The need for well-written female characters is supposedly understood and advocated for in fandom spaces, but the moment these female characters show any unfavorable attributes or make mistakes, they are rarely given the same grace as male characters. The complicated women of NANA prove that there’s a limit to how flawed a female character can be before she’s no longer palatable to readers.
Bang Dream: It’s My Go!!!!! and Ave Mujica challenge overly simple distinctions between fake and real that imagine Asian girls as doll-like constructs of femininity and marginalize trans women.
Spring has brought us some powerful stories about girls growing up and compelling-but-fraught speculative fiction about decaying systems.
Ascendence of a Bookworm depicts both the societal forces shaping the lives of people with chronic illness and how accessible community can help ameliorate them.
Spring brings a crop of nostalgic revivals, from aesthetic throwbacks to reinventions of classic franchises.
All the spring premiere reviews in one easy-to-find place. We’ll update the chart as new series become available, so be sure to check back in the coming days for more!
Aoko Matsuda’s award-winning folklore collection, Where the Wild Ladies Are, is a feminist retelling of traditional Japanese ghost stories. Transformation is key throughout the collection, both to the characters’ journeys and to Aoko’s commentary on ancient and modern gender expectations.
While some women do their best to play by the rules, others find loopholes in social customs through which they can enact a semblance of autonomy. However, doing so is extremely risky, especially for those lower on the social ladder.
Is a children’s TV show about guinea pigs worth delving into for feminist analysis? AJ thinks so.
Princess Mononoke, with its focus on women in conflict, winds up reflecting an archetypal struggle between the “civilized” woman and the inner wild self.
When money is a key motivation, ethics and the greater good are quickly abandoned. This theme is apparent in Season 1 of the anime, bubbling away ever-present in the background as Kana learns the magical girl trade, but comes to the forefront in subsequent material when the manga really starts to dig into the politics of the magical girl business.
While it’s not necessarily overtly intended, one reading of Violet Evergarden is that the series explores the notion that the ways that empathy can be expressed by neurodivergent women are not inferior to those expressed by neurotypical individuals.
Happy new year of anime! The stars of this season are stories about girls and women facing down crushing expectations and refusing to let go.
Sphene thematically reflects previous antagonists, but the additional context of the setting’s gender roles (and the player’s own presumed awareness of gendered roles in real history) reframe her character and refresh the villain formula.
The new year starts strong with multiple promising shoujo and the return of a beloved (by us) female director.
All the winter premiere reviews in one easy-to-find place. We’ll update the chart as new series become available, so be sure to check back in the coming days for more!
After God is a wonderful example of how female characters in shounen can go beyond simplistic portrayals of strength and beauty, exploring the darker and more complex aspects of human emotions and identity–without disappearing from the narrative or being made an object.
The main cast all cross, blur, or sit outside of social norms in some way, engaging in some taboo or another—heroes on the margins who are uniquely placed to engage with the abject horrors of the dungeon and transform them into something else through their unique, outsider perspectives.
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.
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.
