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 Rey and Makoto Kusanagi.
If you read my previous piece on Princess Leia, you might know that I truly believe that every single person deserves a role model. Rey is one of the best role models that any child can look up to. Sure, we do not truly know who her parents actually are, but that does not matter. Rey is an absolutely amazing character. She brings to light how so many fans are. Rey has suffered for years and most likely learned to not complain. I mean, sand is coarse, rough, and it gets everywhere, could you imagine being alone out there without truly believing that someone will come back for you?
I remember being in the theater and hearing a little girl getting super excited when Rey came on screen. I, too was also very excited to see Daisy Ridley’s very first film and to see her absolutely nail the role. She is the very first lead female to wield a lightsaber, which was exciting for fans everywhere. Of course it is canon that Leia owns her own blue lightsaber, but it has never had an appearance in the films.
Rey, like most characters, denies her own destiny but realizes she needs to make the right choice in order to save the galaxy. I still remember watching the scene in which Han handed her a blaster and she simply replied, “I can handle myself.” Rey definitely can handle herself. She has lived most of her life on her own and she has been able to survive on only her wit. She is a very caring soul who deserves more than she gets.
Rey has qualities that I truly believe everyone should have. She is the best representation of how so many young girls are nowadays, not afraid to fight back. Rey is confident, smart, brave, and powerful. These traits are common among Jedis and any single person who tries to put her as eye candy is watching the wrong movie. Rey is the main character of The Force Awakens and definitely needs to be put in more playsets and games about her movie. It broke my heart to see a new Millennium Falcon set and to discover that Rey was cut out of it. She is the first female to even fly the Millennium Falcon and deserves so much more recognition.
There’s something to be said of a character who can easily survive over five different visions of her story, and still manage to be the secret agent leader of one of the most technologically advanced anti terrorism unit ever portrayed. Major Makoto Kusanagi is by far one of the strongest female characters in anime and in the nerd landscape as a whole.
Here is a character that is a female leader of an all-male anti-terrorism organization, that isn’t mentioned for her beauty or her sexuality, but for her combat skills. She isn’t just said to have beaten each of the other members at whatever their specialty is - it’s even shown to us. We see how she can out-wrestle Batou or win a sniper showdown with Saito. And what makes her even more interesting is that she knows how to separate work from life. On one hand she is one of the military’s most skilled individuals, and on the other she’s out exploring her fluid sexuality and enjoying being who she is.
The Major is such a fascinating character because we always see her evolving into a more and more complex person. She’s not just a half-naked woman for guys to buy figures of; she’s a leading lady that guides the narrative of every story she’s been in. She’s not afraid of being the villain to get what she needs. The Major is such a complex character that we’re even left wondering who she was before she got her prosthetics. Her life is such a tightly held secret that it keeps pulling people in, making them wonder more and more about who she was before Section 9.
We never get to just sit down and hear all of the Major’s story, which only solidifies her as a character. Ghost in the Shell isn’t about who the major was; it’s about who she is now, which makes her just that much more engaging. The Major knows who she is and we benefit from it. And when we get to see her evolve as a character we all benefit. Major Kusanagi is by far one of the best women in anime, bar none.
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