Upcoming animated series in Japan centering on female romance and friendship, danger of A.I., the new animated Avatar series, Star Wars, and other queer content
This newsletter will focus on popular culture, including news about upcoming series with girls' love and female friendship, Star Wars in the wake of Andor ending, related LGBTQ+ content, and more
Hello everyone! This newsletter will specifically focus on Western and Japanese animation, and other LGBTQ+ content, as part of my Pop Culture Roundup section (the last issue of this section came out in mid-April of last month). The next newsletter centered on current events will come out later this month, following up on what I wrote on May 8th. With that, let me get started.
In terms of anime and manga, there's surely some good news, when it comes to series centering either on female romances (yuri) or female friendships. For example, the Love Live! franchise, for which each series centers on a group of girls who form a school music group (school idols) who aim to advance in a music competition, has a new project entitled Ikizu Live! Love Live! Bluebird. Anime News Network reported that it will center on ten Japanese high school students at Love Academy High School, with one girl, Polka Takahashi, joining this nontraditional school, making friends, and founding a school music group. While it is said that this project will include “short dramas…Live performances and events…[and] lyric video[s]," it is not known if it actually have an animated adaptation or not.
The same news outlet reported on a promotional video for an anime, centering on a group of girls bowling, premiering on July 8, entitled Turkey!, with the full title as "Turkey!-Time to Strike-." According to the reporting, it will focus on Mai, and her teammates (Rina, Sayuri, Nozomi, and Nanase) all of whom are members of the Ikkokukan High School Bowling Club, as she tries to beat someone else in a competition. If anything, it will fall into female friendship, just as other series about girls who play golf (Birdie Wing, Tonbo!, and Sorairo Utility), do pottery (Let's Make a Mug Too), recite poems (Flower and Asura), adapt to life in an unfamiliar place (Anne Shirley), make food together (Food for the Soul), take photos together (Mono), play mahjong together (Pon no Michi), play music together (Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night, Sound! Euphonium), cheer together (Narenare: Cheer for You!), make videos together (Mayonaka Punch), or build things together (Do It Yourself!!).
This is no surprise considering that the series character designer (and chief animation director), Airi Takekawa previously worked on Ippon Again! In a review of that series some time ago, I wrote that although "the show doesn't have direct yuri themes, and only subtext…it is more than a female-centered version of sports shonen…the series is…yuri-ish, and…primarily a sports series." It looks like it will be an exciting series. The same can be said for the short anime, See You Tomorrow at the Food Court, which centers on the friendship between a female honor student, Wada, and a blond-haired "intimidating fashionista" named Yamamoto, premiering next month (on June 13). On the latter series, it is curious that the series director, Kazuomi Koga, previously directed Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible, while the script writer, Jukki Hanada, previously worked on Sound! Euphonium and Love Live! School Idol Project, while the character designer and chief animation director Kyuta Sakai worked on Kase-san and the Morning Glories. So this could be an amazing series as well.
On that note, I come to a recent Yuri News Network update by Erica Friedman. She reports on an interview with The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't A Guy At All creator on ANN pulled down (she guesses a possible "schedule issue" which I think is possible based on what I've seen on Bluesky), and news about the aforementioned See You Tomorrow at the Food Court. She notes that an anime adaptation of Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity to an Android? manga (this is very very gay, with the official description saying: "Akane's admired at work…privately, Akane's a hot mess…Good thing she drunkenly ordered a new android named Nadeshiko…[a] beautiful lady android that arrives is a horny hottie. Akane's about to get more service than she expected!") is set to premiere next year.
The same is the case for Awajima Hakkei. She describes it as "based on Shimura Takako's manga about a musical revue theater troupe school, [which] will be getting an anime in 2026 from Madhouse." The ANN notes that the series director, Morio Asaka, once directed various episodes of Nana and Cardcaptor Sakura, and the character designer, Kunihiko Hamada, did animation for Cardcaptor: Clear Card and Nana. The series script writer, Yasuhiro Nakanishi, previously worked on Shy, as a series composer on seasons 1 and 2. Considering that Awajima Hakkei is a "coming-of-age omnibus series follows the girls at an opera music school, with each chapter centering around different girls" maybe there will be Nana-like elements to it (like complex female characters). That would be it as exciting, if it happens, even though I know Nana can be a rough watch at times, because of the emotional and mental pain the characters go through. After all, Madhouse, which is working on this anime, animated Nana, while the manga author, Takako, is known for her two manga (Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Son), both of which received anime adaptations.
