Sugar Apple Fairy Tale – Episode 1
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale is a promising premiere that’s complicated as hell from a feminist analysis perspective.
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ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! – Episode 1
Gender antics abound in a show that could have been the opposite of what it is: a fetishistic romp about one sibling forcibly feminizing the other for their own good with no nuance about actual trans experiences to be found.
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Revenger – Episode 1
It nails the vibe of the 00s fantastical revenge drama, but it remains to be seen whether this is going to be Urobuchi on or off his game.
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Technoroid OVERMIND – Episode 1
Pretty boys, bright colors, capitalism, and ROBOT MURDER set the premise for a just okay idol series that might have a darker secret beneath its technicolor, pop exterior.
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The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague – Episode 1
Cool Girl meets Actual Cool Guy who Can Make Snow in a premiere that feels like a Wotakoi-esque successor with yokai and a cozy, relatable plot centered around falling in love.
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Tomo-chan is a Girl! – Episode 1
Girl likes Guy and Guy like Girl…as a best bud because he can’t perceive her femininity. And yes, that’s the joke, which really undercuts a show that has potential to be very cute.
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The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady – Episode 1
A dazzling yuri fantasy series with a lot of potential to grow.
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2023 Winter Premiere Reviews
All the winter premiere reviews in one easy-to-find place. We’ll update the chart as more series become available, so be sure to check back in the coming days for more!
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Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don’t Believe in Humanity Will Save the World – Episode 1
Generally competent with one big shadow hanging over it.
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The Walls That Contain Us: Transition, change, and I Want to Be a Wall
Thoughts on name changes, transition, and how Shirono Honami’s I Want To Be a Wall is a reminder that we can shape our own barriers and boundaries.
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Bayonetta 3 Validates Every Insecurity About My Life, Relationships, and Sexuality
Between my feelings about the ending of the third game, the drama surrounding its production, and the series’ long-standing controversies, I just felt drained as I watched Bayonetta 3’s credits roll. Which sucks, because the previous two games left me feeling nothing but energized and wanting to be a bolder, braver version of myself.
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The Beautiful Masculinity of Mob Psycho 100
At its very core, MP100 is a show that despises violence as the main means of resolving interpersonal issues, and instead invites its audience to understand each other. In fact, it rejects the mere idea that being more powerful than your enemy is a net positive, or that having special powers makes anyone better altogether. Violence, the series posits, should only be used as a last resort.
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Revisiting the Popularity and Cultural Context of Vampire Knight
For better or for worse, there’s nothing quite like Vampire Knight out there. Revisiting the series today—about 15 years after its release—reveals not only a lot of its shortcomings, but a lot about the cultural context in which it was released.
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Chatty AF 175: Sex Ed 120% – Part 2 (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Dee, Vrai, and Alex talk about the edutainment comedy manga Sex Ed 120% and its tackling of subjects like consent, gender identity, and abortion.
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The Day I Became a God and the mistreatment of disabled people
The Day I Became a God, while not featuring representation of a specific, real-world disability, features a lot of insidious ableism in its last few episodes. This final arc of the show perpetuates a lot of harmful ideas around how those who are disabled should be treated, and the agency that they often do not have, serving as a painfully apt example of the clichés and stereotypes narratives about disability often fall into.
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Making Up and Making Waves: How Tropical-Rouge! PreCure rewrote narratives of femininity and fairy tales
Tropical-Rouge balances historical attitudes with refreshing, contemporary ideas that grant its young female characters agency and thus delivers a great message to its target audience.
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Girls Doing Stuff: Agency and motivation in girls’ hobby shows
By their very nature, these series’ protagonists are driven and motivated young women—motivated by something other than romance and men—who experience visible development across the narrative. As a bonus, the relaxed vibe and personal stakes of this genre means that realistic dangers are removed and these characters are left in idyllic spaces where they have autonomy over their time and their surroundings.
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“If I Was Born As A Girl…”: Transfeminine desire in Stop!! Hibari-Kun
Stop!! Hibari-kun treads plenty of expected ground when it comes to teenage romantic comedy because, at its core, the narrative is cut from the same striped cloth as Urusei Yatsura. However, Hibari isn’t an alien in a bikini or a widowed landlady—she’s a trans teenager.
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Chatty AF 174: Sex Ed 120% – Part 1 (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Dee, Vrai, and Alex talk about the comedy edutainment manga Sex Ed 120% and how it compares to real-world sex education.
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My Fave is Problematic: Golden Boy
Although Kintaro’s respect for women toes (and occasionally crosses) the line into objectification and some of them get more respectful treatment than others, the series overall gives these female characters more agency and regard than other anime of the same genre.
