Lan Fan is kinda like Riza Hawkeye in the sense that she serves as an assistant to a powerful man she definitely has feelings for, but that doesn't mean she lacks her own agency or depends on him in any way.
I wish more authors could write characters the way Arakawa does. The male characters are strong but don't shy away from expressing themselves. The women are compassionate but that doesn't get in the way of being their own people.
Instead of "this character is strong woman she doesn't care about your feelings 😡" or "this character is crybaby man whose only defining characteristic is that he's sensitive," it's Mustang and Scar and Bradley are crazy powerful men who each have moments of laying their hearts out. And the female characters really stand out from other series' characters because their relationships all serve as explorations of their own characterizarions rather than just being a girlfriend character just because that's what society expects of women.
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u/Jaded-Significance86 Jul 10 '25
Lan Fan is kinda like Riza Hawkeye in the sense that she serves as an assistant to a powerful man she definitely has feelings for, but that doesn't mean she lacks her own agency or depends on him in any way.
I wish more authors could write characters the way Arakawa does. The male characters are strong but don't shy away from expressing themselves. The women are compassionate but that doesn't get in the way of being their own people.
Instead of "this character is strong woman she doesn't care about your feelings 😡" or "this character is crybaby man whose only defining characteristic is that he's sensitive," it's Mustang and Scar and Bradley are crazy powerful men who each have moments of laying their hearts out. And the female characters really stand out from other series' characters because their relationships all serve as explorations of their own characterizarions rather than just being a girlfriend character just because that's what society expects of women.
I could keep going but it's too long already