#female centric animations

[hadesoftheladies]

FEMALE MOVIE/TV RECS (PART 9 / ADULT & FAMILY ANIMATION)

got inspired from a recommendation post so decided to make a list of movies and shows with female-centric stories/female protagonists. since i can't post all of the genres in one post, i'll split it into multiple posts and y'all can save or add to the list as you wish. (disclaimer: i have watched most of these, but i only know about the existence of others. not every movie/show on these lists will be my recommendation. my recommendations will be beneath the list with reasons. also some of these are way better than others in terms of storytelling/performance--which is why i'll list my faves separately):

Common Themes/Tropes:

-Woman/girl is OP and gets bullshit from other people for it

-Heroine tries desperately to fix the world

-Leaving home to go on adventures for the sake of a dream or doing the right thing

-Sisters are a lifeline

-Women/girls can literally do or be anything

-Violence is the only answer men will understand

-The world is so big, grand and beautiful and she wants to see more of it

-Girls being the conscience of an entire society

-Things going ham when she reaches Boss Level

-Magic (and violence) are good things, especially paired together

-A man (usually a father or guy friend) is the only conscience she has left

-F*ck marriage there's bigger problems TM

-I must save my father/sister

-Serious mommy issues

-Has an animal companion or IS the animal companion (robots also count as animal companions in terms of function imo)

-Making friends with the monster

OF WHICH ARE FOR ADULT AUDIENCES:

Pantheon

Scavenger's Reign

Blue Eye Samurai

Arcane: League of Legends

Trese

HAVEN'T WATCHED:

Pantheon

Lilo & Stitch

Fiona & Cake

Star Vs. The Forces of Evil

Trese

Princess Mononoke

Green Snake

The Breadwinner

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Violet Evergarden

Barbie in The Diamond Castle

Monsters Vs Aliens

Epic

Finding Dory

Encanto

The Incredibles II

Tinkerbell: Legend of The Neverbeast

Brave

WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND:

Blue Eye Samurai (10/10) (super gritty, but the perfect revenge story, puts John Wick to shame)

Scavenger's Reign (8/10) (split story, but two of the main characters are women, and one is a black lesbian! fantastic animation, though don't watch if you're intensely trypophobic, it can be sci-fi horror)

Mulan (9/10) (one of the most perfect animated Disney classics)

Turning Red (8/10) (this movie remembered the tween era)

Tinkerbell (if you crave matriarchy, sisterhood, magic and female centric society and story, then you need to watch the Tinkerbell movies)

Wolfwalkers (7.5/10) (an anti-colonial, anti patriarchal, pro-pagan fantasy movie with beautiful animation and a very touching, female-centric story)

Arcane: League of Legends (10/10) (gorgeous animation, amazing writing, incredible performances, and don't get me started on the sisters that take centre stage--also, lesbianism and gender nonconformity!)

The Legend of Korra (8/10) (good writing, a badass protagonist, a fantastic cast of characters, beautiful scoring, beautiful animation, amazing action sequences)

PERSONAL NOTES

The Mitchells Vs The Machines is basically a drama between a lesbian girl and her dad who have to figure their relationship out while they're running from robots. It was full of heart and fun and had some good jokes in there. I'd definitely recommend it.

Raya & The Last Dragon is the first Disney movie with a gender non-conforming princess! It also has some of the best action sequences in any Disney animated movie, however it doesn't hold a candle to The Incredibles II, which stars Helen Parr as the main character of the film. It's one of my favourite films of all time because of how they depict Helen and the main villain of the story (a badass genius of a woman). Really pro-female films, even for all their flaws.

Abominable has some of the most gorgeous visuals I've seen outside of a Disney animation. The texturing and coloring is so vivid it makes my mouth water. It's far better than Over The Moon, but both have their own charm. Abominable and Home have very similar plots. Also, the girl in Home is voiced by Rihanna while Beyonce voices the queen of the faeries in Epic.

One movie that shares a similar theme (kindness to animals even if we don't understand them or they scare us) with Abominable is The Sea Beast. The Sea Beast is one of the best animations with a black female girl as a lead I've ever seen. There's also a badass black woman pirate. There are some scenes that could have been written (or colored) better, but I loved it either way. I think it was the first animated film to depict shrinkage for black hair! And it didn't lighten the skin or whiten the features of the black characters!

Many people view Frozen II and Brave as "almost" masterpieces whose writers ultimately failed them, and I can say that I agree to some extent. There are many things technically wrong with the movies. Minor details that set the pacing off or take away from the immersion. However, I still love both of them. I really love daughter vs mother and sister vs sister stories (that includes Tinkerbell: The Secret of The Wings) because there's so much to explore in such relationships. They also both have some killer soundtracks, some amazing visuals and well-executed action sequences. I've truly seen way worse than these two films, and the characters are mostly loveable.

The Breadwinner is an animated film about a girl dressing up like a boy under the rule of the Taliban so she can earn some money to help feed her family. It's scored very high by critics.

I'd also recommend The Owl House (even though there's some appeal to genderism in later seasons). It's the first time I've seen a bisexual animated character and the enemies to lovers arc with Luz and Amity is unmatched in cannon magic school stories. I also really love the depiction of The Owl Lady who is treated like a male character in that she is allowed to be non-maternal, single and old (and wrinkled), arrogant and boastful, all without the show trying to punish her for it. The Boiling Isles are also fascinating as a setting.

If you like The Owl House, there's a chance you'll love She-Ra. There were many things I found annoying about She-Ra, but my experience was mostly positive. I'm not the biggest fan of Catradora, but I do appreciate the drama. I loved the world-building and magic system mainly, so the character quirks didn't get to me as much as they have others. Also, amazing antagonists in this series. It could have been more mature, but it's still entertaining.

I also definitely recommend Home on The Range. It's a whole movie with talking animals, but there's no tomboy like the main female protagonist in a Disney movie. She is one of the most tomboy characters Disney ever made. Also, I love 2D animation and this film reminds me why. Also, the idea of a feminine, micromanaging old heifer, a bull-headed, roughhouse new girl cow, and a young airhead cow that can't sing going on an adventure across the wild west to save their human's (a sweet old lady with some bark and bite) farm? And they have to compete with a hotshot, asshole male horse who is young and fast? It's like the perfect western comedy but with cows!

Anyways, if you can't tell, I love animated stuff and a lot of these are my comfort movies.

[no1ryomafan]

Thinking about how people treat shonen as if it’s a genre of anime when it’s a demographic cause no one knows what to simply call action anime that gets really popular and what the normies always consume compared to other genres cause even shojo isn’t just “calling every magical girl you see just a shojo, it’s still its own genre that happens to be targeted for a shojo demographic” and I get it cause so many of these big shonen animes are harder to define-

But I love how no one ever wants to admit mecha *is* quiet literally shonen most of the time and it’s painfully fucking obvious with a lot of super robot shows and I’m sometimes tempted to say to piss someone off “new getter is my favorite shonen” but I’m already causing so much violence with this post probably lol.

[requiemforthestars]

Asari Parents, Gendered Titles & Linguistic Pet Peeves

I need to talk about something that has always frustrated me about Mass Effect and the fandom.

Asari wouldn't have words like "mother" and "father". They. Would. Not! Liara's "My father, if you want to use that word..." or Shepard's confusion when Aethyta calls herself Liara's "father" make no sense.

Unless you assume that they're speaking to Shepard in perfect English? But why would they be? What we get told in game is that each alien speaks their own language but they have automatic translators. But if Liara and Aethyta are speaking in the Asari lingua franca they would be, by default, using non-gendered terms. It would make sense that Asari have a word that means "birth parent" and "non-birth parent/genetic parent" in order to describe that person's biological relationship to the child, but those words would not have any gendered connotation at all. It would be like saying "biological parent" or "adoptive parent". Titles that describe a kind of parenthood but make no reference to gender. So, if they're speaking in the Asari tongue, it'd make no sense that they know that for humans there can be a gendered distinction and they mention that to Shepard (maybe, maybe, when Aethyta says "I didn't pop her out" re: Liara, it's because the Asari words that got translated to her from what Shepard says is something about how she is the Asari term for "birth mother" but even then, it doesn't make sense throughout the whole conversation). They're speaking to Shepard as if they have gendered terms in their language which makes no sense.

And, let's say all three of these characters are speaking the same language (which I assume people in the ME universe would do, nuances are always lost in translation), they would not choose fucking English, or any human language for that matter as a way to communicate, they would be speaking in whatever the most common Asari language is. Asari are arguably the most powerful species in the galaxy? Why would they use a human tongue as their way to communicate with humans? It's humans who probably have to learn at least one of the main Council races' languages throughout their education. That's a must. Think of how people from different countries often default to speaking English. Here they would default to speaking the Asari tongue.

