AniFem Round-Up
2026 Winter Anime Three-Episode Check-In
2026 has started off with a lot of big, complicated Gender Feelings, tackled with a range of styles and skill levels–here’s updates on what we’re watching!
Solo Leveling’s Adaptation and the Echoes of Anti-Korean Sentiment and Japanese Imperialism
Solo Leveling’s Japanese release removed all references to Korea–a glaring decision when the Jeju Island Arc blatantly parallels Japan’s colonization of Korea.
What anime from the last 10 years are you still waiting for a physical release of?
And did it air on Netflix or Crunchyroll.
Winter 2026 Midseason Podcast Poll
Vote to help us decide which shows we make sure to cover on the podcast.
Beyond AniFem
The Evolution of Shōjo Manga in the 1970s with Curator Rei Yoshimura (Anime News Network, Andrew Osmond)
An interview discussing common themes and influential artists from 70s shojo.
Some shōjo manga in the 1970s popularized BL themes in manga form. Did Japanese newspapers and mainstream commentators in Japan notice them and react?
Yoshimura: In the 1970s, the BL genre wasn’t actually a “thing” yet. It was just one of the themes that were depicted in the shōjo manga at the time, and that was very natural. And nobody thought to put [shōjo manga] in a box, because the diversity was just huge during that time.
Today, it seems that shōjo manga gets adapted into anime far less often than shonen manga. Were shōjo manga adapted more in the 1970s?
Yoshimura: Even in the ’70s, there weren’t a lot of anime renditions of shōjo manga. First, I think that shonen manga, the themes that they explore, are much easier to turn into anime. Anime require a shorter span of screen time per episode. I think the topics that shōjo manga covers are a lot more like literature or feature films, so it’s harder to develop cliffhangers for each [anime] episode than it is for shonen manga. Shonen manga usually get featured in magazines, and each time they get featured, it’s around like 16 to 20 pages, whereas for shōjo manga, it’s like 32 or 40 pages, so it’s much longer. It’s harder to cut them shorter.
I want to ask about some shōjo sports manga in the 1970s, such as Attack No. 1, and Aim for the Ace!, which both became anime. How did they reflect the ways that expectations for girls and women were changing in the real world?
Yoshimura: Before the war, there were a lot more expectations about gender roles, especially for women. After the war, it started to change, but I think that at first, shōjo manga focused more on themes regarding grief or harder topics. And then it got lighter as the years went by.
It could be considered that during the 1960s, many more romance shōjo manga came out, which gave women more autonomy in their characterization, which could have contributed to breaking out of expectations. Also in the 1960s, it was extremely popular for shonen manga to have sports themes, so that might also have had some influence.
One very important factor is the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. It can be said that sports in general became popularized through new media such as TV, which aired them nationwide.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties review: How not to do a remake (VGC, Ashley Schofield)
From content to casting, the new game is a downgrade.
What has changed are the substories: many of the original’s more involved substories, like Murder at Cafe Alps, are gone, replaced with hollow distractions consisting of the low-effort talk>joke>fight>end structure that permeated Gaiden and Pirate Yakuza (at least their existence as budget titles made this less of a bitter pill).
A few of the new substories also add a dash of misogyny to Kiryu’s dialogue that blindsided me, such as condemning the risks of false information and unchecked sources on the internet until he’s suddenly convinced by the promise of ‘free sexy pictures of luscious ladies’. This can also be felt in a love hotel scene that inexplicably, childishly zooms in on a woman’s chest (there’s no actual joke to be found, just a juvenile smirk), alongside the cutting of a genuinely progressive substory featuring Kiryu patiently empathising with the struggles of a transwoman – the removal of which reads even worse with this context.
This misogynistic colouring bleeds into Bad Boy Dragon, Kiwami 3’s main side mode, which sees Kiryu take the lead of an all-female ‘gal’ biker gang. It’s what you’d expect from Kiwami 3 by now: attempts at spectacle to hide its barebones reality; transparently reused locations; painfully sluggish motorcycle traversal, and team melees ripped from Gaiden. The mode also necessitates mandatory excursions that wrench you out of the main narrative and bring the pacing to a screeching halt twice in the early game.
