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autoplaysdigimon · 4 years

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Character Analysis: Mimi Tachikawa and Palmon

When I was a kid, I had some weird ideas about gender.

I fully bought into that “not like other girls” thing. I wasn’t interested in makeup, or clothes, or boys in the same way that the other girls seemed to be (HMMM). I didn’t like shopping, I didn’t care about being pretty, and I preferred being friends with the boys because they were doing fun things like playing Pokemon, and that’s for boys because the Pokemon toys are shelved in the boy’s toy aisle. When I was a kid, there were only two kinds of girls: those who conform to femininity entirely, and those who reject it entirely. In my mind, the spokesmodels for these two types of girls were Mimi and Sora.

This led to a whole Thing where I figured that femininity is terrible and weak and I shouldn’t strive to be like that at all. My friends, the Boys, don’t like feminine things or feminine people, and I wasn’t like that, I was cool, like them! I played Video Games and didn’t wear nail polish! I didn’t always want to gossip or go clothes shopping! In the cast of Digimon, I very much hated Mimi, and wanted to be Sora. I hated pink, I hated fashion, I hated her.

For the longest time, I tried to get into sports. Mostly it was soccer, because that’s what they play on Digimon! (Alright, it was because that’s what Davis plays specifically. leave me alone) And it killed me that I wasn’t good at it. I didn’t understand the rules even though when I joined up they told us they’d explain the rules and they didn’t (>:[) and I wasn’t fast at running, or competitive enough to be any good. Also I was hit by the ball a lot and developed a fear of it. It ate me up for the longest time, because if I wasn’t good at sports, I must be girly, and I can’t be that, I’m not! I play the Games and everything!

It took me a long-ass time to unlearn all that gender fuckery. I embraced being girly somewhere in the teens I think, and look what happened - I’m unathletic, I like shopping (but will only barely tolerate it if it’s clothes shopping), I’m taking more of an interest in changing my appearance, sometimes I will put on A Make-up, I fucking love pink, I’m a gossipy little bitch, and I never stopped playing video games. Hell, if you’d told me as a kid that I’d end up running a blog about video games, I’d probably ask what a blog was, but I’d be proud of that. I still am.

And rewatching this series, I’ve decided that Mimi and Palmon are my favourites from this season.

Everything that irritated me about her, back then and now, is the fault of the dub writers. Every time they wanted to fill in a dramatic silence with her complaining about missing sales or chipping a nail or ruining her complexion, every time she was silly and vapid and stereotypically girly, it was unnecessary. While the others were trying to find shelter or food, she’d say something that implied that her priorities were about her appearance, not survival. The dub writing really did her a disservice, and that’s a real shame because she’s such an interesting character. There are also a few times where Mimi or Palmon are the butt of an undignified joke, and it’s pretty cool. Not every feminine character gets that!

Was she really representative of Sincerity, or should they have left her as being Purity, like in the original? I think Purity as a concept is very different outside of Japan, so they were probably not going to be able to leave it the way it was. She seemd to be sincere in the same way that Applejack is about Honesty, in that she just has a hard time lying. Is she sincere in a positive way? Eh, sure, she’s good at apologies.

I like seeing characters who exist on a spectrum, instead of being written as a list of aspects. Mimi’s was always about her selfishness and self-preservation instincts against her opposing desire to see everyone safe and happy. She never really wants to fight, hence her splitting from the group in the last arc. Typically, her complaints that aren’t about surface-level things are about why it has to be them, why her. She doesn’t want to be saving the world, she’d just much rather have the world not need saving in the first place. In a way, you could say that her complaints about how much her feet hurt and how she was going to mess up her hair are what she chooses to focus on, rather than air out her real concerns. Plus, she does grow up at least a little during her time in the Digital World.

But occasionally, she’s a girl of Action. When she really needs to, she can be a badass, and that’s everything every girl needs to see. Stereotypically feminine and not put at odds with her competence!

(And let’s be real here for a second, if I was a Digidestined kid, I would ABSOLUTELY be Mimi. I’d complain about getting dirty, about hunger, the heat, having to fight, just the same as her. Hell, she was my avatar for the longest time because I almost physically resemble her!)

(Also because, when that shot came up, I was also playing with my hair in the exact same way. It’s a sign!)