But even if they were speaking English... there's a gender neutral term for "father" here. It's "parent". This is the 22nd century, I know these games are over a decade old but like I don't understand how they can make good points re: how Asari would not understand the human concept of gender but then not think how that means they don't use gendered words in their language? And how humans would obviously know this?

It's just... very lazy worldbuilding? And I know it's only a tidbit but it's personally very annoying to me. And it's only possible if you're a monolingual English-speaking American and think everything works like it works for you and everything is governed by the same rules that you live by. Which, while I understand all of this is subconscious, makes for shoddy worldbuilding.

And it's not just the devs, these English-centric ideas permeate the fandom as well. I have seen more than once femshep Shiara fic where it's post-war and they have/are going to have biological children and Shepard is like "I don't want to be called 'father', I want them to call me 'mother' " and it's this nice affirming moment but realistically Liara would be like "??? But you're not giving birth?" because to her these words have no gender at all and Shepard wanting to call herself "birth mother" is like her calling herself "four legged" when she has two legs. Because again, it'd be a purely biological gender-neutral concept.

Tldr; English-speaking people widen your thinking challenge.

[kawaii-night666]

Kageyama Tobio turns into a girl ch1

Somewhere in Miyagi prefecture as you see high school of Karasuno high where you hear in gym of the boys’ volleyball team practicing into team so they won’t become the wingless crows. You will see a familiar face even the boy with his black hair is cropped short, with a fringe that hangs just above his dark blue eyes. That boy who earns the title from his middle school or should I say by his old teammates ‘king of the court’ or ‘king’ for short the very boy named- Kageyama Tobio who finally find his team, his happiness and new second family but off course he shows it in his blue eyes. After all eyes is window to your soul.

“Nice toss!”

“Nice serve!”

“Nice save!”

“Good work guys, it’s time to go home and rest up for day for training camp on the coming next week on Friday.”

“Good work!” Everyone said in sync as the boys and two lovely managers bow down to their advisor/head coach/teacher- Takeda Ittetsu and coach/alumnus/grandson of Ukai- Ukai Keishin. Ukai and Takeda leave the gym for the boys to clean up and leave the gym.

Ahh yes, they will go to training camp with the team they met in Tokyo, and Tobio himself were excited about the news from yesterday as he will get to play against the teams and maybe talk to his senpai back in middle school and other setters, he couldn’t wait till next Friday to go training camp.

“Kageyama let stay to practice more!”

“Yeah, yeah dumbass.”

“No, you both get change in the locker rooms and go home. We will have practice tomorrow morning, understood.”

The duo nodded at their captain- Sawamura Daichi. As the duo help the others to clean as they go back to locker room to change as the duo bet how many they pick up the Mikasa balls while the two other first years, Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi. Tsukishima roll his eyes at the duo while Yamaguchi shake at them getting used of their bets even the others smile a bit at their monster duo antics.

They all finish changing and to head out to go their respective homes until the next morning to start a new day. And off course practice to the volleyball idiots.

[musical-chick-13]

Okay ALSO. The amount of comments of "But why are we losing to RANDOS, who even ARE they, how can we lose to them???!!!"

If you have not at any point ever even heard of TLT on this website, then you do not follow enough sapphics.

[eruhamster]

not to be annoying but i do think a lot of people mischaracterize falin. shes got the most drastic canon v fanon thing going on. which i guess makes sense bc 1. we dont see much of her and 2. lot of the fan stuff are anime-onlies that have seen even less

but i think like a good 90% of the time i see falin-centric art or posts im like hrm hrm hrm thats all wrong no nope no-siree

she's just a cool chick that takes life as it comes, doesn't hold grudges even against a mother that apparently was trying to beat the magic outta her, finds her older brother the coolest person in the world, and has autism about observing life (and death, she loves the ghosts she has a connection to) and nature and taking care of things (including taking care of her brother, which is why she's even in the dungeons; she saw her scrawny mess of a brother and decided she had to fix that).

and i think my favorite part that people don't talk about is... she would have done the same for marcille or laios if it were one of them that was eaten. you could see it in her eyes:

it's what shuro misunderstands about her. it's easy to see her feminine, cute, good girl pieces and forget the rest of her. but she loves things to an ends-of-the-earth extent; the kind of caring that makes you a little insane. and that's how I think she and laios end up on the same page with their weirdness. they have different interests, but they are the same level of committed to those interests.

it's easy to love her, because she probably loves you just as much, if not more.

EDIT: for the love of god stop reblogging this only to add some comment or tag or reply saying 'op you forgot [BLATANTLY FANON INTERPRETATION]'. falin as we know her is not a pushover/people pleaser/infantilized, see this version of my post. also stuff like 'female shuro was in love with laios in the genderbent comic' and 'falin was going to marry shuro because she felt bad' are just things you made up in your head

[arimiadev]

it's interesting how every month or so (usually on twitter) there will be male-centric discourse on otomes, typically "why won't more otomes let me play as a man" or "why do I have to date men in otomes", in much more volume than there was years ago. I can only imagine that these sentiments typically stem from general anime fans trying to get into otomes with the misconception that dating sim = otome and vice versa.

for those unaware, not every dating sim is an otome and not every otome is a dating sim (though quite a few are). otome, as we define it in English-speaking fandoms, is a game with a female protagonist and male love interests. the kind of MC (faceless; customizable look & gender; fully fleshed out background), the length of the game, and the amount & gender of the love interests have varied over the years, but the constant is that otome has the choice to play as a female MC with at least some male LIs. most otomes are a type of visual novel, while dating sims are a subset of the visual novel medium focused on stat raising. dating sims can be any kind of romance orientation and not all romance visual novels are dating sims.

so because there's this misconception some have of what an otome actually is, we get repeating discourse every few weeks/months where someone comes to the ice cream shop asking for chicken tenders. that's not what we serve here. a lot of times these people mean well- they just want a certain kind of game but don't know the right terminology for it. sometimes they don't mean well and the conversations devolve into misogyny, but we're not here to discuss that aspect of it.

as more people become aware of visual novels and dating sims as a whole, these are the kind of growing pains the audience is going to face sadly. aside from telling people to Google terminology, I will leave you with this- if you see someone or you're interested in playing otome-like games that aren't just female MCs or male LIs, mess around with tags on itchio and you'll find a plethora of indie romance visual novels.

gay visual novels - boys love visual novels - yuri visual novels - dating sims - lgbt visual novels - romance visual novels

[stardust-sunset]

daily reminder that just because the outsiders is a male centric production does not give you the right to catcall the actors-harassment should be treated the same regardless of gender because i KNOW if jt was men went to six or suffs and catcalled the actresses then it would be dealt with. it is beyond PUTRID that the fact that this harassment and inappropriate behavior has not been dealt with likely because it’s men being catcalled by women. And to the people DEFENDING this type of shit by saying it’s okay because the men are “asking for it” or “it’s okay because they’re attractive” i hope you rot in hell. This is vile behavior. Women catcalling men should be treated the same as a man catcalling a. woman and I am SO fucking sick of seeing these stories where people are now YELLING STUFF AT THE ACTUAL DAMN SHOW and disrupting the people around them?! Grown ass women too?! a what the actual fuck?!

I’m gonna cut it here because I’m so mad rn but actors are people and you have to treat them like the people they are instead of some animals to be observed. Get over yourselves. All those people ate disgusting excuses for human beings because at some point it borders sexual harassment and the double standard makes me sick. if this happened at six or suffs or any female centric play it would be properly dealt with. and the fact that this is an ongoing issue and has gotten so bad they’ve considered shutting stage door is beyond vile and i cannot even give it the proper words to express how despicable it is. Be nice to the actors. Don’t take advantage of an actors kindness. Do not treat an actor like a spectacle. They’re normal people.

This fandom is fucking gross. Get over yourselves.

[wisebeth]

“Sakura is toxic because she made fun of Naruto for being an orphan–”

She regretted it the second after Sasuke rightfully called her out and even opened a therapy center for war orphans.

Ino fatshamed Choji, Shikamaru was a misogynist, Neji misplaced his anger at Hinata, but no one ever calls them out. They were all kids, they all made mistakes.

“Sakura is abusive because she constantly punches Naruto–”

She only hit him in the manga when he did something perverted or disrespectful, it was heavily exaggerated in the anime.

