#and they’re just some 30 year old fujoshi

[warriorfujoshi]

the four horsemen of the apocalypse

[gascon-en-exil]

What is purity culture? and what are your thoughts on it? (Ive seen it mentioned quite a bit in these last few asks)

I’ve seen entire blogs dedicated to dissecting the concept and related ones in far more depth than I possibly could, but I’ll try to sum it up. 

Purity culture, also called anti-shipping or referring to antis in general, is a phenomenon in online fandom culture (centered mostly on Tumblr and Twitter I believe) that’s proliferated over the last 3-4 years. It holds that all fandom engagement - fanfic/art, meta, shipping, “stanning” characters, etc. - must serve some moral purpose and must adhere to arbitrarily designated standards of morality that in theory align with progressive social justice values but in practice frequently result in the opposite. This is because anti shipping is at its core disingenuous in its claim to support social justice activism*; to put it bluntly, it grew out of the use of social justice buzzwords to win shipping wars and similarly shallow fandom debates but categorically refuses to engage with those motivations.

*Not least because you’d be hard-pressed to call whining about online fandom culture “activism” of any sort.

This is why it’s uncommon now to see fans admit that they simply don’t like a character, ship, or piece of media without some moralizing qualifier: it’s pedophilia, incest, misogynist, racist, abusive, homo/bi/transphobic, etc. Many of these terms have become so overused and misapplied in fandom spaces that they’ve long since lost any real meaning. “Pedophilia” refers to ephebophilia or even just any pairing with an age gap someone doesn’t like more often than it refers to the real thing. ��Incest” can now mean characters who knew each other as children or who refer to each other as “like a brother/sister” or similar. You’re not allowed to like villains or ships with villains without bending over backwards to “prove” that they’re not a villain and that it’s therefore morally acceptable to like them, and redemption arcs are now subjects of much controversy precisely because they interfere with this kind of black-and-white thinking. In conjunction with the faux-pedophilia there’s also a fair amount of ageism - scorn for adults in fandom spaces that might theoretically include minors, gleeful ignorance of fandom history (this is in part why they whine about AO3′s donation drive every single year), and constant insults directed at “fandom moms” still engaging with the culture despite being over 18/21/25/30/whatever age is being considered inappropriate this week. 

I’m openly disdainful of purity culture, which I find as tedious as it is hypocritical. I’m not fond of pro-censorship movements in general, and additionally once you strip away the social justice signposting the underlying morality here is very often that of Anglo-American Calvinist Protestantism which is something I enjoy mocking on its own merits. It surprises me a bit that there are so many antis in the FE fandom now, when the series overall is not what anyone would call wholesome or, ahem, unproblematic. I’m quietly resigned to seeing this sort of thing pop up all over the place now, although on the plus side it can be amusing sometimes to tear apart the bad interpretations. To be fair I’m solidly outside the demographics usually targeted by antis; I’m not a teenager and therefore old enough not to be bothered by anything anyone says about me online, and I’m white and cis male (so I can’t be a “fandom mom”) but not the dreaded “cishet” white male that antis love to bash but will rarely confront directly because that would be punching up and therefore an actual challenge. At most I have to see them speaking for me, with that patronizing “think of the mlm’s!” bit used in an attempt to shame women who produce M/M content as nasty fetishizing fujoshi. It’s very silly.

[rainy4thmonth]

Cherry magic - It's more than BL drama

Recently, i put my eyes into a fresh BL drama for Japan titled 30-san made doutei dato mahoutsukai ni narerurashi or if you virgin until 30 years old, it seems you'll become a wizard or known as Cherry maho (cherry magic). The title seems so long enough to forget it by its original name. You could get the information around almost all social media such as twitter or instagram. It's kinda trending somehow. Even in MyDramaList, they got more than 9.0 rating. The actor is not really new at japan entertainment. The protagonist is 30 years old a dull virgin, Kiyoshi Adachi who work as salary man, starred by Akaso eiji who well known in series Kamen rider build as Banjo Ryuuga. He start his career as a fashion model. The second lead is Kurosawa Yuichi, a perfect talent handsome man, colleague of Adachi who have crush on him, starred by Machida Keita, member of popular talent group, exile tribe. It seems that Machida already more popular before play this role. At first sight, they seems like another type of couple in romance drama, when the popular one meet an unpopular person then falling in love with each other, but before you judge it immediately, please watch for 3 episode rule, although maybe you could attracted to it only for first episode. I want to point out some of its good side. It maybe contain my self opinion, so maybe you have different opinion with me.

