Thursday, August 1, 2013

Anime Feet Presents: The Top 10 Reasons Why Female Characters Go Barefoot

Back by popular request (actually no one requested it, I just felt like doing it. ^_^;)...It's a brand new top 10 list. This one  looks at the top 10 reasons female characters go barefoot in anime, videogames, cartoons and comics. Ok as usual I'm going to count down backwards from 10... Enjoy everyone!!

10) Pedicures

On some level girls are aware that a lot of guys find feet attractive so they do little things to make their feet look good like picking sexy types of footwear or painting their toenails. Sometimes pedicures scenes are used a symbol of status. We often see scenes involving rich or spoiled girls getting their feet cared for by others. It's almost like a way of saying that they are so awesome even their feet have people to look after them. Anyway It's always great to see a scene like this.

Notable Character to Show their feet in this manner: Azula, Clover

9)  Nature Lover/Tomboy
Nothing says free spirit more than a character who likes to feel the ground underneath her feet as she walks. For these girls the world is full of sensations to feel and experience. There's no sense in dulling them by confining their feet in shoes.

Notable Characters who have shown their feet for this reason: Toph, Esmeralda, Rapunzel, Momoko, Poison Ivy

8) Footwear Stripping

These nothing more seductive or teasing than a stripping scenes watching a women removing her clothing to change or get comfortable. Of course unless the cartoon is a hentai or R rated there are certain parts of a woman's body that would not be shown. The nice thing about that for us is that feet aren't considered inappropriate so usually footwear stripping is used to indicate that a girls clothes are coming off. For the normal viewer it tends to work as a seductive tease getting their imaginations going but for foot fans we get to see exactly what we were hoping for.  Some days being a foot fetishist is just plain awesome. :-D

Notable characters who've shown their bare feet this way: Yao Sakurakoji, Wonder Woman

7) Sore/Tired Feet
Women's footwear isn't always the most comfortable. Just picture them have to deal with heels and boots. ^_^;  Adding onto that a lot of female characters tend to be pretty active moving around a lot. Sometimes walking around all the time can take a toll on their feet and you can imagine that they are pretty eager to take their shoes off and give their tired and sore feet a break. I think if someone was to offer them a foot massage during this period. They would probably be pretty grateful for it. ^_^

We don't get to see a lot of foot massage scenes that often in animes but a lot of great foot scenes do come from women kicking off their footwear to relax and rest their feet after or even during a busy day. Sometimes we are even treated to them propping them up for the camera. ^_^

Notable Characters who've shown their feet this way: Tea, Power Girl, Yuufa

6) Karate Scenes
Nothing like a hot woman kicking her shoes off to practice to spar or practice martial arts. Most recently demonstrated in the film Pacific Rim but descending from a long and proud tradition of woman going barefoot to train and hone their skills against a human opponent. I'm sure that one of the reasons for this is so that sparring opponents don't injure each other too badly. I'm not saying that getting kicked in the face by Cammy's bare soles wouldn't hurt but bare feet are a lot softer then soccer cleats or combat boots. I think there's also the cultural element of removing ones shoes as a sign of respect as well. (See #5 below)

Notable Women who've shown their feet this way: Sophie Casterwill, Pan, Black Canary

5) Asian Culture

You gotta love asian culture where it is customary to remove your footwear as you step inside a house or room. For foot fans its allowed us to see many a female character barefoot in an anime. :-D

Notable Characters who've shown their feet this way: Misao, Sakura, Hinata, Ten Ten, Ino

4)Foot Domination

Let's face it... feet are considered the lowest part of the human body. They touch the floor and get pretty dirty over the course of a day. To worship or cater to them a person literally has to make himself lower to approach them. Because of that being at someone's feet can be pretty subservient. Many of the more controling female characters are aware of this too. Occasionally we get treated to seeing some of the more dominant women using their feet to degrade more submissive characters. A lot of times these type of scenes could involve stepping on a submissive characters face or forced foot worship

This is actually my favorite reason for a character to go barefoot and probably would have claimed the top spot if only they happened more often.

Notable Characters who have shown their feet this way: Aoi Sena, Haruna Sairenji, Evangeline, Mio Isurugi, Hidemi

3) Swimsuits Scenes
Ah Swimsuits...there's just something about that tight fitting fabric which leaves very little of a girl's body to the imagination that drives men wild. Guys love seeing girls in swimsuits. Girls know guys love seeing them in swimsuits and anime/cartoon producers and comic and movie writers know that too. If a girl is hot there is increasing chance that her fans will get to see her in a swimsuit as the series progressive because producers know that just like temperature in the room when a girl in a swimsuit shows up, their ratings will skyrocket. Foot fans have the added benefits of seeing a girl barefoot in the process.

Notable characters who have shown there feet this way include: Moka, Miss Martian, Katara, Lara CroftSailor Mars and a lot more.

2) Pajamas/Nightgown
A lot of times when we see a girl go to bed, she tends to be barefoot. Talk about a great way to end the day. ^_^

Notable Characters who have Shown Their feet this way: Kagome,  Megumi, Sabrina, Chun Li, Ichigo

1) Showers/Baths
There's a reason why this is #1. Bath and shower scenes rock. Similar to footwear stripping, bath scenes are are great way to see female feet because zooming in on a character's bare feet is a great way for an artists/animation team to show that a character is wearing any clothes without having to go into detail. It is a seductive form of fan service that even non fetishists can appreciate and we've been able to see many really popular characters go barefoot this way. :-)

Notable characters who went barefoot this way include: Emerald, Morrigan, Kurumu, Cammy, Anna Williams, Mizore, Nami, Boa Hancock, Sif
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Ok so that basically ends this list of scenes to look out for but tell me what you think. What's your favorite reason female characters go barefoot? Are there any popular reasons that I missed?

To help you guys share your ideas, this month's poll tackles that very question. As always voting is relatively anonymous and you don't need a blogger account to vote so anyone that wants to can participate. I'd really love to hear what your opinions are. ^_^

Have Fun guys!!
-KSC

11 comments:

  1. Yeah, I can get behind most (if not all) of these conclusions. When a particular series need to embellish upon their fan service, without resorting to the generic, then these types of scenes are definitely among the exceptional.

    Although it's difficult to select a favorite among them, especially when necessity demands that I appreciate them equally, I am rather partial to some foot domination.

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    1. :-)It's true it's tough picking a favorite among these. ^_^ Yeah I really love foot domination too. I wish there were more scenes involving that but when it happens it's get to see. Thanks for the comment Capt. Wolf

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  2. I am behind all of these reasons. XD I find myself most drawn to the "nature lover/tomboy" reason, as that's the reason I tend to use to rationalize my female characters who go barefoot. But on a more realistic side, I enjoy massaging my girlfriend's tired feet and she gives me a little domination sometimes, so those are the two for me.

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    1. Nature lovers are great. :-) Wow your really lucky. That is so awesome that you get to experience both of those. ^_^

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  3. Another thing on the side note, that there are girls that go barefoot because they have a strong dislike for shoes. Example: Tahiri Veila.

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  4. DAMN! Nice work KSC!

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  5. Nice! You could add 'Getting attacked by bad guys just before bedtime' (Chun-Li, Rally Vincent) as another reason. :)

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    1. Oh that's a good one Sole Keeper. ^_^ Gotta love when a female character is surprised like that. :-D

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  6. "Doesn't like shoes" ? Oh, yeah, like Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski, the fourth aka... ED. Great they turned the character from Cowboy Bebop manga into a girl for the anime ♥

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