It's called slap stick comedy. If you think it's aBuSiVe, I hope you have the same energy for Jiraiya who peeked at the women's bathroom without consent and gets brushed off as ‘comedic purpose’, double standards much?

“She has Stockholm Syndrome because she loved Sasuke after he tried to kill her–”

They're shinobis. Unlike our real world, it's the norm there to fight each other to death and then make up. Don't get it mixed up.

Naruto forgave every single villain in the series, including Pain who killed his master and destroyed his village. Obito, who killed his parents, started a war, was the reason for the deaths of countless people such as Neji, and Shikamaru & Ino's fathers, formed a terrorist organisation (which was responsible for multiple war crimes) yet no one bats an eye. Lee forgave Gaara who attempted to kill him, Hinata forgave Neji who tried to kill her for something which wasn't her fault. It's the norm there, deal with it.

Sasuke also tried to kill Naruto, Kakashi & Karin and they all forgave him but for some reason only Sakura gets shit for it? Double standards again.

“Sakura is a bitch who loves Sasuke and ignores Naruto who loves her–”

Sakura cares for Naruto, as a friend and her teammate. She's not obligated to return her feelings if she doesn't want to. Naruto doesn't ‘love’ her. He had a childhood crush on her, and it used to be mentioned less frequently than in the anime. SP exaggerated his feelings.

Kakashi didn't return Rin's feelings. Sasuke didn't return Ino, Karin and Sakura's feelings (until ch. 699 in Sakura's case). Naruto didn't return Hinata's feelings until The Last. Tsunade didn't like Jiraiya back. Then why is Sakura hated for something so ridiculous? She's allowed to make her own choices.

“She is shallow, she only liked Sasuke for his looks–”

If her feelings for Sasuke truly were shallow, she'd have moved on after he left the village, she'd have moved on after he became a criminal, like Ino did. She saw Sasuke at his worst and still chose him with all his flaws.

A ‘shallow crush’ wouldn't last for so many years. If her feelings weren't strong or deep, Sasuke wouldn't choose her in the end. If her feelings were superficial she wouldn't risk her life to save him against Gaara. If she didn't love him, she'd not be able to stop his curse mark. If they were superficial, she'd have moved on to date some other handsome man instead of crying over Sasuke.

“Sakura is useless as a main character–”

That's not her fault. That's a criticism for the author. None of the female characters in the series have as much complexity, fight scenes or power as the male characters. It's a shonen centric more to the male characters.

Sakura IS a main character because she contributes more in the manga than other female characters but she's not going to contribute as much as Sasuke or Naruto because the series revolved around men more than women.

Take Attack on Titan for example, it's a shonen where the contribution of male and female characters were distributed equally. In Naruto, it simply wasn't distributed equally.

“Sakura is selfish because she tried to lead on Naruto–”

I can agree here that she was entirely in the wrong and made a very stupid decision. But that's exactly what makes Sakura a realistic character. She's flawed. She makes mistakes. She can be irrational. And that makes her human. She didn't lie to him because she thought it would be fun, she did it to protect. She had good intentions even if she took the wrong approach.

Sasuke, as another of the main characters, did more harm to Naruto than Sakura's confession did but everyone understands and forgives him. Obito started a war and killed people and was forgiven. Itachi killed his entire clan and traumatised Sasuke but the fandom forgives because of his reasoning. Nagato killed people, and was still forgiven.

Then why can't you all be more understanding of Sakura? She did not even half of the terrible things which other characters did but gets more hate for it.

“Sakura is a bad friend to Ino–”

Sakura was SEVEN when she announced Ino as her rival. I'm sorry y'all are morally uptight who's never made a single stupid decision as a kid that you feel the need to accuse a child of being a villain for acting like a child. And it has been implied very clearly Sakura wanted to get out of Ino's shadow and only used Sasuke as an excuse to do so.

And if Sakura was this horrible bitchy friend you guys think she was then I don't think Ino would immediately jump to protect her during chunin exams. Sasuke did more terrible things to his best friend than Sakura did but once only Sakura gets shit for it.

And they never stopped being friends, only their dynamic changed, it included friendly bickering and rivalry. Ino never was mad or bitter with Sakura and even proudly told her she bloomed into a beautiful flower, this doesn't sound like a person who's been unfairly betrayed by a best friend over a crush?

In short, Sakura Haruno is fucking amazing and maybe if y'all didn't hold female characters to such a ridiculous high standard and bothered to understand the manga instead of watching filler episodes, you'd know.

[bucketsquid]

An Exhaustive List of Octarian F.A.Qs... and Answers!

There's one thing I've noticed about the Western Splatoon fandom.... and that's the weird amount of misconceptions, mistranslations, and misunderstandings about the Octarians.

For some reason it's often lore about them, surrounding them, or about their activities that always seems to have this happen. And so I want to help correct that! They're a super cool faction and I want to work on people hopefully understanding them better, while helping to correct misconceptions about them.

This will be long, there will be many citations and pictures both. Shoutout in particular to Inkipedia and inkfish translator rassicas, and the hard work of both, for this.

If there's any common lore misconceptions that I left out, please let me know! I'm including every single one I can think of, but I probably missed something somewhere.

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General Octarian Questions

Q. How are Octarians made? And are Octolings made the same way?

A. Octarians are made from severed Octoling tentacles (The Art of Splatoon + SplatoonBase) that are then somehow animated. Ones with more tentacles are "more intelligent"; they're sapient, either way.

Octolings are not, to our knowledge, created like this. The existence of SashiMori's Paul suggests that Octolings undergo the same life stages as Inklings do. (Similarly, Diss-Pair's Warabi has lore that mentions having parents.)

There is concept art in HaikaraWalker (the Octo Expansion artbook) that depicts Octolings mutating from Octarians... but it seems to just be concept art.

Q. Did Octavio brainwash the Octarians into obeying him? Wasn't music used to make them obey?

A. No, they were never brainwashed. Octavio uses his music to keep the Octarians in order and to keep their working rhythm correct-- like a military march. Inkipedia compares the Onward! jingle to "a call-and-response clapping rhythm used by teachers to grab students' attention in elementary schools". It does sound like that...

Now, if you want to say that Octarian propaganda is brainwashing, yes, that does exist.

Q. We've only ever seen feminine Octoling soldiers. What's with that?

A. The "rival Octolings" we meet in the story modes are all part of a special military unit that's female-only. They're referred to as "Takozonesu" in Japanese, a mashup of "tako" (octopus) and "amazons". Not every female Octoling can be one of these, and this group isn't completely representative of Octolings in the military.

There are male Octolings, they're just not part of this one group. (Fun fact, did you know that these Octolings are voiced by Callie and Marie's voice actors?)

Q. What's with the green sclera on Octarians?

A. There's no confirmed canon reasons. Octolings are very inconsistent about it, as well; Octavio has it and so do many enemy Octolings, but not other Octolings of note.

It could just be that the whites of their eyes are really reactive to stuff in general, since sanitized Octarians have black sclera. The green color could also just be something that happens with age while living in the domes.

Q. In Octo Expansion, Marina calls Octarian society "oppressive"-- how oppressive is it really?

A. This descriptor is actually inaccurate to the original Japanese, and was added in localization. (The Splatoon 2 Retranslation Project has a more accurate version over here! Thanks @shiverhohojiro for the link.) Octo Expansion has some notorious details that were added in localization, like Craig being more racist than usual or the omission of Commander Tartar's chatter about humankind.

That said. The domes are an isolationist* military-centric society, with emphasis on meritocracy. Octolings go into professions for things they're good at, not necessarily for what they want to do. Resources like electricity are limited, so they have to structure life around that detail, and strictness logically follows. The military doesn't tolerate slackers or nonsense, but talented people seem to do well for themselves based on how Marina's life was. Even so...

A lot of music, culture and artwork gets made down there! And they have things like beachside domes, bowling-themed domes, amusement park domes and even circuses... so it's not completely strict. There's a lot of room for silliness, it just needs to be in the right place.

So, to be totally fair? We don't know much. It's not perfect, but it's also not a hellish place to live if you wanted to stay. * They trade with Salmonids, but don't seem to do so with anyone else.

Q. Can they respawn? Are we killing them when we splat them?

A. Yes, they can use respawn technology in the same way Inklings and Octolings do. The only situation where an Octarian explicitly dies is, potentially, during the escape phases in Octo Expansion!

Q. Where/how did they make the domes?

A. Leftover human technology, meant to be similar "last resort shelters" made by humans. Think Alterna, but on a smaller fragmented scale.

