Weekly Round-Up, 5-11 November 2025: WEBTOON Labor Allegations, Studio Closures, and Tokyo Mew Mew Spin-Offs

AniFem Round-Up

Takopi’s Original Sin – Series Review

The series leans hard on graphic depictions of child abuse, but has little to offer in terms of fresh insight.

2025 Fall Anime Three-Episode Check-In

It’s a little bit more like a four- or five-episode check-in this go round, but that just means bonus chat!

Chatty AF 234: The Summer Hikaru Died Retrospective

Alex, Vrai, and Tony go elbow-deep exploring the queer themes and rural horror of The Summer Hikaru Died.

What are the greatest cyberpunk anime?

It seems to be an ever-relevant genre.

Fall 2025 Midseason Podcast Poll

Chime in on what shows we’ll make sure to spend extra time on in the seasonal podcast!

Beyond AniFem

WEBTOON Disputes Union’s Unpaid Labor Allegations (Anime News Network, Wonhee Cho)

The union’s allegations were detailed at length in a previous article.

WEBTOON Creators Union head Shin-a Ha told ANN, “The contract allows Naver to use creators’ works as research data at its own discretion — meaning the content can be used as AI training material without limitation.”

Kim Dae-sik, the WEBTOON AI and data lead at Naver WEBTOON spoke with Korea JoongAng Daily in March. The company has since introduced the AI Painter tool for creators, AI-driven curation for readers, ToonRadar—an online piracy detection system—various camera filters, and a character chat program.

“We built the AI and data team so that we don’t just sprinkle a little bit of AI here and there, but to fully incorporate AI into the fundamentals of the company,” Dae-sik said.

Addressing concerns about creators needing prior approval before working with other agencies or pursuing outside projects, Hume called the interpretation “a misunderstanding.”

“There is no obligation to inform the platform. Signing a management contract is 100% the author’s choice,” Hume explained. “We offer a variety of contracts based on a creator’s expectations and goals. Exclusivity is common in the industry, and commission fees are always disclosed and tailored to support the creator’s ambitions.”

The Union claimed that some contracts reportedly include a clause requiring prior approval from the platform before a creator can collaborate with other agencies or engage in creative activities elsewhere. The union added that Naver WEBTOON takes a portion of the compensation when creators give paid lectures or media appearances.

Anime studio bankruptcies and closures continue to rise for third consecutive year in Japan (Automaton, Amber V)

The article is based on a theoretical projection report for the next nine months.

This comes despite the anime market reaching record high growth as of 2024. The main cause appears to be Japan’s severe manpower shortage, which has led to what Teikoku calls a “profitless boom” among production companies. With the increasing number of anime titles being made, studios have come to face surging project orders that outpace their capacity. As a solution, some companies are forced to extend production periods (and thus increase labor costs), which diminishes their profit margins. Others have resorted to outsourcing to overseas studios, only to be faced with soaring costs caused by the yen’s depreciation against the dollar. 

To make matters worse, industry professionals say that the practice of outsourcing animation “for cheap” from overseas studios and then having domestic staff “fix” the subpar quality work has caused skilled key animation directors to suffer from burn out and resign, creating a kind of vicious cycle. 

While there are several initiatives from big publishers and the Japanese government itself to improve working conditions and revenue distribution within the industry, Teikoku Data Bank says anime production companies are in need of urgent measures in order to get back on their feet, particularly when it comes to training human resources. 

Ranma ½ Episode 18 (Anime News Network, Caitlin Moore)

The remake finally arrived at Happosai.

For all you series newcomers out there, this episode introduces Happosai, the single worst character in the entire franchise. Let me tell you about Happosai: he’s old. He trained Genma and Soun, both of whom are terrified of him. He’s incredibly strong. He’s a serial sex criminal who is physically addicted to assaulting teenage girls without their consent. I know that “perverted master” is a stock character archetype of kung-fu films and the media influenced by them, but that doesn’t make it feel any better when I have to sit through entire episodes focusing on them.

