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akajustmerry · 9 months

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heartstopper is primarily aimed at kids and I think that's wonderful and so important that lgbt kids have age-appropriate stories to enjoy because lord knows most of us did not. that being said, one massive critique of Alice Oseman's writing style I have is how clean it is. every character, even the characters you're not meant to like, say all the right self-aware things all the time. all the characters speak like they're always in an educational demonstration video. I think there's a perception that young people are more self-aware nowadays because of social media and many are but there are plenty of young people who still don't have the language or knowledge to articulate their feelings. that inability to express yourself and your feelings is such a huge part of being a teenager and I feel like it's something Heartstopper just doesn't really have because Alice Oseman is so busy writing these characters like check-lists for Good Representation™, rather than characters who feel real. I genuinely am not saying this in a mean way. I just don't enjoy that style of writing. i don't find it compelling or cathartic because there are no real stakes or risks. maybe this is mean of me to say, but i get the impression alice oseman just doesn't really know how to write these experiences in a meaningful way. the only way she knows how to write is fanservice, googling "good [insert marginalised experience] representation, and avoiding anything that can't be didactically self-explained. even the fucking homophobic gay bully gets this big speech where he explains inner motivations like he's in a pamphlet for internalised homophobia. charlie explains his eating disorder like he just googled "how to explain eating disorders". none of the dialogue actually feels real or like how kids would talk. to me (and this is my personal opinion only), it lacks any real believability a lot of the time. not because i don't think lgbt young people and poc don't exist but because their lives aren't the quirky dramatisation segments of a "diversity 101" video. i don't think alice oseman is good at writing the majority of the experiences she wants to portray in the show and its weird so many people insist she can. call me crazy but i think lgbt youth deserve media where the characters meant to represent them talk like real people and not summarised BuzzFeed articles from the mid 10s 🤷🏽

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r0wboat04 · 7 months

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I feel so conflicted about Izzy's death to be honest. Some say it was unnecessary and lazy writing that killed off a beloved character who had gone through a great arc over season 2. Others say that Izzy's death is important symbolism for Ed leaving the Blackbeard persona behind and just being Ed. There's also opinions in between ofc but those are the main two I'm seeing.

Is Izzy's death itself lazy writing? I don't think so. In the Vanity Fair article (linked below), David Jenkins describes a trope he likes where the mentor dies in the second act. He says Izzy was like a father figure for Ed. Imo I think this is where the fandom and Jenkins don't see eye to eye bc to the fandom, Izzy was someone below Blackbeard and submissive to him. The fandom played around with them as equals or with Blackbeard having more power in their relationship (whether that's romantic or platonic). Meanwhile Jenkins viewed it as more of a mentorship. I think that's where the disconnect is and why this reasoning that Jenkins gives doesn't work for people, bc to a lot of fans, Izzy wasn't a father figure for Ed.

Was Izzy's death unnecessary? I don't think it was unnecessary more than it was unfair. As people have been saying on here, Izzy's death is symbolism for Ed finally leaving the Blackbeard persona behind and moving forward to just be Ed (Izzy even calls him "Eddie" in his death scene). I agree with this analysis and that it is an important part of Ed's arc; however, it almost feels like Izzy just ended up being a tool for Ed's arc, when we've watched Izzy over this season grow as a person and learn what being a pirate truly is. After all this change in Izzy, where he's finally reached a turning point in life and gets the chance to be happy, he dies. It's tragic. Izzy wasn't just a plot device so that Ed could lose a father figure and be sad about it, or so that Ed can let go of Blackbeard. Izzy was his own character and people wanted to see him have this character arc, become better, and be happier. While the symbolism in this show is very important, it feels like they forgot there was a character attached to this death, a character that a lot of people loved.

However we shouldn't forget that this show isn't just fanservice. We shouldn't expect David Jenkins and Co to pander to our every whim. Just bc we don't see value in Izzy's death right now doesn't mean that it's unnecessary. BUT I'm not saying that Izzy's death and aftermath was executed well. I think the laziest writing of this whole thing was the aftermath of Izzy's death. They practically forget he ever died in the wedding scene and afterwards. Like, Zheng Yi Sao, Ed, and Stede decide to work together to kill Pinocchio-looking ass (Zheng SPECIFICALLY mentioning Izzy's death as a main motivator for vengeance) but then we see Ed and Stede starting up an inn together as the ending to season 2. What happened?? I can and will not blaming the writers bc this season did have less episodes than the last season, so the writers were short on time to finish up the season. The rushed ending is something they couldn't have avoided. I just wished they showed more of a reaction to Izzy's death, like how the crew felt about it but maybe I'm asking for too much. I don't know the ins and outs of making a TV show so maybe they did the best they could or maybe they could have done more.

TLDR: Izzy's death is symbolically important but also really sucks and should've been treated better, especially for a character that a lot of us loved.

#please don't come after me I'm an Izzy lover too lol #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #our flag means death 2 #our flag means death s2 #ofmd season 2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #ofmd season 2 #izzy hands

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alicent-vi-britannia · 8 months

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No, Kallen is not underused in R2 and has more involvement than you remember. (And CC does not have as much participation as you think)

I keep coming across tons of complaints coming from Kallen haters (who are just obsessed CC fans) that Kallen Kozuki barely had any part in R2 and that she was reduced to an object of fanservice (hell, someone even wrote it in a TvTropes article).

Excuse me, are you telling me that all you remember about Kallen in season two are those awkward close-ups? Dude, in the first season she develops as a character. True, but, if you look closely, her participation in both seasons is quite balanced.

She has a certain prominence in the first ten episodes of season one, especially in episodes 3 and 9 that are dedicated to her (the first introduces her as Lelouch's classmate who leads a double life and the second addresses her relationship with her mother and through that it Okouchi and Taniguchi tell us about the precarious conditions in which Elevens live). In episode 10 Kallen receives her Knightmare and has her epic fight against Jeremiah. Also in episode 13 Kallen gets some attention because she is reflecting on the consequences of her actions (most people only remember that this was a turning point for Lelouch, but it was also a turning point for Kallen).

After she withdraws from the main focus (in fact, episode 15 is the only one in the entire series in which Kallen does not appear; of the rest, only Sunrise gives us a few brief and humble cameos so that we do not forget that she is there), until episode 18 and 19 arrive, where she manages to stand out (in the first it is because Kallen is named captain of Squad Zero, something she feels very proud of; in the second it is because she is transported to Kaminejima Island with Lelouch, Euphemia and Suzaku and has a great dialogue with the latter).

Kallen is left behind again, we are given a few moments that alternate between the funny and the thoughtful until the last two episodes in which she regains her relevance (in episode 24 she has a fight with Suzaku and reveals herself to the Student Council and in the episode 25 Ohgi tells her about her brother's dream, something that will be important in her narrative arc, and, of course, she gets involved in the final confrontation between Suzaku and Zero, where she discovers the identity of the latter).

In R2 it is the same and now what is going to develop is her relationship with Lelouch, but she also establishes herself as the best Knightmare pilot and will influence to a certain extent Lelouch (mainly), Suzaku and Gino.

In the first ten episodes she has a strong presence. Specifically, the episodes where Kallen shines the most are episode 1 In which she is incognito on a mission to rescue Lelouch (everyone remembers the bunny suit, but no one remembers why she was dressed like that), in the next (episode 2) she has her confrontation with Lelouch, as well as renews her loyalty to him, in episode 6, in which her Knightmare receives updates and she faces off against Anya and Gino; in the 7th, where Kallen pulls Lelouch out of the dark pit where he is and tries to give him motivation, and the 9th, where, in addition to that moment when Lelouch asks her to return to Ashford Academy with him, she escorts and protects Zero during the horrible wedding between Odysseus and Tianzi (her best moment is when she shows compassion to Nina, even though she insults her). Well, in episode 5 she is around Ashford looking for CC while she is disguised as Tabatacchi.

