AnimeGate Update – 22/11/18 | A Medium Under Attack

Author: Gabriel Persechino-Forest     Published: November 22nd, 2018

I have watched over the last few months as attacks on anime and its tropes have increased and I waited. I waited to see if there was an increase in the intensity of attacks or if it was just anti-sex, pro-censorship shenanigans as usual. In the end though, I am saddened to report that the trend of putting pressure on anime in the West is definitely on the rise compared with previous seasons.

This… will be long, but I did take the time to bold the title of each series being discussed if you’re interested in specific shows that might have made the “Bad according to Western standards of moral purity” list. I realize the length of the piece but I chose to not separate it in multiple parts because I wanted to make a point: Before, there used to be attacks on anime every so often and the real debates were relegated to Twitter and forums, to social media. But in the last year, outlets like Anime News Network have doubled down on their criticism of the medium while other mainstream outlets that previously weren’t talking about anime are joining in. And Anime Feminist’s arrival (A website linked with Anime Herald, The Mary Sue and Kotaku) has only increased pressure on the medium. This article is long because of the sheer amount of attacks the medium has undergone lately and that is what I wanted to convey. Anyway, let’s get to it:

Image Source: Taken from the series Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

First off, we have Anime Feminist, which, as you can well imagine, is leading the wave. First they attacked Island and were struggling so badly to find something to attack that they literally reinvented the age of the characters to make the lead into a pedophile. They then turned a joke about flat chests into a grandstanding statement on the nature of sexual harassment. Moving on to Fate/Extra: Last Encore, they criticized the show for choosing a man as the lead (I’m not kidding) and then continued with this gem:

…Fate has a proud tradition of creating incredible kick-butt woman warriors and then treating them like absolute garbage in every other way.

What exactly constitutes “Good representation”? Given current trends, the Fate women would have to become dull mary sues with literally the same bland personality and an emphasis on how strong they are (No real definition of what that means either) and how they need no man and are totally queer too. You know, that super interesting character-type they keep putting in literally everything they do these days; who wouldn’t want the Fate cast to turn into a clichéd SJW stereotype with no personality? But I digress.

Moving ahead we have Seven Senses of the Re’Union in which the difference between the age of the characters and their avatars in the game world gave the author “Concerns”; continuing the age old war on loli in the West with the added bonus of not needing any actual lolis this time around. She also had a problem with Satsuki potentially being jealous of Asahi because of her affection for Haruto.

…there’s really nothing here that I need to warn AniFem viewers about.

So attacking the age of the characters and the potential love triangle in the first episode is them on a good day?

Lost Song‘s article starts with a rather confusing line:

Most Netflix original anime have been of a certain type… The kind of series that men call “real anime” while decrying how moe and SJWs have sullied their precious medium.

I’m… not certain how to even interpret that. SJWs are always complaining against moe. But anyways, their hopes for the series is that it turns into a giant metaphor for taking down the patriarchy. No, this also isn’t a joke:

In a patriarchal world, exceptional women have two options: either hide their specialness away and live in obscurity, or try to use your talents and be exploited by the system.

…

My hope—my greatest, most desperate hope for this series—is that Rin and Finis find each other and break down the institutions that oppress both of them. That they use their power to support each other and create a quiet revolution.

Or maybe a bloody revolution. That would be okay, too.

Next up, Banana Fish: First they warn their readers about there being no women in the first episode (That warrants a warning!) and continue:

…the significance from a feminist point of view comes from the fact that it’s a story by women and for women with queer undertones.

I get the “By women for women” part but how are the “Queer” elements defining of the series’ feminist potential? I didn’t realize “Queerness” was a purely female-centric thing. In any event, they then imply Nazism and white supremacist tendencies. No, again, I’m not kidding (Although such accusations seem to be commonplace to the point of banality these days):

Ash, a white teenager with blond hair and green eyes, supposedly united the city’s “ethnic gangs” (the script specifically calls out Black and Puerto Rican groups).

Finishing off with that series, they also accused the show of linking homosexuality with pedophilia.

Then we move on to The Thousand Noble Musketeers. As a series aimed primarily at women you might wonder what its doing on the feminist hit list but apparently the “Feminine” designs of the characters caught their attention and they’re disappointed the characters are voiced by men (Again, seriously!).

100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams had its female lead attacked for not being “Feminist” enough but the author did go out of her way to defend the “Sudden princess” fantasy. You might wonder why. After all, there isn’t anything wrong with a fantasy where the main heroine becomes a princess but with that said you have to remember that these 4th wave feminists keep criticizing harem series for being “Power fantasy” so when the female equivalent shows up, they have to find excuses as to why it is not the same. Even though from a technical point of view, a princess is a member of an authoritarian institution known as the aristocracy and the monarchy whose sole purpose is to rule over subjects who have little choice in the matter whereas, as the article puts it, “isekai… coming to another world and instantly being powerful or desired…” is actually a pretty harmless fantasy by comparison. But of course, that’s only if you have enough neuroses to actually think such trivial elements of a work of art are always equivalent to social commentaries. Anyways, for good measure, they criticized the “Damsel in distress” angle (Which they don’t even know if it exist in the show yet). Piece of advice to female anime fans: 4th wave feminists should have made it abundantly clear by now that they are coming after series aimed at girls as much as they are those aimed at literally everyone else.

And continuing on this theme of attacking entertainment aimed at women, we have their article on Dakaichi – I’m Being Harassed by the Sexiest Man of the Year which starts with a general attack on the genre:

And then I watched DAKAICHI and I remembered what kind of BL series is overwhelmingly chosen for adaptation. It’s the kind I generally like to refer to as “countdown to assault (ft. murder weapon chins).” While well-written, consensual BL series languish in obscurity, an ever-oncoming march of butt-ugly pretenders to Junjo Romantica’s dubious throne make their way to animation every year. It is, to put it mildly, fucking depressing.

The article criticizes that many works of the genre feature less than consensual moments between the leads. And while a fair point, maybe if you don’t like it don’t watch it. These series are made because there is an audience for them, in this case, a largely female audience. I see no reason why they cannot enjoy what is, lets all remember here, fiction.

