I, Ryan Timothy Bish, being of sound mind & solid badassery, do hereby challenge myself to name fifty (50)* female Asian superheroes who have half a chance of being familiar to American audiences who are not otaku; if at all possible, I should like to see this done without any Internet searching, in other words, "off the top of my head."
READY? OKAY, GO:
- Sailor Moon (sadly, there is something of an argument about whether or not most
or allanime characters are "supposed to be" Caucasian anyway) - Sailor Mercury
- Sailor Mars
- Sailor Jupiter
- Sailor Venus
- Sailor Pluto
- Sailor Uranus
- Sailor Neptune
- Sailor Saturn
- Sailor Chibi Moon
- Jubilee
- Psylocke (and an argument could be made that she "doesn't count" since she was originally white; her twin brother is the very blond Captain Britain)
- Dani Moonstar
- Dust
- Hisako Ichiki (you would think Joss Whedon, of all people, could be counted on to make more of an effort to get more people talking about this; his fondness for badass Asian females is not exactly a secret, but approximately 85% of his human characters are ALL WHITE)
- Cassandra Cain (I am allergic to the New 52. Does she even exist anymore?)
- Wasp (the Ultimate version of the character, who was killed after everyone stopped caring about the Ultimate Universe)
- Nico Minoru (true story: in Brian K. Vaughan's original pitch, he was very specific about his intention for the group to have four girls and two boys to "buck tradition")
- Yukio (is "secret lesbian lover of Storm" enough to qualify as a superhero?)
- Dr. Alison Mann (you could easily argue that she's not exactly a superhero, but the question that I would ask you to ask yourself is something like this one: Did she, or did she not, save the human race from utter extinction?)
- Katara
- Toph Beifong
- Princess Yue
- Avatar Korra, the most powerful person ~on the planet~ (thank you, Mike; thank you, Bryan; thank you, Nickelodeon!)
- Asami
- Lin Beifong
what the hell was Sage's ethnicity supposed to be- Hay Lin (does anybody else wish W.I.T.C.H. had been more successful, or is it just me?)
- Karma
- Trini Kwan (who, let's be honest, happened to be the Yellow Ranger because Thuy Trang was Vietnamese, much like Walter Jones was the Black Ranger because, well, obvious reasons; for shame, Saban, shame on you, shame on your face)
- Cassie Chan
- Alyssa Enrilé
- Madison Rocca
- Vida Rocca
- Mia Watanabe
- Emma Goodall
- Grace Choi
- Nancy Lu (oh my goodness, oh my goodness - I completely forgot about her, I haven't re-read Spider-Girl in ages & ages)
- Jolt
- Katana (personally, I don't know anything about her other than a) her name and b) her status as a supporting character in the latest new Batman animated series - but seriously, her name sounds like something of a "Trini Kwan" situation, don'tcha think?)
- Juniper Lee (why did I never watch this show?)
- Thunder
- Lightning
- Alex Munday
- Satsu the Vampire Slayer
- . . .
One of my best friends, Sho Tanahara (who, as you may be able to infer from her last name, hails from a small town just outside of Tokyo) asked me recently why I care so much about finding stories that feature strong female characters and/or people of color.
At the time, I told her I didn't know what to tell her, as I was simply "wired that way."
What I should've done was paraphrase Joss** and say,
"Because people are still asking why I care so much. I intend to keep caring until people quit asking. This should not be such a big deal in the Year of Our Lord two thousand and fucking thirteen, but it absolutely still is, and I just can't stand it."
______________
*That might sound like kind of a lot, but take half a second to remind yourself just how easy it would be to name more than twice as many superheroes who are white males (for example, every title character from every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who is not Black Widow, just for starters).
**When in doubt, paraphrase Joss Whedon. It's as uncomplicated as it is simple.
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