================================================

Questions about DJ Octavio

Q. Why do we always see him in octopus form? Can he shapeshift?

A. Octavio can't shapeshift because of an injury from the Great Turf War. He was able to do so before and during it, however!

Q. We know Octavio leads the Octarians, but what is he? A king, an emperor, or what?

A. He is a Japanese shogun, as referenced by his title in the first Splatoon: "DJ Takowasa shōgun". We don't know if he was appointed by an emperor, if he was part of the previous shogun's family, or if he just sort of... took up the mantle (haha octopus joke) after the Great Turf War.

Q. Did he brainwash Callie?

Based on the information we have... I am inclined to say, no, he didn't brainwash Callie.

Callie was in an extremely stressful period of her life, Octavio reached out to talk, and... we don't know what happened next. But the context feels like Callie might have joined willingly. In reference to the Hypnoshades, it's important to note that hypnosis as a concept is incredibly variable, with one argument made that "you cannot hypnotize an unwilling participant".

"But, didn't he say--"

He likes music puns. He's a DJ. It's supposed to be funny, why aren't you laughing? (What this line was in JP, I wonder...)

... But, I feel like the evidence stacks up. It suggests that Callie wasn't kidnapped or brainwashed or forced to join the Octarians. It was probably an escape from fame and loneliness for her-- the Hypnoshades helped her get away from that and just have a good time. But with Octavio being a guy to hold a grudge, nothing got to be that simple, and Callie was ultimately weaponized against the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

It remains very up-to-interpretation because we don't know, exactly, what happened behind the scenes. But Callie fosters zero ill will towards the Octarians, even after being rescued... and if fiery, outspoken Callie doesn't seem to be angry about it, what does that say about the matter?

Q. Why do all the tentacles piloting the Great Octoweapons have the same scar as him?

A. Because they're directly cloned from Octavio and are then made to pilot them, presumably because they have the muscle memory to operate as pilots. Octopuses have very complicated brains and neural centers that extend out into their arms.. so this cool bit of sci-fi checks out.

Q. How old is Octavio, really?

A. We don't know. But the narrative often parallels him with Craig Cuttlefish, who mentions in Octo Expansion that he's 130 years old. It would be fair to assume Octavio is also, at least, 130.

Q. Why is he so gigantic in Splatoon compared to the other games?

idk man, you tell me. I think this is much funnier and cooler than later games, though.

================================================

Octo Expansion + Octarians Questions

Q. It's suggested that there were thousands of test subjects before Agent 8. Where did Kamabo Co. get all of these people?

A. Not only is it suggested that the Deepsea Metro may be accessible from other train lines, but it's also plausible that the subterranean networks that the Octarians use could be connected to the Metro. (Thank you for your hard work, Dodo.)

Test chambers always reminded me of Octarian domes, anyways, with the large amount of highly versatile space they have, and how it'd only make sense underground.

After all, Commander Tartar offered a glimpse of "the promised land", and that plays very specifically into the Octoling desire to see the surface world again. ("A utopia of light beyond your wildest dreams".) Its appearance as a telephone even seems to evoke an Octarian's face, which they're more willing to trust.

Q. Are sanitized Octarians a hivemind?

A. They're something like that, being hollow shells that have lost their memories and identities while submitting to a higher force. (This can be fixed, as we've learned.) They seem responsive to being assigned roles, what with Acht being made to produce music while other sanitized Octolings act as enemies in test chambers.

Commander Tartar's ideology revolves around a lot of "giving up one's individuality for the greater good" and "joining something bigger than yourself". To "eliminate the general idea of the individual" for "a harmonious world"... "becoming one with existence".

I think that carries a lot of interesting implications. You can draw your own conclusions, since there's no explicit canon answer.

Q. Was Acht sanitized willingly or unwillingly?

A. Public twitter info suggests that they were sanitized willingly, to "get rid of doubts and conflicts involving production" and to commit completely to music. But in Side Order, Acht says that it wasn't done willingly.

There's a lot of ways to interpret this. Maybe they wanted to at first, had a last-minute realization that they got tricked, and ultimately didn't want it. Maybe they committed completely and don't want to say it. Maybe social media is lying to us completely, in the same corporate word-twisting ways that Grizzco also uses, to make Kamabo Co. seem better. So... who knows?

Q. How does the Kamabo Corporation have clones of the Octo Canyon bosses?

A. Uh...

... I don't actually know. Clearly they have pretty advanced technology going on, so maybe they actually did manage to replicate and clone these bosses perfectly?

Or, maybe, it's just a psychological recreation of Agent 8's memories. Octo Expansion has a lot of stuff like that, so it feels pretty possible!

================================================

Anyways, that's all... for now. I'll probably only edit in more sources and tweak details on this post, but it's completely possible that I might need to add more things later.

[hashtagloveloses]

one really cool thing about mitsuri kanroji’s story as a complex female character who is allowed traditional femininity in a male-centric environment is that while she is the Love Hashira and her power would supposedly come from elements of romantic love, and her motivations start from that, in the end the meaning of love for her is all encompassing - she loves being a demon slayer because it gives her friendship, and purpose, and belonging, and respect, something she thought she would only receive in a marriage. and instead of saying “oh well she’s badass she doesnt want that romance shit now”, she still wants to find romantic love, but on its own merits, not because she thinks its her only option. being the Love Hashira means her power comes from platonic love as well as romantic, which, in keeping with all the inspiration her character design, action animation, and powers take from many magical girls, makes total sense. magical girls wield almost infinite power fueled by the power of friendship, in addition to still wanting romantic love.

truly the only downside to her character is the sexist character design in the Breasting Boobily situation, which takes away from all the cool other choices and references in her backstory and character design. i know there are in-universe explanations for it, but i think it detracts from what makes her unique, her ability to embody traditional femininity and power at the same time like a magical girl. and they still could’ve made her on the “sexier” side or even with a low cut shirt or something if they wanted to. ironically, the rest of her character design isn’t THAT fanservicey. her skirt isnt the shortest, her socks are more cute than sexy, she’s even wearing long sleeves. it almost makes the front situation worse.

anyway, justice for mitsuri ❤️ you’re such a cool character and i will defend you from stupid character design choices

[girlsbandcryentls]

Otaku Souken interview part 1 -What did Scriptwriter Jukki Hanada want to convey with 『Girls Band Cry』? We talk at length about characterization and behind-the-scenes production.

(this article was published by Otaku Souken on August 2nd)

Airing in April 2024, the TV Anime 『Girls Band Cry』 has exploded in record-breaking popularity. An original series by Toei Animation that's been drawing attention from their combination of fully 3DCG animation, to create a smooth lively motion and a non-stop roller coaster of a story. Even now after one month since it has ended, there are many fans still reeling from "post girls band cry depression".

And so this time, we are publishing this special feature on TV anime 『Girls Band Cry』. We interview the production staff and cast members at length about what they feel towards this series and the unknown behind the scenes of this production. This feature will be split into 3 parts as we dive deep with plenty of questions to ask, so please look forward to it.

In part 1 of this feature, we talk with the scriptwriter in charge, Mr.Jukki Hanada. From 「K-ON!」 to 「Love Live!」, he has penned and worked on multiple popular series. Continuing on his trend of writing youth stories. What did Mr.Hanada want to convey with 『Girls Band Cry』? How did he create these fascinating characters? By reading this feature, there's no doubt you'll get more excited about this series!

Topics Page 1. A story about learning 「This world can't be easily divided into black and white」 Page 2. On Rupa and Tomo's relationship, there's plenty of room to expand. The dynamics of the 5 main casts are 「Like a Family」 Page 3. Nina's rival isn't 「Diamond Dust」 but Hina Page 4. 「Life does not end after graduation」, writing about facing society head-on

A story about learning 「This world can't be easily divided into black and white」

――First off, you have joined this project as the main writer/series composition of the story. I like to ask, how you came to be in charge of this role. Hanada: At first there was a pitch from Hiramaya about creating a music-centric story. Personally, I've been writing about idol stories for years. So this time I wanted to make it about a band. I've always been a big fan of old-school Japanese rock. And so I suggested 「If we're making it about music, let's turn it into a band」.

――What about the decision to centre around an all-girls band? Hanada: You know, I also wanted to write a story about boys (laughs). Hirayama (Editor's note: he is the main producer of this project), director Sakai and I all worked on 「Love Live! Sunshine!!」 together before. And so we went with a girl's band. Personally, I'm more used to writing about female characters after all…

――The setting of this story is based around the city of Kawasaki, is there a reason why? Hanada: When we were location scouting, I found that city to be extremely pleasant. It was easy to visualize the characters living in such a place. There's also the live house CLUB CITTA’. This city has a high affinity for bands, so it is easy to set the story up here.

