In the belly of the whale

see, i feel that no matter how ‘strong’ a female character is, if she does not play a significant part in moving the plot of a story along, she isn’t… really written that well, and it’s clear 2 me that she’s pretty much an afterthought. like, as an example, i really love nobara from jjk, but i don’t think i’d call gege the pinnacle of writing female characters, because at the end of the day, if u removed like. almost all the female characters from jjk, not much would change. and that’s not very compelling, in my eyes. praise for female shounen characters should be doled out very carefully, because in so many cases, the ‘badass’ woman is one that’s there just for the sake of having one, and not because she’s integral to the plot. if a woman’s decisions and choices don’t affect the plot significantly, i don’t generally consider her 2 be written with respect or care. like the question is does she have AGENCY

in all honesty nobara upsets me because i LIKE her so much. i think she has a lot of potential. i like that she’s confident, i like that she’s bold, i like that she isn’t condemned for not having a ton of empathy for others, i like that she’s able to articulate her own desires and goals. so i don’t understand why gege isn’t doing more with her; why she’s always swiftly incapacitated in arcs, or kind of standing around in the background despite being a main character, or getting injured so her male counterparts will feel pain. i don’t want her to be wasted, i want her to be important to the story, to affect the way things play out. ugh