The Team Rocket trio have never been your typical villains. So perhaps it’s no surprise that their special backstory episode defies as many conventions as they do, taking the classic team origin story and turning familiar gendered archetypes cleverly on their heads.
Main Content
Features
[Feature] Fruits Basket’s Tohru Honda and her path to self-acceptance
Tohru Honda, the kind-hearted, slightly oblivious heroine of Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket, is a fascinating study of a self-sacrificing female character. Selfless heroines are common in anime and manga, but Tohru is particularly noteworthy because her development throughout the series serves as an example of growing up, coming to terms with one’s feelings, and finding one’s voice. She navigates a very real, very familiar river, fraught with anxiety and self-doubt.
Columns
[Links] 6-12 February 2019: 100 Years of Yuri, Vic Mignogna Removed from Funimation, and Legal Recognition of the Ainu People
This week: a century of yuri, Vic Mignogna fired from Funimation, and a bill recognizing the Ainu as an indigenous people.
[AniFemTalk] What are your favorite anime dubs?
The dubbing world is one step closer to being free of at least one very prominent harasser this week. Let’s celebrate the work of the many talented voice actors who aren’t creeps (not to mention the ones who bravely came forward with their own stories and have faced extensive online harassment for it).
Podcasts
[Podcast] Chatty AF 84: The Vision of Escaflowne Rewatchalong – Episodes 21-26 [FINAL]
The 4th and final part of Dee, Caitlin, and Vrai’s reach the end of Escaflowne! They talk about Dilandau’s trans-coding, how the coming-of-age shoujo isekai differs from modern wish-fulfillment isekai, and bid a final farewell to this big feels-fest of a series.
[Podcast] Chatty AF 81: The Vision of Escaflowne Rewatchalong – Episodes 14-20
We’re back with Part 3 of Dee, Caitlin, and Vrai’s four-part rewatch of Shoji Kawamori’s Escaflowne! With dream ghosts, cat twins, and literal fanfic machines, it’s the show’s wildest stretch to date—and that is saying something.
