AniFem Round-Up
I Want to End This Love Game — Episode 1
A perfectly okay premiere where you know the characters are end game, but you don’t know the journey there.
Ugly, mean-spirited, fatphobic and transphobic all in one go.
A romantic comedy where clumsy teacher meets pupil supporter and the world’s most uncomfortable hijinks ensue.
The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch — Episode 1
This premiere features too much upskirting, strange sexual harassment jokes, and a pairing of cat teacher and hapless student that feels dead on arrival.
What was your favorite Winter 2026 anime?
At least one anime of the year contender in there.
Beyond AniFem
Kamome Shirahama: “My stories can speak to readers who feel uncertain about themselves” (Unesco, Laetitia Kaci)
An interview with the Witch Hat Atelier mangaka.
How do you see manga as a form of artistic expression?
I think manga is very much art. At the same time, it also occupies a kind of middle ground between a drawing and a novel, because it conveys stories through pictures.
But manga is also entertainment, and it is also a product. For me, that is part of what makes it so interesting: it is something mixed. It cannot be reduced to a single category.Like yourself, more and more women have managed to make their mark in this traditionally male-dominated field. How do you explain this shift?
Japanese manga artists work in a somewhat special environment. Many creators do not use their real names, and I think that has made it possible for many women to be very active. A certain degree of anonymity can make it easier to express one’s feelings openly, including deeper emotions or cries from the heart. That may be one reason why there are so many women manga artists today, and why it feels as though their number continues to grow.
In terms of the newer generation, I no longer feel like a newcomer, but rather like someone in mid-career. Looking at recent works, I often sense anger, indignation, and very strong assertions within them. We are living in an unstable world, and many creators seem to be trying to find a place where they can stand. I feel that more and more works are carrying that kind of emotion.
Giving Water to Loneliness: on Navigating Loss and Life through Journal with Witch (Crunchyroll, Annie M)
An analysis of the story’s central themes.
For Asa, that growth comes abruptly. After the high school entrance ceremony, her fellow students are talking about their parents. Without thinking and in a matter-of-fact way, Asa remarks that her parents aren’t here anymore and that they died in a car accident. Her nonchalant tone about what happened is a stark contrast to the content of what she’s saying. Her efforts to inject herself into the conversation only alienate her, and she ends up standing out on her first day, but not how she wanted.
Her classmates just cannot comprehend it. One of them says it’s like something out of a movie. They say she’s so independent because she makes her own bento lunches. They talk about how their parents still wake them up in the mornings. And suddenly, Asa’s back in that desert, sinking in the sand, alone.While related to her parents’ deaths, the true isolation comes not from loss, but from her externally perceived maturity. However, the fact remains that Asa is still very much in her youth. She doesn’t know how to navigate difficult emotions. She lashes out; she rebels. Multiple times, she says, “It’s not fair,” a realization that we all must come to at some point in our lives. The world isn’t just. Trauma doesn’t care about maintaining a balance. Life moves in unexpected ways that we don’t ask for and don’t deserve. And in the face of all that, what else can she feel but loneliness?
I think as children, many of us can’t wait to grow up. We long for choice and agency; we want to be taken seriously. For me, it was watching those commercials about Moon Shoes and the freedom to buy what I wanted, when I wanted it. But the reality is that adulthood is not as glamorous as we make it out to be, and when we finally get there, it is, in a word, disappointing.
AI gives Japan’s voice actors new commercial clout, rights protections (The Mainichi)
This would erase jobs for dubbing actors but would offer some protections to the original performer.
The platform is intended to safely store, manage and provide performers’ voices — including those of voice actors and other performers — for use in Japan and overseas.
The initiative reflects rising concern within the industry about how easily voices can now be reproduced using AI.
Under current Japanese law, a person’s voice itself is not recognized as copyrighted material. As a result, AI systems can legally learn from recordings of voice actors and generate similar-sounding voices without violating copyright rules.
Videos using such AI-generated voices without permission are already widely circulated online.
For many performers, the issue carries economic implications as well as legal ones.
Voice actors often struggle to find steady work, with many earning less than 3 million yen (about $19,000) a year.
Because they often work as freelancers, their personal and economic rights can be difficult to protect, according to Itochu and other organizations involved in the project.
The J-Vox-Pro database is designed to create a mechanism through which performers can earn income when their registered voices — or AI-generated voices based on them — are used by companies.
Japanese Women Increasingly Trafficked Overseas for Sex Work by Scout Groups (Unseen Japan, Jay Allen)
Exploitative recruiting agencies rest heavily on taking advantage of financially vulnerable women.
Access is a good example. According to Tokyo Shimbun, the group has used an “auction” system whereby it ranked women into eight tiers based on their physical characteristics. They would then send profiles to shops. Access would receive a 15% commission – a “scout-back” fee – for every day a woman worked.
Women recruited by the three groups don’t just work domestically. The groups sent them around the world – mainly to Manila, Taiwan, Macau, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, and sometimes North America. Women have reported being semi-confined in budget hotels, drugged, and coerced into unprotected sex. Many typically saw over 10 clients a day.
The business is profitable for scout groups. A woman working in an Asian country can make ¥3-4 million/month (~$19,000-$25,300 USD). For Western countries, that rises to ¥5-8 million/month (~$31,600-$50,600 USD).
Most of that profit, of course, ends up in the hands of the group’s ringleaders. Authorities say that Access alone generated approximately ¥7 billion (~$44.3 million USD) in profits over five years.
Working unpaid for husband, woman in Japan recounts struggle to flee domestic violence (The Mainichi, Keiko Okamura)
Financial insecurity is one of the biggest hurdles faced by those trying to leave an abusive household.
Kikuno Yamazaki, joint representative of the Tokyo-based All Japan Women’s Shelter Network, a nonprofit organization supporting victims of domestic violence (DV), says many consultations from women boil down to: “If I had the financial means, I would leave.” Yamazaki points out, “Economic disparity between spouses creates a risk of DV.” She said that Yuka’s case constituted psychological DV, adding, “It’s a typical case in which a gap in financial power creates a relationship of control and subordination between husband and wife.” She adds that many abusive men believe women should be under their control, and when women act against their wishes, they feel “personally hurt” and become angry.
Now, Yuka is raising her daughter, who is in junior high school, with child support from her former husband of less than 20,000 yen (roughly $126) a month and wages from working in the welfare field as a contract employee. Life is difficult, but she feels both the joy of “being paid for the work I do” and the sense that “I am alive.”
Yuka has restricted access to her residence record so her ex-husband can’t find her address. She enjoys meals and laughs with her daughter while watching TV. Normal days like this, which she didn’t have when she was married, seem precious to her.
VIDEO: Explainer on compositing from two female animators.
VIDEO: Discussion of the link between shojo and BL.
VIDEO: A retrospective of shojo dino series REX.
VIDEO: Interview with Shala, a biracial dancer, singer, and musician.
REEL: Trailer for Peruvian indie animation Apukunapa Kutimuyñin.
AniFem Community
Let’s hear it for so many cool shojosei!
Really tough call, Winter 2026 was an exceptionally strong season, bangers all around
— Li㋐ of the Rebellion (@dairokutenmajoo.bsky.social) April 21, 2026 at 1:02 AM
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The one in the picture! Tamon's B-Side! No contest!
— Magi (pumpkinlanding) (@magical-game.bsky.social) April 20, 2026 at 11:50 PM
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