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All Manga is Political

Thoughts on the 2024 U.S. election and the animanga community



“Politics is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources.” 

 


Tuesday, November 5, 2024 was election day in the United States of America. Americans turned out to vote, and as a fellow 'Murican 🦅🦅🦅, I voted too. Well, you know the results. Donald Trump won, again. This is America.

 



 

In the election’s wake, people across the country have expressed dismay, fear, anxiety, and anger. Unsurprisingly, some were joyful. The Don won the popular vote too so somebody had to be happy, I guess. For the record, I am not happy about the former Home Alone 2 actor’s bigly win on Tuesday. However, I am also not surprised that he won. I’m no political science expert, but I believe that it wasn’t just misogyny and racism that led to the convicted felon’s yuge win on Tuesday. To quote her website, Vice President Kamala Harris “will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and she will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.” In other words, she supports the ongoing genocide in Gaza. (Yes, it’s genocide.)  


Additionally, Harris’ stance on immigration, the economy, and other issues might have been a deal breaker for people. Democrats are already blaming the wrong people for why they lost. No, it’s not focusing on LGBTQ+ rights or people that led to Harris’ lost. No, it’s not the third-party voter’s fault Harris lost. It’s the Democratic Party’s fault that they lost, again. (In my humble opinion, the Democrats are not progressive enough.)

 


Spy x Family Lloyd. Subtitle says: "Hello, anxiety, my old friend."
Same, Loid. Same. (Spy x Family)

 

So, what does all of this have to do with our precious anime and manga? I don’t know. I don’t know what a Trump presidency will do for books, manga especially. Books have been banned prior to the election, and books will be banned after the election. Pen America released a report breaking down the 10,046 books banned in the 2023-2024 school year. The banned books disproportionately included LGBTQ+ and BIPOC people and characters. Over half of the books banned depicted “sexual content,” and 60% of books banned were intended for a young adult audience and contained real world topics like death, suicide, and substance abuse. Not good.


If you want to know what a book banning looks like, watch this. A school board member shared a small clip of Shou Harusono’s Sasaki and Miyano being banned in Brevard County in Florida, and the reasoning behind the ban is terrible and laughable if it wasn’t so damn sad. Don’t look at this example as an isolated incident. It can and will happen where you live. I wouldn’t be surprised if it already has. Also, local governments and governing bodies do ban manga intended for mature audiences and adults. The kids aren’t okay and neither are the adults.


All of this is to say that everything is political, including reading. You can’t take the politics out of reading nor can you take the politics out of books. Aside from the real world book burning and banning, you have to consider the stories contained within these books. The characters exist in a world, and that world has politics. Additionally, the authors and illustrators who write and draw these stories do not create in a vacuum. They will be influenced by their personal experiences, thoughts, feelings...and politics.


Lastly, just because the story doesn't deal directly with politics, through spies, governments, or wars, it doesn't mean that politics doesn't exist. If you're a fan of the romance genre, then you're familiar with how the different relationship dynamics clash with societal and character's expectations and undergo transformation to tell a satisfying story. Even more so, if you're a fan of romance aimed at girls and women, where female characters are the heroes of their own stories and navigate their way to happiness.


So, if you can borrow a certain manga from your school or local public library, then count your lucky stars. If you can buy a certain manga in print or digital, then also count your lucky stars. Actually, if you can even fucking read, especially beyond a 7th grade level, then count your lucky stars. Not everyone has the same level of access as you do, and from my personal experience, having access to books that I want to read via the school and public library and being in an environment that encouraged curiosity and reading while growing up made me the reader and book collector that I am today.



Prince Freya v. 3-4 artfully posed on a dark blue background
Exhibit A: I borrowed Prince Freya from my public library. Read it, and enjoyed it so much that I added the series to my personal collection.


So, what can we do about book bans? This Comics Beat article from 2023 has several solid ideas on what you can do in your community. Tips include speaking up at your local library and school board meetings, report bans and challenges to the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom, support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and support the American Library Association’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable. In short, get organized, and get active locally in your area.


Besides book bans, I have a dreadful feeling that the animanga fandom is going to be insufferable for a bit. Don’t get me wrong. Animanga fans have been terrible about racism, misogyny, fascism, and other stuff for a long time. It’s not everyone in the community, but the minority of people, who give animanga fans a bad name, are usually the loudest. Cosplayers have popped off on social media about the terrible comments they’ve received on their channels over the years, and it’s always disheartening to see and hear.


