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tirorah · 7 months ago

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PGSM (2003) Is a Story About Human Beings, and I LOVE It

Years ago, I attempted to watch the live-action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon show, or PGSM for short. And I quit because it looked so silly I couldn't maintain my sense of disbelief.

I've learnt not to judge a show by its looks since then. So, when I stumbled across a 20-second PGSM clip two weeks ago, I thought, "Shouldn't I give that another chance?" I'd heard a few interesting things about it, so I decided the answer was yes.

It took me a little while to adjust, sure. Some things still looked ridiculous to me. And yet, with every episode I became more and more emotionally invested. I started to see PGSM for what it truly was: an intricate tapestry of character-driven storytelling.

If you've read my other posts, you know I love characters more than anything. What I also love is an emphasis on narrative consequence and a willingness to explore new and/or interesting ideas, particularly when it's a new entry in an already-established franchise. And it just so happens that PGSM ticks all of these boxes!

In short, this show was made for me.

I'm not going to write about all of the clever things this show does because that would take far too many words. Here's my quick two cents: I think PGSM is excellent. It has flaws, and I think it only appeals to a certain type of viewer. But if you are that type of viewer, like I am, you're likely to be swept off your feet!

So yeah, I never thought I'd say this, but I love this show. It's by far the most fun I've ever had with Sailor Moon. And as is standard by now, I'm going to tell you why I feel that way under the cut.

First, I'll go over how PGSM manages to work at all. Then, I'll outline the theme; the central questions at the heart of the story. Finally, I'm going to illustrate just how well this show pulls off its primary goals---by examining the character arc of a certain old favourite of mine.

[FULL spoiler warning!]

[Word count: ~6,000]

New Kid on The Block

Ever since its inception, Sailor Moon has been an enduring presence in Japanese media and merchandising. Its presence has waxed and waned over the past decades, but it has nevertheless managed to remain incredibly successful. The original 90s manga spawned a concurrently running anime series, musicals, the Crystal anime series in the 2010s, and much more.

The fun effect of all these different versions is that each is its own thing. Even Crystal, which adheres much more closely to the manga than the 90s anime, is still different; a story can't be told the same way in every medium. This is why adaptations are difficult to do and are likely to piss off someone, regardless of intent or execution.

Smack-dab between the original and recent versions, a bold little beast emerged.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon aired from October 2003 to September 2004. Unlike the versions before and since, it's a live-action tokusatsu superhero TV series, like Super Sentai--a show the manga also drew inspiration from. This again marks a significant change when it comes to storytelling possibilities.

PGSM faces several challenges on top of that. It only exists because the musicals were so successful, yet it has a shoestring-looking budget that makes some aspects of the show look underwhelming. The lead actors were young and inexperienced, so it can take a bit for everything to click performance-wise. Lastly, the characters tend to have their faces in full view during action scenes, rendering the use of stunt doubles difficult and therefore limiting choreographic possibilities.

And yet, under the stewardship of writer Kobayashi Yasuko and a ton of passionate and experienced staff, this show found a way to stand shoulder to shoulder with beloved works of the franchise.

Let's examine how.

Limitations, Genre and Theme

If I'd given you a rundown of the obstacles PGSM faced without my glowing praise attached, you'd probably think this show was sent out to die. Maybe it was, I don't know. Perhaps someone at Toei thought it would hoover up some merchandise sales before it fell off a cliff to its pyrotechnic death!

The amazing thing about PGSM is that it takes these challenges and turns them into its greatest strengths. This is a show that understands the constraints it has to operate within. It can't compete on action and special effects, so it hones in on something it can execute well and bring a unique twist to: characters and story.

Its best claim to fame, at least in the little discussion I saw of it, is how it reworks its characters to serve a brand-new spin on a familiar narrative. But I believe this description to be...insufficient. The changes made here go beyond adjusting and emphasising personality traits. This is a paradigm shift; a top-to-bottom overhaul and a tribute to Sailor Moon all at once.

While there's still an overarching story that involves protecting the world from evil and salvaging a doomed romance from a previous life, the real meat of PGSM lies in the rich inner lives of its cast. This shifts the genre to character-driven drama with a dash of soap opera.

As a result, those aforementioned inner lives are established, built upon, and allowed to emerge and clash naturally. All the while, the characters contend with a turbulent new reality which further affects their interpersonal relationships. That in turn shifts the theme to something much more personal: past life versus current life.

What does it mean for your identity to be reborn with memories from a past life? What do you do when that past life has a stranglehold on your current one? Are you doomed to repeat the mistakes of ages past?

And what effect do these challenges have on a person's psyche?

PGSM spends its 49-episode runtime exploring these questions to the fullest. I consider it a true ensemble work, as every major character is relevant to the story and drives it forward at some point. And because each of them is unique, we're shown a full spectrum of viewpoints that are informed by personality traits and emotional baggage.

So, yeah, it's really good. Really damn good.

In fact, to demonstrate just how in-depth and detailed the characterisation is, I'm going to spend the rest of this post analysing my favourite example of a PGSM character arc: the understated and expertly-paced struggles of one Kino Makoto.

Wood and Thunder

A core part of Makoto in every version is her dual nature--possessing both traditionally masculine and feminine characteristics--and how this clashes with societal expectations. With her curly hair and long skirt, she comes across like a typical sukeban (a delinquent girl) of the time. Her imposing height, incredible strength and fighting skills confirm that image.

In truth, the sukeban resemblance is exactly that and nothing more; her hair is naturally curly and her new school doesn't have a uniform in her size. She only uses her strength to protect others. Notably, she has a romantic heart and yearns for a place to belong, perhaps even a person she can belong with.

Absolutely none of that matters to society. Through no fault of her own, people only see one side to her and assume the other doesn't exist. Prejudice and ostracisation follow.

You might think this would cause Makoto to be ashamed of her more masculine traits, but that's not the case. She might feel embarrassed by them at times, or attempt to play up her feminine side to compensate, sure. But in the end, she embraces all of these characteristics and doesn't think it's wrong to be this way. People just refuse to see the feminine side that's openly on display.

So, here we have a character with a compelling set of characteristics that can be utilised in different ways. The approach taken is something that differs per version. But like all things Sailor Moon, Makoto is a product of her time; the sukeban aspect is particularly dated.

As an early 2000s show, PGSM had a chance at a fresh start with this concept. Suffice it to say I was very interested to see how it would update Makoto to a new millennium and modify her without erasing her core traits. What I got was far more than I bargained for.

Makoto's PGSM debut gives us an effective overview of her as a person that hits many familiar beats. She protects Usagi, returns Usagi's friendliness with her own, develops a crush on a guy, and kicks ass both in and out of Senshi guise. She had her heart broken by her senpai at her previous school, but she also felt like something was urging her to come here. Now she knows why: she had comrades to meet.

This looks like a mix of Makoto's introduction in the manga and 90s anime, adapted to modern times. But all that familiarity is distracting you from something. There's actually a big deviation here, and you can see that before she even does anything.

Take a good look at this picture. Obviously the sukeban influence was removed from her design, but that's not the most important detail here. Hopefully you'll notice what I didn't:

There are no rose earrings.

Everything spirals out from there. The Makoto from the 90s was open about her femininity, but the Makoto we meet in PGSM barely shows her feminine side at all. In fact, she takes great pains to hide it.

This affects her character on a fundamental level. When she first appears, she comes across as unusually withdrawn and stoic. As is typical of the character, she swiftly opens up to Usagi and that seems to be the end of aloof Makoto. But that feminine side doesn't surface. She still dresses in unisex clothes that lean more toward masculine than feminine.

Likewise, her flat may have a few plants and a neat kitchen, but they don't take centre stage. There's a skateboard and a hat collection (my beloved!) that are displayed at the entrance. A logical location, but that also means it's the first thing you see when you enter.

So, what gives? Here's the thing: the characters in PGSM are emotionally complex. Much work and care went into characterising all of them. Because of this, the characters feel like real people. They argue, make mistakes, agonise over things... Not to say this isn't the case in other versions, but PGSM takes it further and really emphasises how vulnerable--how tragically human--these characters can be.

That's what is being tied into here. Being mistaken for a tomboy, despite being openly feminine, is an external issue. But for PGSM's Makoto, the conflict is internal. She doesn't want to be seen as feminine. When exposed or questioned, she denies it despite being a terrible liar. If the questioning continues, she actually uses her tomboy image to refute it.

She does this because her feminine side makes her vulnerable. This Makoto has been burned so many times that she's developed abandonment issues. She's one bad experience away from yet another cocktail of intense sadness and deep-seated anger. Sometimes a mere reminder is enough to get her down, too.

No one wants to feel like that. She's learnt the hard way that opening herself up to others puts her at risk. That's why she prefers to play these darker feelings close to her chest.

To demonstrate all of this, her debut episode shows us exactly how bad it can get. It puts her through an especially cruel combination of deception, humiliation and rejection, no punches pulled.

It's at this moment that Makoto has had enough. Taking this risk was a mistake and it should never be repeated. She slams the gate to her wounded heart shut and locks it tight. The walls of her inner fortress become that much higher.

Learning to lower those walls and make another try for happiness is Makoto's character arc in PGSM.

This is why she was shifted so much toward the tomboy archetype. By giving Makoto an emotional incentive to deny a part of herself, PGSM gives her a believable, deeply personal obstacle that can take her the entire show to overcome. She now has to engage with her abandonment issues in order to become the more balanced person we know she can be.

Her powers as Sailor Jupiter also connect to this: there's the explosive power of lightning on one end and the soothing aura of nature on the other. Two distinct halves that each bring their own benefits. But Makoto's starting point is pure lightning.

Multiple times throughout the show, we're shown that nature is trying to communicate with her. But because she starts out as a lightning bolt, she doesn't understand it at all. This is another avenue for self-improvement, and PGSM understands that too; it explicitly ties the awakening of a Senshi's full powers to overcoming a core character flaw.

So, given all of that, how does PGSM build on the devastation she suffered during her debut episode and the emotional consequences left in its wake?

I'm happy to report it does nothing for 24 episodes. Yes, really.

For half of the runtime, Makoto acts as the support of the group; often present, but never centre stage. Sure, she develops a dynamic with each of her new friends, and she even begins to show some of her feminine aspects as that trust grows. The more she does this, the more her affinity with nature subtly increases; she begins to use non-lightning attacks and comes ever so slightly closer to understanding what the wind and trees attempt to tell her.

But when it comes to the story, Makoto doesn't drive most of the events that occur at this point. She becomes involved, or agrees to go along with something, but rare is the instance where something happens directly because of her actions. She contributes, but she's never in the driver's seat. She's the one who helps others become better versions of themselves.

She develops, but she doesn't grow.

This delay is 100% intentional. A Makoto who's only giving, only protecting, is completely fine. There are no lingering issues she needs to deal with because they've been swept under the rug, tucked away behind the walls of her fortress. For all she reveals of herself during this time, her abandonment issues might as well not exist.

This is PGSM's devotion to character-driven storytelling and narrative consequence on full display. As Makoto ignores her emotional baggage, PGSM is likewise content to misdirect you away from it.

Cycle of Fear

It's not until episode 31 that Motoki--the most endearing turtle nerd to have ever lived--unwittingly pokes at Makoto's defences. Up until that moment, she'd first considered him an acquaintance and later a supportive friend. In other words: a safe coexistence.

The moment she realises he has a crush on her, that safety disappears and all her thoroughly-buried insecurities rush to the forefront. Her old stoicism slams into place as the mask we now know it to be and she does her best to avoid eye contact. As brash as she usually is, she now struggles with all her might to seem detached and logical. She has to; the alternative is revealing how anxious this situation makes her. Although Usagi, Ami and Rei have earned her trust, showing that most vulnerable side of herself is still a bridge too far.

She drags herself to the date (probably because Usagi wouldn't let her worm her way out of it) and spends the entire time being awkward in spite of Motoki's oblivious excitement. It's clear that her heart isn't in it, but in typical Makoto fashion, she places the needs of the kind, sensitive Motoki above her own and does her best to let the date die a natural death.

Then, a sudden connection!

Makoto is stunned at first. No one has ever said that to her. As Motoki continues to extol her virtues--half of which are about how incredibly nice she is--she lights up! Aww!

...Only for her insecurities to take over again after an offhand mention of parents by Motoki, because PGSM is a story about fallible human beings. She immediately attempts to leave and is only stopped by a nosey Luna. It's impossible for Motoki not to notice something's off at this point. Keen for clarity, he decides to confess his feelings when they're not surrounded by other people. Makoto rejects him--by denying her femininity.

This is a direct result of Makoto's actions in the first half of the show. When she started to open up to her friends, she could've taken it further and started to navigate her issues. Her friends could've helped her. Instead, she chose to pretend that there was nothing to fix.

Now here she is. Avoidance--her first line of defence--has failed. Her second wall, rationalisation, has also been bypassed. Emotionally cornered, she falls back on the same defence mechanism she used at the start: denial wrapped up in irrational beliefs and low self-esteem.

