AniFem Round-Up
I’m Not Okay (and That’s Okay): Happy Sugar Life and the comfort of “bad survivor” narratives
Aquarius revisits an absolute trashfire of a series to explain why it ended up a comfort during some of their biggest struggles.
Being a Better Man: The healthy masculinity of MY love STORY!!
The series goes beyond the will-they-won’t-they to depicting the struggles of a new couple, and in doing so its lead models kind, open masculinity and strength.
Chatty AF 168: 2022 Summer Mid-Season Check-In
Vrai, Chiaki, and Peter check-in on perhaps the most unremarkable season of anime since the inception of this podcast.
What’s the most tragic incomplete anime?
One for the series cut short.
Beyond AniFem
A Dragon Ball voice actor loses his appeal of his sexual harassment defamation suit (NPR, Juliana Kim)
The decision has additionally led to a reassessment of the amount owed to Rial and Marchi for their lawyer fees, which may result in Mignogna owing additional fees. Anime News Network executive editor Lynzee Loveridge also provided a detailed breakdown of the decision here.
Mignogna appealed the decision. But on Thursday, the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth upheld the ruling and ordered Mignogna to pay at least $250,000 in attorney fees to the four defendants — Funimation, Jamie Marchi, Monica Rial and Ron Toye. (That figure could be higher because the amount owed to Rial and Toye is being redetermined by the courts.)
On Thursday evening, Rial, a voice actor who was one of the two women sued by Mignogna, wrote on Twitter, “#Itsover.”
“I wanted to thank all of you for your love and support. I have been a part of the anime community for 23 years and I love it. Here’s to moving forward, healing, and celebrating anime!” she added.
Mignogna’s lawyer, Ty Beard, did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.
JR East refused to sell gay couple special rail pass for spouses (The Asahi Shimbun, Risako Miyake)
While the couple had a same-sex partnership certificate, they were denied; the man who applied emphasized this as a reason legal protections are so necessary.
The service representative told him that the special rail pass only targets “couples made up of men and women.”
“You cannot use it,” the person said.
Liu was disappointed.
“My impression (of the company) was that it provides enlightened customer service,” he said. “We have the right to enjoy a little happiness, too.”
For five years in a row, JR East won the gold prize under the LGBT pride commendation system offered by an advocacy group for sexual minorities. The rail company won the awards for its work to support the LGBT community.
In response to an inquiry, JR East told The Asahi Shimbun the pass is “not sold to same-gender couples because their marriages are not legal as of now.”
But it acknowledged that men and women with common-law marriages are eligible.
“Such pairs are virtually the same as legally married couples because they live within the same households,” said JR East. “If they submit marriage notification forms, they would be approved. This means they fulfill our criteria for pass users.”
The company said that six JR corporations will consider a person’s individual situation and whether they can provide a solution.
10 Wholesome BL to Read Right Now (But Why Tho?, Kate Sánchez)
A selection of soft, contemporary slice-of-life romances.
When it comes to BL manga, it’s often dismissed as only being adult titles. However, BL is an overarching genre of MLM romance fiction that can include 18+ explicit content that features sexual intimacy and it can also be shounen-ai, which is more akin to shojo wholesome romances that maybe have a hand-hold or a cutaway scene. As an editor here at But Why Tho?, I’ve made it one of my missions to cover BL that spans the entire spectrum. In the same way, we wouldn’t exclude a movie from having a sex scene, I also don’t exclude romance manga. That said, it’s important to share wholesome BL that can be picked up by anyone. Whether you’re not in the mature reading group for the plastic-wrapped content, or you just don’t want to read it, knowing there are shounen-ai options is important. This is especially true because reading stories about queer love is important, and many of these choices feature queer joy, even if it’s only found after some hardship.
Dual surname survey changed in deference to conservatives (The Asahi Shimbun; Masatoshi Toda, Akiyoshi Abe and Sachiko Miwa)
The head of the Gender Equality Bureau criticized the results of the latest survey, which saw a nearly 14% drop in support responses following the rewording of the questions.