Warning: maybe contain spoiler

So what's make this drama so special? 1. The characters portray so well. Thanks to Director and Script Writer who make each Character more precious in drama. It's not like I say the manga version is bad, but i can tell that the Characters in drama are better. Adachi is an introvert character. The introvert trait here is not showed as hikikomori, or have anxiety disorder, but as a normal Introvert who still can work and speak to other people properly, although he's not good with large group of people (ep3). He have low self esteem but still he live based on his ideal. Being Salaryman is an usual job in Japan society, to manage to get this job, i think Adachi is not really fool. However, he often compare himself to someone else that make him have low self esteem. On other side, Kurosawa is an extrovert who looks perfect in other's eyes, not just because He's handsome, He also clever and easy going. To be top sales in the company, often surrounded by female co-worker, is normal things if others envy him. He also being gentleman around Adachi. However, nobody's perfect, bring those image everywhere is tiring to person like Kurosawa, because once he makes mistake, other people would bad-mouthing him. We also know somebody like him in real-life, right?. It makes Kurosawa hide problem for himself. However, He one day told Adachi about his heart problem (ep7) and surprisingly got unexpected respond. Adachi told that seeing his weakness is kinda refreshing. For the first time, He heard that 'it's okay being not okay' despite forcely being perfect all the times. Beside, Kurosawa is the character of seme who have really good self-control eventhough sometimes he have pervert mind (in manga He even more pervert, a closet pervert). We also got Fujisaki-san which also very different with manga version. In manga, Fujisaki is just merely hardcore fujoshi with wild imagination who ship Kurosawa x Adachi so hard and often have dirty mind of them. But in drama, Fujisaki is a friendly, cute and seems to be family-oriented woman whose the truth, She doesn't have any interest into romance. However, She wants Adachi happy with Kurosawa since She notice Kurosawa's feeling to Adachi. Tsuge is closest friend to Adachi. Tsuge is a bookworm novelist who likes cute creature such as cat (and minato LMAO). Tsuge gradually love Minato, the delivery man who recently often sent a package to him, after he got same power with Adachi. TBH, for the first time i feel second couple not as strong as main couple, but they're also got interesting story later. 2. The Actors and their acting. I like how they play their role and portray each character and bring this character live. We can see Akaso eiji and Machida keita have a good chemistry. Eventhough they didn't do intimate skinship, i can feel their feeling through their eyes. Even forehead kiss scene at episode 3 seems more romantic than kiss on lips. Akaso's awkward acting also seems natural and all his gesture create the super cute Adachi. Machida as Kurosawa is also gentle and handsome. His sight when see Adachi, I can see the pure love of Kurosawa to Adachi through his eyes. Surprisingly, Kurosawa who seems cool outside is cute and sometimes hilarious inside his mind (whether his imaginations or sudden poetry lol). Also their gesture and their inner voice match perfectly. 3. The story is not just about love between two guys. Maybe this drama cannot fullfills somebody's fetish who want bunch of skinship and intimate scene in every single episode on BL drama. If you are those kind of people, better not watch it or you'll miss every good point of its story. Ofcourse its main story is about homosexual difficulties, how Kurosawa have to hide his feeling toward Adachi and how Adachi should respond to Kurosawa's feeling because they both man, when it seems better as collage than as a lover. More that that, this drama also show a pure love with consent. Kurosawa always considers Adachi's feeling. He doesn't want Adachi to feel forced into relationship or being uncomfortable around him. It also tells about dream and goal, when Adachi feels nothing he want to reach in life but gradually change to find his goal (spoiler for next episode). It also tells about how someone's feeling can have impact to other's perspective. Because of Kurosawa's love, Adachi can grow up and move forward. Because of knowing that everyone have their own problem, Adachi can be more confident to help others. Also Tsuge who try to come out of his comfort-zone and reach Minato's heart. The never give-up Minato, the hardworking Rokkaku, and aromantic Fujisaki-san who likes her career. Every Character have their own story which are amazing. I rarely see BL drama that have those kind of value, very decent. 4. The comedy. Priceless expression and anime-like joke. If you don't similar with these kind of comedy, i don't know whether you can enjoy it or not, but i laugh very hard at some scene. Also the backsound of Kurosawa imagination always tickled me 😂. The mole scene, Tsuge and Adachi's hilarious headbanging, memeable face of Tsuge, Kurosawa's jealousy, etc. 5. Easter egg in each episode However i learn it after several rewatched. It tells that Kurosawa often pay attention to Adachi since episode 1, when Adachi enter the office then slipped his feet, Kurosawa suddenly stand up. It also means that Kurosawa research about Adachi ever since He had crush (7 years? 😳) That's why he's very confident when said "I know everythings about Adachi". Kurosawa already knows that adachi like sweet tamagoyaki, He already put his finger to take sugar (ep2) but he still asks Adachi to not look suspicious. In Kurosawa's imagination, Adachi wear white tshirt, that tshirt Adachi wear inside his shirt. He also imagine Adachi sleep at his personal bed 😳. Since Adachi caught by elevator door, Kurosawa hold the elevator door for Adachi (Ep 3-4). Adachi very love onigiri, there's onigiri's display on his desktop (ep6). I hope i'll find more next time 😂.

[medea10]

My Review of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

[otomeshi-hime-blog]

Just in case I haven’t made my stance clear enough, I wanted to lay a few things on the table. 

Tumblr is cancer, and the entire anti movement even more so. No one on this website knows how to do research and instead prefers just to make up their own definitions, spouting them as truth. Fujoshi does not mean what you think it means. Fujoshi are not inherently bad people. They’re in their right to ship whatever they can conceive. As it has recently been brought to my attention, let me also say that lolicon does not mean what you think it means. Loli consent is literally the worst case of Western bullshit I’ve ever seen. Its shorthand for lolita complex. Which by the way, Lolita is a name. There is nothing inherently sexual about the name. Its been twisted by trigger happy morons, but the lipstick or the fashion? Absolutely nothing to do with pedophilia in any way shape or form. 

As a fandom old, I like and support “bad ships” because I have the brain capacity to wrap my head around the fact that these are fictional characters, not real people. If Inuyasha aired today, everyone would be having a fit about not only the Kagome x Inuyasha ship (15 year old human female x 50+ year old half-dog demon) but also the hugely popular Sesshomaru x Rin pairing (god only knows how old dog demon x 10~ year old human female). That being said ...

My favorite Golden Kamuy pairing is Ogata x Asirpa (30+ year old man x 13 year old girl) and thats just the fucking facts. I like it. A lot. Its a good pairing. 

I have no qualms about people shipping age gaps, whether legal (Endeavor x Hawks) or with minors involved (see above).

I have no qualms with people shipping incest. I’ve read a LOVELY Endeavor x Shoto series that was very cathartic for me regarding my own trauma and I’ve read plenty of BLmatsu fics as well. And to be honest with you? Incest isn’t even bad in real life, so long as its not rape. If a 25 year old man consented to having sex with his 22 year old sister? Its a non issue. 

I harbor rape fantasies (being on the receiving end) as does a significant portion of the female populace. Stories about noncon or dubcon are not bad things. The people who read and write them are not bad. Its SUCH a prevalent fantasy that a published book written by a female author I’m currently reading wrote a staged rape scene. No trigger warnings. No notes that said “just so everyone knows, rape is not okay”. No deflecting comments to make sure that the reader knows shes not romanticizing it. The scene literally just IS. 

Multishipping is not an endorsement for cheating (something else that was recently brought to my attention, much to my disgust). If someone wants to write about a female character fucking the ENTIRE male cast behind their backs, thats their prerogative and its really not that deep. Cheating in real life is bad because real people get hurt in the process. Fictional characters cheating on fictional characters is angst fuel. Plain and simple. 

Any ship being labeled a “bad ship” is fanwank and nothing more. 

Trying to tell people how they can and cannot enjoy their fictional media is wrong, and every anti should truly be ashamed of themselves for making people feel bad over something that doesn’t even exist. 

