Anime Feminist’s Top Picks for 2023
2023 saw some massive franchises retire, others make history, and old favorites return. Settle in and check out our favorites from the year that was!
Precure Tag
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Anime Feminist Recommendations of Fall 2023
We close out another Fall with something for just about everyone, from superheroes to work rom-coms to conspiracy thrillers.
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Power of Hope ~Precure Full Bloom~ – Episode 1
I’m happy to report that as long as you’re familiar with the tropes of magical girl team shows, the broad strokes of this excellent episode still land, even without easy access to the show it originates from.
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You’re Already Doing Your Best: Healin’ Good Pretty Cure and chronic illness
In a season about environmentalism and illness, Nodoka is in remission from a years-long infection and doesn’t want anyone to suffer the way she did. While she’s not quite depicted as disabled or chronically ill in the show itself, her arc focuses on recovery from a chronic illness in ways that can be similar to managing one.
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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?
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Voice Actress Ise Mariya on her iconic roles, voice actors pressured to be idols, and #MeToo in Japan
We sat down with Ise at Otakon 2022 for a wide-ranging conversation. In the process, she touched on the increased pressure for voice actresses to be idols—an issue that also affects women in other public-facing professions—and how the slow change post-#MeToo (as well as #KuToo, a Japan-specific movement) has given more people space to come forward with their stories.
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Making Up and Making Waves: How Tropical-Rouge! PreCure rewrote narratives of femininity and fairy tales
Tropical-Rouge balances historical attitudes with refreshing, contemporary ideas that grant its young female characters agency and thus delivers a great message to its target audience.
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Delicious Party Pretty Cure – Episode 1
o a certain extent, what can I say? It’s PreCure. It’s adorable. It’s charming. It’s some colorful easy fun for tired adults and energetic children alike. But hang tight, reader, because there are a couple of aspects to this series that I want to talk about in more detail.
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Tropical Rouge! Precure – Episode 1
Tropical Rouge is the latest in a long line of Precure series, and in this first episode it’s plain to see the tried-and-trusted formula clicking into place and why that formula works so well.
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Healin’ Good Pretty Cure – Episode 1
As someone who’s only ever known PreCure by reputation and the occasional Twitter GIF, I was extremely curious to see how the series plays for a newcomer who’s also thoroughly outside the target age range. And the answer is…pretty (heh) good, honestly.
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“Boys Can Be Princesses Too”: Challenging gendered stereotypes in Hugtto! PreCure
SPOILERS: This article covers episodes 1-29 of Hugtto! PreCure. The magical girl genre as a whole is often stereotyped as blatantly feminine. Characters fight in skirts and frills, love and kindness save the day, and our magical protagonist is almost consistently covered in pink. As a whole, the genre seems to play off of gender […]
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By returning to their roots, Dark Magical Girls could provide hope
Instead of focusing on suffering, dark magical girls can inspire young female audiences by showing that they have the power to overcome their personal pain.
