Non-Cis Character Database: Gatchaman CROWDS

Gatchaman CROWDS -- and its second season, Gatchaman CROWDS Insight -- are a recent reboot of the 70's sentai anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (with which I'm not personally familiar -- from what I can see, it doesn't seem to have much relation to CROWDS aside from a few character names) with character designs by …

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Non-Cis Character Database: Orochimaru (Naruto, Boruto)

It’s always a bit difficult to admit that a character one loves is bad representation. That said, sometimes it’s also completely fucking undeniable; and so, it is with a heavy heart that I must admit Orochimaru from Naruto and Boruto is a fairly terrible depiction of a nonbinary person. Which seems rather immediately apparent once …

Non-Cis Character Database: Dororo

Usually, if I'm writing about a manga that got adapted into an anime, or media that otherwise has several different iterations, I focus on whichever one I'm personally most familiar with -- usually manga, because I can read much more quickly than I can watch. This is perfectly fine when adaptations hew closely to the …

Non-Cis Character Database: Momoe Sawaki (Wonder Egg Priority)

Wonder Egg Priority is one of the most audacious anime I've seen in a long while. The very premise is ripe for controversy -- four girls fight symbolic dream monsters to defend the souls of girls who were driven to suicide, hoping through this process to earn the liberation of their friends who took their …

Non-Cis Character Database: Luca Esposito (Astra: Lost in Space)

I want to start this project off on a positive note, so -- Luca Esposito from Astra: Lost in Space is one of the best depictions of queerness I've ever seen in Japanese pop media, if not the best. He is excellent representation, and also he is my son, and I love him. Astra is …

How to Get Away With Writing Lesbians

(Note: This piece was originally published on the VRV Blog in two parts; How a Japanese Lesbian Author Got Queer Content Past the Censors 100 Years Ago and The Struggle to Get Queer Content in Cartoons. However, as it appears the blog is now down, I'm cross-posting it here.) Part I – In 1920's Japan …

The Complicated Role of Race in Boys’ Love Stories

(Note: This piece was originally published on the VRV Blog. However, as it appears the blog is now down, I'm cross-posting it here.) It’s generally agreed that the origins of the BL (boy’s love) subgenre of manga can be traced back to the influential Year 24 Group, a loosely classified group of female shoujo mangaka …

Miki Makimura Talks Like a Samurai

Pronouns in Japanese, both first and second person, are a lot more complicated than in English. If you're reading a post about Devilman, you probably have at least some cursory knowledge of the subject, but for a quick redux: in Japanese, there are a variety of ways to say both "I/me" and "you," each carrying …

Devilminutia: Name Meanings

(I'm going to be using the heading Devilminutia for short posts discussing the minutia of Devilman - things that don't quite have enough substance for a proper piece, but are still worth pointing out and discussing.) Because of the nuances of kanji, there are both a lot of ways to write Japanese names and a …

The Summer You Were Here: Taiko no Tatsujin

Note: This piece was originally written for CapsuleCrit; however, as it's been several months since they said they were going to publish it and I still haven't heard anything, I'm putting it up here instead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYk8Tk_qr40 I may have lived in Tokyo for two years, but the first time I played Taiko no Tatsujin was …