I was raped by a father figure from the time I was 11 until I was 18 and I can assure you without a shadow of a doubt that there is absolutely nothing in shipping or fandom that even comes close to the real thing. Equating the two is honestly offensive to anyone whose actually been in that position and I honestly, truly believe that every anti who says they were abused in some fashion or another is lying. Because anyone whose really been there knows that fictional works on the internet are of so little consequence it doesn’t even ping on the radar. Its harmless. Real life though?

And no partaking in these things does not magically turn you into a rapist or a pedophile or anything of the sort. The man who took advantage of me for YEARS didn’t wake up one day and decide to fuck his 11 year old stepdaughter because he read a fucking incest fic on FF.N. He was raped when he was a child and the cycle of abuse continued. 

Media effects reality but not the way you think it does. The power of suggestion only works enough to convince you that you need the newest Iphone or you’ll literally die. It does not somehow make you believe that real rape or real pedophilia is fine and dandy. It just does not work like that and anyone who thinks contrary needs to seek professional help ASAP. No amount of rape fic or lolicon doujins is going to make me go out and rape real children. Period. 

Oh, and for the record? Theres nothing wrong with ageing up characters either. I don’t see the point (refer to this entire post) but if it makes someone else happy then so be it. They’re not pedophiles for wanting to age up a fictional character they have a crush on so THEY’RE more comfortable, especially considering that said fictional character will always be 15 in canon. Like these fucking mental gymnastics are astounding. Literally pump the brakes for five seconds and think about this. 

If I had the power to magically warp into every anti’s house, or just anyone who believed any of the above “Bad Things” were true, I’d honestly kill every single one of them. Like, no joke. You’re a waste of space. You’re a waste of oxygen. No one loves and no one is ever going to love you with that attitude. 

Peace.

[tenitchyfingers]

Hi my 30 year old trans guy ass would never have known about my gender if I hadn't spent my teen years as a fujoshi and I wouldn't have so much great content about femme boys I can relate to without fujoshi artists and writers since no one else gives a shit about guys like me. All my fandom friends are fujoshi or fudanshi and antis can just eat my whole ass. I'm 30, fuck off, I don't have time for wee bab purity warriors telling me how to not be happy.

Yeah. It’s not a coincidence that so many queer people are or were fujoshi/fudanshi at some point... it really isn’t. I mean, the origins of BL as a genre are knee deep in queerness. And yep, like if you really analyze BL you’ll realize the men in those stories aren’t “really men”, in the sense that their look and behavior and gender expression is nothing like that of most men in the real world. So basically when people accuse fujoshi of fetishizing men, it doesn’t make any goddamn sense. Because the men in BL have nothing to do with men irl. At best we might only be “fetishizing” a fictional ideal of men. They’re a fantasy of men and a fantasy of love and a coping mechanism in a society that shamed women for our desires, our trauma and how we deal with it.

Basically, BL is punk as fuck, as much as kawaii culture used to be. People who have a problem with it can eat my whole ass.

[azurowle]

I feel like what’s missing so much from anti criticism of shipping/fiction, even as a coping method, is CONTEXT.

Like...it’s as if the things they say are bad are carefully crafted to sound bad.

Take the main characters of Killing Stalking, for example. Sangbum shippers are called absolutely nasty names, because “they’re shipping an abusive relationship and getting off on it!!”

Well, yes, they do ship it at least. And it sounds terrible...until you read the actual manhwa.

I’ve only seen snippets and discussion of the manhwa itself. It’s not my cup of tea and I don’t feel like shelling out money for it. But everything I’ve seen and read?

There is very little to “get off” on.

Both Sangwoo and Yoonbum are broken, fucked-up people, and it comes across in the manga. Sangwoo torments Yoonbum in the early parts of the manhwa, and even in the latter parts (such as when he rapes Yoonbum after they get out of being arrested, and the police officer pursuing them is released from duty).

Nowhere is it portrayed anything even similar to a shoujou romance, or heck, even a regular romance you might see in a manhwa/manga. It’s a story of one deeply fucked-up individual being victimized by an even more deeply fucked-up individual, developing Stockholm syndrome, and getting worse from there.

Killing Stalking in no way romanticizes Sangbum. And if someone says it does and is meant to be romantic, I would like some sort of evidence, preferably from koogi herself or from the text in question.

“But fans who ship it call them their “‘dirty sin trash babies! uwu’”

I have only ever heard antis say that what they call “fujoshi” say this. I’ve never seen anyone on Tumblr say this who calls themselves a fujoshi/fudanshi.

So, again, this is something I want evidence on. And my question after that would be what age they are - a 14-year-old who is still growing and maturing is going to need a different response from a 25-30 year old who says it.

“But they write fanfic and draw canary where they’re all soft and fluffy and romanticize it!”

Is it actually romanticizing what’s going on in the tag itself?

Or is it wish fulfillment - the desire to see what a healthy, stable, actually loving relationship between the two would look like?

Is it explicitly or implicitly stated as being part of an AU? Does it diverge from canon atcertain points? Or is it showing the horrendous actions that Sangwoo inflicts on his victims as desirable and sweet?

In other words, is he written to be seen like Edward Cullen or Christian Grey from Twilight/50SoG?

Without ANY of this context or evidence, I have to take anti’s claim that “fujoshi fetishize/romanticize the Sangbum relationship” with a grain of salt or twenty.

And this is just in regards to the “fujoshi” anti discourse. I have thoughts on what antis try to call “pedophilia” and abusive relationships, as well as addressing the merit of some fan fiction being written clumsily enough to actually make said relationships come off as romantic.

But that’s not this post, though I’d like to make other posts like this in the future. For now, this post is mostly to address the something I see sorely lacking in anti spaces:

Analysis and discussion of problematic work requires more than just saying “X clearly promotes Y”. If you make a claim, you damn well better have evidence to back it up. Otherwise, no one is going to take you seriously, and the things you have to say that are worth saying are going to be dismissed outright.

[recentanimenews]

Manga Editor Yumi Sukemune on Making Princess Jellyfish and the History of Shojo

Most writing about manga focuses on the artists and writers credited on the covers of the books. But there’s another role that’s indispensable to the creative process for most manga series: the editor. In addition to managing the manga production schedule, editors provide creative guidance for artists, in some cases acting as equal partners in coming up with the storylines and characters of their series.

A year ago at Anime Expo 2017, I sat down with manga editor Yumi Sukemune to chat about her work with Akiko Higashimura, the artist behind the josei (adult women’s manga) series Princess Jellyfish about a group of geeky women living together in a Tokyo apartment complex. But our conversation wandered a bit outside of her day job, revealing an editor with a critical, feminist perspective on the history of shojo (girls’ manga).

