AniFem Round-Up
Daring to Speak its Name: Goodbye, My Rose Garden and the queer historical romance
Utilizing the narrative devices of early feminist and WLW literature, this yuri series is a shining example of nuanced, happy historical queer fiction.
Everybody Loves Bridget: The origins of otokonoko and birth of a trans icon
With her celebrated anime appearance, let’s look back on Bridget’s journey to coming out and her status as a beloved icon.
What’s your favorite LGBTQ+ light novel?
Always a great way to find new recommendations.
Beyond AniFem
Volontés Otome Visual Novel Localization (Kickstarter)
Fundraising for an English localization and international release of the dark otome game.
We are a game studio based in Japan that specializes in otome games.
In Japan, the domestic otome game market is not doing well. In the last ten years, the console otome game market has been consistently shrinking, leading to a decrease in the number of otome game developers and studios. Under current circumstances, it’s difficult for new otome developers to gain new fans and grow the community.
This is why we are pushing hard to expand into the overseas market, to allow everyone worldwide to enjoy the wonderful stories and experiences otome games provide and increase the diversity of games available.
In order for us to realize our ambition and keep producing otome games outside of Japan for all to enjoy, we need the support of the international community.
With Volontés, we want to explore a darker fantasy theme with memorable characters and a thrilling story. We hope you enjoy playing, and thank you for your support from the bottom of our hearts!
90% of Japan LGBTQ youth faced school issues in past year, 6 in 10 cite teachers: survey (The Mainichi, Sahomi Nishimoto)
Textbooks addressing LGBTQ+ issues started being used in 2024. Includes discussion of suicide.
In questions about school life, 89.5% of the 1,077 junior and senior high school respondents reported experiencing some form of difficulty or harassment at school in the past year. When asked for specifics, 63.7% said other students did or said something under assumptions that they or others were not LGBTQ, while 43.9% said LGBTQ topics were used as jokes or ridicule.
Furthermore, 63.8% of students who experienced difficulties and harassment said that teachers and staff had contributed, including through unnecessary gender separations (46.2%) or assuming that students are not LGBTQ (30.1%). An overwhelming 94.6% of junior and senior high school students said they could not securely consult with their homeroom teacher about their sexuality.
Bullying or violence was reported by 40.1% of junior high students and 24.0% of senior high school students. Among junior high students, 8.0% said they experienced sexual violence such as unwanted touching, clothing being removed or sexual comments from other students, while 2.4% reported such acts from teachers or staff.
Final Fantasy VII Confronts Capitalism: Tifa Lockhart vs. Medical Debt (Sidequest, Kathryn Hemmann)
Discussion of a novel exploring Tifa’s backstory.
It may seem strange for a character in a game about magic and meteors to struggle with the mundane issue of medical debt, but the privatization of Japan’s social services was a major talking point in public discourse when Final Fantasy VII was first published in 1997. Due to the collapse of a real estate speculation bubble, the 1990s were a decade of economic recession. Many people who had formerly felt driven to devote themselves to work realized that Japan’s economic system was broken when they lost their jobs, their savings, and even their houses. The government attempted to address the crisis by reducing public spending on social services such as healthcare at a time when the country needed them most.
Unfortunately, debt is still a major concern today. In 2024, the average household debt in Japan exceeded the average household income, and a record number of people declared bankruptcy after struggling to pay back interest. To add insult to injury, a lingering gender pay gap hits women especially hard, an unfair situation exacerbated by the expectation that women will be responsible for managing childcare and medical expenses. The failure of both the public and private sectors to contribute to social welfare has directly contributed to Japan’s continued economic recession, creating a downward spiral with a rapidly shrinking birthrate in a population of people who (correctly) feel that they can’t afford to raise children.
Japan sees record number of stalking investigations in 2024 (The Mainichi)
Prior to 2024, data only recorded restraining orders and investigations connected to them.
The figures from the agency also showed that a record 2,415 restraining orders were issued in 2024, up 452. Police received 19,567 stalking consultations, 276 fewer than the previous year but still around the 20,000 annual mark seen recently.
Of the 1,341 cases investigated for violations of the anti-stalking act, 1,108 involved activities such as following individuals or attempting to arrange an in-person meeting with the target. The remaining 233 were restraining order violations.