――Onwards, I would like to ask more about the characters. First off regarding the main character Iseri Nina. I believe you have also spoken about it on your social media but, she's quite a sharp-tongued character who stands out huh. Hanada: At first the image I created for her is a bit more reserved. But once we started to develop her backstory and reason for coming to Tokyo, I thought 「Ah well, she's pretty grumpy now」

――So while planning out this script, things were constantly changing, right? Hanada: Most of the time when it comes to original series, that's how we slowly solidify the script. With Nina, she has developed into quite a pain in the ass for us. By episode 1 she was still alright. But by episode 2 when she first met Subaru. She gets easily depressed and instantly leaves to go back home. Slowly but surely all the anger and rage inside her began to surface. That's the kind of character she became (laughs)

――Whether it is towards herself or others, I get the impression that her anger comes off really strong. Hanada: She came to Tokyo after being bullied. As such she has a binary view that everyone is either an enemy or ally, a good person or a bad person. But that isn't limited to just Nina, I believe it is a common feeling when one is still young and naive. However, this world can't be easily divided into black and white. The concept of the story is Nina learning this lesson. And so we thought this story should start with her being on edge to some extent. But she ended up being way more grumpy than expected (laughs).

――Speaking of things can't be easily divided into black and white, I feel like representing that point is the character Kawaragi Momoka.

Hanada: Both Nina who came to Tokyo carrying all that anger, and Momoka who is pursuing a music career in a band, are in a way bonded by this mutual 「unfiltered earnesty」. However, Momoka is a character who has experienced first-hand how reality is not so black and white. Especially towards the start of the story, Nina looks up to Momoka but feels 「Why are adults always so gloomy with pent-up feelings」. For Nina, having this gloom is what makes someone not a good adult. In other words, this is someone who should be a baddie and her enemy. But because she admires Momoka, she can't easily label her as such. At first, her image of Momoka is someone who shines brightly. But Nina learns that Momoka drinks and rambles while drunk. She even pukes inside Nina's toilet (laughs). But, it's not like Nina hates that part of her. So Nina starts to change how she looks at things. But on the other hand, because of Nina's personality, she can't quite accept that part of Momoka. That's why she keeps pressing on Momoka 「Please shine like you once were!」

――Thinking only in terms of Enemies and Allies, she struggles to categorize her as an ally right. Hanada: She's probably not that grumpy when she's still in Kumamoto and might have accepted Momoka for what she is now. But once she came to Tokyo alone, there was no longer a reason to hold back. There is no point in coming to Tokyo in the first place if she still has to hold back her feelings.

――And so comes Awa Subaru and her role as a dampener between these two's relationship. Hanada: That's right. Nina and Momoka are both very awkward around each other. So in a sense, we thought it was important to add a balancer who is skilled at navigating social situations. But it won't be interesting if that's all she is. So we explored how Subaru came to be such a character by looking at her relationship with her Grandma. She is the complete opposite of Nina. So long as she puts on a smile in front of people, she thinks it's fine to delay all her problems that need to be answered. That's why for Nina, seeing such a liar first-hand pisses her off the most.

――But even so, they managed to build a very close relationship with each other thanks to how open-minded Subaru was. Hanada: But, Subaru hates the part of her personality of putting on airs and delaying important things. That's why she respects and admires how straightforward Nina is.

Page 2

On Rupa and Tomo's relationship, there's plenty of room to expand. The dynamics of the 5 main casts are 「Like a Family」

――From there, Ebizuka Tomo and Rupa are added. First off, I like to ask about Tomo's character setting. Hanada: She's like an extreme version of Nina. She's a character who had to start living by herself at a young age. She puts on an even harder shell than Nina and would not let anyone get close to her. After setting up the shin-kawasaki trio, I was thinking about what should we do for the remaining 2 characters. So how about making one character who is even harder to approach than Nina. Tomo draws out this side of her, like a catalyst to easily get a chemical reaction going.

――I see, so in this setting, she's a character who amplifies this part of Nina who hates adults. Hanada: In fact, I even wrote an episode halfway through focusing on Tomo. But Nina was more of a pain in the ass than expected, so we had no choice but to cut it(laughs).

――Continuing on, what about Rupa's character setting? Hanada: While we were thinking about Tomo's personality and setting, we also asked ourselves, if there's someone who can be with her, what sort of person would that be.

――So in other words, similar to Subaru who is good at navigating social situations, Rupa has an image of someone who can act as the adult in the room. Hanada: I don't think she is someone who wants to find sympathy in people with the same kind of scars she has. Nor is she looking for anyone to understand that pain. In the first place, it's not like Rupa herself thinks she can understand the pain of others, nor does she want to. She's the type of character who's strong-willed and is not looking to lick each other's wounds. In other words, she's like an adult who knows how cruel reality can be. There's her backstory of her family passing away. It's not like her bandmates didn't ask her about it, it's a situation where they can't. I also wanted to write more about Rupa's story, but I decided not to force it in due to time constraints. Like the audience, Nina and the band are in a situation where they only know fragments of her past. So it'll be better to write Rupa as someone who says "I want to stay by this person's side" and "Let's get along".

――The fact that she's the only half-Japanese in the band. We don't know her family name, only her given name. That makes her a very unique character. Hanada: Part of that is we wanted to emphasise her as a mystery character. On top of that, it's not unnatural at all for at least one person to be half-Japanese among a group as large as this in this age.

――From the cast members, we've also heard that it was actually easier to act out Rupa because her background has not yet been set in stone. (For more details, check out part 2 of the interview with the cast members!) But now that the anime has finished airing, there are a lot of people asking what exactly her character setting is. Hanada: Of course, there are more details for her character. Not every information about her has been perfectly depicted on screen, but no doubt a good part of her personality has. Teshima's illustrations (Character Designer in charge, Teshina nari) and Shuri's voice acting have greatly contributed to her standing out. Especially that sound check scene in Episode 11 「Centre of the World」. We were confident that 「This will definitely be a hit!」, and were very excited to see the audience's reaction when it aired.

――Regarding Tomo, she's been in a band before, but as seen on screen it didn't work out well. In all of them, only Rupa was always by her side. So I want to ask what's their relationship like. Hanada: Tomo doesn't want anyone digging into her heart. That's the same with Rupa. I don't think things will go well if every band member has the same 「Let's speak candidly with each other」 way of thinking. But when it comes to music, they are both serious about it. So Rupa and Tomo get along well on the same wavelength.

――Were there any non-explicit settings for the band overall? Hanada: For me, I have the image of a family in mind when I write their dialogue. Momoka is the dad and Rupa is the mom. Subaru is the older sister, Nina is the older brother and Tomo is the youngest sister. That's why, when the dad and son always end up fighting, the remaining girls watch over while Subaru the older sister tries to mediate.

――That's true, whenever Nina and Momoka clash it feels like a fight among boys. Hanada: Certainly when it comes to Momoka and Nina, when their feelings clash it kinda feels like a fight between boys. Sure harmony and reconciliation are important, but if there's no meaning to the fight if there isn't any conviction or pride. That's what I keep in mind when writing how they clash.

Page 3

Nina's rival isn't 「Diamond Dust」 but Hina

――Continuing on, I like to ask about the setting for 「Diamond Dust」 (from now on referred to as 「DD」) Hanada: Regarding DD, initially they were positioned as an enemy that Nina must defeat. When Nina came to Tokyo and heard Momoka's story, she thought that 「Momoka was bullied by her former bandmates and they were now her enemy」. But in truth, Nana, Rin and Ai are all really good people. And Nina slowly understands that they are all working hard and struggling in their own way. My intention was to obscure that part from the start, so both Nina and the audience feel 「What a bunch of show off!」 towards DD. But once Nina and the audience hear more about their story, call it from an adult's point of view or from something realistic, they slowly learn that Momoka too had a part in this problem. On top of that, Momoka herself thinks that she's in the wrong. It's through the course of those events that Nina and the audience learn how should one compromise with society and how people can't be easily simplified. For example in Episode 4 「Kansha (Odoroki) 」 with the story of Subaru and her Grandma. If you look at it objectively from the outside, pure evil doesn't exist much at all in this world. Everyone is just doing things their way, which is what I wanted to show. Nina had a clear divide between enemies and allies, justice and evil when she first came to Tokyo. She learns this world isn't as black and white as she thinks. Nina herself also started saying it at the end of Episode 4 but as Subaru replied 「Who are you to preach!」 (laughs).