Thank you to Ms. Sukemune and Kodansha interpreter Misaki Kido for the interview opportunity, and for their patience as this interview sat in draft form for an entire year. It took a while to get this one out, but I think it was worth it!

First off, how did you get started as a manga editor?

I joined Kodansha 12 years ago right out of college. I’ve been assigned to the Kiss Magazine Editorial Department the entire time. The editor of Attack on Titan joined Kodansha the same year.

What titles have you edited?

Princess Jellyfish and Tokyo Tarareba Girls, which is Higashimura’s follow-up series about 30-something-year-old ladies. It’s like a Tokyo version of Sex and the City. A lot of titles that aren’t published outside of Japan. I always have five to six titles that I’m looking at at any time.

How typical is it for a manga editor to be editing multiple titles at the same time?

It’s pretty common.

What’s the process for how editors are assigned to titles?

For those existing series, there might be editors already assigned to them, but in Japanese companies, people rotate from department to department fairly frequently. So when some editor leaves the department, if the title needs a new editor, then that’s an opportunity where you might get assigned to an existing title.

In my case with Higashimura, there was another editor before me, but then that person left. But besides that, I was already close with Higashimura because we both liked Johnnys idol groups. That was our connection.

So when the previous editor left, because I was pretty personally connected to Higashimura, I became the editor.

Is Higashimura going to do an idol series?

(laughs) She loves K-Pop right now.

Being an editor is a creative role in addition to an administrative one. Is that assignment process partially based on story fit in addition to being good at managing an artist?

There’s no test for it or anything like that, but when you’re being hired into the company, in the interview process, they’re looking at the way you talk, the way you express yourself. The people looking for new hires are picking up those kinds of personality traits. So those are some of the challenging aspects.

In other cases, when you first start to become an editor, you team up with more of a veteran, “sempai,” editor. Then, when they go together to a creator’s house and they have a meeting, the sempai editor will ask you things like, “What would you do in this case of the story?”  You’re on the spot and you have to express what your opinion is.

A lot of the editors love manga of course, but they also study and watch a lot of movies and stuff like that too. There are a lot of movie otaku.

I imagine they read a lot of books too.

Yes.

So in terms of the creativity, of course there’s individuality, but at the same time … being in love with the character, that’s just being a fan. As an editor you have to really think about where the story’s going: beginning, middle, and end. You need to look at it constructively and then put your opinions into those critical perspectives. That’s something that’s expected from an editor. And then, depending on your level of skills in addition to your creativity, you could become a hit-maker editor or not.

The Manga Editing Process

What’s a day in the life of a manga editor like?

My working hours are flexible. Most of the manga artists work at night. So in the morning, a lot of people just watch movies and things like that. Around noon-ish, that’s when we go to work. But then we won’t be able to go back home until the last train.

In terms of shojo manga artists specifically, it’s kind of a one-on-one relationship of manga artist to editor, so as long as we can stay in touch with those artists, we can work from anywhere. We can work from home too.

Regarding Higashimura, she works on so many series at once, but she also has a lot of assistants and they’re kind of set up like a studio. Their schedule usually starts at 11 AM and goes until 7 PM. So in terms of Higashimura, she definitely doesn’t work beyond those hours. She won’t pull all-nighters, she won’t work on weekends. She keeps a work-life balance.

Do a lot of very successful manga artists do that?

It’s not regular at all!

Because it’s set up like a production studio, the main artist Higashimura just does the rough sketches for the story and she also does the penciling. But from there on she actually works with other staff, and they finish her work.

When the artist sets up a production studio-type of setup, then they can actually work on more than just one title at a time. But not too many female artists actually do it like that. Usually if you work with shojo manga artists they’re working with their friends and just barely making the 30 pages each month.

You mentioned in the Kodansha panel earlier that Ms. Higashimura is the most prolific current shojo manga artist. That she has the most titles.

That’s true. She works with all the major publishers.

Speaking of staying in touch with artists, we were looking at your phone before. Could you talk about the process? You two are on LINE sending “names” (rough manuscript drawings) back and forth, right?

(She shows me her LINE message history with Ms. Higashimura.)

Yesterday Higashimura sent a name. I usually just loosely say ���I kind of want to see the first draft by this day.”

The name stage is usually very simple. But for her, she makes it very detailed. This one has notes on how to finish these panels for the assistants. So, “Put the shadow on here, on the blue.”

Here’s what I’m saying in these messages: “Sorry about the delay of this post. I think the name is really awesome. I think we can use it just the way it is. Especially the scenes in the past and the scene about grilled fish. You’re actually connecting them indirectly. I think it’s really well done. I am here in LA in the morning. I was in awe for a minute. If you’ve got a continuation of these pages please send it to me.”

What stickers do you use on LINE?

We mostly send photos. Not a lot of stickers.

(She shows another name with red pen marks on it.) This is proofing. I use red pen to mark things.

Princess Jellyfish is a really honest portrayal of fujoshi and otaku culture and social anxiety. What sort of conversations do you two have about telling this kind of story?

She often models these characters off of her real-life friends. There’s a friend of hers who’s into dolls. Also all her assistants are super manga otaku. While they’re working, they’re always chatting, for example, having a funny conversation with different ways to end a sentence. The way they talk is unique. She picks it up while she’s writing. Whenever I meet her or even on LINE, Higashimura mentions, “Oh this funny thing happened.” I say, “That’s really funny, why don’t you write about it?”

Communicating and keeping friendships with people outside of work is one of the main reasons she insists on doing the 11–7 shifts, the work-life-balance. Tokyo Tarareba Girls is really based on all her friends who are editors, who are always bitching about something. It’s like, “I’m working so hard, but I have no boyfriend. What’s going on?” She writes about that.

As her editor, my main job is to figure out what she’s into, what her main focus is right now, and to encourage her, to ask “why don’t you write that into the story?”

Shojo and “Waiting for Men”

In the panel earlier you talked about how shojo has changed. You said it was about waiting for a boy to discover you, and now it’s about girls saying “this is my way of life.” Why do you think that is?

