AniFem Round-Up
The business and politics of magic in Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc
Magilumiere’s anime laid out intriguing threads about how corporations exploit their workers and the environment, and it’s great to see the manga continue building those themes.
Wild Women and Iron Will: The battle for nature in Princess Mononoke
Because its human-vs-nature story centers two women in conflict, the film also ends up exploring the inner struggle between the constructed “civilized” self and an inner wild woman.
What’s your favorite series about making art?
There’s stories for an impressive range of mediums these days.
Beyond AniFem
Getting To Know The Hosts Of The Award-Winning Shoujo Sundae Podcast (Anime News Network, Dawn H)
The podcast recently won a Signal Award, going against some major corporate-funded competitors.
I’ve noticed you frequently collaborate with artists, from the artwork for your social media, podcast episodes, and the music you use. How important was it for you to work with creatives in the shoujosei fan community?
G & C: Our podcast may be niche, but shōjo and jōsei are far from limited in scope—they’re a global phenomenon that resonates deeply with fans worldwide. We aim to celebrate that universality by working with creatives across the shoujosei fan community, showcasing their incredible talents and perspectives. Our theme song is a prime example of this collaboration: performed by PaiDA (singer of viral hit Future Town), a kaigai idol from Texas, and produced by Jemimemu, a Venezuelan artist and producer, alongside Horofosho, based in Japan. The diversity of this partnership embodies the cross-cultural connections shōjo and jōsei inspire.
Our logo, designed by the talented Thailand-based artist Jelloplum, reflects the unique charm of our brand, and her ongoing artistic contributions continue to enrich our identity. Marshiyan, the creator of the Webtoon original Shining Star, frequently collaborates with us to create stunning art pieces, including Studio Ghibli-inspired audiograms that bring beloved stories to life.
Our guest lineup also highlights the far-reaching influence of shōjo and josei. Aurélie Petit joined us to discuss her thought-provoking article, “Do Female Anime Fans Exist?” during our review of Belladonna of Sadness—a discussion that earned us recognition from Kuni Fukai, the film’s art director (he follows us on X) and anime industry veteran and author, Helen McCarthy.
We’ve also interviewed Kylie McNeill, the voice of BELLE in Mamoru Hosoda‘s film, who is now starring in The Colors Within, and Jason Lord, ADR Director for A Sign of Affection, for insightful conversations about their work.Every collaboration, episode, and content we create underscores the undeniable power and importance of shoujo and josei media.
Amid Scrutiny, Dragon Ball Studio Staffer Addresses Its Controversial Culture: “They Have No Choice” (ScreenRant, Zach Zamora)
Recaps a recent Japanese-language article in Bloomberg.
Yumiko Shibata, a former long-time voice actress, shared her experiences in the industry. She told Bloomberg, “As a voice actor, I couldn’t eat very much.” The actress who voiced Shunrei in Saint Seiya shared that over a 10-year period, her pay never increased from a measly 5,000 yen ($33 USD) a day. Now working mainly as an advisor, Shibata went on to express why she believed animators and actors remain stuck in this position, long after she left the field, and the issue stems from steep competition.
Shibata shared that many creatives in the industry are afraid to speak out, and are often fine with less-than-ideal wages because they know they can be replaced by someone else willing to work in the same conditions. “If a voice actor speaks negatively about the industry, they will lose job opportunities, so they have no choice but to endure,” she told Bloomberg. And though the anime industry is rapidly growing, setting record highs in revenue only just last year, it doesn’t quite mean that workers see any of the profit.
Group consulting troubled sex workers in Japan launches crowdfunding drive (The Mainichi, Mari Sakane)
The group provides free consultations for sex workers seeking mental health care or looking to build a career outside the industry.
According to Futerasu, over 400,000 women are estimated to work in Japan’s sex industry. The organization says there are various circumstances behind their decisions to take jobs in the field, from wanting to escape parental or spousal abuse, to needing to repay student loans or other debts, and mental illnesses or developmental disorders which have made it difficult to continue other jobs.
A Futerasu staffer commented, “Those working in the sex industry choose to do so to survive. However, many feel guilty about their work and they are often isolated, unable to consult anyone. Even when they muster the courage to talk with parents or friends, they are often dismissed with comments like, ‘It’s inevitable because you work in the sex industry.'”
This is where Futerasu steps in, with lawyers and social workers offering consultations in chats or calls via the free messaging app Line, as well as through email, providing legal advice and connecting individuals with government services. The service was launched in 2015, and the number of people seeking advice has exceeded 13,000.
In the Name of the Disabled Princess: Disability Metaphor in “In The Name of the Mermaid Princess” (Anime Herald, AJ Mack)
The article covers the first three of seven volumes.
