#and yes I know about the other translation that made it gayer with the come back to me

[azapofinspiration]

Dazai was telling Chuuya to wake up.

And part of the activation phrase for Corruption is “Do not wake me again.”

And Dazai is literally the only person who could wake Chuuya back up from that.

But if he’s gone…

Then Chuuya will never awaken.

[joyce-stick]

The Beef Stroganoff Song! (arbitrary subtitle discourse edition)

So, you may have noticed here that the subtitles in this clip (from Symphogear GX episode 3) are fairly different from what you're used to seeing when people post this video, and the phrasing in the subtitles is fairly different from what the associated memes often say

For those who don't know, Symphogear got itself released on blu-ray by Discotek, and with that came with a new translation authored by Noelle (@ulsairi on twitter ) who is notable for being the only trans lesbian anime translator I know of off the top of my head.

Her translation appears, in my opinion, really rather polished and very good, and I strongly appreciate the way it's written and how much character it adds to the dialogue by giving everyone distinct voices and adapting things into more natural English. It's also a fair bit gayer. I haven't encountered many people who've seen these subs, but I think most fans of the series would consider these a net positive change. There are some people who are mad about these subtitles, and they can die mad.

Anyway, let's talk about the different phrasing of the beef stroganoff song. I'm mostly going to compare to Crunchyroll's subtitles for reference since that seems to be what most others go off of. Here's a link to that version.

So right off the bat we can see here that while CR's translation appears to be a lot more, for lack of a better word, functional, Noelle's translation tries to apply more dialectal force "it's beef stroganoff/Yes! It's THAT beef stroganoff!" And generally communicate through the tone how excited the girls are to get started. Additionally you'll see throughout that the latter is a fair bit more lyrical, there's a lot more punctuation and verbal tics and filler phrases written into the dialogue to express that they are singing, which makes sense since Japanese tends to omit a lot of the sorts of prepositions that Noelle threw in here,

Like, Yumi (yes I went and looked up her name on the wiki) just says "beef stroganoffu" because it's obvious from context that it is beef stroganoff, she doesn't need to spell it out, at least, not in Japanese

(We know like maybe ten hiragana and 1 kanji do not trust us on Japanese this is all just basic shit we learned from online guides)

So this probably leads to a rushed translator from Crunchyroll (they are notoriously crunched for time) who's just trying to Get It Done probably not really bothering to throw in extra additional connecting letters to express the tone of the character, only doing so when it's required to make basic grammatical sense in the target language. So they likely didn't think to make the subtitles have flourishes like this that aren't explicitly in the original Japanese. Noelle meanwhile had the time to consider things like this and take such liberties in order to attempt to convey the same tone that was arguably implied by the Japanese, even if not explicitly put forth

And that's about all the things I should not repeat I guess, TL;DR, these subtitles are more fun to read because the translator had more time to think about the best way to make them more fun while still being accurate to the spirit of the original dialogue, who'd have thought!

(In case you're wondering, the Commie subtitles say kind of the same thing here, and y'know, it doesn't seem like a wrong translation, but also I really dislike this subtitle styling, orange on pink with that font and that drop shadow is just kinda bad. I appreciate the effort but like. Come on. Please fansubbers, please think about if the font and colors you chose actually work with the image you're putting them on)

Moving on!

horizontal and middle rhyme with each other so you can almost actually sing this, actually let me take a moment to try it right now- never mind, I can't sing. Hahaha. I don't actually think it lines up that well with the melody But I thought it did! Didn't I? That's significant, that this actually reads like plausible lyrics to a silly song someone made up instead of a literal translation of a Japanese song

Anyway, here comes the first major difference!

So in the Crunchyroll subtitles, Yumi says "it doesn't have to be beef" which in English (in my estimation) sounds a tad scatterbrained, like, "oh yeah sure beef but whatever really it doesn't actually matter," while Noelle's subtitles rather say "Got no beef? Don't you worry!" Which implies something different.

"It is recommended to use beef, but you may substitute something else if you are sorely lacking in beef" as opposed to "Oh the beef doesn't actually matter, zoinks lol!" CR's translation is kind of a bit funnier in how it sorta comes from nowhere without this qualification, which probably lead to this phrase's memeticness, but Noelle's translation seems more reasonable to me so yeah again, tada, yay for sensicalness.

Now here's another interesting change:

Again, the flat manner in which the CR subtitles say "finish with salt" with rendezvous only being included because that's literally what they said, is sort of absent any stronger emotional implication,

Noelle's translation meanwhile going with "don't forget them, they need it" imparts personhood upon the salt and pepper. The implication being that the girls are saying, "the salt and pepper are in love, please reunite them, they must be in gay love together." Or maybe you think the salt and pepper cannot be forgotten and must be reunited because they are Only Friends.