I think the biggest influence was Sailor Moon. I’m 34 now. When I was little, Sailor Moon was a current, ongoing series. Up until the emergence of Sailor Moon, all the manga was really about an average girl being discovered by a boy. That was the classic formula. But as soon as Sailor Moon hit, everything changed into a new generation of girls who had the ability to do what they wanted to do in life.

Around that time in the history of Japan, women were starting to get accepted into regular workplaces. The timing in history might have contributed to the message too.

For those girls who grew up with Sailor Moon and keep that true to their hearts, as they get older they become these really strong women and do things for themselves.

Do you think the cultural shift influenced Sailor Moon? Or the other way around?

Sailor Moon was originally supposed to become an anime by the time it started. There was a project for the anime too, they worked on them together. So instead of waiting for the stories to finish, they actually continued the story at the same pace in manga and anime. Because it was a collaborative project between the artist and the animation studio, it wasn’t really up to the creator herself. The creation came from the anime production team as well.

Princess Jellyfish is josei though, not shojo, right?

Yes. The magazine is a josei magazine, although story-wise, none of them are working, so it’s more in the realm of shojo manga, really. And definitely the style is shojo manga.

How much of what you were describing about shojo applies to josei?

In the josei manga genre, unlike shojo manga, it’s not all pure and fresh. It’s not that kind of puppy love story. But in terms of the main character opening up the door to their own life, it’s actually consistent between both shojo and josei manga.

Was josei already doing that, though?

Even in josei manga back in the day, even though they were working women, the formula of an average woman being discovered by men was still the same. It’s like all the characters are mature adults, but it’s still this bubbly romance.

There’s a series called Tramps Like Us (Kimi wa Pet) in Kiss Magazine. It’s a story about a girl picking her favorite boy and keeping him in her house. The pet is a boy.

That change is interesting. Early shojo manga like the works of the Showa 24 Group weren’t about women waiting for men.

Those series like Rose of Versailles are very eternal, evergreen titles. Those tend to be the formula of the character seeking their own path. Those legendary creators: Keiko Takemiya, Moto Hagio. Series that actually stick around long enough to be classics, they tend to be based on main characters finding their own path. But series that became very popular hits but eventually as time goes became lost and forgotten, those are the ones with the formula where the girl gets discovered by the boy.

I feel like in the 1980s shojo manga went in that direction a bit.

Yes, during the bubble economy. Back in the ’80s during the economic boom, it was all about what kind of relationship can you have as a person. That was the biggest focus.

Keiko Takemiya was told by an editor that a story was not going to be a hit; it was complicated, it should be more romance. But she really felt strongly about writing those kinds of stories. So she created The Poem of Wind and Trees (Kaze to Ki no Uta) from there. It’s a really famous Boys Love manga now.

It really shows how hard it was for those female creators in the ’80s to stand up for what they wanted to write about and to execute their expression and get published.

There have been a lot of fans who have been supportive of creators like Takemiya, but at the time, those fans were a way smaller fraction of fans. But post-Sailor Moon people began to accept and understand and like those formulas too. In terms of The Rose of Versailles, it’s inspired by the sort of “fantasy” admiration toward French culture. So that brought in the audience. It’s not really because of feminism. It’s because France is cool.

But it sounds like Sailor Moon represents more of a true feminist shift.

I think so.

There’s an element of romance in Sailor Moon with Tuxedo Mask but that’s not the focus of the series and that’s not the reason why she’s fighting. She’s also looking out for her teammates and friends.

In the US a lot of fans had a very similar response. Because we didn’t get a lot of female characters with that kind of agency.

Everything is connected. No matter where you’re from you really want to cherish and respect yourself in terms of your personality.

As an editor, I always question the difference between the audiences. Like, the school life in America and Japan is different. Is that something that affects the popularity of manga?

The portrayal of the cool, attractive boys seems to be very different here in the US too. I think that might affect whether a manga series becomes popular overseas, not just in Japan. Series like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, ones set in fantasy-based worlds, are kind of rare in shojo manga. They’re just a fraction, and the rest of the titles are focused on school life and slice-of-life stories.

Even the editors and executives in Japan, they’re thinking that whatever is available here and the shojo manga outside of Japan is just a fraction of the shojo manga that is available.

The High School Formula

Have you edited any of those high school titles before?

I have a series called Love’s Reach. In shojo manga, there are a lot of teacher-student relationships, but elsewhere that’s illegal, right? Love’s Reach is the standard shojo manga formula: school life, always a big event with some emotionally thrilling moments. So if people actually get into these series and accept these kinds of stories then we can introduce a bunch more shojo manga. A lot of the shojo manga that’s available here, like Princess Jellyfish or Nana, is kind of irregular compared to the rest of the shojo manga in Japan.

Is there anything different about editing for one of those school life series versus something more irregular?

For Princess Jellyfish, the creation starts with Higashimura’s inspiration, ideas, and imagination. In terms of things like Love’s Reach, there’s the standard formula and then you put a good talented artist on it. So during the meeting, I say things like “do you want to go on a school trip now?” Like, “this is a good time now.” We have these formulas so you can sort of test the artist to see if they can work creatively with those frameworks and make them their own. That’s how each of the creators’ talents emerge.

Because the history of shojo manga is so long in Japan, there are readers who just want to read a formulaic story. Instead of going into a really fresh story that’s very imaginative, some people just want to read the same old story right before they go to bed after coming back from a long day of work.

In fact, a lot of the digital shojo manga sales in Japan happen after 11 PM. It’s interesting. They probably just buy it and read it and just fall asleep. Maybe right before you’re going to bed and you’re relaxing, you might not want to be introduced to super fresh, super imaginative ideas.

(laughs) The Rose of Versailles is too heavy!

(laughs) I might dream about it or something!

Of course sexy titles and “ero” manga too. Manga that you don’t want to have as a book also sell during nighttime.

It’s important for big publishers to fulfill all these people’s needs. Of course we want to create something new, but we also want to produce something that our audience would want.

Thank you so much for your time!

Manga Editor Yumi Sukemune on Making Princess Jellyfish and the History of Shojo originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on October 2, 2018 at 10:14 PM.

By: Evan Minto

[when-will-mail-come]

Why would you do W now of all things, Animedia

Translated this. 2chan’s* reaction to the 2018 July Issue of Animedia.