Her relationship with Palmon is interesting. In the first episode, when the In-Training Digimon fail to take down Kuwagamon as they are, all of the Digimon are physically struggling against their partners to get back to the fight except Tanemon, and Mimi merely asks her if she feels the same as the others. Does this speak to Palmon sharing Mimi’s preference for non-violence, or did she pick up on this trait of Mimi’s this early on? In the second episode, Palmon asks...

...which, okay that’s a pretty obvious trait of Mimi’s, let’s be fair. But it does show that Palmon has been analysing Mimi at least a little.

Palmon was very often on the same wavelength as Mimi. She cried when Mimi cried. When Mimi was upset at something, no matter how small, Palmon at least looked to be sad as well, possibly just out of wanting Mimi to not be sad. The biggest rift between them was in the Princess Karaoke episode, where Palmon’s eventual disapproval of how Mimi was acting was the final straw in convincing Mimi that she was in the wrong. It took Palmon a long time to figure out that maybe, just maybe, they weren’t the good guys in this situation. The Japanese version has a throughline where Palmon tells Mimi that she hates her, tells her again in her dream, and then tells her that she loves her at the end of the episode, which is exactly what Mimi needed to hear every time. (The dub doesn’t have this, but it does have Palmon telling Mimi that she’s a spoiled brat instead, which is still pretty heckin’ harsh.)

It could have been any of the pairs in the situation of the final episode, where one doesn’t want to say goodbye so they run away, deciding to just never see them again. It could have been Kari and Gatomon, not wanting to say goodbye so soon after meeting for the first time. It could have been TK and Patamon, because they’re the Young Ones who don’t know how to face their emotions yet. It could have been Tai and Agumon, because shows like this like to have the important events happen to the front-line main characters. But it wasn’t any of them, it was Palmon who couldn’t face saying goodbye, and Mimi who nearly didn’t get a proper sendoff for closure.

Palmon and Mimi’s relationship was shown to be very strong, very trusting. For Palmon’s words to be the point where Mimi realised that she was being selfish, she must have valued Palmon’s opinion of her a lot more than she realised. She was happy enough for Joe, Tai and their partners to think that she was selfish, but Palmon was where she drew the line and snapped out of it. The fact that Mimi was inconsolable in the final episode when she (nearly) didn’t get to say goodbye just shows this further.

I think my favourite thing about Palmon is that she Digivolves into Togemon. She’s this cute little flower girl, and then she’s a fucking huge cactus who’s ready to throw down in every way imaginable and will punch a dude in the face. Also dumb plant jokes. And she’s a little bit dumb of ass, but that’s okay.

I don’t know, I just like them both. They’re also #aesthetic goals, if I’m honest. Palmon’s an adorable little fucker, I had to restrain myself from posting every Palmon face I thought was cute. I’d go ahead and say that she’s in my top 5 favourite Digimon. While Mimi’s voice acting was pretty good, Palmon’s was fantastic, and I could listen to her talk all day. She had random voice cracking moments and that one time she laughed I physically made squeeing noises. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, she is PRECIOUS.

Plus, Palmon wearing Mimi’s hat? ADORABLE. I like to think that, after the hat fell off the tram at the end, Palmon found it and kept it.

The last thing I want to say about Palmon is that is her name derived from Palm, like palm trees? Should it be pronounced that way???? They don’t in the dub, but they alsy like to pronounce “Dramon” very wrong, so maybe we shouldn’t take their word for it. Maybe it’s correct anyway, because she is, indeed, a pal.

TL;DR GIRLS GOOD

#mimi tachikawa #palmon #togemon #character analysis #digimon #digimon anime #digimon adventure #auto plays digimon #auto watches digimon adventure

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starringemiliaclarke · 5 years

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For Emilia Clarke, Ending Game of Thrones Was "the Metaphorical Undoing of the Bra"

Even the Mother of Dragons gets sick. A slightly congested Emilia Clarke mentions she’s getting over the flu as we talk on the phone days after the Academy Awards. Apparently, going to the Oscars and hitting up Beyonce’s private after party didn’t help with her recovery. (“I basically cried at her,” she gushes over the experience.) But what’s one night of feeling ill on the red carpet when you’ve spent months filming battle scenes in wintery Northern Ireland in the most grueling conditions? If Khaleesi could make it to Winterfell alive, then Clarke could survive the climax of awards season with the flu.

