Commentary vs. Snuff: Sex, violence, and despair in Danganronpa
Throughout visual culture all over the world, sex and violence against women are constantly intermingled.
abuse and assault Tag
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Love, Sex, and Power in Fruits Basket
Experiencing abuse from a young age, lacking a healthy vision of how to love and be loved, can resonate through a victim’s life for years, even decades. This is explored thoughtfully and compassionately in the classic shoujo manga Fruits Basket.
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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.
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Ohtori Revisited: My 18 years with Revolutionary Girl Utena
“Once upon a time…” Those first words of the opening monologue of Revolutionary Girl Utena captivated me. And every time it repeated itself, I learned more about how stories have power.
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After the Rain, Ristorante Paradiso, and the delicate art of the age-gap romance
Through its premise, dialogue, and visual language, Ristorante Paradiso is a story that’s clearly told from its female protagonist’s perspective and directed at a female audience. After the Rain, on the other hand, seems mostly directed at the (straight) adult men its seinen magazine is so obviously targeting.
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Shonen JUMP and the Cycle of Letting it Slide
In November 2017, Nobuhiro Watsuki was arrested for the possession of child pornography. Shueisha responded by suspending publication of his Rurouni Kenshin sequel. But this isn’t the first time a Shonen JUMP author has been arrested for crimes involving underage girls.
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My Fave is Problematic: Fushigi Yugi
Full of big adventure and bigger emotions, Fushigi Yugi scratched an itch I hadn’t even known I had: for fantastical, adventure-driven comics and TV shows that placed as much focus on character relationships and emotional turmoil as they did on action and intrigue, and treated those feelings not only with respect, but as powerful forces essential to the plot.
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Roundtable: Age-gap relationships in fiction
During the Chatty AF Fushigi Yugi watchalong, Caitlin, Dee, and Vrai would frequently chat privately about the show. While watching the OVAs, the conversation turned to the relationship between a pair of supporting characters, which in turn developed into a spontaneous discussion about age-gap romances in fiction. As the subject is a complicated one (and particularly topical given recent anime), the team thought it worthwhile to expand it into a roundtable and publish it for the site.
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Does Anime Believe Women? Three depictions of sexual harassment in fiction
Conversations like #MeToo are emphasizing an important point: we need to believe survivors. As part of this social shift, it’s worthwhile to take stock of whether the fiction we consume promotes trust and respect for survivors.
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Love, Power, and Safety in The Ancient Magus’ Bride
The pairing of a meek young woman with a self-assured and wealthy man is common in shoujo manga, sometimes leading to depictions of abusive or unhealthy relationships that are tacitly treated as acceptable by the story and audience. It’s worth examining how The Ancient Magus’ Bride does (or doesn’t) fall into these patterns.
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My Fave is Problematic: Kare Kano
Kare Kano starts off as a light, funny, and typical “girl-meets-boy” shoujo series, but it quickly evolves into a dark, emotionally gut-wrenching tale that delves into discussions and depictions of child abuse, suicide, sexual assault, self-harm, mental illness, bullying, and other themes that I could very much—albeit uncomfortably—relate to.
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Who’s the Hero, Anyway? Made in Abyss, gendered tropes, and damaging narratives
No media exists in a vacuum, and justifying a trope doesn’t stop it from playing into broader harmful trends.
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My Fave Is Problematic: Cross Ange
The fanservice in Cross Ange begins before the opening credits on the first episode, and doesn’t stop until the main character spends most of the final episode completely nude. In between, she fights dragons on a giant robot. What’s not to love?
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Force Him, Not Me!: Rape culture in shoujo romance
In many ways, Kiss Him, Not Me is a perfect series for a feminist blog to explore: it does some things very well, some things very badly and inspires strong, mixed feelings. This is especially true in the way it handles physical contact, consent, and assault.
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When Anime Treats Sexual Assault as Entertainment
One common element in series that successfully employ fanservice is consensuality. When fanservice is fun, all parties involved are enjoying themselves.
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My Fave Is Problematic: School Days
Yes, really. I imagine at least some of you took one look at the title I chose and ran as fast as possible in the other direction.
