AniFem Round-Up
A throwback to all the very worst tropes of harem anime.
Looks gorgeous but a lot of the unchanged jokes don’t play to modern audiences.
The Little Lies We All Tell – Episode 1
Enjoyable gag series with one central stumbling block.
Chatty AF 171: 2022 Summer Wrap-Up
Vrai, Chiaki, and Peter finally put one of the top contenders for most disappointing season we’ve covered to rest.
What’s your top underrated shoujo/josei series?
And why do people need to see it immediately.
Beyond AniFem
Sources dispute Bayonetta voice actor’s claims over pay offer (Video Games Chronicle, Andy Robinson)
Hellena Taylor claimed she was offered $4000 to record all of Bayonetta 3; while this level of underpay is common for the industry, sources have since disputed the numbers for this claim specifically.
According to people with knowledge of the situation, as well as documentation reviewed by both Bloomberg and VGC, Platinum intended to rehire Taylor last summer.
It’s claimed that Platinum sought to hire Taylor for “at least” five sessions (VGC’s sources suggested it could have been as few as four), with each paying $3,000 to $4,000 for four hours in the studio.
This would have brought Taylor’s total fee to $15,000, Bloomberg reports, as VGC can corroborate via our own sources. One person with knowledge of the deal claimed to VGC this represented a significant increase on Taylor’s fee for the second game.
According to Bloomberg, the voice actor responded by asking for a six-figure sum as well as residuals on the game – a claim Taylor strongly denies. VGC sources echoed the residuals claim, but did not mention a requested sum.
New D4DJ Unit Includes Lesbian Couple (Anime News Network, Kim Morrissy)
This unit so far only appears in the mobile game, not the anime adaptation.
Bushiroad‘s D4DJ project announced a new unit on Tuesday. Among the four new members, Kokoa Shinomiya and Hayate Tendо̄ are particularly notable to fans because their profiles state that the two are in a romantic relationship.
According to Kokoa’s profile, she formed a two-person unit with Hayate when they were in middle school, and now their relationship has progressed to the point where they are dating. Hayate’s profile also states that she is “currently dating Kokoa.”
Both girls attend Arisugawa Academy. Kokoa is an honor student who has a sharp-tongued and strong-willed side, while Hayate grew up as a loner, but came out of her shell after hearing Kokoa’s songs. She started writing poems for the first time and discovered her talent for song-writing.
Kids in Japan start believing in gender stereotypes from early age: research group (The Mainichi, Mai Suganuma)
The study was conducted via Kyoto University.
In the recent study, researchers had 565 pairs of 4- to 7-year-old children and their guardians from across Japan listen to a story about a “smart person” and a “nice person,” before they were shown pictures and pictograms of adult men and women. The children were then asked to guess if they were “smart” or “nice.” As a result, girls of all ages associated their gender with being “nice.” No gender difference was observed for “brilliance” at ages 4 to 6, but at age 7, or around the time children enter elementary school, boys connected their gender with “brilliance” more than girls.
Yusuke Moriguchi, an associate professor of developmental psychology at Kyoto University, analyzed, “When children enter elementary school, they are forced to compete for grades in tests and other situations. Comparing themselves to others, relationships among children, and peer pressure may also have an effect.” As the percentage of girls who associate their gender with “brilliance” apparently declines as they get older, Moriguchi believes that “there may be some factors that lower women’s self-esteem.”
5 Messy but Brilliant Josei Manga Titles You Need In Your Life (Black Nerd Problems, Carrie McClain)
Five titles covering a range of tones and subject matter.
Once upon a time, I waxed poetically about my love for Josei manga (here and here) and how those stories were just what I needed leaving adolescence and into my grown woman years. Josei is still an underrated genre in manga, and I am here to do my part and evangelize some more about one of my favorite genres that I can never read enough.
Here’s a list that includes Josei titles for you manga readers, and the only guidelines here are that these all are just one single volume and that they are messy as hell for your enjoyment! Up the ante here! From sleeping with around with the guy your stepmother is cheating on your father with to tearfully being unable to wear the cute but expensive maternity underwear, Josei has it all!
VIDEO: Unpacks the handling of abuse in BELLE.
VIDEO: Uses Hellena Taylor’s initial statement as a jumping off point to discuss low wages and SAG-AFTRA’s failure to advocate for video game voice actors.
THREAD: The new play Girls Won’t Die for Men about rampant cases of sexual assault in the theatre community.
THREAD: Mini-retrospective on a crossdressing dress-up game from 2002.
TWEET: Update on a settlement reached with Nintendo employee allegedly fired for asking about unionization.
TWEET: Announcement of a “lesbian musical road movie” by an openly lesbian director.
AniFem Community
To-watch lists ahoy!
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