Gender Equal Ensemble

Four Kid Detectives in Roman Mysteries


A Gender Equal Ensemble is an ensemble, team, band, family or other group of main characters, consisting of at least four members, that has the exact same number of males as it does females. This is normally done for either for reasons of advancing gender equality, attempting to appeal equally to both male and female demographics, or for reasons of balance and symmetry. If the characters are not related to each other it can sometimes make it easier to Pair the Spares. In a family scenario, this will often take the form of having a father, a mother, a son and a daughter, so that each standard role in a nuclear family has a representative.

The Six-Student Clique is often a subtrope of this.

Compare The Chick, Two Guys and a Girl, Four-Girl Ensemble, Affirmative Action Girl. Contrast The Smurfette Principle, The One Guy.

Examples of Gender Equal Ensemble include:

Anime and Manga

  • Gundam Wing has a primary cast of seven men (Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wu Fei, Zechs, and Treize), and seven women (Relena, Hilde, Catherine, Dorothy, Sally, Noin, and Lady Une). Each of these characters also has a close relationship or strong bond with someone on the opposite sex list, making up the most common (non-gay) fan pairings; some of them are even Official Couples.
  • Bakugan used to have this, with three girls and three boys in the first season. Since then, it's been hit by the Smurfette Principle hard.

Board Games

  • Clue - Three men (Green, Mustard and Plum) and three women (White, Peacock and Scarlet)

Comics

  • Monica's Gang - Two boys (Jimmy Five and Smudge) and two girls (Monica and Maggy)
  • The Endless. Three male (Dream, Destruction, Destiny), three female (Death, Delirium, Despair), and Desire, who has never been satisfied with one of anything.
  • For a long time during the 1970s, the (core) Defenders consisted of Nighthawk, the Hulk, the Valkyrie and Hellcat.
  • The Fantastic Four during the time after the first Secret War when the Thing stayed behind on Battleworld: Mr. Fantastic, the Human Torch, the Invisible Woman and the She-Hulk.
  • Power Pack. Two boys (Gee and Mass-Master) and two girls (Lightspeed and Energizer).
  • Generation X in their original set-up: three boys (Synch, Skin, Chamber), three girls (Jubilee, M, Husk), and one teacher of either gender (Emma Frost, Sean Cassidy).
  • Mafalda started with two girls (Mafalda and Susanita) and two boys (Felipe and Manolito), and ended with three each (adding Libertad and Miguelito).

Film

  • Cloverfield - Three boys (Rob, Jason and Hud) and three girls (Beth, Lily and Marlena).
  • Clue - Four men (Wadsworth and blackmailed men Colonel Mustard, Mr. Green and Professor Plum) and four women (Yvette and blackmailed women Miss Scarlet, Mrs. White and Mrs. Peacock).

Literature

  • The Berenstain Bears - For the longest time, The Bear family consisted of Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Brother Bear and Sister Bear. This balance was undone with the introduction of Honey Bear in 2000.
  • Chronicles of Narnia
    • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has two boys (Peter and Edmund) and two girls (Susan and Lucy)
    • Prince Caspian has the same two boys and two girls, although that one also has Caspian as the protagonist of the B plot, so it blurs the line.
    • The Horse and His Boy has one male human and one female human and one male horse and one female horse.
    • The Friends of Narnia in The Last Battle avert this because of the subtraction of Susan.
  • Enid Blyton - Her works often consist of a gender balanced group of children, sometimes supplemented by a pet.
    • The Famous Five - Not counting the dog, the titular ensemble consists of two boys (Julian and Dick) and two girls (Georgina and Anne)
    • The Adventure Series - Two boys (Phillip and Jack) and two girls (Dinah and Luck-Ann)
    • The Secret Series - Two boys (Jack and Mike) and two girls (Peggy and Nora)
    • The Far Away Tree - The second book has two boys and two girls.
    • The Adventurous Four- Two boys (Tom and Andy) and twin sisters (Jill and Mary)
    • Six Cousin Series - Three boys (Jack, Cyril and Roderick) and three girls (Jane, Susan and Melisande)
  • The Roman Mysteries - The four Kid Detectives that make up the main characters include two girls (Flavia and Nubia) and two boys (Jonathan and Lupus).
  • The Wheel of Time - To a certain degree, this series follows this by having a trio of males and a trio of females as the main characters, though it is rare that all six are in the same place at once or even directly communicating with each other.
    • This is debatable, however, as there is no clear-cut delineation between "main" and supporting characters in the series, and the ensemble is forever changing.

