AniFem Spherical-Up
Hagio Moto’s Marginal and BL manga as feminist fabulation
1985’s Marginal examines gendered oppression by analyzing a one-gender world the place patriarchal violence has merely rebuilt itself alongside completely different strains.
A World That Can’t See You: Otherness and incapacity in Tsukihime
Nasu’s pre-Destiny visible novel, lastly out there in English, poignantly captures a narrative of rebuilding neighborhood after your physique has betrayed you.
What pre-2000 manga nonetheless wants an anime?
There’s undoubtedly a large checklist.
A heads up on current technical behind-the-scenes snafus.
Past AniFem
A Mahou Shoujo Mid-Twenties Disaster: New Takes on “Magical Women for Adults” (The Afictionado, Alex Henderson)
An evaluation of style shifts by way of two current examples of the “working magical lady.”
Attention-grabbing, too, is that neither of them pressure magical girl-ing to be a secret id for these younger adults—as an alternative, being a magical lady is their job. It’d sound like a really boring method, however hey, give it some thought: whenever you’re little, the concept of discovering you could have a secret magical future is an influence fantasy. If you’re older, the supply of job safety (and a job you take pleasure in and discover fulfilling!) is one thing like a dream. Kana discovering a rewarding profession after her fruitless, impassive job search is one thing like magic. Likewise, the idea that the unnamed heroine has a future is weird and enthralling to her when her life has felt so directionless and hopeless for the previous few years. Perhaps the gig is harmful (although in several methods—Magilumiere offers with formidable but cartoony monsters, Park Seolyeon’s magical ladies are known as away to do counter-terrorism) however there’s additionally a way of cathartic safety. Plus, properly, it is a magical lady story, so the day will get saved with out anybody getting too badly damage, proper?
Effectively, largely. Although they’ve received a giant dose of caprice, it’s not all sparkles and moonbeams in these tales, and the themes they deal with and the stakes that come up mirror their grown-up characters and target market to embody a way of… let’s say millennial ennui, particularly within the case of A Magical Lady Retires, the place, amongst different discussions of home violence, earnings inequality, and sexism, Park Seolyeon’s magical ladies are grappling with the truth that their best foe isn’t a villain nor a monster however the inevitable destruction of local weather change. Whereas rather more lighthearted, Magilumiere isn’t resistant to stakes that mirror real-world worries for real-world working adults, as Kana realises that her small start-up is irregular within the trade and even magical guardians in fairly costumes aren’t free from the horrors of capitalism nor resistant to office accidents. Nonetheless, even when these tales infuse darkish and dirty realism with their fantasy, it feels unsuitable to sticker them with the “darkish magical lady” label that was oh-so-common, as soon as upon a time.
LeSean Thomas Colleges New York on ‘Shopper’ Followers and Uplifting Animators (Anime Information Community, Reuben Baron)
Thomas gave a collection of talks in collaboration with a movie collection exhibiting by The Japan Society of New York.
Thomas doesn’t converse Japanese, so he used an interpreter all through the manufacturing. He made buddies with the animators, which meant going out for drinks with them frequently; “I’m not a drinker,” he says, “however they don’t smoke weed in Japan.” One massive cultural distinction he famous is that “there aren’t quite a lot of ‘cowboys’ in Japanese productions in comparison with america, the place you may have an intern attempting to rewrite the script.” Japanese animators usually tend to say, “Inform me what you want”—by which they imply, “Inform me the right way to do it proper.”
With Cannon Busters, Thomas wished to “mess around” with the numerous alternative ways Black characters (or extra exactly, Black-coded characters, since nobody within the present is from Earth) can look in anime. S.A.M. is pure moé type, whereas Philly the Child seems like he might have stepped out of Cowboy Bebop. Thomas generally needed to train the Japanese animators how to attract Black folks; when one design for the second episode got here again with “sausage lips,” he despatched an electronic mail explaining the historical past of minstrel imagery and why it could possibly be offensive to worldwide audiences.