"I'm really strong and get into fights. People are scared of me. That means I'm actually not feminine at all and what you saw was an anomaly. And because I'm not feminine, I'm not dating material."

By maintaining her tomboy image and denying her feminine attributes, this reasoning allows her to pre-emptively sabotage any blossoming relationship for herself. While this might bring relief in the short term, it's also the very thing that keeps her from happiness. Makoto is the Senshi of courage, but here she demonstrates how afraid she truly is.

Motoki seems to recognise this on some level. To him, Makoto is a strong, confident person. But she's also reserved in a way, and now that the emotional mess underneath is being dragged into the light, it's clear she's like that for a reason. He sees her for who she truly is and he likes what he sees, but she's not in a good enough place, mentally, to see that too. So he does the only thing he can do: he gives her space. He reassures her that she is feminine and then leaves her be.

"Why?"

This is the question that has plagued her for years. Uttered by a young Makoto and echoed by her present self, this representation of her thoughts comes up whenever loss or rejection hits. What matters here is the context: for once, it's Makoto who did the rejecting. She's in control.

So then, why does this still happen?

This is one of the uncommon moments where PGSM engages in subtlety. We don't get a definitive answer here. Makoto asks, "Why?" but we don't know what that refers to in this moment. We have to infer that ourselves.

My reading is as follows: "I rejected him before he could reject me. I removed him from my life before I could lose him. So why does it hurt? Why do I feel sad?"

During the subsequent fight against a powerful Youma, the other Senshi are held up and she ends up cornered and alone. It's an all too familiar scenario. She flashes back to all of the people she's lost.

Motoki shows up too, but he's almost impossible to make out.

At that very moment, the wind picks up around her. She lets out a breath in awe, gazing up at the swaying branches as the wind seems to communicate something. And then she awakens. Although she still summons a lightning attack, it's now taken on a green colour, signifying a new equilibrium.

When the others ask her what triggered it, Makoto naturally tells them the lesson of this episode: that she had to acknowledge her feminine side and truly open herself up to being loved--

--Wha...?

Yeah, you're seeing that right. Makoto just learnt the wrong lesson.

Needless to say, I was flabbergasted by this outcome. Deep down, as much as she wants to refute it, Makoto needs companionship, people to belong with. It's a core aspect of her character! It makes no sense for her to gain power from solitude.

However... If you think about it, why wouldn't this be her takeaway? She was alone and she made sure to sabotage her relationship with Motoki before it could go anywhere, so this is the only logical explanation, right? Her powers awakened, so the narrative is proving her correct as well.

Except no, the narrative is simply adhering to the consequences of her actions. By coming to the wrong conclusion, Makoto has once again delayed her growth.

For the next 13 (!) episodes, Makoto seems to be okay again. She easily slips back into her role of casual, friendly and supportive friend. But something's changed: Usagi, Ami and Rei have glimpsed Makoto's scars, and they're not content to let her ignore them.

They attempt to challenge her new outlook, but Makoto's resolve is ironclad. Even when she's forced to reveal her secret identity to Motoki, she still reiterates her rejection of him. What's worse, she now she has an extra defence: her duties as a Senshi. Although Motoki still carries a torch for her, he resigns himself to supporting her as best he can.

Still, despite her determination in this matter, Makoto herself has changed as well. There's conflict and pain present whenever she's forced to acknowledge her decisions. And ever since the start of episode 31, she can't help but look sombre whenever something reminds her of her parents. Somehow, despite her best efforts to repair the holes in her walls, some cracks have remained.

All of this comes to a head when Makoto's character arc collides with Minako's.

Diminishing The Self

Ever since the girls found out they were reborn after their past lives ended in disaster, they've been grappling with PGSM's theme more and more. With their past swiftly squeezing the life out of their present, each of them is forced to form an opinion: How much do their past lives affect their present lives? How much should it affect them in the first place? And what do you do?

Here's our spectrum: On one extreme we have Rei, who's become resentful of her past life and rejects it completely. She asserts that she is her own person and that her past life shouldn't dictate who she is and how she acts now. Makoto's stance is adding fuel to that fire. When Minako counters her coup with one of her own, Rei is kicked out and decides to fight on separately.

At the other extreme stands Minako. Diagnosed with a terminal illness that she has almost no hope of curing, she's completely rejected her present life and is devoted to completing the mission from her past life. She won't be around for much longer and she's determined to save the world as much as possible before she dies. She asserts authority over the Senshi for the sake of the mission.

Usagi and Ami fall between these two polar opposites. Usagi is the reincarnation of the Moon Princess and is literally anchored to the past life through her Silver Crystal. She can't deny that her current existence has been heavily shaped by the past. But she's also determined to prevent a repeat of the past, even if it's the hardest thing she's ever done. She works hard at controlling her emotions and is convinced she and Mamoru will succeed.

Ami's current circumstances don't seem to be shaped as much by her past life, so she's the most neutral out of all of them. But as someone who was turned to evil and emerged a changed person, it's hard to deny: Their lives have been affected by the past and it's necessary to acknowledge that. What to do with that information is something she doesn't have the answer to. She fights alongside Minako and Makoto, but stays in touch with Rei.

Makoto has been firmly in the 'this mission is paramount' camp from the start, but not to the extreme that Minako is. You see, Minako almost always chooses to refer to them by their Senshi monikers. Makoto doesn't; she and her three friends always refer to each other by their present life names, even during battle. This is a conscious change that establishes their current identities as distinct from their past selves.

But remember, Makoto came here because she was meant to. She was meant to meet her comrades. She was destined to be alone, so she could listen to nature and let it lead her to her true purpose in life.

So when Minako tells her she's so devoted to the mission that she will cast aside her life to complete it, Makoto can't help but be stirred. Finally, with Minako's help, she realises that the truth is even simpler than she thought: She's always been alone because her current life isn't what truly matters. She exists to carry out her duties, regardless of the personal cost.

This is the final piece of the puzzle for both her and us. Her shift to a tomboy archetype, her character arc and the theme of the show all combine here.

For years, Makoto has been haunted by something: "Why?" Why was she left to suffer all alone? Why was she abandoned over and over?

Then this Senshi business comes along, and with it comes a duty and moniker from a past life. For Usagi, this upheaval of her identity is upsetting. But for Makoto, it's a comfort. Being a Senshi gives her purpose, stability and even friends. For someone who's sorely lacked all of that for years, this development is nothing short of a godsend.

And so, from the very beginning, she took this newfound 'destiny' and ran with it. This was the best thing that had ever happened to her and she crafted her entire outlook around that. Heartbroken and expelled from school? That was just another way to get her to where she needed to be. Her powers awaken while she's dwelling on how she always ends up alone? Obviously that isolation was also intended.

From there, it's a hop, skip and a jump to what she's doing in this scene: discarding her current identity in favour of her past one. She perfectly expresses this by (in the next episode) copying Minako's statement: she might die, but "Jupiter won't disappear". Kino Makoto is a shell to house Sailor Jupiter, and shells are expendable.

This is Makoto at her most extreme. She's always downplayed her own importance and achievements, and now here she is, downplaying her very existence. No individual, only the greater good.

It doesn't even matter that Minako lied to them about her identity, illness and powers. Makoto understands by this point that a secret can be kept for good reasons; she's done it herself. If anything, Minako's deception and her ensuing burdens feed Makoto's view of her as a martyr and a leader.

By choosing to follow that example, Makoto joins Minako on the very extreme of the thematic (past life versus current life) spectrum. In turn, Minako gains the staunchest of allies--but she fails to realise how thoroughly Makoto has just been primed for the pinnacle of martyrdom.

A powerful Youma attacks. When Makoto, Ami and Luna wound it, Metalia possesses it, scaling its power beyond that of the Senshi to overcome. Minako can't transform. Ami and Luna have been knocked out of their Senshi forms and can't fight anymore.

Metalia is about to win. They're going to fail.

Makoto decides to fulfil her purpose. She grabs hold of the Youma and overloads herself with lightning, creating an explosion that annihilates them both.

Minako calls out to the person--not the Senshi--in front of her.

True Courage

Makoto wakes up in a hotel room, wounded but alive, watched over by Minako. The Youma threw her off at the last second, saving both of their lives. Makoto only laments her failure; she doesn't even seem to care that she almost died. In fact, she outright states that she was meant to be alone so that her possible death wouldn't make anyone sad.

Minako has been horrified by this entire ordeal and that feeling only grows with every sentence Makoto utters. When Makoto explains she was fulfilling her past life's mission, it hits Minako like a ton of bricks: this is her doing. By influencing Makoto in this direction, she almost had Makoto's blood on her hands.

She tries to sway Makoto from a repeat attempt, but is taken aback when Makoto unintentionally throws every single one of her own arguments back in her face. When she claims that her own situation is different, Makoto looks her squarely in the eyes and says, "A life's a life. They're all the same."

Minako doesn't deny it. She can't. How could anyone refuse such a simple, factual statement when it comes from someone as forthright as Makoto?

It proves impossible to change Makoto's mind, so she changes tactics. Rather than challenge Makoto's standpoint directly, she questions one of its cornerstones instead. She does so by revealing that Makoto had muttered Motoki's name in her sleep. Perhaps, she posits, Makoto is more tied to the present than she believes herself to be.

This succeeds in shaking Makoto's beliefs. Minako leaves her to her thoughts, victorious in a way, but her own conviction was caught in the crossfire. While Rei's insistence opened the way, she was also easy to dig in her heels against. Makoto, on the other hand, has fundamentally disproven Minako's views by agreeing with her. In that suicide attack, she saw first-hand the logical endpoint of her own ideology. She's more than a little disturbed.

It's the opening Artemis needs, even though he doesn't know it's there. When he subsequently shows her how much joy and comfort her songs bring to others, she finally realises what she's been missing in herself. Her current life does have value, her achievements do matter, and she shouldn't dismiss them so flippantly. She should love herself, love the person she is now.

In the following battle, she awakens her full powers and transforms. The Senshi are finally united for good.

Now that Minako has admitted to herself that she also resents the past life for what it's done to her, Makoto has become the new extreme on the thematic spectrum. However, Minako's revelation is forcing her to reconcile conflicting truths. She awakened because she was alone. But if Motoki's still on her mind like that, if he's still part of her life like that, then she's not alone. If she's not alone, then her reasoning is intrinsically flawed.

When she sees Motoki in a Youma-induced coma, the question of "Why?" returns for the final time. And then she sees him, clearly this time.

In that moment, she realises all of her beliefs were wrong. She didn't reject Motoki, she lost him through self-sabotage. Foiling a possible relationship didn't work; he'd cracked her armour before then. Their connection was gradually built up over the entire show and came cocooned in comfortable friendship, the only type of connection she did allow.

When that connection touched her heart and stirred something more, that was when she unlocked her full potential. He cares about her, the real her, not the skewed facade she puts on. She's not alone anymore. When she told herself that she was alone and always had been, and the wind rustled the leaves, that was nature calling her out on her self-deception.

But why did that self-deception even occur? She didn't need to draw this conclusion from the start, did she? Unfortunately, she did. That's the final, heartbreaking part: Being a Senshi was the ultimate coping mechanism.

There's a reason this shot is repeated multiple times:

Makoto was constantly looking back at the past, looking for answers. Because her abandonment issues went unresolved, that question of "Why?" was burning a hole in her. She was desperate for a reason, any reason, so she could understand. If her hardship and loneliness were predetermined and in service to this all-important duty, then being a Senshi justified her suffering. She craved that more than anything. No wonder she transformed without even questioning it.

And hey, if that duty meant she had to avoid the type of relationship that terrified her most of all, well... That was a happy coincidence, wasn't it?

Fortunately, for all the trouble her uncompromising, black-and-white outlook has brought her, that same determination also allows her to accept this new truth in an instant. She screwed up big-time, but as long as she lives and breathes, she can work to set things right.

She strokes Motoki's hand and runs off to join the fray--not to throw herself at the enemy through all her lifetimes, but to protect those who are dear to her now. After the fight, she looks at the turtle-shaped charm Motoki bought her and smiles, allowing herself to dream of the future for the first time.

Minako passes away the next episode, but she does so with no regrets. Although grief follows, that final unifying moment, jump-started by Makoto, was enough. Ami, Rei and Makoto head off to the finale together, as a true team, never losing sight of what's important to them.

PGSM is exceedingly compelling to me, and the structure of this character arc exemplifies why. Makoto learns the wrong lesson three times: when she first becomes Sailor Jupiter, when she awakens her full power, and when she embraces Minako's ideology to an unhealthy degree.

Not only does PGSM allow her to miss the mark so spectacularly, it also gives her the time to deny and then address her irrational beliefs in a plausible manner. Moreover, because she and Minako drive each other to unlearn their internalised misconceptions, Makoto gives both Minako and the story one of the last pushes they need.

