#feminist anime
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boku-no-anime-phase · 5 months ago
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I thought I was already maximum excited for Witch Hat Atelier but I just watched a video about the manga that goes over the general premise & shows some panels, and it turns out it was possible for me to get more excited!!
I simply can't believe how well fantasy anime enjoyers have been eating lately. With Frieren, Dungeon Meshi and now this, I'm getting spoiled rotten.
I also can't believe how well "anime that loves and is normal about women" enjoyers are eating. I went from having, mm, a few anime I could recommend with my whole chest as loving women, some of which are close to my heart but admittedly not "great anime," to having what feels like a bunch of truly great and also woman-loving anime with Frieren, Apothecary Diaries, and Dungeon Meshi.
I'm stoked about this bc it definitely feels like Witch Hat Atelier is going to fall in the same category. I can't wait 🤩
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boku-no-anime-phase · 11 months ago
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YES YES YES, OP you get it.
I keep seeing people be like "this show is engaging because of the mysteries" or "this show is engaging because Maomao is a fun and charismatic protagonist" and like, yeah those things are fun and add a lot to the show. But what really sets this show apart is its point of view and the fact that Girl's Girl Maomao, who lives in a man's, man's, man's world, is absolutely determined to help and protect every powerless person (usually women!) that she possibly can, to the point of putting her neck on the line for women who will never know about her involvement - and she wants to do it all while being as invisible as possible.
This show's frank approach to systemic patriarchy and power structures is truly refreshing. I have had way more than enough of "protagonist girl, who is Not Like Other Girls and Doesn't Like That Girly Shit, lives in a man's world but manages to 'prove herself' so she escapes the sexist strictures of her time and is granted Privileges". For all the trappings of feminism those shows have, they completely miss the most important points in favor of showing us the old, seductive (and sexist!!!!) "ideal" of "escaping" patriarchy by performing your gender "correctly," and leaving those other women (who presumably aren't as Good as you) behind.
TAD isn't like that. In this show Maomao has a lot of privileges and also is unlike other women of her time in that she's educated and practical (and insane about poisons); but the show carefully does not paint other women in a bad light compared to Maomao. Maomao respects the courtesans she grew up with. She respects the consorts she gets to know. She respects the other laundry girls and women in waiting she gets to know. She has lovely, fulfilling friendships with other women. In fact, even when Maomao is threatening other women, you can tell that she's treating them as serious people and not infantilizing or condescending to them at all.
Maomao isn't trying to be "one of the boys." It can be argued that she literally does not care about men at all, besides seeing them as a nuisance and/or rightly regarding them as a danger. She understands that being a woman is a disadvantage to her, but she's more practical than to assume she can ever "escape" that by playing her cards right. She's not interested in "proving" anything; in fact, she goes out of her way to avoid notice. All she wants is to do what she can and stay as out of sight as possible.
And I think that's really powerful. The reality is, there's no "escaping" patriarchy. In this day and age, women as a group have more power to actually dismantle it, but only if we focus on that rather than proving ourselves to be "the good ones," as opposed to "those other (bad) women".
Which brings me to my last point. I love, love, LOVE how the characters in this show are people who might be seen as "bad" women (the courtesans aka sex workers Maomao grew up with) or "unfortunate" or pitiable women (forcible wives/babymakers to the emperor); and yet Maomao and the show treat them with utmost respect. Men, sex, bodies, and childbirth are facts of life for these women, and the show is way more concerned with how they view and interact with the world, including those aspects of their world, than it is with any man's perception of the characters themselves. Sex is a good thing when it brings new customers to the Verdigris house; it's a bad thing when Maomao has to put on freckles to avoid notice; and it's a neutral thing when Gyokyo is glad to have some "time off" when Lihua recovers. It's a terrible thing when someone gets an STD.
And yet, with all that, men aren't all there is to any woman's life (irl or in the show). The courtesans have to practice their instruments etc and they like to chitchat with Maomao about her hobbies and give her a bath like she's their real younger sister. The consorts have hobbies, and relationships with each other and their ladies and Jinshi that take up their time and mental space. These women are fleshed out characters and men are often no more than minor characters in their lives.