For a staff that criticizes “Them sexist fanboys who watch anime for their waifu” they sure seem to love rolling out the double standards, as evidenced by their review of Tsurune:

Tsurune was barely holding my attention until he showed up. I don’t know who he is, but he’s gorgeous and I’m shallow, so he drew me back in enough that I’m on board for at least another episode. (Listen, I may be a shallow fujoshi, but at least I’m honest about it.)

You may think “Hey, she doesn’t like male-centric fanservice but she’s probably okay with people who do like it” right? After all, she’s a fujoshi herself so surely she has no problem with otaku? You would be wrong. As indicated by an article on Anime Herald where they said the following about otaku (This was during an Aniplex panel where people were enjoying a presentation on fanservice series):

You’re not being the cool host when you pander to these elements. You’re not being “the hip host” for endorsing some of the fandom’s most objectionable mindsets. You’re just helping to spread this disease that’s been growing beneath the surface for decades.

And Anime Feminist promoted said article themselves, saying:

A panel report on efforts to pander to fandom’s lowest common denominator.

Image Source: Taken from the series The Troubled Life of Miss Kotoura 

So basically, when she’s a “Shallow fujoshi”, that’s empowering, when you’re a “Shallow otaku”, you’re a sexist pig and probably racist to boot. I think it’s starting to get quite clear that they are the sexist ones. I mean, I don’t have a problem with fanservice aimed at girls, nor do most anime fans. Most female anime fans I’ve met also don’t care about guys enjoying “Their waifu”. It’s basically just the media establishment and those who pretend to be feminists who have a problem with a very specific type of fanservice aimed at a very specific gender.

Bloom Into You got praised for not having sex appeal be a factor of the series while the author took the time to highlight it still wasn’t “Queer” enough for her. They then talk about how it should be a series about asexuality and finish with this gem:

Like certain other discourse-heavy series, Bloom Into You exists in the fraught space of not deliberately speaking to an underrepresented group but borrowing the coding of those groups to make their point, resulting in clumsiness and understandably hurt feelings from some audience members.

Last Hope managed to gather criticism for having “A woman who has to take care of a man” or at least that’s how they view the relationship between the professor and his adoptive little sister. They subsequently start some rambling over how many women in media are forced to take the role of caretakers for men, eventually going to Pepper Potts and Tony Stark being a perfect example of the woman being forced to take care of the man because of gender-normative reasons; which is sort of hilarious considering that Iron-Man is pretty much Marvel’s Bruce Wayne, who also has a caretaker looking after him, a man. To finish off, they attack one of the female pilots for having sizeable breasts (Does that count as slut shaming?).

Boarding School Juliet was Criticized for fanservice, presenting the “Strong” lead in a “Moe” fashion of vulnerability, dealing with the theme of sexual assault and having its female needing to be saved. They also have a problem with Juliet being vulnerable and cute, apparently it conflates with her as a feminist figure; because it seems a women can’t be strong and cute. The series also got criticized for stuff it hasn’t done yet:

…and the buff, masc-coded character wearing a dress in the opening theme who I somehow doubt will be treated with respect.

Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family was accused of trivializing sexual assault for being a comedy that ignored most of the cast’s grudges and hatred towards each other and therefore did not focus on Shinji’s abusive relationship with Sakura. But they go further than that, apparently, a serial rapist is not an appropriate character for a series, not even the serious, dramatic ones:

The Fate franchise sprawls across dozens of games, anime, manga, novels, and affiliated merchandise aimed at both men and women, and a serial rapist isn’t an appropriate character to feature in all those iterations.

In any event, it continues from there in trying to make a non-serious, slice-of-life depiction of the characters that doesn’t focus on the drama seem like some sort of R-rated mess and “Letting the abuser off the hook”; I agree though, shinji should be brought before the 2D feminist high court for his repulsive patriarchal actions that keep the 7th dimension of doodles in perpetual sexist darkness… <Sigh> They then end by saying that the way fiction depicts sexual abuse “Matters a great deal” in light of #MeToo.

The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar was put under review for literal patriarchy (The main character is the patriarch of his clan), for having fanservice and having female characters who actually find the lead attractive. They also took the time to attack isekai series in general:

The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar (putting aside the irritatingly long title that I refuse to type more than once) is probably the most tolerable isekai harem wish-fulfillment show I’ve seen in a couple seasons.

…

You see this bar? I’m gonna take it and set it down here, on the ground for a minute. It needs to be in the proper place for my next statement: well, there’s no slavery in it.

…

And he’s genuinely interested in doing the right thing, at least compared to the average protagonist of this kind of show.

…

If you’re in the mood for some self-indulgent harem shenanigans, this one will probably not make you want to die.

Grand Blue Dreaming was on the receiving end of much drama due to the incestual and sexual nature of its humor and also for having humor that was described as “Too aggressive”. You have to remember that in the SJW handbook, the only acceptable humor in a work of fiction is when everyone is having a good time and literally no one is uncomfortable or hurt in any way shape or form, because that’s how comedy works. Also, jokes about naked dudes are apparently fun but jokes about girls in revealing outfits are sexist.

Moving right along to Happy Sugar Life, which starts with this astute observation:

We’ve entered what I like to call the “shame shadow” of premiere season. All the shiny new premieres that the creators are proud of have made their debuts and then some, viewers have picked their faves to follow for the season… and so the last few musty mistakes come dragging across the finish line, quietly hoping nobody notices the trail of slime in their wake.

Image Source: Gundam Info

Yes indeed, studios, production committees and artists always make their series hoping nobody notices, that is absolutely how business works. In any event, I think we all know why they hated this one. Its the loli aspect again, the age difference relationship and fat shaming too. But they went above the call of duty this time around and also accused the show of perpetuating ugly stereotypes due to how it “Links queerness with pedophilia”. Apparently, no homosexual can be a pedophile and any depiction of such a situation, therefore, has to be anti-queer propaganda.

Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs got attacked for fanservice but the author of the article did take the time to mention that “Its not as bad as the rest of what’s out there”, though, it apparently doesn’t redeem the series for its crime of showing the female body (Someone has to tell me at which point feminism moved from being an empowering ideology for women to the 21st century’s version of the dark age-style catholic theocracy). And since you are looking at the girls through your screen, that makes you a voyeur as they did not consent. No, I am not making this up:

It doesn’t just fetishize their bodies, but the voyeurism of looking at them without their consent.

They also pursued with an outright lie at this point:

That’s the reason why feminist media critics take aim at fanservice anime, not because we hate media aimed at men.

Conception was obviously targeted. The show apparently has a “Creepy” premise and “Creepy” character designs. The female characters were criticized for looking like little girls and being involved in a plot that includes having to get pregnant and for the fact that the girls were raised to have sex with the main hero. The mascot molesting one of the girls was also evidently brought up as “Problematic”. All of this would be legitimately powerful and fair criticism, if it involved actual people being forced through this nightmare. It’s sort of hard to feel that a series is “Bad” or “Problematic” when its about animated characters in a fictional setting. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. There doesn’t need to be a crusade launched to satisfy the pet peeves of certain elements of society who have a great deal of trouble dealing with sex in any form.

Rascal Does not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai hits the ground running by making a grievous transgression: It has one of its characters rudely asking a girl if she’s on her period, and yes, that warranted criticism on Anime Feminist. They further move on to criticize that the story is told from the perspective of its main character and they also couldn’t stand the fact that Sakuta’s sister is cute and climbs in his bed. The fact that the main female characters are going to interact a lot with the main male character as their problems are explored was also sexist.

Between the Sky and Sea was criticized but not before the author could take random shots at the “Girl Power” movement in American media in the 90s (America’s equivalent of “Girls with Guns”) for being written largely by men and having sexuality be part of the genre, which they felt was sexist and objectifying. Oh, and the genre apparently had “Subtle misogyny” too, whatever that is. The series itself, when they get to it, is criticized for the girls’ personalities being “Pre-approved archetypes (No, I don’t know who the people of Anime Feminist think does the approving) and of course, the one thing that modern feminist cannot stand, sex. Yeah, the show has fanservice so obviously its sexist. The space suits were too molding, the armor has cleavage and the girls are teenagers and all of these are a no-go. The series was also criticized for having an hysterical woman character and a male assistant that is levelheaded (Obviously, something sinister is afoot) and then the article just fades into incoherent ramblings and conspiracy theories:

I’m still puzzling over her outburst at one of the recruits using “boku”—is it because any kind of masculinity is a betrayal of The Cause? Because her assistant lightly touched the girl on the shoulder, and The EssJayDubyahs are calling any kind of friendly, innocuous touch sexual harassment? I’d like to know what kind of straw feminist I’m dealing with here, show.

Release the Spyce is apparently “Not doing anything right” and by that, they mean its a “Girl power” series that hasn’t checked all of the items on the mary sue feminist checklist. The series’ true crime?

It’s fun! It’s just fun.

Fun, something you sure don’t want in a show. Of course, there’s the usual musings over how the outfits are too sexy and how the camera (It’s anime so there isn’t one but those are their words) didn’t do enough to stay away from the girls’ boobs but this time there’s the added benefit of attacking the main characters for being “Too similar”, “Too cute” and not having enough “Non-traditionally beautiful body types”. Also, they wanted them to have muscles.

They felt That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was refreshing, largely because they were recovering from the trauma of watching How Not to Summon a Demon Lord and Death March to the Parallel World (You may think this an attempt at being snarky on my part but it is in fact literally what they said, read the article in the link above if you don’t believe me). In spite of not doing anything that could get the feminist to scold the show, it was still criticized, largely because of one seriously tame rape joke during the episode.

My Sister, My Writer got criticized for what should be obvious by this point. To be fair, they did surprise me by taking random shots at other series first:

Shows like GOBLIN SLAYER and UzaMaid! clearly had talent and resources wasted on them…

Other than this, it was the incest that got them to consider the show problematic.

Darling in the Franxx was also the victim of renewed attacks in an article that begins with ramblings over the homophobic remarks of some politicians and the declining birth rate then moves on to the actual series and attacks it for “…pushing a view that privileged the traditional nuclear family unit and emphasized the importance of procreation.” (Because procreation is obviously not important to the future of the species) and tries to pretend the series’ statement on men and women being different meant that they are not equal, rather than just being a statement on the fundamental physical and psychological differences that exist within both genders. The article then devolves into the state of working mothers in Japan and then into a fight over global patriarchy (Read for yourself if you don’t believe me, this thing escalates quickly for an article about an animated series). The staff of this publication even asked director Nishigori at Crunchyroll Expo about the gender politics to which he replied:

…Without [gender], we wouldn’t have marriage or children. So with the anime I think the idea that gender has meaning, and that it’s necessary to distinguish between boys and girls is something that naturally came through. But that’s not the whole story. There are people like Ikuno, who doesn’t find happiness by marrying someone, by being with a man. I wanted to show lots of different pairings and ways of life. [Mitsuru and Kokoro] are just one part of that, not everything.

But it’s not like we decided on that from the beginning; it just naturally developed along this line. So it’s not like we approached DARLING in the FRANXX with a theme or message to say. How you interpret it is up to you.

That didn’t satisfy the staff of Anime Feminist though, who seem to be under the impression that you don’t need different genders to have children. The article also tries to imply that the series is against homosexuality:

However, Ikuno pays a steep price for this happy ending: shortly after Kokoro becomes pregnant, Ikuno overexerts herself protecting her against an enemy attack. Her hair turns white as she ages prematurely and must cope with chronic pain. As a lesbian and thus “unproductive,” Ikuno must still devote herself to protecting the progeny of others to be worthy of a happy ending, even at great personal sacrifice.

If this was anyone other than an homosexual character, this would have been regarded as a heroic sacrifice but apparently, members of the LGBTQ community are not allowed to make personal decisions of courage to help their friends.