The last we see of Makoto's new and improved self, in relation to romance, is her final encounter with Motoki in the show. She shows him she's attached his cute turtle charm to her wallet, out there for everyone to see. Motoki treats it with cautious optimism, then relief. It's a deliberate signal: Makoto is open to new possibilities now. Maybe they can try again. They laugh a little, sharing their first comfortable moment together in this context.

Sadly, likely due to a few cut episodes, this is the last we see of them. Makoto's character arc is definitely complete, but because the ending shows the Senshi alone before they meet up with Usagi again, her relationship status with Motoki is left ambiguous.

But not to worry! Due to the success of the show's DVD sales during its runtime, both a special prequel and sequel act were produced! The sequel act is a 1-hour movie that shows us where everyone ended up four years later.

In that time, Makoto has undergone a significant transformation. In the show, her dreams for the future were never even mentioned. But here, we find out she's studying floral design, something that she's obviously passionate about. Reaching for happiness indeed.

On the wardrobe side, she still owns unisex clothes (you see this when she charges off to the action portion of the movie), but otherwise her femininity is on full display. A blouse, an embroidered shirt, even a bright yellow skirt, it's all there. Not to mention the stunning dress she wears at Usagi's wedding. And to symbolise how full-circle we've come, she's even wearing earrings!

Her flat has likewise seen major changes. The skateboard and my beloved hats have been moved to make way for what appears to be storage (a fulfilling life can result in extra possessions!) and a picture of something nature-y on the wall. And the room is now filled with plants!

All of these differences stack up. The flat looks...filled, for lack of a better term. It started out rather sparse in her debut episode, but back then she'd just moved in and probably hadn't finished unpacking yet. However, even after she gained more possessions, there were parts that felt like they had just a little bit of empty space to them. Now the entire space is lavishly furnished!

Speaking of which, there's a large stuffed turtle on her sofa, indicating she and Motoki have pursued their relationship and now live together. This is later confirmed when she takes Motoki's car--which she had the keys for--to save Usagi and Mamoru.

At the very end of the epilogue, Motoki clumsily but earnestly asks Makoto for her hand in marriage. And Makoto, overwhelmed and overjoyed, accepts. She's the only version of the character to have achieved this.

It's immensely satisfying seeing a character brought so low, only for them to soar higher than ever before. This Makoto has undergone an immense personal journey. There's no telling what kinds of challenges she might need to overcome in the years to come, but she's already climbed this mountain. Perhaps there's nothing she can't do. And no matter what, she'll always have someone at her side. She'll never be alone again.

I love it. I love all of it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say this is my favourite take on Makoto in the franchise. She's the best, and PGSM is the best for treating her with the nuance and maturity she deserves! Bravo!

---

That's the end of this post! It was meant to be way shorter, but I suppose that was an exercise in futility. If you made it all the way here, thank you very much!

I know I just said PGSM was the best. This is a subjective statement. PGSM is far and away my favourite incarnation of Sailor Moon, but I hold to what I said at the start: Every version is different, and I think that's great. We all enjoy media differently; the more people that can find a version of Sailor Moon befitting their preferences, the better.

It just so happens that PGSM was made for me! And hey, if you've never watched it before, or you dropped it like I first did, maybe it's worth another try. You never know, it might just be your thing too.

Like a certain person once sang:

~Just like predictable movies and books are boring When life is a little bit off, it might be more fun~

#pretty guardian sailor moon #pgsm #kino makoto #makoto kino

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skiesareblue · 1 year ago

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The difference between the first grown Wolfgang scene being Der Rote Rock (Vienna 1999, 2006, Hungarian, Japanese) and Die Wunder sind vorüber (Vienna 2015 and all German productions except Tecklenburg 2008) is so interesting because they both introduce the same themes (freedom, genius, childhood) in relation to grown Mozart for the first time but in really different ways that affect how Wolfgang is then perceived by the audience across the first act.

Both are based around Wolfgang’s gambling, but in Der rote Rock the legality isn’t discussed, and you never actually see him gamble, just his winnings, money which he spent on a coat that is an exact replica of his childhood coat that Amade is wearing. Any negative side to the gambling goes unacknowledged by Nannerl or him. He has the naive idea that it's going to somehow persuade his father to take them touring again like they did as children, where they’ll essentially attain a form of freedom, away from Salzburg but still with his family. The main traits are his naivety and joy in this scene, and then there’s this growing change throughout the first act, and when you get to wie wird man seinen Schatten los, where the family that he original saw as being part of his freedom are part of the crowd around him, along with Colloredo, and he’s no longer trying to be his childhood genius self with coat but is unable to escape him. As the show progresses the traits that he has that hold him back and hurt his family become more visible, he’s not a good judge of character (the Webers), he’s bad at resisting peer pressure (the Webers, and crucially Jetzt wird beim spielen/der Prinz ist fort reprise)

By contrast in 2015 more of Wolfgang’s flaws are already on show in his first scene, he’s a bad judge of character (he expects the chap with the signet ring to pay up), he’s full of himself (technical term lol) and knows what he’s doing is against palace rules. He’s already partly rejecting his childhood/ Amade(genius) through gambling the childhood (early teen) violin based on the childhood delusion that he’ll win because he’s destiny’s prince (unlike DrR where he uses his winnings to replicate a childhood possession which for the audience has strong associations with him as a wunderkind), and his confidence in his luck as “destiny’s prince” (while right at the time) is only affirmed by him and will become a negative; it’s cocky and if not delusional, full of the overconfidence that leads to him messing up his and his family’s lives later whereas in DrR its Nannerl who tells him he’s lucky, and the coat is lucky, Mozart may believe it but hes not alone in it. And then he continues like this, making all the same mistakes but on a larger scale; he goes from wagering a violin to making decisions that massively impact his family and his wife.

I, unsurprisingly, prefer Der Rote Rock because it’s crucial in establishing Wolfgang and Nannerl’s relationship, her blind faith in him, and how tied to her childhood she is, and how trapped and reliant on others, as well as the way he uses her to deflect in arguments with their father, which is something that reoccurs. And I think if you're watching a DrR version, especially 1999, you see his relationship to freedom and Amade change, and see his flaws start to come to the surface slowly, and i enjoy that! However unlike a lot of the changes i don't think Die Wunder sind vorüber is bad, it very effectively foreshadows the problems and conflicts that Wolfgang will deal with across the play.

(I do wonder if it’s a necessary song though (whereas DrR definitely is imo), in the same way that I think it’s great Mrs Danvers no longer has a die Neue Mrs de Winter solo because i found it to give away too much to the audience too soon.)

#omg a mozart post in which i don't completely insult 2015. or only mention nannerl. wild #mozart! das musical

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tokiro07 · 2 years ago

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I actually managed to finish medaka box after a while of putting it off because of you mentining it, and it was, weird to be honest? Some of it in a good way, but there were many parts that just, didn't really fell like they click all that well. There are stuff that just hasn't aged well and were annoying but mostly sometimes it really fell like who made it didn't really had much idea in what direction they wanted to take it or how to get there in a satisfying manner. It wasn't really bad overall, I stick with it to the end after all, just like I say, weird. (Hope you don't take this the wrong way, just wanted to share my thoughts since you are the only one I know of who read it).

That's a shame, but it's not for everyone. I've never really thought of Medaka Box as a perfect masterpiece that would appeal to everyone

That said, it is definitely up for debate where a lot of its flaws come from, whether they were from the Jump editorial department, translation issues, or Nisio Isin just being Like That

A lot of Nisio Isin's opining about philosophy comes off as pretty obtuse a lot of the time, like the whole thing about Medaka "killing her father" and it turning out to be that Fukuro a) wasn't her dad, b) killed himself because Medaka's personality was too extreme for him to handle, and c) wasn't even actually dead. Ajimu and Medaka both jumped through some pretty serious hoops to reach the conclusion that Medaka was at fault, but Nisio Isin is also the same guy who wrote a story about a disease that curses you to die at age 12, meaning that you're immortal until you hit 12. That's really just the kind of ridiculous logic this man uses, and I had three full years to get used to it while reading it during its original run

I do think there were a lot of points that Nisio Isin wanted to go a different direction, though, or where he wanted to expound on certain concepts a bit more, but wasn't able to because of the pressures of the editorial department. While the table of contents isn't a reliable indicator of popularity, it's undeniable that Medaka Box was consistently closer to the back of the magazine, averaging at 14th across four years, so it seems pretty likely that it was a heavily divisive series among fans, which could result in things being cut or trimmed just in case of a sudden cancelation. The final arc in particular feels like it was missing a lot, as multiple fights either occurred off-screen or were ended instantaneously (i.e. Medaka vs. Kakegae or Tsurubami vs. Fukuro), and the ones we got to see often had their explanations reduced or completely omitted (i.e. Torai being an artificial Abnormal without us ever learning what her Abnormality even was or Nienami telling Medaka that she's using Styles incorrectly without actually explaining what's wrong with her approach)

Again, though, a lot of what Nisio Isin has to say is difficult enough to parse in Japanese, so god only knows how much is lost in translation. I personally caught CXC making mistakes constantly, and the group currently translating the full-color version is, admittedly, not much better. Sentai Filmworks' subtitles were fine, but that was also the first two seasons where things hadn't gotten too out of hand yet, as Kumagawa hadn't even shown up until the last episode

The best advice I can give is to remember that Medaka Box is, at its core, a deconstruction of a lot of popular Shonen Jump tropes. It becomes more obvious once Kumagawa and Ajimu start literally talking about Jump, but once you know that, even the early chapters are clearly themed around that concept. Most notably, the Flask Plan and the differentiation between Normals, Specials and Abnormals are an indictment of the Jump ideal of "Effort," stating that anyone can achieve anything if they put in the effort, only for most Jump protagonists to have some kind of advantage like being the secret descendant of a deity or the spiritual host to a powerful monster or some such nonsense that automatically makes them different from the everyman. Medaka herself is meant to be almost a parody of the typical Jump protagonist, while Hitoyoshi is the Jump ideal, brought to its logical extreme when he is given the Devil Style Skill to completely erase any benefits he could receive from fate or luck, forcing him to rely solely on his own efforts and ridding him of the ability to make any excuses should he fail

Of course, Medaka Box being so parodic of Jump does beg the question: was the ending what Niso Isin intended? Medaka Box ended much more neatly than most Jump properties get to, but its relatively sudden conclusion would also feel right at home among all of the other "the story goes on" or "well that sure was convenient" or "whoa that's a lot of information to take in all at once" style endings that you so often see in canceled series. Was Medaka Box actually canceled and forced to rush its conclusion, or did notorious mad lad Nisio Isin construct the perfect simulation of a rushed ending? It's absolutely something he would do, especially when you consider that there weren't too many dangling threads or unanswered questions, just things that the fans would prefer to see given more focus

To address your point, I am absolutely certain that Nisio Isin knew exactly where he wanted the story to go, the main question is whether or not he was just unable to overcome his own Nisioisms, if the editors wouldn't let him do what he wanted, or if the translators just found a way to botch his intentions. Maybe it was a little of everything, but we'll most likely never know for sure

#medaka box

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go-go-devil · 2 months ago

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what is your favorite classic sonic game and favorite modern sonic game? also if you like, mania can be grouped with the classic games :]

I already gave an answer to my favorite classic game, so I'll answer this portion with my second favorite classic Sonic game: Sonic CD!

Or more specifically the 2011 remaster made by Christian Whitehead. I never got to play the original Sega CD release nor the Sonic Gems Collection version, but honestly I don't need to because this remains the best version of the game to play and may very well be the best remaster of any video game ever! It not only enhances the visuals and gameplay speed, but also lets you pick between the Japanese and American soundtracks + giving you the option to play as Tails!

The only aspect of the game that puts it slightly (and I mean VERY slightly) below Sonic 3K for me is because I need to be in a certain mood to get fully immersed in this game's level design. It's more vertical and chaotic than the smoothly paced greatness that is 3K's zones, but when I'm in the mood to explore and embrace the zaniness of it all it truly is one of the best and most unique platforming experiences out there ✨

(Also the Japanese OST is the best Sonic soundtrack ever made and one of the best in all of gaming imo)

Now as for my favorite modern Sonic game...

Oh yeah, I'm so predictable and I don't care 😎

I consider SA2 to be the last of the "Classic Era" of Sonic games, but by the franchise's technical definitions of what differentiates classic from modern Sonic this would technically be a "Modern Sonic" game due to Sonic's gameplay and design here. Honestly I hate what Sega did by separating the 2D and 3D games into different universes since I think it's kinda lame and takes away the connected storyline the series once had (something even Sonic Generations didn't tamper with for its crossover).

But anyway, my love for SA2 goes beyond mere nostalgia. For me this game will always be the series's flawed masterpiece; a game that put so much effort into every single component of its level design and story that, while not always hitting the landing, still provided us with a truly unforgettable experience.

To me this game not only remains the best controlling and most consistently entertaining 3D Sonic game, but also the last Sonic game that truly put the effort into EVOLVING the mechanics from the previous game.

