Bridget, Gender, Japan, and Other Controversies

Bridget goes trending every 3 days and I am frankly tired of updating the script every time that happens.
There is literally no point to being mean to trans people. Let it go on record that I believe trans rights are very much human rights

Part 6 Temporarily down due to copyright issues

00:00 - intro
01:59 - Part 1: Beating the Grooming Allegations
05:37 - Part 2: Dimitri Monroe is a very stupid hobgoblin
15:19 - Part 3: What is and Isn't Pandering
20:09 - Part 4: Japan had the same arguments
22:01 - Part 5: Otokonoko is a Borrowed Word
25:21 - Part 6: LGBT rights in Japan
35:47 - outro

Follow my very based twitter:

Art used in the video by Machitoons:

All Bridget and particle Mods seen in the video were created by me:

Millia jeans mod:

Sources and articles used to make this video:

Strive:

- Bridget boosts Guilty Gear Strive’s player count as the character’s gender identity becomes a hot topic
- Arc System Works warns of fake images, in response to tweets about the bridget’s gender identity
- dev backyard #11
- Daisuke Clarifies his intent

Trans rights:

- Japan's first trans march held in Tokyo's Shinjuku area to raise awareness on rights
- Interview: The Invisible Struggle of Japan’s Transgender Population
- Misinformation on transgender women spreads in Japan, even at LDP study session
- Why LGBT Advocates Say Bathroom 'Predators' Argument Is a Red Herring
- Ipsos international LGBT survey
LGBT+ Pride 2021 Global Survey points to a generation gap around gender identity and sexual attraction | Ipsos
- GID act
- GID reform Pressure

LGBT Rights:

- Sapporo Court deems ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional
- Osaka Court Deems ban Constitutional
- Japanese LGBT undeterred
- Tokyo to recognize marriages but not make it legal
- Letter to Prime Minister
- Japan: Introduce LGBT Equality Act Before Olympics
- A Gold Medal for Homophobia in Japan
- Japan LGBT bill Falls Short
- Tokyo moves to allow same-sex partnerships, but not as legal marriage
- Sexual And Gender Minorities and Bullying in Japan (page185)

Sexism:

- Why Japan Can’t shake Sexism
- Japan's LDP party invites women to 'look, not talk' at key meetings
- Japan Ranks 116th in 2022 Global Gender Gap Report
- Japanese women over 30 stay in workforce and parental benefits improve

Music Used:
Guilty Gear Xrd - Django Django
Guilty Gear Xrd - Lily
Undernight Inbirth - Character Select
Undernight Inbirth - Night Walker
Undernight Inbirth - Scraper Sky high
Undernight Inbirth - Snow Sister
Melty Blood TL - Training Room
Fate Extra - Tamamo's Theme
Xenoblade Chronicles - You Know Our Names
Xenoblade Chronicles - Gaur Plain (Night)
Xenoblade Chronicles - Colony 9 (Night)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Roaming the Wastes (Night)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - Four Limbed Titan Gormott
Sega Bass Fishing - Feel the Heat

[orcaminorca]

Because it would appear people don't read descriptions and instead go straight for the comments, here is the list of sources I used to make the video. I strongly urge you read at least a few of them. If you are confused by the presence of political articles, this video was originally 36 minutes with a discussion on human right violation by the Japanese government. The last section was removed due to audio copyright. Hope this helps.

Strive and Bridget's inclusion:

- Bridget boosts Guilty Gear Strive’s player count as the character’s gender identity becomes a hot topic
- Arc System Works warns of fake images, in response to tweets about the bridget’s gender identity
- dev backyard #11
- Daisuke Clarifies his intent

Trans rights issues in Japan:

- Japan's first trans march held in Tokyo's Shinjuku area to raise awareness on rights
- Interview: The Invisible Struggle of Japan’s Transgender Population
- Misinformation on transgender women spreads in Japan, even at LDP study session
- Why LGBT Advocates Say Bathroom 'Predators' Argument Is a Red Herring
- Ipsos international LGBT survey
LGBT+ Pride 2021 Global Survey points to a generation gap around gender identity and sexual attraction | Ipsos
- GID act
- GID reform Pressure


LGBT Rights in Japan:

- Sapporo Court deems ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional
- Osaka Court Deems ban Constitutional
- Japanese LGBT undeterred
- Tokyo to recognize marriages but not make it legal
- Letter to Prime Minister
- Japan: Introduce LGBT Equality Act Before Olympics
- A Gold Medal for Homophobia in Japan
- Japan LGBT bill Falls Short
- Tokyo moves to allow same-sex partnerships, but not as legal marriage
- Sexual And Gender Minorities and Bullying in Japan (page185)


Sexism in japan:

- Why Japan Can’t shake Sexism
- Japan's LDP party invites women to 'look, not talk' at key meetings
- Japan Ranks 116th in 2022 Global Gender Gap Report
- Japanese women over 30 stay in workforce and parental benefits improve

[kyllernotkiller]

My favorate part of this video is that every section of your talking parts, background Bridget won only once in the whole video

[PartTimeLich]

when a random video essay on a fictional character has a more nuanced view on trans people and gender conformity than any of my politicians. i love the internet. good shit.