Live Action TV

  • Up until the story The Nightmare Man at the beginning of series 4, The Sarah Jane Adventures' team consisted of two boys (Luke and Clyde), and two girls (Maria and Sarah Jane, later Rani and Sarah Jane).
  • Friends has three boys (Ross, Chandler and Joey) and three girls (Monica, Rachel and Phoebe).
  • The Beverly Hillbillies - The titular family has two males (Jed and Jethro) and two females (Granny and Elly). Additional regular characters include two males (Milburn and Sonny Drysdale) and two females (Margaret Drysdale and Jane Hathaway).
  • The Brady Bunch - Not counting the housekeeper, the titular family consists of one father with three boys and one mother with three daughters.
  • The Addams Family - The immediate family consists of one father (Gomez), one son (Pugsley), one mother (Morticia) and one daughter (Wednesday). Extended family includes Uncle Fester and Grandmama.
    • Though it gets unbalanced if you count Lurch in.
  • The Nanny - The Sheffield household has three males (Maxwell and Brighton Sheffield, Niles the butler) and three females (Fran Fine, Maggie and Gracie Sheffield).
  • Coupling - Three boys (Steve, Patrick and Jeff) and three girls (Sally, Susan and Jane). This was enough to get it described constantly as the Trans-Atlantic Equivalent of Friends, when it wasn't much like it at all.
  • A number of Edutainment shows enforce this.
  • The Fresh Beat Band's Marina, Kiki, Twist, and Shout.
  • Though the group's composition is constantly in flux (often as a plot point), the titular Glee club of Glee spends most of it's time in an even 6/6 split between the boys and girls for season 1, and hovers around that number for most of season 2 as well.
  • iCarly - Interpretation of exactly what 'counts' for the trope can lead to this trope being played straight or averted.
    • If you count just the main trio of characters due to their age then they fail the trope until Gibby becomes a full time cast member in the later seasons.
    • If you count Spencer due to the fact that he's Carly's brother and that the fictional eponymous web show is filmed in their apartment, Spencer would round out the Two Girls and a Guy cast to achieve the trope before Gibby, but then turns it into an aversion when Gibby eventually shows up.
    • If you also count Mrs. Benson because she was the only other major character on the show from the start, then it means women outnumber the men until Gibby comes along to make the main cast 3 guys and 3 women.
  • The four main characters in Merlin are two boys (Arthur and Merlin) and two girls (Guinevere and Morgana). May not count for some considering the boys dominate most of the screentime, to the point where the girls are sometimes completely absent for certain episodes.

Theater

  • On the Town - Three boys (Gabey, Chip and Ozzie) and three girls (Ivy, Hildy and Claire).
  • Godspell is originally scripted to have this (Five boys and Five girls) but due to the shows flexibility, it can vary wildly.