This point might piss some people off, but really think about it. When was the last time a mainline Sonic game, not counting the handhelds, which both fixed the fundamental flaws of its predecessor and added onto them in new and meaningful ways?

Sonic Heroes's team-based mechanics were dropped immediately for Shadow the Hedgehog's morality system and gun gameplay, which too was quickly dropped by the next game. Sonic 06 tried and failed spectacularly to continue the Adventure formula. The Storybook games aren't mainline games but there are many who are divisive on whether Black Knight truly fixed most of the issues of Secret Rings.

Even the boost games didn't do this. Colors only removed the added gameplay mode of Unleashed's werehog levels without actually changing the automation of boosting, and Generations only separated the 2.5D and 3D gameplay without changing the boost formula either. Lost World created a brand new parkour system that was never touched by any future games ever again. Rise of Lyric's puzzle and beat-em-up elements were never attempted again. Sonic Forces went back to the boost formula with zero tweeks to the gameplay, and Frontiers made everything open world and seemed to reinvent the formula AGAIN.

I don't care if I sound old school at this point, this series has developed a major identity problem. For me SA2 will always be the true sendoff for the Golden Age of the blue hedgehog because it was the last game that was allowed to grow and take chances before Sega put Sonic Team and its future games in a capitalistic stranglehold. Even the boost trilogy will never compare to this one for me because, as polished as those games are, their gameplay and stories just don't appeal to me nearly as much as this amazing game 💙🖤

#asks #sonic the hedgehog #at this point I don't even know what's considered 'controversial opinions' in this fandom anymore #I can't keep up with them anymore #and besides I'd rather stay in my bubble of older games and be happy as opposed to getting angry w/ each new release ;-)

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denimbex1986 · 1 year ago

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'The “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” movies were certainly the iconic duo of the summer.

Both blockbusters were met with smashing success, generating a combined $235.5 million in ticket sales on opening weekend. Following the weekend, a viral X (formerly known as Twitter) post displayed the popularity of each movie in U.S. states.

Interestingly, the graphic looks very similar to the 2020 electoral map. The map shows Barbie trending more in Republican states, while Oppenheimer was more popular in Democratic states. Even the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania were evenly divided between the two blockbusters.

To me, this was fascinating. Why would Barbie, a movie accused by conservatives of being too “woke” and “feminist,” be so popular in the South? Why does a movie about the inventor of the atomic bomb appeal to liberals with more anti-nuclear proliferation stances?

First, we have to consider that the Barbie doll, for many, has long been a symbol of traditional gender roles and femininity. Barbie is simple and apolitical. She is content with her life and focused on happiness. For many, her perfect lifestyle is an escape from the complexity of real life. Her image is the epitome of a perfect America.

But is this the image that people saw when they went to see the movie? Did it celebrate a perfect America?

No. The movie itself disrupts these stereotypes, presenting a new face for Barbie. It depicts her growing awareness of the flaws in society. She emerges from her perfect pink universe into the real world. She is confronted with the negative aspects of her image, particularly her perpetuation of unrealistic beauty standards. Meanwhile, when the Kens travel to the real world, they realize that there is political power in gender. Barbie has to fight to assert that the direction of society should be guided by what is right and not gender.

So, while conservatives may have watched “Barbie” expecting to see a simple depiction of America, the movie actually challenged traditional beliefs. In fact, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, in a YouTube video, called it “one of the most woke movies I have ever seen,” claiming its intended audience was unclear.

Conservatives may have missed the point of the movie. It is not the movie version of “Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse.” It is a social commentary meant to take a satirical attitude about gender roles and traditional femininity. Perhaps the marketing of the movie failed to adequately emphasize that it was not a cartoon aimed at children but a response to society’s criticism of Barbie.

On the “Oppenheimer” side, it’s clear why some states favored the movie. New Mexico, for instance, the state with the highest percentage of Oppenheimer viewers, was the location for the Manhattan Project testing. The movie is a depiction of New Mexico’s own history and global impact, which drew in many viewers.

But for other states, it’s a little less obvious. Is “Oppenheimer” intended for more Democratic audiences? The movie does take a more left-wing stance on America’s past. “Oppenheimer” doesn’t shy away from opening debate about the U.S.’s bombing of the Japanese. This film certainly takes an anti-jingoist view, questioning the U.S.’s aggressive foreign policy during the Cold War.

But, like with “Barbie,” did Democrats see the movie they were expecting?

They may have expected to see a movie about Oppenheimer as a martyr of the McCarthyism era. He was suspected of being a Soviet spy despite his tremendous contribution to the war effort in America. However, Oppenheimer’s portrayal wasn’t as clear-cut as the audience might have expected. He was depicted as arrogantly entitled because of his genius. The movie exposes his flaws and doesn’t paint him as a perfect figure.

Audiences for both movies might have expected a simple depiction of both Barbie and Oppenheimer. However, the film they actually saw presented both characters in a more complex way. Barbie isn’t just a girly doll; Oppenheimer isn’t just a martyr hero scientist. The electoral map of “Barbenheimer” may have captured viewers’ expectations of both movies, but not the true nature of them. Instead, it captured the political values of America, showing the division between traditional values and progressive ones.'

#Barbie #Oppenheimer #Barbenheimer #Democrats #Republicans

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knyplotrewrite · 2 years ago

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Red Light District (a criticism post ig)

This is a sort of collection of my thought processes while coming up with RLD for my rewrite. Canon RLD is just... oh boy.

CW: discussions of misogyny, prostitution, abuse, just a lot, proceed with caution!

I want to sorta begin with my initial complaints regarding the canon version of RLD, specifically with its exploration of Yoshiwara. Here is a neat funky list of my complaints to keep this short and simple:

Very shallow exploration of the treatment of courtesans in brothels

Basically no discussion of exploitation of young girls sold into servitude

No discussion of the view on women in general by Japanese society during this time period

Refusal in openly talking about sex

All of these promoting the idea of red light districts being “ooh fun places” and not flawed institutions deserving of criticism

There’s also the crossdressing thing which is just wtf and could have been completely avoided by the way (look up Taikomochi, the KMBK trio literally could have been sent in as these guys or musicians but nope), but that’s a small problem compared to the bigger issue of Gotouge reducing the red light district to pretty colors and just another setting for an epic battle.

It completely divorces this from the actual history of brothels being kinda shitty places in general (not just in the poor brothels that Gyutaro and Daki grew up in). I get that this is a shounen manga/anime and talking about sex or whatever was probably looked down on by publishers, but it really makes me wonder why the hell they’d choose an area for an arc that is primarily known for offering sexual services and not talk about the main thing that they serve... it doesn’t make sense, right?

I don’t work for Gotouge or Shounen Jump so I’m not going to make any assumptions, just put the possibility out there as one of my main theories it ended up so shallow in the first place. You can’t exactly talk about how girls and courtesans in these brothels are treated as objects of desire and nothing else but not talk about the sexual aspect. It kinda falls apart. Anything Daki or Gyutaro says about being beautiful in a world where that paints your worth would have been made infinitely more stronger if the characters could actually talk about sex, too, so rip to that bit of potential.

(Also can I mention there is not a single moment where two characters openly share a kiss in the manga? I find that baffling to be honest.)

Even in the anime, they didn’t fix the really shallow/practically nonexistent discussions about sexual exploitation and misogyny in brothels, and both the anime and manga really just focused on how Daki was a bully to the servants and courtesans. Like... okay. Sure, you can have characters being abusive in brothels, but that’s the only conflict in the arc prior to the battle.

I don’t know man, the only good thing canon RLD has going for it is the battle part of the arc. Any set up or themes or messages in the stuff before it is honest to god, absolutely meaningless.

#also i briefly looked at the chapter count for rld #and the battle had like 22 chapters while the set up had 5 #3 not including the kidnapping attempt or the wisteria house explanation #like wtf yknow?#kny #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #kny meta

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demonslayedher · 3 years ago

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Hi Buri-senpai! What legend or piece of folklore associated with kny would you call your favourite?

This is like being asked my favorite movie, it makes me suddenly feel like I have never seen any movies, ever. A big reason I got so sucked in to KnY is because I love so much of the folklore its playing with, I really appreciate that Gotouge works more with themes as opposed to direct interpretations of specific folklore characters. I find it so interesting how even though you can read deeply into specific legends, recurrent folklore and mythological themes tend to get more at the heart of common human experiences, and Gotouge's taken them and made a unique take, creating a new legend out of familiar material. This gator is clearly very knowledgeable and plays subtle homage to a lot of existing folklore, but I like that I can read KnY as its own thing instead of comparing its use of existing folklore characters to other iterations.

So that said, I have a really, really, really weak spot for tengu and oni. (Maybe interesting stuff to learn below, but mostly fangirling, I apologize for typos in advance.)

With tengu, it's the general idea of them and the crow-like imagery and how they can be both good or bad figures (from a human perspective) but ultimately will do as they capriciously please, but the fact that so many of them are mysterious teachers of young heroes? I never get tired of that. I love that we get tengu influence in everything from Urokodaki to a handful of Hantengu's designs. They're just so clever but have such clear personality flaws in how much they know their own cleverness.

One of my favorite Tengu legends is Kurama Tengu training Ushiwakamaru (young Minamoto no Yoshitsune), and in the Kimetsu-Kyoto collab I was thrilled to see Urokodaki hanging out with the new giant Tengu mask at the entrance to Kurama temple.

There is, of course, the mixing of Sabito (a kitsune figure, yay for more fun folklore) with a Nara legend of Tengu too, which is too close to be seen as anything but homage.

As for oni, while I stick with the official "demon" translation for them in the context of KnY (especially since their deeds are pretty clearly defined as evil), I've always had preference for the translation "ogre" instead. They're not always explicitly devilish, sometimes they're just oafs (like the story of the Red Oni and Blue Oni, in which the Red Oni wants to be friends with people but people are afraid of it, so his buddy the Blue Oni gets an idea to attack the people and have Red Oni stop him so that the people will befriend him, but this later means Blue Oni is all alone) or people who had an excess of passion of some kind (as you see in tons of Noh dramas--and yeah, it's usually a woman). Casting the oni out has been a constant in everything from Setsubun holiday customs to folklore like Momotaro setting out to defeat the barbarians (which, yes, can be read as non-Japanese people; and as I've heard, in at least one Okayama version of the legend Momotaro is the bully). Not very fun looking topics, and you could choose to read the above and be offended by the inherent misogyny and xenophobia, but I've always found it funny and owned it, like, "you got that right, be afraid" and been in touch with my own inner-oni since a really long time ago. : 3 I think the classic oni with tiger-striped clothes and ox-like horns is a really cute design (and the fact that this is associated with the "kimon" (oni-gate) direction to the northeast between the Ox and Tiger directions is something I find kind of hilarious) and I've borrowed it for myself long before drawing my "Fanfic Monster" persona that way, and have said things like "I'm being an ogre today" when in a bad mood. Someone at work introduced me to a new hire last week as "oni-kyoukan" (drill sargent) and I was like, ": D I've been recognized for my inner-oni! <3" even though it's just a common phrase. Since I've always had a really soft-spot for them it makes me very attune to any folklore about them, so even when studying Noh in college I wasn't one to think "clearly so many of them are women because these are written by men (plus the influences of tons of misogynistic Buddhist theology)!" so much as "awwwwww, its prop is a little mallet! It's gonna donk someone on the head with that, teeheehee!" Ahh, but hannya masks? Very cool, have always been a fan.

Despite that the Chinese origin of the character used for oni (鬼) can be used in a very wide context but generally for distasteful, devilish characters or for cursing something, and despite how it can also be used in Japan in a very wide context for either mythological creatures with a certain horned image or for evil more generally (especially evil stemming from an excess of passions, be it anything from lust to hate to even sloth), it's still something that stays kind of distinct from the more general cast of youkai (妖怪), Japan's rather colorful cast of homegrown folklore monsters.

