The anime series “Naruto“, is a type of anime particularly geared towards young males under the age of 18 otherwise known as shonen. Like all shonen anime, it is sexist in nature and patriarchal in structure. By this, I am referring to the large amount of sexual objectification and physical powerlessness of the female characters in general.
In this series, the main female character Sakura has little to no physical power, is intelligent (but hardly knows how to use her intelligence) , and completely boy crazy. Most of the series she is obsessed with one of the leading male characters named Sasuke. She fights with another female character half of the series over whether or not she will be Sasuke’s love toy. Sakura, unlike her male colleagues, is far from being viewed as a hero.
As the male characters of the series fighting abilities increase, the leading female characters abilities remain stagnant. Most of the main female characters appear afraid or physically weak during combat. This view of females as weaker than males is a gender stereotyping tactic often used in the entertainment industry that is believed to appeal to males. There are a couple of female characters who are good at fighting, but they usually end up losing a battle when up against a male (which is most of the time). One strong female character that seldom loses is the 5th Hokage Tsunade. Tsunade is physically stronger than probably any character on the series, and unbelievably intelligent. She is capable of performing genjustu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu extremely well.
Ageism (Jeunism) is a factor with Tsunade. The writers of the story made it to where Tsunade appears younger than she really is. She also happens to have inherited the largest breasts on the show. Ironically, she may well be a legendary senin, but she is also unbelievably sexually objectified and not allowed to age unlike the male characters of the show.
![[large][AnimePaper]scans_Bleach_ganjyu-san_47971](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/2332774930_eb2c222318_t.jpg "[large][AnimePaper]scans_Bleach_ganjyu-san_47971")
