Oshiete! Galko-chan Defies Gyaru Stereotypes like No Other

Kadokawa Pictures

It’s no surprise that Japan is one of the biggest fashion capitals of the world; you’d sooner run out of grains of sand to count on the beach than list all the unique ways to dress in the Land of the Rising Sun. Being a fashionista of sorts myself, I’ve kept a close eye on this phenomenon for quite some time now, and I can state with confidence that of all the styles one can find in Japan, the gyaru (the Japanese transliteration of the English word “gal”) has had one of the greatest impacts.

What’s “gyaru,” you ask? It was essentially a counterculture that reacted against against traditional Japanese standards of female beauty back in the late 1990s to the early 2000s; 9 times out of 10, you would find girls with bleach-blond hair, fake tans, and bright and colorful outfits and accessories that made them stand out from the plain and prim styles that Japanese girls typically conformed to.

Gyaru characters in anime have been portrayed in a stereotypical light since the trend’s first appearance: flashy, loud, promiscuous, and very upfront with their desires. So if you’re anything like me, you appreciate characters who not only follow the gyaru trend, but are more three-dimensional in terms of personality, morals, and objectives than what the stereotype would lead one to believe.

Apparently, the fine folks at Feel felt the same way, because we were presented with Oshiete! Galko-chan in 2016.

Oshiete! Galko-chan follows a trio of high school girls who would seem totally incompatible with each other at first glance. Besides the titular Galko-chan, who dresses like a typical gyaru, there’s also the blunt nerd Otako and the airheaded rich girl Ojou, and together they express their curiosities about sex and the female form and just have fun with each other in general.

Now, if this premise sounds a little bit too raunchy for your tastes, rest assured that the way it’s presented is surprisingly candid and not crass or condescending at all. After all, it’s perfectly natural for adolescents to be curious about the changes in their bodies. Moreover, it’s Galko’s innocent side that perfectly mimics the viewer’s expectations of being faced with such concepts (blushing, apprehension, etc.) to the point where it’s almost guided.

Of course, these segments are only a fraction of what makes Oshiete! Galko-chan so great; Galko-chan herself is perhaps one of the more fleshed-out and wholesome gyaru characters I’ve come across in recent memory. Despite looking like a stereotypical busty party animal who couldn’t give a hoot about her studies, in reality, she’s is very much the opposite. She’s got a sharp tongue, sure, but she could also be considered a role model with how good-natured she is, and she’s always happy to help out her friends and classmates. This comes through in the very first episode, where she seems to have a little bit of everything in her bag, just in case somebody needs something in a pinch. And like I mentioned earlier, she can get quite flustered when the topic of sex or romance comes up, like when she got shy about reading a passage in her textbook where there was a kissing scene.

To make a long story short, if I had a tween daughter, I’d be pleased to see she looked up to someone like Galko-chan!

The only real downside to this particular anime is that it’s presented in little seven-minute vignettes, so it’s a bit disappointing that we aren’t treated with a full-length anime with these delightful characters. Still, if you’ve got an hour and a half to kill, I’d say that binging Oshiete! Galko-chan wouldn’t be a bad way to spend it. It’s wholesome, frank, and a bright interpretation of the gyaru culture.