Friedman's update also notes that the second Cardcaptor Sakura movie (entitled Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card), which originally aired in 2000, will be returning to theaters in Japan beginning on May 30th, a dark fantasy yuri novel named Tithe in Blood, will be released in one month, the addition of new items to the Yuricon Store, and Alice Wu's Saving Face getting a Criterion Collection. There were other articles on ANN noting the further crackdown on copyright infringement (benefiting big companies) of unauthorized manga scans and Webtoon announcing major updates to "transform how users discover and engage with webcomics" like A.I.-powered "personalized recommendations...an upgraded search function...The ability to unlock the entire series at once for select completed titles" which is just as disturbing, when it comes to A.I., as what I noted in my last newsletter: efforts by Amazon’s Prime Video and Netflix to begin using A.I. for subtitles and dubs, especially when it comes to licensed TV series and movies (usually anime). This could definitely be a problem for series with strong messaging.
Otherwise, Anime Feminist had articles on fandom misogyny and the flawed women of NANA (mainly focusing on the manga rather than the anime), BanG Dream! It's MyGo!!!!!, Ave Mujica, and the "doll in Asian feminism." There were further articles providing recommendations for Winter 2025, and a three-episode check-in. The first of these articles recommends some series I'd recommend too: Ave Mujica -The Die is Cast- (compares it to Dear Brother), Flower and Asura, Honey Lemon Soda, Sorairo Utility (compared to Birdie Wing), and Zenshu. The series Medalist, My Happy Marriage season 2, and Thunderbolt Fantasy season 4, listed in the post, I haven't seen.
The second post notes some series that are enjoyable, with claims there's nothing new to write about Food for the Soul, Mono, and three others. There were follow-up posts on A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof, Rock is a Lady’s Modesty, Maebashi Witches, and Anne Shirley, and some others I have not seen (To Be Hero X, Lazarus, Kowloon Generic Romance, The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside By My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom, and Mobile Suit Gundam: Gquuuuuux). There were further articles on:
Girls Band Cry exhibition bringing "the anime's locations into the real world"
Galette Yuri Manga Magazine's Kickstarter for 3rd Volume launching on May 15
Bloom Into You's Nio Nakatani launching a new manga this fall
an anime adaptation of Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! announced
an anime adaptation of Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games (to premiere sometime this year), with more cast, staff, and Street Fighter 6 collaboration revealed
an article on COVID-19's impact on golf anime adaptations
When it comes to Star Wars, there is the positive news about the Star Wars Visions episode "The Ninth Jedi" getting a limited series in 2026, but, this has to be taken into account that Andor, a powerhouse of the Star Wars franchise ended. Reports on what is to come include some animated series (Maul: Shadow Lord), some live-action (Ahsoka - Season 2), and some films (The Mandalorian & Grogu), with a shift back to theatrical releases, according to one article. Notably, there no mention about The Acolyte, a new season of The Bad Batch, a new installment of Star Wars: Tales, or any other animated series apart from the previously mentioned one and Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (likely will end later this year). There’s a plethora of comics (where Star Wars is most active these days), like the new Aphra series (Doctor Aphra: Chaos Agent), Star Wars: Jedi Knights, and Star Wars: Legacy of Vader, or video games like Star Wars Outlaws. Some are even calling the end of Andor the "end of an era" (it surely was the end of a lesbian couple, one of whom (Cinta) gets killed in friendly fire by a dumbass rebel, in an episode entitled "What a Festive Evening" which could have been much better, while the other woman, Vel, survives) whether or not there are "fun releases" in the future, which I'd say is a valid point, since Lucasfilm happily, and disturbingly, embraced A.I.
