My Fave is Problematic: Persona 4
No video game has ever hit me quite as hard as Persona 4 did. From Chie Satonaka’s very first moment on-screen, I related to everything about her.
gender equality Tag
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The Patriarchal Pains of Womanhood in the Films of Studio Ghibli’s Isao Takahata
Through Only Yesterday and The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Takahata Isao interrogates the patriarchal entitlements that strangle Taeko’s and Kaguya’s expressions of girl- and womanhood.
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How Boruto: Naruto Next Generations demonstrates real-world problems with gender roles and work culture
What happens to shounen action heroes when they grow up? How should a hero and his friends live after getting everything they ever wanted? Boruto: Naruto Next Generations looks at the lives of its heroes as adults raising families, depicting them as falling along traditional gender lines.
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Film director Hosoda Mamoru talks gender roles, parenthood, and identity in Japan
We asked director Mamoru Hosoda some feminist-relevant questions about his work in an exclusive interview ahead of the release of his newest film, Mirai.
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How Gokusen’s gangster heroine was softened from page to screen
As Gokusen was told and retold in other forms of media, its sheer audacity was intentionally dismantled and sterilized. Despite being a hardened gangster in the manga, protagonist Yankumi was stripped almost entirely of her gangster characteristics when translated to J-Drama.
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Emma’s Choice: The gender-norm nightmare at the heart of The Promised Neverland
The Promised Neverland begins as a sharply crafted horror story, but it soon reveals itself to be a sophisticated critique on restrictive social practices—including the hellishly limited roles expected of girls.
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Childbirth and Politics in DARLING in the FRANXX
All art, from cookie-cutter crime dramas to Nobel prize-winning novels, reflects the views and mores of its creators and the culture they grew up in. Whether intentional or not, DARLING in the FRANXX touches on one of Japan’s current political hot topics: the role of family and childbirth.
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The Mazinger Problem: On “different times,” “lost in translation,” and the role of translators
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work on the first full U.S. release of one of my favorite franchises ever: Mazinger Z. But while I was all-in for the cheesiness and monster-of-the-week action, I was caught on the back foot when it came to certain elements of the show.
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The View from the Sidecar: How Kamen Rider fails its women
The long-running live action series Kamen Rider has one core concept: the Kamen Rider, a masked superhero riding a motorcycle, fights a shady organization or evil force. However, in its 45-plus years of history, its treatment of women has been lacking, especially in the Heisei era.
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“A Woman, Drinking by Myself”: Wakakozake and the diversifying food counter-genre
Despite a variety of stories about food in anime and manga, there’s been a lack of female and intersectional viewpoints, especially in portraying the intimate moments one has with food and encouraging the solitary exploration of food and drink. One series is helping challenge this status quo: Wakakozake.
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Striking that work-life-death metal balance in Aggretsuko
While the original Aggretsuko shorts were limited in their scope and characterization, the longer episodes of the new series offer a multi-dimensional look into the life of the twenty-something office lady/red panda as she struggles with a daily clerical mountain at work, obnoxious co-workers, a troublesome love life, and her literal chauvinist pig of a boss, Ton. The whimsical setting of a corporate animal farm accentuates the dramatic nature of navigating life as a young working woman.
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My Fave is Problematic: Kill la Kill
I discovered Kill la Kill when a PowerPoint showed up on my Tumblr dash arguing that it was a feminist anime and people should give it a chance. Since I was a feminist, I figured I could give my verdict on whether the anime was feminist or not—although in hindsight, that wasn’t the question I should’ve been asking.
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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.
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Demolishing the Demographic Double Standard: Why more manga “for boys” need to treat their girls better
There is a double standard at play: media targeted at or starring women is “for girls,” while media targeted at or starring men is “for everyone” (unless, of course, someone who isn’t a man is critical of it; then it wasn’t “for them”).
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The Sparkling Masculinity of Sanrio Boys
While there’s certainly a male audience for handsome dudes and fluffy mascots (like the guy writing this article), Sanrio Boys also wants to reach out to those conditioned to dislike cute things, directly addressing its male viewers through its musings on—and challenges of—traditional ideas about masculinity.
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How Princess Tutu shatters the “rival” trope
Since the rival trope goes back to fairy tales, it’s no surprise that Princess Tutu involves a pair of dueling princesses. But as the rules of the story break down, the designated rival becomes so much more: a strong and loving young woman, a good friend, and the heroine of her own story.
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Hollow Shells: The feminist core of Dominion Tank Police
The Dominion Tank Police OVA was released in 1989 and tells the near-future tale of tank-equipped law enforcement. This isn’t exactly an outlier for a bubble-era OVA production—but it is precisely those standard trappings which help make its female protagonist and central message so potent.
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Pop Team Epic and the value of letting girls be absurd
As self-aware as Pop Team Epic is, the characterisation of its leading ladies serves as a sort of metatextual raised middle finger to the concept that girls should be cute rather than funny.
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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.
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Navigating patriarchal institutions and personal power in Ōoku
Fumi Yoshinaga’s ongoing manga Ōoku: The Inner Chambers traces the events of medieval Japanese history with one big twist: the Redface Pox has killed most of the men in Edo, leaving women with the power of the shogunate.
