AniFem Round-Up
Reading Violet Evergarden as an autistic woman
Regardless of whether it was intended, but the KyoAni series’ narrative explores and ultimately validates the variety of ways neurodivergent women can express empathy and care.
Kamikaze Girls: An alternative and queer retrospective
This 2004 biker-girl-meets-lolita cult film is back in print thanks to Discotek Media, which makes it a great time to look back on what a great (and sapphic) coming-of-age tale it is.
Chatty AF 222: 2025 Winter Mid-Season Check-In
Dee, Tony, and Peter team up to check-in on the A to ZENSHU of 2025 Winter anime, discussing a surprisingly top-heavy season!
What anime or manga only clicked with you the second time you tried it?
Sometimes smacking against the wall a little more works.
Beyond AniFem
Main Cast Interview 1 – Megumi Hayashibara (Ranma) (Rumic World, Harley Acres)
Translation of a November 2024 interview.
“Sound director Shigeharu Shiba would often tell me to be ‘cute and dignified,’ and I didn’t know how to express those two things at the same time. [3] He also told me to ‘borrow more from Kappei-kun,’ so I just observed him and tried to imitate him. However, in the second half of the anime, Ranma slowly changes and even starts to enjoy being a girl, whereas in the first half, he seemed to have a strong feeling of ‘I’m a boy’. Although there’s only one character, Kappei and I created two roles together. That’s why, when I heard that the previous cast would be doing voice tests for this anime, I said, ‘If Ranma isn’t Kappei, then I can’t be Ranma either.'”
The recording for the TV anime Ranma 1/2, which is the first in about 32 years, “was a strange feeling.”
“I was able to participate again with almost all of the same cast members, so I went in with the feeling of ‘Okay, leave it to Ranma!’ But the first dubbing session somehow felt like a dream. It was like I was reliving the experience with my old friends. Naturally, we were recording in a different studio than before, so the scenery was different to what we saw back then. It was both new and yet also nostalgic; it was a feeling that I can’t really put into words.” Differences from the past also emerged in the interactions between characters.
“Nowadays, both [male] Ranma and [female] Ranma exist within me as one. But back then, it felt like they each had their own separate roles. [Male] Ranma delivers many of the cool lines directed at Akane, while [female] Ranma is more of a comedian (laughs). [4] When [male] Ranma becomes a girl, she’s shorter than Akane, and sometimes Akane’s comforting attitude can get a bit irritating (laughs). But during this recording, when I heard Nonko-san (Noriko Hidaka) say, “I’m glad you’re a girl,” I thought, ‘Whoa, she’s insanely cute!'” This was a feeling that had nothing to do with [male] Ranma or [female] Ranma, but rather that he emerged as a single character.”
Hitorimi Desu 60-sai Lesbian Single Seikatsu (ひとりみです: 60歳レズビアンノシングルセイカツ) , 1-3 (Okazu, Erica Friedman)
This is the latest manga by Yuri Kuma Arashi manga creator Morishima Akiko. It’s available for purchase in English.
Chapter 1 begins with Imamura Miyuki, celebrating her 60th birthday. She’s known she was a lesbian since she was young, and has had lovers, but at this point in her life, she is alone. She’s not unhappy about it, definitely the positives outweigh the negatives. When her sister has her over her parents’ to clean up a few boxes, going through them reminds Miyuki of her dear friend, a girl she now considers to be her first girlfriend. She finds something that connected them, and starts to read a book from Renon.
In Chapter 2 we meet Renon. She is 59 years old. Life threw her a curveball when a year ago, on the day she planned on her big gay bar debut in Shinjuku she was struck by a truck and injured. She uses a wheelchair to get around, mostly, is a little ambulatory, but her life is less thrilling than she hoped. Renon lives with her elderly mother and appears to have few hobbies except going out and eating cake. Upon returning from meeting an old friend who is getting married, Renon realizes that she had fallen for that friend thinks about how realizing that she had fallen for her friend changed her life, for good and bad.