Under Japan’s anti-stalking law, individuals repeatedly committing such acts can be imprisoned for up to a year or fined up to 1 million yen ($7,000). Those ignoring police warnings or restraining orders face up to two years in prison or fines of up to 2 million yen.
Separately, 1,743 stalking-related crimes were investigated in 2024 under laws such as the Penal Code. They included 378 home intrusions, 187 instances of intimidation and 122 assaults.
The data also showed there were 63 rape investigations and 11 for attempted murder.
Award-winning author sues politician for outing her (The Asahi Shimbun, Saori Kuroda and Yuki Nikaido)
Li Kotomi had been stealth before assemblywoman Muramatsu posted photos and papers of Li as a child.
As a result of being outed online, Li was forced to come out publicly in November.
The onslaught of online abuse continues to cause her physical and mental distress, and she has since been diagnosed with an adjustment disorder.
“I am a woman and a lesbian. I never wanted to go public with this,” she said when she came out.
Muramatsu responded to the lawsuit saying, “The initial post has already been deleted, and I have responded appropriately to subsequent posts.”
Muramatsu said she would consult with a lawyer about whether this constitutes defamation.
Women face greater barriers for candidacy, political activities in Japan: survey (The Mainichi)
The survey included data from 6,173 people.
The survey also asked local lawmakers about harassment they had faced. While 53.8% of women responded they experienced harassment, only 23.6% of men said the same.
Meanwhile, 41.0% of local assemblymen said they “have never been harassed and have never seen or heard about it either directly or indirectly,” while only 19.5% of local assemblywomen gave the same response.
More than half of the female respondents in all three groups — those who gave up on running for office, those who ran unsuccessfully, and those who were elected — cited “challenges in balancing political and other activities and family life.” The proportions of men who gave the same response were lower, suggesting that women face hurdles in running for office or engaging in activities as politicians because they still bear more of the burden of housework, child care and nursing care than men.
SKEET: Family Mart and several other grocery chains have launched a Pride campaign.
As US companies shy away from the LGBTQ community, Japan’s Family Mart is embracing it, launching a We Are Rainbow campaign with three other companies to celebrate Pride Month. A portion of profits from select products, such as its famous Famichiki, will support LGBTQ org ReBit. buff.ly/sSpG4e9
— Unseen Japan (@unseenjapan.com) June 4, 2025 at 7:08 PM
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SKEET: Tickets to an upcoming online talk on nonbinary and X-gender identity in Japan with Professor Kyoko Takeuchi.
Our upcoming event is about nonbinary identities! With Prof. Kyoko Takeuchi @kyokotakeuchi.bsky.social, we will talk about what it means to be nonbinary in Japan and how terms like X-gender have evolved. progreztribe20250615.peatix.com
— Masaki Seto | 瀬戸マサキ (@mskseto.bsky.social) June 8, 2025 at 9:55 PM
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SKEET: Famous actress Hayashibara Megumi apologized for xenophobic comments in a recent blog post.
Hayashibara Megumi has deleted an "inflammatory expression" from her post that compared foreigners in Japan to 外来種 (invasive species). She says she was only referring to rude & lawbreaking tourists but her words "hurt people besides that. I've learned my lesson. Thanks for setting me straight."
— Unseen Japan (@unseenjapan.com) June 11, 2025 at 12:15 AM
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SKEET: Attempting to find the real-life “honey lemon soda.”
I am on a quest. It is very dumb. Presenting: “Is It Honey Lemon Soda?” Part One. youtube.com/shorts/w57aN…
— ayumi shinozaki | 篠崎あゆみ (@ayusheknows.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 9:54 AM
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AniFem Community
Happy first week of Pride, AniFam.
I mean, you got in the photo. It’s basically Applied Queer Theory in the form of novels about pretty rocks. It owns my heart and reshaped my soul.
— S. H. Marr (@shmarr.bsky.social) June 10, 2025 at 3:27 AM
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I’m In Love With The Villainess for sure. I mean real talk about actual queer identity paired with fun fantasy and action and romance.
— Alexis Sara (@alexissara.bsky.social) June 9, 2025 at 11:39 PM
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