA TO ANIME ADAPTION

SCRIPT

My piece is titled FANSERVICE AND THE USE OF THE FEMALE GAZE – A CASE STUDY OF JUJUTSU KAISEN, FROM MANGA TO ANIME ADAPTION with special attention to the SHIBUYA INCIDENT ARC of season two.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

First I must define the female gaze as it relates to the topic. Then I will discuss the anime itself with a side step over to anime and mange genres. Then I will cover characters that help establish the female gaze through their representation, context, and attractive natures. And I will end by talking about the show’s popularity in general.

FEMALE GAZE

The definition of the female gaze that I will be using today is derived from the theory put forth by Doctors Janssenn and Bancroft, known as the “Dual Control Model of Sexual Response”. This theory has been made widely accessible in the book “Come As You Are” where a theme of understanding your sex life is a prominent.

This theory, to put it very generally, expresses that sexual arousal is made of accelerators and brakes, and context is very important. I will echo these sentiments, but I will be looking at accelerators and context today. I want to be clear that when I say arousal, I am referring to the lower end of the arousal spectrum. I am referring to interest, attraction, and general pleasantries then all out arousal.

I would argue that the lower end of the arousal spectrum is a good place to talk about the female gaze being present in anime, a place where it is usually very underrepresented. I am reflecting on Jujutsu Kaisen’s awareness of the female gaze (or female arousal, female interest) by its use of good female representatives, good context, and attractive characters.

CLASSIC FG EXAMPLES

To set the tone and get some wheels turning, I want to point out some significant instances of the female gaze that have been made in television and literature lately. Some of the most notable examples of this are seen in the television show Outlander, with the dynamics of Husband and Wife, Jamie and Claire Fraser.

Perhaps more recognizable to this audience is the Romantasy Genre. The genre is still finding its true grounding mostly due to there being no singluar definition of Romantasy yet. But authors like Sarah J Maas, and more recently Rebecca Yarros are putting romantasy and the female gaze at the center stage. Their popularity and profits alone can surely be evidence of the number of female-gaze consumers that appreciate their due fanservie.

Two smaller examples are the internet sensation of Mr. Darcy’s hands as they clench in frustration after touching Elizabeth’s hand, in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice remake. I will touch more on hands later.

Also, the scene in the original Jurassic Park film when Malcolm (jeff Goldblum) grabs Ellie’s head (Laura Dern) in the jeep and turns her to look at the dinosaurs.

WHAT IS JJK

Jujutsu kaisen is a manga turned anime about, and to quote IMDB: “a boy who swallows a cursed a talisman - the finger of a demon - and becomes cursed himself. He enters a shaman’s school to be able to locate the demon’s other body parts and thus exorcise himself.” -IMDB

I am Primarily going to be discussing at the Anime adaption here today.

PLACES TO IMPROVE THIS CONVERSATION

Lie in Expanding the sex and gender spectrums and the representation of them. I do appreciate everything that was just said in the presentation before me. Additionally, the clash and overlap of Japanese versus American character archetypes and trope values.

But I digress…

MANGA GENRES

In order to understand the value of JJK in the world today, we must first look briefely at manga genres. There are a few subgenres of manga. The most well known and most popular is Shonen.

Shonen is advertised toward young boys and men. Amines such as Dragon Ball, Bleach, One

Piece and Naruto are all Shonen works. I will making some small comparisons to my personal favorite, Naruto throughout.

JJK is a Shonen. Interestingly, the television show is rated for mature audiences in the US and I think this is due more to the creepy spirits and gore than anything sexual or otherwise. Genres befitting the female gaze usually fall under JOSEI, which is typically slice of life romance, or BL, which stands for Boys Love. But BL really serves as a catch all term and genre for anything outside of the heteronormative, and this is met with some frustration.

One really informative collective analysis on manga genres and female audiences, and norms is n Kathryn Hemmann’s dissertation-like book, featured here.

THREE MEMBER SQUAD

The main character of the show is Yuji, the boy who swallowed the demon’s finger, pictured here as the pink haired boy. His main accomplices are his fellow Tokyo JJ High School first year students Megumi and Nobara. The three person squad that reports to one Sensei is really reminiscent of Naruto, but this team differs in one huge way….

REPRESENTATION CHARACTERS

….that way is with the female member of the squad. Nobara.

I do want to add, that JJK doesn’t have the Boob shots or “waifu” of most anime. And this exclusion was not missed by female fans. Anyways…. Nobara is not here to be a love interest, something I call the “Sakura Effect”. Nobara is a girls girl, who prefers to hang with her female friends over gross teenage boys. She defies the mold of most anime women and girls by her use of crass language. But she uses her temper, language, and informality to be one of the “boys” and not in as a mothering figure, like many girls often are portrayed as. Nobara also uses a hammer and nails as her magical weapon of choice, which are traditionally masculine items. She is still girly, in her love of shopping and desire to be a model.

The second major representative girl character is Maki Zenin. She is important because she is openly trying to break the system, to break the patriarchy. And she is doing it without magic, but by her shear strength. She’s breaking the system honestly and in a traditionally masculine way- through her raw physicality. I do admit that Maki has a much larger role to come imminently in the anime, if it follows the manga, where we see this become a reality.

YOUNG MEN CONTEXT CHARACTERS

okay, so we have our great female representative characters, the ones we want to be and see ourselves in. But now we need good context characters. Good friends, and reliable humans surrounding “us”. I say “US” as if the viewer is allowing themselves to be immersed in and feel like they are taking part in this show.