[galaxyman]

See I don't hate Bridget because she's trans, good for her. I hate Bridget because fighting her in neutral as millia makes me want to eat metal filings.

[mattwalewangko]

listen, I didn't know I needed Bridget to break transphobes' backboards with the power of god and anime on her side... but it's such a great visual! :)

[vincentprice]

17:13 "That's a crunchyroll level of shitty business model." I'm going to start using that freaking phrase from now on. that made me laugh so hard.

[seventeenseventythirteen]

It was always strange that the "bad ending" was the one where Bridget was finally happy with herself and found self confidence thanks to supportive buff biker grandpappy.
How is that a bad ending exactly? Bridget is happy with herself and gained confidence, that's character growth and caps off her entire experience with looks towards a happier and fuller future. But the one where she stays closeted and bottles it down inside her is the good one?

Also, in both endings it's really REALY clear she's still trans, it's just that in one of them she actually comes out and says it. The others she just doesn't gain the courage and confidence to say what she feels with her whole chest out and just keeps it inside. It's not like she says "Actually, I feel like I'm truly just a boy, a cisgender boy and that's what I am.", what she did was just accept what she thought was right to do and not be true to and live for herself.

Shows a lot when someone being trans is the "bad ending" in these people's minds.

[digtaltoaster]

Great video, I think lots of people forget just how long Daisuke and Arcsys, by extent, have been experimenting with gender and sexuality in their games. This is one of the few good takes I’ve seen on the matter of Bridget’s gender.

[Yggdraseed]

When it comes to how Bridget has been written, I think there are two facets people don't talk about enough. For one thing, the way she originally was written isn't very kind representation of josou. Lots of anime and video games fall into this habit of depicting josou as something the male character is forced into: coerced into it for money, or forced to do it for some bizarre family ritual, or to go undercover, or something like that. If you look at people who really practice josou in real life, it's not like that at all.

For them, it's a part of their identity and it's an artform. It's the manifestation of an ideal. The way most anime and video games depict it is very antiquated and based on an outsider's perspective of what josou is like and what it means to people who practice it; and the way Bridget is initially depicted is much the same way. Now I do think there is some wiggle room, in that art doesn't need to depict things exactly the way they are in real life to say things that are meaningful to real people - but I don't think most depictions of josou are like this. I think most of them are coming from a place of interest, but not necessarily empathy or understanding.

The other thing about Bridget's depiction as trans is that, retcon or not, the way she's written does something very interesting that I almost never see in depictions of trans people. It's kind of clear by the point of -Strive- that Bridget knows she's trans and is keeping that bottled up, because she's afraid of losing the progress she's made dispelling her hometown's superstitious beliefs. If she acknowledges she's trans, then that might undo all that - because then people will say that twin boys or twin girls could still be bad luck, since she was never a "son" to begin with.

And while it's a bit out-there, a lot of trans people face similar dilemmas. When you come out later in life, it's never just over and done with at that point. You've got to consider getting prescriptions for HRT. You've got to consider changing your name on official documents. You've got to consider whether friends you've known for years will stop associating with you. You've got to consider if you'll have to quit the sports team you're in, or quit your job. You're going to have to re-evaluate a lot of things, and you're going to have to question a lot of things about yourself that you took for granted. Accepting you're trans is often just the first step of a long and rocky road for a lot of people.

So that's why I like the way they handled Bridget being trans. The question isn't whether or not she's trans: the question is, what is she going to do about all the stuff tied up in her gender identity? What's she going to do about her whole life so far? How is she going to negotiate all those different things with each other, and what is she going to lose? But at the end of the day, the conclusion is this: while Bridget's still got a long road ahead of her and it won't always be easy, it's better to walk that road and be true to who you are than to live a lie.

Looking at it through that lens, I think Bridget is one of the better written trans characters we've gotten in a long time.

[AHylianWarrior]

The most hilarious thing is people thinking they know Japanese and going "look! this was said therefore the English translation is false!" despite the Japanese being...literally the exact same as the English lol

[Pensive_Scarlet]