One other problem happened when it was time to dub Cannon Busters in English. The producers had solely budgeted for a non-union dub, not contemplating that many of the greatest Black voice actors are union and that non-union dubs are typically overwhelming white. A whitewashed Cannon Busters solid could be unacceptable, so that they ended up spending a further $8,000 per episode on a union dub from NYAV Submit (Thomas’ most popular dubbing studio, which is “glorious” at discovering numerous voice expertise).
Pokémon Go Information ‘Including Amplitude to Struggle Is Clearly an Situation,’ Niantic Exec Says (404 Media, Mika Baumeister)
The remark got here from Niantic’s Senior Vice President of Engineering.
“The LGM is an early stage venture and is months and even years away from any form of product,” a Niantic spokesperson mentioned when requested whether or not Niantic would contemplate promoting its LGM or associated knowledge to governments and militaries. “Identical to any form of AI, there might be vital questions that come up and we’ll deal with these responsibly and thoughtfully.”
As I wrote final week, Niantic named LGM as a direct reference to Giant Language Fashions (LLMs) Like OpenAI’s GPT, that are skilled on huge portions of textual content scraped from the web with a purpose to course of and produce pure language. Niantic’s LGM goals to do the identical for the bodily world, a know-how it says “will allow computer systems not solely to understand and perceive bodily areas, but in addition to work together with them in new methods, forming a vital part of AR glasses and fields past, together with robotics, content material creation and autonomous programs. As we transfer from telephones to wearable know-how linked to the actual world, spatial intelligence will turn into the world’s future working system.”
The information to coach the LGM comes from Niantic’s video games, together with Pokémon Go. For instance, Niantic lately launched an experimental characteristic in Pokémon Go known as Pokémon Playgrounds, the place the person can place Pokémon at a particular location that can stay there for others to see and work together with. This characteristic, Niantic explains, is powered by huge quantities of knowledge, and is exclusive as a result of it’s taken from a pedestrian perspective from areas inaccessible to automobiles.
November Roundtable: Revolution (Sidequest, Melissa Brinks)
Dialogue of the dealing with of revolutionary themes in video games.
Cress: Perhaps not the perfect instance, however for me it’s Persona 5. Atlus takes nice pains to point out that so-called criminals are sometimes labeled as akin to a comfort to folks in energy. Persona 5‘s protagonist was attempting to cease a person from assaulting a girl and was shortly labeled a delinquent and carted off by the police. The entire celebration has one instance or one other of being pushed round by authority. So, because the Phantom Thieves, they got down to steal the hearts of the merciless and alter their methods.
Sounds actually cool proper? Sadly, Persona 5 stops wanting critiquing the methods these folks got here to energy within the first place. For instance, the instructor abusing college students was solely caught and fired as a result of we made him confess. However the recreation acts as if his energy existed in a vacuum. Different workers don’t get known as in for questioning, there isn’t an overhaul of how youngsters can attain out to somebody—no nameless tip line, no something. Workers aren’t given any instruction on recognizing indicators of abuse or the right way to assist. I do know that in Royal, Atlus added a therapist character as a result of there was harsh suggestions on how they initially dealt with an extremely delicate subject.
Certain, Persona 5 pays lip service to how issues enhance. However in every arc it appears like the sport is saying there are simply unhealthy actors in an in any other case practical system. Makoto, considered one of your celebration members, offhandedly asks why she ought to fear herself ragged finding out if she’s simply going to be thrown into the lion’s den, combating others for prime jobs. Her sister admonishes her for being infantile and reminds her how exhausting it’s to be a working girl in a person’s world, however she did it and so Makoto ought to too. I can’t cease desirous about this scene. It form of encapsulates all my issues with Persona 5. There’s a momentary suggestion that there is likely to be a unique method to stay… which is dropped fully as a result of, oh my god, school is vital, it’s essential get a job! Anyway, Makoto turns into a cop. Nice…
The ANN Aftershow: A Letter from the Govt Editor (Anime Information Community, Lynzee Loveridge)
A shorter podcast episode speaking about present occasions, and hope.
