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Notes -
Because someone mentioned it above: the flawless mean-spirited girlboss is a religious thing, and most show writers are, if not necessarily that religious, encouraged in that direction by the suits. Problem is, of course, that because their religion is a religion of hatred, people need to have some other motivation to watch it.
The best example of a Western show post-MLP (or at least, post-Lauren Faust-directed MLP) to not be outwardly religious in this way is Gravity Falls. I don't think Alex Hirsch is particularly religious in that way (or at least, he isn't in a way that negatively impacts his work, though there are also signs that he understands what I'm about to talk about below).
Oh yeah, about that. The boys that persist in watching it are also [at least sometimes, if not most times] doing it for that reason, just like they were with Sailor Moon back in the '90s (and is part of why the post-woke MLP [G5, the 3D era one] designs look significantly less attractive, like dogs), and is why slice of life anime with all-female casts tend to have significant male followings.
(What that reason is... is more complicated; smarter men than I have tried and failed so I'd have to think about it more. I'd say 'moe' as a first pass, but that's not any less dense.)
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