[Links] 14-20 November 2016

Last week we exceeded $600 in Patreon pledges, reaching our second Patreon milestone in just 35 days! (week later we’re up to $676 – can you help us reach $700 this week?) As a result we are now on a posting schedule of four times per week, effective immediately.

AniFem round-up

[AniFemTalk] 7-14 November 2016
After a successful experiment with comments the previous week we hosted our first open discussion thread, inviting readers to comment with self-introductions, thoughts and links to useful posts you have written or encountered.

[Discourse] When anime treats sexual assault as entertainment
A great piece from Peter on the ways in which anime harm themselves by sexualising and/or sexually assaulting their characters for comedy value, and what Izetta: The Last Witch gets wrong in contrast to Keijo!!!!!!!!.

[Feature] Straight guys!!! on ICE
A post on heteronormative responses to Yuri!!! on ICE in English speaking fandom, particularly in relation to the events at the end of episode seven. Check out the comments for different views, including queer fans talking about what Yuri!!! on ICE means to them. Spoilers for episode seven!

Beyond AniFem

For the first time we’re bringing you a selection of links to relevant content from around the internet:

Panning the stream: Fall 2016 midseason review (Josei Next Door)
We plan to provide our own overview posts in the future, but while we’re still finding our feet we recommend you check out our own Dee‘s recommendations. “My Fall anime bloc continues to either hold steady or improve each week, depending on the show, which is always a promising sign at the halfway mark. There’s good variety too, so whether you’re looking for something to soothe or something to pump you up, you should be able to find a much-needed break from reality [here].”

Japan and LGBT representation (Oatmeal Addiction)
Juli raises important critiques on Yuri!!! on ICE and gives insights into the specific representation challenges faced by LGBTQ+ communities in Japan. “From the Japanese perspective, the problem with queer representation in the media is exactly the opposite. Queer characters never encounter homophobia. No one comments on it. There’s no “coming out” scene. Gay people are just fun, sexy, and accepted. But just because Japan’s depictions of queer relationships are positive, does not mean the country doesn’t have a pervasive homophobic attitude.”

8 Japanese lesbian movies you might want to check out (Film Doo)
Speaking of LGBT representation in Japan… “With same-sex relations not an overtly popular topic in Japanese cinema traditionally, the recent years have finally seen the emergence of more Japanese film makers tackling LGBT stories,” says Sharon Calingasan, offering “a list of some of the popular Japanese lesbian films that give profound insight into the lives and minds of interesting characters.” Have you seen any of these films? Have others to add to the list? Please comment with recommendations!

Your name, our anime: defending the new and female otaku (Little Anime Blog)
“It’s time for another episode of Old Fogies Take a Dump on New Anime,” says Elisabeth O’Neill, addressing comments Gainax co-founder Toshio Okada made about Makoto Shinkai’s critically acclaimed Your Name. “Anime is becoming more of an international market year by year, and he’s suggesting that if we enjoy or support a show or movie that appeals to ‘feminine’ sensibilities – romance, dreaming, caring or agonising over love, all these things he feels are “rubbish” – we are destroying the very thing we invest ourselves in.”

An interview with Jennifer LeBlanc, editor of SuBLime Manga (Queer Fudanshi)
I want to recommend all of Devin’s site, but I need to highlight this great interview with Jennifer LeBlanc on her career so far as a yaoi manga editor and thoughts on the market. “When I got into reading yaoi manga, I found I was frequently frustrated with what I was buying. I’m a big believer in supporting the creators and the publishers, so I didn’t rely on scanlations to help me in my selection. But because libraries tend not to carry yaoi due to its content, I had to rely on other people’s reviews of the books, which never told me what I wanted to know—what’s the sex like?!”

How Keijo won the gold in fanservice (Anime News Network)
If you enjoyed Lauren‘s post on fanservice in Keijo!!!!!!!!, you should check out this post from Jacob Chapman. “It’s not necessarily that Keijo!!!!!!!! is ‘more’ than just a fanservice anime. It’s more that Keijo!!!!!!!! does fanservice so well in a world where so many other anime have been doing it poorly. There’s a lot going on between the cracks here, but I’ll try to get to the bottom of this show’s appeal by exploring three things it does different from its fellow titty titles.”

Women in Gundam (Senpai Coast to Coast podcast)
Speaking of Lauren, Josh Dunham over at Wave Motion Cannon invited her to be a guest on his podcast to talk about women in the Gundam universe. “Too often, in a series like Gundam, amidst titans like Amuro Ray, Char Azanable, and Kamille Bidan, the better half of the cast is neglected or forgotten. Despite being some of the more interesting characters, the women of Gundam don’t seem to get the same treatment as their male counterparts.”

The shifting sexual norms in Japan’s literary history (Japan Times)
Author Damian Flanagan has begun a three-part series providing an alternative history of Japanese literature. “Writers in Japan have been exploring the complexities of sexual identity for centuries. But in the late 19th century, as the nation opened itself to the West, expressions of sexuality began to close and literature gradually aligned with the norms of the primly moralistic and intensely homophobic Victorian novel.”

What was the nerd? (Real Life Magazine)
Willie Osterwell wrote a comprehensive history on “the myth of the bullied white outcast loner… helping fuel a fascist resurgence”. It’s long, overtly political and very worth reading. “The nerd appeared in pop culture in the form of a smart but awkward, always well-meaning white boy irrationally persecuted by his implacable jock antagonists in order to subsume and mystify true social conflict — the ones around race, gender, class, and sexuality that shook the country in the 1960s and ’70s — into a spectacle of white male suffering.” Anime is not addressed specifically, but from personal experience this feels very relevant to our fandom.

All My Darling Daughters giveaway (Heroine Problem)
Finally, our own Caitlin is giving away copies of Fumi Yoshinaga’s All My Darling Daughters for the holiday season! “Okay, it’s not really because of the holidays. It’s because I know literally no one who has read it, which bums me out. It’s a fantastic, overtly feminist book by one of the best josei writers in the business that I think literally everyone interested in this blog would enjoy. Yes, it’s that good.”

Did we miss a great post, podcast or video you think our readers would want to know about? Please let us know!

AniFem community

One of the greatest things about creating AniFem is being able to host important conversations around marginalised issues and individuals. We got the opportunity to do this twice this weekend on Facebook and Twitter, on International Men’s Day and Transgender Day of Remembrance.

On #InternationalMensDay, which anime, manga or individual characters do you think best represent men struggling with their mental health? pic.twitter.com/JxuRhb3H0B

— AniFem (@AnimeFeminist) 19 November 2016

On Transgender Day of Remembrance we memorialize people murdered for existing. Pop culture helps humanize; representation matters. #TDOR pic.twitter.com/1l2itjQvjf

— AniFem (@AnimeFeminist) 20 November 2016

The International Men’s Day posts generated open discussion and some great examples, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance tweet is our most favourited and retweeted tweet, with over 100 shares in a single day. Our readers clearly feel strongly about these issues, and we encourage you to look up relevant charities in your country and make a donation or two.

Amelia is the editor-in-chief of Anime Feminist and a freelance writer for websites and magazines on film, television and anime. She has a degree in Japanese Studies and is working towards a master’s degree in film and television.

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