Rounding out our three-member team, we return to Yuji and Megumi. Yuji is a classic Naruto or Goku character – a super strong dummy with a heart of gold. He has a natural hero complex (I say natural to imply he is genuine, and not an Achilles type). In season 2, Yuji even has a notable filler-episode where he is portrayed to see a person for what is inside. This is done when he recognizes someone from his past, but she is on the other side of her “glow up”, and yet he identifies her with ease. But anyway…. Yuju is a good friend because he is protective and because he will fight FOR you.

Then we have Megumi, a classic Sasuke type. He is grumpy, edgy, dark and twisted inside. He is an orphan. More than that he is naturally very powerful as well. True to “Save the Cat”, he loves animals, as it is part of his magical abilities. Fun fact, his name “Megumi” is seen as very feminine. I have seen some places say it is the equivalent of Emily, painting him as soft. Megumi is a good friend because he is protective in the sense that he will die for you.

So Yuji will fight for you, and Megumi will die for you.

ATTRACTIVE CHARACTERS

Okay this is what we are here for. Part of the female gaze was seen in our representative girl characters, (so we see ourselves in the anime) our context friend characters, (so we feel comfortable and safe) so now we can begin to feel that arousal, that interest and attraction.

There are many in JJK that the title “Attractive” could go to, but nothing compares to SATORU GOJO.

JJK creater, Akutami is quoted time and time again as designing Gojo to be (and I am paraphrasing) “as obviously attractive as possible”.

This is the sensei of our three-member high school team. Gojo is attractive for his physical traits: white hair trope, he is nicknamed “the strongest” in all of his society. He has big hands, unlimited energy, and is very rich  I want to make a note here that, the viewer really doesn’t see much skin. He wears full sleeves and a mask most of the time. This shows that the female gaze can, in some ways, directly oppose the way the male gaze usually operates.

Gojo is also attractive for his actions; he is a teacher by choice, he adopts a child, an enemy clan’s child. He breaks rules to save his team (very Kakashi, to stick to the Naruto echos). He is goofy but completely unhinged when he needs to fight. There is a lot of offline dialogue and un- subtle references to him being homosexual.

Fun fact, there is a rumor all across the internet that EYES are the most expensive thing to animate in an anime and … Gojo clearly got a healthy budget for his eyes.

HANDS. – TYPICAL FG FANSERVICE

Other examples of straight female gaze in the show are seen in the charater Toji Fushiguro. He’s a jerk, mobster type, but he has a clear physique and fighting skill. He is the only “Daddy” in the show, and his deep love to his wife almost makes up for his mobster past.

Another example is Nananmi Kento. He’s had quite a long reign over the internet fandoms and forums. He still does. This particular character was given a little bit of extra female gaze attention when comparing the anime from the manga, as he was depicted grabbing a ponytail (seen here) in the midst of a fight. And just before that, he was shown strutting toward an enemy, in his business suit, wrapping a necktie around his fists.

Hands are kind of a popular visual in the female gaze. You’ll recall Mr. Darcy, and Jurassic Park. Nonetheless, Nanami had female fans by the ponytail for months. He even has a shrine in Malaysia, and this is relevant to his character. A final example can be seen in the characters Choso and Suguru Geto. These two deserve more time and conversation, but I will summarize by highlighting their more traditional outfits. They exude confidence and maturity, but a slip of the wrist and peak of the forearm feels like a special treat to fans.

POPULARITY

While the last two slides were really fun, I don’t want to take away from why this is important. To put it simply, JJK is popular. It is being seen, recommended, shared. Female fans are seeing the fanservice, and they’re noticing.

Examples of this show’s popularity can be seen when NASA posted a photo on their Johnson Center account on Instagram @NASAJohnson, in which they shared Tokyo’s city lights at night from space. JJK Fans flooded the comment sections on all social media platforms with the phrase “You Are My Special”. This is because the anime also uses clips and stills of tokyo’s lights at night from space. And “You are my special” is a direct reference to the intro song of the season 2 Shibuya incident Arc.

The Show is popular among celebrities, like Usher who played this past Super Bowl Halftime, Meghan the Stallion, Bruno Mars, and Jungkook all being fans of the show and manga. The show has an 8.6 rating on IMDB, the movie has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 4.9 of 5 stars on crunchyroll.

AWARDS

If that isn’t proof enough, evidence of the way this anime is really a large tool for the female gaze to get more time to shine, is this list of the awards that JJK won just this past year.. To include 2024 Anime of the year, action, opening and ending sequences. And our heartthrob himself, Satoru Gojo winning Best Supporting Character.

FORMULA TO THE FEMALE GAZE IN JUJUTSU KAISEN

So, the formula of the female gaze as found in JJK Is … Representation. The women and girls see themselves in the show. Context. Women and Girls are safe and have healthy friends. They feel supported and necessary.

Attractive visuals and behaviours. Some Female gaze specific visuals like hands, jaws, and many types of masculinity are seen in this show. I haven’t even scratched the surface. Jujutsu Kaisen is a wildly popular shonen anime with no shortage of Female Gaze undertones, and women have noticed.

CLOSING COMMENTS

There are rumors about Gege Akutami, the creater of the manga,’s gender. Most of the gossip is Japanese, but it is theorized that Akumtami is a woman, although unfounded.

While I have spent this entire presentation praising the forward movements that the animator company, MAPPA, has made, it would be a gross misrepresentation to not mention the controversy surrounding the studio. As of now, season 2 that I have just talked about, is unfinished because of unreasonable work hours and treatment of its workers. Again, most reliable news in in Japanese. But I wanted to make these issues apparent.