cultural relativism doesn't excuse the stuff being there to begin with?
let's take, say... madoka. madoka is a show about girls being punished for having self-agency, yet lots of westerners interpret it as empowering because it's from a different point of view. that doesn't make it any less ****ed up.
Does it?
Look this is awful similar to Cutie Honey's case.
If you do t know what that is, it's an anime starring a heroine who's clothes get ripped to shreds every episode.
Western viewers don't like it.
Oddly japanese women loved it. Cutie became their idol.
They saw her as a positive role model. She was beautiful, confident, kind, and had a kick butt attitude.
And that's what she was intended to be with fan service being shoes in for the males.
Again, we hated it and thought it was the opposite. It hurt women.
Cultural relativism is real. It happns every day. Because the only power fiction has is the power and meaning we give it.
When the Little Mermaid was first released, feminists applauded Ariel's character. She was a princess who explored, went out and did things. She knew what she wanted and did what she could to get it.
Nowadays, she's seen as horribly sexist.
Fiction always had cultural relativism and always will.
If we can't appreciate fiction for what it is intended to be, we have no right to attacking what it can be. Otherwise, we become ego and ethnocentric. I'm not saying you can't be displeased by something. It's not exactly my cup of tea either, but attacking it when it isn't even shaped around our culture and beliefs is bad.
Regardless, none of this matters because of localization.