Video Games

  • Persona 4 has this. There's Protag, Yosuke, Kanji, and Teddie, then there's Chie, Yukiko, Rise, and Naoto.
  • Even Persona 3 has this as of FES. Male MC, Junpei, Akihiko, Shinjiro, Ken, and Koromaru, then Fe MC, Yukari, Mitsuru, Fuuka, Aigis, and Metis.
    • ...doesn't stop there, either. Persona 2: Innocent Sin has Tatsuya, Eikichi, and Jun, then Maya, Lisa, and Yukino.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy VIII - The main party consists of three guys (Squall, Zell, Irvine) and three girls (Rinoa, Quistis, Selphie).
    • Final Fantasy XII - three males (Vaan, Balthier, Basch) and three females (Ashe, Fran, Penelo) make up the main party, although the group is occasionally joined by "guests" (important NPCs who take the unused fourth spot in a traveling party, all male).
    • Final Fantasy XIII - 3 main females (Vanille, Lightning and Fang) and 3 main males (Sazh, Snow and Hope).
    • Final Fantasy Type-0 - 7 main females (Rem, Deuce, Cater, Cinque, Sice, Seven and Queen) and 7 main males (Machina, Ace, Trey, Eight, Nine, Jack and King)
  • Pilotwings 64: Three male pilots (Lark, Goose, Hawk) and three female pilots (Kiwi, Ibis, Robin).
  • Dragon Age: Origins has four female Companions (Morrigan, Leliana, Wynne, and Shale) and four male (Alistair who is optionally replaced by Teyrn Loghain, Sten, Zevran, and Oghren). And a (male) dog. However, you don't have to recruit all of them and depending on whether you view the Warden as a ensemble member, the balance can be tipped to either side.
  • Mass Effect 1 had three female squad members (Ashley, Tali, Liara) and three males (Kaidan, Garrus, and Wrex), though Kaidan and Ashley become Mutually Exclusive Party Members after a certain mission. Mass Effect 2 leans slightly towards the male side, even with DLC, owing to the fact that Legion technically has no gender.
    • If you have the full party in Mass Effect 3, then you can have Garrus/James/Kaidan as your male squadmates and Liara/Tali/ EDI as your female squadmates. There is also a male DLC character called Javik who can tip the balance. However, he can also restore it, depending on how you see it, with males as Garrus/James/Javik and females as Liara/Tali/Ashley, with EDI as genderless.
  • Both Knights of the Old Republic games, depending on player choices (and ignoring the droids, who all have male personalities):
    • In the first, with a female Player Character, there are four males (Carth, Zaalbar, Canderous, and Jolee) and four females (the Player Character, Mission, Bastila, and Juhani).
    • In the second, if the player character is light sided on Nar Shaddaa (and thus gets Mira instead of Hanharr), the party again has four males (Atton, Bao-Dur, Mandalore, and Disciple or the Exile) and four females (Kreia, Mira, Visas, and Handmaiden or the Exile).
  • Both Baten Kaitos games. The first has 3 males and 3 females, while the 2nd has 1 male, 1 female and 1 Guillo ( a Hermaphrodite Perverse Puppet Golem that uses Voice of the Legion, giving "it" both a male and female voice actor).
  • Chaos Rings and Chaos Rings Ω - The Agent summons four or five couples, each of which are a man and a woman.
  • Wild ARMs 2 has three male playable characters (Ashley, Brad, and Tim) and three females (Lilka, Kanon, and Marivel).
  • In Magna Carta 2, Juto/Crocell/Argo are your male party members, whilst Zephie/Rue/Celestine are your females.
  • Tales of Vesperia has Yuri/Raven/Karol as the males and Estelle/Judith/Rita as the females. And a male dog.

Web Comic

  • Homestuck - Eight boys (John, Dave, Karkat, Tavros, Sollux, Gamzee, Equius and Eridan) and eight girls (Rose, Jade, Terezi, Vriska, Kanaya, Aradia, Feferi and Nepeta). This even applies to large portions of the ensemble cast: the human session's exiles consist of two male Dersites (WV and AR) and two female Prospitians (PM and WQ), although the White King - a male Prospitian - briefly joined them, unbalancing the gender ratio. For about ten seconds before Jack Noir chopped his head off. The guardians fit if you treat Nanna as John's guardian instead of Dad Egbert.
  • The Player's Guide To S.I.S.U. - Three female PCs, three male PCs. And on top of that, three female players, three male players.
  • The main four characters in Our Little Adventure.

Western Animation

  • 6teen - Three boys (Jonesy, Jude and Wyatt) and three girls (Nikki, Jen and Caitlin).
  • The Magic School Bus, if you don't count Ms. Frizzle, has four boys and four girls.
  • The regular contestants of Total Drama are split amongst eleven boys and eleven girls.
  • "The Incredibles" - two males (Mr. Incredible and Dash) and two females (Elastigirl and Violet). Technically, Jack-Jack unbalances this but he's not in most of the movie so it counts.
    • If you include non-primary characters you have: Jack-Jack, Frozone, and Syndrome as well as Edna, Mirage, and Kari.
  • Scooby Doo: Two boys (Fred and Shaggy), two girls (Daphne and Velma) and one dog (Scooby Doo).
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender started off with Katara being the only girl for two boys (Aang and Sokka),but then Toph joined the team
  • Bubble Guppies, barring the teacher and the dog, has three guys (Gil, Goby, and Nonny) and three girls (Molly, Deema, and Oona)
  • Terra's short tenure in the Teen Titans caused the team to be this: her, Starfire and Raven on the girl's side, and Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg as the guys.
  • Young Justice ends season one with four guys and four girls, thanks to adding several Affirmative Action Girls since its all-male premiere.
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