It was interesting to see a Mother Jones article noting right-wingers siding with the Galactic Empire, and how Andor has "pulled the Star Wars franchise into somewhat of a cultural renaissance…[with Star Wars] dissecting the effects of state violence on the everyday people who work toward liberation." Otherwise, there were some articles of note about LGBTQ+ anime that "strive to get it right" and a Sailor Moon director on the "'60s American sitcom that created magical-girl anime." The first of these articles pointed to series such as Stars Align (seen), Doukyusei – Classmates- (not seen), Sasaki and Miyano (seen), Skip and Loafer (seen), Boys Run the Riot (not read), The Adolescence of Utena (not seen), Antique Bakery (seen), Tokyo Ghoul: RE (not seen), Wandering Son (seen), and Banana Fish (not seen). There's other postings on an anime adaptation of the female body-swap series Though I Am an Inept Villainess and KonoSuba – God's blessing on this wonderful world! 3 anime getting a sequel.
There's a lot of positive news when it comes to animation, whether announcement of the voice cast of a 3D-CG animated movie by Paul McCartney, entitled High in the Clouds, featuring actors like Idris Elba, Lionel Richie, and Ringo Starr voicing characters, the premiere of Netflix's first Korean animated original film entitled Lost in Starlight, which "follows an astronaut dreaming of Mars and a musician with a broken dream who find each other among the stars, guided by their hopes and love for one another" or an interview with the creative team behind #1 Happy Family USA. The latter brings viewers back to America in 2001, offering a "clear-eyed view at the experiences of an Arab-American family as they try to fit in and survive in a world impacted by hate and prejudice."
Otherwise, it was sort-of confirmed that Avatar: Seven Havens will not "debut until 2027 at the earliest," a series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the co-creators of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender. While it was good to see that one animator for Hazbin Hotel, AnimatedMau, has a new series, named The Other Side, and that Netflix rescued Genndy Tartkovsky's film, there was some disconcerting news: Helluva Boss will be picked up by Prime Video. While it has been said that creator Vivienne Medrano (and Spindlehorse by extension) is retaining "full creative control and final cut on the series," I have mixed feelings about this.
For one, it could allow the show to reach a bigger audience and possibly make the show better. On the other hand, it draws Helluva Boss away from the indie animation sphere. Already Hazbin Hotel was at that point, with Bento Box Entertainment, A24, and Amazon MGM Studios working on the main series, along with Spindlehorse, and Amazon MGM Studios working on Helluva Boss. Regardless of Medrano's comments, she has less control of the series fate, as she would if it was produced outside the studio system. What makes this strange is that the show has garnered so many views without being on a major streaming platform (YouTube is a video platform, not necessarily a streaming platform), so what is the point of this move? In any case, hopefully this move is more positive than negative, as I can see anger from indie creators, and I hope it serves Helluva Boss well in the long run.
There's further news when it comes to LGBTQ+ content, contrasting the horrible things going on now, like trans healthcare under threat, corporations scaling back LGBTQ+ pride engagement, or efforts to codify fetal personhood, which is inherently with transphobic and anti-Black, beginning with an executive order from the orange one described as "not just an attack on trans people…a broader project of gendered racial governance, reinforcing U.S. imperial hegemony through the policing of bodies and social relations." The aforementioned positive news included:
a queer travel guide to "11 unique hidden gems in red states"
five lesbian and sapphic films to look forward to this year (Kaadhal Enbadhu Podhu Udamai, Flat Girls, The Wedding Banquet [interview about it here], Blind Love, and Manok)
the live-action yuri series, Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko, getting a sequel
a review of Motherlovers, a story "about parenthood within the world of Yuri media," with Matt Marcus calling it "a queer love story where very little of the challenges center on queerness"
There were further articles, including an interview with a queer Black female rapper named Doechii, who said her "literal existence as a queer Black woman is a major contribution to the hip-hop genre," an interview with Molly Knox Ostertag (who is married to ND Stevenson) on finding her "artistic courage" after leaving SVA (School of Visual Arts), retrospective on Lumberjanes (looking back 10 years), and music artist Lorde implying her gender fluidity, saying "I'm a woman except for the days when I'm a man" and that she "feel[s] like a man and a woman" while she is unsure she would put herself in the non-binary box.
That's all for this newsletter. Until next time!
- Burkely