Meanwhile, the shoujo/josei animanga fans are fighting for their lives every day that ends in “y” against comments like “I’ve never seen a 10/10 written female character” or “Dandadan has a great shoujo romance” or “shoujo magazines should publish manga like Skip and Loafer.” Now, that last one makes my eye twitch. Shoujo magazines already do publish stories like Skip and Loafer, aka slice-of-life school fare with some romance thrown in, and Skip and Loafer is not a shoujo. (Neither is Dandadan, and shounen manga has romance too, damnit!) If you call Skip and Loafer or other non-shoujo/josei manga an “honorary shoujo,” then I will have words for you.



Bernie meme; Text says "Read Shoujo I am no longer asking" Photoshop gun in hand aiming at you


Additionally, Crunchyroll, the biggest anime platform in North America, disabled the comment section on all of the anime episodes due to abusive remarks. It never fails that some of the most niche shows had some of the most heinous comments and trolls. The BL show Twilight Out of Focus was review bombed when it first aired in the Summer 2024 season, and now, it will be the last show to be review bombed ever on the platform, hopefully. Removing comments are a net positive especially if Crunchyroll wasn’t going to regulate them properly. We still have social media to discuss anime (and manga) at least.


Lastly, did I mention that anime and manga attract conservatives and MAGA folks? For some reason, the mediums attract these people. They rally around anime and manga like Attack on Titan. So, it’ll be no surprise if I see some MAGA loving anime folks pop up on my social feed in the coming weeks and months. I’ll just have to block them on sight, and hopefully, you will too. Also, I block anti-fujoshis and anti-shippers. (If you don’t know what those are, god bless, I guess.) Finally, I don’t take too kindly to anti-smut/ecchi/hentai folks either. I block people who are purists and against my kind of fun. Animanga scholars have spoken up about the rise in terrible bullshit behavior in fandom over the years. (Definitely check out https://www.fujoshi.info/ It's comprehensive in tracking and cataloging xenophobia, misogyny, racism, misinformation, and miscommunication in fandom with high-quality academic sources.) This behavior is a contributing factor to fracturing fandoms and constant “discourse” across social media.  



Ladies on Top manga pages and panels shows FMC is uncomfortable with typical male displays of affection, such as headpats and headpats.
Ladies on Top


Ending this long-ass rant on a positive note, things are not all doom and gloom. There are “good” fans out there. There is help. There is hope. It will get better. In the election’s wake, Anime Feminist posted a list of mental health crisis resources and advocacy groups to help process the election and get through this time. Additionally, many anime and manga-related blogs, podcasts, creators, industry peoples (like voice actors), and regular joes have posted messages across their channels condemning the results of the election and reaffirming allyship with like-minded people. Now, it’s my turn.


Fuck Trump. Fuck MAGA. Fuck Nazis.


I am an ally of people who enjoy BL/yaoi, mystery, comedy, fantasy, supernatural, and romance anime and manga. I am an ally of people who enjoy shoujo/josei anime and manga, and I am an ally of people who enjoy smut, ecchi, and hentai. If I have no interest in it and think I won’t like It, then I don’t read it. I have no brain capacity to engage in discussions like “wholesome smut” or “green flag MLs vs red flag MLs” as I’ve found that those roads lead to perdition and me wanting to blow my brains out. Books (and media in general) weren’t meant to be seriously and unironically discussed like this, and I’ll die on this hill. Like, there has to be a better way, you guys! 😭


Anyway, I won’t promise you that I’ll read everything and anything. I simply can’t. It's impossible. There's so much out there and not all of it will appeal to me. However, I’ll do my best to find, highlight, and read interesting manga across these genres with special attention given to manga in the shoujo/josei demographic. I’ll keep reviewing manga and writing with or without this website under the pseudonym of @ThatMangaHunter or otherwise. Follow me or not. The choice is yours.  


I don’t engage in politics loudly and often on my site or other channels, but I do take note of politics and the world around me. I do what I can, when I can, and I hope you do too. So, this is your friendly reminder that reading is political, and anime and manga are political. You don't have to engage critically with politics, but you can't deny that it's there. Manga and politics. You can’t separate the two.


Stay safe. Stay woke. Good night. Good luck.

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