*2chan ≠ 2ch. 2chan = Futaba Channel, 2ch = 2channel

18/06/06(Wed)00:12:42 No.509767326

Heero is wearing more clothes than usual despite it being a drawing during summer, I can’t

2DNSFW@futaba(img)

18/06/05(Tue)23:16:23 No.509752208

Posting 2018 July issue cover

18/06/05(Tue)23:17:02 No.509752402

What going on…

18/06/05(Tue)23:18:14 No.509752783

Why…?

18/06/05(TUe)23:18:24 No.509752813

Wataru is also on the cover, guys…

18/06/05(Tue)23:18:30 No.509752847

Having Wataru on a poster is like…

18/06/05(Tue)23:18:49 No.509752941

Just when I thought this was a W poster that I’d never seen before…

18/06/05(Tue)23:19:15 No.509753072

Come to think of it, isn’t K-On also old?

18/06/05(Tue)23:19:38 No.509753193

>But isn’t K-On also old in a normal way?

Well, it is having it’s 10th anniversary next year

18/06/05(Tue)23:19:16 No.509753079

There’s also Conan and Yu Yu Hakusho…

18/06/05(Tue)23:19:26 No.509753131

It’s at a level where you can just barely recognize that it’s a modern-day magazine through Shinkalion and Ares no Tenbin

18/06/05(Tue)23:20:01 No.509753305

Never thought I’d see the G-Team wearing normal clothes…

18/06/05(Tue)23:20:11 No.509753363

The most shocking thing is that Animedia costs 1000 yen now It’s more than double of when I was buying it frequently as a junior high school student

18/06/05(Tue)23:21:11 No.509753696

Gundam W, Wataru, Conan, YuHaku… Lord… Is it really 2018 now?

18/06/05(Tue)23:20:18 No.509753398

Actually, young kids these days are well acquainted with this work due them starring in SRW

18/06/05(Tue)23:20:20 No.509753407

You’re not serious, Jotaro!?

18/06/05(Tue)23:21:29 No.509753800

Just goes to show you can’t underestimate the power of reruns…

18/06/05(Tue)23:21:42 No.509753881

I was about to fall for it if it weren’t for the text about Free next season…

18/06/05(Tue)23:22:08 No.509754014

I had the impression that out of all the anime magazines, Animedia was the most targeted toward the young age demographic. But even now they’ve aged enough to put W on the cover…

18/06/05(Tue)23:24:29 No.509754734

>I had the impression that out of all the anime magazines, Animedia was the most targeted toward the young age demographic. But even now they’ve aged enough to put W on the cover…

Targeted more toward fujoshi than the young age demographic was my impression Their readers’ letters corner is so cringey so I don’t usually buy it…

18/06/05(Tue)23:22:49 No.509754219

So this means that we’ll be getting an Admiral Athrun/Shinn-ish magazine cover on Animage 5 years from now, okay

18/06/05(Tue)23:38:04 No.509758626

>So this means that we’ll be getting an Admiral Athrun/Shinn-ish magazine cover on Animage 5 years from now, okay

When I think of Seed it brings up more the image of Newtype I think that even after Haruhi and Seed ended they kept on getting special cover stories for a loooong time

18/06/05(Tue)23:22:58 No.509754272

And then there’s me that’s desperately searching for the 2018 portion

18/06/05(Tue)23:25:28 No.509755066

>And then there’s me that’s desperately searching for the 2018 portion

I got even more lost when I spotted the names of Yu Yu Hakusho and Wataru when I was digging through for that

18/06/05(Tue)23:23:51 No.509754551

I think that even Free can be classified as old though they pulled off a movie

18/06/05(Tue)23:25:49 No.509755163

>I think that even Free can be classified as old though they pulled off a movie

Free is having their third season next cour…

18/06/05(Tue)23:23:53 No.509754565

I sort of want to read Guririba’s¹ interview I bet he spoke really rapidly

¹(Nickname of Heero’s voice actor, Hikaru Midorikawa)

18/06/05(Tue)23:24:39 No.509754788

The catch phrase² on the upper right hand corner hasn’t changed so I’m a little relieved

²(An Anime Information Magazine 4 Times More Enjoyable; See, Read, Display, Participate)

18/06/05(Tue)23:24:51 No.509754849

Inazuma Eleven is also having its 10th anniversary this year

18/06/05(Tue)23:27:27 No.509755647

The metaphor “the anime equivalent of heartthrob magazines” that was posted on the Robot board is really spot on

18/06/05(Tue)23:28:08 No.509755842

Just wait up now, first the poster itself is too normal so I’m confused and I can’t process anything because of that

18/06/05(Tue)23:28:21 No.509755901

This must be the second time they’re having a rerun on MX

18/06/05(Tue)23:34:51 No.509757786

Is the poster normal…? Maybe it is…

18/06/05(Tue)23:39:31 No.509759000

So I just had a thought… What’s the newest anime of those kinds of ladies nowadays? Disregarding you-know-who in Conan

18/06/05(Tue)23:41:18 No.509759472

>What’s the newest anime of those kinds of ladies nowadays?

An acquaintance of mine that’s on the rotten side is still high on utapri, knb, pedal, haikyuu, free They haven’t moved on at all…

18/06/05(Tue)23:42:10 No.509759696

>What’s the newest anime of those kinds of fangirls nowadays?

If you removed Conan, Yuuri and Osomatsu are probably still going strong Can Fate be included as an anime?

18/06/05(Tue)23:48:17 No.509761280

>What’s the newest anime of those kinds of fangirls nowadays?

I think FGO and SideM? Also maybe IDOLiSH7 too

18/06/05(Tue)23:39:43 No.509759074

So I can buy it for Shinkalion, right?!

18/06/05(Tue)23:40:36 No.509759303

W is currently broadcasting amid enormous popular acclaim! Broadcasting amid enormous popular acclaim, I tell you!

18/06/05(Tue)23:41:43 No.509759588

Brisk Trowa makes me laugh for some reason

18/06/05(Tue)23:41:49 No.509759614

Guririba is always so invested in each and every one of his characters, but Heero seems to be on a whole nother level

18/06/05(Tue)23:47:17 No.509761065

>Guririba is always so invested in each and every one of his characters, but Heero seems to be on a whole nother level

He’s fond of robots, so when it comes to a main character in a Gundam series now…

18/06/05(Tue)23:44:22 No.509760216

Heero’s the only one wearing his normal shirt, I can’t

18/06/05(Tue)23:45:00 No.509760395

>Heero’s the only one wearing his normal shirt, I can’t

Well he is always in a state of summer fashion…

18/06/05(Tue)23:47:09 No.509761020

Gohi³ is super fashionable for some reason

³(Nickname of Wufei, alternate character reading of his name)

18/06/05(Tue)23:47:39 No.509761145

Heero that got him his own gundam and the traditional SRW OC Masaki Are there any other characters that he would give special treatment to? Maybe Ryuho

18/06/05(Tue)23:48:14 No.509761272

Shintaro and Rukawa?

