AniFem Round-Up
The core premise of a teacher/student romance will ward off some, and the dire production values will probably take care of the rest.
Anime Feminist’s Recommendation Backlog: Girls in Strange Worlds
Let’s take a trip back into the 2010s and highlight some of our favorite fantastic(al) speculative fiction with lady leads.
J Michael Tatum discusses returning to Spice and Wolf, dubbing philosophy, and Ouran’s queer legacy
We talked with Tatum about how the industry has changed under Sony, being a highly visible gay voice actor, and why Kyoya Ohtori is a special role for him.
Longtime ANN contributor Nicholas Dupree passed away suddenly at the age of 31. We wanted to take today to remember some of our favorite pieces of Nick’s work, and to encourage you all to do the same.
Beyond AniFem
Nicholas Dupree – In Memoriam (Anime News Network, Lynzee Loveridge)
The ANN staff and fellow aniwriters offer their memories of Nick’s work, life, and positive impact on the community.
“I’ll always remember how Nick got me with an EX-ARM review. I was in the middle of recording a Macross podcast, and someone sent us an article claiming that ‘CRUNCHYROLL HAS ALL OF MACROSS,'” Bicknell wrote. “I was thrown off by ‘Alan Smithee’ in the fake press release included in the review, but I still reached out to the ANN crew for clarification. I’d been duped, but I couldn’t help but have a good laugh at the whole thing. I still remember Lynzee saying something to the effect of, ‘If we get news like this, it won’t be with this GIF of Basara eating a leaf.'”
“Lo and behold, it actually happened a few months later. And I guess Crunchyroll does have a lot of Macross now, given the Right Stuf purchase. He was oddly prophetic, wasn’t he? Nick included a little informal guide to the entire series in that EX-ARM review, and I’m heartbroken to know he won’t be writing an official release guide now. Rest in peace, Nick. I’ll pour one out for you in front of Reina and the rest of the Delta Flight.”
His humor was always accompanied by sincerity. Nick used his platform as a writer on Anime News Network and social media to share his empathy and compassion for people from all walks of life. He regularly advocated for racial and social justice causes, including support for the LGBTQ+ community. A recent example is his review work on this season’s Senpai is an Otokonoko, his careful consideration while discussing Sasaki and Miyano, and contemplating additional perspectives even for more comedic fare like Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout. Nicholas infused his criticism with the bravery of vulnerability in a public space where folks won’t hesitate to eat you alive.
Nick’s passions evidenced a broad spectrum of interests. He was just as likely to turn your ear about Love Live! and Macross as football season drama, wrestling, or indie progressive rock bands. Nick would unabashedly share his enthusiasm for Shonen Jump manga and traditional magical girl fare, and his fluency in discussing music in technical and emotional terms was unsurpassed on ANN’s team. Many of us discovered new bands in a plethora of genres based solely on his seal of approval.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, the first Zelda game with its princess as its protagonist, is also the first Zelda game directed by a woman (GamesRadar, Anna Koselke)
The game will be out September 26th.
As discussed in Nintendo‘s recent Ask the Developer volume featuring the new game’s leads, Echoes of Wisdom director Tomomi Sano is actually the first-ever female director to head a Zelda project in the series’ 38-year history. That doesn’t mean that this is Sano’s first time working on the beloved series, though. “Prior to this project, my main role was to support the director,” she explains. Along with studio Grezzo, Sano also helped develop various Zelda remakes.
“I was involved in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening,” she continues. “I was also involved in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD.” Sano’s experience extends beyond the Zelda series, too – she and Grezzo worked on some other smash Nintendo hits including “some of the titles in the Mario & Luigi series.”
Even longtime Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma sees her as an essential part of Grezzo and its contributions to the series’ development: “I almost always ask her to be engaged in the Legend of Zelda remakes that Grezzo works on.” As a fan myself, I’m excited to see Sano’s work. From boasting the first female director to having Zelda as its playable protagonist, the game features many firsts – and I can’t wait to play.
Love Bullet: Fans Worldwide Rush to Save Yuri Manga (Unseen Japan, Jay Allen)
The series is not yet licensed in English, but one hopes.
