A Celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science via Video Games and Anime

Good day dear readers and welcome to a special post here on Shoot the Rookie in honour of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. For this occasion I thought I’d have a bit of fun and take a look at some of my favourite science-users from video games and anime so why not join me to see who makes the list!

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is a very cool thing, set up a few years back by the United Nations to celebrate the role women play in the scientific community and work towards gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. I would recommend taking a look at the UN’s information and resources around this event and finding out more about what progress has been made and what still needs to be done.

I am not a scientist myself, although I have an interest in it and a general curiosity about how things work, but I do know (or know of) many notable women who work in scientific fields. Why then you may ask am I writing about characters from video games and anime rather than real people? Well, two reasons. Firstly this is a video games and anime blog so it seemed appropriate. Secondly, we shouldn’t underestimate the power fictional characters have to inspire people and the characters I’ve chosen represent a wide range of scientific disciplines to illustrate the idea that women & girls can and do contribute and succeed in all fields of science.

So lets take a look at some fantastic scientists and find out a bit more about what they do.

Rita Mordio (Tales of Vesperia) – Physical Chemistry

Despite her young age Rita is an expert in her field and has an unrivalled dedication to research into an ancient technology called Blastia. Whilst running your own lab at the age of fifteen may be slightly unrealistic in real life, the passion she has for her work can certainly be inspirational, although you might not want to take that passion quite as far as she does – slapping your colleagues is generally frowned upon.

Although initially protective over the Blastia, Rita’s continued research and other elements of the story reveal that the Blastia have a much darker history than she could have imagined and she is forced to detach from them and follow the science in order to ensure the safety of the world.

Heris Ardebit (Promare) – Astro Physics

Whilst Heris is perhaps not the best role-model for future scientists, she is undoubtedly a brilliant mind in her field and has achieved a lot at a young age. Hired as the Head Scientist for the Foresight Foundation, she is responsible for conducting research into a controversial warp engine to enable a small group of humans to flee Earth.

Although she is emotionally manipulated by her boss and placed in a very difficult position, you have to say that Heris’s willing to go along with the research, despite understanding the evil nature of it, is a failure on her part and even if she does use her knowledge for good in the end it is difficult to forgive her actions.

Tae Takemi (Persona 5) – Clinical Science

It was my intention to not include medics here, however Takemi makes the cut because as well as serving as a GP she also conducts her own clinical studies – looking for new treatments for a rare illness and providing some very useful supplies for the game’s protagonist to use in battle.

Although she has a bit of an odd vibe and could use working on her bedside manner, Takemi carries out her research for the right reasons and has to fight hard to prove that her work is legitimate after she is threatened by less-scrupulous members of the medical community.

Alex Wesker (Resident Evil Revelations 2) – Virology

Being good at science doesn’t necessarily mean you are on the side of good and I would not recommend using this lady as a role model. Despite the fact she uses her skills for evil, her work does suggest she has a brilliant mind.

She was originally a part of Project Wesker and although her work with Umbrella is perhaps too complex to relay here, she was involved in a variety of research projects focussing on bio-weapons and the ability to digitise consciousness. These may not be the most upstanding scientific fields but you’ve got to respect her for trying something so nuts!

Purah (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) – Ancient Technology Research

There had to be one traditional ‘mad scientist’ type in this list right and Purah is certainly quite eccentric. She undoubtedly has impressive science skills but as her accidental age-reversal trick shows, she isn’t necessarily quite careful enough in how she uses them. Perhaps she could use writing a protocol or two?

Her interactions with Link tend to be quite cheeky, but she is committed to helping him restore his Sheikah Slate and after her many years of research into it she must be glad that Link has finally woken up so she can get some proper work done and put her research to the test!

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So there we have it – my celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. But what do you think? Are you fascinated by any of the scientific endeavours I’ve described here? Perhaps you can think of some other inspiring women scientists from video games and anime? Let me know below in comments and if you enjoyed this post let me know as I may do something similar for International Women in Engineering Day on June 23rd!

Thanks for reading,

Pix1001 x