Mermaid Princess is one of those series where the old “Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover” adage rings true. Whilst the Mucha-esc covers do accurately reflect the fairytale elements of the series, and Mio sure is a pretty little princess, the cover doesn’t show any hint of the deep disability metaphor that runs throughout. The story on the whole can be a little melodramatic. No matter how you interpret it, it’s still a fairy tale about a princess who is secretly a mermaid on the run with a prince in disguise, and a wolf boy. Everything is given to you on a plate with the kind of sappy obvious monologues about love, friendship and self belief you’d expect from a Disney movie. Yet, I do not think this is any particular detriment to the series. Shojo covers a large age range and multiple genres. Sometimes, shojo can be cute girls looking after even cuter animals, other times they can be complex crime stories about the impact of war and violence on working class queer teenagers. Yuzu The Pet Vet and Banana Fish can exist side by side without one being seen as “lesser” than the other.
The series is sadly (as of volume three) lacking in explicit disability representation. Yet, I believe the metaphor and parallels are strong enough to be seen as appropriate representation. There is also a sense of wish fulfilment. After all, many little girls dream of getting to be mermaid princesses! And whereas The Little Mermaid suffers in the metaphor because she must give up elements of herself in order to marry the prince, in Fumikawa and Tashiro’s adaption, the Prince is the one to show how she is perfect as she is without needing to change her body in any way. Instead of her climbing on land to save him, he dives into the sea to save her. It might not be perfect, there’s plenty to be said about the “Able Bodied Man Helps Disabled Woman See She Is Beautiful” narratives – but I do think that we need to meet the series where it is. And where it is, is a sweet fairytale romance that disabled children deserve to see themselves in.
‘What if I was born there?’: Student group, survivor of WWII Tokyo bombings reflect on war (The Mainichi, Asako Takeuchi)
Interviews with the head of a student group that fundraises for victims in warzones and a woman who taught during WWII.
After the war, Shimura taught her students to ink out contentious points in the textbooks that she had formerly taught as “correct.” Even if pupils asked why parts were to be erased, she replied, “I don’t get it either. Just be quiet and cross it out.”
The man she went on to marry had also been enlisted to China, but the two barely spoke with each other about the war.
For Shimura, this changed when she was around 60, when her husband passed away and she hit the age of retirement as a teacher. Feeling that, after having received a militaristic education, she ended up teaching a biased curriculum to her students, she attended a citizens’ lecture on modern history at a local community center to correct her understanding.
Due to her experiences running to escape the air raids on Tokyo, she had only considered things from the perspective of Japan’s victimization. Once she began studying, she could also see how Japan inflicted harm during the war.
After collecting children’s books and picture books, Shimura opened a part of her home as a library. There, she would do read-alongs of books on the theme of war and speak about her own experiences.
“I want kids to learn about other countries and war through books. There should never be wars where children become victims,” said Shimura. This year marks 41 years since she began her literary activities, and she has passed the reins to friends in the area.
This Week in Anime: Girls Band Drama (Anime News Network, Steve Jones and Chistopher Farris)
Discussing the intense drama of Ave Mujica and the larger recent trend of more serious girls’ music shows.
Chris: Now, I do think it’s notable that GBC, Jellyfish, and Ave Mujica all derive some of their drama by touching on the industry side of music-making. That’s something that previous BanG Dream!s, even It’s MyGO!!!!!, hadn’t delved into as densely. It’s an aspect that makes the worlds of these stories feel more broad and adult and lends to that messy, dramatic complexity.
Steve: It also sets these apart from series that used their musical components more generally as vehicles for a broader and familiar coming-of-age narrative. If we warp back to a month ago, in our discussion about Naoko Yamada, we touched upon K-On! as a landmark series in the story of idol/band anime. You could argue that its high school setting aligns K-On! more closely with other clubs/hobby-focused anime than it does with something like GBC. One of my favorite aspects of GBC is that Nina’s a dropout!
Chris: A dropout, a runaway, the platonic opposite of the kinds of schoolgirls those other shows were sold on; an icon.
Your invocation of K-On! and the more club-based approach of girls’ music anime naturally calls to mind those previous standard-bearers and how these sorts of shows used to be, which the earlier BanG Dream! felt to be patterned on!
Steve: Yeah, don’t get me wrong, I fell in love with Love Live! because of its over-the-top commitment to the absurd concept of “school idols” and all of its musical theater-esque dalliances. Honoka could manipulate the weather. Nico is my forever girl. Those were good times.
But it’s tempting to put on my serious cultural critic hat and say, “Audiences, in response to the world’s rapidly accelerating complexity and absurdity, have rejected the sugar-coated unreality presented by the idol escapades of the mid-2010s. They want grittier, more tactile stories now. This is the age of the prestige idol drama.”
VIDEO: Pilot episode of I Don’t Want to Be a Magical Girl.
VIDEO: Tour of a Mizuno Hideko art exhibit.
INSTAGRAM: Interest check for a zine celebrating Black fans of femme-aimed games.
Mouna SKEET: Academic paper on The Emerging Girls Love (GL) Media Industry of Southeast Asia.
AniFem Community
Honestly all of your responses were really heartwarming this week, AniFam.
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