In episode 10, Kallen once again gives another spectacular fight against Xing-Ke and is captured by him, something that reveals how special she has become for Lelouch since he gives the order to rescue her, although the Black Knights have a high probability of lose.

Even in prison, Kallen has important moments that relate to her conflict and the narrative arcs of other characters. Kallen discovers Lelouch through her conversations with Nunnally, thanks to her Suzaku reaches another turning point in his narrative arc since he is about to break his principles, her "enmity" with Luciano Bradley is born and she has a conversation with Gino that he will remember in the future.

And, again, in episodes 18 and 19 Kallen returns to the center of attention (in the first one she returns with the Black Knights, but before that she gives us two epic battles: one is the defeat of Luciano Bradley and the other is her third or fourth fight with Suzaku, I don't remember if they fought in the sixth episode of R2; in the second, Kallen is willing to give her life for Lelouch during the betrayal of the Black Knights and there we have the sacrifice and the most heartbreakingly beautiful line from the series: "Kallen, you have to live").

Then Kallen discreetly retires and from episode 22 onwards returns to the spotlight (her presence is more or less considerable: she has her conversation with Lelouch in which she tries to decipher his motivations, she has her kiss with him, she has her fight with CC and then her fight with Suzaku, later she has her moment of lucidity during the failed execution of the rebels in which she finally understands Lelouch's suicide plan and, of course, Kallen is the one who narrates the epilogue of the series).

In reality, and I take no pleasure in saying this, it's CC who has almost nothing to do in R2. In the first episode of this season she returns Lelouch's memories (implying that she knew that Lelouch was going to be captured and his memory was going to be manipulated, since what she did then was break Charles' seal: we quickly see the first kiss she gave him in that strobe tunnel) and then what?

It would only highlight three moments and it is not because she does the big thing, but because they are more or less relevant: in episode 5, CC was wandering around Ashford's territories, but beyond being a source of comic relief and telling Lelouch that Villetta and Ohgi were lovers she didn't do much; then we have that very brief moment when CC and Anya had a connection in episode 11, which was foreshadowing that Marianne was in Anya's body and she had been communicating with CC the whole time and lastly, the episode 14 in which CC approves of a grieving Lelouch wanting to massacre the Geass Cult, even if that's a terrible idea in every way.

Right after, in episode 15, the series gives us insight into her past, her motivations, her death wish, and hints at her affiliation with Charles. CC subsequently loses her memories and does not have a major scene that concerns the main story or her own narrative arc. Except for that scene in episode 16 where she motivates Lelouch to meet Suzaku (and in that same dialogue she specifies her true desire: she wanted to have friends).

And that's how things are until episode 21 arrives in which they confirm what had already been revealed in episode 15 and it realize us the horrible truth through that conversation with Suzaku: CC was using and hiding things from Lelouch all along this time to promote her own interests, at the expense of forcing him to live an immortal life and was an active supporter of Lelouch's enemy's mad plan, "the Connection to Ragnarök".

Does CC regret it? Does she take responsibility for her actions? No, all that remains is her dialogue with Lelouch in which she encourages him to continue the Zero Requiem and, finally, her dialogue with Kallen in episode 24 in which she reveals to us and Kallen what her reason for fighting is (it is the only time in which CC is involved in the main plot of the series and her role is secondary and those scenes don't make any difference, I mean, they are situations that we could do without and the plot would remain the same; considering that the CC plot is self-contained, it makes sense).

Ah! Of course, CC is the last character to speak and signs off the series with a monologue in which she acknowledges that she was wrong about Geass not isolating you, reflecting the change she has gone through (after all, the Zero Requiem was the greatest act of love towards humanity on the part of Lelouch). And that's it! And no one complains about this or points it out as a negative point of the character (very few fans of CC, precisely those who do not idealize her).

In short, her involvement decreases compared to the first season (there she has a fair share, neither greater nor less). And she could have had a greater participation in the plot.

I think this is due to she was one of the last characters to be created (in case you don't know, the reason CC exists is because Okouchi and Taniguchi didn't know how to give Geass to Lelouch; hence they created a character who could do it), so the creators didn't know what to do with her next and, since CC was never connected to the main plot of the rebellion until very late, she didn't have a place in the second season.

I also have a theory that CC was destined to go down a darker path (after all, she did a lot of questionable things), but the creators decided not to explore or delve into it for fear of her fans (that's something that It is already public knowledge), so they tried to whiten her image.

The real stars of the show are Lelouch and Suzaku, in that order (CC and Kallen come later).

Some lament saying that they would like to know more about Kallen and I would too, but I think Okouchi and Taniguchi managed well with what they could (they had to handle many characters, each with their own thing, and this was a criticism against R2) . And, as far as we know, there were plans that were scrapped for Kallen's family, not for her directly.

And, well, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is still the standard for model female characters for any anime, despite the fact that its narrative arcs are excessively simple. We can be okay with this.

Final thoughts? I think fans only remember what they want to remember since those complainers remember more of a somewhat important event in an episode than everything that happened in a season.

It should be noted that CC was also the subject of fanservice in R2. There are tight shots of her butt, for example; but, conveniently, no one remembers that (or they just leave it out) much less complain about it.

All the girls in Code Geass are the subject of fanservice, but only Kallen is criticized for it.

For the record, I'm not saying this because I'm a CC hater. It just doesn't seem fair to me that one girl is praised by fans in prejudice of another girl, just because she committed the horrible sins of being the second most important female character and having a romantic relationship with the protagonist most loved by everyone.

Regardless of that, Kallen and CC manage to be good characters (don't complain anymore, Larry).

#kallen stadtfeld #kallen kozuki #code geass: hangyaku no lelouch #code geass: lelouch of the rebellion #code geass #kallen #c.c. (code geass)

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kevindavidson · 1 year

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Kevin Day Cooks

About three years after going Pro, Kevin gets bored in a sense. Exy has been his life for so long that at 26, he wants something new. But the only other passion he has is history but even that isn’t enough to settle him. So he searches for another hobby and finds one that he’s actually good at.

At the Nest all meals were prepared and made by the team so Kevin had been cooking since age seven, casually. it was self preservation to him, nutrition only. Until Abby asked him the history behind the meal they were eating at family dinner and...he didn’t know. Kevin sat at a loss for a long few minutes because he knew so much about history, but he’s forgotten the most important part.

Food.

It brought people together and tore them apart all the same but it was the one thing that tied everything together. forget religion, and work, food was what made the world. Without it, no one would exist.

He started learning where dishes came from, and the cultural history behind them. He asked Jean about French dishes, and Jeremy about southern ones, and whenever he crossed paths with someone visibly not from the States, he asked them their favorite meal so he could learn both how to make it and the history.

Due to all this cramming, the facts started pouring out of him very quickly. Andrew, Neil, Jean, and every other player on his team got very fed up very quickly. It was Bee who suggested he share it. The blog idea was shut down, as was the guest starring on a cooking show because Abby said that he wouldn’t be able to ramble like he tended to do.

So, Youtube. He created a Youtube, watched a few hundred videos on how to edit, and other cooking videos for an idea of what he was supposed to do, and got to work. He started easy, a dish anyone could make - Garlic Bread. he chattered on about the timeline and history of the bread while mixing ingredients, kneading the dough - sleeves rolled up his forearms because Nicky said it would get views from Non-Exy watchers if he did that.

