#also sorry i guess for not getting into the shinobu character growth part of this ask?

[neolxzr]

you do see my point though, I was saying that yes a piece of media can have a character imply they are queer, but it’s frustrating when they won’t explicitly confirm such, because of (in the case of… checks app store purchase statistics…. A multi million dollar game franchise!) the need to market to as many people as possible. Shumika will never be “canon” because some people just don’t like shumika and won’t spend money on the game if shu and mika are in a relationship, whether or not that’s because they like the ship or the characters or are genuinely homophobic or whatnot. If the writing team cared about telling a love story, they would tell a love story, not go “well maybe they’re in love, it’s up to viewer interpretation!” like this works, sometimes it adds to the meaning of the work, but enstars really doesn’t have an excuse for their constant “this character might have feelings for this other character, but we’ll never have them say it out loud!” except the fact it makes them a lot of money, since they can market to people who like a character being the way they want that character to be, whether that’s with that character being in love with another in game character or self-shipping or whatever else. Outside of shipping, this is why some characters like Shinobu haven’t changed despite wanting to change (he continuously talks about how he wants to be more mature and taken seriously but his cards continue to make him look small and cute because his fans like that about him and god forbid we change anything!) I just think enstars should not be your first thought when someone asks you about a good piece of queer media because they’re doing just about the same job as large cast games with characters of the same gender (minus Arashi) who continue to have characters go “we’ll do all these things to imply we could be in love, but we’ll never have our characters actually date! teehee!”

i can understand being frustrated about your ships not being "confirmed", but the obsession with what is "canon" and "not canon" is just straight up not a very interesting discussion to have. what happyele's or the writers' agenda is is not of particular importance to me. one of the first things they teach you in classes about media analysis is that once a work is out there, the intentions of the creator no longer matter. the only thing that matters in your analysis is your own thoughts and the way you interpret a text.

if we were having a conversation about how much the creator of something sucks, then sure, talk about that all you want, but i am specifically referring to discussions about the piece of media and these characters and their relationships and their growth and the themes of the work etc. those things are removed from whether or not the company writes the way they do because of profit motives or whatever. companies make money, that's just what to expect. if you want art that is free of profit motives, read something by an independent creator.

even so, it feels strange to place enstars into the bucket of "stuff that should be gayer but the bad company that makes it wont let it be" because the characters ARE so very openly queer. there are so many instances in it where characters pour their heart out to each other or offer themselves to another character in beautiful and poetic ways, and i think it's wrong to claim it doesn't count because they didn't confirm their relationship status at the end of it. if you ask me, there is absolutely no way to interpret enstars in a way completely free of queerness. there is so much explicitly queer text that ignoring it is just plain incorrect. but, if homophobic people like this game and choose to look the other way at all of the gay shit, again, that is not my problem.

why is canonization the only thing that matters? is a shitty BL with awful writing better and more worthwhile than enstars as a queer narrative because the characters had explicit gay sex on screen? are poorly written gay characters in the background of other media with nothing going on more worth talking about than shumika or wataei or rinniki or whoever else just because they say the words 'i'm gay' out loud?

queerness is so much more than all of that. it is so much more than labels and it is so much more than relationships that are easy to understand. it is so much more than the extremely narrow view of it that the internet has concocted about it over the last few years, where you’re only allowed to talk about queerness if you yourself are openly queer and out of the closet, and even then you’re only allowed to make art that makes for “good representation.” that is just so incredibly limiting. i would rather tons of companies who are trying to profit off fujoshis make vaguely gay media with unconfirmed romances and relationships that aren't easily defined by labels than have less queer art in the world.

more queer art means more queer people who will find something to really connect to. more queer art means telling more queer stories. why should who is allowed to write lgbtq media be limited? why should the kind of media people are allowed to make be limited?

its fine to criticize happyelements if youre unsatisfied with the way they do things, im not always 100% in love with everything they do either. i wouldn't even consider enstars to be the worlds' best example of a queer piece of media. but no one is forcing you to like or engage with it or give the company money if you're unhappy with how they write and market their game. they don't owe anyone explicit confirmation that any of their characters are dating, and it doesn't even matter if they do provide that confirmation or not.

regardless of who made it or for what reason, queer stories are worth talking about, "canon" or not.