I'm obsessed with this show. It's so, so rare to find a show (especially an anime!) that as a feminist I can recommend with my whole chest, and I'm shocked to find such a strong feminist piece of media in a genre and even sub-genre (pseudo-historical Chinese court drama) that's so often highly problematic. Go TAD, go Maomao, I love you
Apothecary Diaries is pog as fuck bc serious political issues and dynamics from a woman's POV are rarely depicted in ANY form of media
It's always a man's world where women's issues surround him. Even if we get a female perspective once in awhile- it all comes back to how it facilitates his game in the end. She's a footnote in the overarching scheme of things. Misogyny exists. Back to the real plot.
Apothecary Diaries is strictly from a female perspective and how each class of woman has to act, what limits they have, what rights they have and don't have between each class, etc. These women have to behave a certain way under a patriarchy, which you would think makes it a man's story, but it never is. The women are THE focus of this show, their struggles are THE plot. The focus is about how the patriarch effects them.
Take the concubines for example. The show dives into how bearing a child affects their rank, how traumatizing it is to lose that child, the consequences of that, etc. We have barely seen the emperor who sired all these kids because this is not about him.
Jinshi's personal plot is secondary to Mao Mao's journey- he is mostly there to provide new cases for Mao Mao to solve and to learn more about the shortcomings of his class when taking care of citizens like Mao Mao.
Jinshi is not a bad person, but by virtue of his position in the higher classes, he cannot understand how harsh life as a poor WOMAN is specifically- he can only catch glimpses of it from what Mao Mao tells him and feel outrage but powerless in his wealth and luxury
Mao Mao is a fortunate commoner woman for what privileges someone in her class should and shouldn't have. She happened to be adopted by a knowledgeable man. She is allowed to read, write, learn, and has enough skill to be a poison tester and have a job EXTREMELY out of her class limit as an apothecary, also a job not traditionally meant for women
Mao Mao is not a "noT lIkE oThER gIrLs" protagonist, she is FOR THE GIRLIES. She only wants to help the women around her, and women are whom she has the closest relationships to. She sees a woman being harassed and can't let it stand. She sees a frail, traumatized woman dying from the recklessness of those who should be caring for her and spends day and night nursing her back to health, while also punishing the people who were so careless with her needs.
My girl has STUDIED UP on THE BODY to TEACH these upper class ladies on how to really HEAT things up in the BEDROOM
Sex depicted in Apothecary Diaries is both something women are not shamed to be enjoying, while at the same time being acknowledged as an unfortunately huge economic necessity to market themselves.
Like shit is just so real in this series???
Listen, I can go on and on about how GOATED the series and especially Mao Mao is but you get the picture
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exilley · 1 year ago
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I do sort of wish western anime fans would analyze anime and manga from a framework of japanese historical and cultural context. Specifically a lot of works from the 90s being influenced by the general aimlessness and ennui that a lot of people were experiencing due to the burst in the bubble economy and the national trauma caused by the sarin terrorist attack. I think in interacting with media that’s not local to our sociocultural/sociopolitical sphere it’s easy to forget that it’s influenced and shaped by the same kinds of factors that influence media within our own cultural dome and there ends up being this baseline misalignment of perception between the causative elements of a narrative and viewer interpretation of those elements. It’s a form of death of the author that i think, in some measure, hinders our ability to fully understand/come to terms with creator intent and the full scope of a work’s merits
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mademoiselle-crabaletta · 9 months ago
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I feel like we need to start really pushing for hate crimes against women to actually be treated as such. It's fucking insane that a man can beat/rape/murder a woman, call her sexist slurs during the attack, and then tell the police and press that he did it because he hates women, but somehow this isn't considered a hate crime. The only reason places don't want to do it is because there's so many that it would mean like 90% of hate crime victims would be women (literally the reason the uk gave for not doing it a few years back)
It's extra crazy because wasn't it something like 80% of mass murderers have a history of harrasment and violence against women and girls? You would think it would be a no brainer to treat these crimes seriously to prevent these men from getting out and committing even more violent and horrific crimes, but that would mean treating women as people and not shock absorbers for society I guess.
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ladyloveandjustice · 9 months ago
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@staff would you mind telling us why you deleted animefeminist.tumblr.com without any explanation to the person who runs the blog? You should contact them and explain your reasoning.
Or even better, you should restore it, since I never saw anything on that blog that would violate any rules, it literally only posts articles about feminism and anime fanart and never anything graphic.
I also want to encourage my followers to contact tumblr staff and tumblr support asking them to explain this decision and restore this blog. This is a long shot, but we at least deserve an explanation. And randomly deleting a feminist blog that includes articles advocating for trans people is a bad, bad look considering all that's been happening lately.
