CLAMP is a creative group of four women who have produced a range of iconic manga across a variety of demographics, from shoujo to seinen. Their body of work was recently celebrated with a showing at the prestigious National Art Center.
Tony and Cy meet to discuss Anime Feminist’s core values and our plans going forward post-election.
Oshimi’s work has not lost its raw power and interest in toxic relationships. However, 2012’s Inside Mari marked a turning point: many of his later works explore the experiences of queer adolescents trying to escape from heteronormative, transphobic, and often misogynist ideas of how one should live.
While toxic workplace culture is originally presented as something that’s keeping the couple apart, ultimately the narrative ends up reinforcing it, asserting that finding happiness in love and expressing your own queer identity are less important than maintaining a conservative, capitalistic status quo.
When thinking of “disability representation” a dark urban fantasy and a former eroge like Tsukihime may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but its unfiltered depictions of Shiki’s experience with his curse, and its overall themes of otherness, isolation, and perspective speak profoundly to the marginalized experience.
With regards to her own work, Hagio Moto has often talked about how writing boy’s love manga freed her to explore kinds of stories that she felt like she couldn’t tell about female characters, and 1985’s Marginal is a particularly interesting example of how BL comics can be used to talk about women’s experiences of their own gender and the patriarchy.
The Apothecary Diaries re-imagines the social life of women in its fictional society, showcasing how, despite living in oppressive systems, women continuously negotiate their existence through resilience, intellect, and community.
As an Epileptic, I’ve been very outspoken about my opinions on the increased use of strobe lighting effects in American cartoons. Yet people have accused me of being a hypocrite: why do I continue to love Pokémon? My response often surprises people. That, in my personal opinion, morally speaking, the animators were not responsible for what happened. That Porygon was, in fact, innocent.
Alex, Cy, and Peter check in on the 2024 Fall season’s surprising number of magical girls, enjoyable het romances, and girls hitting the Sailor Moon pose!
Ito Shiori made waves in 2017 when she accused Yamaguchi Noriyuki of raping her in 2015. Following her suit, the Japanese journalist also published her memoir “Black Box” detailing the difficulties in proving her case in Japan’s legal system.
Eight years on, Ito captures that experience in her autobiographical documentary which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film has been shown in 50 different festivals in more than 30 countries, but still not in Japan.