――I've asked about this before from the producer(Tadashi Hirayama) and director(Kazuo Sakai). Regarding the vocalist for DD, Hina, her character wasn't in the initial script right. (We'll dive deeper into this topic with part 3 of the interview!)

Hanada: So in the middle of the story, after Nina learns that DD are in fact good hardworking people, she would've lost her initial motivation. In other words, the existence of 「An enemy she must defeat for Momoka's sake」 is gone. So there was a question of how the story should develop from there. At first, I thought of a story about an evil producer in DD's agency and the script went down that path. But I really didn't want to write such a story, director Sakai and HirayamaP were also at a loss because this didn't feel right. And that's when Hina was born. Rather than focusing on Momoka's DD, we structure the story around Nina facing against Hina. The course of the story turns to Nina learning just what is behind the mind of the one person she is utterly incompatible with.

――During her first screen appearance, the viewers get pulled along by Nina's hatred of Hina. But once I saw how Nina got back on her feet in the final episode, I somewhat understood just what exactly Hina was trying to say to her.

Hanada: For Hina, the reason why she is so attracted to Nina is very similar to Subaru's reason. Nina holds a kind of childishness in her heart while Hina doesn't have that explosive energy. That's why in the final episode 「Rockn'Roll Won't Stop Ringing」, she went out of her way to agitate her. 「I don't want you to get caught up in this mess made by the higher ups」 Hina thought. She knows exactly how Nina will act if she agitates her, so this is her way of cheering Nina on.

――In a way, no one understands Nina more than her. Hahada: If you watch it till the end, one can say Nina has no enemies.

――Besides that, is there also any inexplicit setting regarding DD? Hanada: If I have to say, there are some but, I want to keep those a secret for now (laughs) But if I have to give you one, it'll be about their relationship with Momoka. It's not shown on screen but, it was Momoka who pulled the other 3 with her to Tokyo. At that time Momoka was the one who was not looking at reality the most. So in the end, when she was the first to say she was running away, she felt an enormous pressure in her heart. She felt like she must carry the weight of responsibility for those 3. That's probably also one of the reasons why it was too hard for her to continue being in the band. But with 「Togenashi Togeari」 (from now referred to as TogeToge) things were different. Nina was also shouldering part of that weight of responsibility. Their relationship in this band is on equal grounds. With TogeToge, Momoka could see a different world compared to when she was in DD.

――On top of that, the members of TogeToge all joined the band of their own free will, that weight of responsibility is pretty different. Hanada: Momoka's time at DD is similar to the story of Takeshi Tomizawa in the manzai duo 「Sandwhichman」. Tomizawa had convinced his friend Mikio Date to become stand-up comedians together. But for 10 years they couldn't make it big, barely surviving on doing part-time and odd jobs. Tomizawa said to Date 「The only way I can apologize to you is by killing myself」. That's the kind of mental state Momoka was in. That weight of responsibility crushing on her was the main reason she felt like she could no longer be in the band.

――Once again, with regards to the band name 「Togenashi Togeari」. How was the name decided? In the anime, Nina saw it by chance on the T-shirt of an audience…

Hanada: Oh there's no deep meaning to it. Just one of the many ideas that we whittle down in meetings.

――The name of their rival band 「Diamond Dust」 is in a way very typical. So TogeToge's name is quite impactful.

Hanada: Not really, at first I thought 「Are we really fine with this name?」. It's going to be the name of the real-life band as well after all. But, when it comes to names of famous bands and manzai duos, having a somewhat random name surprisingly works out well (laughs). We had a lot of different suggestions but, since this is a band that was formed from such a story, we decided this thorny name that stands out is the way to go.

Page 4

「Life does not end after graduation」 , writing about facing society head on

――As for the members of the real-life band, this is the first time they have all voice-acted, I want to ask what are your thoughts on it? Hanada: Sure when it comes to acting itself, a professional with plenty of experience would be better. But the way these girls put their soul into the character, they all have an extraordinary level of passion, as they build on it episode by episode they get better exponentially. Combining both voice acting and band practice, it links to the essence of TogeToge in the anime.

――You gave the example of a family of 5 earlier, the cast members managed to portray it exactly as you said. Hanada: When I first watched Episode 1 「Tokyo Wasshoi」 and Episdoe 2 「Yakousei no Ikimomo sanbiki」, I never expected they could perfectly encapsulate their characters like in Episode 8 「 Moshimo kimi ga naku naraba」. It was truly incredible.

――Were there any scenarios you added to your script from inspirations from the activities of the real-life band? Hanada: No, I try not to. If the real-life band doesn't sell at all like in the anime that would be very troubling (laughs). Nina and the band said 「Even if we aren't making money, we will still move forward!」. So if we were to mix those together would be pretty bad…Like before in the halftime show of the J league.

(referring to the Kawasaki Sprint half-time event Tomo's VA Natsu ran on May 11th, a J1 league match between Kawasaki Frontale and Sapporo Consadole)

The members of TogeToge were on the field cheering on the event. But if it was Nina she would absolutely say 「Why are we doing this! This is not why I'm in this band!」 while her thorns go flying about (laughs). If I do link this to the anime I'll have to spend the rest of my life apologizing to the cast.

――You mentioned on social media that you wanted to write more episodes. I believe it was about Toma and Rupa. Are there any other ideas? Hanada: I wanted their trip to Nagano to be just a little bit longer. Oh and a comedy episode like the first half of Episode 9 「Kaketa Tsukiga Deteita」. Just an episode of them chittering and chattering around would be very funny.

――My impression after all 13 episodes, is it was mostly the drama aspect that's been cramped in with little room for the comedic element. Hanada: Yes that's right. Nina barging into Tomo's house in episode 9 is an example, I thought it'd be nice if we had more chances to include this kind of scene.

――Rupa also kicked down Subaru's door in that episode. I'm surprised that this gag showed such a gap compared to what we usually see of Rupa. In a way she's quite the martial artist, that is one of Rupa's inexplicit settings right. Hanada: Right right, Rupa is extremely strong in a fight. Oh, and she also loves to defeat her opponents by getting them drunk on alcohol. She'll line up glasses of tequila and have a drinking match. She loves the look on her opponent's face when they are passed out drunk.

――She has the impression of someone who's light and drifting, but in reality, when you go against her, she has no openings. On top of that, she is physically strong as well. Kind of like a Final Boss of a video game. Hanada: Speaking of being strong in a fight, for Nina, Rupa is an adult who knows the right kind of fights to take on. Compared to Momoka who surprisingly doesn't. That's why in Episode 11 「Centre of the World」, that concert was the best way to take on a fight against DD. That is how adults should fight is what I'm trying to express.

――In this series, Nina's relationship with her family is a very critical part of the story. How did you structure the story? Hanada: Regarding Nina's family as depicted in Episode 10 「Wandervogel」. Actually, director Sakai requested a big change from the original script. In my script, after Nina talked to her father beyond the sliding door, her father did not come out and send her off. The final scene was her holding the keys to her apartment and a shot of the cut-down branch in the front garden. Like with the ending of Episode 4 「Kansha(Odoroki)」, I had no plans for things to end happily where everyone understands each other. That aspect is still around to a certain degree, but I left some space for others to write. Nina and her father in the end couldn't understand each other, but they both recognize that the only path they can move is forward. Director Sakai is an actual father with children. So as a father, he thought Nina should receive a proper send-off from her father.

――In the very last scene of the anime, the band quits the agency and starts from scratch. Hanada: If the ending was a fully seated Budoukan and they won against DD, the story would just end up like 「Love Live」. I have no plans for a happy ending right from the start. Like Episode 10 we discussed earlier, I don't think any problems can be that easily solved. But even so, one can only move forward. That's the one theme I want this story to be consistent with. So when I thought what's the best way to express such a theme in the ending. I came up with what we have now.

――If you could make a sequel, what sort of stories would you like to include? Previously you mentioned the comedic elements… Hanada: This is just an example I thought of but, Nina gets persuaded by a super ikemen vocalist to heedlessly follow him into his house. But when it seemed like he was about to make a move on her, Nina knocks him out with a tomoe-nage judo throw and runs back home. I can't include bits like this if it was an idol show. So I thought it'd be pretty funny to include it. Oh, and I would love to make more episodes about their daily lives.

