(Hated)changing somenthing to be more "progressive" ends up being a bad thing

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Now to be clear,i am not one of these "anti-woke" losers that complain some people exist,and i am also not the type to complain about changing somenthing in a new version or adaptation,however there are cases where it did ended up being a bad idea.

-In the anime of Cowboy Bebop there is the character Gren,despite being short lived the character is very memorable specially thanks to his tragic story.Basically his story was that he was a soldier from the titan war who was a great friend with Vicious(the main bad guy)after the war he was emprisioned thanks to Vicious who testified against him and he was forced to take a experimental drug that caused him hormonal problems,giving him a feminine appearence and even breasts.

In the Netflix live action,for some reasons they decided Gren was going to be non-binary,which wouldn't be a problem(some people believe he was gay in the anime)if it wasn't for the fact that they also removed all the nuances and complexities that made the character memorable and interesting,instead of a tragic war veteran that was betrayed and had his body changed against his will,Gren is just kinda there.

-The original Rugrats cartoon had the couple Betty and Howard,Betty was a big and masculine woman while Howard was a smaller and nervous man,it was a genuine interesting relationship that stood out from the other couples who were the standard straight couple.

In the new series however they replaced Howard with a woman named Trish,two things,first off why?What was the problem with having a woman being the stronger in a straight relationship?Second why does Hollywood seem to think that every tomboy or masculine woman is a lesbian?

Overall not the worst thing but it is jarring that they had a gender reverse roled that was progressive and decided that wasn't enough.

-Oh man,this one pisses me off the most so i am gonna have to break it down

So back in the late 80s and 90s there was this anime called Saint Seiya also knows as Knights of the zodiac,it tells the story of knights who fight for the Goddess Athena to protect earth,being divided in the golden,silver and bronze knights,the anime was a huge hit in latin america and Europe and while it floped in the US it still has a loyal fanbase.

Being a fan myself i can't recommend it enough,now granted the story does have a fair share of flaws,and that's because the author was honestly just making stuff up as he went along(also a lot of side characters are poorly used or even forgotten about)still it is a great story you should check out

But then a couple of years back Netflix got the rights and decided to a 3D reboot,in this reboot they decided to make the story more "american" to try to bring more american viewers,now i could go on and on a big rant about how that was a bad idea and the execution was so terrible that it made me want to strangle someone but this post is about one specific change.

So Saint Seiya has five main characters,those are Pegasus Seiya,Dragon Shiryu,Cygnus Hyoga,Phoenix Ikki and finally Andromeda Shun.

While the other four characters were the standard masculine and brute male characters who were always ready to throw punches,Shun was smaller,more sensitive and even feminine looking,a pacifist who didn't liked fighting,but don't mistake that for weakness because Shun was loyal to his friends and was extremely powerful.

Then Netflix decided to change Shun into a girl named Shaun.

So wait,you have a male character who goes against every male stereotype and you turn him into just another generic female character?

When asked about it,the showrunner Eugene Son said he made that change because there was no girl in the group and having a all boys group wouldn't be acceptable nowadays

First off that's not true because Athena was also part of the main cast,yeah she wasn't the fighting type but she still helped quite a lot in the story even saving the knights on several occasions,second if you wanted to add a girl to the main group why not use Marin or Shaina?Hell,if you were going to change the story anyway why not turn Seiya sister into a knight?

Thankfully this monstrosity was cancelled(so much for trying to bring more fans)

[u/MrSnippets]

In the original Avatar Animation, Sokka was a sexist douchebag when you meet him. But he learns and grows beyond his childish viewpoints.

In the Netflix adaptation, Sokka isn‘t sexist to begin with, robbing him of an essential part of his character development.

[u/Womblue → u/MrSnippets]

They replaced the sexism of sokka with the sexism of the show's writers.

Like, in the original show, suki fights sokka and easily beats him multiple times, which makes sense. In the netflix show, suki pounces on sokka when he's stretching before their fight and it's played as if she's the superior warrior.

Not only that, but this plays into a key problem with the netflix show - although all the characters got changed, everyone TALKS as if they're talking to the same characters from the animated series.

• Even though sokka isn't sexist anymore, suki is still angry at him.

• Even though aang didn't abandon the world anymore, people are still angry at him for it.

• Even though bumi is a horrible person in this version, aang still wants him as an earthbending teacher.

• Even though toph is played by an actress who is clearly an adult, characters refer to her as "a little girl", and she herself still calls herself that. It only makes sense with the context of the original show, for which she IS a little girl.

[u/psychoenoshima → u/Womblue]

Like, with Sokka, in the original I got the idea that he's a good fighter not because he's "the best at fighting", but because he's willing to learn from those who are better than him, and incorporate their knowledge into his own skillset

[u/lacegem → u/psychoenoshima]

Sokka starts out basically useless, but ends up becoming a great warrior and tactician. He and Iroh both became great by incorporating many styles and philosophies into their own. He's not even a bender, but he defeats a (presumably one of the best) Fire Nation mercenary with his wit and skill. He destroys an invasion force of airships, plans an invasion of the Fire Nation that reached the heart of their capital city, retrieves lost knowledge from a mythical spirit library, invents the submarine, solves a centuries-old cold case by summoning the dead, and was so good at impersonation that Wang Fire has gone down in history as a hero and an example for all great men to look up to.

Sokka is the GOAT.