AniFem Round-Up
REMINDER: This month the team is republishing classic feature articles in order to give the team time to focus on implementing the site redesign.
[My Fave is Problematic] Kare Kano
Jacqueline-Elizabeth Cottrell digs into the messy, sometimes toxic relationships of Kare Kano and the series’ still-powerful themes about surviving trauma.
[Interview] Masaki C. Matsumoto, queer and feminist activist
Matsumoto was kind enough to sit down with us to talk about his activist work and YouTube channel.
[Podcast] Chatty AF 98: Neon Genesis Evangelion Watchalong – Episodes 1-6
Vrai, Dee, and new viewers Lizzie Visitante and Isaac Acker take the emotional rollercoaster.
[AniFemTalk] Which anime would you like to see on stage?
The two mediums have a long intertwining history—what makes a good stage anime?
Beyond AniFem
Love Stinks and Sex Sucks in O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Anime News Network, Michelle Liu and Steve Jones)
The discussion covers up to episode ten and particularly Niina’s trauma.
Micchy: Niina’s relationship with him is a heap of contradictions. She wants to break free of him, but she’s also desperate for his attention. She wants to live her own life, but she puts herself in a cliche love triangle situation for lack of a better plan. Whether she actually likes Izumi is irrelevant; what she wants is somebody to act as proof that she’s free of Saegusa’s influence. She’s less interested in Izumi than in having a boyfriend to love her unconditionally, a partner to support her. Her bucket list wish to have sex is just a convenient excuse for her to act on her impulses.
Interview with Our Featured Cosplayer: Munchy-Chan Desu! (The Magic Rain, Amos Teng)
An interview with Munchy-Chan Desu, who’s known for incorporating hijab into her cosplays.
Hijab Cosplay is currently in trend among female Muslim cosplayers. What encouraged you to begin doing Hijab cosplay in the first place?
I actually didn’t know hijab cosplay exist in the first place because there weren’t many people doing it back then. So because I love the character, I would like to try to ‘become’ them without taking my hijab off so that’s how I started doing it in the first place.
What is the thought process that goes on when you want to cosplay a certain character in Hijab-style? What are some of the challenges of adapting the character to your needs?
First of all, finding the right material for the hijab is extremely important and not to mention the right style for it as well. This is because I need to be creative to recreate the hijab in a way that it represents the hair, even though it doesn’t have to be exactly the same as the character’s hair. It just have to look close enough to the actual hair and doesn’t necessarily need to be like the hair’s shape.
An Explorer’s Guide to the Wonderful World of Visual Novels (Crunchyroll, Adam Wescott)
A list of visual novel recommendations for curious players, many of them yuri.
The House in Fata Morgana is a bonafide cult classic, a game made by a small studio that earned itself a legion of die-hard fans in the visual novel space. At first glance it’s an entertaining genre pastiche, four tales of doomed love centering around a cursed mansion. But read past the first four chapters, and suddenly the real story comes to the fore—the tale of two ordinary people and a love that lasts for centuries. Fata Morgana takes some huge swings, tackling societal oppression, intersexuality, recovering from past trauma and learning to move on from those who have wronged you without having to forgive them. Its success at landing these swings likely depends on the reader, but I found Fata Morgana‘s heart to be in the right place. Couple that with one of the best soundtracks in video games, and you have an experience that is worth it even at 0% off.
Editorial: Tokyo 2020 organizers falling short of ‘diversity & harmony’ slogan (The Mainichi)
An article highlighting the lack of accessible Braille options for disabled visitors hoping to attend the games.
Even for details that could shift, is it not possible to make Braille or audio explanations on how to get the most up-to-date information on the web? The organizing committee needs to take the voices of disabled people’s organizations seriously.
After the lack of materials for the visually impaired came to light, the organizing committee put the phone service number for fans with disabilities at the top of the Paralympic ticket sakes site. The committee has said the number of telephone inquiries has since increased. Further measures should be undertaken through a process of trial and error, right up until the curtain falls on the final day of the games.
Firms promote electric wheelchairs as more Japanese turn in their driving permits (The Japan Times)
Companies are heavily promoting chair usage to elderly customers, but the models cost upward of ¥368,000.
Startup Whill Inc. sells electric wheelchairs controlled by hand levers.
Its mainstay Model C, which costs ¥450,000, features a futuristic design and does not look like a typical wheelchair.
Some customers are delighted to hear passersby say the wheelchair is cool, a public relations official at the company said.
The number of people who returned their driver’s licenses totaled 421,190 last year and has been increasing at a rapid pace over the past decade, according to National Police Agency data.
Saitama beauty salon allows Muslims to let their hair down (The Asahi Shimbun, Ryohei Miyawaki)
The salon offers curtained rooms with female stylists, alcohol-free shampoos, and a prayer mat.
UNIX decided to introduce the service after a meeting of tenants at a commercial complex in Chiba that houses one of its outlets.
Naoki Okamoto, 43, head of the company’s sales promotion department, became interested in a campaign to attract Islamic customers at the gathering. He learned that Muslimahs were struggling in this country to find salons that they could visit without anxiety and proposed the new service after studying Islamic practices.
“The skills of Japanese hairdressers have won high praise from East Asian women, whose hair has characteristics similar to those of Japanese women,” said Okamoto, who is also a hairdresser. “I would like Muslimah customers to experience the exceptional techniques of our stylists.”
VIDEO: A short review of Carole & Tuesday.
VIDEO: An essay on the central couple of Banana Fish.
TWEET: A short parody video of Shonen Jump at the drive-thru.
THREAD: Explanation of the cultural context leading up to the closure of Tokyopop.
AniFem Community
We would like to hear all of these musicals, posthaste.
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