I've had lots and lots and lots of conversations with other nerds about how best to translate these sorts of things, because you're likely to find all kinds of translations out there, and nothing ever quite fits every flavor of the nuances, especially in how any of these things may be anywhere on a scale of "horrendous, loathsome evil" to "big dumb oaf just minding his own business," but these are some translations I prefer: Tengu: a kind of goblin (but only to introduce what it is, Tengu should just be called Tengu whenever possible because of their uniqueness) Kitsune: fox (because the fox as a clever mythological figure is pretty accessible in many cultures) Tanuki: Tanuki (because it is a unique species and "Raccoon Dog" tells us nothing helpful whatsoever) Youkai: Ghouls/goblins (because "demon" seems too evil for a lot of the innocuous ones, and any specific Youkai should be introduced by name, unless it's something like Tsuchigumo being introduced in context as the single villain in a work of fiction instead of in the context of other youkai, in which case telling an audience this is "Ground Spider" at least in introducing it will be helpful. It's much easier to picture Minamoto no Raikou and his cohorts defeating a giant spider than some random monster. That said, some creatures from similar settings like Nue fall into the youkai category, and Nue can only be described as like a chimera, and if you're going to call it that you might as well as call dragons and Kirin chimera too (I'm okay with calling Kirin unicorns, even if they are only as similar to unicorns are as Eastern dragons are to Western dragons). Yuurei: Ghosts (because these are more specifically the left-behind souls of dead humans, as opposed to youkai whom don't really fit this description and whom I don't like to translate as "ghosts") Oni: Ogre (because it captures a certain oaf-ishness related to the term, even if they are indeed evil they perhaps aren't much trouble as long as you don't run into one, they'll probably pommel you if you do) Akuma: Demon (only because evil is right there in the name, 悪魔)

Taking this back to Kimetsu no Yaiba, these are some reasons I really like the use of oni as a theme: 1. A danger lurking out in the unknown (always a good folklore backbone)

2. A concrete reason why they are dangerous (oni gotta eat!)

3. A clear power structure showing that weaker oni are scared into obeying authority figures, they aren't necessarily evil by choice

4. Anyone has it in them to be a demon, even if they've been turned against their will by Muzan, it allows their passions to run unabated (and reinforcing a recurrent theme among the heroes, self-mastery): Hunger (obvious) Fear (acting out and hurting people because they fear Muzan) Hatred (for example, Gyutaro resents other people who have life better than him) Sadism (for example, Enmu toying with his meals' minds) Nihilism (or rather, an unhealthy amount of giving in to that mindset and seeing the world as meaningless, like Douma) Self-pity (Hantengu) Pain from shattered dreams (Kyogai is such a writer, am I right) Pain from betrayal (for example, Rui) Desire for immortality (MUUUUUZAAAAAAAAN.) On that note, even Nezuko's passion to protect her family shows itself in violence, and self-mastery is the only reason she hasn't lost herself to the pure rush of passion. It reminds me of how in many philosophies, even an excess of positive emotions can be detrimental, and people who follow those philosophies are instead encouraged to not given into any emotion too strongly. Likewise, the lack of a virtue can be bad, but an excess of it becomes a vice.

I don't have evidence for this, but my sense is that some of the most powerful oni, or the ones who had the greatest potential as oni, were the ones who had the strongest emotions to get swept up in--even you, Douma, so swept up in your disregard for people and assuming that there is no such thing as goodness.

A N Y W A Y, back on topic: 5. I'm really partial to demons in this series who have horns as part of their character design, because that's classic, but it's interesting that it's not necessary. While there's not particular mythology regarding oni's eyes, that's the giveaway in KnY's version of oni. Even though like most dangerous creatures of the unknown it would make sense that they are found in darkness, the sunlight allergy is a KnY thing which makes a very strong world-building element.

6. They really can fall anywhere on the scale of evil, just like humans can (they're just more unfairly enslaved by their passions, as listed above). This is why its makes sense for Tanjiro tohave sympathy for them as he would for people. 7. Some of the throwaway ones just act like ogres, okay

And I think I've run my fingers mindlessly on the keyboard long enough to conclude this post here. ROAR.

#kny nerdery #kind of #and just a smidge of #kny fandom theories and meta

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masterhandss · 3 years ago

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Personally I don't see what you see in Geordo. He seems like such a scumbag to me and is the least likable charater in the whole series. He is always trying to get her alone to push her into things of a sexual/ more romantic nature without taking how she really feels into consideration. Like he "really wants her" and thats enough for him without caring what she really wants. Honestly he is the borderline non-con villian in my mind.

I mean, it's okay if you feel like that. To each their own.

Hmmm when I think about Geordo being sexually aggressive towards Katarina, I only really just think of the anime. The manga is a much more moe-fied and toned down version of the novels, and the novels does an okay job at balancing his desires for Katarina in all aspects. I'm not saying he doesn't have that trait in the other two mediums, I just think that they aren't as intense as the anime, so as someone who consumes all three versions I just tilt my head and go "huh." Of course I'm sure there are people who read the manga and novels that still feel uncomfortable about his behavior and that's valid too.

-> light novel spoilers ahead <-

tldr, there is a lot more going on to him than just someone who offers sweet words and questionable invitations to Katarina's ears, this may not be noticeable or acceptable to some people but we get to know more about how he thinks whenever the novels puts us in his point of view. You're free to dislike him as much as you want, but I like him & don't see him as a scumbag; and here's why:

I at least find it okay that Geordo is very serious about his pursuits for her because he is aware that she is dense and will not get it until you spell it in the sky. Everyone is just walking eggshells around Katarina hoping that the girl would just develop feelings for one of them to win the harem olympics. He knows that being dealt with a good card isn't enough, so he's actively taking action in order to win her heart. I mean I don't always agree with his methods either, like the "fait accompli" line or constantly inviting her to his room alone, but really, how much of that is something he really means to do vs how much of that is his excessive flirting + our minds assuming that he really means to claim her in that way?

Lines like that are really popular with japanese fans because it makes Geordo look "sexy" and "forward", which they enjoy in their fictional stories. He knows that his position gives him an advantage so he'll try to play his cards right and use it to increase his chances in victory.

It actually reminds me of a scene from the Hamefura StoryMe game, (don't really know how canon it is but I remember the JP ver. was advertised by @/hamhura) where Geordo indirectly asked Katarina how to woo a girl he really likes, and Katarina thinking he was referring to Maria, gives all the things he usually does in order to win her heart (visit her home, give her gift, dance with her in parties, be really forward about your feelings etc). I'm not saying Katarina approves of the ways Geordo attempts to win her heart, but there's some hilarity in knowing that Geordo already had and is constantly trying all the known ways to win over a girl in the world from a young age, and still has nothing to show for it. Like no awareness, much less any *feelings* lmao. So trying to make it obvious that he is interested in her romantically and sexually seems like the next logical step to him. I mean if you go by Geordo's logic and considering the time period this takes place in, he's pretty confident that he can get Katarina to love him back and they are engaged anyways so in his head he's in safe waters to attempt to make teases about such advancements if it gives him the smallest chance that Katarina would become at least aware of him through it.

Of course I know that stuff like that won't fly here in the real world, but maybe that's why I'm so lenient personally when it comes to his (debatably) sexual teases and advances, because it's a fictional story for a japanese audience. Doesn't mean I would approve any advances like that if it happens to me, it's just that it's hard to take his actions seriously when Katarina or the story doesn't take them seriously. Like, the girl would be pushed down to a bed by RufuSora and gives her a hickey and she still thinks the man is out for her blood.

He wouldn't even be entirely wrong, knowing the identities of the characters who Katarina knows has romantic interest in her in the novels, actions does speak louder than words when it comes to her. Like I said, whether or not Geordo really means what he says when the story teases the readers with sexual implications in his words and action depends on the reader in my opinion. They are there, I wont pretend they don't but I'd argue about the level of intent depending on what scene you're talking about.

The only scenes on the top of my head where he is very abrasive towards Katarina is the "fait accompli" scene, the Book scene form the anime (S1 EP8), saying he wants to lock her in his room (LN6) and the multiple times Geordo had invited her in his room at night alone (LN6 and LN8, i think).

I've already explained why I am okay with both Keith and Geordo's Book scenes from episode 8 of the first season because they are accurate representations of an exaggerated and unhinged versions of their desires towards Katarina so I won't bore you with those details again.

He mentioned in Volume 6 that he wants to lock Katarina in his room forever and keep her light to himself, which alarmed a few people when the book came out, but he said that in a moment where he feels super grateful and loving towards her because she knew how tired he was despite his fake face and without even saying anything. It was a moment where he felt so infatuated towards her that he wished the moment where he gets to rest in her arms would last forever, thus he made such a comment. I make it sound more dramatic than it was in Volume 6, it was just a quick comment honestly lmao.

For people who don't read the novels, that last part looks very sus and raises a few red flags I know, but to be fair we can't definitively say what his intentions are because Katarina never commits to those visits. Katarina has actually become wary of those invitations, because Keith and Mary have warned her that Geordo's intentions are sexual, but I'm not really trusting the word of the two people who are most distrustful and antagonistic to Geordo. They could be right, of course, but who can really say? We assume that they are correct because they care about Katarina and are wary of Geordo, but hamefura('s novels) is full of unreliable narrators anyways, it's not like Keith or Mary would consider the possibility of it being anything else because when it comes to the third prince they always fear the worst case scenario.

If you think about it, Geordo is probably aware that winning her over with a "fait accompli" won't work at all because it'll put him in a position that will make other people push him for the throne (which he doesn't want) or could ruin his reputation in high society if Katarina or her family react to it negatively. I'm not Geordo though, so I can't really say if he even have such fears and doubts in the first place, that's just my assessment based on the obstacles he has. On the outside he is really sure of himself and confident (which he arguably deserves) and on the inside he is very careful and insecure when it comes to Katarina.

Also like, spoilers but for someone who is very forward when it comes to his physical advances, Geordo is super weak when he is in the receiving end of those touches. He gets super embarrassed and easily flustered when its Katarina who is touching him, as if implying that to some extent that he's all just talk lmao.

I don't really agree that Geordo doesn't care about what Katarina feels at all, in fact his inner dilemma in the novels is that he doesn't know what to do because in every step he takes he might do something that could ruin his image in Katarina's eyes, be it pursuing or abandoning the throne or looking like a monster in front of her. He even halts his plans to make advances towards her during the Keith Kidnapping Arc, but threw it away because he knows how much finding Keith means to Katarina. He puts what Katarina want and doesn't want as his priority, so when what she feels is unclear that's when he acts on his own intuition. The only reason Geordo feels so confident to advance towards her sexually is because Katarina never rejected him before (because she doesn't know what they mean, and all of this is for the sake of simply making her aware in the first place)

I'm not trying to make anyone think that one has to read all the books in order to understand him, I think the manga does okay at conveying his feelings too. The anime really prioritizes on making him look "sexy" for the japanese female audience, so anything he does is sprinkled with spice whether we like it or not.

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm overanalyzing all his actions just to justify them, everyone has the right to be uncomfortable with his advances if it seems too much for you. It's just that his actions, while over the top and unnecessary, are done to please the type of audience that hamefura caters to, and it's hard to take him completely seriously when the story doesn't either in my opinion. Doesn't mean he's right or that any of it is okay, but it's his method of trying to put a dent on Katarina's bakashield. When you're in a race versus your friends who Katarina all loves equally, he's gonna use whatever card he can get in order to win.

I like Geordo; I like how much of his feelings for Katarina forces him to reexamine himself and realize that he isn't a perfect prince at all, that he has lots of problems and flaws that he needs to work out in order to be someone worthy of her. I like the way he falls more and more in love with her in every interaction they have because he finally gets to have a genuinely and caring interaction with someone. I like how Geordo wants to do better and be better for Katarina and the people around him, and he wants to be able to thank Katarina directly for that through being able to show his love. I like that despite how much of a chad he acts in front of her, he's a blushing mess at the thought of Katarina returning his feelings. I find it funny when his "sexual advances" fails and gets thwarted because he's trying them on the densest person and most protected lady to ever live. I like how Geordo is so head-over-heals in love with her and how much comfort and warmth she brings to him by simply being her caring and bubbly self.

I guess it's just a matter of different perspectives. If you find him unlikeable or a villain, then you do you. I try to explain why I personally excuse his actions, but I know it wont fly with everyone. We all see each character differently and absorb the material in different ways. In fact it's probably a bad idea for me to defend him with material that isn't the anime nor manga yet lmao. I mean I'm not that much of a fan of Mary anymore, and I'm kinda scared and wary of her, but I know people don't see her the way I do and I'm okay with that.

Maybe its just me, who is the kind of person who just goes with the flow and doesn't think too hard because it's all fiction anyways

It's hard to tell all this from simply watching the anime, so I laid all my feelings down in hopes that someone out there would understand why I like him so much.

Thank you for the ask, you can ask more questions or call me out if I said anything insensitive or wrong, I know a lot of this is me overanalyzing things which might look like I'm jus stretching. As someone who is aware of the things to come in Hamefura X, I can say that I am both excited and nervous as to how everyone will react for the direction of Geordo's character.