――Once again, now that the anime has finished airing. Do you have any response or thoughts about it? Hanada: Of the stories I've written about a group of girls centred around music, all of them are set in high school so the story ends after graduation. But, life does not end at the graduation ceremony. When I thought about it, I gave myself homework of sorts. I must write a story about 「Life Beyond Graduation」. This series has a bit of that in it. 「Beyond Graduation」 is in other words, facing head-on against society. There comes a time when one must face society with nothing to protect you with. So for me, including such a theme in my writing is like stepping into uncharted waters.

――As a whole, this story seems like it is written from the perspective of Nina's coming to terms with society.

Compared to episode 1, Nina has grown a lot by the final episode. For example, if it was the Nina who first came to Tokyo. She would have never accepted their manager Miura lowering her head to DD, asking for help about the band battle. Nina would've been extremely angry about it. But she has come to understand that one needs to compromise with society. Adults have their own complicated situations to deal with too. Mirua's actions are for the benefit of the band and Nina has learned to be grateful about it.

――Lastly, do you have any messages for the fans? Thank you for supporting this story with such a pain-in-the-ass main character (laughs). When I was writing this story, I thought that it would be hard for people to love this girl. But in the end, she has gained so many fans. I'm honestly shocked by it but nonetheless, I am grateful. I wish one day there's another chance for us to meet again somewhere. Please continue to support us.

――Thank you very much!

Part 2 of this interview will be with the cast members

[no1ryomafan]

*rotating in my head how magical girls have a similar issue to mecha in which majority of west speaking anime fans brush off the genre for stereotyping it into one thing besides the popular shows but magical girls have had it significantly worse because madoka actually effected the genre into becoming unnecessarily darker for a period and it’s also a reflection of how media aimed at women has more negative biased to it then media aimed at men*

Wow this is so fucked up and objectively more worse then mecha just getting brushed off for being “robot fights”.

*proceeds to continue not have a strong interest in magical girls even after this realization*

[olderthannetfic]

I know about the origins of the Bechdel Test, but I do think it's inaccurate to say it's not meant as a criticism of movies that don't do that. I think that when people stop thinking in binary terms of "is this feminist?" or "is this anti-feminist?" and instead look at things more holistically, that you can recognize both that a character like Mako Mori is great, a step in the right direction for female characters in action movies and especially WOC, go forth and stan her and write all the fanfic you want.... but yeah, it is also a valid criticism of the movie (and many others like it) that she doesn't talk to or have relationships with any other woman in the film.

I think one thing to help people realize just HOW much of women's lives are being left out of media representation when we never talk to other named women about something other than a man in movies, is to just think about your own life. I talk to my mom every day, and if we are not talking about my stepdad or my brother-in-law (and I don't think we've ever had a conversation that wasn't at least IN PART not about them or another man), then it passes the test. I'm a professor and when I talk to a female student about her homework or project (which is, again, something that happens pretty much every day I teach), that's passing the test. If I order food from a female cashier and she has a name tag, that's passing the Bechdel Test! It's literally just constant for the vast majority of women on the planet, and that's what's being left out of our stories.

Like, I like the takes I've seen about how part of the joke in Dykes to Watch Out For is that this is *particularly* alienating to lesbians - as a lesbian myself I agree - but I also think it should be frustrating to straight and bi and ace women as well, because like unless you are like exclusively interacting with your husband or male relatives every single day + you work in a workplace where you are literally the only woman, you are almost certainly passing the test constantly. That's a pretty big part of women's lives that Hollywood is leaving out!

But I think it's important to view it as just one piece of the discussion about feminism and women's representation in film, not the final judge on if a film is feminist or not. Which it wasn't intended to be - as you said, it was mostly a joke on the extreme maleness of 80s action movies. Honestly, I do not miss those days on Tumblr where people were obsessed with declaring certain movies/TV shows/other fandoms they liked as "feminist" or "anti-feminist" and the really bizarre granular discussions people would have between two works that BOTH had a long way to go in terms of representing women. I remember people in the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom would use this to argue about if the original anime or Brotherhood/the manga was better - when both have some fantastic female supporting characters, but are ultimately male-centered stories where even a lot of those women's lives and stories are centered around their male love interests and family members. It's better than a lot of shounen, but if that's your bar for feminism - either version - you have a long way to go (and need to watch WAY more anime because there's sooooo much of it that is female-centric). I also remember people coming up with other tests that were blatantly silly: like I thought the Mako Mori test about "if a woman has a motivation/story that isn't centered on a man" was fair because it did point out a legitimate criticism, but there was that ridiculous "Tauriel Test" where it was "a woman who is good at her job." And it was entirely about someone just disliking that movie critics and feminist commentators alike were down on the Hobbit movie trilogy, which a) were bad movies, sorry you have bad taste, b) are absolutely not where you should focus your attention if you're so concerned about women's representation in film, Tolkein has always been a sausage fest! And her big thing was being mad that people thought Judi Dench's M in Skyfall was a better female character, and so she arbitrarily decided she was "bad at her job" and Tauriel was "good at her job" even though that's completely subjective and can be challenged in both cases.... but also, once again, why are you looking to the fucking JAMES BOND franchise for movie feminism! There's nothing like comparing the relative "feminism levels" of JAMES BOND and LOTR to make it obvious that this is 100% about validating your subjective taste preferences by giving it a "progressive" excuse, not actually about feminism and not actually caring about women's representation beyond how it makes you look good. And yet SO many people took that transparently stupid post seriously. I'd see professional articles mention the Tauriel Test as "one of the new tests" like there was anything serious about it.

And then on the flip side, over-reliance on the Bechdel Test alone led to some clueless conclusions especially in anime fandom, given that anime has an abundance of shows that exclusively feature female characters in school clubs being cute, where those characters are nonetheless two-dimensional archetypes designed for the male gaze. Someone like fandomsandfeminism did a presentation at an anime con that called one of those types of shows "feminist" and some Japanese user eviscerated it, but that just led to the equally shallow fandom analysis of "everything a Japanese person says about anime is automatically more valid" and "any Westerner who wants to criticize anime on feminist/progressive grounds is culturally appropriating and ultimately coming from a place of ignorance, even if they literally have a degree in Asian studies."

Wow, this turned into a rant about the history of bad "feminist media criticism" on this website. Sorry about that, I think I had a point in here somewhere. I guess that the Bechdel Test is indeed a joke and those origins should be understood, but also, I don't think it's wrong to say that it identifies a real problem and one that people could probably take MORE seriously than they do - but as just one part of the conversation, not the Feminism Litmus Test, and certainly not as a dick-measuring contest about whose fandom gets them more progressive brownie points.

--

I think as long as we grasp that the joke is "The bar is so far under the ground that we might as well go home and eat popcorn there", it's fine.

The real issue with the test is that people started thinking a pass was meaningful.

If you say something like "X% of 2020s movies can't even manage this weaksauce level of women existing", that's a meaningful statistic. Even if you got a couple of data points wrong, you're not factually wrong enough for it to matter because X is going to be some massive, massive percentage, and the overall trend is so clear.

But a pass is nothing to celebrate, and that's where we went wrong.

Like you say, litigating which of two big franchises that barely do anything with women wins on tumblr points is idiocy.

I think people are so unaware of what media that genuinely centers women even looks like that it's hard for them to even begin having a discussion.

I personally have been a massive fujoshi type from adolescence, and media that centers female characters isn't actually what I typically want. (Though media that is by and for women and that doesn't give a fuck what men think of this is.) I am also not much of a fan of slice of life in general...

But when I was coming out and figuring my shit out, being able to go buy collections of Dykes to Watch Out For was incredibly valuable to me.

Ditto the other lesbian comic books that were just sitting there in the bookstore. I'm sure if I went back and reread them all now, I could find things to nitpick or ways they were more for lesbians and less for me as a bi girl, but the really distinctive thing they did was let me exist in a world where media isn't all 80s sausagefest action movies where women are not people.

In fact, they were a world where men don't matter terribly much—not because they're dramatically rejecting men in some facile and reactionary way but because... who cares? They just had other priorities... and this was normal.

It feels like people who've never taken a vacation from really mainstream media just have no concept of what it would feel like to exist in some other space.

And I think that's a pity even if, like me, they later choose to go read mostly BL later instead of focusing on female characters or they genuinely love trash 80s action movies despite everything wrong with them. It's not just sexist media that's the issue: it's that feeling like the fish can't see the water it's swimming in.