In a perfect world, the decision of whether or not to have children would be entirely a personal decision based whether or not you feel ready and willing to be a parent. However, that’s not the world we live in, and DARLING in the FRANXX reflects that.

Image Source: Taken from the Series Charlotte

I… am seriously struggling to figure out who is forcing who to have children in our modern society.

Trimming off the fat, we also have a few more series that warranted being attacked: Harukana Receive was criticized for having sexy girls in cute bikinis and for the series’ fanservice and they then promptly took another jab at otaku sub-culture “What was this moe-girl bullshit?!” Chio’s School Road was also criticized for fanservice (Boob jokes and panty shots). Cells at Work! was attacked for “Gender normativity”. Planet With also has “Problematic” elements, I’ll let the author describe it for you on this one:

The only cause for concern was a bizarre scene where Sensei picks up a figure of a girl and peers beneath its skirt.

Be very concerned! Then there’s Music Girls, which is being criticized for how wide the eyes of the characters are and how one of them has a stuffed animal mascot, which they feel “Infantilizes” the characters. They also implied pedophilia towards the characters for good measure. Their article on Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion begins by attacking Attack on Titan and Samurai 7 (I know they’re unrelated to this anime, tell that to the author) for being pro-military and imperialist; it then makes the very serious accusation that one of the invading foreigner is blond… Holmes of Kyoto is apparently off to a bad start because its female lead has interest in men and especially one who is older than her. Late Night! The Genius Bakabon was also on the receiving end of bad feminist karma for trans-insensitivity (Basically, transgenderism can never be used for comedy because unlike every other element that is part of life that is used for comedy, this one is… There’s literally no reason, honestly). Dragon Pilot was one of the rare series to be praised, largely due to the women not being sexually attractive (In an apparent way) and not wearing revealing clothing. Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary was also reprimanded for having actual female shapes during transformation and hinting at possible future fanservice in later episodes. Forest of Piano was criticized for making the good guys too beautiful and the bullies too ugly. The Girl in the Twilight was also criticized for making fat jokes and having what they described as “Minor fanservice” that involves nudity, a shot at one of the characters’ butt and sexual facial expressions. Zombie Land Saga is on their watch list for the manager potentially becoming “Problematic” due to him being a jerk and technically “Owning” the girls. Karakuri Circus garnered criticism for having one of its female characters in a tight leotard and having suggestive scenes. She was also criticized for having “Only pretty facial expressions”. I thought As Miss Beelzebub Likes had avoided their ire, but then the last paragraph happened and they complained about the meager fanservice the series has and finished on this note:

…just in case UzaMaid! didn’t fill your quota for Wacky Comedy Pedophiles, the opening credits also seems to include a woman slobbering over an underage-looking boy. So…there’s that.

SSSS.Gridman had little to no criticism directed its way, though the author did take the time to attack the original Gridman series for having what they implied were “Stereotypical girls”.

…one, maybe two team girls. If there’s two, then one must be the pink girly one and one must be the yellow tough girl.

Anima Yell! got praised for not having fanservice:

When high jumps are performed, the girls are wearing shorts rather than panties under their skirts, so that the focus is on their skill rather than fanservice.

This line of thinking is based on the assumption that one cannot appreciate someone’s sexuality and their abilities as well. It’s right up there with thinking someone can either be beautiful or smart. Interestingly, when discussing Bakumatsu, the staff mentioned how the male characters are essentially sex objects in the series and exist primarily for the satisfaction of its female viewers. But far from scolding the series and calling it sexist, like they repeatedly did for shows aimed at men that present sexy women, they took a different approach:

Basically, if you’re in it to watch hot boys wave around their swords in a magical and fictional steampunk Japan, go for it. This is probably what you’ve been waiting for.

Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemist Knight joined the long list of anime who got in trouble because of sex:

So when I started seeing promos for this series that featured her alternately as a clumsy little girl and a scantily-clad sexpot, with a waterfall of saliva pouring forth as she locks lips with the male lead, I got mad.

No kidding! They were angry there was generally nothing to attack on the first episode, especially since the staff knew more fanservice was coming in future episodes. But the author did take the time to highlight how Jeanne d’Arc is an historical figure who, according the author’s edicts (Which are backed by the authority of the matriarchy, I guess), should not be sexualized or made cute because reasons.

As we approach the end of Anime Feminist’s rather impressive list of sins committed by the medium, we have UzaMaid! They did unsurprisingly like that the maid is buff and a lesbian but, for those familiar with the series, it’s probably easy to figure out where the show lost them. The series focuses on an adult maid who likes little girls and takes a job purely out of her infatuation with the home’s resident little girl. The series isn’t actually supporting abusing kids, the setting is used for comedy and it is fiction after all (Hardly the first dark-themed comedy setting in history to: I Dream of Jeannie involves a girl enslaved to a man, Hogan’s Heroes makes light comedy of WWII and the Nazi and Married with Children…) but the good people of Anime Feminist completely lost it. Which is to be expected considering that it seems pretty ingrained in Western media to wage a war on loli at this point.

The overtness is a nauseating surprise, but what makes it worse is the particular kinds of jokes UzaMaid decides to mine from that setup.

…

The result tastes of putrid, callous exploitation.

…

…the show acknowledging that this is horrifying doesn’t magically cleanse the premise, given that Tsubame basically always wins and the camera loves nothing more than to inhabit her leering mindset. All it does is top the normalization of pederasty with a trivialization of CSA survivors.

…

But hey, if all you care about is the animation, it’s the prettiest-looking child molestation comedy of the year.