#mh ask #hamefura #my next life as a villainess #geordo stuart #katarina claes #geokata #for some reason tumblr wont type the letter E #anyways there are my thoughts please dont hate me lmao #if you dont like Geordo then thats fine #im not forcing anyone to like him #i just wanna explain my own perspective thats all #DONT THROW FIRE AT ME #bakarina #destruction flag otome #hamehura #hamefura spoilers

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collisiondiscourse · 4 years ago

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on the wonder duo (part 1)

(BNHA Analysis Post Ahead! This isn’t explicitly romantic, but it is an analysis of the relationship between the two most popular characters in BNHA--Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya. Split into two posts because I realized that this was gonna be long as HELL)

yall ever think about the fact that the wonder duo is perfectly set up in so that bakugou and deku together are the better version of all might?

bc like. ive been thinking.

everyone knows the win to save and save to win parallel. How they are supposedly two halves of a whole perfect hero (which, previously, was defined as all might)

but ever since bakugou and deku started working as one—growing together to win AND save and continuously reminding each other that they shouldnt try to do things alone, ive realized that its BECAUSE theres two of them that they surpass all might. its not a case of deku and bakugou both being 50% of an ideal hero, but rather i think that they are 100% of what all might SHOULD HAVE BEEN from the very beginning.

as early as the AM v AFO battle in kamino, we see the effects of all mights flawed existence. the fact that he, the greatest and supposedly infallible symbol of peace, was destroyed—society had begun to collapse. there was suddenly no pillar to hold people together and the impacts were so severe that even in the latest chapters of mha it keeps on getting worse. the truth is, all mights biggest mistake was the burden he placed on his own shoulders

with bakugou and deku... its different.

its different for them because down to their attributions, they seem like two halves of a whole person.

i think that the wonder duo are going to surpass all might because of the fact that they work together.

@bakugoukatsuki-rising @svpercraigus @tybee @isaustraliaathing

(batshit crazy and conspiratorial essay under the cut !)

1. Complementary Colors

I’d like to first preface literally everything I say by the fact that I am not an expert analyzer or literary major in any way. I am literally just some random fan on the internet who has wayyy too much time and looks wayyy too deep into things, but here we go!

A common thing we see when we talk about bakugou and deku is the way they are... sort of an inverse of one another.

Down to the design of their features and the way they move, Deku is the obviously softer of the two. There’s an intentional contrast between the two of them, in the way that Deku’s drawn with round shapes and curvy hair and the way Bakugou is literally all spikes and half-mast eyes and rough muscles. Bakugou’s movements too are languid and showy, with the way he leans when he walks and splays his legs and kicks open doors. Katsuki, in a casual sense, is loud and dramatic.

Deku on the other hand s finicky. He jitters when he walks and he’s often fidgeting and mumbling. Comparatively, the aura he radiates is energetic and frenzied, even self-conscious to a point unlike Bakugou’s calm and confident movements.

the point is, there’s a clear difference in how either of them are designed and what exactly they are supposed to represent. They utterly complement each other down to the way they behave and even their main colors (red-orange and blue-green) being literal complementary colors.

Now, moving to my more ungrounded points, this is quite a bit of a stretch so I’ll try as much as possible to make sense of these with hyperlinked sources because. yeah.

Down to their names, I think Deku and Bakugou both symbolize something deeper. I think that the way Hori expresses characters and what they’re meant to do is something that we have to pay close attention to when we talk about the Wonder Duo’s rise to success.

Izuku Midoriya (緑谷出久), as some of us may know, does have an interesting meaning when broken up. According to a lovely fan translation of his name, ‘Izuku’--while not an actual name used commonly in real life--means to ‘Come out’ or ‘Long time’. ‘Midoriya’ on the other hand means (Midori) ‘Green’ and (ya) ‘valley’. The translator further pointed out that his first name ‘Izuku’ could be a reference to him being the first legendary hero to come out of the long-running All Might Era. (or, if you’ve been reading @/bakugoukatsuki-rising’s posts, the first significant anime protag in a long while to come out as queer, ppfft)

but that isn’t my focus right now.

We know that Hori LOVES telling stories with names, and more often than not in the BNHA universe, names alone tell us a lot of things about the characters. When referring to Izuku’s last name, Midoriya, it’s important I think to step back and realize that hey, maybe there’s something more to Green Valley than just the fact that his motif is all green.

After searching for a lil on the specifics of green valley, I’ve found out that across many cultures, the colour green and valleys in general tend to represent life. From dream analysts, to Christianity, and even old Taoist teachings, valleys are seen as areas of fertility and escape. They are seen as safe havens and often escapes for people to come to after running away from bad circumstances.

(Sound familiar?)

Deku, in essence represents life and peace. He represents being the “salvation” that the world in BNHA needed. To me, it sounds like Horikoshi is trying to say that he is the long-awaited hero in the sense. The one that people can feel will create a society that feels safe for everyone after years of All Might just saving people from themselves as a band-aid solution.

On the other hand, we have Katsuki Bakugou (爆豪勝己), who’s name we commonly know means (Katsuki) Winner and (Bakugou) Explosion Master. He is essentially, the champion. The power. His name means success and power and all the things that make up winning.

When putting them side by side, it then becomes increasingly... interesting to me how their names almost perfectly slot into All Might’s save to win and win to save mantra, and how they are both quintessential parts to what made All Might as a hero.

2. Hero Too!

Now, I’m not even gonna really TOUCH much of what happens in canon. If you want me to do a step by step breakdown of their arcs in regards to the plot of manga and anime, feel free to send me a gratuitous ko-fi tip so I can pay for the headache I get after trying to organize my thoughts into word vomit.

What I WILL talk about on the other hand, is the subtle shift both of them slowly have in regards to how they look. Bakugou and Deku, while growing up, seem to have MANY many parallels--but before I elaborate on all of that, I wanna talk about something else.

Detour: Deku’s Red Shoes

We all know the iconic symbol being Deku’s red shoes. For all his life, save for some outfits like his hero one, we see Deku more often than not wearing his signature red sneakers which have become a running joke in fandom.

But the funny thing is, in Japan, red shoes seem to have an interesting connotation.

In 1922, a popular Japanese nursery rhyme was written, called “Red Shoes”. The interesting part to me about this song was the symbolism that, in my tiny pea-sized brain, I could connect to the story of BNHA.

The story goes that there was a little girl with red shoes named ‘Kimi’. She was from Shizuoka prefecture (which, if you didn’t know, is most likely where Musutafu supposedly is) and was raised by a single mother. When she was young, her mother had to entrust her with a foreigner under the impression that they would give her a better life in America. The stranger is a man named Charles Hewitt (who was described to have blue eyes) and supposedly took her away.

The singer of the song (supposedly the mother, but some argue it was written from the perspective of a childhood friend) believes that Kimi is happy and living a better life away from them, when the reality of the situation was much worse. The young girl with red shoes in actuality had Tuberculosis, and thus the foreigner whom she was entrusted to had left her to fend for herself and eventually left her to go to America while she died alone and orphaned.

“When I see red shoes, I think of her.”

A very interesting story with very interesting implications indeed.

Anyway, moving on to the more... “nuanced” and connected parts of this section, I have every reason to believe that Bakugou and Deku were simply MEANT to be working together down to how they dress. Now, I’d like to discuss their hero costumes.

At the start of their series, using these godawful pics for reference, it’s clear to see that neither of them seem alike in any way--reflecting the dissonance in their relationship at that point in canon.

ough. deku why. (yes we know why its because you love your mom you stupid little bunny <3)

Anyway, we see an immediate gap in how the two of them are. Deku’s first costume is one that reflects how he treated his dream of being a hero. He was still in that childlike idolization phase, the one where his dreams and aspirations were hinged on pure feelings and inspiration from All Might. Katsuki on the other hand was a lot more tactical--professional to an extent. The gap between their respective development with their quirks is something that is clearly felt in every fashion decision they’d made.

(Notice how Deku’s green is a lot brighter and less like the green accents Katsuki has all over his costume.)

As time progressed however... their costumes changed. The colors, the silhouettes, the practical functions, most things.

(Deku’s Gamma Costume and Bakugou’s Winter Costume used respectively)

we begin to notice a few similarities.

As the show goes on and we see more evolutions of their costumes, it almost seems like they begin to look like a matching pair. Deku’s green grows darker and almost teal in nature, while Bakugou’s orange is veering towards red territory. This is important to note because red-orange and blue-green as I said earlier were complementary colors as compared to simply orange and green. The minute shift is something I really wasn’t quite sure was intentional, but something I find interesting to pick up nonetheless as the colors they used to accent their costumes begin to match up.

Secondly, I think and important thing to note is silhouettes. The way that both Bakugou and Deku’s costumes are designed follow a lot of parallels that typically we don’t see with the rest of 1-A. For one, they both have a combination of tight long-sleeved tops with a bulkier set of bottoms. They also share the use of utility belts and metal pieces typically worn around their necks. Deku has his bunny-eared hood that mimics All Might’s hair, while Bakugou has his orange and black explosion ear-pieces that mimic his own quirk.

i don’t think any other people in class 1-A match each other as subtly yet strongly as these two. Uraraka and Deku and Bakugou and Kirishima do come close however.

“But Codi, you fucking knob!” I hear you plea. “This is such a reach and tells us practically NOTHING!” And yes, I’m inclined to agree with you! You’d be sort of right in the idea that this is a reach. Maybe I am looking too much into this, and maybe it really isn’t that deep--but I do think that them subconsciously matching outfits means something quite brilliant.

In the way that their costumes are designed, each aspect of either outfits have a very logical explanation. The changes were strategic and made with their fighting styles vividly in mind, so what that tells me is that BECAUSE these costumes are so complementary or similar in nature (Bakugou’s reinforcing his arms while Deku reinforces his legs), these two are implicitly showing the audience that their combat styles are complementary as well.

The evolution of their design choices and similarities tell us that even unknowingly, their minds line up in strategy on the battlefield--a clear exhibit for why they would be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL as a Hero Duo to begin with.

When I look at their hero costumes side by side, I see a mirror. I see the way that these two are reflections of each other and are strong where the other isn’t. The point I see in BNHA repeatedly is that EVERYONE HAS A WEAKNESS. Nothing is infallible, regardless of how hard you train or how powerful your quirk is. Everyone will always have a weakness, but the significant difference I see when fandom discusses the future of Pro-Hero Society is that the new generation is finally raising itself to be RELIANT on each other.

Observing their fighting styles and the simple use of their quirks, its obvious that they are indeed two parts of a whole hero. Bakugou, who’s quirk emphasized his arms and hands and the power that comes from it, while Deku who’s quirk now emphasizes his legs and lower body and the way he’s always running to save people.

IN CONCLUSION:

As they become heroes, it is easy to assume that if nothing else, Bakugou and Deku will cover each other’s weak spots (especially when you consider the way Deku probably won’t be able to keep using his arms with the way both the anime and manga are going...) (also chapter 285, anyone?)

Part Two: Interactions, OfA

kofi || commission details

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murderfabrication · 2 years ago

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Completely self-indulgent design notes

...What the title says. I wanted to talk about my character designs! Although they are all meant to have a certain simplicity to them - the concept being that these people look like normal folks despite having an incredible talent - I think about them a lot, and I won’t even say everything here.

For the character’s sprites, please refer to the Wiki, because including them would make this post even longer than it already is.

Neo –

Neo is a beautiful young man with an artsy/fashionable look. The blue half of his hair was most likely destroyed with bleach, explaining its waviness, whereas his hair would naturally be curly. His current sprite does a bad job of showing that off – in other artworks, and hopefully a future version of his sprite, Neo’s natural hair is dark and curly.

With his dark eyes, long eyelashes and skinny build drowning in an oversized overshirt, Neo is meant to come across as the pretty boy Keith says he is.

Neo cares about his palette. He chose blue and stuck with it. I wonder if there was a particular reason behind it?

Akiro –

I already redrew his sprite once… but it was years ago. His haircut changed, and I love the current one to bits. It works even better for him. The main flaw with his current sprite is that his sleeves look ungodly – his t-shirt is meant to be accidentally oversized, but these just look ugly.

Akiro is adorable and discrete, but surprisingly tall for being the cute boy character. Being 176cm tall, he’s the same height as Neo, and almost the same height as Jan. He has really big eyes, partly because I drew them too big back in 2019, but in his case, it was also a conscious choice – he’s the cute character, after all.

His orange hair and green eyes are the way they are because of anime rules. In-universe, Akiro is and looks Japanese. Yes, I have thought of what he would look like in a more “realistic” setting.

Does his pocket actually have a life of its own, or am I giving it a different expression on some drawings as a joke? Someone should probably figure that out.

Oscar –

Oscar was recently redrawn, and slightly redesigned. While I liked the look of his former sprite (there was something special about his head, idk), its proportions were completely fucked up, even by Danganronpa standards. I updated his hair to look more like the way I draw him in my personal art (see here and here for example), mostly because it’s more fun to draw, and I assume it makes him more fun to look at.

Oscar’s arms are massive. Neo describes his upper body in details in Chapter 3. Though I don’t remember if that was on purpose when I drew his first version, I let him keep the slightly big ears. I wouldn’t say they should stick out a lot, but if you look at them, they’re rather large. His new design sports new small details, like some buttons and earrings, did you notice them?

Oscar’s redesign sports a black mole high on the bridge of his nose. It stands out from a mole like Isabella’s or Lois’ by its particular darkness. Is it an actual mole, or a tattoo?

By the way, you guys were NOT supposed to be this horny for him.

Ciel –

My favourite clown. His sprite was revamped at some point, and I’m very happy with it. Ciel is very pale, with naturally crazy hair (à la Komaeda? In truth, the shape of his hair was first inspired by Taichi Fujisaki). He is meant to have a youthful appearance, just to look his age.