Beyond these expected disappointments, what’s most striking is its framing. It’s introduced by Kiryu stepping in as a strong, capable man to save members of this apparently defenseless gal gang from male bikers, while simultaneously trying to say that the girls can hold their own weight and that pushing back against the unfair treatment of their gender is their unifying strength.
Takaichi’s election victory sets the stage for a rightward shift in Japan’s security policies (The Mainichi)
Takaichi was endorsed by Trump ahead of the election.
She has also been pushing for tougher policies on immigration and foreigners.
This resonates with a growing far-right population that has supported the rise of anti-globalist party Sanseito, which says the LDP’s promotion of foreign labor as a solution for Japan’s declining population is making Japanese communities unsafe and causing cultural clashes.
Her government in January approved tougher rules on permanent residency and naturalization, as well as measures to prevent unpaid tax and social insurance.
Preserving traditional family values
Takaichi supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage.
She is also against a revision to the 19th-century civil law that would allow separate surnames for married couples so that women don’t get pressured into abandoning theirs.
In a step that rights activists call an attempt to block a dual surname system, Takaichi is calling for a law to allow the greater use of maiden names as aliases instead.
Movement To Remove Voice Actor Who Has Admitted To Sexual Assault Has Yakuza Fans At Breaking Point (Aftermath, Isaiah Colbert)
RGG Studio has not acknowledged the push to have Kagawa removed.
While many a fan has also noted Yakuza Kiwami 3’s being an ugly remake, lambasting it for its low-resolution alleyways, Zdankiewicz cautions fans to keep things focused on the real task at hand: “The issue of Kagawa and the idea of celebrating a sexual harasser as a face and voice that’s going to be present in the series for many years to come.”
Although it’s evident that RGG Studio isn’t removing Kagawa, what particularly bothers Yakuza fans is the inconsistency from the developers, who have removed actors for what fans argue is far less. Key among them was RGG Studio replacing Judgment’s Kyohei Hamura face and voice actor following Pierre Taki’s arrest for cocaine use months ahead of the Yakuza spin-off’s release in 2019.
“It’s a double standard. When you recast the guy who gets caught doing drugs a month before the game comes out in the West—you make the effort to totally recast him, do all the lines—in such a small amount of time, but you don’t do it for the confirmed, self-admitting sex criminal with more time than you had for the other situation, it tells me you don’t condone drug usage, but you’ll hand-wave sexual assault,” Vazquez said. “Whatever I take away from the series, any positive interpretation I can have about its treatment of other people, its treatment of women, it’s difficult to justify that.”
Welfare applicants feel stigmatized as some Japan local gov’ts check wallets to last 1 yen (The Mainichi, Masaya Shibuya)
The practices described are not necessarily universal but have come to light in at least two wards.
The savings and cash in the applicant’s possession at the time of applying for public assistance are referred to as “available funds.” If these exceed 50% of their minimum monthly living expenses, including rent and utility fees, they will be deducted from their initial welfare payment.
Based on this rule, the Suzuka Municipal Government initially claimed that their screening method was necessary to ensure accurate welfare payments.
However, the Public Assistance Act does not stipulate rules for scrutinizing the content of applicants’ wallets.
Furthermore, since cash hidden in dresser drawers or deliberately concealed cannot be detected even by examining the wallets’ content, many municipalities require applicants to self-report this information on their documents. Municipal officials also inquire with multiple financial institutions.
Atsushi Yoshinaga, a public assistance theory professor at Hanazono University, pointed out that Suzuka’s own screening process “is a method to deter welfare applications through psychological pressure.”
It is also considered a “humiliating act” for applicants and may constitute a violation of their right to apply.
“I’ve never made a single magical girl anime.” Sailor Moon R and Revolutionary Girl Utena director says many people mistake the genre of his work (Automaton, Dorde P)
The director famous for trolling has apparently appeared to do so some more.
