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This Week in Anime - Is There More to Onimai Than Fanservice?


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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13223
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:26 am Reply with quote
Honestly never saw the show as any kind of trans narrative. If anything I'd say it's about adjusting to and accepting the body you have despite it not matching your gender identity. There was nothing to suggest Mashiro identified as female before the change.

The intent was something more like Re:Life, where a miserable adult gets a second chance at youth thanks to a magic drug. It's about pulling Mashiro out of his shut in ways and have a more fulfilling life surrounded by friends.

Of course if it's important for you to see it as a trans narrative, more power to you.

I'm fine with fanservice, but the anime's art style exaggerates certain proportions too much. I much prefer the more normal designs in the manga.
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Rentwo



Joined: 05 Oct 2019
Posts: 184
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:55 am Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Honestly never saw the show as any kind of trans narrative. If anything I'd say it's about adjusting to and accepting the body you have despite it not matching your gender identity. There was nothing to suggest Mashiro identified as female before the change.


Media interpretation is a personal thing so people will get different things out of the same piece of art. Personally, given current real-world issues about the topic of transgender people, I personally do not see why pro-trans people would want to associate with this series. A lot of the jokes are Mahiro bragging about being able to infiltrate women's only areas like locker rooms and dressing rooms and spy on them for sexual gratification. I personally see it as more transphobic than trans-positive myself given the way the series talks about gender essentialism, although I have noticed the English Kodansha USA localization has tried to alter that a bit by adding dialog about cisgender stuff in the English release. But as far as the anime's official localization presentation goes it does seem more in line with the Japanese manga where this stuff is a lot more present.
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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:02 am Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Honestly never saw the show as any kind of trans narrative. If anything I'd say it's about adjusting to and accepting the body you have despite it not matching your gender identity. There was nothing to suggest Mashiro identified as female before the change.

That still sounds like a trans narrative to me, just not one about transitioning. A more realistic take on gender-bending, where it isn't something he secretly always wanted and instead effectively puts him in the position of a trans-male child? But I haven't seen this show and have heard claims that it does imply he's an unaware trans girl, so, I dunno.

Made in Abyss got less of the "problematic" label mainly because it cut or toned down much of the weird stuff from the manga, which wastes almost no time before hitting you with a metric ton of Yikes. I'm surprised the anime producers ever got past the first few pages to find the good material. Though, they kept that infamous toilet, so I guess this stuff just bothers them less.
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JustMonika



Joined: 17 Jan 2022
Posts: 898
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:15 am Reply with quote
I just think it's cute, inoffensive and wholesome. It's one of my favorites of the season.
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Kiwi93



Joined: 08 Dec 2022
Posts: 309
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:22 am Reply with quote
JustMonika wrote:
I just think it's cute, inoffensive and wholesome. It's one of my favorites of the season.


I agree with you at first I didn’t think it would be really into it but for me it became one of my highlights for the season. I really think some people just look for something to be offended about.
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Toyokaaaa





PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:24 am Reply with quote
I usually see two ways people talk about this show: it's either progressive(or unintentional) and wholesome trans narrative or yet another creepy fanservice show aimed at straight men. Can't help but think the truth is somewhere in the middle.
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a_Bear_in_Bearcave



Joined: 14 Jan 2019
Posts: 476
Location: Poland
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:27 am Reply with quote
Quote:
There's a definite power in problematic faves. And I think lots of people are drawn to transgressive media precisely because they create safe spaces where we can explore stuff not permissible in society

That's a good point, there is lot of good media (or even edgy train-wreck media) that explores "squicky" stuff and lets us engage with various scenarios we'd rather avoid with real life people. It's fine to be annoyed with pointless pantyshots in too many anime, or willing sex slaves in at least one isekai per season, but at the same time the breadth of topics anime and manga cover is big point in it's favor, and there are many "problematic" titles I'm glad I got a chance to read them, even if they were often imperfect. Shinsekai Yori is another example of great story that has plenty of stuff that can squick people out.
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TheSleepyMonkey



Joined: 11 Jul 2022
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 11:07 am Reply with quote
There is indeed more to Onimai than just fanservice - and it's the animation.

That's it. Really. You're better off just watching clips of it's animation on sakugabooru than actually watching this dumpster fire in it's entirety.
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Zoltan Kakler



Joined: 05 Feb 2023
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 12:59 pm Reply with quote
It's been my show of the season, and it's been great hearing how popular it's been. Remember reading how it's the top watched anime on Niconico in Japan with the views being double the 2nd place show, Nier Automata. Onimai recieved 300K+ views an episode compared to Nier's 150K.