Immaculately dressed in slacks and a flannel, Kevin Day made Garlic Bread while babbling on about the history of Ancient Rome, 15th Century Italy, Bruschetta, and the new Italian-American version of the food. He edited it, posted it, and by the time he woke up the next morning it had over a million views, had been written about in dozens of articles, and was all over twitter. most especially being dragged through the mud by the Foxes for the shots of him bending over to but the bread in the oven and slight muscle flexing. Allison coined it “Borderline Fanservice”

Kevin didn’t care. He liked that people wanted to hear him talk about history while also being able to indulge in cooking for more than simply needing nutrition. As the channel grew people started recognizing him as Kevin Day the Youtube cooking man almost as much as they did Kevin Day the son of Exy.

One video turned to two to three and so on and so forth.

As it grew cameos were made.

While making brownies and blabbering about Bertha Palmer, Andrew sat cross legged on the counter just barely in frame with a cat in his lap wearing plaid pajama bottoms and what was clearly a Palmetto hoodie with JOSTEN across the shoulders - how the Josten-Minyard Rivalry was outed as the Josten-Minyard Romance. The press had a field day. The video also factures not only Andrew pelting Kevin with chocolate chips throughout the video, zeroing in on Kevins ass when he bent to put them in the oven, but the ‘keeper pouring an extra half bag of chocolate chips into the batter when Kevin wasn’t looking whilst wearing what some fans deemed a smile.

When Kevin chose the Dobson Schnitzel recipe, he invited Bee onto the channel and pretty much smiled at her the entire time she talked about the origins of the recipe. Her great-great grand mother, and her proud Jewish roots. (Whenever asked about his favorite episode, Kevin always says its that one.)

He posts a Cooking w/ Dad video in which Wymack cracks not one, not two, but five different smiles at his son while they make regular old chocolate chip cookies as they should have been doing when Kevin was eight and had a bad day instead of Kevin working through injuries on a court and Wymack grieving Kayleigh during PT while feelings for his therapist bloomed.

There’s a few dozen videos that Aaron just pops in every once in a while to watch Kevin work. In one he’s arm crossed, practically a statue off to one side. In another he’s wearing scrubs, dead on his feet, and stealing a bite off Kevin’s plate and humming in approval. He’s passing through the kitchen and swiping frosting from the piping bag, or staring diligently at the coffee machine pulling an espresso shot too slowly for his liking. In every video Aaron appears in Kevin always has this dopey look on his face until Aaron is gone in the next cut, in every video there is some type of soft physical touch, and an air of domesticity that leads the press to talk and receive absolutely no answers.

Dan and Matt pop in from time to time, passing through the kitchen during a kitchen party for the OG Foxes and their partners. There’s Allison sitting on the counter, phone in one hand, lipstick in the other, applying a new layer with Renee leaning into her, back to Allisions chest. (The fans and press have already taken notice that Renee always puts her back to a wall and find this little event to be something to look into.)

There’s always Neil. Neil in the background, Neil stealing food, Neil trying to pester Kevin about stats that lead to such a big conversation that Kevin forgets what he’s going and has to record a voice over for the rest of it - the fans pester him to post the original sound and it doubles the views of the first. Neil staring at the finished cooled apple pie, glancing at Kevin, and just bashing Kevin face into it so hard the pan cracks in half. Neil and Aaron, who was also in the shot, both fell to the floor laughing.

Abby cameoed some of the time which led toward Abby gaining a large following. Mother Abby everyone called her for the motherly way she fretted about Kevin, of which Kevin reveled in. She became the only other “Celebrity” on Tumblr besides Neil Gaiman. Ask about the Foxes, Wymack, herself and much more flooded. Everyone loved Abby, and Abby loved sharing her people to the world. she liked cracking open the door to shoe them that their heroes - Andrew, Kevin, Matt, Jean, Jeremy, Neil - were just people after all.

Matt could sing. Kevin pouted when he burned himself on the stove. Jean shouted in French whenever annoyed. Jeremy had a knack for finding every corner to bash his toes into. Andrew’s diet consisted of sugar, caffeine, some more caffeine, and spite. Neil never shut up about Exy.

As the years went on and children happened, they started showing up. Kevin’s hair went gray, he retired, he and Aaron adopted four kids from the system who couldn’t wait to be Foxes, Dan and Matts kids loved coming on the channel. The channel made for more than just a hobby for Kevin, it became a home. A recording of the life and family he’d made for himself by simply having the spine to say, “No.” Once in his miserable life.

Kevin Day, a six time Olympic Gold Medal Champion, Son of Exy, and the best Striker in the world would forever say to anyone who asked that his greatest accomplishment wasn’t his medals, or his skill, or Exy. It was his channel.

Just...Kevin Day finding that he was worth more than Exy by being a perfect househusband.

#aaron minyard #kevin day #aftg #david wymack #betsy dobson #neil josten #andrew minyard #all for the game

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discluded · 7 months

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On MA and fanservice. Seems like discussion in anglophone spaces misses cultural expectations - many things MA do and say are expected of them as being a cp (even for het cp). Many actors in the thai BL world are very obviously queer - they dont hide, they just dont come out. Unpopular opinion, I honestly do think these couples (when both are queer) are getting together at the same rates as the het cps. Its human nature to like a person who is compatible with you and shares your interests.

[context]

FOR THE RECORD, I think most of his research happened in 2021 or early 2022 so like, MileApo would not be a blip on his radar during the time he would be talking to industry insiders. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also hilariously just, take his big-headed declarations with a grain of salt. Appreciate it for what it is, but he got into a feud with one of my RL friends about Johnny's fandom a couple of months ago so 🤣 he's very self-important about how he has ~insider access too

Friend, I don't feel comfortable legislating morality. When it's a matter of fandom history / context with multiple perspectives discussed, sure, but in many instances, I don't know you might extrapolate approval or disapproval.

Also, this is not chastisement so don't take it as such, but I want to encourage everyone to be more confident in their own opinions.

If you don't feel it's wrong, like the tone of your message implies, then you don't need my or anyone's approval. And if not seeking validation of your opinions is hard for you sometimes, then practice!

I feel strongly about mentioning this since your message came in the context of me mentioning HP fandom history and toxic fandom participants, and I have no qualms highlighting who some of these people are and what they did when they took advantage of others with their more assertive personalities.

One such individual is thanfict!on (lol don't want them to find me) but this person not only caused drama in HP and other fandoms but also led a cult that eventually led to the deaths of some cult members. (See the fanlore article I linked about them.)

In regards to practicing cult/groupthink protective behaviors, it also help buffer against political propaganda.

But to answer your question: 1) it's not criminal in any way nor is it hurting anyone to believe such a thing and 2) as long as you are aware that an opinion about the people's relationships [general] is irrelevant to how those relationships actually are and don't get angry when there's evidence pointing to otherwise, then it's fine. A . absolutely asinine example of this was I once saw a person said their "opinion" was that Mile was closer to Build than to Apo... *makes Oprah "see" gesture*. Or the toxic solos who keep insisting that Mile and Apo barely tolerate each other, though their narrative is always a mess.

In many cases, we don't know the specifics of people's relationships with each other, and as long as you understand your own opinion has no effect on that actual relationship, there's no problem if you think one way or another. 🤷🏻‍♀️

For the record, I think my opinion is perfectly clear :) I trust y'all ability in reading comprehension. I just don't believe in telling people how to think or guiding them to a conclusion. I have faith in your abilities to do what's right for yourself.

The lovely thing about having differing opinions but civil conversation is that we can still respect each other and disagree! No harm, no foul. Some things set me off more than others, and we all come from contexts in which certain things are more sensitive than others.

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yurimother · 2 years

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I Married My Best Friend: A Bridge Between Yuri Eras

This is a preview of an article from The Secret Garden, YuriMother’s exclusive series of articles, available only for Patrons. If you want to access it and help support Yuri and LGBTQ+ content, subscribe to the YuriMother Patreon.

