AniFem Round-Up
[Editorial] AniFem Fundraiser Update: September 2019
Here’s what we’ve been up to for the next month, including a preview of the site redesign.
[Review] Kemono Michi: Rise Up – Episode 1
The adventures of horny bisexual wrestler furry are held back by unpleasant assault jokes.
[Review] Ahiru no Sora – Episode 1
A cheery basketball series cursed with a mostly obnoxious cast.
[Review] ORESUKI Are You the Only One Who Loves Me? – Episode 1
Primo incel bait right here; if it’s attempting satire, it’s failing.
[Review] Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious – Episode 1
Fanservice aside, this isekai’s long-suffering goddess is comedy gold.
[Review] Ascendance of a Bookworm – Episode 1
A well-written slow-burn isekai with a likable heroine.
[Review] Azur Lane – Episode 1
Decent ship-girl naval battles are undermined by lots of panty shots involving grade schoolers.
[Review] Val x Love – Episode 1
A throwback harem series where the women are literally objects for the male protagonist’s quest.
[Review] After School Dice Club – Episode 1
A solid bet for hobby anime and tabletop game fans.
[Review] Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun – Episode 1
Sweet and goofy with an aesthetic like Soul Eater at its best.
[Review] Actors: Songs Connection – Episode 1
Not looking to attract anyone not already invested in the genre or the franchise.
[Review] High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World – Episode 1
Occasionally unpleasant but mostly very, very boring.
[Review] Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit – Episode 1
A hit for fans of supernatural detective stories but not a standout.
[Review] Outburst Dreamer Boys – Episode 1
An energetic comedy that might have more going on beneath the surface.
A simmering legal thriller that hits with a wallop in its final minutes.
[Review] Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life? – Episode 1
Likable characters dragged down by tired and unpleasant jokes.
[AniFemTalk] Which video games have translated well into anime?
With another Fate adaptation on the menu, let’s talk about game adaptations.
Beyond AniFem
Anime voice actor Vic Mignogna loses big as judge drops final claims that Dallas-area studio and colleagues defamed him (The Dallas Morning News, Sharon Grigsby)
An update on the case: all charges against the defendants have been dismissed.
[Judge] Chupp’s action came after mediation efforts this week failed to get a resolution.
Friday’s decision left Mignogna 0 for 17 in his legal battle, as Chupp already had dismissed 12 of the claims, which included defamation, tortious interference and conspiracy during an early September hearing.
This latest order is unlikely to tamp down the nasty firefight that has raged on social media between the #kickvic and #IStandWithVic camps. The split in the anime community over who are the villains and who are the victims has only sharpened with each development in the case.
The Complicated Power of Princess Mononoke’s Villain, Lady Eboshi (Film School Rejects, Mary Beth McAndrews)
A character study of the film’s antagonist and the themes surrounding her.
While Lady Eboshi is the villain of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki does not make her as evil as his other bad guys, seen in films such as Castle In The Sky and Nausicaa. She exists in a strange gray area where, yes, her actions are easily labeled as bad, but her intentions can be perceived as good. Her focus is not on the environment but on what she sees as the betterment of humankind; nature is nothing more than another enemy that must be conquered in the name of progress. While her philanthropic desire to help sex workers and “her” lepers may seem self-serving and a way to justify her destruction of the landscape, there is no denying the resources and care she shows those who are deemed unwanted by society.
To Lady Eboshi, Irontown is a utopia, where women are just a powerful as men, where lepers are not looked upon in disgust, and where a woman can lead an entire army. She is an idealistic villain, whose blindness to the consequences of her actions have devastating effects on the world around her.
Controversial Japan art exhibit reopens with tighter controls (The Mainichi)
In order to prevent violence, the exhibit now features increased security.
“I thought it is not right that people criticize without actually seeing the works,” said a man in his 50s who came to the venue from Osaka before the reopening. “Now I can finally see it for myself.”
People had lined up to take part in a lottery to join the two groups of 30 people allowed to enter the exhibition on Tuesday. The winners will go through an education program prior to receiving a guided tour and are banned from taking pictures or videos.
The organizers also introduced steps to better deal with telephone complaints about art works previously not shown due to what critics say is censorship.
The measures were some of the conditions requested by Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura, who heads the steering committee of the art festival, after an investigative panel set up over the issue called for the reopening last month.