[aqvarius]

What are your top 5 worst voltage routes?

oh damn this is a tough one haha. i’ve definitely played routes that i find average/forgettable but it’s hard to think of 5 routes that i thought were actually bad. except for one which i’m sure anyone who has followed me for a few years knows about lmao

i was just gonna give brief reasons but then as i was typing this out i couldn’t stop my loudass brain from rambling so... sorry for all the commentary lol. i do want to preface this by saying that these are more critiques of the writing than the characters (except shinobu haha i despise him). i love many of these characters and have enjoyed their epilogues/sequels/substories. my main gripe with most of these is just underdeveloped, jarring or flimsy character and relationship development, which to me makes the process of falling in mutual love unconvincing. that’s why all of these are main stories because they are about the critical moments of falling in love (rather than future developments such as tackling conflicts together) which i think are the foundation to any further growth. so please don’t take any of this personally if any of the guys i’ve mentioned here are characters that you love!

5. main story: takane momochi - destind: mr almost right

so this is more a case of “love the guy, don’t love the route”. i have to admit that i really wasn’t big on takane at first and then i got to the end of the route and realised that i actually didn’t love the mc. i actually quite like the destind mc in rei and araya’s routes but omg takane’s route is weird. i have no problem with takane kind of being a jerk and i actually really like him but i have a couple of issues with this route. the first is that i don’t really understand nor buy into the reason that they keep seeing each other. the mc learns about takane’s true nature and finds him kind of despicable but then decides that she’s definitely gonna make him fall in love with her, which as a plot point on its own i’m fine with but the way thy go into that discussion is really weird because it arises from the mc being appalled that takane had an affair with some teacher when he was a teenager and somehow leads into that discussion. basically i don’t think that the whole “i’m gonna make you fall in love with me” vs “i’m gonna make you sleep with me” challenge is set up particularly organically. 

it also occurs about halfway through the route which i don’t really think works in term of the pacing because within the shape of the narrative i would call it the end of act 1. act 2 would be them genuinely getting closer and then act 3 would be the conflict that develops between them which results in their breakup. with the structure of takane’s route, acts 2 and 3 essentially become crammed into the remaining half of the chapters, which makes the conflict in act 3 feel confusing and abrupt. i think it would have been more effective if they had set up the personality reveal earlier on in the route and then spent more time developing the budding incompatibilities which lead to the breakup-inducing argument.

the second issue that i have with this route is the mc’s lack of development/not addressing the actual mistakes that she makes with regards to how she sees takane. the mc suffers from idolising syndrome because she’s built takane up into this perfect prince in her mind (i guess kind of like with hiroki from mlfk) even though he’s a regular old (substantially) flawed dude who struggles with the pressure of external expectations bc people don’t see the ~real him~. this is all well and good and is set up to allow the mc to accept his flaws and see him as a real human being but instead she’s just like “your flaws aren’t really flaws, they’re just another example of why you’re perfect bc you engage with them!” SIS. he’s not a character that needs validation in that way bc everyone already thinks he’s perfect. he needs someone who can see that he’s FAULTY and help him through it, not just pass off his flaws and the way he deals with them as another point of admiration. destind mc isn’t even like old school perma-optimistic voltage mcs either, she’s a little more prone to judgement so i wish she (and the writing) engaged a little more with takane’s flaws and accepting them rather than just jumping straight to YOU’RE MY HERO. 

as a character i actually prefer him to araya but the fact that i was more convinced to love araya aka mr possessive liar himself is saying something about the story. 

4. main story: genji higashiyama - in your arms tonight

i don’t have much to say in detail because it’s been like 6+ years since i played his route and frankly i don’t remember the details, but i just remember that he was kind of a jackass and i expected better. i love ex-boyfriend/hatsukoi love interests but just didn’t really like his route. 

to quote from an old comment i once made: 

“omg i thought genji had so much potential bc hot exboyf soccer player hellooooo but he was just such a jerk, he really p-ed me off :<” 

“i kind of don’t like genji because he is a bit of a doucheypants and like really arrogant and a bit of a bully :/”

i remember the mc slapped him once after they made out which i don’t remember the context for but he probably deserved it. i was extra sad because i actually really liked him in soji’s route but he’s the team B guy in that one so......... thanks voltage. also he was a dick to everyone’s sweetheart aiba. i actually like him way more after his ms lol? conceptually i love him but his main story made me sad. 