But how do they define the “magical girl” trope? To give a brief rundown, Ikuhara traces the roots of magical girls to the American fantasy sitcom Bewitched, which turns the “dark” concept of magic into a more light-hearted slice of life story. An attempt to make a similar story for a younger demographic resulted in Sally the Witch, which is considered the starting point of the “majokko” (little witch) trope. From there, there have been many different variations on witches and magical girls throughout the past 5 decades.
In comparison to Madoka Magica, which is practically synonymous with the word “magical girl” in Japan, Ikuhara defines the various approaches on the genre which were derived from Sally as “light, casual and fun works aimed at girls.” However, he also acknowledges that the original concept of magic/witches which the genre is based on is inherently dark (so, as the co-host Gami-chan suggests, Madoka could be considered a “return” to the genre’s roots). “But what’s so great about the magical girl genre is that in it, girls can use otherworldly powers and take the spotlight in a similar vein to Superman,” Ikuhara says.
“It’s about young girls being able to use mysterious powers, and the almighty feeling of possessing powers which even adults don’t have. Nowadays, there’s way more diversity in what kind of life path a girl can take on once she grows up, but in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when Sally the Witch and the magical girl genre started, I don’t think that was entirely the case. So from that point of view– the idea that they could use magic was thrilling to young girls back in the day.”
However, when asked about the Sailor Moon series specifically, Ikuhara explained that he doesn’t consider it to be in the magical girl genre, and that it’s, in his opinion, closer to the “henshin hero” genre (The Kamen Rider and Super Sentai series, for example, fall under this category). “I often get called a director that’s good at making magical girl anime – but listen, I actually haven’t worked on a single one. It’s a pretty rough generalization,” Ikuhara says.
Anti-mosque rhetoric sparks counterprotests near Tokyo ahead of election (The Mainichi)
The initial comments are in line with increases in anti-immigrant rhetoric.
On Jan. 29, independent newcomer Susumu Kikutake, 53, called for blocking the mosque planned in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, in a speech outside JR Fujisawa Station.
Nobuyuki Suzuki, an assembly member in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward who backed Kikutake, told the crowd, “It’s fine if inbound tourists visit, but it’s a problem if they stay.”
Activists against hate speech have also taken to the streets daily.
On the evening of the same day, several people outside Shonandai Station in Fujisawa called out to passersby, saying claims that a mosque would worsen public safety were “disinformation” and urging people not to vote for candidates fanning discrimination.
A 72-year-old woman, who joined the movement from Yokohama, said, “For foreigners, it must be truly frightening to hear xenophobia openly promoted in election campaigning, and I want to oppose it as a Japanese person.”
VIDEO: An absurdist approach to beauty and gender expectations in The Wallflower.
VIDEO: The AI slop issue is growing bigger at anime conventions.
POST: Preorders for Black Radical Thought in Japan: An Afro-Asian Intellectual History by Yuichiro Onishi.
I just noticed this book that’s coming out in July. I’ll need to check it out, definitely! Black Radical Thought in Japan: An Afro-Asian Intellectual History by Yuichiro Onishi uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295…
— Brian Ruh (@brianruh.bsky.social) February 4, 2026 at 6:36 PM
[image or embed]
AniFem Community
These lists seem likely to get longer, unfortunately. At least the number of small publishers is growing!
Just put Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju on DVD. Don't wrack your brain thinking about attempting to dub it. Just put that sucker on a disk as it is and I will buy it so fast that it will break the sound barrier.
— Black Sphinx 📚☕ (@blacksphinx.bsky.social) February 10, 2026 at 6:34 PM
[image or embed]
Just one? Because I have lots. Wotakoi Re:Creators Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju 16Bit Sensation Little Witch Academia TV Laid-Back Camp Gabriel Dropout Emiya Menu VTuber Legend Mayonaka Punch 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess Isekai Izakaya I'm In Love With the Villainess … I can go on
— Samantha Ferreira Is On A Research Sabbatical (@sam-animeherald.bsky.social) February 10, 2026 at 3:59 PM
[image or embed]
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.