Girls with guns is a subgenre of action films and animation—often Asian films and anime—that portray a strong female protagonist who makes use of firearms to defend against or attack a group of antagonists.[citation needed] The genre typically involves gun-play, stunts and martial arts action.[citation needed]
Films[edit]
The 1985 Hong Kong film Yes Madam, directed by Corey Yuen and starring Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock, has been described as the first "girls with guns" film.[1] Other films of the subgenre were produced until 1994. In the early 2000s, films part of what has been called a "girls with guns revival" cycle were produced. They included Martial Angels (2001), The Wesley's Mysterious File (2002) and So Close.[2]
Anime and manga[edit]
The "girls-with-guns" genre has also permeated the anime space. Some examples include Bubblegum Crisis,[3][4] Gall Force,[4][5] Dirty Pair,[4][5] Gunsmith Cats,[5] Angel Heart,[6] Gunslinger Girl,[5] Noir, Madlax,[7] and El Cazador.[8] More recent examples of "girls with guns" anime are Masamune Shirow's and Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell and its television adaptation Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Yasuomi Umetsu's works Kite, Mezzo Forte, Mezzo DSA, and Kite: Liberator.[9]
Video games[edit]
- Bayonetta series
- Oni
- Perfect Dark series
- Tomb Raider series
- Metroid series
- Bloodrayne series
Television series[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Funnell, Lisa (15 February 2013). "Chapter 9 - Fighting for a Hong Kong/Chinese Female Identity". In Lent, John A; Fitzsimmons, Lorna. Asian Popular Culture in Transition. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN 9781136300974.
- ^ Funnell, Lisa (21 May 2014). Warrior Women: Gender, Race, and the Transnational Chinese Action Star. SUNY Press. pp. 70, 172. ISBN 9781438452500.
- ^ "AnimeInfo.org - Reviews - Bubblegum Crisis 2032 by Shouryu". AnimeInfo.org. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
- ^ a b c Bruce Carlson & Steve Pearl. "The Anime Primer". rec.arts.anime gestalt. Archived from the original on 2007-09-05.
- ^ a b c d "How Many Girls with Guns Anime are There?". AnimeNation. 2003-10-23. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
- ^ "Angel Heart on Tv.com". Tv.com. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
- ^ Wong, A. (March 2005). "Inside Bee Train". Newtype USA: 8–15.
- ^ "January 3–10 News". Anime News Service. 2007-01-06. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
Following Noir and Madlax, this El Cazador will be the third installment in a series of what Director Koichi Mashimo has referred to as his girls-with-guns genre trilogy.
- ^ "Justin Sevakis's Review on Kite Liberator". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2010-01-15.