Throughout Clarke’s nearly decade-long tenure as queen Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, we’ve seen her walk through fire unburnt, devour a horse heart, and fly on the back of dragons. But in the fantasy juggernaut’s eighth and final season, which premieres April 14, Dany will find herself in completely new territory: at Winterfell with the Starks, on the brink of a war against the undead.

“She starts feeling pretty cocksure and confident, and then stuff happens,” Clarke tells BAZAAR.com of Dany’s arrival North and her first encounter with Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), which HBO teased in early promos.

Clarke’s casting as the platinum-haired heir to the Iron Throne was first announced in 2010. She’s grown a lot since then; Season 1 Emilia and Season 8 Emilia are “two incredibly different women,” Clarke says.

As she moves on from the Thrones world, she already has other projects lined up, like the holiday rom-com Last Christmas (co-written by Emma Thompson) opposite Henry Golding. She previously hit the big screen in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, 2016’s Me Before You, and 2014’s Terminator Genisys. Clarke also landed a covetable role in the beauty sphere, as the face of Dolce & Gabbana’s The Only One fragrance, available now. In the ads, she’s a charming Italian chanteuse who breaks into song over dinner in Rome—a far cry from Khaleesi.

But nothing can compare to her experience on GoT, for better or worse. “Game of Thrones is probably the hardest shooting I’ll do, because it is so physical and you’re in a corset!” she emphasizes. “You’ve got the physical places of where you are, the weather is so extreme, and the hours are really long and there’s so much tension in each character towards the end. There’s so much tension in the room, and you’re concentrating so hard. It’s strenuous.”

After a long day on set, Clarke’s self-care routine ends with the ultimate release: “Taking off your goddamn bra and getting into your pajamas.” She’s also religious about removing her makeup (“You’ve put a lot on by the end of the day”), then cleansing and moisturizing every night. And once she’s in her PJs with a hot water bottle, it’s over for y’all.

Clarke’s journey on Game of Thrones culminated in a similar conclusion. “I think ending it was just the mother of all releases,” she says over the phone. “It was just the metaphorical undoing of the bra, except it’s like a 10-year experience.”

Here, Clarke tells BAZAAR.com about repping Dolce & Gabbana’s new scent, saying goodbye to Khaleesi, and promoting gender equality.

You’re the face of Dolce & Gabbana’s The Only One fragrance. What’s your experience with the scent like?

You know how you can get those fragrances that are really heavy and thick and kind of musty? That is not this at all. It’s very light, it’s very fresh, but also has quite a sexy undertone. When I was a kid, I remember me and my friends used to go out and spray boys’ perfume on ourselves ‘cause we thought it smelled so great. Obviously you’re attracted to it, your hormones are going crazy. But it’s got that bergamotty undertone that’s very sensual to smell whilst having this kind of light upper tone that’s very fresh and clean.

How does fragrance fit into your daily routine?

I have the whole ritual of: Get out of the shower, fully moisturize, and then spray on something lovely and you feel as fresh as possible. You feel like you’ve added a bit of yourself to yourself. You know when someone’s like, “Oh my God, I smelled you the other day on the tube?” I like that. I like having a specific fragrance that people know is yours.

On the topic of beauty, you’ve taken your hair back and forth from your original brunette to bleach blonde for Game of Thrones‘ last season, and now you’re back to brunette with a sleek bob. Tell me about your hair transformations in the past year.

I went blonde and I was so excited about it. I was just like, “Yes! Fresh start.” With peroxide blonde hair, you literally need no accessories; you’re walking around with a permanent accessory on your head. That was really fun while it lasted, but my hair dyed to death during that process, then after a while I think I exhausted the look for as much as I can. Going back to brunette, when I first did it, I must’ve looked in the mirror and was like, “This girl? I walked away from this girl. She’s a different person from who I am now.” But now, my hair feels so much better for being brunette and it’s a bit more me, but a me that I’m much happier with than when I was brunette before.

How do you keep your hair healthy while it’s colored?

Literally, don’t put crap in your hair. I feel like there’s so many options for moisturizers and conditioners and hair masks and all of that stuff, but really, don’t put a lot of crap in your hair and try not to curl it or straighten it too much. Just let it be.

What was it like filming your last scene on Game of Thrones? Was it immediate tears or champagne and celebration?

