Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Why this blog exists

This blog is for me to discuss why I draw, what I read, what I love and what I fear. It will also include a regular spotlight on anime and manga in which the girls are on top. I will be posting quasi-philosophical commentary on what drawing means to me, quasi-academic responses to "femdom" anime & manga titles and rants on why "femdom" titles are important. I will also examine non-femdom titles in the context of their presentation of gender dynamics and treatment of female characters.

For the purposes of this blog, I'm defining a "femdom" title as any work in which the primary female character has actual authority over the primary male character. While female-over-female power dynamics could also validly be defined as femdom, I will not be categorizing them as such, for the simple reason that they tend not to invert the traditional power structure found in most available manga & anime in the same way.

9 comments:

Lemur-Cat said...

Sounds great. Did I tell you about "Kami-sama hajimemashita"? It is a comic that started recently in Hana to Yume in which the female protagonist becomes a tsuchigami and has this reluctant fox servant guy. It could go on your femdom list.

Lemur-Cat said...

Another one for your list: Barajou no Kiss. Only on chapter 3 in Asuka comics. The main character finds herself summoning guys from cards, and they turn out to be guys from her school.

Keathwick said...

Oooh, sounds like fun.

Lemur-Cat said...

I found another candidate for femdom: Crimson Orbit. It's a one-shot series (two so far, I think, but it looked like there could be more; I don't remember the first one but the second one struck me as femdom) about this teenage girl who finds out she is the king of the universe and thus she gets this guy who serves the king of the universe, plus he has another guy who turns into a sword and also a nautilus. Yeah, a nautilus, with little angel wings. I love manga.

Keathwick said...

Wow, Crimson Orbit, huh? Thanks!

I love it when girls get to be king of the universe.

Keathwick said...

. . . . Wait, nautilus? Angel wings? Oh, manga is indeed wonderful.

I cannot find much about it after a few quick searches. Do you remember the name of the mangaka or the magazine it appeared in?

Lemur-Cat said...

Ooh, long time between comments. I remembered at the time but now I am not sure. I think it was in... either Asuka or Hana to Yume... but I can't find it either because I didn't write down the proper Japanese title. I kind of think it was in Asuka. But it doesn't really look like it's going to get its own book, since I haven't seen it since; it could still be included in a collection of shorts but it might not be apparent by the title. (Or sadly it could just cease to be available at all.) I think I kept the second one but I would be hard-pressed to find it.

Anyway, don't tell anyone but I decided to try blogging about manga and how about a link exchange? http://cicadasinmay.wordpress.com/

Keathwick said...

Eee, nifty!

I linked to you! I also left a comment on your blog, which is not yet showing up for some reason.

Lemur-Cat said...

Another one for the femdom list: Jiu Jiu is a series of one-shots (I really hope they release them as a book, because there are definitely enough and I haven't saved them) about a girl who fights monsters using her two pet monster wolves who also take human form.