At the beginning of this year we shared an article where we pointed out that Japan is going through a process to “upgrade” school swimsuits to modernity. The objective of the Japanese authorities was the creation of “genderless school swimsuits“, that is, they have exactly the same designs for both male and female students.
These two-piece top and bottom swimsuits leave less skin exposed and include briefs at the bottom, so girls don’t have to expose their butts anymore. While most agreed that these swimsuits were introduced in schools to prevent girls from having to expose their bodies, it seems that not everyone was happy when this very thing came to anime.
And that was what happened recently with the anime The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses (Suki na Ko ga Megane wo Wasureta), as it turns out that the class attended by the protagonists Kaede Komura and Ai mie they had to wear bathing suits for swimming. While Komura (the boy) continued to wear the shorts and bare-chested outfit, the female swimsuit was quite different from what they expected.
When the girls came on the screen, viewers noticed that the female school swimsuit was different. Instead of the design they had been familiar with for decades, the girls wore an ensemble with shorts that hit mid-thigh, as well as a loose-fitting top. Although it is not similar to the new designs in real life, it does follow the same “no exposure” rules.
The funny thing is that the designs were already like this from the original manga of The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glassesso it was not a modification made for the anime adaptation:
And of course, the unexpected complaints appeared in the comment forums:
- «This is not a school bathing suit, what did they do?».
- «These bathing suits look too thick, you don’t see anything!».
- «It’s a disgusting design for a school swimsuit, they don’t know shit».
- «But what has happened to the traditional bathing suit? I understand that in real life they change them, but in the anime too?».
- «Well, I also find the shape of this new swimsuit attractive.».
- «It seems that the trend of making genderless swimsuits has made its way to anime, unfortunate».
- «What’s with this hideous swimsuit design?».
- «Are we now a Muslim country? What was the problem with the previous bathing suit?».
- «Well I must admit I like it».
- «It looks like a prison uniform».
- «Not an attractive swimsuit, I find it pitiful».
- «Ah, but guys still have to show their bare chests and insecurities, right? damn women».
