Asobi Asobase – Episode 1
Like any comedy, Asobi Asobase won’t be for everyone. But comedy that celebrates the crude side that resides within all of us, including teenage girls, is something that I’m always glad to see more of.
Posts by Caitlin Moore
-
-
Cells at Work! – Episode 1
I never thought I’d use the descriptor “Schoolhouse Rock meets Osmosis Jones meets Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure,” but I just watched Cells at Work so here we are.
-
100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams – Episode 1
With harems these days, it’s go hard or go home. Everyone’s gotta have a gimmick, and sometimes that gimmick is more numbers than anything else.
-
The Thousand Noble Musketeers – Episode 1
The twenty-five-minute first episode of The Thousand Noble Musketeers felt like it was about a thousand minutes long. I like pretty boys as much as the next fujoshi, but with no bite, no edge, and no point, it all feels ultimately limp and dull.
-
HANEBADO! – Episode 1
For years, every time a female-driven sports anime was announced, I’d say to myself, “Maybe this one will treat its characters like serious athletes instead of moe archetypes and vehicles for fanservice.” HANEBADO! really looked like it might be the female sports anime I was waiting for. And I was right. Sort of.
-
Fate/Extra: Last Encore – Episode 1
What did I just watch?
-
Cardia Wears the Pants: Fashion and agency in Code: Realize
There’s a lot to love about Code: Realize, but a major part of its appeal is its heroine. While many otome games have meek, passive heroines, Cardia grows into an active protagonist who takes control of her own narrative. A significant part of this transformation comes when she trades in her gown for pants, a rare and welcome move for female characters all across anime.
-
Fushigi Yugi: Adolescence Apotheosis
Through its raw, emotional, sometimes-frustrating narrative, Fushigi Yugi uses isekai trappings and the relationship between Miaka and Yui to explore common sources of desire and anxiety for teenage girls along with their potential consequences, both positive and negative. By tapping into the mentality of its audience and providing reassurance in its conclusion, Fushigi Yugi serves the function of a modern fable or fairy tale.
-
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for an Otaku – Episode 1
I’m going to say it straight out: I loved this premiere. I love romances between functional adults with common interests. I love grounded stories about likable nerds. I love relatable characters, and my boyfriend more than once turned to me during the episode and said, “That’s you.” Wotakoi, it seems, was made for me.
-
Caligula – Episode 1
Lord, save me from stories about singular male geniuses.
-
PERSONA5 the Animation – Episode 1
We did it, everyone. We did it! Persona5 the Animation looks absolutely incredible, while also remaining faithful to the source material.
-
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online – Episode 1
This show might be kind of cool! But I have no idea yet, because the first episode has nothing to do with the overall plot.
-
Comic Girls – Episode 1
There are two kinds of “cute girls doing cute things” shows. Some are built on archetypes that bear little resemblance to how real girls act and think. Others portray more authentic relationships and emotions, with care to make them relatable and interesting. Comic Girls and its heroine Kaoruko fall somewhere in the middle, with moments of relatability mixed in with trope-driven comedy.
-
Real Girl – Episode 1
Real Girl has… issues. A lot of them. So much so that it’s hard to figure out exactly where to start.
-
Kakuriyo -Bed and Breakfast for Spirits- – Episode 1
The supernatural husband genre has deep folkloric roots all over the world, so it’s unsurprising that it’s a narrative that appears over and over again. There’s no getting around the fact that it’s pretty inherently problematic. And yet, I thoroughly enjoyed Kakuriyo -Bed and Breakfast for Spirits-.
-
FranXX vs. FranXY: The outdated gender politics of DARLING in the FRANXX
Darling in the FRANXX purports to have something to say about sex, gender, and adolescence, but as illustrated in the “battle of the sexes” plotline in the episode “Boys x Girls,” thus far it only rehashes outdated stereotypes and an antiquated “boys will be boys” attitude.
-
Yamamoto Sayo, director and storyboard artist, chats about Yuri on Ice and creating “raw” female characters
AniFem staffer Caitlin sat down with Yamamoto Sayo at AnimeFest 2017 to talk about Yuri on Ice, her themes, and her career.
-
The Problem with Problematic Creators
How do you react when you find out one of the main creative forces behind something you love is, to not mince words, a completely shit person?
-
Beatless – Episode 1
Beatless feels largely like a pastiche of genre conventions and other series that came before it.
-
Hakumei and Mikochi – Episode 1
Hakumei and Mikochi, with its watercolor-inspired art, intelligent but not anthropomorphized animals, and chill forest vibe, reminds me of nothing so much as a children’s book.
