Which Anime Feature Female Domination As A Central Theme?

These shows feature female dominated settings and organizations, and thus can provide a list of titles that center on these themes. The ways in which domination is explored in these shows varies. There is Kakegurui which centers on psychological and social means of domination, Kill la Kill which focuses on an authoritarian and symbolic leadership, and Claymore which is focused on a mostly institutionalized and largely martial way of life. Utena and Yuri Kuma Arashi are surreal, delve deeply into the emotional lives of their characters, and explore gender in a variety of ways.

Other classic and grounded female-dominated works look at how physical, social or cultural structures can be dominated by one person or group. These stories, such as ‘The Rose of Versailles’ and ‘Michiko & Hatchin’ are great to watch to see how domination plays out and can be structured, often by asking questions such as who set up the rules, who enforces them and how do others react in these situations. As mentioned previously, I really enjoy how these works can be really empowering in some cases and really unsettling in others.

In power struggle anime, there are only a few titles where women dominate. ‘Kakegurui’ is one of those titles as it is a strategic study of how to dominate socially through gambling. Psychological manipulation, intimidation and charm are utilized by the Student Council members as well as a few other female characters to control the school and they do it very strategically which is very thrilling as they are not just exploiting males’ urges for eroticism.

I think another great series to list would be ‘Kill la Kill’, it’s a very engaging and entertaining series that immerses the viewer into a world of lots of action, class, and governing. The high school is ruled by the Student Council President Satsuki, along with the Elite Four, and it really explores female-led control in almost an operatic way. The other series I think that should be listed is ‘Claymore’. For the most part the world of Claymore is made up of and run by warrior women who physically and in terms of governing completely dominate the cast of male humans as well as the other female humans in the background of the series. It really creates a very engaging and somewhat grim world that really portrays female strength as the normal and even dominant way to be.

I realize that many people want to see female domination in an interesting way and ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ and ‘Yuri Kuma Arashi’ both explore the theme of gender, desire and control in a number of ways. Both are quite surreal and neither ever treats female domination as a simple trope or only as something to look at. Instead both explore it in a number of complex ways and often in ways that are quite uncomfortable to watch.

While some shows appear to dress up the concept of female dominance in a costume and go on to explore it through various tones, there are others which actually delve deeply into the aspects of female dominance in terms of control. A good example of this is the storyline of Princess Principal, where the majority of the lead characters are female spies who use manipulation, deception and everything else at their disposal in order to control a given situation and come out on top.

' The Rose of Versailles' (an old one but good) explores historical power struggles. Oscar is a woman brought up as a commander in an aristocratic, male dominated world. She tries to exert her authority in court life and her struggle is portrayed as both revolutionary for the gender and tragic for her personal circumstances.

Another really good example of human personality dominating the plot would be Michiko & Hatchin, particularly Michiko. Then for those who enjoy a show based more around the institutional dominance of women, there’s Simoun which features an all-female society with their own society, rules, etc. These all display different forms of domination: political, personal, martial, societal, etc. as opposed to simply applying a single plot device in order to portray such, and each does a fantastic job at relating to that portrayal through their characters and environments.