Naoko Kodama's I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up was both serialized and published in 2018, just before Yuri's 100th anniversary, which marks the start of the "Common Yuri Era". The work depicts lesbian identity and attempts to open itself to the issues and sociopolitical challenges. However, critical review reveals that, although these explicit acknowledgments move the series beyond prior works, it falls short of the genuine explorations of queerness found within the Common Yuri Era. Kodama's adherence to the detached jovial comedy of shounen's slapstick influence on Yuri, itself a product of Yuri's evolution in multiple demographics (Bauman, "Yuri is for Everyone"), foils its efforts.

In I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up, Machi's overbearing parents have high expectations for her in many areas, including marriage. Fed up after her parents send her yet another set of profiles of successful men they hope to become their new son-in-law, Machi lets her friend, Hana, who has been openly in love with her since high school, convince her to enter into a sham marriage. Thus, they get "married." However, the pair do not enjoy a legal marriage but register a special partnership certificate from Tokyo's Shibuya Ward; the closest two women can get to marriage in Japan. This incredible technicality marks Married My Best Friend's queerness.

What sets I Married My Best Friend close to works of Yuri's second century is this representation of queer issues and identity. Machi and Hana's partnership certificate exposes the equality issues of real-life Japan, where gay marriages have no legal standing; A ban resulting from an unfortunate interpretation of the country's constitution that the district court in Osaka recently upheld (Treisman). However, the 2015 establishment of Shibuya's partnership system, under which Hana and Machi obtain their certificate, was the first legal avenue for Japanese citizens to have their LGBTQ+ relationship recognized.

A fair number of Yuri stories feature marriage, especially those of recent years. However, such works often ignore the issue of gay marriage legality, declining to display or explain the details of such a union. This absence is not to say that a media such as Hisakawa Haru's Yurikon is not enjoyable or is not, in its own way, queer. However, its ceremonies are akin to the pure worlds of S, the brides hidden away from reality by "the gauze curtain" (Friedman, By Your Side) to play at love without the burdens of the real struggles and pressures existent in LGBTQ+ identity.

Contrast this with the OshiRabu visual novels, a product of Yuri's second century. While the series primarily focuses on fanservice and comedy, it also positively acknowledges the characters' lesbian identity, as Ren openly admits her sexuality. Furthermore, the legal matter of same-sex marriage is recognized, though quickly dismissed; a complication waved away with an offhand statement that gay marriage is now legal. The matter-of-fact explanation is quick but serves an important role. Such a ridiculous product as the "cat and mouse" romance between a cursed girl and her lucky young unwanted houseguest/girlfriend/fiancé (depending on the point of the series) need not ground itself in reality. Such a game gains little in referencing marriage equality except legitimizing its characters' identity, making the issues that plague the real world seen.

Want to check out the full article?

Support YuriMother on Patreon to get full access to this and other in-depth articles on lesbian anime and media as part of the Secret Garden series.

#The Secret Garden #Preview #Article #Yuri #lgbt #yuri anime #yuri manga #manga #I married my best fiend to shut my parent up #lesbian #lesbians #girls' love #gl #gay #queer #wlw #lgbtq #lgbtq+

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linklethehistorian · 2 months

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So while working on a drawing WIP of mine, I was watching a video from Drew Gooden on the Avatar Netflix adaption (note: I have never seen Avatar: the Last Airbender, and I don’t particularly plan to, either; I am just a fan of Drew Gooden’s videos and I like to learn about various series I will probably never and honestly have no desire to directly, personally interact with), and I think that he perfectly summed up in very short terms what I mean when I say that the Fifteen anime and manga are both poor adaptions of the original story.

[Transcript: “Now, before I continue getting mad about every single aspect of this show, I do wanna answer a more general question of like, ‘what should we expect out of an adaption?’ — because it may sound like I’m trying to say that this should have been a one-to-one recreation of the original show, when that is not the case.”

“You can, and should, be able to change things; why even bother spending all this money to make something that looks worse, if it’s going to be exactly the same? But, those changes need to enhance the story; they can’t be at odds with the spirit of the show, or fundamentally change a character.” /end Transcript]

While I still need to finish my article on Fifteen and its anime adaption, and later better address the manga, this is the point I want to hammer home to people who refuse to get the position I am coming from:

I am not saying that either the manga or the anime would be bad in and of themselves if they were wholly original stories, or that there is anything inherently wrong with adding content that was not in the original source material.

I am saying that they are bad at being adaptions; they are bad at representing the pre-existing story they are supposed to be telling in a new medium. While they could be perfectly fine and serviceable — if, in my opinion, far less compelling — stories if they were original content with no previous source material to adapt from, they are not that, and that is what makes them bad. They are horrible representations of the story they are trying to tell, and for an adaption there can be no greater failing than this.

The biggest changes that were made to both the anime and the manga do not enhance the story.

They do not fit the spirit of the source material.

The anime fundamentally changes a major character and re-writes an entire scene and major plot points in order to allow them to have an excuse for a few seconds of cheap fanservice for a popular pairing/character — which could have still been had in an even better way without mutilation in a different scene they actively decided to remove in order to save time that they completely squandered anyway.

The manga in certain crucial chapters takes visual creative liberties that do not at all fit the spirit, tone, or descriptions within the source material in order to play up a horror aspect that very simply was not intended to exist in the first place, and in doing so fundamentally alters important characterization, along with unnecessary and tone-altering tweaks to a few choice lines of dialogue.

An adaption should be just that: an adaption, not a re-imagining, not a re-telling, not a re-make; its job is to tell the story and elevate it as much as possible using the unique perks of the specific medium it is being brought into. For both anime and manga, this should have been done through the use of visuals (and in the case of the anime, movement, music, and voice acting) to bring the scenes described within the original source material to life and fill in the blanks based on the rest of the picture painted there, as well as expand on certain points and add to them using the spirit of the original story.

Both the anime and the manga have times when they prove that they can do such things quite well and quite efficiently, but then utterly fail to do at some of the points where it matters the very most, and that is why it can’t and shouldn’t be forgiven.

It is not a matter of not being one-to-one with the original with every scene, it is a matter of completely ignoring the most fundamental and important aspects of some of the very most crucial ones of those scenes in favor of “doing its own thing”, even if it means completely ignoring the points the original source material — and the adaption most closely worked on by the original creator (the stage plays) — tried to make.

#linklethehistorian #my thoughts #thoughts #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd novels #fifteen #bsd anime #bsd stage play #fifteen manga #fifteen stage play #season 3 #bsd arthur rimbaud #randou #I know I’m talking to a wall but seriously people need to realize that adaptions are supposed to be adaptions #and that the moment it fails to be that yes it is in fact a bad adaption no matter how much you enjoy it as its own thing #you can enjoy it as its own thing if you must and still understand and acknowledge that it is a bad adaption #an adaption that does not adapt a story to a new medium but rather changes it in unnecessary ways that do not elevate the original is #not an adaption #but a failure of one #as at that point it has become a complete reimagining #and reimaginings are not bad….but they are if that was not what they were supposed to be doing in the first place #and if they aren’t upfront about the fact that it is NOT the same story but only borrows parts of it

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reflections-in-a-critical-eye · 2 years

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Are there any bangtan performances that have caught your eye as having potentially queer interpretations outside of the obvious mma black swan choreo?

