By returning to their roots, Dark Magical Girls could provide hope
Instead of focusing on suffering, dark magical girls can inspire young female audiences by showing that they have the power to overcome their personal pain.
mental health Tag
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My trans experience with My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness
It is so rare to find fiction that speaks to your Otherness and to truly connect with it. As a trans woman, I more often than not feel disappointed after opening my soul up to allow for validation and comfort. So perhaps you can imagine the tenderness with which I turned the pages as I read Nagata Kabi’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness.
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From Yandere Girlfriends to Social Anxiety: Handling mental illness in The Future Diary and A Silent Voice
Mental illness is a part of life for many people, yet it’s still a taboo topic that has a lot of stigma attached to it. Often times in fiction it’s portrayed through a “crazy” person, and there haven’t really been a lot of realistic discussions about it. Anime is no exception.
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Dangerous Precedents: What the Flying Colors Foundation got wrong about anime and mental health
As someone who works in a mental health-adjacent field, the Flying Colors Foundation’s approach to mental health in the anime fandom seemed not only misguided, but also irresponsible and potentially dangerous.
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Hyouka’s Poetic Depictions of Normalizing Otherness
Hyouka’s “normalcy” helped it present a very grounded take on high school life, carefully depicting the flaws and struggles of its main characters without reducing them to archetypes.
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Makoto Kageyama discusses mental health issues in Japan and anime
Makoto Kageyama, a former volunteer at Aokigahara, was kind enough to speak with us about their experiences living with mental illness, how the mentally ill are treated in Japan, and how those issues are depicted in anime.
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Escapism and Healing in Recovery of an MMO Junkie
Looking at this romantic comedy by name and genre alone, we might expect it be about its geeky protagonist “recovering” from online games and becoming a “normal” adult. Instead, MMO Junkie gives us a story about finding happiness and fulfillment through online games, using their safe zone of community and anonymity as a foothold to regain emotional confidence.
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Love, Power, and Safety in The Ancient Magus’ Bride
The pairing of a meek young woman with a self-assured and wealthy man is common in shoujo manga, sometimes leading to depictions of abusive or unhealthy relationships that are tacitly treated as acceptable by the story and audience. It’s worth examining how The Ancient Magus’ Bride does (or doesn’t) fall into these patterns.
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My Fave is Problematic: Kare Kano
Kare Kano starts off as a light, funny, and typical “girl-meets-boy” shoujo series, but it quickly evolves into a dark, emotionally gut-wrenching tale that delves into discussions and depictions of child abuse, suicide, sexual assault, self-harm, mental illness, bullying, and other themes that I could very much—albeit uncomfortably—relate to.
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Searching for Neurodivergent Role Models in Anime
I love many things about being a geek: reading or watching different media, researching their histories, and talking to others about it. These activities are viewed as essential to being a geek. But replace the word ‘“geek” with the word “autistic,” and suddenly all the traits that were so readily accepted get read as strange and negative.
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Adding Salt to Sweet Vanilla: The complex women of Toradora!
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.
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How Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun compassionately handles mental illness
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.
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Strong Girls Doing Strong Things: Moe, femininity, and being your own hero
Because moe characters are courageous in their fear, I’m able to find inspiration in these girls who step out from hiding to stand victorious beside their friends or charge into battle for the sake of love.
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She and Her Cat and Her Story
She and Her Cat -everything flows- is a refreshing take on the traditional female coming-of-age tale, avoiding the typical focus on cishet romance to instead focus on relationships between women.