18/06/05(Tue)23:50:35 No.509761848

If they’re going to put the spotlight on an anime with multiple robots, they should have pushed Shinkalion instead...

18/06/05(Tue)23:51:34 No.509762059

>If they’re going to put the spotlight on an anime with multiple robots, they should have pushed Shinkalion instead...

This month’s feature is Shinkalion, it’s already getting special treatment!

18/06/05(Tue)23:51:25 No.509762034

The plan is to get the ladies hooked on Shinkalion by luring them in with W 

18/06/05(Tue)23:51:53 No.509762145

Well, having a special feature thing on old anime masterpieces from time to time isn’t too bad

18/06/05(Tue)23:54:38 No.509762777

Even Reborn is getting a stage play adaption so this revival trend is really widespread. The ones that were otakus back then have gained power and are now making their dreams a reality

18/06/05(Tue)23:56:38 No.509763263

I’m pretty sure that Shinkalion is more popular with those ladies than you all think...

18/06/05(Tue)23:58:47 No.509763805

>I’m pretty sure that Shinkalion is more popular with those ladies than you all think...

So Akita and Shinobu’s popularity does stem from the power of the ladies?

18/06/05(Tue)23:58:45 No.509763794

The W guys are so drawing-genic.

18/06/05(Tue)23:59:36 No.509763970

Akita and Shinobu owe their success to the power of Takatomy and Neiger

18/06/06(Wed)00:04:36 No.509765279

So Animedia costs 980 yen now

18/06/06(Wed)00:07:53 No.509766158

>So Animedia costs 980 yen now

Holy shit I just checked the ones from 17 years ago and Animedia was the cheapest at 500 yen, Newtype 550 yen, Animage 590 yen. But now they’ve doubled in price... Is this a special issue?

18/06/06(Wed)00:10:17 No.509766720

It’s always this much, and there’s always a bunch of posters. Junior/high school students buy and resell them solely for the posters

18/06/06(Wed)00:13:00 No.509767409

>Junior/high school students buy and resell them solely for the posters That’s actually pretty cute

18/06/06(Wed)00:12:42 No.509767328

Now that you mention it, there’s a lot of posters for sale on Yahoo Auctions

18/06/06(Wed)00:11:35 No.509767031

Is this Animage from about 20 years ago?

18/06/06(Wed)00:12:42 No.509767326

Heero is wearing more clothes than usual despite it being a drawing during summer, I can’t

18/06/08(Fri)03:02:26 No.510231200

18/06/08(Fri)03:11:45 No.510231734

Why would they do W now of all things

18/06/08(Fri)03:53:08 No.510233680

No matter how many times I look at it, I can’t stop myself from laughing at the fact they placed GUN GUNZ DAN DAN⁴ on Heero’s crotch

⁴(The chorus of Evolution Theory, the OP of the anime Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion)

18/06/08(Fri)04:56:12 No.510235875

Hey, come to think of it Midorikawa⁵ is also starring in Shinkalion...

⁵(Heero’s voice actor’s name, Hikaru Midorikawa)

18/06/08(Fri)05:40:07 No.510237003

>Hey, come to think of it Midorikawa is also starring in Shinkalion...

Hikaru Midorikawa: Mr. Saisugi, please don’t magnify it (^^;;

Tomokazu Sugita: Look, Heero’s Shinkalion.

Hikaru Midorikawa: Why is Shinkalion info resting on Heero’s crotch (lol)

18/06/08(Fri)05:53:23 No.510237366

“All applicants will receive the prize”, huh...

18/06/08(Fri)05:30:09 No.510236746

I’m actually shocked that Animedia is now 980 yen when their selling point was their cheapness Newtype is cheaper now

18/06/08(Fri)05:37:00 No.510236921

Yeah, but even Newtype is 800 yen

18/06/08(Fri)05:55:36 No.510237445

The all-prize is just something that’s being carried through from a feature in the previous issue...

18/06/08(Fri)06:18:29 No.510238175

Putting aside the fact that W is enjoying a revival boom with the rerun, why Wataru...?

18/06/08(Fri)06:44:13 No.510239323

> Putting aside the fact that W is enjoying a revival boom with the rerun, why Wataru...?

They do have collab-cafés every few years or so, so...

18/06/08(Fri)06:58:00 No.510240147

I can’t accept a Trowa with such a brisk smile

18/06/06(Wed)19:38:37 No.509897174

←1995 July Issue　2018 July Issue→

18/06/06(Wed)19:42:04 No.509898182

Their first cover in 22 years…

18/06/06(Wed)19:45:20 No.509899035

So they choose this because it became such a hot topic with the rerun, I see

18/06/06(Wed)20:19:28 No.509908447

Imaging Heero and Wufei obediently posing for this gives me the strangest feelings

18/06/06(Wed)20:25:51 No.509910057

Comparing them side by side you can see that they’re actually drawn according to the current art trend

18/06/06(Wed)20:27:17 No.509910494

It’s amazing that Conan is still active after all these years

18/06/06(Wed)20:28:19 No.509910792

Are you sure this isn’t just the whimsy of the editors hopping on the rerun bandwagon?

18/06/06(Wed)20:30:46 No.509911432

It isn’t far-fetched to assume the people that were into this then are in the desk editor class now

18/06/06(Wed)20:32:14 No.509911832

I wonder if this’ll later be regarded as what sparked the rerun trend in the future

18/06/06(Wed)20:33:33 No.509912207

I bet Ronin Warriors would get a cover story too if the chance presented itself

[speaksonlythetruth-blog]

Why your ship is invalid

Directed @ the ugly parts of the vld fandom. Xoxo

Kick

So! The Voltron:Legendary Defenders fandom… a dangerous place full of nasties, and people with morals. It’s a pretty even split, if I do say so myself. But I wouldn’t know that because I never go to the ugly side; I’ll get traumatized. For life.