3. main story: satoru kamagiri - 10 days with my devil

i mean this one was bad but i’m weirdly fond of satoru? i have no issues with sadists and i kind of like him (after having read substories). but this route was weird and the pacing felt a bit off to me. basically i have no idea what made him fall in love with the mc?

because i guess he starts being nice to you when he has to nurse you when you get sick and he genuinely feels bad and cares about you but do you really expect me to believe he was already in love with you when he made a date with you but decided to go hang out with other women leaving you standing in the rain for 6 hours? nah fam.

i also don’t remember what the climax of the story even is because i’m still hung up on being left waiting for him in the rain for 6 hours while he goes other women so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2. main story: seiji goto - my sweet bodyguard

i’ve talked a lot about the issues i have with this route (including a couple thousand words of review here) but i’ll just summarise. this is definitely another case of love the guy, don’t love the route. in the GREE version, you meet him from the first time at the beginning of his route and gradually learn about his past, but in the standalone app version, you basically get thrown into the route with no exposition, meaning that you have to already have prior knowledge of goto and his backstory. i had known about it so it wasn’t as confusing as it could have been, but you really just get tossed into the mix expecting to already know about kazuki (goto’s dead ex). plus he’s already nice to you from the start because you’ve known each other for a while so there’s less of the actual seeing his behaviour change bit (which is my favourite part of all main stories - in case you couldn’t tell because all of my criticisms about routes are about lack of proper relationship development). kazuki and goto’s relationship is basically the thing that underpins the entire narrative of the route which is why i find it an issue that you don’t get much insight into it going into the route blind. 

it’s difficult to feel like goto and the mc are actually gradually getting closer in the route because it doesn’t feel like there’s one narrative line that’s building throughout the entire route as much as separate events, more or less. she just... looks after goto a lot? also basically goto is interested in you because you remind him of kazuki and when he starts to like you, it’s not actually very evident in his actions - you find this out because kurosawa basically tells you lmao. 

i actually wanted to leave him and date subaru because honestly subaru in goto’s route especially reads like a much healthier relationship option, but then goto runs in and interrupts a date with subaru and drags you straight off to kazuki’s tombstone and then... it’s a happy ending? his confession feels like it comes out of nowhere because his behaviour towards you doesn’t explicitly change but you just have to believe he likes you now as he confesses in front of his ex-gf’s grave and tells her he’ll see her soon. come on bruv you can do better than this lol. 

1. main story: shinobu narita - serendipity next door

this guy fucking sucks, dude. i can’t think of even one single redeeming quality he has. he’s the reason i stopped playing voltage games for like years and went on hiatus and more or less abandoned my blog until i discovered scm. i know there was a lot of controversy about whether or not he could be considered abusive and i threw that word around a lot back in the day when i liveblogged his route but DAMN at the very least he is just the WORST. the mc wakes up in his bed after getting wasted at a rooftop party and he convinces her that they had sex when she was drunk and then blackmails her into being his girlfriend by threatening to tell the entire apartment block that they slept together. he proceeds to snoop around in all her business, maliciously making fun of her and her work at every single chance he gets (he literally RIFLES THROUGH HER BAG to find her work and mock her about it) and then she looks at one document or picture of his and he gets all uppity about it because he’s a big ol hypocrite. basically he hates the mc because she’s so pure and he’s jaded because one time he confessed to someone and she ghosted him? so he deliberately acts nice to her sometimes so she’ll let her guard down and then follows it up with a common or action so malicious i wanted to choke him. all i’m saying is that there are a number of relationships that i never got closure on and it’s never made me want to blackmail a drunk person into dating me so i can mess them up emotionally  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

the thing is, i have played other guys who are a bag of suck at first and then get so much better because of character development. and this is what is totally lacking in shinobu’s route. the mc falls in love with him bc of stockholm syndrome... and basically bc omg he’s so sad and damaged and she wants to heal him i guess? it sucks. they literally have no bonding moments where they genuinely connect except for the times when he’s super mean and manipulative to her and and she’s like omg but he’s so saaaaaad uwu. throughout the route, there is absolutely no character development on shinobu’s part, he’s just the same sadistic bastard who enjoys seeing his mc being hurt the whole way through lol but SUDDENLY you guys are in love? but literally at the end the mc tries to escape from him by moving out and instead of letting her go because he’s the worst, he chases her moving truck down? also he’s weirdly possessive even by voltage standards. 

