In honor of Women’s History Month, Byte is doing a month long Byteing Question about the most iconic female characters and why they matter. Every day two writers will look at two characters that are important to them in many different ways. Today, we look at Harley Quinn and Asuna
by Dalton Martin
Rarely do comic book characters come around that have as much popularity and influence as Harley Quinn does. The sidekick and love interest to the infamous villain, the Joker, has propelled from being an original character for Batman: the Animated Series to having her own series and being one of the main stars in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. This is quite the amazing feat given that most new characters tend to fade into obscurity in comics, yet Harley has held on to relevancy ever since her debut back in 1992.
The main reason the Clown Princess of Crime has remained one of my favorite female characters is that unlike most villains, she is never inherently evil, and tends to showcase some semblance of a moral compass not usually seen in comic villains. Shown in the classic episode ‘Harley’s Holiday,’ we’re given a glimpse at Harley outside of the Joker’s influence as she attempts to live a life outside of being a villain. She genuinely tries to put her past behind her, but eventually she snaps after everything and everyone is out to get her. Ultimately she returns to Arkham Asylum, but not before the audience sympathizes with her honest desire to live a ‘normal’ life outside of the criminal world.
One of the biggest character relationships that Harley has is her relationship with the Joker, which often fluctuates from being genuinely loving to being flat-out abusive. More times than not, the only time we ever see Harley hurt is by the hands of the Joker himself. This relationship perfectly illustrates the horrible truth behind most abusive relationships where even when faced with physical violence, Harley will usually stick with her puddin’ and blame herself. However, she never stays the victim for long as she has been known to strike back, almost killing the Joker in one particular fit of rage in the episode ‘Harlequinade.’ Harley Quinn is one of the most realistic characters in comics to date, with so many things making her relatable. Her relationship with the Joker is an example of the brutal reality of domestic abuse, she constantly fights herself over moral quandaries, and she mostly holds her own without any sort of special abilities (most of the time). She’s much more than some crazy, ditzy girl that hears voices in her head like the Suicide Squad trailer makes her out to be, rather she’s a genuine character that is ultimately deserving of her triple-A status in DC Comics.
by Whitney Gibson
Sword Art Online has both an extreme fandom of people who prop the anime on a pedestal and call it the best anime ever, and also has a bad reputation for being a stereotypical anime with too much focus on the romantic aspect of the series and focusing just too much on the female protagonist in general.
Watching the entirety of the SAO series, even SAO II when it was released, I can clearly see why there is such a huge bandwagon of haters for the series, and even for the character Asuna herself. However, there is much more to the development of Asuna as a character than what a lot of the haters are pointing out.
Yes, in the Alfheim Arc she was literally trapped within a bird cage for the entirety of the time, left to be a “damsel in distress”, being held against her will. And yes, there are people who were genuinely upset that Asuna took the role as main lead character over Kirito in SAO II when Yuuki was searching for a strong player, as Kirito was always considered the best player in Aincrad and practically revered by everybody who heard of him, so how dare this tsundere take his place!
However, looking at SAO as both an anime and as a game, Asuna is truly a strong female lead and asserts herself as more than just your average female character. Looking strictly at the gaming aspect, Asuna breaks the stereotype of the typical female gamer. She proves her might against Kirito, who was one of the select few who managed to play Sword Art Online in the beta, and even manages to gain rankings in the guild Knights of the Blood, where she gains a sub-leader status, organizing parties and raids to clear floors of Aincrad. From this perspective, not only is she breaking the stereotypes of the typical love-interest in anime, she is also breaking the idea that female gamers aren’t on a level playing field as male gamers.
Asuna also manages to debunk this stereotype even when she is forced into the damsel in distress role in the Alfheim Arc. Indeed, it was incredibly annoying to know the only intentions for Kirito to be interested in the game was to rescue Asuna (and really that was the only motivation for this arc at all), but even still in her situation Asuna managed to outsmart Suguo and almost managed to secure her own freedom before being put back in her place by the security… globs? As weird as that part of the anime was, she still managed to speed up her escape by releasing the card Kirito needed to enter into the World Tree.
And finally, we reach SAO II, into the second part of Alfheim where we run into Yuuki and her need for a strong companion for her guild, the Sleeping Knights, so they may clear the 27th floor and forever immortalize their names onto the Monument of Swordsmen. Indeed, I was with everybody else at this point in the anime; I was dissatisfied with how the Gun Gale Online arc had ended, and was now even more upset with the fact that Kirito, as a protagonist, was essentially lost in the story.
On the other hand, I found it extremely important that Asuna take the role here, as it further proved that she isn’t just Kirito’s little romantic interest. Asuna assuming the lead protagonist role was extremely important for this part of the anime as it allowed a female to dominate an anime that had constantly been filled with action and fights.
A lot of SAO might displease quite a few fans, including myself, but Asuna’s role isn’t limited to what most of the haters spew. Asuna is a pretty dynamic character who goes through a few personality changes throughout the anime and even debunks the idea that female gamers don’t belong in a world dominated by the male demographic. In fact, Asuna’s role in SAO gave me a bit of encouragement in my role in the gaming world since I myself have struggled many times over to prove myself in a world that seems to frown upon women and even seemingly take advantage of them.
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