AniFem Round-Up
Detectives These Days Are Crazy! – Episode 1
It’s playing on a particular fantasy: a man yearning for his adolescent glory days feels he’s over the hill, but a hot young girl pulls him out of his slump and put his fractured ego back together.
Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show – Episode 1
Necronomico’s premiere has been dogged by word salad subs and AI. And that is a damned shame, because there might be a really kick-ass show in here. The show has since received a new, human translation.
Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube – Episodes 1-2
Worth a few episodes if you’re a horror fan or looking to feel that 90s nostalgia.
Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! – Episode 1
This show is just another middling fantasy show with nice images of food and a sudden swerve into a slavery subplot.
Has potential but needs a better handle on the balance between its dark fantasy and comedy elements.
Onmyo Kaiten Re:Birth Verse – Episode 1
Intriguing world-building clashes against fan service and an irritating meathead protagonist.
It’s not total garbage, but there’s not much to recommend it compared to a dozen other fantasy anime out this year.
The Water Magician – Episode 1
A cozy and inoffensive take on the self-insert fantasy series, but wow is the protagonist boring.
Secrets of the Silent Witch – Episode 1
It’s definitely got some pacing issues, but Monica kind of won us over in the end.
Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! – Episode 1
Every single scene of this premiere feels like it was copied from previous shows with a similar premise.
Watari-kun’s ***** is About to Collapse – Episode 1
Honestly feels more horror than rom-com, and not on purpose.
Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex – Episode 1
It’s a harmless romantic fantasy, but its broad melodramatic writing feels squarely for middle-schoolers.
The Shy Hero and the Assassin Princesses – Episode 1
How much you enjoy this will hang entirely on how much you buy into its central joke.
With You and the Rain – Episode 1
The vibes on this one? Immaculate.
The Summer Hikaru Died – Episode 1
Highly recommended for anybody interested in horror, queer storytelling, experimental animation, or just good anime generally.
This is a really engaging hobby show, which makes the random intrusive fan service even more annoying.
CITY the Animation – Episode 1
If you loved Nichijou, this creative reunion is largely more of a good thing.
It’s light, charming yuri school shenanigans.
This is an angry show, but it’s not yet clear whether it has a goal or will fall into aimless edgelord exploits.
A bloody action series that grips the viewer from the jump.
Cultural Exchange with a Game Centre Girl – Episode 1
A lot of the shine comes off this rather sweet premiere when you realize it’s setting up a romance between a 13-year-old and an 18-year-old.
Beyond AniFem
The Women of Death Stranding 2 Are Stuck in a Sad Cycle (Endless Mode, Maddy Myers)
Unpicking the state of gender roles in Kojima’s latest project.
The gender roles in the world of the Death Stranding games are not exactly the classic “man active/strong, woman passive/weak” dichotomy. Everybody here has the ability to fight. These women are not shrinking violets. Several major female characters in both games have some form of cool superpower that aids them in battle or at least self-defense.
But in these games, the male characters’ abilities—if they have abilities at all—tend to be more grounded and based in sci-fi discoveries and hardware, rather than the fantastical, mysterious, or unexplainable powers that the main female characters possess. The game’s protagonist Sam does have a more magical-seeming power—repatriation, the ability to come back from the dead an infinite number of times—but this power is very notably bestowed upon him by a female character, Amelie.
The most important thing about women in the world of Death Stranding is their wombs. Unlike other science-fiction representations of supernatural pregnancy, which often present it as a violation or horror visited upon its unwilling (often female) host, pregnancy in the world of Death Stranding is a universal good. Like many other conservative works about the post-apocalypse, the lower birth rate in the world of Death Stranding is repeatedly emphasized, and the main characters are actively concerned about it. Furthermore, Death Stranding and its sequel both include plotlines in which a baby can and must be saved but its mother cannot and does not survive; in both situations, each baby becomes an extremely important character, whereas the mother only matters as a character whose death motivates a male character. So, although female characters are always associated with the idea of the womb and with the elevated and prized idea of motherhood, that doesn’t necessarily mean those female characters are as important as the babies that they can create.
Japanese NPO ReBit Releases LGBTQ Youth Survey (What the Trans?!, Viridian Lakes)
The survey took online responses from 4733 teenagers across Japan.
In terms of mental and physical health over the past year, 57.8% of teens, 52.1% of people in their 20s, and 44.4% of people in their early 30s reported issues ranging from mental illness, addiction, eating and sleep disorders, or a general poor sense of wellbeing for 2 or more weeks. The survey also employed the K6 scale (a short scale developed by Dr. Ronald Kessler to test for non-specific psychological distress) and found that over 52% of teens, over 43% of people in their 20s, and almost 38% of people in their early 30s exhibited scores that could indicate a high possibility of the presence of mood or anxiety disorders.
The survey also asked if respondents had ever spent time secluded from society (hikikomori), to which 11.1% responded they had. According to ReBit, this is over 5 times the national average.
For students, when asked if they had experienced trouble or harassment at school in the past year, 89.5% said that they had, with 63.8% saying they had experienced it from school teachers or staff. This was positively correlated with an increase in reports of suicide attempts (+11.8%), suicidal thoughts (+17.1%), and self harm (+14.3%). Bullying and violence were also common, with just over 40% of middle schoolers and 24% of highschoolers reporting having experienced them from either other students or adults in school.
The survey also reveals that nearly a quarter of middle school and over a tenth of high school students refused to go to school for some period, a figure that, according to ReBit, places them at around four times the national average for school refusal.
Very few students felt they could discuss their sexuality with their teachers, with almost 95% saying they didn’t feel they would be able to do so safely.
Moyoco Anno’s Sugar Sugar Rune Manga Gets New Anime Projects (Anime News Network, Egan Loo)
The full-length series will be CG and is reportedly a prequel.
