Chatty AF 116: 2020 Spring Mid-Season Check-in (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Dee, Caitlin, and Peter check in on the 2020 Spring season!
All Articles
-
-
Skip Beat!’s Harmful Healing: Forgiving abuse at the cost of self-worth
As Kyoko struggles to recover from abuse and trauma, she is encouraged to forgive everyone around her, put her own happiness last, and believe that love cures all. Skip Beat’s prioritization of these ideals over actual healing processes perpetuates unhealthy, even dangerous ideas about recovery.
-
Beyond UNIQLO: Tips for supporting Japan’s indie fashion designers
How can Western fans of Japanese alt-fashion help keep Harajuku brands alive? Although it is at odds with the current opinion that buying second hand is far better than buying clothes new, we must keep buying clothing directly from these independent brands in order to keep their doors open.
-
My Fave is Problematic: Nobunagun
You never know when a series you watch on a whim will turn out to be one of your favorites. That’s how I discovered Nobunagun: I just plopped it onto my Crunchyroll queue after seeing my favorite voice actress, Asakawa Yuu, tweeting about it.
-
Perfect World, Disability Narratives, and Writing Outside Your Experience
Mainstream media tends to over-dramatize or romanticise disability to make the intended able-bodied audience feel pity or inspiration. While I can’t say Perfect World completely escapes these tropes, Aruga still strives to make a narrative that incorporates experiences from the disabled community.
-
Chatty AF 115: Toradora! Watchalong – Episodes 20-25 (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Dee, Caitlin, Vrai reach the finale of Toradora! Feels are felt, some eyes get misty, and the gang talks out the show’s overall highs and lows.
-
“A Man Who Can Experience His Feelings”: Fruits Basket, toxic masculinity, and mental health
Fruits Basket is a radical work regarding its treatment of mental health because it actively works to destigmatize mental illness, critiquing and dismantling ideas about toxic masculinity through its portrayal of mental health.
-
A Tale of Two Nanas: The fuzzy line between homoromantic subtext and queerbaiting in Nana
Though its depiction of queerness is a bit dated, it’s a powerful portrayal of a bond between women and the life of two young women trying to find their way in the world. It’s also a series that has found itself in a very unique place in discussion for its abrupt hiatus that has lasted for over a decade, with no ending in sight.
-
Drifting Dragons – Episode 1
Drifting Dragons is a strange series to review. It’s a Polygon Pictures production, the first one that actually uses bright colors instead of a pallet roughly similar to wet concrete and mud. It was just released from Netflix jail, so it’s now entirely available streaming. But the most unusual thing about it is how adding layers of context change the viewing experience.
-
Home is Where Your Friend Is: Embracing diverse female friendships in Satoko and Nada
Satoko and Nada’s friendship is a great example of why friendships between women with disparate lives are necessary, as the two embrace their differences despite their vastly different backgrounds, protect each other, and offer one another a semblance of family when they’re far from home.
-
2020 Spring Three-Episode Check-In
Spring has sprung and brought a bounty of titles! Even with a few shows losing their luster, there’s a wealth of weird, wild, and downright adorable options at our fingertips.
-
Chatty AF 114: Toradora! Watchalong – Episodes 14-19 (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Dee, Caitlin, Vrai are back for part three of Toradora! The emotions are big and the kids are good, but our dreaded “love quadrangle” senses are tingling…
-
Disability and Power Through the Cyborg in One Punch Man
Genos’ characterization explores media representations that contribute to discussions about disability through negotiations of humanization and pathways to power. Although Genos retains able-bodied functions, he shows experiences associated with disability through his anomalous body and how technology interacts with the disabled body today.
-
Joy in the Apocalypse: Ruminations driving through desolation
At first glance, Ashinano Hitoshi’s 1995 sci-fi world seems no more than a quiet and rural part of modern Japan, but the easygoing protagonists live amidst ruin in what would have been the metropolitan Tokyo Bay. Entire cities have sunk and an untold number of lives have likely been shattered, yet the comic takes solace, even joy, in depicting the beauty of the world as humanity sits back to accept its fate.
-
Anime Feminist Recommendations of Winter 2020
As if to balance out the light lists of 2019, the new year roared in with so many quality shows we almost didn’t have space to recommend them all. Here are the team’s top picks for Winter 2020.
-
2020 Spring Premiere Digest
Our hearts are overwhelmed with all the great lady protagonists this season.
-
Woodpecker Detective’s Office – Episode 1
Undeniably pretty, Woodpecker Detective’s Office otherwise only begins to scratch the surface of what makes a good mystery series.
-
Chatty AF 113: Manga Variety Hour – Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight! (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Bring on the lovers, liars, and clowns! The Manga Variety Hour returns with Dee, Caitlin, and Vrai discussing some of their favorite comedy series.
-
APPARE-RANMAN! – Episode 1
Appare-Ranman’s gleeful steampunk weirdness, with its Wacky Races car designs and the “well, that escalated quickly” action scenes, feels similar to the lighter episodes of Trigun. More than just about any premiere this season, this show is goofy, bouncy fun.
-
The Millionaire Detective – Balance: Unlimited – Episode 1
Millionaire Detective seems to be banking on its audience wanting to screw Kambe more than they want to strangle him. Well, joke’s on them: I’m ace as hell.
