AniFem Round-Up
Yuri is for Everyone: An analysis of yuri demographics and readership
To investigate the claim that yuri is predominantly written for straight men, Nicki “YuriMother” Bauman looks at the genre’s author and audience makeup over the decades and how it has evolved.
The Gloriously Goofy, Geeky Girls of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Alex Henderson celebrates the good good girls of Eizouken and why it’s so refreshing to see a show about young women that doesn’t require them to always be cute.
Presenting the AniFem Review Database!
You can now search every title the site’s reviewed by year and by title.
Chatty AF 109: Winter 2020 Mid-Season Check-in
Peter, Caitlin, and Vrai check in on an especially full season.
What’s your favorite Virtual Reality anime?
It’s definitely its own genre now, after all.
Beyond AniFem
Black Cosplayer with Capital B: Interview with Seun Here (Black Nerd Problems, Carrie McClain)
An interview about Seun’s cosplay origins and impact on the cosplaying community.
BNP: Earlier this month you tweeted into the universe that you were curious about if folks would be interested in cosplay wigs tailored to Black folks and people of color — thousands of retweets later — there’s a line in your bio stating “Cosplay wigs will be available for order starting in Spring 2020”. It’s super exciting to hear, personally as a newer cosplayer and wig wearer myself, were you surprised by the response to your tweet? Also are they new updates or reflections you can share at this stage?
Seun: The funny thing is, I asked this question on Twitter expecting to get a couple of responses from the people who already follow me, specifically the people who’ve sent inquiries in regards to my cosplay wigs that I make from scratch. I definitely didn’t expect the tweet to blow up the way that it did. It made me both flattered from the overwhelming support, and yet sad to hear all of the stories of people telling me that they’ve always had this issue of not feeling comfortable using the cosplay wigs that were currently on the market and some even said that they avoided cosplay specifically because of those cosplay wigs.
Given the great demand I received for the wigs I am currently changing my initial plans of accepting a few commissions a year to instead opening a wig company which provides textured base wigs tailored to Black folks and people of color. Figuring out the logistics for the company has not been easy, especially after getting seriously injured shortly after making that tweet, but I hope to have everything settled by late spring and then launch my wig site to all of my supporters patiently waiting.
Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! tells a vital story about anime’s poor working conditions (Polygon, Kambole Campbell)
A discussion of the show’s recent episode and its honesty about the hardships of crunch.
In interviews, Eunyoung Choi, the show producer and co-founder of Science Saru, said that on Eizouken “everyone on our team shared ideas based on their experiences” and that under Masaaki, the team “can express the way they feel in the way they want to” (Eunyoung has also been open about her own burnout as an animator on Twitter). While it’s difficult to gage the real working conditions of the series itself, it feels telling that the first six episodes have all given a platform for younger artists to work as director, for the first time in many instances — with a mixture of freelancers and in-house talent from Science Saru like Fūga Yamashiro.
Red-and-white flags to alert hearing impaired of tsunami threat (The Asahi Shimbun, Kanayama Ryunosuke)
The call for usage of flags is currently only a recommendation and not a mandate.
The agency aims to encourage local governments to employ the newly designed flags starting this summer, although they will not be required to use them.
However, the panel stipulated that a warning flag should have a rectangular shape and a red-and-white checkered pattern with the shorter sides measuring more than 100 centimeters each.
Currently, few local governments are using flags or other visual means to alert people on beaches of danger. Even among those that use flags, their designs differ.
More than 75 years later, California will officially apologize for mistreating Japanese Americans (CNN, Harmeet Kaur)
The formal apology includes the history leading up to and the aftermath of the internment camps.
“I wanted to do something different and have California lead by example,” Muratsuchi told the Pacific Citizen, the newspaper of the Japanese American Citizens League.
“While our nation’s capital is hopelessly divided along party lines and President Trump is putting immigrant families and children in cages, the California Legislature with HR 77 will be issuing an official, bipartisan measure for its own actions taken that led to the incarceration of over 120,000 loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry behind barbed wire.”
Muratsuchi introduced the resolution last month, along with Anthony Rendon and Marie Waldron. The bill also lists Ed Chau, David Chiu, Todd Gloria and Phil Ting as co-authors.
Basara Pt. 1 (with Caitlin) (Shojo & Tell)
A podcast about the shoujo epic with AniFem’s own Caitlin.
Strap in for a classic epic fantasy shojo series with BASARA. Though it never quite blew up in the United States, Yumi Tamura’s manga is spectacular, and Anime Feminist’s Caitlin and Shojo & Tell host Ashley are here to set the record straight about its greatness. BASARA tells the story of Tatara, the child of destiny, who’s fated to overthrow the evil rulers of Japan. When Tatara dies, his sister, Sarasa, takes his place. And she falls in love, unknowingly, with her greatest enemy, Shuri, the Red King. Talk about drama. Again — it’s the best drama. Caitlin and Ashley delve into exactly why BASARA never blew up with the English fandom, celebrate that sweet, sweet menstrual period representation, fawn over Ageha, and much more.
University sorry for ‘insensitive’ survey on who is deemed Japanese (The Asahi Shimbun, Yamashita Tomoko)
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies is “considering” disciplining the professor in charge of the seminar that put out the survey.
The survey, carried out in early February on social media and other means, named professional sports athletes, followed by yes or no questions, such as “Do you see those who look like foreigners as Japanese?” “Do you regard a child born between Japanese and Korean residents in Japan as Japanese?” and “Do you feel uncomfortable calling those who are not purely Japanese ‘mixed Japanese’?
University President Kayoko Hayashi formally apologized on Feb. 14 for the language in the survey in a statement posted on the university’s website, calling the questions and methodology “extremely inappropriate.”
VIDEO: Interview with an animator about moving to Japan and his experience as the only Black resident on the island of Zamami.
TWEET: Black queer magical girl comic magnifiqueNOIR recently released its second volume
THREAD: Japanese pixiv manga artist requesting readers not pirate their work.
THREAD: On casting a trans actress in Tokyo Godfathers and how diverse casting enriches a project.
AniFem Community
Quite a few classics on the list in addition to modern faves!
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