AniFem Round-Up
The trans resonance of Haibane Renmei
The series’ use of transformation and body horror resonate with the physical experiences of dysphoria and transitioning..
How shoujo manga helps me grapple with internalized misogyny
Even as a fan of shoujo manga for 20 years, the word “shoujo” for me evokes knee-jerk stereotypes and assumptions that I have to consciously fight against.
Chatty AF 235: 2025 Fall Mid-Season Check-In (WITH TRANSCRIPT)
Caitlin, Cy, and Peter check-in on a season jam-packed with shoujo, LGBTQIA+ themes, and ‘90s revival anime!
What’s your favorite dubbed anime performance?
Let’s celebrate actual human labor in the face of these AI dubs.
Beyond AniFem
Bullying Works (Aftermath, Isaiah Colbert)
Amazon attempted to sneak out AI-generated dubs for several shows and has removed them following an online uproar. Neither Kadokawa nor Aniplex approved the dub.
To illustrate how much of a non-issue an official production of an English dub for Banana Fish—something not uncommon with anime, especially if they’re newly licensed on a new streaming platform—would’ve run Prime Video roughly $125-$150 an hour per session, even through SAG-AFTRA Union rates. Basically, this is peanuts compared to what the show has already burned through on content mill-brained titles like Beast Games. But, like everything fueling the AI bubble, companies still compete to out unga bunga each other to make even better ways to boil the ocean to make shit no one wants. Prime Video didn’t even opt for the tried and true method of asking for forgiveness instead of permission; Instead, they are apparently playing this nine-month initiative as an oopsie that it hopes will blow over while people flock to Cyber Monday deals. Time will tell if that cowardly gambit pays off, but history shows it has worked for other streamers, and we shouldn’t let it continue.
Back in 2023, Netflix caught ire for listing AI as a creator in the credits for its WIT Studio anime, Dog and Boy. In a post from Netflix Japan (which Vice translated), the account characterized the whole deal as “As an experimental effort to help the anime industry, which has a labor shortage, we used image generation technology for the background images of all three-minute video cuts!” As Kotaku noted, a human creative likely had to handhold the AI to spit out whatever that film, which’ll return to obscurity once you’ve finished this sentence. At the same time, animation freelancers continue to be paid a pittance.
Finding Relena: Exploring A Gundam Heroine’s Legacy With Voice Actor Lisa Ann Beley (Anime News Network, Lauren Orsini)
Beley is largely not on social media to protect her and her family’s privacy.
“I thought [Relena] was annoying at the beginning, I have to admit,” Beley told me.
Filming Relena’s scenes out of order, as was par for the course for an Ocean Productions dub, Beley said she had to trust what the authors meant, even if her lines didn’t seem to make sense.
“That was challenging sometimes, because [Relena] would say things and I’d be like, ‘Huh? What is she saying?’ Like at the very beginning of the show, when she was responding to her father. And I was like, ‘Why are you obsessing over this boy?’”
As she continued recording, however, she gained more affection for Relena. And now that Beley has a teenage daughter of her own, she can reframe some of Relena’s brattier exhortations as, if not totally justified, certainly more familiar.
“You grow to love these characters. You really do,” Beley told me.
I did know, I told Beley. On my subsequent Gundam Wing viewings as an adult, I gained a new softness for this character I was once so hard-hearted towards. Where I thought she was pushy, she was resilient. Where I once thought she was naive, I realized she was brave for insisting that a better world was possible than the one she had been handed.
Half of Japan local court branches have 1 female lawyer or fewer: poll (The Mainichi)
The issue is particularly pronounced in smaller, regional districts.
The finding demonstrates that existing concerns about legal support for sexual abuse or domestic violence victims may be inadequate, as women may often find it difficult to consult about or disclose traumatic experiences to male lawyers.
Of the 203 district court branches nationwide, the jurisdictions of at least 102 branches across 38 prefectures had one or fewer female lawyers between April and August, with 58 having none at all and 44 having just one, according to responses from 49 of the country’s 52 bar associations.
The percentage of female lawyers has seen little improvement over the past decade, as a past survey by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations showed that 59 branch jurisdictions had no female lawyers in January 2015.
The lack of female lawyers was especially pronounced in southwestern, northeastern and northern Japan. For example, of the five branches in Oita Prefecture, three had no female lawyers and two had just one, while in Iwate Prefecture, four of six branches had none and one had a lone female lawyer.
How Do We Relationship? Is A Brutal Stumble Toward True Love (Aftermath, Isaiah Colbert)
If you haven’t read one of the best modern yuri manga, please do.
Brutal insecurities like Saeko’s need to make herself smaller—throwing herself into people-pleasing despite being a pessimist who doesn’t want every gripe to seem like a major crisis—while still wanting to be relied upon by her new partner, even as she struggles to express when she needs help. Or Miwa’s worry that her recently-discovered sexual awakening and high sex drive might cause her new partner to see her as disgusting. Inversely, the exhaustion Miwa’s new partner feels from routinely being asked for sex—especially when she doesn’t believe that’s the only way to have fun together—can leave both parties feeling like they are compromising themselves just to keep their relationship going.