I've always found Jungkook and Jimin's Adult Ceremony piece as being super gay lmao but if not for the amusing behind the scenes

Adult Ceremony is such a good case study because we have the performance and the rehearsal in behind the scenes and the acts have different meanings, at least in my interpretation.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I will once again go back to Chuyun Oh's article ''Unmasking Queerness: Blurring and Solidifying Queer Lines through K-Pop Cross-Dressing''. I really recommend this article for anyone who is interested, you can find it online. Oh analizes two performanaces by male K-Pop idols, one in which they use humor to reinforce heterosexuality and heteronormativity and a second one that manages to blur the lines by using subversion.The original performances are made by girl groups and the boys are trying to imitate that. Despite Adult Ceremony not involving cross-dressing, I think I can use the author's analysis because she makes some really good points that can be applied to this particular situation.

Oh starts by contextualizing how queer Asian identity is understood saying ''focusing on liminal features of queerness decolonizes Asian queer aesthetics by unmasking Western-centered gay subjects. Queer is often understood as a Eurocentric concept with the implication that the non-Western subject should follow Western models''. I only have to look at shipping spaces and 90% of the bloggers and twitter users are guilty of doing this because they can't get rid of their Western bias and lens through which they try to understand Asian queer aesthetics.

Going back to using humor to reinforce heterosexuality, we can see that in BTS as well, especially back when they had to pretend to kiss each other, or they were dressed up in women's clothes. They always ended up laughing, breaking the fourth wall so to speak, in order to remind the audience that they're just playing for entertainment, it's nothing serious, this is not them as men, because they are ''real men''. Chuyun Oh goes back to theater and the theories about presentational (Brecht) and representational acting (Stanislavksi) to frame these types of performances.

A presentational acting style is a technique in which the actor maintains a distance from the roles they play, it creates an alienation effect. I could say that this applies to some acts of fanservice, but to get to the point of this actual ask, I think what Jimin did in the rehearsal for Adult Ceremony was presentational acting. He couldn't get into the ''role'', and the role was that he as a man had to dance on a song and choreography in which the movements were gendered and specifically female for the most part (although for JM and JK's performance they did add some Michael Jackson inspired moves for a short bit if I recall) and the original message was that of a woman offering herself to a man that had waited for her to become of legal age so they can finally have sex. Jimin was shy and always breaking out of his role, while Jungkook was playful, but despite that, I didn't see him using humor to deflect from what he was actually doing. It's also important to remember that Jungkook, when he dances girl group choreos, he doesn't turn to parody in order to reinforce that he's still a man. If the movements are feminine, he will move his body the exact same way. What Jungkook does is representational acting, the technique in which the actor immerses themselves into the role they play.

This representational acting happens during the actual performance because none of them break that fourth wall. Jimin and Jungkook are not imitating the women who dance, but they embody on stage their femininity as men. Wearing masculine fitting black costumes doesn't erase that. They also have a part of themselves that can be considered more androgynous in appearance. (As I said, one part of themselves, I didn't label any of them as androgynous men in general, this is important to note).

You said ''this piece is super gay'', but I would rather say it's a queer performance because it plays with gender presentation and blurs the lines between socially established genders and it creates a space for queer expression, a ''third realm, a space of possibility in gender construction''. I would like to end this with a last quote from the article because it sums up what performances like Adult Ceremony and Black Swan can be interpreted as, without using some very narrow, Western-centric concepts that require definitive identities:

''The ambivalent construction of homoerotic role-play signals that anyone can act, feel, and be queer without the danger of directly being marked as gay or homosexual. Such ambiguity has potential to liberate individuals and to allow alternative sexual identities moving away from stereotypes of homosexuality embedded in Western culture''.

I believe that narrow mindedness, a Western perspective of gender and sexual identity and being art and media illiterate, stops this fandom from being able to talk about Adult Ceremony or Black Swan as being queer performances, as they believe that by saying this, it automatically adds a certain label to these two men and assuming their homosexuality (as we all know, assuming straightness is completely fine apparently). It's ignorance because assuming men could be queer is not wrong and second, they are not able to separate someone's possible sexual identity from the art they are doing. If those two are connected, fine. It usually is in a lot of cases, but in this particular situations when someone's sexual identity becomes a blank canvas because of the industry, then I say that once again, it's fine to just focus on the art and if the art can be interpreted as queer, then so be it. We can look at them as artists and the art they're making without automatically making statements about them as private individuals.

#bmt asks #adult ceremony #jimin #jungkook #jikook #jikook adult ceremony #kpop #kpop queer performances

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translationandbetrayals · 6 months

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Let´s talk about sexualization (please, we need to)

-----DISCLAIMER: THIS POST WILL TALK ABOUT SENSITIVE TOPICS! DISCRETION IS RECCOMENDED. TW: Harassement, Sexualization------ As anime fans, we need to be more critical about the things that we consume and why we must talk about certain topics and how we see certain scenes in our favorite shows.

Why I started this text with that sentence? Because we need to talk about the sexualization of women inside the animation, and in specific, in anime.

Maybe for some of us, scenes like a woman with big breasts, normative body, half (or even full) naked, etc, are normalized inside our favorite shows. Some of these animes have also their counterpart as a very masculine men, fighter, with a deep personality, like a hero, etc. And making all the woman around him like an object that or he possess, or he wants.

It is very known that a lot of actual anime has scenes that are completely out of context from the original topic of the show. It isn´t normal that inside an anime, a female character has to be victim of some harassment of any kind, like scenes that shows the main character looking at the female companion breasts or even touching her without her consent, for example, when she is sleeping.

As a consumer, I don´t want to see how a woman is assaulted by the “hero in turn”. It´s like “dude, the world is ending, there are more important things that being a creep with the normative girl in your group”.

Is like that the only personality of that character is to be an asshole, and that’s ok, we can write anything that we want to write and how to do it, but you can´t tell me that EVERY story that has that kind of scene is well written. If it is to make a funny moment or to fill the work because reasons, then it´s not good!

In other hand, we have some “”fans”” that only appreciate the anime only if it fulfills their fantasies, even if the character that do that fanservice is a minor. It’s a very creepy thing that those people only search for that type of body wherever it comes.

It is very problematic see some articles about anime with titles like “see how hot looks [insert name of any female character] here in this cosplay/art/IA generated image/etc.” like reducing their personality into only their body. In my personal life, I’ve seen examples like yor briar (spy x family) Android 18 (saga Dragon ball), Elizabeth (Seven deadly Sins) etc.

Proof: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UrqXYmNUqYXmjDRmDNn9a99HngIW_oYw/view?usp=sharing

Also, these phenomena also occur thanks to the fanservice that some industries put around their shows. Literally some scenes doesn´t have any importance or even relevance inside the show. This sexualization only affects us as fans and make us look like creeps.

For example, ME! ME! ME! is a work from the Japan animator expo that shows how this obsession and how this could affect our social interactions. Well, there´s people that avoid that message and only say “LOOK, BOOBS”.

Honestly, as a personal point of view, I’m very tired of it. I tried to see, for example, Record of Ragnarok, but when I saw the design of Aphrodite, I lost all my interest on that anime. And when the rework of her appeared in the second season of the anime and the people claimed that the anime now it´s trash because they did it ¨¨¨¨a little””” more realistic, I personally just quit my intentions to see that anime because of the people.

In other hand, can we talk about how a lot of scholar animes has that fanservice with the students or the teachers? Those girls and woman are drawn in a way that their only function is to be an eye candy for those that only search those series because of that fanservice. Examples there´s a lot: Kakegurui, Highschool of the Dead, prison school, etc.

In conclusion, there´s a lot of problems inside of the making of anime. It is a very problematic thing that only degrades our favorite shows. What can we do? We can’t avoid them, but we can see them being capable to understand that those scenes aren`t necessary and that we shouldn’t stay with that perception nor thinking that those actions, like harassments, are good in any way. We need to analyze more that kind of things. When we do it, we will feel uncomfortable seeing those scenes and you will comprehend why those scenes are bad and unnecessary.