Image Source: Taken from the series Highschool DxD

And of course, the one series that was sure to make them lose it, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord. First off, they ignore that the series is comedic and not intended to promote slavery and then try to make some grandstanding point about real life violence against women. They followed by criticizing the main character for being a socially awkward nerd in spite of the fact that many such series focus on the main character overcoming his initial social problems. They also have a problem with the main female characters arguing with each other, because apparently women don’t argue (I don’t know where they’re going with it at this point but they really do have a problem with the women arguing with each other in the show). They criticized the series for being a fantasy without actual serious ramifications and condemnations for having enslaved the girls (Because we all know comedies never present situations that are wrong without any intention to address them except for, you know, comedy). And they were besides themselves that a fanservice-centric series actually featured fanservice (Which is apparently misogynist and sexist but then again what isn’t these days?). At least, they unwittingly perfectly described how reading their reviews feels:

…but at a certain point numbness begins to set in and the brain stops rejecting new input just to preserve itself.

Off course, they had to add a cherry on top:

Anyway, this is a televised anime merrily marching its way into production while stories about healthy queer relationships and mental health issues struggle to get made.

Yes, because watching modern American TV, what’s blatantly obvious is that queer stories are struggling to be made…

I’d like to finish with their review of Radiant. Take a look at what they had to say on the series:

It may also help that Radiant is adapted from a French comic by Tony Valente, which makes it thus far blessedly free of what we here at AniFem like to call “anime bullshit.” The premiere is void of fanservice, and both the opening and ending themes suggest the female characters will all be reasonably clothed and capable figures (if not outnumbered pretty significantly by the dudes).

Image Source: Taken from the series Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

I hope it is clear now. Feminists, the 4th wave kind at least, SJWs and the Western media establishment who shares their views, have no respect for anime as a medium or the culture it comes from. It is here in black and white: They are happy it is adapted from a Western comic rather than a Japanese one because it means it won’t have elements associated with anime in it. Again, these people hate the medium and they hate its fans and the sole reason they are paying any attention to anime is because they harbor the hope of altering, changing and remolding it to Western cultural standards.

Anime News Network has also been surprisingly active on the scene lately. Starting again with Island, which made the grown adults of ANN feel very uncomfortable:

Within the first ten seconds of ISLAND’s premiere, we’re greeted with the sight of a very young girl engaging in what seems to be a very uncomfortable sexual encounter; just minutes later, we see an entirely different girl faceplant right onto an unconscious naked man’s dick. As far as first impressions go, ISLAND gets off to a strange and off-putting start to say the least.

It is then promptly called “Exploitative” and, as if to be mere coincidence, they all find the show “Bland” and filled with “Tired clichés”; which is strangely what they seem to think of most series featuring fanservice aimed at men. Surely a coincidence, I refuse to believe that grown adults would let a strange aversion to sex cloud their judgement of a series’ general level of quality. In any event, they brought up the “He looks older than the girls” line that I guess we’ll be hearing a lot from now on.

Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of the Commandments was targeted for its fanservice:

On the downside, this means that Meliodas is still fondling Elizabeth or peeking at her panties at every opportunity and she’s still mostly tolerating it, and it’s still every bit as awkwardly and ineffectively forced in as it has ever been; the outfits (or lack thereof) that Merlin and one of the female Commandments normally sport are sexier, and that’s still not saying much. Fortunately fan service has always been a minor sidelight to the franchise rather than a focal point, so this element does not drag the series down much.

It should be obvious by now that to these people, sex is a problem. It is always considered a negative and always criticized and the trend is increasing in all media as of late.

Image Source: ME.ME

Release the Spyce was generally a hit, but they had a problem with the fanservice:

Even though the show’s costumes feel a bit fanservicey…

Even though… I like how fanservice and anything sexual is automatically considered a negative in Western media establishment presses. Anyways, further negative comments on what little fanservice the series has and apparently can’t get away with:

Beyond that, this is basically just an excuse for teen girls to dress like mini-skirted ninjas in a secret vigilante squad. (And while there’s not exactly fan service, the camera isn’t shy around the girls’ costumes, either.)

Conception also got on their bad side but this time they started their reviews by attacking other series first:

Jeez anime, we’ve got like two days of preview guide left, I thought I’d escaped. With “the show about an adult woman attempting to molest a child” and “the show about goblins literally raping women” on the books, I figured this season’s uniquely bad premises were basically behind us.

They attacked it for being too “Predatory” and lunged into another session of trying to be witty by attacking its sexual elements:

…so she could fulfill her role as the oven for Itsuki’s baby-batter.

…

It’s exploitative and trashy, but the show never pretends to be anything other than that, and at least it tries to handle this slimy premise with a modicum of tact.

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…it doesn’t offer much hope for a nuanced or even tasteful story…

…

I didn’t find myself wanting to tear my hair out in the same way I have with some other premieres.

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Considering its premise, the first episode of Conception is not as bad as one might expect.

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The premise is as cookie-cutter as can be imagined…

Other than that they really seemed to hate the mascot and the humor surrounding it molesting one of the girls.

It is also amazing how every sexual comedy, from the bad ones to the great ones, always get called “Tropy”, “Repetitive”, “Boring”, “Arch-typical”… by Western establishment reviewers yet other series of literally any non-sexual genre never get called out for having repetitive tropes. Sure, they sometimes mention a series playing a trope a bit too on the nose, but otherwise it is never held against such shows (Except maybe for shonen). Since their criticism, regardless of quality, is always the same, it does leave little doubt that it is motivated by their personal issues with sex and not by their “Professional” opinions; making any reviews they make concerning fanservice series pretty pointless to any potential viewer who isn’t also anti-sex.

SSSS.Gridman was criticized for its fanservice and being “Dominated by T&A” at times. This confused the readers of ANN who questioned the premise in the forum, wondering why a single beach episode amounted to “Too much fanservice” in a series that has generally little to none. In spite of being grown adults, the staff of ANN also seem to be incapable of taking the series seriously due to having seen a cute girl (Which is essentially slut-shaming: Hey girl, cover up if you want to be taken seriously!):

Like y’all, I appreciate anime girl feet and thighs as much as the next tiddy-liker, but this is seriously distracting from any point the show may be making. SSSS.Gridman needs to chill.

