This week: the anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, Sailor Moon being dubbed in Anishinaabemowin, and a theatrical re-release of Perfect Blue.
AniFem Round-Up
[Perspectives] Hiding Then, Hesitating Now: Closeted sexuality and Confessions of a Mask
Luisa Aparisi-França discusses Yukio Mishima’s quasi-autobiographical novel and how, while the man himself was often repugnant, his discussion of self-loathing and fear helped her survive being closeted among a very religious extended family.
[Versus] Commentary vs. Snuff: Sex, violence, and despair in Danganronpa
Caitlin compares Danganronpa the video game with its anime adaptation, which added deliberately dehumanizing and sexualized framing of the violence done to its female characters.
[Podcast] Chatty AF 66: Den-noh Coil Watchalong – Episodes 14-20
The watchalong talks digital footprints left by the deceased, supernatural elements, and the show’s awesome cast of multi-generational women.
[AniFemTalk] What new licenses are you excited about?
Con season means a bunch of licensing announcements! What good stuff is out there?
Beyond AniFem
Introduction to Logic: Is lawmaker Mio Sugita’s homophobic argument VALID or SOUND? | QueerESL (YouTube, Masaki C Matsumoto)
A breakdown and refutation of Sugita’s arguments.
In this English lesson video, I explain to ESL learners the meaning of the word “sound” in the sense of an argument being logical and based on truth, then move on to explain validity and soundness using one of the homophobic arguments recently made by Japanese lawmaker Mio Sugita where she argues that students should not be taught about LGBT issues in school.
The Ultimate List of Legal Online Manga Sites (Yatta-tachi, Katy Castillo)
A list of sixteen sites offering legally translated, artist-supporting manga.
Don’t get me wrong! I miss the old Borders/Waldenbooks days when every birthday and Christmas would come around. My sister, Ashley, and I would make a list of manga we would want and purposely buy them for each other. That way, when she is done with her manga, we would switch and read each others’ presents. Ah, the perks of siblings who shared the same interests.
So, friend, if you are in need of a manga fix, I have good news for you! I have searched and scoured the internet to create a comprehensive list of 100% legal, online manga sites. If you know a site that is legal and does online manga, please let me know in the comments and I’ll add them!
[ Note: Due to licensing, some of these sites might not be available in your country and I apologize in advance if that is the case.
OUR “STARLIGHT” — MORE TAKARAZUKA INFLUENCES IN SHOUJO ☆ KAGEKI REVUE STARLIGHT (Atelier Emily)
A discussion of how Revue Starlight nods to existing Takarazuka productions and traditions.
Young Karen and Hikari take the position of two girls inspired by the performance to eventually apply to Seisho Music Academy to become actresses themselves. Their older, adolescent versions fill the two lead roles onstage. The lines they speak are supposedly from the play Starlight, but also reflect their respective outlooks, breaking the fourth wall a bit. Karen recognizes that their desires for the stage and the spotlight bring them together while Hikari is afraid that those same desires will irrevocably separate them.
Starlight is a framing device for everything that happens, or will happen, in Revue Starlight. Like Maya Tendou’s dominion over position zero as the top star, Starlight is another reminder of the Takarazuka status quo at Seisho Music Academy, presenting the competitive cycle that Karen aims to break. It also offers a way forward that breaks the cycle, especially in context.
Episode 1: The Cosgala Masquerade w/JaxJax Attaxx FT Tranquil Ashes Cosplay (Noir Caesar)
Noir Caesar’s new podcast talks with the head of Baltimore’s upcoming Cosgala Masquerade, an event crafted by and for cosplayers. A textual interview is also available.
Hosted and organized by a talented collective of cosplayers and figureheads in the nerd community, at the helm of Cosgala team sits the immensely dedicated, professional cosplayer and makeup artist, Anita Riggs, famously known as Tranquil Ashes Cosplay.
Along with joining me as a guest on NOiR’s very first podcast, now available on our SoundCloud and YouTube, Anita was kind enough to give us a brief interview with more insight into what to expect from one of the hottest events to grace the Baltimore cosplay scene.
Ojibway youth dubs popular cartoons in Anishinaabemowin and Cree (CBC, Rhiannon Johnson)
Westin Sutherland is working to dub Sailor Moon as well as western cartoons as an educational aid.