Plus all the campaigns have been really successful! In the middle of the night, there was a massive line to get Onimai Kitkats with a bonus clear file. It sold out within 30 minutes Plus the prize plushies have skyrocketed in price to about 10K+ yen for the set of 2 (where most prize plushies that size go for 4K+ yen for a set of 2). And Blu-Ray sales for volume 1 are projected to fall around at 8000 to 10,000 which is nice for modern day anime.

I hope season 2 airs after Mushoku Tensei season 2. Would love for Bind to flip flop between Mushoku Tensei and Onimai. Certified bangers back to back. And they knocked it out of the park with today's finale finally animating the onsen chapters.
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Dark Mac



Joined: 17 May 2008
Posts: 309
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:06 pm Reply with quote
Rentwo wrote:
A lot of the jokes are Mahiro bragging about being able to infiltrate women's only areas like locker rooms and dressing rooms and spy on them for sexual gratification.


Huh? If anything, Mahiro feels guilty and tries to turn away when he's in a locker room or whatever.
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Fedora-san



Joined: 12 Aug 2014
Posts: 464
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:15 pm Reply with quote
Dark Mac wrote:
Huh? If anything, Mahiro feels guilty and tries to turn away when he's in a locker room or whatever.


I think it's more Mahiro acknowledges it's morally wrong, but he's still going to enjoy it anyway. Like in episode 2 when he was initially trying to go into the men's side but recanted and said "Well, if Mihari says it's okay..." then was disappointed when the only women in the changing room were old ladies. Or today's episode where he says he can't forget his morals but then oogles Kaede because his male instincts won out in the end.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5286
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:26 pm Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Honestly never saw the show as any kind of trans narrative. If anything I'd say it's about adjusting to and accepting the body you have despite it not matching your gender identity. There was nothing to suggest Mashiro identified as female before the change.
Saying something is about Transexuals has been a thing now for about 5 years or so. I saw a review of Robocop once that said that Murphy identified as female. As far as I know, the only Anime that deals with this stuff in an outright manner is Tokyo Godfathers and Wandering Son(and maybe Girl Meets Girl).

The magically element of Manga/Anime adds a big dividing line between it and reality, in real life you can't instantly switch genders with hot and cold water.
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Matcha.8



Joined: 08 May 2021
Posts: 130
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:02 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
Vaisaga wrote:
Honestly never saw the show as any kind of trans narrative. If anything I'd say it's about adjusting to and accepting the body you have despite it not matching your gender identity. There was nothing to suggest Mashiro identified as female before the change.
Saying something is about Transexuals has been a thing now for about 5 years or so. I saw a review of Robocop once that said that Murphy identified as female. As far as I know, the only Anime that deals with this stuff in an outright manner is Tokyo Godfathers and Wandering Son(and maybe Girl Meets Girl).

The magically element of Manga/Anime adds a big dividing line between it and reality, in real life you can't instantly switch genders with hot and cold water.


No one turns to anime for realistic depiction of anything. Anime as a medium inherently cannot compete with live-action media in terms of construction of what we would perceive as a reality that approximates the one which we live in. And just because it's not realistically depicted doesn't mean that it's not based on real world issues (in this case, trans experience) or that it's real to the character in fictional world of the anime (if we're talking about textual analysis).

Anyhow, I wonder if the writers for the column has watched the final episode before writing it. The last episode is a literal game changer that makes the trans metaphor undeniable. I've always been ambivalent about this series but the finale converted me into a firm believer. I hope we'll get to see more of it.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5286
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 3:59 pm Reply with quote
Matcha8 wrote:
No one turns to anime for realistic depiction of anything. Anime as a medium inherently cannot compete with live-action media in terms of construction of what we would perceive as a reality that approximates the one which we live in. And just because it's not realistically depicted doesn't mean that it's not based on real world issues (in this case, trans experience) or that it's real to the character in fictional world of the anime (if we're talking about textual analysis).
Not always, Tokyo Godfathers is a very realistic depiction of said matters. Hana can not ever have children and would require surgery to change sex.
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a_Bear_in_Bearcave



Joined: 14 Jan 2019
Posts: 476
Location: Poland
PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:35 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:

The magically element of Manga/Anime adds a big dividing line between it and reality, in real life you can't instantly switch genders with hot and cold water.

But the magical instant switch probably lets a lot of real people to think about and experiment with their own feelings about gender and such. Like, "how would I feel if I had body of opposite gender"?
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