…

Essentially, it’s hard to take the female characters seriously when the camera won’t stop checking them out…

And then promptly complained that the series didn’t have fanservice focused on its male characters; implying that any series that has fanservice, which they despise, must at least aim it at both genders; because focusing on a specific demographic is wrong now.

Ai Tenchi Muyo! was the recipient of much criticism for fanservice as well. According to the author, he was afraid (Yes, he had actual fears over this) that the series would focus on a genre he’s come to largely dislike and he further adds:

I understand that this all meant to be humorous and not taken seriously at all, but I cannot escape my own personal distaste with any series that tries to mine humor and romance out of a young teacher and his harem of students.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai also made ANN’s list, because that little sister scene is something no one in the Western establishment can let go:

…and this is the sort of show where the protagonist’s little sister will curl up in his bed and ask how horny he’s feeling.

…

Likewise there was no real cause to have Kaede have a romantic attachment to her brother, as her past traumas would have justified real sibling closeness without muddying the romantic waters.

Oh, and that “period” line too:

Where a successful show in this genre would place a genuinely clever or cutting line, Bunny Girl uses something like “are you on your period?”

…

As far as Sakuta, he lost me when he accused his friend’s girlfriend of having her period when she was being nasty to him.

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…Sakuta was resorting to something he shouldn’t have and perpetuating a repulsive stereotype.

It’s a miracle anything can be said at all in fiction these days and it does lead to wonder if it will be possible to even do comedy soon enough without every joke being called “A sexist, objectifying, stereotype of the patriarchy.”

Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc and the Alchemist Knight was the recipient of passive aggressive comments:

…Ulysses mostly fulfills the expectations of any low-rent ecchi adaptation…

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…viewers are not going to come to this show for the spectacle; they’re going to show up for the sleaze.

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If there’s anything to be said for Ulysses, it’s that the show knows exactly what it’s here to do, and none of it will be tasteful.

…

If your anime viewing habits range somewhere between “dumpster raccoon” and “shameless voyeur”, well, Ulysses’ truly meager production chops hold it back from making anyone’s must-see list, but its unabashedly trashy story is certain to yield its own unique kind of entertainment value this fall.

Moving on to The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar, they had a major problem with the girls referring to the main character as “Father” and “Big brother”, in spite of the fact that he is neither and the girls don’t really see him as such. Of course it begs the question: Would it really be a problem if this fictional story was actually about incest? <Sigh> Of course one reviewer wanted to earn extra brownie points by attacking isekai themselves:

Oh boy, it’s This Damn Show again. It feels like we get closer to the bottom of the barrel for basic isekai shows with each passing season.

Ironically, the reviewers managed to perform genuine objectification when they stated:

None of the female characters feel like real people – they feel like living avatars of the audience’s desires…

Showcasing the sexuality of female characters is not objectification because it is possible to appreciate sex appeal and not see someone as an object. However, saying that the girls don’t feel like real people due to their personalities is most certainly objectification.

Other “Reviewers” latched on to minor details such as the “Petting being uncomfortable” and eventually came back to their one major problem with these type of series: SEX!!! Yeah, it seems a cultural thing at this point that reviewers and officials in the West have all the mental maturity of a 9 year old: They secretly like sex because they’re about to enter puberty but are still at that stage where they’re shy about it in public and feel the need to say “Eew, kissy faces” while glamoring how awesome violence is so all their friends will think they’re cool.

Coming up again, My Sister, My Writer seems to have spectacularly triggered the ANN staff. They start out by ranting about the sister-fetish romantic comedy genre and then go on to rant about how characters in these series “Don’t have any humanity”. I’m not kidding when I say rant by the way, read their reviews, they really got triggered. Of course, the rant is not limited only to incest but to the fanservice (Sex) as well and the very fact that this is a sexual comedy. The series was also criticized for the “Perfect” sister having no reason to like her uninteresting brother; interesting critique considering it amounts to the “Out of your league” circlejerking comments of high school bullies who like to decide who can date who and why.

For those who want to see samples of the triggering:

There has to be a bottom, right? Even if just as a theoretical concept, there must be a point where little sister light novel fetish shows become so indulgent, self-referential, and utterly divorced from anything approaching real human experiences that they cease to parse as anything but a mewling flesh blob spewing panty shots and garbled “onii-chans.”

…

…but if an anime is going to consist entirely of shameless masturbatory nonsense…

…

But where the series lost me most was with the “little sister secretly in love with the brother” angle.

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…stock female characters who seem to exist primarily for the purpose of ramping up the fanservice level.

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…honest, it lost me when Reika, Yu’s new editor, shoved her breast into his hand and told him that he could grope her boobs in the name of research any time.

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Coincidentally, this is also when new female characters began to be introduced breasts-first.

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The most movement is in Ahegao’s self-propelled breasts…

Doing this article, I gained a new appreciation for just how difficult it is for some adults to cope with sex.

Image Source: knowyourmeme

Angel Cop. Yep, they went that far back to once again pounce on that show. They attacked the series largely for being anti-semetic and having crazy conspiracy theories. Nevermind that conspiracies are part of so many movies these days (Usually popular ones too) this one went over the line. But why? Even in the comments, someone asked why conspiracies surrounding the Jews were unacceptable in media even though conspiracy stories featuring the Catholic Church, big corporations, government imperialist ambitions and so on… are a dime a dozen and always considered merely “Entertaining”. The show was also criticized for being made boring with nationalistic politics, even though this is coming from a media establishment that always applauds whenever series featuring severe left-wing political propaganda gets made.

UzaMaid also seems to have made quite an impression on ANN’s staff (Albeit not as much as did Anime Feminist’s). I’m honestly starting to think that these politically correct reviewers have either serious disorders or are outright lying for dramatic effect, how else do you explain this:

Well, I have to hand it to Uzamaid!. I’ve watched bad premieres, and boring premieres, and gross premieres, and premieres that insulted my intelligence, but I’m not sure I’ve ever watched a premiere that made me so profoundly uncomfortable as this one. I had to take breaks during this episode, and getting to the end felt like surviving some harrowing ordeal.