I think it's important to acknowledge that the older concept of Bridget as someone who was simply expressing masculinity in a different way was something that really encouraged and helped a lot of gender-non-conforming male and non-binary people. That concept was crucial to helping me understand and come to terms with my own "Third Gender" existence, actually. A think a lot of us were just excited to see that rare and unique representation return, and the disappointment of being overshadowed as usual, but specifically by a character that once represented you so well, is a hard pill to swallow.
Anybody who begrudges anyone else's representation is obviously in the wrong, and to me that includes people who seem to want to gloat over those who are no longer represented by the character. I get that this kind of conversation can be easily hijacked by bad actors who just want to hate on trans people, but that's no reason to write off those of us who were genuinely saddened by the loss of something that's been meaningful to us for so many years, something we've been able to look at that told us, "You can do this."
Fortunately, there are still other somewhat similar characters, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a character quite like the original Bridget, who looked, acted, and sounded that way and presented the concept of, "This is me, I am a man, this is what me being a man is, deal with it, " to a lot of us who were struggling to understand ourselves in a much, much different world from the one we see now. Some of my fondest memories were of using Bridget to express my closeted self when the character was first introduced.
The character being changed does not take that from me, but the people acting like my experiences are now invalid are hurtful. I wish everyone the best with their newfound representation in the character. I've always been a friend to trans people, both personally and generally. I think the "old Bridget experience" and "new Bridget experience" should be able to coexist, as this is a fictional character whose experiences are ultimately ours.
I think a lot of people feel like people like me are trying to push against real life trans experiences, but that's absolutely not the case; you get to cast off your dead name and everything attached to that phase of your life if that's what you need to do. I just don't want anyone to minimize my experiences with a character because they are now having new experiences with that character due to changes that are, of course, a natural part of storytelling. People *do* change over time, and so do characters.
Just don't hate me for saying, "I'm like the old Bridget, but I respect and support people who are like the current Bridget." It's not hard for those of us who are differently-gendered to coexist, and we need camaraderie in a world where the status quo still looks down at us all with sheer disdain. I get yelled at by bigots, too, ya know? Maybe we should reserve all the attitude for dealing with them instead of tearing each other down over minor differences like there's some kind of religious schism poisoning our brains. ;p

[Kobaaming]

Imma be honest. My first exposure to not just the controversy but bridget and even guilty gear as whole was from Dimitri monroe who made the video about bridget. And honestly I ate it all up mainly because I didn't know anything. I didn't really participate in any of the arguments mainly because I didn't really want to embarrass myself but I do still kinda cringe at the fact that I used to so genuinely believe that bridget wasn't trans and that her being trans was a bad thing even though at the time, some of the arguments felt off to me ? Like when people were arguing for bridget not being trans and use arguments like "bridget is bridget" it felt like an insult to my intelligence. Honestly while I still don't like the decision cuz it made me feel like an asshole for a few days I can honestly say that bridget being trans was still a good decision and no amount of me being an edgy teenager was gonna change that. Congrats bridget fans, you deserved that w


Edit : wow I'm actually so happy I wrote this comment. Seriously I was worried I was some piece of shit transphobe for a while now but after writing this I felt so much closure. Like I just told myself "nah you ain't Dimitri is just cringe"

[GleamingGarmore]

I’d LOVE to learn Strive because Bridget is not only cute, but looks like the kind of fighter I’d to play. The issue is I’d have to buy the PC version and then I wouldnt be able to play on ethernet…

[sktrrr_]

This is honestly a really good video and makes a lot of sense. This makes me love Bridget more and see them as better representation than ever, even if I haven’t done anything to go through with my transition yet

[ilngsisfh]

Trans characters and crossdressers are already linked and swapped back and forth because a lot of "otokonoko" characters were like trans or trans coded because to many japanese mangaka without actual knowledge of the difference and AMAB in female clothing was the same. Even more modern "femboys" have these issues. Felix in the Re:Zero anime reads as a simple femboy. Ferris (Felix's chosen name) in the novels can be read as trans on non-binary coded what with them literally praying away male puberty and having a mantra about how they are a girl. Also, the idiots who view femboys as a fetish already call canon trans characters "tr*ps" like Alluka from HunterxHunter

[joshstickland]

"non canon bad end"

Even if it was non-canon it can still indicate real things that didn't come up in the canon,

[rowanatkinson]

It's wild how it's been four months since you made this vid and it continues to be relevant. Glad I found it though, it's a pretty great vid, thorough without being overly long.

[Balanced]

I'm just going to say this. THANK YOU FOR PRESENTING GOOD FAITH ARGUMENTS. I mean the extended dunking on people was amusing (albeit not informative to myself) but really, what mattered to me was the addressing of the "grooming" argument and the use of "Otoknoko" and providing information I was missing. Yeah, I was on the angry at direction camp before watching this video, and I'm *glad* you actually showed me what was going on with the word usage since that was the one reason I though there was something distinctly contradictory.

[TJF]

"In the case of Strive." This guy had a way out, could've been arguing deferred to the series standard, but no! No, he singles out _the_ GG which _doesn't_ have "bad" split paths, absolutely inspiring!

[minze]

Its amazing how the japanese character writer can directly confirm; bridget is a trans girl, she was amab but uses she/her. The scene in which she says "im a girl." Is her canonically coming out as trans.

And we still have people insisting that its actually not like that at all, because five thousand years ago the character said they were a guy (trans people always know they are trans from the second they are born, and are never in the closet) and also its not canon despite what the literal writers say, and also also everyone else just doesnt know the intricate historical context of japaenese culture and linguistics (They spent ten minutes on wikipedia and used google translate) that invalidates what the f*cking japanese writer said.