AniFem Round-Up
Love is Indivisible by Twins – Episode 1
The tired premise is elevated by Yokote Michiko’s talent for dialogue and some skilled direction.
One good scene and pretty visuals can’t make up for clunky fantasy racism and buckets of exposition.
Why Does Nobody Remember Me in This World? – Episode 1
There’s a decent premise here, but the characters are unspeakably dull.
ATRI -My Dear Moments- – Episode 1
Sort of feels like postapocalyptic Oscar Bait, but it’s also got undeniable promise.
Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! – Episode 1
This show is an example of just how much strong animation and adaptation can elevate even the most banal of premises.
What was your favorite Spring 2024 anime?
Our recs will be out next week, but we wanna know about yours!
Beyond AniFem
ESSAY: Nature and War Memory in Machiko Kyō’s Cocoon (Women Write About Comics, Kathryn Hemmann)
The manga will receive an anime adaptation in 2025.
Cocoon is a bitter subversion of the patriotic myth of military service as beautiful and uplifting. The story is narrated from the perspective of San, a teenage girl who develops a close friendship with a girl named Mayu. Mayu has been sent to the island to escape the firebombing of the mainland. The Japanese Imperial Army has ordered San, Mayu, and their classmates to care for wounded Japanese soldiers in sea caves until they receive orders to abandon their station and return to base. Unfortunately, the girls are too exhausted and weak from hunger to make rational decisions, and the road home along the beach has become a dangerous battleground. Cocoon closes with Mayu dying in San’s arms on the beach after being mortally injured by gunfire during an American attack.
In her “Afterword,” Kyō writes that the story and characters of Cocoon were inspired by the Himeyuri Gakutai (“lily princess student corps”). The Himeyuri Gakutai was a group of 220 female high school students mobilized as a front-line nursing unit on March 23, 1945, roughly a week prior to the beginning of the American invasion of Okinawa on April 1. The young women of the Himeyuri Gakutai were not provided with adequate medical training, nor were they prepared for the carnage of a full-scale military invasion. When an order was given for the unit to dissolve, the young women left the coastal caves that served as makeshift hospitals for wounded soldiers. Many of the girls had already died from illness and malnutrition, and those who survived attempted to travel along the beach during the American attacks and were caught in the crossfire. Only nine of the 220 students survived.
Trans woman goes to court to change gender and remain wed (The Asahi Shimbun)
Should the two women succeed, they’d be a legally wed same-sex couple.
The trans woman stated in her petition that the provision is unconstitutional and invalid because it violates the right to self-determination, among others, guaranteed by Article 13 of the Constitution.
She said every time she submits documentation with her registered gender, such as a prescription or her My Number card, it is mistaken as a family member’s or another person’s.
This has resulted in her having to explain her entire situation numerous times.
“I am being forced to ‘come out,’ which I do not want,” she said. “I want the documents to match reality.”
The special law stipulates five requirements for changing one’s gender in the family register.
One is the now-defunct “sterility requirement.” The Supreme Court ruled in October 2023 that it is unconstitutional and invalid to require individuals to remove their reproductive organs to qualify.
Another is the “appearance requirement.” In June this year, the Hiroshima High Court ruled that a mandatory change in the appearance of one’s genitalia “may be unconstitutional if surgery is required.”
The Kyoto resident’s case disputes the constitutionality and validity of the law’s “non-marriage requirement.”
The reasoning behind this particular stipulation is if someone changes their gender after getting married, they and their spouse would be officially registered as a same-sex couple as a result. This remains illegal under current law.
For gender reassignment, the applicant must be legally single.
This is not the first time someone has challenged this requirement.
Transgender woman in Japan ‘liberated’ by gender change without surgery, but hurdles remain (The Mainichi; Kiyomasa Nakamura, Hiroshima Bureau, and Kazuhiko Toyama)
While the news is exciting, experts do not expect this to be enough for the change to become widespread.