…

While I can absolutely see where Uzamaid! is supposed to be funny, I have to say that it left me wanting a shower.

Image Source: Taken from the series Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

I mean, are you serious? As the review continues, it becomes glaringly apparent they are unable to enjoy a wacky comedy when the theme is this “Gross”. Which is puzzling considering how many Western sitcoms have relied on sexual discomfort to outright assault to even death and murder for comedy only to be acclaimed. This is probably more of that “Killing scores of innocents in a video game is okay but a loli is going over the moral line” wisdom in action. Throughout the review, the reviewers struggle to see who can insult the show the most, with one of them literally comparing this animated comedy to an actual snuff film (Ironically, fictional snuff films do exist, they’re called the Saw franchise and are considered perfectly acceptable viewing in the States).

But Misha is terrified and her dad brushing off his daughter’s obvious fear isn’t okay.

Again, everything is taken seriously with these people to the point where basic comedy setups can’t even be established anymore.

I’ve taught students who were the victims of predatory adults, and I’ve seen the damage it’s done firsthand. This is why I can’t endorse Uzamaid! even a little bit…

And we’re all familiar with the damage war inflicts on millions of people yet that’s never stopped America from joking about it nor those jokes being praised (Even while America itself spreads war on a yearly basis). Another reviewer even admitted the show is very funny, but still gave a relatively low score just because he cannot stomach the premise:

And yet for all of that, I can’t justify giving the series too low a score because it’s also one of the most outrageously funny opening episodes I’ve seen so far this year.

Reviews are supposed to help the potential viewers decide if a show is for them so having the score for said review severely impacted by the shortcomings of the author is counter-productive to the point of nullifying the review itself. If the show contains content that is sure to be a dealbreaker for many viewers, as this one does, then that should be mentioned. But if you turn your review into an attack on said content with a heavy dose of moral grandstanding, you have invalidated your review’s usefulness to literally anyone who doesn’t share your particular worldview.

And finally, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord. This one really did ruffle a few feathers in the West. They start off by attacking the fanservice of the series (Why have reviewers who despise fanservice on an anime website that is supposed to provide potential viewers with an insight into whether or not the show is interesting?) and, of course, the whole “Slave” angle. They also made the same point as Anime Feminist about the jokes on “Sexual assault” being simply wrong (Jokes on murder are considered funny and “Edgy” in many American comedy, but sexual assault is just taking it too far). They do try to make an effort in “Unbiasedness” by stating that fanservice “Is not an inherently bad thing.” but doubled down on the criticism by saying that this show simply goes “Too far” as to become “Sleazy”; you know, things you really don’t want in a sexual comedy.

Comic Book.com ran an article that tried to create a controversy in the introduction of Nejire Hado from My Hero Academia for having slightly bigger boobs in the anime than the manga. They pretend there is widespread outrage and then insult the character based on her appearance in what can only be called slut-shaming:

…Nejire wasn’t drawn by series creator Kohei Horikoshi to be the sexpot that the anime makes her out to be.

Calling a character a “Sexpot” for having large breasts is probably the epitome of objectification. And since this occurred during the entire Kavanaugh affair, they added that “Unfortunately, My Hero Academia couldn’t have picked a worse week to start exploiting a female character…” The series is apparently tied to ridiculous American controversies now and supposedly has to take responsibility for that because… I got nothing. For good measure, the article added “It didn’t take long for male fans to say something dumb…” when quoting responses to this topic.

Not surprisingly, there’s been some backlash.

No, there hasn’t.

As Sankaku Complex points out, the entire controversy is fabricated and takes its example of said “Backlash” from a single tweet and the responses it generated. The article also completely glosses over how Mirio Togata was also made to be more buffed in the anime, offering fanservice all around, not just on the female characters.

Collider also had an article attacking several titles: In Another World with my Smartphone gets attacked for its fan service and being “…all about satisfying the protagonist at the expense of the women around him.” Alice and Zoroku did get praise, one of the reason why was “And zero fan service, to boot.” It should be clear by now, for the mainstream establishment, sex is a bad thing. And finally, Ai Tenchi Muyo! got to win the prize of being the series they hated most out of the bunch, writing:

It was a tough call as to which of these anime offerings would hit the bottom of my recommendation list…

…

…this whole story is just focused on women taking advantage of newly arrived student Tenchi Masaki; in the first few shorts alone, he ends up mostly naked and in a BDSM getup (including a ball gag) and put into a variety of torture devices.

Online blog Frogkun (Which is a source sometimes quoted by Anime Feminist) ran a piece on How a Realist Hero Rebuilt a Kingdom that literally starts with this line:

I think about privilege a lot.

And I know this is supposed to be an article about anime but I guess the author was too busy gorging on her own privilege; and no, this isn’t a pun at the expense of the author, it’s literally the next line:

As a result of these constant reminders, I’ve never doubted for a moment that I’m privileged…

This thing literally goes on for several paragraphs about privilege and politics without mentioning anime even once (Though, she does find the time to remind us she went to university and is very privileged) until it finally tries to make a half baked point that essentially amounts to telling people that they suck, have no talent and owe everything they ever accomplished to their skin color and the genitals they were born with (I really wish I was kidding or exaggerating, but I’m not). It further continues by saying that the idea of some shmuck going into the past and enacting sweeping and successful social changes is ridiculous because politics isn’t that simple. Actually, politics would be pretty simple without interest groups, lobbyists, elites and big money, partisan factions and various unseen parties all manipulating the system for their own gain while making the entire charade look more complex than necessary so the people never question why they’re eating shit… But I digress.

After a lot of mental gymnastic, the article finally makes its point and tries to twist what was supposed to be a critique of a light novel into some grandstanding moral point on privilege and under-developed countries and even manages to make this about white people (It’s a Japanese light novel about a Japanese main character):

In the end, Realist Hero is just a silly light novel about a guy and his harem of cute girls, and I doubt that anyone really thinks that all of Kazuya’s ideas are genius. But the premise of an “enlightened” modern person swooping in to save a less “civilised” society from their own collapse is not uncommon in fiction, and it reeks of the “White Man’s Burden” to boot.