The anime team here has done their best to mitigate the harm that Happosai brings to the series. Instead of grabbing bosoms and bottoms, he now rubs his face all over teenage girls’ legs and lower backs. Instead of an outright sex crime, he’s just invading their personal space! That’s what he tries to do to Akane and successfully does to girl-type Ranma when they first meet. But honestly? I don’t think it’s much better. A violation is a violation, and we’re supposed to be chuckling at teenage girls being terrorized by an old man. Also, why is he so obsessed with Akane, who was six when he was buried? She’s one of three sisters… not that I wish him on Nabiki and Kasumi.

And I do mean terrorized. A chunk of the episode is taken up by Happosai zipping himself into a pig suit and trying to disguise himself as P-chan to go sleep in Akane’s bed. This is one of the episodes that calls for Akane to be dimwitted, so she refuses to let Ranma protect her. This results in Happosai using a pressure point to knock her out and take her up to the roof, where he and Ryoga continue to fight. An old man rendering a child unconscious so he can touch her body nonconsensually! So funny! What a riot!

I don’t really care if the joke’s on him because she’s such a violent sleeper that he spends the night being pummeled. I don’t want to laugh at Akane’s terror when she realizes she’s locked alone in a room with an adult who wants to molest her! It doesn’t matter how much you water down Happosai by avoiding showing him touching actual breasts, because the substance of the gag can’t change. I know some people are going to call me humorless for this, but frankly, I don’t care. I have never found Happosai funny.

Hamazaki Has To Goh – where does Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio draw the line on casting, and why is it not at sexual assault? (Skybox, Ashley Schofield)

The news of a Yakuza 3 remake also included word that it’s casting admitted sexual predator Kagawa Teruyuki.

All of this is to say that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio are evidently very willing to recast characters based on personal scandals, controversies, and crimes surrounding and committed by the actors they hire. Yet unlike Taki’s one-time drug use or the baseless accusations against Narimiya, Kagawa’s admitted sexual assault has had no impact on the studio’s choice to cast him for Yakuza Kiwami 3, despite the studio’s apparent insistence on stringent background checks. In an interview following the remake’s reveal, director Yokoyama commented, “Because of the subject matter, we go through 10 or 20 times more legal and ethical checks than the typical project. We have to be careful about all kinds of things. Things that seem fine to Japanese sensibilities can be completely off-limits in another country.” 

While it’s sadly not new knowledge that drug use is viewed as an incredibly serious and career-ruining crime in Japan while sexual harassment and assault is often played down, it’s horrific to see the studio’s head imply that admitted sexual assault is not considered something to be “careful about.” Sexual harassment and assault is infamously trivialised across the Japanese working world due to patriarchal pressures and victims’ fear of retribution upon reporting it, so perhaps Yokoyama simply considers it “fine to Japanese sensibilities.” It also brings to mind Nagoshi’s comment circa Taki’s recasting in Judgment – part of the studio’s decision making on whether a crime is a disqualifying factor seems to be dependent on if an actor’s crime is contemporary and in the news cycle, or far enough in the past to hope it’s been forgotten entirely.

And what of the very series these actors are being cast and recast for? The Like a Dragon series is built on interrogating masculinity — whether it’s positive masculinity, toxic masculinity, or the deconstruction of both. With its protagonists written as powerful symbols of positive masculinity — Kiryu’s warm heart contrasts his cold exterior, and Kasuga has an impenetrable trust in his friends and posesses an endless capacity for forgiveness — it’s a no brainer that misogyny, and by extension sexual violence against women, should be a no-go. Antagonists frequently harass or assault women to demonstrate their depravity, which is telling in a series where their affinity for senseless murder is often breezed past unless they kill a named, major character. 

Genital appearance rule for gender change may be unconstitutional: court (The Mainichi)

Courts struck down the sterilization requirement for legal gender transition in 2023.

The Tokyo High Court said the situation brought by a transgender woman was “unconstitutional,” approving on Oct. 31 a gender change for her. According to the decision, the appearance of the petitioner’s genitalia had not changed despite around 27 years of hormone therapy.

Japan currently demands the genitals to physically resemble those of the opposite gender among various requirements for people who want to change their official gender.

The high court said the appearance requirement effectively forces those who could not meet it through hormone therapy to undergo surgery and that this went against Article 13 of the Constitution, which guarantees individuals’ freedom from “invasion into their body against their will.”

