AniFem Round-Up
Girls Over Flowers: My resonance with Makino Tsukushi’s burden of parenting
Many have wondered why Boys Over Flowers remains enduring despite its awful love interest. Sky offers one reason–its heroine is pretty great.
Restorative justice and community in Samurai Flamenco
Anyone watching Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider deserves to know about Samurai Flamenco, one of the most out-there and daring love letters to toku, sentai, and hero stories.
Did an anime or manga character crack your egg?
Or just give you gender feels in general?
Beyond AniFem
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD X NANA – In Conversation with Ai Yazawa (Vivienne Westwood)
A short interview with Yazawa in honor of the series’ 25th anniversary.
As we are now celebrating the 25th anniversary of NANA – how do you feel with the manga still being such a huge phenomenon? Considering both the fans who first discovered it 25 years ago, and the new generation of fans today?
AY – Honestly, I’m surprised. Even though the series has been on hiatus for such a long time, I’m filled with a sense of gratitude beyond words toward the readers who have continued to support it, along with a feeling of guilt for making them wait. I’ve always believed that, even as times change, human emotions themselves don’t change much and being able to have my work continue to be read is one of the greatest joys an author can have. […]
After seeing the lineup of collaboration items, do you have any thoughts or favourites?
AY – I was overwhelmed with emotion. When I first saw the lineup documents, I was so moved that I actually cried. Each of the items inspired by Nana and Hachi’s image is wonderful — and when I saw the pink and checkered Rocking Horse Ballerinas, they were so cute I literally screamed. Personally, I was also thrilled that there were reissued items included — just the thought of being able to wear my beloved, worn-out Milky Way T-shirt again makes me so happy. As for the Giant Orb Lighter Necklace, I’ve often heard fans say they wanted one, so I’m sure they’ll be delighted. It’s a perfect, all-encompassing lineup. Truly, thank you so much.
What do you consider NANA’s legacy to be, and how do you see it living on in future?
AY – That’s a difficult question. I can’t objectively analyse my own work to that extent, but if I had to say, perhaps it’s that NANA was accepted by a wide range of readers — even by those who usually don’t read shoujo manga. If the story helped even one more person discover how fun manga can be — maybe inspiring them to read more manga, to try drawing manga themselves, or to carry on manga culture in some way — I’d be very happy. And when someone tells me, “I started a band because I admired the girls in NANA,” it really makes me feel glad I created it. Even if it’s not something huge, I hope that positive chain reactions will continue in many forms among those who read it.
Miss Ruki Manga Review (Yatta-Tachi, wendeego)
It’s a short but important piece of manga history.
Per the translator, Alexa Frank, Miss Ruki was originally published in the pages of the woman’s magazine Hanako between 1988 and 1992. It’s a straightforward book. Every strip has sixteen panels, including the title. Ruki and Ecchan are the main recurring characters; a few others appear in the opening pages, but are swiftly phased out. There are no ongoing storylines. You’re here to watch Ruki and Ecchan do simple things like buy groceries, drink tea, and go to the library.
So, why would a series like this be scooped up by New York Review Comics, which prides itself on publishing stylish work by artists like Joe Kessler and Yoshiharu Tsuge? Well, Miss Ruki is drawn by Fumiko Takano. Manga readers in the United States have almost certainly never heard of her, but they may recognize a few of her most ardent fans: Taiyo Matsumoto, Kyoko Okazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo. “If you’re familiar with manga,” Frank writes, “you may realize this is quite the lineup.”
Digital Manga Publisher Azuki Changes Name to Omoi (Anime News Network, Joanna Cayanan)
The service hosts quite a few interesting shojosei and indie works.
The company’s new website address is omoi.com, and the app’s new title is “Omoi: Manga Reader.”
Omoi co-founder and licensing/marketing director Evan Minto states about the name change:
“The name represents a new phase for us, as we greatly expand our catalog in 2026. It also reduces the brand confusion around our old name, which was in use by multiple companies in other industries.”
