All Articles
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Koikimo – Episode 1
I hated Koikimo, and I’m going to hold fast to that because there’s no world in our infinite galaxy—not any culture on this planet, including Japan—where an adult pursuing a child is okay.
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Chatty AF 136: Angelic Layer Watchalong – Episodes 1-7 (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Caitlin, Dee, and Mercedez explore CLAMP’s foray into battle shounen, the fighting robot series Angelic Layer!
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How racial inequality in From the New World mirrors the Black American struggle
When your cries are constantly dismissed under thinly veiled apologies, it can be hard to feel seen or heard, but that is exactly what happened when I stumbled upon From the New World, the anime adaptation of Kishi Yusuke’s novel by the same name. I ventured into the series expecting a casual sci-fi horror but was instead met with a much deeper allegory for discrimination that paralleled my feelings of being a minority in America.
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Non-Binary Orochimaru and the homophobic legacy of queer-coded villainy
From their first appearance disguised as a young woman to their dangly earrings and lilting English dub performance, Orochimaru carries many of the unfortunate hallmarks of a queer-coded antagonist, one whose most terrifying power includes the ability to inhabit the bodies of others in a bid for eternal life. Their portrayal, already mired in queerphobia, is complicated by the franchise’s later decision to portray Orochimaru as a character with a non-binary gender identity, the first canonically LGBTQ+ character in the franchise.
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Yuri!!! On ICE and the revolutionary portrayal of queer Slavic representation
Of all the amazing things about the show, one of the most striking to me was the revolutionary way it portrayed the intersection of queer and Slavic identity.
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We need more licensed doujinshi
I often want to share a cool story after reading it, but, as an avid reader of doujinshi, I find few outlets where I can share that passion. For all the interesting work indie publications can harbor, they are largely inaccessible to non-Japanese markets, making it difficult to share my passion with English fans.
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Dressed to Kill la Kill: The overlooked power of fashion’s rebellious history
While Kill la Kill was all about clothes and the way commodification objectifies bodies, it missed the opportunity to talk about the rich history of rebellion using fashion. And moreover, it failed to interrogate the real villains running the show.
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Reading Code:Realize as Queer Allegory
You wouldn’t expect an otome game like Code:Realize to have themes that resonate so strongly with common queer experiences. In many ways, the game follows genre conventions, with a heterosexual romance story following a singular heroine and a cast of attractive men. Yet it spoke to me, an enby transgender man, by exploring themes of inner discovery, found family, and self-love.
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Chatty AF 135: 2021 Winter Mid-Season Check-in (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Vrai, Peter, and Caitlin check in on the 2021 Winter season, from beefy skate boys to overworked cells.
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Tropical Rouge! Precure – Episode 1
Tropical Rouge is the latest in a long line of Precure series, and in this first episode it’s plain to see the tried-and-trusted formula clicking into place and why that formula works so well.
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Chainsaw Man’s beautiful depiction of platonic relationships
Chainsaw Man, a Shonen Jump series by Fujimoto Tatsuki, has its main character, Denji, realize the value in having a strictly platonic relationship with the leading female protagonist, Power. How Denji reaches this conclusion is incredibly messy and more than a little frustrating in places; which is to say that it epitomizes the uncomfortable struggle of navigating platonic relationships with someone you have the potential to be attracted to, a common aspect of growing up for many, and it’s both heartwarming and validating to see a character experience this part of life in a shounen manga.
