Crystal Cadets #1 Champions Young Girls and Diversity

[roseofbattle]

Crystal Cadets #1 Champions Young Girls and Diversity

Friendship, magic, dragons, and lots of different girls make the first issue of Crystal Cadets a success, even if it's not doing anything terribly new yet.

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[Davroth]

For all the racial diversity at display in the comic, I can't help but notice that they still fall into the trap of having average bodied girls, not a single overweight one.. I suppose you better have a good metabolism if you want to be special.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

For all the racial diversity at display in the comic, I can't help but notice that they still fall into the trap of having average bodied girls, not a single overweight one.. I suppose you better have a good metabolism if you want to be special.

Although I have no problem with overweight people I think the lack of overweight characters probably stems from the so called obesity problem that was talked about so much.

 

[roseofbattle]

For all the racial diversity at display in the comic, I can't help but notice that they still fall into the trap of having average bodied girls, not a single overweight one.. I suppose you better have a good metabolism if you want to be special.

While I agree that none of the characters appear overweight -- at least not heavily overweight -- I believe some characters are a bit wider than others and have shorter and thicker limbs while others have longer and skinnier limbs. At the very least, they each look quite different one another.

A lot of this comes down to art style, but the characters are larger than those you see in other magical girl comics in Japan where the art styles tend to favor characters with long limbs and skinny bodies. You see this in Sailor Moon a lot. I feel like many of the characters in that series look pretty similar except for height differences and hair styles.

 

[Davroth]

For all the racial diversity at display in the comic, I can't help but notice that they still fall into the trap of having average bodied girls, not a single overweight one.. I suppose you better have a good metabolism if you want to be special.

Although I have no problem with overweight people I think the lack of overweight characters probably stems from the so called obesity problem that was talked about so much.

How thin you can be has a lot to do with your genetics. Some girls (actually quite a lot of them) can't get that thin no matter how much they try. I believe it's rather unhealthy for society to perpetuate the idea that something is wrong with them. Childhood obesity sure is a problem, but there is something between obese and perfect little dolls like the ones in this comic, at least the panels we can see here.

 

[jackpipsam]

Looks interesting.
I will buy a copy if I see it at the comic shop which I go to.

 

[Davroth]

For all the racial diversity at display in the comic, I can't help but notice that they still fall into the trap of having average bodied girls, not a single overweight one.. I suppose you better have a good metabolism if you want to be special.

While I agree that none of the characters appear overweight -- at least not heavily overweight -- I believe some characters are a bit wider than others and have shorter and thicker limbs while others have longer and skinnier limbs. At the very least, they each look quite different one another.

A lot of this comes down to art style, but the characters are larger than those you see in other magical girl comics in Japan where the art styles tend to favor characters with long limbs and skinny bodies. You see this in Sailor Moon a lot. I feel like many of the characters in that series look pretty similar except for height differences and hair styles.

Yup, but that is a problem intrinsic to manga and anime anyway. And I don't really think it's a great excuse. And I mean, heck, it's a comic book. The character's physique is already stylized to a degree. What stops the artist from breaking the mold and divert from the status quo? Especially when diversity is such a prevalent theme?

To recall an example from recent memory, here, this is Amethyst from the TV series Steven Universe, one of the four protagonists.

I realize this is a lot more stylized then what the comic was going for, but there's also the initial concept art for the pilot:

Spoiler

All I'm saying is that I think there should be room for a little more diversity in body type as well. Racial diversity is not really something new in comics, and female characters aren't, either.

Feel free to disagree, but from personal experience there is a rather hefty stigma attached to not being thin, and the media doesn't really do anything to alleviate that issue. Rather, I found that it gets perpetuated rather heavily.

Off the top of my head, the number if not thin (or muscular) female (or male) protagonist characters in any kind of media is low enough to count on my fingers.

 

[Khrowley]

Is it wrong that it irks me when people say racial diversity but the main focus is a white person or am I just being over sensitive? I do like the art however as it feels very reminiscent of Studio Ghibli.

 

[UberPubert]

Is it wrong that it irks me when people say racial diversity but the main focus is a white person or am I just being over sensitive? I do like the art however as it feels very reminiscent of Studio Ghibli.

I found it more amusing than irksome that a comic "championing diversity" has a pretty white blonde girl front and center on the cover. Fill every other supporting role with black girls, but don't you dare touch pretty white blonde girl protagonists spot! Aintchu seen Sailor Moon? Shit's sacred.

In all seriousness I don't really care; this kind of thing is so far away from my cup of tea it's practically pink lemonade, diverse cast or not. I just think it's odd the byline is "Champions Young Girls and Diversity" when the review acknowledges up front that "magical young girls" genre is so played out in anime it's a joke and the diversity doesn't apply to the protagonist.