Love Bullet is an extremely cool concept for a yuri manga. inee’s art style – which depicts human beings in traditional manga shading but the Cupids in washed-out grays – is a clever conceit that visually sets the love warriors apart from their human targets.
Unfortunately, it’s hard out there for a yuri manga author. Manga is very popular among Japanese consumers. However, there are between 150,000 and 200,000 titles available in the country. Japan retails around 1.9 billion manga volumes (単行本; tankoubon) and manga magazine issues every year. That’s 15 for every person in the nation.
It seems Love Bullet has had a problem breaking through that noise. On September 17th, author inee posted a plea to help boost the work after their publisher, Kadokawa, told them that Volume 1 faced lackluster profits.
What happened next was an amazing lovefest that transcended the Japanese language. Fans around the world – who’ve only been able to read Love Bullet in Japanese or via unofficial “scanlations” – boosted the hell out of the manga, urging fellow yuri fans to buy the Japanese version. Fans published their own art of the Love Bullet characters and gushed over the storyline.
Within the week, sites like Manga Republic and overseas sellers such as Kinokuniya Books sold out of all available copies. This didn’t go unnoticed by the author, who remains engaged in the conversation with their overseas fans, commenting positively on fan art and thanking people for their support.
There’s no word yet whether the increase in sales is enough to save Love Bullet. That means you can continue to vote with your dollars (or yen, or whatever currency you happen to have in your wallet, frankly).
No matter where you live in the world, you can give Love Bullet your support. X user @LoveBulletManga advertised an excellent Google Docs guide created by Sancho, complete with screenshots on how to navigate Japanese Websites like BookWalker.
Brazilian costume maker dancing on air after return of carnival to Tokyo’s Asakusa (The Mainichi, Eriko Arita)
This is the first year the event has been held at full-scale since COVID lockdowns in 2020.
Rodrigues, who lived in Sao Paulo as a dancer and went on samba tours to European countries in the late 1970s, recalled the first Asakusa carnival she joined in the early ’80s — then an evening stage show, which she participated from a team founded by those who had previously joined the Sanja Matsuri.
“I asked my Brazilian friends to join the team’s performance with me, though it was not a proper samba team yet,” she said about the group, later named G.R.E.S. Nakamise Barbaros.
The acronym means samba school in Portuguese, while the latter part describes a group of fun-loving “barbarians” and the famous Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple.
“Brazilian performers came to Japan then taught Japanese people how to play samba music and dance to it” in the 1980s, Rodrigues said.
It was around this time professional musicians from Brazil began touring Japan, which had seen an increase in the popularity of samba and other Brazilian music genres after the boom of Bossa nova reached Japan’s shores by way of the United States in the 1960s.
Rodrigues, who came to Japan in 1980 as a professional samba dancer, said the quality of samba has greatly improved in the past four decades as Japanese performers have eagerly sought out instruction from Brazil, including by inviting Brazilian artists to Japan.
VIDEO: Game Devs of Color Indie Showcase, which has an accompanying Steam Sale through September 24th.
VIDEO: Yuri manga recommendations.
VIDEO: YouTuber Laura Dale describes her relationship to Wandering Son.
VIDEO: Review of divisive otome game Reine des Fleurs.
REEL: Encouragement for beginners to the world of lolita fashion.
BSKY: Preorders for a “Respect Shoujo” enamel keychain.
Pre-orders are now up 🥺💖 please tell your friends~ (LinkInBio) please make sure you read the description thoroughly and look at the images in the listing! 🙏 This is a mock up my factory sent me (the gold won’t look this ugly I promise 😂) #shoujo
— Zambi (@zambicandy.bsky.social) September 21, 2024 at 12:02 AM
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AniFem Community
It feels as if the shock still hasn’t worn off. May Nick’s memory and work continue to make people laugh and think for a long time to come.
Pouring one out for @lossthief.bsky.social, just like I said I would Rest in Peace, Nick
— Coop (@riderstrike.bsky.social) September 23, 2024 at 8:16 PM
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My heartfelt condolences to Nick Dupree’s friends and family. @lossthief.bsky.social, you were one of the few people on earth I looked up to as a writer. One of the few people I looked to with honest to god respect for the craft. You would have loved this shitpost.
— Chiaki Mitama (@terrible.moe) September 22, 2024 at 6:54 PM
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