Each female design is pretty much designed like your usual female fan-service character in the usual shonen anime. Another trope to cater to where they look nothing like a martial artist which is what we are all desiring.
See, it's hyperbole like this i can't agree with. You have great points about there being a lack of diversity in the female cast. I agree with them!
But then for some reason you feel the need to skip fully ahead to badmouthing what's there and going 'Oh and also the whole female cast in the Tekken series is otaku-pandering garbage and they all look the same, which is nothing like a martial artist.'
With little to support it. Why foul the waters with such far-fetched stuff?
I don't think you're completely understanding my perspective here.
#1: Male roster is not at all homogenous and features good diversity as far as age, body type, personality goes.
Let's go through this again:
This is the current female roster:
Lili
Asuka
Xiaoyu
Chloe
Josie
Alisa
Katarina
Leo
Kazumi
6 out of these 9 characters have many homogenous traits ranging from
1. Age (demonstrated): Alisa is the only one without an age because she's a robot but still behaves like a nine year old.
2. Body type (demonstrated): AAK's posts clearly demonstrate this.
3. Personality of a teenage child (demonstrated):
Lili/Asuka: corny schoolgirl rivalry
Alisa/Xiaoyu: (Watch Blood Vengeance/No comment needed)
Josie: Weeping girl
Chloe: pop star break dancer dressed in a cat costume.....not sure much else needs to be said here.
I understand. My assertion is that you are (unreasonably) not seeing any variety in the female side of the cast because, perhaps because you care less for many of those characters. You're painting them with very, very broad strokes and then you say they're all the same. All the while -not- doing the same for the male side.
Let me make an equivalent broad strokes sort of claim, for reference: (One i don't ascribe to, but just to demonstrate)
1. Age between ~18-45, fully grown, still fit enough to fight
2. muscled build of a martial artist
3. personality of a determined fighter
Well, that's almost the whole male cast! They must all be the same! QED
I can see variety just fine in the female characters you mentioned.
Lili and Asuka are made to be -opposites-. Yes, they're the same age, but one is the standard snooty ojousama trope (very popular, a good pick~ ) and the other is a rough&tumble down to earth commoner. It shows in their mannerisms and and their fighting style. They are not the same character.
How can you call Alisa the same as either of them? She's a robot with chainsaws and thrusters and headbombs! Seriously? How is that 'just another schoolgirl #4'?
How can you call LC the same? If she was -just- another Lili, AAK wouldn't be spouting the bile he has over her. She's trolly in her win pose and fighting style, her design is divisive at best, and A LOT of people hate her guts (and some people like her because she's so hated). That's not the same as the other characters on your list, is it? According to many people she has the worst design in Tekken history or something. Alright. That's not just another schoolgirl either then.
Josie isn't 'just another schoolgirl #5' either, going by body type or outfit. I don't know what her age is. Her face looks young but her build with the smaller head and longer limbs seems more in line with the mature characters. Yes, the crying seems irritating and she sure cribbed Bruce's style. So? Those also make her -not the same- as the other characters.
Those are my views on it at least.
None of these characters are mature, and yet they're competing in a world class King of the Iron Fist tournament where the best of the best fighters come to compete to win prize money. It's fine to have a few of these type of characters (like how there is goofy Paul on the male side), but to have these characters become staples over Jun, Kunimitsu, Julia, Zafina, Christie, etc. is disappointing to say the least. We don't need more of these schoolgirl characters. We need less of them, which goes back to my comment on Namco's "super ultra kawaii" focus.
Right. I'm disappointed my preferences didn't make it in either, though they are probably different from yours. I'd like to see Jun, Zafina, Kunimitsu back, and i'd love to see characters such as AAK has been suggesting. Those are some swell suggestions!
But you (and AAK) are arguing from a false premise which i don't agree with, which is that there are tons of schoolgirl characters and that they are all the same, and that this is objectively a problem because Namco is doing nothing but pandering to otaku.
Nah. Nuh uh. =P
I've said this before. Even assuming Tekken males are super homogeneous as you're claiming (which they're not), how is that a defense for also having a homogeneous female roster?
It wouldn't be. And I'm not saying the male side is 'super homogenous'. I think it has 'okay' variety. And contrary to what your claims, i'm asserting the female side also has 'passable' variety, considering the size of it.
Claiming the female side of the roster, or even a large majority of it, is 'all the same schoolgirl design' is entirely false in my view.
And calling a large majority of the female roster objectively bad or intolerable just because they don't align with your preferences is unwarranted and unproductive. Just stating such aggressive opinions as facts is not that fun of a game to play, imo.
But we'd best leave the discussion at this and agree to disagree. We do all seem to want the same increase in diversity. I just don't agree with the hate crusade against the characters that are in there already.
No hard feelings Squirrel, but I think even you know the real reason we are increasingly seeing more and more underage, sexualized girls in Japanese games. It's just sad to see Tekken adopting this trend.
No hard feelings~
I'm going to dodge this loaded rhetoric question (which suddenly pulls in a whole other slew of issues i don't wish to discuss) and am going to read it as "Why are there so many young pretty female characters in many games, over the type of character i prefer?"
The answer is obvious. There are apparently more people that like that than those who want to see things in line with your preferences. Sure sucks. That doesn't make those people wrong somehow or the characters in question without value.