Persona 5 presents itself as a game about misfits and about exposing the unseen evils underlying Tokyo. Yet these misfits adhere to the same norms and assumptions as the oppressive adults the game claims to challenge.
In Princess Mononoke, the heroine reflects a duality of potential for which women are feared and demonised: compassion balanced with a fierce courage and a raw instinct that can be honed, recklessness curbed, but never erased.
In FLIP FLAPPERS Episode 5, Cocona and Papika are thrown into a world that combines Class S, a genre of sweet yuri romance, with horror. Now, what in the world could that strange combination be trying to tell us?
A bitter-sweet story, A Certain Marriage delves into the beauty of gay relationships and the discrimination LGBT people experience. The story, however, ultimately fails to delve into the challenges queer immigrants from Japan face living in America.
In its depiction of women’s anger and frustration with patriarchal norms, 18if shows the potential for feminist commentary. However, any points it might have made are ultimately undercut by relying on the male protagonist to resolve all conflicts.
Princess Tutu pays tribute to various classic ballets and fairy tales while simultaneously weaving a new fairy tale-like story that upends gender roles and rejects the archetypal tragic narrative. In doing so, it embraces feminist ideals of individual freedom, rebellion against archaic tradition, and the construction of a new, more liberating society.
When I watch these heroes-in-training attend U.A. High and compete in an elaborate sports competition, I’m much more impressed with its commentary on the inequality sports competitions breed, particularly in regard to gender.
No media exists in a vacuum, and justifying a trope doesn’t stop it from playing into broader harmful trends.
Kaze Hikaru follows Sei, who disguises herself as a boy in order to become a warrior. Determined to prove she’s capable of a dangerous role that society said women were unfit to have, the fact that Sei both succeeds in this role and gains supportive allies implicitly conveys the narrative’s approval of her “unfeminine” lifestyle.
ToraDora! tells a story about the bizarre tangled intricacies of teenage love. It also tells a story about how everyone has issues, inner turmoil, and inner selves that they keep concealed, usually with the intention of preserving a certain image of themselves for the people around them.
By primarily telling events from Kyoko’s point of view, Skip Beat! has often conformed to the pattern of telling a “single story.” However, in Volumes 37 and 38, the manga’s perspective shifts in a big way, giving readers an unexpected glimpse of Kyoko’s mom Saena through her own eyes.
Many of Princess Principal’s stories discuss the sharp social and economic divisions present in its world. But it’s the upbeat and inspiring Episode 7 that offers the show’s most nuanced depiction of inequality to date, as our central cast must acknowledge their own privilege—and find a better way forward.
When this season started out, Clean Freak! Aoyama kun had a huge uphill battle to win my respect. But it won me over. Aoyama-kun is good. And it’s stayed good, mostly due to the compassion it shows for its ever-expanding ensemble cast.
Free! sent me on a wild emotional ride that convinced me that, when it comes to creating fanservice for girls, it’s not simply a matter of reversing panty flashes into brief glimpses of, well, briefs.
In the realm of josei manga, Everyone’s Getting Married tries to “have it all” by combining the drama of a romance novel with some surprisingly modern and feminist takes on its heroine’s life choices and the modern Japanese workplace to create something entirely new.
Transsexual fiction/fantasy is a genre of stories featuring the transformation of the main character from one sex to another, usually through coercion or by accident. While these stories can often resonate with trans viewers, they can also feature a variety of problems.
Interviews with Monster Girls strengthened my conviction to study conditions like my own. As demi-humans with unusual biological conditions, the characters strive to understand their biology and their place in the world.
When I found the manga Girl Friends, I was not only excited to see a yuri that seemed made for me and other queer women; I also felt as though I related to the girls on a very intimate level because of the authenticity presented in their relationship.
The success of My Hero Academia can be attributed to many factors, but most prominent among them, at least to me, has been Horikoshi’s ability to break from traditional narratives to create a truly unique story. One such example is in his handling of female characters in that shounen staple: the tournament arc.
There’s no good reason not to pay every single interpreter for their work. There are, however, a couple of bad ones.