btw this isn’t even just sadists not being my type - you know i adore kaga and eduardo and even people who take ages to warm up (cough shinonome). and you know i love men who tease and manipulate you a bit (because they’re doing it out of a d o r a t i o n not spite) . i also have no problem with outright assholes as long as we see them change, develop and genuinely fall in love. my biggest issue with this route is that i don’t think pity is the same thing as love, or that someone with his personality can get his happy ending without genuinely changing and redeeming himself in some way. i’m not a fan of romanticising guys who are mean to you because they’re so dAmAgEd and want to take it out on you. (the reason i love people like hue is because even though they’re riddled with grief and trauma, they’re mature enough to handle their emotions and you don’t need to fix them!!!) i genuinely think voltage bombed it with this route lol. it almost makes me want to go back and replay it just to see if it was really as bad as i remember but (1) i never transferred it to love 365 (2) it was on my old iphone and i use android now (3) i don’t want to spend money repurchasing a route that i’m 85% sure i’ll feel is a waste of money (4) i spent £2.49 on the route back in the day when voltage was cheaper and i don’t want to spend almost double that now lol. 

also the last time i read his route i abandoned this blog and stopped playing all otome games for a really long time lmao so................................ 

[drink-n-watch]

  Hmm..well…where do I start here. Oh I know! Hi Crow, how are you today? I hope you had a good week. Mine was a bit exhausting but the weekend is looking pretty great (I actually have very little to do and plan to plop down on the couch and play video games for the rest of the day once my part of this review is done. I haven’t been able to do that in months! I can’t wait.

  That sounds great! I’ll try to turn the review around quickly so I don’t keep you from your video games. I haven’t had as much time for video games as I’d like, either. Like you, my week was exhausting, but I made it to the weekend! Oh, and just to make it official (since I bet it’s clear from the context), I’m bold this week!

  Oh and because Crow has taught me well: spoiler warning. We are going to be discussing episode 24 of Demon Slayer in some detail so if you don’t want to know what happens, please go watch the episode first. Double spoiler, it’s not the type of episode with a lot of twists and turns, not that much to spoil here.

But if you like character moments as much as I do, there were some real gems in this episode! And the therapy nurses were just adorable in a little kid kind of way! And what they did for Tanjiro… Oops, don’t want to get ahead of ourselves… 

Before the beginning of the episode proper, we have a short opening tag between Shinobu and Rengoku. Seems a new powerful demon has risen and has devastated the ranks so Rengoku is going to investigate. This is only a short set up for something that obviously going to become important later, but it also served to make me a little interested in the character of Rengoku.

I like good humoured lugs and at first glance he falls into the category. Too bad the entire conversation was a gigantic death flag. It stopped just short of him announcing he has 3 weeks until retirement. I expect we will not see him alive for long and that bummed me out a little….

Well, at least he didn’t say he would finally get to spend time with his wife and kids or something like that. I agree with you. The scene had a seriously ominous overtone. Even his light-hearted question of what she was planning to do with the “head-butting kid” just emphasized that something’s up. 

Just for a bit of context, Tanjiro (and Nezuko although we don’t see her once again) are now slowly recovering at Shinobu’s manor after the events of spider mountain. Turns out that’s where Inosuke and Zenitsu have also been as the manor is something of a makeshift hospital because reasons.

Inosuke seems to be in a deep depression, which has the fortunate side effect of making him quiet and calm and generally rational, while Zenitsu is potentially worse than ever. Sigh…

Double sigh.

The three of them back together was a low point in the last episode and right from the get-go, we can tell that it’s going to be the majority of this episode. How did you feel about that Crow?

I keep wishing Zenitsu would show some growth like Inosuke did. I’ve developed more sympathy for Zenitsu since his fight on Spider Mountain, but a little of his sniveling goes a long way. A really, really long way.

Were you as happy as I was to see Murata alive and well? Looking might healthy too! I think it’s because Murata represents the everyman. A well meaning but otherwise unexceptional slayer caught at the wrong place in the wrong time and he made it! Most did not have his luck. In many ways Demon Slayer has not been a particularly kind narrative so this bit of improbable happy ending was welcomed in my book!