Sources: InclusiveTherapists.com/disaster
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Homeless folks evicted from encampment at Osaka ‘image’ (The Asahi Shimbun)
“Greater than 500” authorities staff and riot police confirmed as much as evict a bunch of unhoused people who had been dwelling at a middle closed in 2019; their belongings have been collected throughout eviction.
Between 1961 and 2008, 24 riots occurred within the Kamagasaki district, leading to many accidents and arrests.
The causes of the clashes different. Some homeless folks have been upset at being out of labor and took out their frustrations towards the federal government and police, whom they distrusted.
In different instances, the day laborers railed towards poor working circumstances or the perceived vanity of the work arrangers.
The Airin common middle was collectively in-built 1970 by the central authorities, the Osaka prefectural and metropolis governments, amongst others.
The aim of the middle was to oversee the open labor market and recruit employees on the streets in response to the “first Nishinari riots” in 1961.
The middle had an area known as “yoseba,” the place day laborers gathered for work assignments, and a hospital facility that offered free and low-cost medical care.
The middle has been known as a logo of Kamagasaki partially as a result of it was a spot the place day laborers interacted with one another.
The identical US Copyright Workplace determination that struck down a serious recreation preservation effort additionally quietly reversed a historic DMCA win for accessibility advocates (Video games Radar, Dustin Bailey)
The ruling allowed gamers to interrupt copyright with a purpose to mod video games for accessibility functions.
“Given the constraints of the rulemaking course of,” the Copyright Workplace wrote in its ruling, “as a result of the Workplace didn’t obtain a petition to resume the present exemption, the Register isn’t in a position to advocate its renewal. The Workplace continues to help enactment of a everlasting exemption.” Sure, you’re studying that proper – the federal government desires to make this accessibility exemption everlasting. The foundations simply imply it might probably’t achieve this with out an exterior advocate.
The accessibility exemption permits – or fairly, allowed – folks to bypass copyright safety with a purpose to add options like alternate controller help for PC video games with a purpose to assist folks with disabilities play them. As Recreation File studies, this was a part of a a lot bigger effort from accessibility advocates to be allowed to bypass copyright safety throughout all types of media, hacking in options like audio description for digital motion pictures or extra accessible fonts for ebooks. Nearly all the proposed exemptions have been struck down – besides, particularly, the one for PC video games.
“When the slender exemption got here up for renewal within the 2024 cycle, with the out there sources we weren’t in a position to find anybody who might say that they used the exemption and that they have been prone to want it sooner or later,” Jonathan Band, one of many of us who argued for the broader exemptions within the first place, tells Recreation File. “This isn’t to say that it wasn’t used. There simply was no environment friendly approach for us to seek out anybody who had. So, we didn’t search renewal. After all, if anybody does come ahead, hopefully it received’t be too exhausting to persuade the Librarian to grant a brand new exemption.”
VIDEO: Highlight on Collette Decides to Die.
VIDEO: The lasting resonance of Revolutionary Lady Utena, significantly Anthy.
VIDEO: Why imprecise photosensitivity warnings don’t assist.
AniFem Neighborhood
They simply introduced a Hana-Kimi anime, so….you by no means know?
From Far Away for certain. I learn that manga some time again and was totally charmed by its mild dealing with of its characters and romance. It deserves to be often known as a basic early isekai.
— Starry Magi (@starrylitme.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 6:38 AM
My first thought was Alice nineteenth, however that is really early 2000s. So my second alternative is Pink River. It might match proper in with all of the isekai anime which can be so fashionable proper now!
— Pearl (@elysiondream.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 12:56 AM
I’d like to see extra basic shojo manga getting anime variations. It genuinely surprises me that there’s just one anime based mostly on Moto Hagio’s manga, the “They Have been 11!” movie, after I can completely see “The Poe Clan” getting a collection because of its recognition and influence. Ditto for Hideko Mizuno’s “Hearth!”
— Patricia Baxter (@swirly313.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 3:17 PM