As ends up being described in the story (was it Chapter 2 or 3?), his t-shirt is meant to fit perfectly around his shoulders, so as to not hinder his movements despite its large collar. Two black sleeves stand out from underneath it, perhaps from a tank top (…).

The trousers Ciel wears, of course not visible on his halfbody sprite, are very big biker jeans. They look completely out of place with his delicate teal top.

Being 166cm tall, Ciel is the shortest Guy™ in the cast by a long shot, second to Keith, who is practically the same height as Neo.

Mina –

I swear I will revamp her sprite one day, and she will have ears.

Mina is not just small – everything about her appearance makes her look like an adorable little girl. No one would even dare to assume she’s a teenager. The pigtails certainly don’t help, and one should wonder why she would do her hair this way if she wishes to be taken seriously.

I have been told in the past that her uniform makes her look even more like a schoolgirl. That wasn’t exactly my intent, however. I think that if you imagined an adult woman wearing the exact same outfit, she could come across as a prettily dressed detective. I think her main illustration, if I ever draw it, should show her in the same outfit but with some accessories to show off how it all comes together.

Emily –

Emily’s sprite is one of the few from my first, very old batch, that I still like today. She’s so cute.

Emily is the Ultimate Fashionista, which I must insist doesn’t mean “gyaru”. She’s one of those USians. When it comes to her style, however, I just threw a bunch of stuff at random that I thought seemed fashionable in 2017/2018 when I designed her, and with no knowledge of fashion whatsoever. Her palette, mostly, was an odd choice, but… I guess it’s what makes her iconic. Since Murder Fabrication takes place in the future, I can come up with whatever I’d like.

A redesign of Emily would most likely keep her outfit the same, but add more visible make-up – although in Chapter 3, Isabella implies that simple make-up looks are in fashion.

Emily is meant to be a beauty with a cute face and a cute voice.

Benjamin –

When I drew Benjamin’s first sprite, it wasn’t obvious that he was pretty. I clearly fixed that since... Though jokes aside, that is of course subjective and I just happen to have very specific biases.

When it comes to Ben, there’s no “I realised his outfit was ugly so I decided I would make a joke out of it”. It was always meant to be impractical and cheap looking. By the way, I recently made him a few centimetres taller to accentuate his towering over the cast, even by a bit, at a whopping 184cm when the other Guys™ are more so in the 175cm range. Ciel refers to him as a giant at least once.

Ben’s hair is meant to count as dark, or black hair in-universe, unlike other characters who have fantasy or fake hair colours. Ben is Chinese-American and meant to look the part.

Chloe –

So, Chloe… she has “dark skin”, for being mostly white. Though she may have mixed origins, she is meant to pass as white, with tan skin due to spending a lot of time under the sun.

At least that’s where I stand on her backstory right now. I fully admit that my design and shading choices for her came from being inexperienced back then.

I’m still on the fence on whether I want to keep what she’s wearing a dress, or turn it into a simple apron – I can see her wearing shorts underneath. But I also like the dress idea. I need to think about it hard.

Ultimately, Chloe is meant to have an innocent look.

Andi –

I don’t know that I have much to say about Andi’s design. It’s meant to be simple, yet fashionable. In an immortal look kind of way. As is clearly revealed at some point in the story, she dyes her hair.

Not too unlike Emily, Andi is meant to have the looks of a beautiful young woman, although I wouldn’t describe her face as cute – you know, that savage-looking little girl with a loud personality, messy hair, scratches all over and a sense for adventure?

Finally, her palette looks familiar, doesn’t it?

Chris –

It’s surprising that her first sprite didn’t sport muscles. It mostly comes down to me not really realising that one could draw them back then. As the Ultimate Gymnast, Chris is strong from practicing regularly.

If I redrew her sprite again, I would probably rework the way her hair frames her head. Other than that, Chris is well-endowed for being so muscular (à la Hermes Costello, except… does Chris seem like someone who would go under the knife for this?) and has intimidating eyes.

Isabella –

Isabella looks and sounds soft, in an almost sleepy way. Like that girl at the Eurovision 2021 who came onstage wearing PJs and looked like she was about to fall asleep the entire night. Isabella wears a lot of make-up, and Neo eventually points out, when he sees her without it, that she looks very different.

Contrary to Benjamin’s clothes, her simple make-up look was a rookie mistake which I decided to turn into a thing (as she states in Chapter 3), just because I could.

Despite her pastel clothes (which I might edit to look even more pastel someday) and soft look, Isabella is a tall, imposing woman, with even more imposing twin tails. Those are of course reminiscent of a certain Danganronpa character, and not by accident.

Jan –

I’m not happy with his recent sprite – Jan is meant to be very good looking. I have immense Jan brainrot and could probably write an entire novel of design notes for him. With his athletic build and calm composure, he may come off as slightly older than he is, though not by a long shot.

His hair is naturally platinum blonde. I wish it looked obviously fluffier, but Jan admittedly puts effort into keeping it tame – admitting it some fluff, a brilliant coiffé-décoiffé, at least it’s meant to be this way in-universe.

I hate his uniform for being so boring, but it’s meant to be this way. Jan is stuck here wearing a boring, very formal school uniform. It’s also meant to hide a certain small detail, which gets revealed at some point in the story.

Jan wears a single earring on his right ear, and no, I don’t want to hear it. As for his face, it’s very delicate, almost feminine – but with a distinctively masculine shape, he comes off as a very pretty boy indeed.

One last thing I’ll note… while Jan has the smaller eyes usually given to masculine characters in Danganronpa, doesn’t something about them look different from Benjamin’s or Oscar’s? Even Neo’s or Keith’s, if you look attentively?

Keith –

Speaking of. Keith’s new sprite isn’t my favourite sprite, but does a much better choice of showing off what he’s meant to look like. Despite his own claims, Keith is one of the pretty boys himself – I’m very particular about the shape of his eyes, which I find very pretty on top of being cute.

As for his hair, it’s meant to be an absolute mess. An absolutely horrendous haircut. I don’t know how I even failed to portray that the first time. All it’s good for is making him one of the only characters with an ahoge (along with Akiro and Jan).

Much like Jan, Keith is wearing his uniform, though it has arguably a little more personality. Besides, Keith’s difference with Jan is that he would dress like absolute garbage otherwise – what, did you really expect any different? With his choppy hair and depressed attitude?

Noah –

While Noah is stereotypically attractive due to his muscular build, his face is truly meant to be incredibly cutesy. I would like it to stand out from Akiro in the way that Akiro looks like a cute guy, and Noah looks almost childish. It clashes with his body and talent.

Much like Keith’s, if not worse, Noah’s hair is meant to be an overgrown mess. As is soon revealed, his thick fringe is no accident. His hair hides even his left ear.

I have no idea why I gave him an eyebrow slit, LOL.

His first design was mostly green because haha, Soldier, I guess. However, his palette changed because not only is he off-duty, but also because “I can see her sad song shining, and everything around her turns to gold”.

Alice –

Ugh I love her and I’m happy I designed her hair at a time when I was the type of inexperienced that took more risks. That being said her skin is almost exactly #FFFFFF and… I guess it’s too iconic not to stay now.

I still like her sprite, much like Emily’s, though if I redrew it today I would make her freckles look more natural and accentuate her thin build.

She’s really not heavy, after all.

I don’t know what else to say about her. She’s dressed to trek. I think she’s pretty. Oh, right – on the very day that I wrote her physical description (at work…), my mom took me to a store to buy the EXACT shoes I’d created for Alice. A complete coincidence. These are still my trekking shoes… I have three Siberian huskies who like pooping in grass.

Lois –

Ah, Lois, the love of Neo’s life… or probably not. Regardless, his assessment of her is meant to be correct – she is supposed to be a kind of beautiful mostly different from the other women of the cast, mostly because of her mature looks.

Now, there’s something about her palette, but…

Anyway, Lois is the second shortest character, being 163cm tall. This isn’t much shorter than the other women of the cast, but I have been told that it makes it even funnier that Neo is so intimidated by her. I also enjoyed having her become Ben’s friend… not too unlike the way Mina and Oscar are friends. Well, I wonder if Ben and Lois see each other as friends…

Although it was not my first idea, it makes the most sense for Lois to be rather thin. That being said, she has different proportions from a skinny queen like Alice.

…Anything else?

#murder fabrication #original character #oc #chara design #design notes #bonus

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oumakokichi · 4 years ago

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hello! could you talk a bit more about the original (as in jp, not localization) ouma's personality and speech patterns? you've mentioned that he tends to trail off or speak more softly when it is implied he is speaking the truth, etc. and how he is not so loud/intentionally obnoxious. //btw when does he call himself a fairy? that's so cute

I got a couple of questions asking about the fairy line Ouma has, so I don’t mind sort of rolling them both into one! And I’m more than happy to talk a little more in-depth about Ouma’s speech patterns and personality in the original game, too!

Since I’ll be covering some late-game spoilers, I’ll put the bulk of this under the cut, so be careful when reading!

First off, I cannot stress how much I recommed playing ndrv3 with the Japanese voices enabled. If you’ve already played through the English dub but never experiened the original voice acting cast, I promise you won’t be disappointed. The Japanese cast are all fantastic, incredibly talented VAs who, unlike the dub, were hired specifically for these roles and not just re-casted from previous DR games.

Hiro Shimono as Ouma gives an absolutely incredible performance. The localization might still have many flaws in its translation and omission of certain lines or punctuation, but you can still very much get a feel for how Ouma’s character was intended by listening to Shimono’s performance. Re-playing the game with the Japanese voices will definitely let you hear how soft and tonally different Shimono’s performance is in places from the English dub, and compare it to the way in which many lines are written and punctuated as if Ouma’s yelling at everyone.

That isn’t to say that Shimono’s Ouma is never loud or excited: Ouma is a character whose moods and façades are all over the place, and therefore his performance requires a voice actor who can similarly change moods and intonation on a dime. Ouma is very much loud and haughty and deliberately annoying when he’s supposed to be, but his voice is also low and ominous at other points when he’s trying to be scary. And again, it’s soft and hesitant in places where he’s considering divulging some of his information, or when he’s insisting that all the things he does are for everyone’s sake, because he cares about them and doesn’t want anyone to die.

These moments feel so much more genuine in the Japanese version of the game--because they’re meant to be. As fantastic of a liar as Ouma is, it’s much easier for us, the player, to tell when he’s lying on a re-play, knowing the information from chapters 5 and 6 that we do, and looking at cues like his sprites (often his blank-faced ones) and, yes, his delivery of certain lines.

This probably sounds like me just gushing about what a fantastic voice actor Hiro Shimono is, and in part that’s exactly what it is, but I want to stress that pretty much every single voice actor in the Japanese cast is just as fantastic and that they all do their jobs incredibly well. With all that gushing out of the way, I’ll move on to talking about some of Ouma’s actual speech tics and the way he refers to other characters.

Like most things about him, Ouma’s speech patterns are sort of an interesting mix and even seem a little contradictory at times. He uses the very masculine pronoun “ore” (オレ), but he also refers to nearly everyone (with only a handful of exceptions) by their surnames and the much more childish honorific “-chan” (i.e. “Saihara-chan,” “Akamatsu-chan,” “Amami-chan,” etc.)

The use of “-chan” is very interesting. Honorifics in Japan are extremely complicated and tend to mean different things depending on who is using them. Typically, “-chan” is seen as a very feminine way to refer to someone else, commonly used in close-knit friend groups among school girls.

There are, of course, a few notable exceptions to this however: often times, middle-aged or elderly people will call a child “-chan” regardless of gender, as a way of showing they find them cute and endearing. And sometimes, people will use “-chan” to refer to other things they find cute, such as pets, or even to refer to themselves in a sort of informal, tongue-in-cheek way.

The fact that Ouma uses “-chan” as an honorific to refer to nearly everyone in the game stands out quite a lot: by and large, boys don’t use this term to refer to other boys. Using “-chan” to refer to anyone you’ve just met or don’t know very well is already somewhat frowned upon, but a boy using it to refer to other boys is especially rare. This helps set Ouma’s character up as someone who is both incredibly casual and informal with others (not to mention, you know, quite coded). Considering childishness and lightheartedness are traits Ouma values, and how much emphasis is put on him having “a very innocent, childish streak that’s hard to hate,” it makes sense then that he would talk like this.

Not counting Monokuma and the Monokubs, the only characters who Ouma doesn’t refer to with “-chan” are Gonta and Kiibo, who he simply calls by name. This also says some interesting things about his character.

Gonta is easily the character who Ouma interacts with the most often, as well as the charater he hurts the most in the end. Ouma’s choice to exclude Gonta from his usual way of calling people is, I think, a testament to how much Gonta really wanted to be friends with him, even if their friendship was never exactly on equal footing.