I’m not too proud to admit I cheered when he showed up, for exactly the reasons you just talked about. Kinda felt sorry for him, too, as he was saying how scary the Hashira were just as Shinobu walked in! Poor guy… 

Aside from resting and taking medicine, the boys have to go through recovery training with the staff(?) of the manor. I’m not quite sure what the relations are here. I know Kanao is a Demon Slayer and basically Shinobu’s apprentice. The girl with the twin tails was also wearing a uniform so she might be part of the corp but the three younger girls I’m not sure about.

I’ve taken to calling them the therapy nurses.

Anywho these ladies are tasked with whipping our heroes back into shape and health. I thought they seemed quite capable if a little scary. Crow, were you worried about them having to wrangle the likes of Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu?

At first I was worried! Then I saw them in action, and I started worrying for Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu! Even the little therapy nurses were really strong! Great teamwork, too. 

In many ways, this episode reminded me of the Wisteria House one. Both are more or less set up and filler. Both involve the boys recovering from serious injuries and both have those silly little character head eye catches. Unfortunately, both feature the characters at their loudest and for me, most annoying. I really can’t blame Inosuke this time around, but Zenitsu stepped up to pick up the slack. Heck even Tanjiro started shouting at some point.

If Demon Slayer is at it’s best in tense and gory action, I think it’s at it’s worse when attempting “slice of life comedy”. Am I being too harsh?

No. My enjoyment dipped in direct relation to how much Zenitsu screamed. When he and Inosuke decided to stop going to therapy, I noticed that I perked up. In fact, there were some seriously cool moments when Tanjiro was alone with therapy nurses. 

Despite what I just said, Zenitsu’s initial glee in the rehabilitation training did make me smirk. It was cute. However, it was just a joke. What I mean by that is that to me, these scenes couldn’t be taken into account for character development or even establishment. This isn’t really the Zenitsu we’ve been introduced to so far. He becomes clingy and pathetic around girls, even more so than usual. Up until now, every time we’ve seen him try to seduce a woman, he was either terrified and physically clinging to her while crying or tripping over his own words.

Not to mention that the girl he was suddenly seducing was the exact same girl he was being a complete brat to when she was trying to give him his medicine. He’s seen and been very close to this exact girl for days now, there’s no reason for his drastic change into a smooth-talking Casanova.

That’s what I mean by it’s “just” a joke and if the humour doesn’t land for you, then it’s a wasted sequence. Did you enjoy it Crow?

The short answer is no. The long answer is also no. My favorite part, actually, was looking at the head nurse/doctor’s expression when Zenitsu tried to hit on her. She wasn’t having any of it. Yeah.. that’s what made me smirk and became my gif of the week!

The second half of the episode clams down a bit and becomes more introspective as Tanjiro decides to train in earnest.

Here we find out that the Hashiras and certain high-ranking slayers use total concentration breathing at all times. This seemed impossible to me and as amazing as the reveal was, something about it bothered me. First it sorts of cheapened the technique itself, so really it’s just normal breathing after a while. We’ve seen it visual portrayed as so impressive but it’s really just plain old breathing after a while.

Second, to both me and Tanjiro the prospect of constant total concentration was amazing. And although Tanjiro is outmatched by all the Hashiras, he is still in the same league. You can imagine him surpassing them after enough training. So exactly what kind of monster will Tanjiro become if he masters this technique? We’re slipping into Dragon Ball Z levels of constantly evolving power to the point that it becomes ridiculous. This should have been held of for later seasons in my opinion. What do you think?

I’m willing to wait and see what they do with it. I got the impression — and they didn’t really say, so it’s only an impression — that even after he learns to do it all the time, he had to give it constant attention. If he didn’t, he’d slowly lose the skill until he needed to restart training.

That being said, I don’t want him to become too powerful too fast. That would drain too much of the drama that they’ve used to such good effect. I’m a little heartened by some of the details in this episode, like it taking Tanjiro weeks to get his stamina back. I think that’s more realistic than many shows I’ve seen where the hero just brushes him or herself off and is fine.

And I just want to give a shout-out for the therapy nurses and how helpful they were to Tanjiro! I have to wonder if Shinobu coordinated with them, so that when they say he had potential and was willing to stick with it, they would give him hints about what to do next. 