If you want some animes that does not have this kind of fan service, you can see Nichijou, Carole and tuesday, Little witch academia, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken and March Comes in Like a Lion.

-Pedro Maizares

#Anime #essay #submission

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ro275805 · 10 months

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(This is a general ramble)

The current survival of the Kaitou Joker series (at least through its humble existence of yearly merchandise) really hinges on the wallets of otaku women and I'm thinking about this a lot lately with how fascinating of a phenomenon it is to me... I was reading articles about how so many series (originally with male audience in mind) ended up getting MASSIVE support from otaku women, especially fujoshi. Someone was talking about Gundam being a huge example of this... The story of that is just so interesting, it's partly what got me thinking about Kaitou Joker and its female fanbase. I really wonder if there's any numbers out there for just how popular Kaitou Joker was with a female audience versus male. It was a big enough thing to receive staff acknowledgment in an interview. As the series went on, more and more of the merchandise and advertising started to take a turn towards a female audience. When Otomedia started to publish articles (important to note that Otomedia itself is a girls' magazine!), they went HAAARD with some of the fanservice. There was no shortage of flirtatious, cutesy remarks about these boy characters... I suspect that the original target audience moved on long ago with the original airings. It seems like it's really the women who've stuck around, or are the ones that pull out their wallets... Well, I'm one of those women, too.

#rose-musing #kaitou joker

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gvftea · 11 months

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"i understand they are more private people but they literally don't do any fanservice"

It's not their job to do anyone any fanservice? They're musicians, they make music. They're not scriptwriters or entertainers or influencers. Literally their only job is to make music and people can decide whether they listen to it or not.

"it seems that they are only concerned with taking more and more money from those who like them, releasing countless versions of the same vinyl, charging absurd prices for nfts"

Oh no... How dare a band sell... Merch??? A practice that bands have been partaking in since forever?????

They're not forcing anyone to buy it. Merch is not a necessity, it's a luxury. Everyone knows it. If you can't buy the same vinyl in ten different colors... You just don't buy it? And go on with your day? You'd think that grown-ass adults would be able to discern whether or not they can spend a certain amount of money on entertainment but y'all are like giant toddlers throwing a tantrum and getting mad at the band for not being able to afford something that is absolutely not mandatory to buy. First-world problems.

"and not even paying attention to those who have supported them for years and could not get tickets due to scalpers with their sky-high prices."

The scalper situation has been a prevalent issue in the concert scene for decades. If huge acts like Beyoncé, Paul McCartney or The Rolling Stones aren't able to make it stop, a moderately-known band from the midwest isn't going to. Stop acting like these men have the answer to everything.

"and i'm not even going to talk about the girlfriend situation constantly fighting with his fans on the internet and him doing/saying absolutely nothing"

People have been harassing Hannah, body-shaming her, insulting her looks and calling her every name under the sun literally ever since she entered the picture, even before people knew about her tweets. Was she supposed to sit there and take it? Also, what do you expect Sam to say to her "Hey babe I know these bitches have been cyber-bullying you for months but maybe just shut the fuck up and don't speak up?" Bro, that's his girlfriend. Y'all might be spending money on the guy but at the end of the day his girlfriend is always going to be more important to him.

"They don't give an interview, they don't show interest in showing their fans how grateful they are for their support, they just send some letters with song titles, post tiktoks recorded months ago and like some comments and posts on social media."

They give plenty of interviews. There are literally numerous interviews being released right now, multiple magazine articles. And, again, these men are not influencers or content creators so the fact that y'all think they should be spitting out social media content regularly is laughable. Their only job is to create music. They do what they're supposed to do.

#greta van fleet #gvf #josh gvf #sam gvf #jake gvf #josh kiszka #danny wagner #danny gvf #jake kiszka #sam kiskza

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anotheruserwithnoname · 8 months

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Explaining why these 2 headline cliches are not important

The media has fallen into a bit of a rut in the last few years (gee, you don't say!), but especially when it comes to headline cliches. Here are a couple that - as a professional editor and 30-year journalist myself - I wish would either go away or be used less:

This is why XXXXXXX is important

Pros call this editorializing. Let the reader decide what is important and what is not.

XXX ending explained

No offence to the many writers and TV and movie directors out there, but unless you're talking about something like The Prisoner, The Sopranos or 2001, whose endings were intentionally vague and in some cases downright confusing, 99.99% of shows out there don't need their endings explained to viewers. If someone is intelligent enough to follow a show, they're intelligent enough to either figure out how it ends or can go to google.

---

There are others on my cringe list, but these are the ones that make me roll my eyes (and,usually not want to read the articles). What they have in common is they insult the intelligence of the reader as they assume readers can't work this out for themselves. I'm not talking about explaining deep cuts where people may not even know where to start (examples include the titular "Star Beast" featured in trailers for one of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary stories for those who likely have never read the Doctor Who Magazine comic strips from the 1970s, and my A03 DW fanfics are often so fanservice-loaded I have to have explanatory notes). But if it's something as obvious as, say, explaining the ending of the Barbie movie (I've yet to see it but I doubt it ends with the screen cutting to black and Barbie and Ken eat at a restraurant), or an article on why Dr. Oppenheimer was important to history, you don't really need it, in my editorializing opinion.

#media #headlines #media criticism

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psychewritesbs · 1 year

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This isn't a particularly important interest, but I've been thinking about what "fanservice" is and how it relates to female characters, and while I'm pretty informed on their side, I'm interested in how it affects male characters.

I guess I'm thinking more on it because of some posts of how megumi is used for fanservice either by the way other female characters interact with him (remi, hana, etc) or by those panels showing his bare ass lol. For the girls, I guess it would be the fangirling and such to see his charming points lol. I didn't notice it much until recently, but others may disagree on what it is or means. I could probably be wrong on all of this, but I'm interested in looking into it

Do you know of any blogs or articles discussing fanservice in male characters (like those isekai harem series) and how we and fandom perceive female characters. I'm not as knowledgeable with the terms, and I don't want to pressure you for a response if it's not your expertise, but I wanted to share this with you anyway.

Thanks and may your days be filled with good things <3

HOLA! Thanks for stopping by.

Um, no. Unfortunately I know of no such blog or articles. I think if anything I'd recommend you look into the male vs. the female gaze and psychological repression. I would also love to hear your thoughts on the topic if you are inclined to share them.

I do have some #thoughts because fanservice is such an interesting topic, one that I am totally unprepared to talk about.

So at the expense of sounding like an uninformed idiot, I have #thoughts under the cut in case you want to read them…

I'll start by saying that I am fully aware that I may be missing important frameworks through which one can look at this issue, so please, anyone who reads this, feel free to enlighten me.

Outside of that, my thoughts are my own "perception" on a complex issue.

Fan service or self-aware?

Recently I commented on how I really love My Dress up Darling’s Kitagawa Marin because I see her as a character who knows she’s pretty, who owns her sexuality, and who is a chick who is not defined by her exterior appearance and has instead cultivated not just kindness, but also a well-rounded personality outside of the “I’m a hot chick” self-definition.

In that sense, given it's been a while since I read the manga, the manga felt like it walked a fine line between relying on fan service to show Marin is someone comfortable with her sexuality, and how it portrays the female body as a desirable object.

That made the the manga feel like it was mostly self-aware in the use of fan service. Which is interesting to note because Marin is fashioned like a Garyu girl (meaning, she's intentionally sexualized) and Gojo is always shown as a character who, despite his attraction for her, goes out of his way to be respectful of her and not see her as a sexual object meant for his own gratification.

It's interesting, really, because My Dress Up Darling is actually quite wholesome for this very same reason, and it would probably not have the same effect without the fan service.

So rather than being fan service for the sake of fan service, the manga felt intentional in a way--like making commentary on the issue of the sexualization of the female body and how some women become overly-identified with this projection.