North American publisher Udon Entertainment licensed the manga, and it describes the story:
In the Magical World, the future queen is chosen by selecting two young witches and sending them to the Human World, where they’ll compete to capture the hearts of boys. Whoever has collected the most by the end of the competition is crowned queen. This generation’s Queen Candidates are best friends and polar opposites Vanilla Mieux and Chocolat Meilleure, the daughters of the current queen and her former competitor (respectively). They’re aided by their assigned mentor and guardian, pop idol witch Rockin’ Robin, and their two animal familiars, Blanca the mouse and Duke the frog. But the girls have more to deal with than just competing for hearts at school. There’s something weird about the cool, mysterious middle school boy Pierre, who resembles the evil king Glace—and he seems to be after Chocolat. Now, both trapped within their own new goals, the two witches must fight their way and retain a friendship which no magic can defeat.
Japan to launch Cabinet team on issues related to foreign residents (The Mainichi)
New far-right minority party Senseito has been leaning heavily into xenophobia as part of its recruitment.
A survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare found the premium payment rate among foreign residents in 150 municipalities was 63 percent on average as of the end of 2024, compared with the overall rate of 93 percent including Japanese nationals.
Foreign nationals made up 4 percent of the 23.78 million people covered by the insurance in fiscal 2023.
The issues have prompted some minor conservative opposition parties to adopt xenophobic stances toward foreign residents, making remarks that could be considered hate speech and claiming that Japanese culture and the economy must be protected.
Asked about stump speeches that could lead to discrimination against foreigners, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said an “orderly coexistence between Japanese and foreign nationals is essential,” adding, “There should be no xenophobia.”
“We have taken necessary measures to appropriately deal with foreign nationals who fail to comply with the rules, including possible deportation” under the legislation, Suzuki said at a regular press conference.
The rules that foreign residents in Japan must follow include complying with Japanese laws and regulations, as well as engaging only in activities permitted under their residence status, the government said.
Pauline: A History of Nintendo’s First Leading Lady (Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games, Drew Mackie)
Tracing depictions of the character from Donkey Kong to Super Mario Odyssey.
Back in 2020, esteemed Paulinologist Kate Willaert posted to Twitter that this mystery woman might actually be Pauline herself. One of the titles released for the VS. System was VS. Ladies Golf. It is a variation on the NES/Famicom Golf, which got its own VS. System release. Both those original golf games star a mustached man who looks a great deal like Mario and has even been identified as Mario in some materials, even if the 2008 Nintendo nostalgia fest Captain Rainbow treats him like a separate character named Ossan. (Like Lady, it’s either a name or a generic term, depending on how you look at it, because おっさん or ossan refers to a middle-aged man, and this was yet another of the names used internally to refer to Mario early on.) For VS. Ladies Golf, Nintendo subbed in a female duffer, and I agree with Willaert that it’s likely meant to be Pauline even if the game never says so. Willaert contends that if it is her, then that means Pauline is actually the first female playable character in a Nintendo game.
What’s more, the outfit for player two is red, and Willaert points out that version of Mrs. Golfer Lady looks even more like the Pauline we know today, to the point that her sporty outfit in Mario Tennis Aces looks like a throwback to Vs. Ladies Golf. (She’s playable in Mario Golf: Super Rush as well, but they give her an entirely new outfit: black yoga pants and a red beret. A real missed opportunity, if you ask me.)
A Discussion with Mokumokuren—Creator of The Summer Hikaru Died (Anime News Network, Bolts)
A summary of Mokumokuren’s first American convention appearance.
Mokumokuren explained that they always wanted to read a good horror story that had a proper blend of mystery. However, they didn’t end up coming across a lot of stories like that, so they decided to write their own. Basically they wanted to write the story that they themselves wanted to read. They grew up loving a lot of horror media and specifically noted that they were inspired by things like Silent Hill. They even admitted that they were inspired by games with quirky psychological elements like Undertale. However, they also took inspiration from a lot of modern day lore, like online creepy pastas and the Japanese version of Slender Man.
One of the hardest struggles that came with working on the story, they said, was balancing that mystery with the psychological progression of the characters. They wanted to create a story where the characters could grow and develop rather than one where a lot of people randomly die. When one mystery resolves, they want another one to pick up right after. One aspect about the artwork in particular that they wanted fans to pay attention to was how the artwork was portraying sounds. There are some scenes in the manga where the sound will get so overwhelming and physically manifest itself on a page, but you could also tell when scenes go deadly quiet.
Yoshiki is a character who reflects how dark the series can be, but the manga creator wanted to make sure that it didn’t come off as too dark, so they made a lot of the other characters in the series more cheerful as a contrast. Then we have the titular character Hikaru and their childlike sense of curiosity. They didn’t want Hikaru to distinctly feel child-coded, but rather he would enjoy looking at humans the way that your average person would look at another culture with a childlike sense of curiosity. They are a character that enjoys human culture, but they simply don’t want to be human. We are riding that line between them killing people and still being likable to the audience, which was very important.
VIDEO: SungWon Cho spreading the good word of Chihayafuru.
VIDEO: The legacy of Boys Over Flowers.
VIDEO: On the Animator Dormitory Supporters Discord.
VIDEO: A brief intro on Ouji fashion.
AniFem Community
As we head into summer convention season, here is a mood that many of you are probably extremely familiar with.
The Russian Roulette you play with the quality of panels at anime cons is fun because you could go to one called, “It’s Knot Simple” and seriously learn how WWII has affected Shibari culture. And meanwhile you walk into a panel called “Feminist Representation in Anime” and these are the panelists:
— Mom (@milph.mom) July 7, 2025 at 8:37 PM
[image or embed]
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.