Omoi (then Azuki) launched in June 2021 on iOS, Android, and web browser in English worldwide except Japan. The service offers simulpub manga chapters shortly after they launch in Japan in addition to a library of other titles. Omoi’s first partnership was with Kodansha USA, and the service offered titles from the publisher’s catalog at launch, until Kodansha ended simulpub manga distribution with the company and on other platforms in January 2023.
The War of Brides and Babies: Behind Japan’s “Anti-Communist” Mixed-Race Baby Boom (Unseen Japan, Kristina Rin Fujikake)
The boom came alongside Japan’s designation as an R&R location for soldiers during the Korean war.
For many war brides who immigrated to the United States, life was defined by isolation and quiet endurance. They arrived in rural towns and military bases where few had seen a Japanese woman before. Some were met with kindness; others with open hostility. Language barriers, racism, and homesickness often left them cut off from both countries. Over time, community networks formed; small circles of women who gathered for tea, shared recipes, and slowly built lives between two worlds.
But hafu children faced different trials. In Japan, those who stayed grew up under a cloud of prejudice.Teachers seated them apart, employers hesitated to hire them, and neighbors whispered about “occupation babies.” They were often called konketsuji—literally “mixed-blood children.” The term, once used clinically by government officials, carried deep social stigma. It reduced identity to impurity, echoing wartime fears of contamination and defeat. Even today, the word lingers uneasily in memory, a reminder of how language can harden discrimination into everyday speech.
But Thinking Makes It So: The Gutting Genius of Kowloon Generic Romance (Reactor Magazine, Leah Thomas)
It’s wonderful to see people taking notice of such a hidden gem.
Kujirai takes this to heart and begins pursuing Kudou as herself, rather than as the shadow of the person she replaced. Initially shocked and discouraged by the realization that she is something other than an original person, she gradually converts her disappointment into inspiration. After Kudou rejects her, again, for mimicking the appearance of Kujirai B, Kujirai is conflicted. She asks her friend: “Is longing to be the original a vain wish?” Yaomay shows her one of her zirconia rings. “You can see the beauty of the original in a fake.”
Yaomay has thought about this a lot.
While this may all seem ham-fisted when I lay it out, Jun Mayuzuki is a masterful author. She adeptly weaves these threads together like a philosopher and leaves the audience as disoriented and wistful as Kujirai herself. We long for an anchor, a real sense of who she is. It feels important. When Kujirai announces that she wants to become the “absolute self,” it resonates.
Human beings become who they are by making choices, minute or pivotal, right or wrong. Because she is not Kujirai B, she will not make the same choices, even if she has fallen for the same person. “There are things in this life I chose for myself. I chose lemon chicken. I chose my pet goldfish. I chose to love Kudou.”
With every choice she makes, guided by Yaomay’s conflicted kindness, Kujirai becomes more tangible. She becomes a person who feels entirely removed from Kujirai B. Her mistakes are her own, and she revels in them: “If it’s my own decision, I won’t regret it.”
VIDEO: Spacewalking with You and neurodiversity.
VIDEO: Viz has made almost no acknowledgment of Shojo Beat’s 20th anniversary.
VIDEO: Interview with anime episode director Sophia Halfyard.
VIDEO: Theorizing on what draws internet Nazis to K-On!.
VIDEO: Why it’s time to add accessibility tags to the Switch 2 store.
AniFem Community
Every story this week was great, AniFam.
Aoi Miyake from D4DJ helped me realize that I was agender and that I could present however I wanted. She even got me to cut my hair. I admittedly hated the later direction with her character in the game where they had her say she actually didn’t like being masculine, but she did help awaken me.
— zeroaru.bsky.social (@zeroaru.bsky.social) November 17, 2025 at 11:42 PM
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i mean yeah you got the picture right there!! took me a long time to figure out what the words were but ranma definitly made it easy to be like "oh yeah that's what i want"
— Valiant 🏳️⚧️ | Follow BOOM Goes the Bride on Backerkit! (@valwrites.ca) November 17, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Yes it was Hato from Genshiken Second Season
— Millennium (@milliesquilly.com) November 17, 2025 at 11:01 PM
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