I started to do a little speech, not because I’m a pretentious actor, but because every time we said goodbye to a character, David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], the showrunners would give us a gift and the crew would be around and everyone would stop and you’d sort of say a few words and it was really beautiful. I mean, I got three words in before I just completely broke down. You just hold it in and you’re holding it in and you’re holding it in, and then I just burst into tears like a complete idiot.

Then we cracked open the champagne, but it was then that I realized that alcohol is a depressant! So it was less a celebratory champagne, it was more kind of like, [pretends to sob] “We did it! We got to the finish line!”

From the teasers, we’ve seen Sansa meeting Daenerys and Drogon flying over Winterfell, two juxtapositions we’ve never seen before. What was it like for you bringing Dany to this foreign new place and meeting the Starks for that opening scene?

It’s really surreal. I mean, you play into what it feels like for the character as well, because it’s new and it’s odd, and you’re coming into someone else’s turf and you’ve got a lot of actors that you know really well, who were like, “This is our home.” Then you come in and you’re like, “I know this only from the television; I’ve never been in this space here before in my life.”

But also I must admit for the character, I felt it. I felt with every one of those moments that obviously the show is packed to the gills with. I felt for her. I was like, “Yes! Here we are! We’re in, we’re speaking with Sansa, we are that much closer.” It felt great. Very, very exhilarating.

What was it like sharing a scene with Sophie Turner for the first time?

It was lovely. She’s a really good friend of mine, so it was very fun, it was very silly, it was very then like, “Oh! We’re doing this now, we’re having like an actor discussion,” as opposed to just me and Sophie. With all of those scenes meeting new people, it felt like every day was a little party.

Daenerys does wear a new outfit with red fur, which is really different from what she’s worn in previous seasons with metal plating or flowy dresses. What can you tell me about her outfits this season?

Michele Clapton, our unbelievably talented costume designer, really takes each character’s journey and reflects that in the clothing. Every single piece that I put on made sense for the scene that I was in, and made sense with the place that the character’s in at that time. There’s a real throughline for this particular season, there’s a real arc and I feel like fans, like hardcore fans, will clock what’s happening within the reflection of the clothing. There’s definitely a story to tell there.

It’s funny that you mention the fans because I feel like whatever bait you give them, they’ll find something, some clue, in it. What’s the craziest encounter with a fan you’ve ever had?

People ask me this and I wish I could be like, “This one time this guy gave me a horse and bent down on one knee and gave me a sword and took me away to his fucking theme park about dragons,” and it doesn’t happen. People just get very shy, very retiring, very sweet. It’s more kind of overwhelmed. I love it when people are like, “You’re a badass.” I love it when I get girls who are just like, “Yeah you can do it!” but I don’t get a lot of crazy from them. If I do, they keep it under wraps.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from being on the show?

You’re really good at remembering lines [laughs]. Oh heavens, I’ve learned how lucky I am to have the show. I’ve definitely learned how the people you work with can become such a family and such a support system, and to lean on them when needed because it’s a singularly unique trait that our show has had because you don’t normally get that much time with people. But more than anything, trusting myself and taking props for when it goes well, which I’m not very good at. Just tune out “shit.fm,” which is what I like to call the nonsense that your brain sometimes likes to tell you, and just try and relax and have fun.

In honor of Women’s History Month, I remember you wrote an essay on International Women’s Day in 2017 about growing up as a feminist with a very strong view of equality in the home and wanting that to be reflected in the world. Two years later, do you feel like the landscape has changed at all to reflect your view?

I think it’s gonna take an enormous effort and amounts of time for society to really embrace that fully, but I think we’re making all the moves in the right direction. I definitely think we’re pushing the needle a little bit every day and every little helps. If we can try and empower young girls and young boys to value the quality of their minds, to value the quality of human interaction, that will provide growth for you as a person. If we can try and shift focus away from purely aesthetics into something much more long-lasting and reliable that is our thoughts, our minds, our connections, our words, and our deeds, then I think we’re in great shape. But let’s hope.

For Emilia Clarke, Ending Game of Thrones Was “the Metaphorical Undoing of the Bra” was originally published on Enchanting Emilia Clarke | Est 2012

#emilia clarke #game of thrones #game of thrones cast #GOT cast #daenerys targaryen #me before you #terminator

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