• Yattatachi listed their favorite female anime leads who take no shit. My favorite is still Yona, because we get to see her character develop as she learns to toughen up.
• Teen Vogue’s Lauren Duca gives a shout-out to her numerous trolls. Most relatable line: “I can take it, and I will continue to take it… That doesn’t mean it’s OK.”
• Feminism, Anime and Me. All Hail Haruhi wrote a thoughtful, personal post about how Anime Feminist made her feel welcome in fandom again. I’ve been so happy to support Anime Feminist, and stories like Haruhi’s remind me that it’s worth it.
• Index of Flip Flappers Reviews and Articles. In case you wanted to read virtually everything anime bloggers have written about the charming and addictive show Flip Flappers, here’s your chance. I marathoned it between Christmas and New Year’s and loved every second.
• I was on one of my favorite podcasts, Fansplaining, to talk about Yuri!!! on Ice. I realized that I usually assume a lot of anime knowledge on the part of the listener, so it was helpful to start at square one while talking to Flourish and Elizabeth.
• The BL Manga Starter Kit. During the podcast, I contrasted Yuri!!! on Ice, which features a non-exploitative gay romance, with some of the worse BL and yaoi I’ve seen, so it only feels right to share some of the genre’s highlights, as presented by Khursten.
• Finding the silver lining in a bad year. 2016 wasn’t great, Anigamer’s Evan admits, but hey, we still got Overwatch and Yuri!!! on Ice.
• When Gundam Came to Hollywood. After Tom told me he got a copy of the script to an ’80s Hollywood Gundam movie that was ultimately never produced, I begged him to write it up. At one point, I had him dictate the article to me while I typed an outline, that is how bad I wanted to read this article. Now that it’s here, I couldn’t be happier!

Screenshot via Yona of the Dawn, episode 5.