In that same vein, and to my surprise, How Do We Relationship? explored the nesting doll of how my initially reluctant favorite character, Saeko—the steadfast service top—might not trust another to help her climax because she a) prefers not to be touched, b) is haunted by the fear that their partner might not be able to satisfy her, and c) has unaddressed body dysmorphia, all of it handled so brilliantly that I forgot I probably shouldn’t be reading this on the CTA.
Throughout all this, Tamifull’s queer manga series remains tender, messy, hilarious, vulnerable, unflinchingly honest, and deeply human. All 133 chapters exhaustively celebrate how growth and learning are the foundation of any relationship, rejecting easy answers and instead emphasizing the difficult, complex truths of love as the path to understanding.
Sanda Shows that Adolescence is Supposed to be Awkward (Anime News Network, Lucas DeRuyter)
This article discusses not just the anime but the manga.
The social institutions the titular SANDA and his classmates find themselves in are also designed to give adults excessive control over their lives. The boots that are a mandatory part of their school uniform are likened to prison shackles, meant to keep them from both trying to leave the school and make them more docile through limited mobility. This institution also restricts and censors the education these students receive. Through the physically imposing and typically confident Shiori Fuyumura, we learn that this society heavily limits children’s exposure to even artistic depictions of nudity and perpetuates rumors like “kissing causes cavities” to discourage young people from exploring their sexuality.
Oh, and apparently, kids in SANDA are given vitamin regimens so that they don’t have to sleep, and thereby delay the release of growth hormones to stay young longer, which in some circumstances can endanger the life of a child.
Collectively, this setting comes across as an even more dystopian version of the puritanical world in SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist, and is one that is deeply informed by conservative contradictions around youth and young people. This is a world where child rearing and protection are of principal importance, but also one where children are deeply infantilized. SANDA‘s world prioritizes the idea of giving young people a childhood free of hardship more than giving children the information and experiences needed for them to be well-adjusted adults. Considering how poorly adjusted most of the adults in this story are, SANDA feels both like a cautionary tale and an only slightly elevated encapsulation of conservative attitudes around child raising.
Podcast Announcement (Shoujo Sundae)
The award-winning podcast is sadly coming to an end. The discord will remain open, and we thank the hosts for all the wonderful shows they’ve made over the years and wish them the best.
Thank you for being a part of our journey.
Join the Discord server here:
THREAD: Investigating Crunchyroll’s use of AI-generated captions for dubs.
After publishing this article, I've heard from many that CR seems to be using AI to produce dub CCs. Now, thanks to a slip-up CR had with episode 6 dub of The Banished Court Magician, we can say that with 100% certainty: Crunchyroll is using the AI service Ollang.com for its dub closed captions!
— Daiz (@daiz.moe) November 26, 2025 at 3:27 AM
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THREAD: Insights from an industry veteran about the implications of the AI-generated dubs.
Let me give some insight on this, as a producer in the dub industry who worked with major streamers, who's witnessed first-hand where this push for AI is coming from. tl;dr: Only CEOs want this. Tell them how much you hate it. Be loud, email, call, @, post. You will kill this. 🧵⬇️
— Katrina Leonoudakis 🗼🚉🥰 (@katrinal10n.bsky.social) November 29, 2025 at 11:55 PM
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THREAD: Further documentation of specific dubs on Crunchyroll currently using AI captions.
Please tag me if you see any anime that appears to plainly be using AI transcriptions for closed captions. That's CLOSED CAPTIONS (SDH) for ENGLISH DUBS, not subtitles for Japanese audio. I wanna publicly keep track of some of these and start holding platforms accountable.
— Kaylyn Saucedo – MarzGurl (@marzgurl.com) December 1, 2025 at 8:57 PM
SKEET: Fakku released a statement that their payment processors are currently down. Users have also reported multiple tags being either shadowbanned or removed.
Our payment processor is down at this time. We’re looking into the matter and will have an update as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. Subscriptions will not lapse during this time.
— FAKKU (@fakku.net) December 2, 2025 at 3:08 PM
AniFem Community
There have been so many great dubs—not just the classic stuff, but modern ones too!
Haikyuu! has one of the all-time best dubs i've ever listened to, i highly recommend it as it's very enjoyable. 10/10 cast, please listen to it 🫶 A Lull in the Sea is also a huge personal favorite dub!!! introduced me to Xanthe Huynh, who was such a good Miuna 🥺
— Aoife's Mom (@kissus.bsky.social) December 3, 2025 at 9:25 AM
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They're can only be one choice
— Komm, Süßer Todd (@klookloo.bsky.social) December 2, 2025 at 8:44 PM
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