On the other hand... I must admit that I felt like the anime goes to town with the boob jiggle in a way that is... uh... unnecessary?

In the end, fan service for the sake of fan service fetishizes and creates unrealistic expectations around the female body.

It's unnecessary at best and it reminds me of why I stopped watching Fire Force...

I think that even if Okubo likes to drop meaningless platitudes like "it's not about looks but about the soul" like he does in Soul Eater, his fan service has always felt like its done for the sake of fan service and not because he's self-aware.

After all, there's a difference between "I'm hot and I like wearing a sexy outfit because fuck yeah I'm hot" (which is something I can relate to btw)...

And constantly being harassed (even if accidentally) because you are not scared of your sexuality or simply comfortable in your own skin.

Granted I'm not aware of this scene in context, but knowing how Okubo incorporates fan service into his manga... bruh... is this scene really necessary?

And, more importantly, to answer your question about how fan service affects characters with another question, what is this teaching the boys and girls who are reading these manga?

What's interesting is that My Dress Up Darling's mangaka is a woman and Fire Force / Soul Eater's mangaka is a male.

It's a massive overgeneralization to say that their respective genders explain everything. But there's also something to be said about how Fukuda (My Dress Up Darling) uses fan service to make commentary on a larger issue, and how Okubo (Fire Force) literally justifies fan service with thick ass plot armor.

My brother in christ, if you like big boobs and you cannot lie then draw big boobs and be done with it ffs. Did Okubo really need to explain everybody's obsession with boobs at the end of Soul Eater as Chrona's own mommy issues? It feels more like he needed to justify wanting to draw big boobs.

So I'm going to take a little leap of logic here and say that what this tells me is that the problem with fan service is one of psychological repression--both from the audience and the creator. More on this in a bit.

In Depth Psychology, it is commonly accepted that anytime you repress any instinctual urges (such as sexual desire), depending on how bad the repression is, these urges take a life of their own and find a way to express themselves against your conscious will.

Fanservice in JJK

This brings me to "fan service" in JJK.

I've literally gone on a tangent ok but like I know that going on tangents is basically all I ever do about how Uro's character design screams "appreciation of the female body" as opposed to fetishization.

Ok but you specifically mentioned Megumi in JJK and even wondered about how this affects males.

Megumi is an interesting subject for the term “fan service” and I am honestly not sure we can entirely compare Megumi to a harem isekai mc.

For one, JJK is self-aware af.

So even if Gege is positioning Megumi as that kind of character to whom all the chicks are attracted to, I feel confident saying he's making a statement about it in much the same way Fukuda does.

For example, the issue with Remi is actually quite complex and multilayered. For one she was asking Megumi to become her knight because she found herself in a situation in which she saw herself as a damsel in distress that needed to be rescued. It is later revealed that she did not know how to rely on herself after having relied on men and their sexual attraction for her because she did not want to take responsibility for solving her problems.

Unlike Marin, Remi weaponizes her sexuality and it backfires.

Second, Remi looked to me like a symbolical exploration of Little Red Riding Hood. I understand that, historically-speaking, Little Red was a cautionary tale told to young girls to warn them against "wolves"--aka men who may prey on them sexually.

So.... there's that.

Then there's the bath scene you mention...

When I saw Megumi get out of the bath I didn’t think anything of it until it occurred to me that this image would be perceived as fan service.

But like... I mean... I get out of the bath just as naked, and the only character I can think of who'd get out of a bath wearing clothes is Higuruma so... this begs the question: did Gege intend for this to be fan service, are we fetishizing Megumi's body or is Gege trolling?

But outside of that we also have Gege Kirara forcing Megumi to show some skin.

And yes... the panel above screams "fan service" and yet its a tiny bit of skin exposed.

At this point in the manga, Sukuna had lost at least two shirts, and Hakari one. But somehow a peek at Megumi's abs got a much bigger and louder reaction from the fandom.

idk I'm rambling at this point.

But this is how I perceive it, right? So as always I don’t own the truth on the subject and I feel like the issue of fan service is highly subjective.

I’m just wondering where the line can be drawn between fetishization of the body, and an appreciation of the body--not just by mangaka, but by the audience.

And honestly, for as much shit as I gave Okubo for the way he uses fan service, I'm also a huge believer in sex-positivity and the healthy expression of the very, very human desire for sexuality and sensuality.

Different people have different thresholds for how much they're willing to tolerate. Sexuality is not a black and white matter, but exists on a continuum.

So to me, the issue on fan service comes back to our personal relationship with sex and the human body. Do we appreciate it? Is it something that we see as meant for self-gratification?

Um a bit of self disclosure here but I've met Kate Upton in person and holy shit...

Her photos do not do justice to how gorgeous and sexually magnetic she is. I just want to worship her beauty.

It is also quite undeniable that she's inevitably picked up on the projections cast upon her as an object to be used for self-gratification.

I’d say it’s the same for the male body.

Hello Oscar Isaac in Dune? as;uho sf;arf h

So it makes me wonder whether the issue with fan service comes back to whether there is a point to be made, is the fan service trying to express an appreciation of beauty and the human form or even an expression of sexual desire itself?

The larger issue, I'd say, is how fan service affects others--which we can't control.

Does fan service teach others that the human body is beautiful and that it is natural to feel sexual desire, or does it teach that the human body is something to obtain for one's own self-gratification.

idk I'm rambling lol.

ALL THIS TO SAY... I probably went on a ridiculous tangent but hopefully this helps you in your search for answers.

I am also totally curious about why the topic interests you, etc.

Anyways, thanks for stopping by and sharing these #thoughts with me!

#ask the mental gymnastics anime girl #fan service #fanservice #oh wow this isn't going to show up on dashes is it?#I guess I used the s word one too many times #tw sexuality

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the-citrus-scale · 5 years

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The Importance of Fanservice

written by @the-galaxy-collector

While fanservice probably sounds a bit dirty, and we are called The Citrus Scale, we swear it’s not. Fanservice is when a creator inserts a scene or quote into the source material as a nod to fans. It’s a way to say that they’re paying attention to the message boards, Tumblr posts, and fan theories. It used to be, and sometimes still is, a term that identified when a woman was being sexually fetishized for male fans. That’s not the popular usage anymore, nor are we in favor of this interpretation or practice at all.

The subtle acknowledgement that the creators have noticed and care about their fans is hugely important. So often, fans don’t get what they want because it’s impossible to please everyone, but a little fanservice goes a long way in making them feel seen and appreciated. Everyone’s OTP isn’t going to be canon, especially when it’s the creator’s NOTP, but one little quip toward the right character will have fans squealing for years to come.

Great examples of fanservice reach across genres, but some of our favorites include shows like Timeless. There were multiple references to fan terminology and movements. Even the moniker fans use for themselves, Clockblockers, is heard being used in the second season’s premiere. But fanservice can take a retrospective approach too, like when Tom Holland confirmed that the young boy in the Iron Man mask in Iron Man 2 was, in fact, little Peter Parker. While this detail isn’t necessarily important to the overall story of the MCU, it was a fan theory for a while, and having it confirmed was icing on the cake.

Another favorite here at The Citrus Scale was when Brienne was knighted during the last season of Game of Thrones. Every fan knew that was all she ever wanted, and that she had been told no because she was a woman. Even though she was well aware she was enough by the end of her character’s journey without that happening, it never fails to put a smile on our faces when we see it on screen.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the actors themselves can’t be the leaders of these fan theories and rallying cries, because sometimes that’s exactly what happens. For example, when we finally see Jack Harkness’ butt in the last season of Torchwood, it was John Barrowman, the actor who played him, that was always ready to go to war for this scene. Did we all know he was naked when he was encased in and then rescued from the cement? Yep. Did his team bring a jacket to cover up his naughty bits? Also yes. Did he wear it? Not even a little bit. Was it necessary to the story? Hahahahaha!