I am very happy to be liberated from the difficulties of living due to the gap between the gender I live socially and that on my family register,” the petitioner, who is listed as male on her family register, released a comment through her lawyer, Kazuyuki Minami.
The Hiroshima High Court and a family court had earlier rejected the gender change, but the Supreme Court sent the case back to the high court for reexamination. In its latest ruling, the high court affirmed that a person born a man can change their gender from male to female without the nominally required surgery.
However, based on bodily structure it is believed that hurdles will remain high for those wishing to change their legal gender from male to female compared to those wishing to change from female to male.
Five conditions for a change of gender were set by the law on gender dysphoria which came into effect in 2004. These include a “sterility requirement” and an “appearance requirement” to have genitalia resembling those of the desired gender, which together have been called a “surgical requirement.”
The Futuristic Explorations of Science Fiction (Baka Banter Podcast)
Podcast discussion of three notable sci-fi anime.
Science fiction makes use of futuristic concepts in order to deliver prescient stories about humanity and the trajectory of society. Ionatan and Ravi discuss the history and development of science fiction both globally and in Japan. Then, they dive into three series that highlight the diversity of the genre, including explorations of the intersection between personal identity and technology in ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ memory alteration and inequality in ‘Kaiba,’ and the oppressive nature of capitalism in ‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.’
98% with mixed Japanese heritage experience microaggressions: survey (The Mainichi)
As of 2022, one in 50 children born has “at least one parent who is not a Japanese citizen.”
About 60 percent of respondents reporting microaggressions said they have been asked questions that seemed to question their Japanese identity, such as where they are from. Some 30 percent reported being looked down on for their roots, and 15 percent said they had been questioned by police in the street.
In all, 448 people provided eligible responses to the survey held online from March to April, with nearly 90 percent of respondents aged 18 to 39. The survey was aimed at adults who have spent at least a total of a year living in Japan.
The survey was conducted by a committee made up of Lawrence Yoshitaka Shimoji, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and Viveka Ichikawa, a psychotherapist and University of Toronto PhD candidate.
In addition to the reports of microaggressions, some 68 percent said they had experienced bullying and discrimination due to their identity.
The report includes experience testimonies from respondents. One person of Japanese and Sierra Leonean heritage said a company terminated an employment contract with the person, saying the individual did not look Japanese in a first face-to-face meeting. Another in her 20s with British heritage said her elementary school teacher told her she would grow up to have large breasts because she is “half.”
MY DEAR☆LOVE – Stat-raising Simulation Visual Novel Game (Kickstarter)
Indie shoujo-inspired raising sim which will be released in English and Japanese. A demo is available.
MY DEAR☆LOVE is a crossover between visual novel and stat-raising simulation game, inspired by classic titles in the genre such as the Princess Maker series and shoujo manga series such as Baby & Me (Aka-chan to Boku) and Aishiteruze Baby. You play as high school girl Megumi Takahashi (first name renameable) who takes on the task of taking care of kindergartener Katsuya, the little boy nephew of her crush, Atsuya Suzuki! The anticipated release date is late 2024 to early 2025. The game is planned for release for Windows on Steam, itch.io, and DLsite; available in Japanese and English.
VIDEO: All the magical girls of Studio Pierrot.
VIDEO: B-PROJECT Ryusei*Fantasia Game Review.
VIDEO: Yuri visual novel Seabed and grief.
VIDEO: Some loving inspiration for Shojo Beat from a shoujo fan.
AniFem Community
Glad that folks are spotlighting some under-discussed series.
Let’s see: One continuation (Yuru Camp) was my favorite thing, one remake (Spice & Wolf) is ongoing and has its charms but also kinda doesn’t hold up well against its predecessor, and one actual new show (Whisper Me A Love Song) hasn’t even been able to finish production yet. Meh.— GreyDuck (@greyduck.bsky.social) Jul 16, 2024 at 10:32 AM
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.