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liberaljane · 6 months ago
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Chronically (CH)ill
Circle design of a sick penguin tucked into bed. The penguin is holding a stuffed bear and reusable cup. There’s text that reads, ‘chronically (ch)ill”
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redditreceipts · 7 months ago
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anime, to a large part, has become a disgrace
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animefeminist · 8 months ago
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Come write for us!
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kikifem · 11 months ago
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Radfems who like nerdy/“male” centered media deserve all the love and support in the world.
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insufferablefirehazard · 2 months ago
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I think we as humans need to realize how privileged we are to be born into a human body.
Sure, I've seen a lot of people wishing how they could be a cat, dog or wolf just so they could be cute and taken care of and relax all day.
But let's remember that most non-human animals aren't so privileged.
Not only are pets often neglected and abused, but if you had been born into the body of a fish, a pig, a cow, a chicken?
Your life is seen as worthless - a means to an end. Fish are often not even regarded as living sentient beings, just decorations or food.
Pigs get their tails cut off, chickens get their beaks cut, often living in their own shit and piss. Cows get their babies stolen so you can drink their breast milk or eat cheese. And at the end of the day their lives are ended by being gassed, electrocuted, having their throat slit.
Thank your lucky stars for being born into the human body because your life could've been much much worse.
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boku-no-anime-phase · 10 months ago
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Just thinking back on The Apothecary Diaries and Frieren now that their S1s have both ended and...i keep saying it but I just can't believe how good both of these shows are. And I can't even begin to describe how incandescently happy I am that two REALLY strong entries in the category of feminist anime are getting so much attention in general, not just from people who specifically seek that out. And I just think it's cool that two such amazing anime came out at the same time (and I heard Dungeon Meshi was good too? But I don't have Netflix so idk)
I'll probably have more to say about both of those shows - not that I have anything to add that hasn't already been said - but mostly I'm just so happy and content and I feel very lucky to have gotten to experience these shows!
(this is how I feel finding incredible anime to enjoy)
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femrodeeeeo · 6 months ago
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Rape culture in anime and Japan
Just needing to rant a bit cause I watched one of my favourite shows and...
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Her own brother brushing aside her concerns about getting molested or assaulted... and he's supposed to be a good character btw
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You shouldn't have to experience something to have sympathy for someone who does
then a friend chimes in
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Then he talks about how hard it is for men when women get scared of them 😃
They really made a joke about sexual assault in a family anime
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fictionadventurer · 6 months ago
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I think I have accidentally become very protective of the story of Snow White.
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liberaljane · 2 years ago
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We should all be able to thrive & earn livable wages. Your worth is not, and should not be, defined by how much money you make.
Digital illustration of a the back of a Black fem wearing a blue jean jacket. On her shoulder is a white rat holding a coin. There's text that reads, 'your worth is not defined by how much money you make.
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redditreceipts · 1 year ago
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differences in character designs for the Chinese market vs. the Japanese original
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how the fuck has the original even been legal, it's just straight up pedophilia
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boku-no-anime-phase · 10 months ago
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I was about to joke that Laid Back Camp doesn't get enough recognition for being queer-friendly (not to mention feminist!) anime, but you know what? Forget the joke, I'm saying it for real.
Laid Back Camp doesn't get enough recognition for being feminist, queer-friendly anime.
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I don't have a ton to add to that. I haven't watched the show with a dedicated "is this queer friendly" mindset, but as a queer person I can't remember any moments that made me uncomfy, and I can remember several moments where a lesser show would've easily made queer people the butt of the joke, and this one didn't.
Also I think even though we don't actually see whether Nadeshiko and Rin get together in the end, what we DO see is a beautiful relationship of mutual trust and affection, handled with care by every aspect of the show, developing between them. Their natures compliment one another and their sharp edges soften into one another as they grow closer. All of the relationships in this show are important, but the one between Nadeshiko and Rin is the real heartbeat of the whole thing.
I definitely think there should be more expressly queer representation in all media including anime, but I also enjoy and am comforted by this kind of ambient queer-friendliness. Where anime typically keeps me on my toes as far as objectionable content and badly handled tropes go, it's nice to be able to just relax into a show like you'd relax into a nice camping chair in front of a fire. I love Yuru Camp
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