Things that make you go hmmmmmmm?

There has always been a few things about anime that made me wonder why... Here is one of them.

1) Why do alot of male characters in anime look and even sometimes sound like the opposite gender. There had been times among friends where we argued whether the character was a male or a female until something obvious happened that gave it away. Usually in an anime if you have a group of good guys the leader is the feminine one with the girlish figure and the manly looking guy with muscles and facial hair is the least intelligent of the bunch. All he does is pick up rocks, break things, etc.. He doesn't dare have a love interest because looks like a man. Please don't reply saying so and so chracter is not like that. They seem to be an exception to this general rule. Japanese culture (I'll just stick to the part that watches or makes anime) seems to be obsessed with the physical and emotional attributes of gender. As if ultimate male is a female with a penis.
Did I just answer my own question or is there something else I don't know about?

Exhibit A: Dilandau!

Now you can find examples of the "androgynous" person in many an anime, but I thought I'd add to this discussion with the character I know best. Normally, the fans of Escaflowne have a great deal of speculation about the curious sexual identity of Dilandau. I suppose it adds to his mystique. For a lovely analysis of this please go to http://www.dragonsgate.net/dzone/dilandau.html and you shall recieve a formal deconstruction of everyone's favourite "bishounen".

Like the poem in the footnote section.

I know what you mean, a lot of contemporary anime refer to such sterotypes and follow the same formulas but thinking about it, I don't collect (m)any of these types! I prefer my heros to look like MEN and my heroines to like like WOMEN, heh.
But that's coming from somene who grew up in the He-Man/Action Man/Thundercats era ;)

It seems that effeminate lead males are the staple of current anime with big dumb sidekicks who are WAY in the background. Don't know if that's a good or bad thing but I know that if I made an anime (which I plan to do when I win the lottery jackpot) I'd do it differently *hee hee*

I think I came across something on this. There is a style of theater Takarazuka inwich all the rolls are played by women. From what I remember reading it was quite common and more socially acceptable for young girls to have their first crushes on the female actors that played male rolls than for them to be lusting after boys. So I think in anime a lot of those ideals are in place with males that girls are supposed to find dreamy, they are men but are sexually and physically non-threatening. Here is another article I found...
http://www.anime-myth.com/takarazuka.html

check out the book if your interested

The sense of strong male and female divisions in regards to feminine and masculine characteristics in Japanese society itself are not so clearly defined as we might imagine them to be in the West.

They haven't been clear about this for centuries. Since, homosexuality is not an "out of closet" experience there like it is in the West, and very little, if at all, gay bashing going on, it goes without saying that discrimination for effeminate behavior, dress, and mannerisms is pretty much a non-issue.

Homosexuality is looked upon more as an anomaly, than as an "evil" as we have in Christian based societies. Guys would not have to worry about showing their "feminine-sides" in Japan. Guys cry there and express their feelings in an emotional way that would shock most Western men that are taught that "boys don't cry". Well, not in the USA they don't, but in Japan, just let a team lose a baseball game, and you'll see quite a lot of "blubbering" going on.

Men since the days of the Samurai warrior that are considered to be some of the most fearless, ruthless, and cold-blooded killers in history were still very much the androgynous/gender-benders.
And some coveted the love of young men, rather than women. They paid very close attention to their appearances, make-up, hair, nails, and clothing. It was always considered the samurai duty to die looking beautiful and smelling good, beheaded or cut-down into pieces as they may.
In all of this they didn't consider themselves homosexuals, in the same sense as Westerners take hold of it as a battle over heaven and hell, right or wrong, etc, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0757000266/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-6124052-1906461#reader-link

There is still a large segment of Japanese young men today that are very much into high-fashion, dieting, clean-cut looks, etc. You have fashion magazines such as BIDAN (literally meaning "beautiful man")
http://www.fujisan.co.jp/Product/2199/

These magazines are popular for men wanting to "dress up" from head to toe, eye-lash to eye-brow, and make-up and skin care included, and this is a very mainstream publication. You have just as many men that are not into it either, but there is no great treatment towards either path.

There are such places to go as "TBC" for men,
http://www.tbc.co.jp/
which are totally aesthetic salons that cater to clients/ men to beautify themselves. Advertised by famous actors, and sports figures, both Japanese and foreign.

There is no homophobic stigma attached to these things. It is simply a choice.

The homophobic leanings that seem to be attached to these "girlie-men" type places for heterosexual men and women in the USA, simply don't register with the same scale in Japan.

Crossover characters in Anime I think are just another reflection on the fluid-like gender composition creations that make up the society there.