Regarding Vaan's feminism...

[Savannah]

The only reason he looks like he does is because men who look like women is huge in Japan (look at Gackt). It's not because Square is going against the grain to make a main character that isn't a "typical male."

I'll be impressed if the leading character for FFXIII is a really butch chick.

So how wasnt Squall feminine? Because...? He looked pretty much like a girl to me. Pre-FFVII, you couldnt really tell, except in Amano art. Lock was extremely girlish, was were Cecil, Butz, and so on. They've all been very feminine, even Cloud's Amano art (he even looks like he's wearing friggin lipstick), so it's nothing new. It's just another reason to bitch about new games, because now you can actually tell.

Squall and Cloud (mostly Cloud) didn't look that feminine in the actual games, I don't think. Like you said, slim, waifish and girly is Amano's style, but not game's style. I'm not really sure what Amano's relationship to the characters' designs are, but his are usually very dramatized, feminized versions of the characters.