Critical Hit had published a review of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy that took the time to focus a great deal of the review on how sex is icky to grown adults:

SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy looked like a terribly pervy fighting game featuring scantily clad renditions of the girls and women from various SNK fighting games past.

…

SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is little more than an excuse to parade around sexy, large-breasted anime-styled depictions of women.

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For some or other reason, when they wake up in the creepy mansion where they’re held captive, they’re missing half of their clothing or are dressed up in some sort of gaudy fetishized outfit.

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Barely-there attire, giant breasts and exposed pubis mons are on show, with their captor playing the creepy pervert angle; there are cameras around the mansion that regularly zoom in on the fighters’ massive mammaries.

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Fan-wielding favourite Mai has always been sexualised, but here it’s even worse. For some reason she’s wearing the tiniest of bikinis…

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Even SNK staple Terry Bogard isn’t spared this humiliation. He’s been transformed into a busty woman, wearing the shortest shorts; her trademark red cap now emblazoned with “Fatal Cutie” instead of Fatal Fury.

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There’s a fair bit of unnecessary aesthetic fluff to unlock, for those who want the already poorly-dressed ladies to wear even worse outfits.

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The whole thing feels like some teenage boy’s masturbatory fan-fiction fantasy.

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…this is trashy exploitative nonsense.

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There may or may not be people questioning the game’s overt sexualising of women…

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There may also be people who’ll buy this game to get their anime tiddies to own the libs… They’re welcome to waste their money.

Image Source: Taken from the series Girlish Number

When your aversion to sex is this severe, maybe it’s time to get professional help.

And for a truly good laugh:

I’m not a prude out on some moral crusade…

Keeping the best for last, we have Goblin Slayer. This one was massively targeted by everyone who has the ability to get triggered. First off, hordes of SJWs on Twitter were ready to do their duty and attack the series with all that they have. From mysandrist comments accusing men of enjoying the show because the entire gender “Likes violence and hurting women”, to being called “Repugnant”, to “Offensive” and supporting “Rape culture”. Youtubers also joined in, with many, like this one and this one, complaining about the series for similar reasons as the people complaining on other social media sites. One Youtuber got enough flack for his condescending video that he had to delete it and then make a desperate attempt at salvaging the situation. The complaining got so bad that Crunchyroll added a content warning to the anime.

But beyond the realm of social media, the reviewers of various websites also had their say. Starting with Anime News Network, which found the anime’s dark and sexual content gratuitous and believes in some conspiracy theory where the point of the main character is supposedly to act as a power fantasy for the target audience to get their “Social revenge” through, whatever that means.

And finally, Anime Feminist. Of course, you knew they had to have their say on this one, right? Still trying to calm down from their earlier triggering of watching the show, they criticize the series for not being realistic because the girls don’t have bad teeth and body hair, you know, totally not grasping at straws. Now I’ll let them do the talking:

…putting aside its repugnant content…

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It would be pathetic if it weren’t so nasty, like a parasitic worm only worth grinding under your heel.

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The show’s treatment of women is upsetting…

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I bet you didn’t guess the deliberate close-up of our unnamed healer peeing her pants in terror…

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…because this is nothing if not a fetish porn without the courage of its convictions…

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…because these kinds of male-empowerment fantasies view women as a collection of holes dragging a punchline behind them.

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…I’m just gosh-darned invested in the plucky and still-unnamed healer’s decision to go on more adventures with him so that the show can scar her in new and ever more masturbatory ways.

…

…this Edgy Edgelord Show…

Image Source: Taken from the series Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

Oooh, they said edgelord so obviously they must have a point; I was so wrong to doubt them and their incredible and well thought out arguments. Meanwhile, here is what they think of fans of the show and the author who made the original novels:

I’m not. But that feint was at least clever enough to fool people with less than two brain cells, so I bet the author of GOBLIN SLAYER bought it.

But it wouldn’t be a true anti-fan, 4th wave feminist-sponsored review if it didn’t take the time to advertise a western cartoon over an anime series while misrepresenting said cartoon as anime:

Anyway, if you’re looking for hilariously gory grimdark anime that doesn’t boost itself on the broken, exploited bodies of women (after that opening fridging, at least), Netflix’s Castlevania is just down the street.

Is it finally clear now that there’s a consistent anti-sex agenda throughout all mainstream media in the West? Are these examples and the multitudes that came from video game “journalists”, movie reviewers, regular mainstream news, celebrities, comic presses and so on… finally enough to put to rest the idea that believing this is a coordinated effort to implement a global agenda is a conspiracy theory? Can we finally acknowledge that 4th wave feminists are anti-sex and anti-women, that political correctness is censorship and that Social Justice Warrior is more than just derogatory slang but an accurate name for a group of activists, celebrities, rich elites, corporations and politicians who are operating a well oiled propaganda machine whose purpose is to fundamentally change society through social engineering on every level of society, from art, to social media, to politics, to work, to the very way we think?

If you think Japan is immune to the likes of SJWs and you believe them when they tell you they aren’t coming for your anime. You should probably remember that they aren’t coming for your video games, they aren’t coming for your comics, they aren’t coming for your movies, they aren’t coming for your cartoons, they aren’t coming for your tabletop games… And we all know there’s no way that Western political correctness could ever affect Japan.

As far as the new woke, feminist and politically correct world is concerned, one thing has been made abundantly clear: Fun is no longer allowed!

Source: Article Image: Taken from the series Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

A couple of articles with interesting information as a follow up read, for those interested:

An unbiased history of GamerGate (Link 1 and Link 2)

An early, but fair analysis of GamerGate (If not one of the best out there): Link 1 and Link 2

A discussion on the relevance and legitimacy of GamerGate

An analysis on the one sided propaganda against gamers

Balancing the good and the bad of GamerGate

Incomplete timeline on ComicsGate

An explanation of what ComicsGate is about, at its ideological core

Some of the results the attack on comics and its impact on the industry

AnimeGate Archive