Anyways I’ll be keeping anon off, so if you want to send me death threats over something that is very true and kills your precious ship, then my points will be proven. Have fun.

Before I go on my rant, I want to discuss the elephant in the room: Shiro’s sexuality. Shiro has been confirmed a gay man on several occasions. Therefore, 2 ships are already eliminated - brutally. Shallura and Shidge. And they’ve been rightfully eliminated, because those ships are very problematic.

And I’d like to point out that you CAN’T HEADCANON SHIRO AS A BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL MAN. That’s blatant homophobia. I cannot stress that enough. But I guess people are so dense that they really don’t care… and I’m not committing bi erasure… you have literally ALL the other characters. Shiro is the only one with a confirmed sexuality. You have Lance, Keith, Hunk, Allura, etc. to headcanon as bisexual/pansexual. You can’t choose Shiro.

The ships, as you probably already picked up on, I will be discussing are Shiro x Paladin ships, more commonly known as ‘Shaladin’. Mostly shipped by 30 year old people with no life, fujoshis, and young teenagers who don’t know any better and have been trapped by the toxicity of the shaladin fandom.

I will begin with the most problematic and disgraceful of the ships (all of them are, but these are really problematic+disgraceful): Sheith, Shallura, and Shidge.

Sheith

Ah, yes. The ugliest of them all: incest. This is unfortunately the most popular shallie ship, being 2nd (unfortunately) in Fandometrics. Which should be disqualified for its disgusting nature :). Klance is Canon King btw.

Sheith is between two brothers: Shiro and Keith, obviously.

Why this ship is invalid:

Shiro adopted Keith. They’re brothers.

Keith was a student and Shiro was a teacher when they first met.

Keith has told Shiro, several times, that he’s like a brother to him/is his brother, and has said Shiro’s his best friend. They have a very powerful, familial bond.

Shiro loves someone else. He wouldn’t choose Keith over Adam.

Why would you date your sibling??? You must be pretty messed up if you want to.

“Love” isn’t always romantic. It can be familial or/and platonic. When Keith told Shiro he loves him, he meant it as familial and platonic. Would you say you love your sibling romantically?

Incest and pedophilia is illegal.

Shallura

I don’t really need to explain this, do I?

But I have to, because people are dumb. This is between Allura and Shiro, obviously.

Why this ship is invalid:

Allura has been confirmed a teenager.

Shiro is a gay man. Not bisexual. Not pansexual. Yes, homosexual. Their interactions are strictly platonic.

They’ve never even looked remotely interested in one another. Are you blind? I’ll give you my glasses if you want.

It’s pedophilia. Illegal.

Shipping them together is homophobic.

Allura’s likely around 17-19, so the age gap ranges from 9-7 years.

And the big, bad, pedophilic ship of them all?

Shidge

You’ve gotta be kidding me with this. This one makes me want to vomit. I absolutely don’t need to explain this one, because of how revolting it is. Stop. But I have to, for the sake of this damn essay. People are really ugly.

This is between Shiro and Pidge, obviously.

Why this ship is invalid:

Pidge is 15/16 years old. Shiro is 25/26. That’s a 10 year difference. And if you’re really dense, then there’s the math xoxo. Can’t leave the math to Pidge on this one apparently.

Pedophilia at its finest

Their interactions have never appeared romantic ugly.

Shiro is a GAY MAN.

Have I mentioned the 10 year age gap?

Pedophilia is illegal.

Shipping them together is homophobic.

10 years

Now the other 2 shallie ships: Shance and Shunk. Pt. 2 of the ugly ships now.

Shance

This is a ship between Shiro and Lance, obviously.

Why this ship is invalid:

Same with Keith: Lance is a minor, a student, when he meets Shiro, a teacher, a full grown man.

Lance has never shown any interest in Shiro. Lance shows interest in Keith and Allura.

Shiro has never shown any interest in Lance. Shiro’s interested in Adam.

Their interactions have never been romantic.

Lance looks up to Shiro. Shiro is his role model and his hero. That doesn’t mean Lance is interested in him.

Let’s be honest, Shiro treats Lance like he’s his out of control child.

8 year age gap.

Shunk

This is a ship between Shiro and Hunk, obviously.

Why this ship is invalid:

Hunk shows obvious, romantic interest in Shay.

They’re not interested in one another.

Same case with Keith and Lance: Hunk is a student, Shiro is a teacher.

Hunk is probably straight, and Shiro is gay. Simple as that.

8 year age gap.

There’s probably some people who are probably really upset. There’s probably some people trying to say Adashi/Shadam is toxic and Klance is not canon king. Those people are very wrong, blind, and obviously hasn’t had a wonderful relationship or an abusive one. But, since that isn’t the point of this rant, I won’t go into it.

People are saying that this is fiction. It doesn’t effect anyone. It’s just harmless fun, right? Wrong.

It’s fiction, yes, but the things people put on the internet will effect people. It will harm people, whether you like it or not. You’re encouraging pedophilia, incest, toxicity, and it’s alright to get with someone who is twice your age. And by shipping a gay man with a woman, you’re encouraging homophobia.

If a kid sees any of the content you put out, they may think “Oh hey, this is a thing I should do because people say it’s okay to do”. Because they’re seeing their favorite characters being sexualized, and put in a romantic relationship they shouldn’t be in.

What you make will effect people. It is not harmless fun.

If you are young and you’ve been dragged into this hellhole of a shipping fandom, then you need to break away from that place and rethink your decisions. It’s not healthy for you. It is very toxic and it can effect your life permanently.

From a personal experience, it changes the way you think and it hurts you. It devours you. You need to step away from all the ships, unfollow all the toxic people you follow, and go into a healthy, safe community.

You know those anti-block lists? Go follow those people. They are genuine, they have morals, and they’re pretty awesome people overall. If you have to, start a new blog and start from scratch. Get these people to help you. I’ll help you, obviously. You just need to ask! I’ll follow you with my main blog.

And yes, all shaladins are bad. They’ve sent death threats, they’ve harassed a 13 year old, and they’re spreading such a toxic thing around. If someone says “uwu not all of us are like that lol”, then they’re wrong. If you ship a shaladin ship, you’re just as bad as the rest of them. Especially if you’re pushing minors into it.

I’m being nice in this. If y’all make me angry, then I’ll be much more brutal.

tl;dr - Shaladins suck lmao. And get away from the community if you’re young.

-Sincerely, an angry person.