Meanwhile, Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura, who criticized the event as “a violence to hijack public opinion in the name of freedom of expression” after visiting the exhibition Tuesday morning, said he will stage a sit-in during the afternoon at the venue to protest at the reopening.
AniGay Editors’ Picks: Superpowers Are Gay (AniGay, AniGay Editors)
A rec list focusing, as the title suggests, on superheroes and magical girls.
Welcome to the second edition of AniGay Editors’ Picks, an ever-evolving and totally not comprehensive list of some of our favorite queer anime! We hope you might find this page helpful if you’re on the hunt for new shows to try out. It is by no means intended to be a complete index of queer anime, which as we all know is not mathematically possible to create since the number of queer anime is provably infinite, perhaps uncountable….
Last time we talked about how sports anime is gay. This time we turn to another favorite pillar of all queer anime: Superpowers.
Why South Korea and Japan fight so much about trade (East Asia Forum, Jung H Pak)
An analysis of tensions between the two nations through an economic lens.
Another reason involves North Korea and the politics and passions of reunification. Deeply invested in reconciliation with North Korea and cultivating a ‘peace economy’, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s numerous speeches expose the lingering scars of colonisation and division in the South Korean mind. They also show how he sees the arc of the pan-Korean struggle, victory and unity as having been thwarted by Japan and its Korean collaborators.
Daniel Sneider has argued, ‘these are not so much issues of monetary compensation to individuals, they’re profound issues of identity’. Sociologist Gi-wook Shin is blunter — he argues ‘this is nothing less than the head-on collision of right-wing Japanese nationalism and left-wing South Korean nationalism’.
The answer to the question of how things got so bad: ‘all of the above’. The longstanding historical grievances are fuelled by a progressive South Korean president who prioritises engagement with an uncompromising North Korea over increasing security and economic ties with Japan, the tenure of a conservative Japanese prime minister who has a track record of insensitive remarks about his country’s wartime legacy, the perceived retreat of the US commitment to the region and an unconventional president in Washington who openly derides alliances.
Toll from KyoAni studio arson attack rises to 36 after woman dies from her injuries (The Japan Times)
The deceased’s name is being withheld pending discussion with surviving family members.
As of mid-September all the injured, including those initially in critical condition, were said to be recovering.
The attack injured 33 people and five remain hospitalized.
The police have obtained an arrest warrant for Shinji Aoba, 41, who is in hospital with severe burns, on suspicion of murder and arson, among other charges.
Fruits Basket’s First Season Was an Emotional Rollercoaster (Anime News Network, Michelle Liu and Steve Jones)
Steve and Micchy tackle the emotional punch of the season one finale.
Micchy: Tohru’s self-sacrificing habits will be addressed more often down the line, but for now all we get are glimpses at the vulnerable, self-loathing girl underneath her endlessly cheerful facade. At this point in the series, she’s still playing savior to her friends, but that can’t hold for much longer.
Steve: This gets telegraphed early on with that fable about the traveler who gave up everything she owned to dubious characters until she literally died. It’s noble to be selfless, but when it comes at the cost of your own well-being, you just end up hurting the people who love you and want to see you do well.
The Shape of Queer Liberation: On the Geometry of Promare (AniGay, Rebecca Black)
A spoiler-heavy analysis of the visual language of TRIGGER’s latest feature.
The rabbit hole of shapes goes as deep as you’re willing to fall. The burnish flames sparking pink triangles as Lio talks about pride and the need to allow the fire inside him to burn even as society shuns him for it… I mean, you’re reading AniGay, I’m gonna assume you don’t need me to spell that one out much further for you. Galo’s goofy spiked hair and “matoi” aesthetic setting him visually apart from the right-angled world around him. The whatever-it’s-called warp engine pulling energy from triangular cells down a right-angled grid into an octahedron, the one platonic solid containing both 90- and 60-degree angles. Squares and triangles. (Look, I said it goes as deep as you’re willing to fall…)
VIDEO: A recommendation of the Satoshi Kon classic Paranoia Agent.
VIDEO: Queerness in magical girl anime, and the frequent censorship thereof
AniFem Community
Y’all came up with a really diverse list of titles! Here we were expecting mostly visual novels.
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.