Girl Power and Guinea Pigs: Pui Pui Molcar through the lens of feminist media tests
Is a children’s TV show about guinea pigs worth delving into for feminist analysis? AJ thinks so.
gender variance Tag
Results-
-
Trans Safety and Education Resources
We’ve attempted to put together a list of resources for those feeling a similar sense of fear and powerlessness, in order to emphasize that we can and must protect one another as systems of power not only fail but persecute us.
-
Visiting the CLAMP Exhibition in Tokyo to celebrate 35 years of the legendary manga collective
CLAMP is a creative group of four women who have produced a range of iconic manga across a variety of demographics, from shoujo to seinen. Their body of work was recently celebrated with a showing at the prestigious National Art Center.
-
Shattering the Self: A conversation with Blood on the Tracks creator Shuzo Oshimi
Oshimi’s work has not lost its raw power and interest in toxic relationships. However, 2012’s Inside Mari marked a turning point: many of his later works explore the experiences of queer adolescents trying to escape from heteronormative, transphobic, and often misogynist ideas of how one should live.
-
Lolita and Rock n’ Roll: An interview with Aisya of Strawberry Quartz
We speak with Aisya, who is a lolita, editor of magazine Lapin Labyrinthe and guitarist of Strawberry Quartz. Aisya is well recognized in online spaces for his commentary on lolita as a space for creativity and inclusion, as well as trying to create opportunities for lolitas from all backgrounds to participate in print media and photography.
-
Designer, DJ, and model Senanan’s latest fashion brand wants to make kawaii for everyone
Senanan has worked in the worlds of fashion design, music, and modeling; she talked with us about returning to work after becoming a mother and her latest project.
-
Becoming Monstrous: Yurikuma Arashi and transmisogyny in the school system
Everything in Yurikuma Arashi is more symbol than literal representation, and I have often mulled over its meaning as I’ve navigated entering the teaching profession as a nonbinary Chinese person. Like the bears, I’ve often asked myself: what do I sacrifice to be allowed to exist within the school?
-
My Fave is Problematic: I’m in Love with the Villainess
I’m in Love with the Villainess starts out as a silly isekai romance but grows into a story that earnestly advocates for queer people, taking on complex subjects like homophobia, transphobia, and classism. However, the story’s reliance on messy tropes can sometimes muddle its messages.
-
Transmasculinity and queer sexuality in the works of Ikeda Riyoko
Unlike many other gender-bending stories of the time, which often fall back on a “born in the wrong body” story, or a Mulan-style passing narrative, Ikeda acknowledges a wide range of trans experiences, and the complex ways in which trans experiences are socially constructed, and historically specific, intersectional, and, above all, personal.
-
What Tomo-chan Is a Girl! gets wrong and right about gender-nonconformity and sexual assault
Using heartfelt sincerity and character-driven plot twists, Tomo-chan is a Girl! has quickly become one of my favorite shows, in spite of some thoroughly discomfiting scenes that detract from its comedic highs and powerful story.
-
My Fave Is Problematic: Stop!! Hibari-Kun!
The dichotomy of Hibari as both a progressive trans narrative and an ignorant product of its time showcases Japan’s complicated relationship with trans women and other marginalized groups.
-
Lilies In Transition: The state of trans representation in yuri
As yuri continues to get queerer, the existence of trans people in these stories would be one way to provide validation for trans readers in their gender and sexuality while also helping cis people understand and internalize our long standing place in the sapphic community. Yuri works featuring trans characters do exist, though their history is complex and they remain relatively few.
-
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Transgender Cyborgs’ Experience of the Apocalypse
The story of Alpha Hatsuseno, an android girl in a collapsed world, serves as an allegory for what many transgender people went through during the pandemic. In the solitude and desolation of COVID-19, cut off from the pressures and expectations of society, there was a silent wave of transgender people coming to the realization that they no longer needed to pretend to be someone they were not, beginning their transitions in the midst of death, despair, and loneliness.
-
Sharp Blades, Soft Frills: Femme rebellion in lolita fashion, Japan.
Lolita fashion has been part of Japan’s rich alternative scene for over 40 years. It is a celebration of self and is intended to provide a ‘hyper-femme space’ away from the imposition of the male gaze. Not to be confused with Vladmir Nabakov’s (1955) Lolita, this movement actually uses the word “lolita” to mean frilly “French-inspired” fashion. A big influence on lolita fashion is kawaii and Japanese “girl culture” which is for anyone of all genders and ages.
-
The Journey to Cure Wing: A history of magical boys in PreCure
Soaring Sky! PreCure is the first in the franchise to introduce a boy to the team, with Cure in his name, who isn’t a supporting character or sidekick. It’s been a long journey but this is significant for the show, and also for the genre as a whole, since Pretty Cure is now the dominant magical girl series for Japanese children. How did we get here?
-
Can’t Quite Be Your Sister: Looking at the Japanese laws relating to gender identity disorder
Japanese blogger Honeshabri breaks down laws regarding the stipulations trans people face in changing their gender markers in Japan.
-
Airborne Onnagata: Viewing Macross Frontier’s protagonist through a genderqueer lens
After an initial viewing of Macross Frontier, most viewers would comment on a handful of topics. Not limited to, but including: the series’ back-to-basics approach reminiscent of the original 1982 Macross, its tendency to adhere a bit too closely to then-current trends, and unending talk of how awful Alto is. However, on a recent rewatch, a new thought clicked with me: what if Alto was fighting with some intense dysphoria?
-
The Transient Queerness of Fruits Basket
This show makes me laugh, it makes me cry, but more than anything, it makes me hope. It makes me hope that no matter how bad things get, there will always be a second chance waiting just around the corner. Even two decades after the original manga began publishing, it shines just as brightly. But I’m not here to talk about how much I love Fruits Basket. Today, I’m here to explore one of its most under-discussed problems: its portrayal of queerness.
-
Everybody Loves Bridget: The origins of otokonoko and birth of a trans icon
Amidst of a lot of bad news in summer 2022, one thing trans people found to celebrate was the transition of Brisket—or rather Bridget, an iconic video game character with a fraught history (in the games and in the real world) who came out as trans. But there’s a lot more to this story than many are fully aware of, and the character who defined an archetype so powerful it became a gender identity deserves to have her whole story told.
-
Remixing Expectations: Queer representation and gender euphoria in D4DJ Groovy Mix
Particularly in how it integrates canonical queerness and themes of gender identity within the text, D4DJ manages to go places that very few franchises in its peer group manage to do.
