The Real Women in “Snow White with the Red Hair”

Today I’m exploring something to which I fully admit I am an outsider: namely, being a woman. So my intent is (as always) one of a curious investigator, and which I hope gives no offense (but proleptic apologies just in case).

For starters, I enjoy anime action girls. I strongly suspect I’m not alone on this point! A woman who can lay down the law and look good doing so is practically a requisite in half the anime showing these days. (Half? Maybe that’s an understatement. Or maybe that’s just indicative of the kinds of shows I watch.) How many of these can you identify at a glance?

  

Hey, wait a sec! Did I slip two characters from Gate into this lineup, and only one from each of the other series? Why, yes, yes, I did… because Gate.

So yeah: No problems there. Good, strong depictions of women who can take care of themselves and their loved ones. However, what about women who don’t want to be Erza or Riza? Is there a valid form of femininity, of being a strong and beautiful woman, that is not rooted in a masculine standard? Put another way, it’s great that women can be strong by rivaling men at combat prowess; but is that the only way to be a strong woman? Is there no alternative between Sleeping Beauty and Xena, Princess Warrior?

Snow White with the Red Hair provides three different models of what a strong woman can be like. Kiki is the good-looking, sword-swinging soldier who breaks in—or just breaks—the new recruits. Umihebi (not shown) is Kiki’s flip-side: A strong, evil woman who holds a rowdy pirate band in check through sheer cruelty.

 

Then there’s Shirayuki, the eponymous heroine. This ‘Snow White’ doesn’t just eat an apple and roll over, however. Her constant refrain is, “This is my path, the path I’ve chosen,” or some variant thereof, emphasizing her free choice of how she wants to shape her life. And it’s not an easy path she’s following. Just a few of the many obstacles along the way:

1. A prince who tries to force her to be his concubine
2. A destitute nobleman who kidnaps her to sell her into slavery
3. A lord who thinks she just wants to ride on the coattails of his master

In each case, she deals with the challenge in her own way. She defies the prince—twice—and makes a new home in another kingdom. She escapes the nobleman by locking him in his own cell, forcing him to breath drugged fumes that slow him down, and leaping out of a second-story window. And she calls the lord’s bluff when he threatens her with his sword, while she stands unarmed; and her display of courage convinces him that she is not a mere opportunist after all.

In all of this, Shirayuki is no soldier or ninja. She’s an herbalist—an exceptionally skilled and hard-working one. In a struggle of sheer physical strength or combat excellence, she would be easily overpowered. However, that doesn’t stop her. She forges her own path, through her own methods, on her own merits. She may seem weak, but she’s at least as self-determining as Kiki, and more so than Umihebi (once the latter is locked behind bars, at any rate—oops, spoiler).

Certainly, not every woman should be a Shirayuki, any more than she should be a Kiki. She should, however, have the freedom and support to make her own choice.