I’m just going to assume that Crow’s favourite sequence is the rooftop conversation between Tanjiro and Shinobu. It’s an emotional reveal of Shinobu’s past and motivations that really fleshes out the character and thugs at the heartstrings. I did like the scene. It was well made and constructed. The quiet night and deserted rooftop created a melancholy ambience that was perfect for the story. I assume this will make Shinobu even more beloved by the part of the fandom that are already taken by her.

In practice, Shinobu’s background is on par with all the tragic backgrounds we’ve seen in Demon Slayer so far. Shinobu’s older sister was a slayer and eventually she lost a fight, this seems to be the destined fate of most slayers, unfortunately. As such, even though she does want to be understanding of demons as her sister was, Shinobu harbours a deep hatred and disgust for them that she simply cannot shake. It is admirable that she seems this hatred as something to surmount rather than embrace, but it does explain how brutal she is when dealing with demons.

You guess right. Did you see Shinobu’s expression when Tanjiro asked if she was angry? It was the first time I’ve ever seen her not in utter control of herself. She was shocked. That seemed to help her open up, though.

We’ve known that the Hashira all must have dark backstories. But seeing it so well portrayed in this case did make it more clear to me why most of the Hashira were so ready to kill Nezuko out of hand. It also makes Shinobu’s restraint — e.g., asking Tanjiro to tell his story before they decided — all the more remarkable.

Shinobu’s expression when Tanjiro asked if she was angry!

Shinobu did say one thing that stuck in my ear, she told Tanjiro that she was letting him inherit her dream of peaceful coexistence with demons…Inherit her dream… Great! More death flags! Are we even going to have any Hashiras left by the end of this? I hope weird Mist boy is powerful cause he’s gonna have to step up!

That struck me, too. Especially when she said, “Knowing that you’re working hard in my place reassures me to no end. I can rest easy now.” What? You can do what? Just what is she planning to do? Is brining Tanjiro and friends into her household part of her exit plan? Not sure I like where this is heading! Just thinking about the strain they must always be under makes her saying how exhausted she was seem to tragic. What kind of decisions might that mental state allow?

All in all, this episode had a few great scenes in what was essentially filler. I’ve seen it before so I’m not too worried. I know that Demon Slayer will get back to exciting as soon as we find the next demon to fight. I sure am looking forward to that though!

Me, too! And the scenes that weren’t filler were really, really good. I’m still chuckling about Tanjiro’s reaction to Shinobu being so far in his personal space!

Reviews of the Other Episodes

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 01: Cruelty

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 02: Trainer Sakonji Urokodaki

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 03: Sabito and Makomo

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 04: Final Selection

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 05: My Own Steel

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 06: A Friend fo All Humans

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 07: Muzan Kibutsuji

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 08: The Smell of Enchanting Blood

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 09: Temari Demon and Arrow Demon

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 10: Together Forever

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 11: Tsuzumi Mansion

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 12: The Boar Bears Its Fangs, Zenitsu Sleeps

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 13: Something More Important Than Life

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 14: The House with the Wisteria Family Crest

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 15: Mount Natagumo

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 16: Letting Someone Else Go First

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 17: You Must Master a Single Thing

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 18: In which Tanjiro Dispenses Good Advice

Review Of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 19: The Bonds That Tie Us And A Family Affair

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 20: Playing House

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 21: Challenge Accepted and Be Careful With That Thing

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 22: Master of the Mansion

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 23: Hashira Meeting

  Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 24: Taking a Breather Hmm..well…where do I start here. Oh I know! Hi Crow, how are you today? I hope you had a good week.

[murasaki-murasame]

Monogatari Series Rewatch Part 2: Bakemonogatari [Mayoi Snail]

Today in Bakemonogatari, we get an even better image of what this series is really about: people talking to each other a whole lot, Araragi getting owned by every other character in the story, and then things get depressing, and also really heartfelt. This series is pretty great, you guys.

More ramblings under the cut

-I still really like how they keep showing off increasingly frantic cut-ins of the LN text to increasingly frantic music at the start of each episode. It’s a really neat style that pretty immediately gets you engaged.

-The OP for this arc is probably one of my least favourites, to be blunt. It’s fun and cute, but it’s a little grating to actually listen to, especially when you’re like me and you’re binge-watching the whole arc at once. But I still appreciate it.