The 2016 census reported there are more than 70 unique Indigenous languages being spoken in Canada and that more than 250,000 people across the country are fluent enough in an Indigenous language that they can carry on a conversation. The number of people who could speak an Indigenous language grew by three per cent since 2006.
“I think it will help our language and help our people gain confidence in our language,” said Sutherland.
Since he is still learning the language himself, Sutherland gets help from teachers, Elders and other speakers in the community to help him with the dubbing to make sure the words flow and make sense. He records them voicing the characters, offering direction when a character should be conveying a certain emotion.
He has been dubbing cartoons for the last couple of years and has begun completing full episodes of shows like Sailor Moon and The Proud Family. He is currently working on an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.
Welcome to Mima’s Room (GKids)
In order to promote the upcoming theatrical re-release of Perfect Blue, the ticket-ordering site is made to mimic the website from the film.
People unable to bear children blast lawmaker’s article calling LGBT couples ‘unproductive’ (The Japan Times)
Several protesters with disabilities and/or medical conditions that prevented them from having children also protested Sugita and the LDP.
Shoji Nakanishi, 74, also from Hachioji, who is partially paralyzed due to a cervical spine injury, said Sugita’s view was akin to that of the man indicted for killing 19 mentally disabled people at a care home in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2016. The man had said disabled people “should be eradicated from society.”
Nakanishi said he is concerned about “a growing trend to eliminate heterogeneity from society.”
The LDP posted a message on its website last week stating that Sugita’s views did not conform with the party’s official stance on issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
However, LDP No. 2, Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, said in late July in reference to Sugita’s article that the LDP “is a gathering of wide-ranging people from right to left. Each (LDP politician) has his or her own political position and life philosophy.”
Nakanishi denounced Nikai’s remarks, saying he “tolerates and facilitates eugenics ideas.”
#NEVERAGAINISNOW: WHY THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF JAPANESE AMERICAN REDRESS MATTERS TODAY (Angry Asian Man, Tsuya Hohri Yee & Joseph Shoji Lachman)
A retrospective on the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, specifically the reparations it granted to Japanese-Americans interred by the American government.
As younger generation Japanese Americans, however, we recognize that this work did not end with the passing of the Civil Liberties Act thirty years ago; rather, we should view this anniversary as the beginning of a new chapter in our fight for justice. Three decades later, we see the struggles of Black and Indigenous communities who were never able to secure reparations for their communities despite the even greater hardships they have persevered through. We see Japanese Latin Americans who were excluded from the Civil Liberties Act. The state-sponsored racism that led to Japanese American incarceration during WWII lives on today in the administration’s cruel zero tolerance policy and Muslim Ban. We see Muslim families in the U.S. fighting the same fight for equal rights and to be recognized as Americans in the face of deep prejudice, not unlike what our communities fought to overcome. We see migrant families, in particular many Latinx families fighting a system that splits up families and imprisons children in what are the modern day American concentration camps, some even built disturbingly close to previous sites of WWII concentration camps for our Japanese American families.
It is with this in mind that we are calling on all Japanese Americans and our allies across the country to both commemorate the legacy of the Redress Movement, and also carry the torch forward by standing with communities who today fight much of the same anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner bigotry. The fight for Redress did not end 30 years ago, and it continues until we have justice for all, not just ourselves. This is why we say “Never Again” IS NOW.
What Japanese women are saying about discrimination in Japan (YouTube, Rachel and Jun)
A reading of tweets from Japanese women speaking out about their own experiences following the revelation that Tokyo Medical University was discriminating against female applicants.
Thread: Translator and educator Rachel Thorn discusses the evolution of manga after World War II, specifically during its occupation by U.S. troops.
https://twitter.com/rachel_thorn_en/status/1027939012231585799
AniFem Community
Keep the good stuff coming! There’s plenty of upcoming media to be excited about.
*stares at region codes* Oh I see Concrete Revolutio is getting a French release! This is why I learn Japanese, so I can buy DVDs all over Europe. 😂
— 🎃 The Witch Casandra 🎃 (@CasReadman) August 14, 2018
Kimagure Orange Road, Giant Robo, the Devilman ovas, Zillion, Glass Mask, Lupin III The Legend of Gold Babylon, Gunsmith Cats….oh and the Urusei Yatsura manga!
— 🐭 Samurai Pizza Rat 🍕 (@bunnycartoon) August 13, 2018
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