Just look at animemes banning the use of tr*p. Of course not every anime is misogynist but... there’s kinda a lot. And I think there’s a lot of blatant misogyny that is definitely noticed, and people who watch those scenes know it’s bad, but if you keep watching that shit over and over, even if you know it’s bad, it just get burned into your brain. But more importantly, a lot of anime just treats women as a whole differently than the male characters. Their drawn slightly differently, they act slightly differently, and they continue to be treated as objects, albeit in more subtle ways. On their own or in a bubble these grievances wouldn’t be a big deal, but it does add up. Idk, shit just sucks and it makes it hard to get into shows I would really like otherwise...
Gurenn Lagann is fun but I think it reflects some of Gainax's worst tendencies, with the two major female characters being the thirteen-year-old fap bait (who spends the entire series in a bikini top or less) and the useless waif.
KLK is good though, essentially Studio Trigger broke off from Gainax and set about righting the wrongs of the past by making two shows, one where the characters are cute girls and there's nothing sexual at all (Little Witch Academia) and one where the characters are sexy girls but the sexualization is turned so far up off the charts that it becomes something else entirely (Kill La Kill).
Totally agree, I like GL for its super solid communist revolution story that even deals with the issues of revisionism in the second half, but they definitely could have turned the horniness down. I think the second half does alright in trying to reconcile those character tropes, with the waif becoming the main villain and the fap trap becoming a school teacher. At least until she decides "time to rip off all my clothes in front of a bunch of 7 year olds".