-I keep forgetting that Mother’s Day is a really important aspect of the story this time around. It was just Mother’s Day a few days ago, so that’s a neat coincidence. I can definitely relate to the discussions of familial/parental relationships in this arc, which I’ll talk about a bit more in a bit. But, for now, I totally feel for Araragi on the topic of feeling a little bit alienated and uncomfortable on that sort of a day, and then getting introspective and moody about the topic of his growth as a person and his future prospects and whatnot, and then getting annoyed at himself for being so petty and ‘small’ in the first place. I think everyone knows what that’s like, to some degree or another.

-I love that this entire arc, especially the first episode of it, really is mostly just about people talking to each other about stuff in a fun, back and forth sorta way. It really gets me back into the mood for watching this series. It’s like, ‘ah yes, this is it, the True Monogatari Experience[tm]’. It’s great.

-The different ways I’ve seen different subbers and translators try and translate the whole ‘moe/tore’ conversation are really interesting. It’s the sort of thing that’s gonna be kinda weird to an English-speaking audience no matter what. I think my favourite variation of it is the one that translates ‘tore’ as ‘fascination’. I don’t know if it’s the most accurate translation, but I’ve always liked it. I dunno why, exactly. Maybe just because it’s the first one I saw. Though I can at least say that Vertical’s whole ‘melting/smelting’ translation was kinda . . . strained. Severely. Mostly because nobody uses the word ‘melting’ in that way in the first place, so the entire conversation falls apart, since it’s meant to be about taking a common slang word and twisting it. It feels like they came up with ‘smelting’ first and then had to awkwardly go back and make up a translation of ‘moe’ that fit that, but the translation they went for missed the point. It just feels a little clumsy and backwards. But I don’t dislike it as much as some other people do. I’ve seen worse. And honestly I kinda like the ‘smelting’ translation, it’s just that the entire thing doesn’t work.

-I still have a huge soft spot for Senjougahara’s tsundere attitude. It’s pretty wonderful. “It’s not that I wanted to show you my new clothes. I wanted you to be the first to see them. The nuance is different”. Aww <3 I love how obvious it is that she’s mostly just a really awkward person who doesn’t have much experience with actually having solid relationships with people.

-In general this arc helps highlight some of her vulnerabilities in a really nice way. It’s really interesting to rewatch this arc while knowing that she can’t actually see Hachikuji, and that she’s just going along with the whole thing because she thinks that she’s the weird one for being out of  the loop. Which is pretty sad, but also kinda relatable. In my own separate way, I have my own experience with “not seeing things that other people can see”, and “seeing things that other people can’t see”, and choosing to keep quiet about it, and go along with how other people act, while telling myself that I’m the one that’s wrong. I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself since I’m trying to make these notes in a vaguely chronological sense, but this is also why I like the whole speech Senjougahara has [relayed from Oshino] about differing viewpoints, and how while you can’t simply dismiss another person as being wrong, it’s also wrong to dismiss yourself as being wrong. And, of course, the whole part near the very end where Araragi tells Senjougahara that she can be open with him, and that she doesn’t need to dismiss anything she thinks and feels as being wrong.

-Now onto the actual heroine of this arc, finally. I really like Hachikuji. She’s pretty great. It kinda saddens me how many scenes with her get kinda bogged down with some uncomfortable jokes that I’m not really gonna try and fully defend, but I still really like her. In general, she has a really neat dynamic with Araragi, though it’s the sorta thing that really grows and develops as time goes on. Things are slightly different between them in this arc, since they’ve just met. Also, after the infamous scene from Shinobu Time, it made me kinda sad to see the first iteration of her ‘Sorry, I stuttered’ line. Who would have thought that a silly running gag line would turn around and stab me right in my feelings about 40 episodes later.

-In general there’s all sorts of parts of this arc that make me flash back to later arcs in the series. It’s a weird experience, to see the seeds being sown for so many character arcs and so on. I didn’t really expect, the first time around, how much these characters would grow, and how much the story in general would expand. But then it did. The part I least expected to get reminded of was how I found myself remembering the Sodachi arc when Araragi gave a really vague summary of his younger years. It’s not really directly related, but it made me remember the whole point of ‘oh yeah he really doesn’t remember her, does he?’. There’s a bit of dramatic irony involved, knowing about it in advance. Araragi doesn’t know what’s about to hit him [in like . . . 60 episodes, hah]. Man, I can’t wait to rewatch the first half of Owari S1. That’s seriously one of my favourite parts of the entire franchise and I can’t wait to get a chance to talk about it and my undying love for Sodachi as a character. It makes me wonder if Nisioisin actually had that whole deal planned out in advance, since it really isn’t directly foreshadowed before Owari itself [I think], and the entire ‘oh yeah there’s this girl that Araragi forgot about because he’s a doof’ thing does feel like the perfect scenario for it being a retcon of sorts. Not like I mind any way.