[poisonousquinzel]

Origin

Harleen (2019) [Comic]

Harley Quinn: Mad Love [Novel]

The New Batman Adventures "Mad Love" [Episode]

Villain -> Emancipation Arc

Batman: The Animated Series

"Harlequinade", "Harley & Ivy", "Harley's Holiday"

Batgirl Adventures (1997)

Detective Comics #831

Harley Quinn: Wild Card (Backstories). [Book]

Batman: Gotham Adventures #10

Batman Secret Files: The Gardener

Injustice: Year Zero #7 - #8, #14

Unofficial Continuation Of Harleen (2019)

Harley Quinn (2000) #1, #2, #4, #6, #12

Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red #1, #3, #14

"Harleen: Red", "Get Yer Story Straight", "Fixer Upper"

Harley Quinn: Make Em Laugh #1, #2

"Headshrink", "Housewarming", "The Lady or The Tiger"

Harley Quinn: Black + White + Redder #2

#2: "Origin Stories For Dummies", [skip middle story], "Coffee And Pie Oh My"

Batman (2016 - ) #105

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Notes {Mild Spoiler Warning}

Batman (2016 - ) #105

This is in the middle of a story arc, but it doesn't really matter. Only context you need for Harley's part is that she, Batman and a kid named Bao (Clownhunter) were knocked out and brought to Arkham as a part of a separate conflict between Bruce and someone. ❤️

Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red

The first chapter, "Harleen: Red", is connected to and takes place in the Harleen (2019) universe. Best read after Harleen and the unofficial continuation.

The continuation is just parts that Stjepan has posted online over the years, I tried my best to put them in an order that flowed. <3

Batman Secret Files: The Gardener

The full comic isn't Harley centric, but I absolutely adore the way Bella tells the tale of Ivy's origin & meeting Harley, it's a cute part showing their relationship.

Harley Quinn: Wild Card (Backstories)

This one is kinda like a somewhat more detailed cliff notes for kids. Parts of her origin is different and aligned with her Rebirth one, but I think it's great to get a feeling of how her character progresses. Though like I said, it is definitely for a preteen & younger audience so some stuff is watered down. Her relationship with Joker isn't as graphically abusive (he's a toxic little bitch, but not shown being directly physical with her.), and her introduction into the Suicide Squad is more chill and something she agrees to do.

But even with that, I love it! It's got pencil sketches throughout, notes from Harley herself which I think is a lovely detail and added bits about her relationship with Ivy over the years.

Harley Quinn (2000)

#6: this is kinda the beginning of a two chapter plot, but I'm including for stuff in this chapter only.

Also, her characterization during one part that involves Bruce's female bodyguard feels ooc imo, especially considering it's the same writer from #2.

[alpaca-clouds]

Why I loathe CoD Hector

Something I really wanted to write a proper blog on, is Hector. I answered on another blog on this before, and wrote a shorter thing about this before. But I really wanted to write something on its own. Because I will once again iterate: While Hector in the animated series definitely gets to finish out his character arc, he works a lot better as a character than his game counterpart. And that even though the game came out at the time, where Castlevania tried to go more for storytelling.

Yet, there is this thing, and that mostly comes from it still being an old action-centric game... How the need of making the main characters of action games until sometime in the 2010s into the stoic kind kinda made them worse characters.

I said it before: The Castlevania games for the longest part never really were that interested in telling characterdriven stories and focused more on the gameplay. Which is very much fine. But even when they tried to include more story, for the most part they still keep the brutish, stoic protagonist. Even Alucard, despite looking like a beautiful princess, is very much the stoic male protagonist. This is just a thing with action media that was going on for way too long. Sure, even stoic characters could make for good fan interpretation in stuff like fanfics, it often is an issue that the media itself does not want to actually explore the characters emotions.

Or, to make it fairly clear: This has very much to do with this idea of toxic masculinity. A lot of old action media (not only games, but also movies and such) will not allow male action heroes to show emotional vulnerability, because that would be unmasculine in the eyes of the writers. Which then boils the characters down onto the supposedly "masculine" emotions, like anger and the urge for revenge.

And this is kinda where we get to Curse of Darkness.

We have this whole backstory through the manga, that goes into Hector's background and all that. While I will say that here I prefer the animated version, too, I will fully admit that this is just a subjective thing (I like that the animated version draws some clearer cultural aspects into it, while also giving Hector the agency of killing his abusers, rather than having it happen as an accident), because I definitely can see why people would prefer the manga version.

Where this ends, however, is already at the moment when Hector joins Dracula. Yes, I will fully admit that I am not a big fan of game!Dracula in general, though I will not go into the why here. He works as a game villain, I will admit that, though.

No, what I dislike about Hector's story with Dracula is more the: "And he becomes like the best forgemaster. Like he is so amazing and so strong, and did we tell you how amazing he is?" It goes too much into the power fantasy to me. While I get that the game canon heavily drew on this idea of the main conflict between Hector and Isaac being one of jealousy... I will just say, that a conflict of jealousy is actually so much more boring than a conflict of ideals. And the backstory by far had enough going on there to make it a conflict of ideals, as Hector did still - like in the animated version - not like the idea of killing thousands. Which could have been used for a lot of conflict, but... yeah.

I will still say, that for the most part, the backstory works. While I roll my eyes already at everything with Rosaly, because Rosaly is very much the incanation of the trope where this pure hearted girl saves the soul of the corrupted man (I don't know how this trope is called, but it is for sure a trope), it does work so far.

No, where Hector as a game character stops working is... at the game. Or rather in the moment that Rosaly does do the thing that she as the sole female character in this entire fucking story has to do: She dies so that her death can motivate Hector. And that is to me where game Hector as a character does stop working.

They could have given Hector any motivation to face off against Isaac. They had put up more than enough story fragments in the manga that they could have build from. They could have made it that Isaac wanted to go for revenge and before he could do it, Hector tried to go in there to protect the people he had now learned to love. They could have made it that Isaac tried to ressurect Dracula. They could have made it that Isaac tried to continue Dracula's work until Hector decided that he could not let his former friend do this, because Hector now knows better. There could have been several interesting and good motivations.

But no. Instead they went with: "Girl dead. Boy sad. Boy angry. Boy wants revenge." The fuck?! This is just so bad in terms of storytelling. It is just the refrigerated woman trope, in its most lazy iteration.

They could have given Hector an interesting motivation and conflict. But no, instead they went for revenge. Ugh.

But that was not enough for the writers of this game. Ooooooh no. If it was just that, I would still hate it, but I would be fine with it. Because let's face it, a lot of games use the "revenge for loved ones" trope. Sure, this game is not using it in the most creative way, and it could have done a lot better from the backstory that was set up in other media, but... It is fine. This is fine.

What is not fine however is Julia. I hate Julia. I hate everything about her as a concept.

And again, mind you. I absolutely would not have a problem with Julia if she was just "some girl" or just "Isaac's sister". Then Julia would be fine. It would even be fine if Hector caught feelings for her, even though I would once again roll my eyes at this.

No, what makes Julia so offensive is the fact that she looks and sounds like Rosaly. Meaning, that she explicitly, not just implicitly exists to be a replacement for Rosaly. And that just makes it all so, so badly written.

Worst of all: This gets never explained. Julia just is Rosaly's doppelganger. Just because... Well, because the writers of this game wanted to have their cake and eat it too. They wanted to motivate Hector by revenge for a dead girl, but also wanted to have him end with the girl. And it is just... misogynic writing. I am sorry.

It portrays women as "things" that can be easily replaced. And I hate this so, so much. It is the reason why, even though CoD might not be the worst game in the series, it is by far the one I loathe the most.

And they could have so easily done it differently. Either by not motivating Hector through Revenge in the first place, or by just making Julia a different person from Rosaly. Make her strikingly different and then have Hector fall for Julia. That would have been fine. Just this: "I broke one doll, but I will just get a replacement" thing that game has going is... horrible.

And yes, additionally I will say that another reason why I do prefer the animated version of Hector is, that he is not the stoic kind of character, but he is actually fairly vulnerable. He is a bit of an idiot who easily fall for people. He definitely does not get to have his power fantasy. But it is exactly this that I like. Because it is a story we usually do not get with male characters.

The story of Hector in the animated series is very much a story that would have usually been given to a female character. And I adore this fact. I adore how they switched the gender stereotypes around for this.

Yes, I am well aware that some fans of the games hated this, too. But I honestly have to say: Look, the game characters might have some minor differences, but all in all they all fall under the stereotype of the stoic action protagonist. Yeah, the series needed to switch this around a bit, because it would have gotten boring otherwise.

And frankly. I am sooooo sick of protagonists being all stoic all the time. Give us some variety. It won't kill these characters to smile from time to time... Or, you know, be vunerable.