Come what May, it’s time for another roundup.
On the blog
Eta Draconis: Making Art While the Sky is Falling – my thoughts on an existential little book about a Western Australian road trip punctuated by falling meteors.
Watching Sound! Euphonium for the First Time in 2024 – my thoughts on this iconic gay, but not, but yes (??) anime, many years late to the party.
On AniFem
Spring 2024 Three-Episode Check-in – it’s all about Big Confusing Coming-of-Age Feelings this season, which means I am eating very well.
Autonomy, Aliens, and a Study in Female Character Agency with 16bit Sensation – remember how I said I enjoyed most of this show but got frustrated with the ending? Here’s that, in long form!
Spring 2024 Mid-season Check-in – over in podcast town, I join Toni and Peter to discuss the highs and lows of this varied season.
On the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative
International YA Lit Month Review: Do You Dream of Terra-Two? – come with me and get existential and spacey as I review Temi Oh’s novel.
Around the web
On the nuance and tenderness of Skip and Loafer‘s trans representation, especially highlighting the love and joy in Nao-chan and Mitsumi’s mutually supportive relationship.
From audiences getting subscription fatigue, to media getting lost, to the very nature of how movies make money changing… the streaming era is giving us our fair share of woes. Mina Le weighs in from her perspective as a film nerd, a history nerd with a passion for archiving, and as someone who makes her living in the unstable world of New Media.
From Takarazuka to Terayama: The Influence of Queer Theatre on Revolutionary Girl Utena – Utena’s not subtle in its theatricality, but looking at the specific inspirations behind the show can shed some light on what Ikuhara’s going for.
Evangelion, Alienation, and Japan’s 1990s Economic Crisis – speaking of classic anime’s context and inspirations, here’s another great history essay about the cultural situation Neon Genesis Evangelion was responding to (as I joked last month, these two always seem to go together…)
Let’s Start a Fight: Are Science Fiction and Fantasy The Same? – despite many trying to draw hard lines between SFF, genre taxonomy more often than not comes down to vibes. Or does it? Well! Read to fight and find out!
Kagurabachi, the Smash Hit Born From the Modern Manga Hype Machine – it’s madness out there in the world of Shonen Jump, and nothing epitomises that quite so nicely as this new blockbuster series.
This Week in Anime: When a New Studio Takes Over Your Favourite Series – anime production remains a many-faceted mystery, but there is plenty of room to discuss the changes that happen when a series switches studios and brings a new set of aesthetic and storytelling priorities to pre-established material.
The artist I’m letting hypnotnise me this month is Kim Carnes:
That’s all for now! Next month is June, so I have some exciting Pride-themed posts incoming… which is to say that I’ll be writing about queer media like I always do, but like, more! Stay safe and stay tuned.
The Afictionado 