In previous surveys, the question on dual surnames asked respondents to choose from these answers, provided in this order: (1) maintain the status quo; (2) allow married couples to have dual surnames; and (3) allow the use of birth names as business names in a legal system, even if the married couples must use only one surname.
In the 2017 survey, 42.5 percent of respondents said the government should allow married couples to have separate surnames.
A record high 42.2 percent in the latest survey said the government should establish a legal system to let spouses retain their birth names, up 18 points from the previous survey.
For the latest survey, the Justice Ministry and the Cabinet Office’s Gender Equality Bureau had agreed to adjust the questions after some Diet members said they were “hard to understand.”
The ministry proposed dividing up the one question and setting up a new independent question that asks respondents if they think it is necessary to establish a legal system to expand the use of birth names as business names.
The bureau, however, pushed back, saying the central government had yet to fully discuss the issue regarding the legalization of the use of birth names.
The ministry withdrew its proposal and created a reference table to accompany the question. In that table, it used the expression “a legal system that enables (married couples) to widely use their birth names as a business name.”
But the bureau took issue with the term “widely,” saying its vagueness could “mislead public opinion.”
According to the documents, the ministry refused to change the wording because “dropping the term ‘widely’ would not go down well with conservative politicians.”
Interview: The Staff of The Executioner and Her Way of Life (Anime News Network, Kim Morrissy)
Discussion of the anime with the light novel author, series composer, and director.
Please give a message to your oversea fans.
SATO: On a personal level, my language skills are insufficient for delivering my story to people overseas directly. Above all, I’m certain that if there weren’t anyone seeking Japanese entertainment, then stories from Japan wouldn’t be able to exist in the foreign market. I feel blessed by a miracle that my story was able to transcend Japan and fly through the air or internet to reach the hands of everyone abroad.
KAWASAKI: Thank you for your interest in this anime. If you’re interested in the continuation of the story, I encourage you to pick up the original novel or the manga adaptation. If you want to see the story continue in anime form, it might be a good idea to send messages to the publisher and production committee. If the books sell well and your voices are heard, and there’s a gap in the schedule at the production studio, then a second season might happen.
YASUKAWA: Thank you for enjoying The Executioner and Her Way of Life. I’ve been very happy seeing your thoughts and fanart on Twitter and other places. I hope you can enjoy the turbulent plot developments and wonderful new characters in the anime’s final episodes. If there’s ever a second season, I’ll be sure to write lots of Akari and Momo conversations (laughs). Please lend us your support, everyone!
1,200 protesters gather in Tokyo to oppose state funeral for Abe (The Asahi Shimbun)
An online petition protesting the funeral also went up the same week.
Protesters held up signs opposing the state funeral, which they called outdated.
Ken Takada, 77, a co-leader of the committee that organized the protest, said, “There is a plan to hold the state funeral even though public opinion surveys show that more than half of respondents oppose the plan.”
A 40-year-old company employee from Chiba Prefecture who took part in a protest for the first time said, “I came to raise my voice because I felt that if the state funeral was held while I remained silent that would be the same as if I had consented.”
A 77-year-old woman from Tokyo’s Meguro Ward pointed to several scandals that dogged Abe, including allegations about favorable government treatment for the Kake Educational Institution and Moritomo Gakuen.
“The state funeral would be a way to place a cap on criticism of such scandals and force the public to praise” Abe, she said.
VIDEO: Music video made with the funds from Animator Supporters, which aims to pay animators a fair wage for their work. They are continuing to fundraise for future projects.
VIDEO: Suggestions of shoujo titles to try if you like Shonen Jump titles.
TWEET: Link to an article delineating the difference between “otome” and “joseimuke.”
TWEET: Newly recovered footage of the 1993 American Sailor Moon pilot.
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