-The other major thing that I got reminded of and got kinda sad about during this arc was the whole Hanekawa scene. It really hurts to see the topic of her family situation touched upon so lightly, after having seen it in more detail later in the story. Even the thing with her wearing her school uniform on a Sunday is depressing, and isn’t even really acknowledged [at least not directly in the anime]. On that vague note, it’s kinda interesting to see how Araragi is at least vaguely aware of Hanekawa’s whole situation, but doesn’t really know how to approach it, or how to help her. It’s pretty fitting for his character, and makes him seem more flawed and imperfect, in an everyday way. [This just reminds me, ironically enough, about how I just cannot, ever, for the life of me, remember what the hell happened in Neko:Kuro. I can never remember if anything I remember about the Hanekawa/Black Hanekawa/Cat Oddity storyline happened in that arc, or at the end of Bake, or even in Neko:Shiro. I don’t know why this is such a weird mental roadblock of mine, but it is]

-Also on the note of Hanekawa’s whole deal, the part where her glasses go all shiny and she says ‘if you’re going to spank a child, you should at least tell them why what they did was wrong’ while Araragi is just like ‘um . . . ok’ was also pretty uncomfortable to watch.

-I do love how comedic this arc is, even if it has a surprising amount of not so funny parts, especially in hindsight. I kinda suck at giving any sort of a comment on comedy, though. So if I don’t really talk about it much, it can be assumed that I really like the comedy in this show, because I really do. I can listen to these weirdos poke fun at each other and talk about random stuff for DAYS. I’ll at least probably talk about it if I don’t like certain parts of the comedy.

-It’s still pretty interesting to me how one of the major characters in the show is literally one of the oddities. I mean, I guess Shinobu is as well [and Yotsugi??? Sort of????], but you get what I mean. It makes for an interesting dynamic, and I’m really happy about how much Nisioisin does with the concept later in the story. I like how even if it’s mostly portrayed in a fairly light-hearted way early on, it has actual genuine consequences later on. So to say.

-I still always get kinda emotional over Hachikuji’s whole backstory. I admit it. I am the basic lame-o who gets sad over basically anything sad in media, especially when it’s to do with sad children, and dead children, and sad children who are also dead and have been dead for ten years. Sometimes I almost feel manipulated. Almost.

-I do genuinely relate to Hachikuji’s backstory, though. Even though it plays out differently to my own personal history, and we have different feelings toward our parents. Maybe it’s easier to say that I can just . . . see myself in parts of her story? I’m still trying to work out if it’s accurate to say that you can relate to someone who’s been through a similar situation as you even if they respond to it differently, or if you can relate to someone who goes through different situations than you, but responds to them in a way that’s similar to how you respond to certain parts of your life. I like to think that that still counts as ‘relating’. I don’t want to get into it too deeply here, but my own parents broke up shortly after I was born, before I can remember. It was my mother who retained custody of me, though, and not my father. And my feelings toward both of them aren’t the same as how Hachikuji feels toward her own parents. And I’m not a little Japanese girl who got hit by a car and has been sticking around as a ghost-cow-snail-thing for ten years. [OR AM I??? oooo spooky]

-I touched upon it before, but I really like the little moment between Senjougahara and Araragi at the end. It’s so sweet and earnest. I love how it’s all about the idea of emotional honesty and vulnerability, and how important those things are. I love how Senjougahara understands that maybe the most accurate thing she can say is that she just likes talking to Araragi, and that she wants to keep talking to him more and more. I love Araragi’s little line about ‘Senjougahara fascination’. Again, aww <3. I mean I can also totally understand how things end up really rocky between them in the long run, but still.

-Next time on Monogatari: Lesbians! Or should I say, lesbian, in singular form. It’s only when we get to Hanamonogatari that I can truly, justifiably, say ‘Lesbians!’ in plural form. Just you wait.