Kobe lawyer fighting discrimination against foreign-born attorneys in mediation system (The Mainichi, Kotaro Ono)
Conciliation commissioners mediate situations such as divorce or inheritance disputes, and nationality is not a recorded cause for disqualification.
The issue caught his attention in 2003. When the Hyogo Prefectural Bar Association was asked by the Kobe Family Court to recommend a mediation commissioner, it suggested a lawyer of South Korean nationality, but the proposal was rejected. “This kind of discrimination is still happening?” Yoshii thought. He found himself outraged, recalling his own past experience of being denied a judicial apprenticeship due to his foreign nationality.
Born in Taiwan, Yoshii came to Japan when he was around 8 years old. He aspired to become a lawyer and passed the bar exam. However, at the time, the Supreme Court’s recruitment criteria considered non-Japanese nationality as a disqualifying factor. Because Taiwanese law stipulated that citizenship could not be renounced until the age of 45, Yoshii could not acquire Japanese nationality either, since Japan does not recognize dual-citizenship. Although the disqualification rule was later revised, the bitter experience of facing “discrimination” remained deeply ingrained in him.
The lawyer who was rejected as a commissioner was Yoshii’s acquaintance, whom he knew for her diligent work. He told the Mainichi Shimbun, “There is no legal basis for this, and it is unacceptable to treat someone this way simply because of their nationality.” He and his colleagues protested, but the recommendation to appoint the South Korean lawyer was still denied. Similar situations were happening in Tokyo, Osaka Prefecture and other areas. Various local bar associations and the JFBA have issued protest statements, but such refusals continue to this day.
Exploring Viola Davis’ Investments In Anime Production, and Afro-Anime’s Potential (Anime Herald, Gabriel Leão)
Davis’ production company JuVee Productions will be teaming up with N LITE to create the upcoming film.
History isn’t lacking for examples of groups who have felt misrepresented by anime, and the same can be said about Blacks who saw their physical features and behavior stereotyped based on early 20th-century Hollywood notions.
This reality is being challenged. In 2023, N LITE, in cooperation with GKIDS and Genco, announced MFINDA, a narrative that takes place in a fictional Congo and is presented as “an original afrime [afro-anime] feature,” a sample of their artistic goals which has attached anime legends such as producer Masao Maruyama and director Gisaburō Sugii.
Campbell believes JuVee’s foray into anime and animation with N LITE aligns with the growing demand for more diversity and better mediatic representation. “We have seen other Black creators, voice actors, and Black-led studios like DART Shtajio stepping up to meet that demand,” she says. “JuVee stepping into the anime industry, which has traditionally lacked substantial Black and Afro-Indigenous representation, is another step toward breaking barriers and opening doors for more underrepresented voices to have a seat at the table.”
Facing deportation despite Japan upbringing, kids falling through immigration system gaps (The Mainichi, Takuro Tahara)
Japan does not have birthright citizenship; individuals must have one parent who is a Japanese national, be otherwise stateless, or become naturalized after a minimum of five years.
Thus the government decided to issue special residency permits to children meeting certain conditions: they are minors, born in Japan; deportation orders have been issued against them; they attend Japanese schools; and their parents have no serious criminal or other unacceptable record such as having illegally entered Japan. In such cases, the special permits were also issued to their families.
According to the Immigration Services Agency, about 260 children were considered for this special measure, and 212 of them (from 140 households) were granted special residency permits. One lawyer familiar with immigration issues described the significant number of permits as groundbreaking. But there are children who were not included among the 260 cases cited by the government.
The 17-year-old Kurdish high school student is the first son of a family of six. His father came to Japan in the 1990s, and his mother followed in 2014, bringing over him and his siblings. The family lost their residency status while repeatedly applying for refugee recognition, and they are currently living under “provisional release,” exempting them from detention under certain conditions. But provisional release means they are not permitted to work and they can’t join the national health insurance program.
The student’s 9-year-old sister, the third daughter in the family, was born in Japan and attends an elementary school, raising the family’s hopes that special residency permits would be issued, but they were excluded from the relief measure. The reason was that the 9-year-old had not been issued a “deportation order,” only a “detention order” requiring she be held in an immigration facility. Detention orders are issued at the beginning of deportation procedures, and there is a possibility that a deportation order could be issued. The high school student is unhappy about the timing of the decision not to grant the family the permits.