Meanwhile with Kiibo, I feel the choice to exclude him from his usual way of addressing others is indicative of how much Ouma tried to remind himself that Kiibo “wasn’t human,” and therefore how suspicious he found his presence in the killing game. We know Ouma suspected Kiibo and likely even had an inkling of his role as the audience proxy/camera in the game, due to how Kiibo’s picture is one of the only others set aside on his whiteboard besides Saihara’s, with the word “weird” written next to it (he also clearly guessed about the cameras after Gonta’s line in chapter 2, as we see from how he commissioned Miu for the bug-vac).

Ouma clearly enjoys teasing Kiibo a lot, and their banter reads very much like a manzai comedy duo; I feel like Ouma often tried pushing himself to remember that Kiibo “wasn’t human” on purpose in order to not get too attached to him or too distracted from his goal of ending the killing game. I don’t think Ouma’s decision to exclude Kiibo from the way that he very particularly referred to most of the rest of the group was just an accident or a coincidence.

Honorifics aside, Ouma also refers to several characters in interesting ways. He often uses “daisuki na ___-chan” (大好きな) to refer to some of the other characters, a phrase which more or less equates to “my beloved.” He uses this phrase with Saihara more than any other character of the game, but there are a few other instances where he does use it with Amami, Momota, and (if I’m remembering correctly) Kaede. Pretty much every single instance where the localization put, “because I love you” or “because you’re my favorite” whenever Ouma was talking to Saihara was usually a point where he would specifically call him “my beloved Saihara-chan.”

In chapter 4 during the scene where Ouma is alone in the parlor of the VR world, he also specifically, exclusively refers to Saihara as “suki ni natta hito” (好きになった人), literally: “the person I fell in love with.” This line was changed in the localization to, “when there’s a person I like,” which is more or less literally correct--however, the phrase “suki ni natta” is much heavier and more loaded with explicitly romantic implications than “suki” would be on its own, as it’s often used in Japanese love songs and shoujo manga love confessions.

Worth noting in my opinion is the fact that this is the exact same phrasing Maki uses to describe her romantic feelings for Momota. Since Maki’s feelings for Momota are considered canonically confirmed because of this, Ouma’s feelings should be considered equally canon, but a lot of people don’t know this because, well, it’s sort of been lost in translation.

And now, on to the fairy line! Ouma calls himself a fairy in chapter 3, when he pops up in the middle of Saihara and Korekiyo’s discussion of the katana in Korekiyo’s lab. Full of enthusiasm, he decides to touch the sword and examine it for himself; Korekiyo starts to object, but Ouma interrupts and says:

“Come on, it’s not a big deal! I’m like a fairy, so it’ll be fine!”

I’ve always really loved this line and thought it was super adorable, both as a nod to how fairies aren’t supposed to be able to touch steel in most fae mythos, as well as the fact that fairies tend to also have a love for mischief and pranks and lies. The localization apparently didn’t like it so much though, because this line is simply changed to, “Come on, would I lie to you?” instead.

One final thing I can think of as far as Ouma’s speech tics go is that his laugh in Japanese is romanized as “nishishi” instead of “neeheehee,” as this is closer to the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound horses make--but I actually don’t mind this localization change at all! “Neeheehee” definitely looks a lot closer to the word “neigh” and helps capture that horse joke in a way that I feel like western players can more easily understand.

All in all, while I still definitely feel people can like and enjoy Ouma’s character from playing the localization alone, I still stand by my opinion that listening to the original Japanese voices helps give a much better picture of how the character was intended to come across, and really shows how much depth Hiro Shimono put into his performance. He’s quoted in the official ndrv3 artbook as saying that he believes Ouma is someone who’s actually “really meek if you take away his strong wish to outwit everyone” (credit to @kaibutsushidousha for the art book translation), and I think this interpretation of Ouma really shows through in so many of his lines.

Thank you both for the really fun questions! I hope I could provide some more interesting information about Ouma and the translation!

#danganronpa #kokichi ouma #ouma kokichi #new danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 #ndrv3 spoilers //#ask #my meta

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usergreenpixel · 3 years ago

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JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 1: La Seine no Hoshi (1975)

1. Introduction

Well, dear reader, here it is. My first ever official review. And, as promised, this is one of the pieces of Frev media that you have likely never heard of before.

So, without further ado, sit down, relax, grab drinks and snacks and allow me to tell you about an anime called “La Seine no Hoshi” (The Star of the Seine).

“La Seine no Hoshi” is a children’s anime series made by Studio Sunrise. It consists of 39 episodes and was originally broadcast in Japan from April 4th to December 26th of 1975.

Unlike its more famous contemporary, a manga called “Rose of Versailles” that had begun being released in 1972 and is considered a classic to this day, “La Seine no Hoshi” has stayed relatively obscure both in the world of anime and among other Frev pop culture.

Personally, the only reason why I found out about its existence was the fact that I actively seek out everything Frev-related and I just happened to stumble upon the title on an anime forum several years ago.

So far, the anime has been dubbed into Italian, French, German and Korean but there is no English or even Spanish dub so, unfortunately, people who do not speak fluent Japanese or any other aforementioned language are out of luck ( if anyone decides to make a fandub of the series, call me). That being said, the series is readily available in dubs and the original version on YouTube, which is where I ended up watching it. The French dub calls the anime “La Tulipe Noire” (The Black Tulip), which could be an homage to the movie with the same name that takes place in the same time period.

Unfortunately, while I do speak Japanese well enough to maintain a basic conversation and interact with people in casual daily situations, I’m far from fluent in the language so the version I watched was the French dub, seeing as I am majoring in French.

So, with all of this info in mind, let’s find out what the story is about and proceed to the actual review.

2. The Summary

(Note: Names of the characters in the French dub and the original version differ so I will use names from the former since that’s what I watched)

The story of “La Seine no Hoshi” revolves around a 15-year old girl called Mathilde Pasquier - a daughter of two Parisian florists who helps her parents run their flower shop and has a generally happy life.

But things begin to change when Comte de Vaudreuil, an elderly Parisian noble to whom Mathilde delivers flowers in the second episode, takes her under his wing and starts teaching her fencing for an unknown reason and generally seems to know more about her than he lets on.

Little does Mathilde know, those fencing lessons will end up coming in handy sooner than she expected. When her parents are killed by corrupt nobles, the girl teams up with Comte de Vaudreuil’s son, François, to fight against corruption as heroes of the people, all while the revolution keeps drawing near day by day and tensions in the city are at an all time high.

This is the gist of the story, dear readers, so with that out of the way, here’s the actual review:

3. The Story

Honestly, I kind of like the plot. It has a certain charm to it, like an old swashbuckling novel, of which I’ve read a lot as a kid.

The narrative of a “hero of the common folk” has been a staple in literature for centuries so some might consider the premise to be unoriginal, but I personally like this narrative more than “champion of the rich” (Looking at you, Scarlet Pimpernel) because, historically, it really was a difficult time for commoners and when times are hard people tend to need such heroes the most.

People need hope, so it’s no surprise that Mathilde and François (who already moonlights as a folk hero, The Black Tulip) become living legends thanks to their escapades.

Interestingly enough, the series also subverts a common trope of a hero seeking revenge for the death of his family. Mathilde is deeply affected by the death of her parents but she doesn’t actively seek revenge. Instead, this tragedy makes the fight and the upcoming revolution a personal matter to her and motivates her to fight corruption because she is not the only person who ended up on its receiving end.

The pacing is generally pretty good but I do wish there were less filler episodes and more of the overarching story that’s dedicated to the secret that Comte de Vaudreuil and Mathilde’s parents seem to be hiding from her and maybe it would be better if the secret in question was revealed to the audience a bit later than episode 7 or so.

However, revealing the twist early on is still an interesting narrative choice because then the main question is not what the secret itself is but rather when and how Mathilde will find out and how she will react, not to mention how it will affect the story.

That being said, even the filler episodes do drive home the point that a hero like Mathilde is needed, that nobles are generally corrupt and that something needs to change. Plus, those episodes were still enjoyable and entertaining enough for me to keep watching, which is good because usually I don’t like filler episodes much and it’s pretty easy to make them too boring.

Unfortunately, the show is affected by the common trope of the characters not growing up but I don’t usually mind that much. It also has the cliché of heroes being unrecognizable in costumes and masks, but that’s a bit of a staple in the superhero stories even today so it’s not that bothersome.

4. The Characters

It was admittedly pretty rare for a children’s show to have characters who were fleshed out enough to seem realistic and flawed, but I think this series gives its characters more development than most shows for kids did at the time.

I especially like Mathilde as a character. Sure, at first glance she seems like a typical Nice Pretty Ordinary Girl ™️ but that was a part of the appeal for me.

I am a strong believer in that a character does not need to be a blank slate or a troubled jerk to be interesting and Mathilde is neither of the above. She is essentially an ordinary girl with her own life, family, friends, personality and dreams and, unfortunately, all of that is taken away from her when her parents are killed.

Her initial reluctance to participate in the revolution is also pretty realistic as she is still trying to live her own life in peace and she made a promise to her parents to stay safe so there’s that too.

I really like the fact that the show did not give her magic powers and that she was not immediately good at fencing. François does remark that her fencing is not bad for a beginner but in those same episodes she is clearly shown making mistakes and it takes her time to upgrade from essentially François’s assistant in the heroic shenanigans to a teammate he can rely on and sees as an equal. Heck, later there’s a moment when Mathilde saves François, which is a nice tidbit of her development.

Mathilde also doesn’t have any romantic subplots, which is really rare for a female lead.

She has a childhood friend, Florent, but the two are not close romantically and they even begin to drift apart somewhat once Florent becomes invested in the revolution. François de Vaudreuil does not qualify for a love interest either - his father does take Mathilde in and adopts her after her parents are killed so François is more of an older brother than anything else.

Now, I’m not saying that romance is necessarily a bad thing but I do think that not having them is refreshing than shoehorning a romance into a story that’s not even about it. Plus most kids don’t care that much for romance to begin with so I’d say that the show only benefits from the creative decision of not setting Mathilde up with anyone.

Another interesting narrative choice I’d like to point out is the nearly complete absence of historical characters, like the revolutionaries. They do not make an appearance at all, save for Saint-Just’s cameo in one of the last episodes and, fortunately, he doesn’t get demonized. Instead, the revolutionary ideas are represented by Florent, who even joins the Jacobin Club during the story and is the one who tries to get Mathilde to become a revolutionary. Other real people, like young Napoleon and Mozart, do appear but they are also cameo characters, which does not count.

Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI are exceptions to the rule.

(Spoiler alert!)

Marie-Antoinette is portrayed as kind of spoiled and out of touch. Her spending habits get touched on too but she is not a malicious person at heart. She is simply flawed. She becomes especially important to the story later on when Mathilde finds out the secret that has been hidden from her for her entire life.

As it turns out, Marie- Antoinette, the same queen Mathilde hated so much, is the girl’s older half-sister and Mathilde is an illegitimate daughter of the Austrian king and an opera singer, given to a childless couple of florists to be raised in secret so that her identity can be protected.

The way Marie-Antoinette and Mathilde are related and their further interactions end up providing an interesting inner conflict for Mathilde as now she needs to reconcile this relationship with her sister and her hatred for the corruption filling Versailles.

The characters are not actively glorified or demonized for the most part and each side has a fair share of sympathetic characters but the anime doesn’t shy away from showing the dark sides of the revolution either, unlike some other shows that tackle history (*cough* Liberty’s Kids comes to mind *cough*).

All in all, pretty interesting characters and the way they develop is quite realistic too, even if they could’ve been more fleshed out in my opinion.

5. The Voice Acting

Pretty solid. No real complaints here. I’d say that the dub actors did a good job.

6. The Setting

I really like the pastel and simple color scheme of Paris and its contrast with the brighter palette of Versailles. It really drives home the contrast between these two worlds.

The character designs are pretty realistic, simple and pleasant to watch. No eyesores like neon colors and overly cutesy anime girls with giant tiddies here and that’s a big plus in my book.

7. The Conclusion

Like I said, the show is not available in English and those who are able to watch it might find it a bit cliché but, while it’s definitely not perfect. I actually quite like it for its interesting concept, fairly realistic characters and a complex view of the French Revolution. I can definitely recommend this show, if only to see what it’s all about.

Some people might find this show too childish and idealistic, but I’m not one of them.

I’m almost 21 but I still enjoy cartoons and I’m fairly idealistic because cynicism and nihilism do not equal maturity and, if not for the “silly” idealism, Frev itself wouldn’t happen so I think shows like that are necessary too, even if it’s just for escapism.

If you’re interested and want to check it out, more power to you.

Anyway, thank you for attending the first ever official meeting of the Jacobin Fiction Convention. Second meeting is coming soon so stay tuned for updates.

Have a good day, Citizens! I love you!

- Citizen Green Pixel

#review #french revolution #anime #history #television #frev media #Jacobin Fiction Convention #marie antoinette #French Revolution anime #la seine ni hoshi #la tulipe noire dessin animé #la tulipe noire

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