But can fanservice go too far? The short answer is yes, but what does it mean to the story and has it ever really happened? This is actually where fanservice gets a bad reputation. Some fans argue that the creators who offer this up do so at the expense of the story. However, exactly what the expense is depends on the individual fan. Again, you can’t make everyone happy. Lately, a lot of the complaints about fanservice have dealt with Avengers: Endgame and the scene where all the women showed up to save the day. And this is where we feel the need to clarify that representation and fanservice are not the same thing. Representation is about equality. Fanservice is about fun.

None of the examples we listed here affected the story in a negative way, though. This is largely because none of them took up a lot of screen time. A line here, a moment there, and you’re done. That’s all it takes, but we get the overall argument. If a story becomes only about fanservice, and unless there’s a meta point to be made, it can damage the overall product, and that’s not good either.

Thankfully, there aren’t a lot of big examples of this happening to date. Most that are cited every now and then are seen as bad because they didn’t make any storyline sense. Season Two of Stranger Things has Nancy and Steve try to get some sort of closure for Barb and her family. Those that believe that this is fanservice only see it that way because they think Barb is a throwaway character. They seem to conveniently forget that her demise is incredibly important for Nancy’s character development. In other words, she was fridged. Do we like it? No. Was it necessary? Maybe, but it doesn’t make her throwaway and it certainly isn’t fanservice.

Our point is that fanservice and stories can live in perfect harmony. Sure, you don’t want to go overboard, but a little bit isn’t going to hurt anyone. In fact, it usually gives fanfic writers just enough to play with, which we’ll never complain about.

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bakasaiga · 3 years

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Kagome & Towa: Heroines of Complementary Feminism

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Read the full article here: “Kagome & Towa: Heroines of Complementary Feminism” by bakasaiga

Introduction: Character Design

Judging from each heroine's apparel alone, any spectator can tell that Towa's design can be largely inspired by the progressive themes of 2020. Compared to Kagome's iconic sailor uniform, short skirt, and luscious black hair, Towa sports a clean white boys' school uniform with fitting trousers, an assertive belt, and a thin red ribbon. Towa's pale short hair contrasts Kagome's dark locks. Their skin tones even differ as Kagome's emits a tanned warmth while Towa's elicits an iciness inherited from her father.

Though the two young women seemingly embody contradicting features, their attitudes, personalities, and incentives argue far from that. It's not as if Kagome has never worn pants, nor that Towa is allergic to skirts. Yashahime establishes that Towa primarily wears men's clothing because of its convenience in combat. Likewise, we've seen Towa in "girlier" attire before too.

Towa wears her hair short, insists on fashioning sleek trousers, and gets into fights, but this doesn't make her any less feminine than Kagome. Towa's warmth mirrors that of her mother, an inherently feminine trait. She wears her heart on her sleeves, similar to Kagome and Rin but in a slightly different way. Similarly, despite Kagome's delicate demeanour, she's far from fragile. In the first episode of the original InuYasha series, she's established to be quiet hot-headed, outspoken, and strong-minded — qualities that would seemingly contradict a dainty sailor uniformed gal.

The point here is that Towa's androgynous features don't automatically equate her to be butch, nor does Kagome's inherent docility translate to softness. The irony is that Towa is the one who's considered soft throughout the commentary of Moroha and Setsuna in Yashahime and Kagome is characterized as stubborn and commanding in InuYasha.

The reason why Towa's depiction of gender is so striking is because it's not particularly linear or black and white: it is truly all-encompassing, and to some degree, intersectional. She may appear to be a stereotypical "tomboy" (author's note: this term is outdated, but I'll use it to convey the sentiment for convenience sake), but her warm, idol-crazed, pink bracelet-wearing self can speak otherwise. Likewise, Kagome's countless fashionable short skirts, high ponytails, and praised femininity don't revoke her ability to assume dominance, dictate decision-making, or oppose those who get in her way. These Higurashi daughters challenge one-dimensional approaches to feminism and gender, while simultaneously strengthening their cause.

Unbridled Sexualization

When the audience is formally introduced to our 14-year old heroine in Yashahime episode 2, Sunrise isn't shy to uphold that same raw sexuality they did for Kagome, a 15-year old at the beginning of the original series. There are enough debates on the morals and ethics of fictional depictions when it comes to sexualizing teenage girls, but it's also important not to ignore this aspect of female adolescence. Of course, their bodies are developing (some, quicker than others) and Sunrise's choice to make their newest protagonist equally as sexually appealing as their last one remains a consistent expressive choice, upholding the author's intent and style.

Sure, on the surface, Towa's considered the classic "tomboy," but that doesn't disqualify her from developing cleavage or wearing a bra. Kagome's raw sexuality is consistently played up in the original series, with characters commenting on her short skirt, countless hot springs episodes, and form-fitting outfits to top it all off. The best part of this is that this doesn't devalue either of these female icons. Sexuality isn't unnatural and the "fanservice" depicted in these times of provocation are some of the most tasteful executions in shonen anime. They're not at inappropriate times and they are intricately woven into the plot.

Modesty empowers some, nudity empowers others.

There's no right or wrong in these approaches. What's most meaningful about this is that the author is also a woman who recognizes the sophistication between the lines of these portrayals. Rumiko Takahashi subversively bolsters this message that women don't need to be afraid or shameful of their bodies through the delivery of two very different, yet similar heroines. She brings to life a story for both boys and girls.

Modern & Forward-thinking

Released in 2020, Yashahime isn't shy to explicitly express its messaging behind gender and feminism. Towa consistently makes references to the norms of the modern era and observes how innately backwards they are. In episode 12, her passionate line, "No matter what era you live in, what girls feel will never change," indiscreetly stands out from the rest of the episode's narrative.

During the original series, the easter eggs of feminism weren't nearly as explicit, but they certainly painted and complemented core aspects of the story. The notion of Kagome's choice and agency throughout InuYasha is hinted at consistently. Kagome, a woman of the modern era, remarks on some temporal differences with feudal Japan. In episode 41, when Miroku is re-acquainted with Koharu, someone he had proposed to at a young age, Kagome monologues internally, "Girls of the feudal era are amazing," as their foreign relationship structure unfolds in front of her.

Though some may view Kagome's response to Koharu's "unhealthy" and "brainwashed" or "conditioned" love for Miroku as poor writing, or blame it on Kagome's adolescent ignorance, I find that hard to believe. The compelling aspects of Kagome's feminism aren't that she'd outright denounce the sexist mechanisms of the feudal era or explain to everyone why what Miroku did was wrong (applying a modern approach, though it's evident that the entire gang looked down on Miroku for his age-inappropriate lechery anyway). Kagome's feminist approach is her belief in the agency and free will of the woman, Koharu. She never berates Koharu for these feelings, belittles her wishful thinking, or tries to force some type of moral superiority over her. Kagome never invalidates Koharu. And this is the critical point of her complementary feminism to Towa. Towa verbalizes the feelings of girls never change regardless of the time period. When I heard this line, I painted an instant connection with an homage to the original series' depictions of a "first love" and the ongoing conflicting feelings of the women in the InuYasha franchise. The concept of a "first love" transcends through time and Kagome's validation for Koharu complements Towa's statement and vice versa. Kagome and Towa aren't the only ones who demonstrate conflicting internal feelings — Sango, Kikyo, Kagura, Rin, Kagome's mother... they all have their moments of internal conflict about their own life choices...

Read the full article here: “Kagome & Towa: Heroines of Complementary Feminism” by bakasaiga

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