“Would we have been granted residency if my sister had got a deportation order? That’s unfair,” he said.
The Anime Industry Needs to Stop Trying to Make Rurouni Kenshin a Thing Again (Gizmodo, Isaiah Colbert)
We’re going to keep bringing this up as long as Watsuki continues getting work in the industry.
In February 2018, Watsuki was fined 200,000 yen ($1,900) for possession of hundreds of child pornography DVDs. According to Anime News Network, possession of child porn in Japan can lead to a year of imprisonment, a one million yen fine, or both. At the time, publisher Shueisha reiterated that it took the charge seriously and placed Watsuki and his wife Kaoru Kurosaki’s sequel series, Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc, on hiatus. Shueisha would resume the series four months later, with ANN writing that Shueisha and Watsuki “decided to continue the manga to answer the desires of fans was a matter of duty.”
While the series resumed in Japan, with Watsuki stating he’s living a life of reflection and atonement, Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc would not receive new chapters in its English edition under Viz Media. That is until anime studio Liden Films announced it was making an anime adaption of the arc at Jump Festa 2022. It’s now currently airing on Crunchyroll.
These sorts of controversies unfortunately aren’t uncommon in the anime industry. We’ve seen it in the past with folks like Toriko writer Mitsutoshi Shimabukukuro getting arrested and convicted of child prostitution in 2002 (his two-year sentence was suspended, freeing him of jail time); Act Age manga writer Tatsuya Matsuki getting an 18-month prison sentence for indecent behavior with a minor (which was also suspended for good behavior); and prolific voice actors like One Piece‘s Toru Furuya resigning last year following a scandal where he admitted to having an affair and physically abusing a fan.
At least 176 harassment cases found at Japan fire stations in FY 2023 (The Mainichi)
This is the first study conducted on the subject.
The distinct hierarchical structure within the establishment is believed to have contributed to the problem, with the government’s study finding that 206 people, including senior officials, received disciplinary action. An analyst called it the “tip of the iceberg.”
Japan has recently confronted the reality of abuse, often within strictly hierarchical workplaces. In one high-profile incident, three former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members were convicted in 2023 of indecently assaulting their female former subordinate.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency under the internal affairs ministry carried out the study for two months from July, requesting responsible departments nationwide to file reports on cases that took place during the year through March 2024.
According to the latest survey, the majority, 145 cases, were attributed to bullying or abuse of power, followed by 19 of sexual harassment. There were 11 incidents involving a mix of abuses, along with one of harassment against a pregnant worker.
AMERICAN* FUJO* Literary Journal (Kickstarter)
The journal has 14 contributors and may add three more based on stretch goals. The campaign runs until March 16th.
We asked our contributors questions along those lines: How has being a fan affected your gender or sexuality? How has our gender or sexuality affected how we engage in fandom? Who is a fujoshi, who wants to be one, and who doesn’t get the choice? In America-centric fan spaces, what is necessarily suppressed? How can we trouble the category and dominance of “American” from within and without? Finally, what does it mean to be in a community that’s overwhelmingly virtual, as reliant on digital social platforms as it is on fictional media, both owned by another party? And what affects or acts are uniquely enabled by these virtualized desires and sexuality?
Our contributors range from actual self-identified American fujos to writers who are emphatically neither. They answer these questions through illustration, comics, essays, and autotheory, developing creative ways to capture fandom and its discontents. The anthology surveys a wide range of topics, from transgender fujoshism (in any direction) to race and belonging within theoretically progressive fandom. We want to make the full vibrancy of fandom as accessible as possible, and theorize both its possibilities and its limits through this anthology. We hope you’re as excited to read AMERICAN* FUJO* as we are to make it!
VIDEO: Retrospective on genderbend eroge Ai Mai Misuto.
SKEET: Announcement of a new manga about the experiences of mixed race children growing up in Japan. It will be available for purchase online in March.
AniFem Community
Couple of very familiar names popping up more than once, we see.
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