However, the court stopped short of calling the current requirement itself unconstitutional, noting that “the legislature should discuss whether a revision to the law is necessary.”

The Moon on a Rainy Night Volume 1-7 Manga Review(Anime News Network, Erica Friedman)

The mangaka also penned the manga for this season’s A Mangaka’s Weirdly Wonderful Workplace.

Kanon’s loss of hearing has affected not only her own life, but those around her. She’s suffered losses, some of which she hasn’t really grieved yet. Her sister has given up things so as not to cause her stress. Saki offers support as Kanon breaks down the walls she built on her own terms. Saki is there to hold Kanon’s hand as she chooses for herself to try, to fail, and maybe to succeed. Kanon’s feelings for Saki are both complicated and simplistic, and it’s not until Volume 7 that she realizes she knows very little about Saki at all.

This story is not about Saki saving Kanon. She is not Anne Sullivan to Kanon’s Helen Keller. Saki and Kanon are each facing their life as “different” as support for one another.

And around them, Saki and Kanon have classmates and friends and supportive adults who give them a solid base upon which to grow. Kuzushiro has done a lot of research on the lives of people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, their culture, and their families, and it shows. What really makes this story shine is how “accommodation” is presented.

We know that accommodations for disabilities help everyone. Kuzushiro helps us understand this on a personal level, never questioning that it just makes sense to include everyone. Because the class begins to see how much more they can achieve together. As Volume 7 opens with the school festival, we see that Kanon’s classmates have found new ways to create an inclusive environment. It’s a blueprint for all of us to do one more, one better, and one more inclusive thing today.

Seeds of peace: The legacy of Hiroshima’s ‘aogiri storyteller’ Suzuko Numata (The Mainichi, Kana Nemoto)

Numata spent decades speaking as a survivor of the Hirsohima bombing.

Sugiura will never forget Numata’s frequent message to children: “You must not be ignorant.” She believed that if each person had thought carefully and sought out accurate information, Japan might not have rushed into a reckless war, and the atomic bombings might have been avoided. “She wanted to tell them, ‘To protect your own life and way of living, keep your eyes open and think for yourself,’” Sugiura imagines.

“Not being ignorant” also applies to Japan’s responsibility as an aggressor. When Numata gave her testimony in Singapore, she once had paper cranes from Hiroshima thrown away by locals. For many in Asia, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war and brought liberation from Japanese rule. Numata realized they were telling her not to talk only about Japanese suffering.

Hiroshima resident Keisaburo Toyonaga, 89, who continues to give testimony, often traveled to South Korea with Numata to meet hibakusha living there who were excluded from Japanese government support for A-bomb victims. He was impressed by how Numata would always apologize before sharing her own story: “My country did terrible things to yours. I am sorry.” Numata also traveled to China, Southeast Asia, and even Hawaii, where the Japanese military attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, on what she called “apology journeys.”

Sugiura, also from Hiroshima, has been sharing her own father’s hibakusha experience since 2023. She always mentions Numata, who influenced her significantly, and calls on others, “Even if you can’t understand someone, you must respect them and try to meet them halfway, or peace will never be achieved. Please remember Numata’s generosity of spirit.”

VIDEO: How Anne Shirley became influential in Japan.

VIDEO: Overview of every Tokyo Mew Mew spin-off.

VIDEO: Cozy shoujo manga recommendations.

AniFem Community

Sure, there’s some old classics, but there have been some incredible titles in the last decade as well.

I can’t think of any anime that demonstrates exactly how “the street finds its own uses for things” than Dennou Coil. It shows a few powerful, ubiquitous technologies transforming people’s experiences of the world, and how they entrench or allow for novel challenges to power structures & society

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— prismaticjacket.bsky.social (@prismaticjacket.bsky.social) November 11, 2025 at 9:41 PM

The correct answer is always in the thumbnail lol. I really need to rewatch Akudama Drive.

Been thinking about this a lot lately, how we really need more cyberpunk anime

— Sophilautia ❤️‍🔥🌼 (@sophilautia.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 11:45 PM