Whether you choose to believe that this is the salt and pepper getting married, or merely subtext, or an interpretation, or salt and pepper shipping bait, this is a deeply important tonal indicator because it reminds you that these girls are ultimately playing with their food!

"And there, now you're in for a treat!" I don't think I need to explain this one.

Now, here's an interesting one!

In the Crunchyroll subtitles, it just says the memetic "boys don't know this." With no context, no elaboration, no clarity, no qualifiers. Boys don't know. Did the boys magically get their brains wiped? Are the boys biologically incapable? Who knows. Nothing is said but that.

Noelle's subtitles, on the other hand, qualify this statement by saying "Boys aren't taught to cook, so they may not know" (And note again how, it says "kno-ow" to emphasize, once more, that they're singing, and also this lines up with the long "ooooo" sound they make at the end of this lyric, so cool)

There is now context! Boys aren't taught to cook! Anime and Japan's culture in general still pigeonholes people into gender roles! And an anime translator just wrote you a hidden translation note about it! You might be a boy, you might know how to cook, but certain boys in another part of the world aren't traditionally taught cooking, so they may not know

They may not, but they could!

Trust a trans person to express gender facts with subtle nuances like this in anime translations.

And with that lovely bit of good translation and good writing and good localization of a thing to make it make sense to people

Mew!

[fallloverfic]

TGCF donghua Season 2, Episode 6 thoughts

I'm always screaming about TGCF so yes I'm screaming some more. Very good ep. Spoilers for the show and the book below.

The Fang Xin flashback was really lovely (Xie Lian looks so pretty in the costume, like his hair style is really nice and he just looks good). Xie Lian being a teacher and explaining, "this technique is bad because the intervening person gets hurt/dies so you can't learn it cause [you're a human and the prince and your job is to continue your duties, not die]" also neglecting to point out the fact that... Xie Lian can do it cause he can't die and we're not gonna go into how he was injured because of that incident and he just goes through all the physical pain for other people without bothering anyone, nope T-T But baby Lang Qianqiu loves him so much T-T

When Shi Qingxuan says that Xie Lian took a blow from E-Ming on behalf of Lang Qianqiu and it flashes to a cut of Mu Qing and Feng Xin looking shocked, I aldkjaldaj Ahhhh... Worry about Xie Lian? Thinking about how Xie Lian confronted Hua Cheng now for the sake of someone else even while he's under the influence of two cursed shackles while Mu Qing and Feng Xin abandoned him when both Mu Qing and Feng Xin chose not to confront Hua Cheng way back when Hua Cheng challenged all those heavenly officials who confronted Xie Lian on the mountain?

The angst this episode is delicious. There's just so much stuff happening around all of this, it's lovely.

Shi Qingxuan standing up for his friendddd T-T His friendship with Xie Lian just ends me.

Xie Lian asking to be banished again like THIS MAN HE JUST T-T Xie Liannnnnn

Lang Qianqiu being shocked that Xie Lian would beg to be banished again and being like, "No, you don't have to do that! I just want to fight to the death!"

Meanwhile Xie Lian being like, point blank, "If we did, you'd lose." See, Xie Lian is modest a lot of the time in the sense that he doesn't brag. He just doesn't talk about things, generally: he keeps to himself (unless he's trying to share funny/interesting things he thinks other people might be interested in, which no one is, poor guy). I love stories with this: characters who don't outright lie, but get out of "telling" the truth because they're just quiet and let the silence speak for itself/let others come to their own conclusions, which is usually bad. It's such juicy angst. But he's also honest (about certain things) and at moments like this, he is being honest about his own capabilities. Because he is very capable. And I just love that about him. He is, truly, capable. And he knows it. One reason his banishments were so hard is because despite all his capability, he couldn't overcome that to help the people he wanted to help. His skills weren't what was needed.

Pei Ming's character model is really pretty. I just like watching him walk around. Even if he's a jealous asshole who is protective of his descendant. He's a fun jealous asshole. And a pretty one. I have a weakness for men with long hair who wear gloves okay, it's a problem I have no intention to recover from.

In terms of animation, there were a lot of really pretty shots of character models and character expressions, particularly as Xie Lian is being taken away. There's a nice shot of Mu Qing just standing and facing the camera in the background. This continues to just overall be a pretty looking show (there was some sort of weirdness during the fight sequence between FengQing, but that was it, really).

Xie Lian pining for Hua Cheng T-T Babyyyyy

OMG THEY MADE THE PINING GAYER (at least than the official English translation idk if it's gayer in the original Chinese). In the Seven Seas translation it's this:

“I wonder how much is left of San Lang’s Paradise Manor. If I get banished again, who knows how much junk I’ll have to sell or how long it’ll take to pay him back…decades, centuries; if anything, I’ll pay him the rest of my life.” (Volume 2, Chapter 19)

In the donghua, at least at this moment, the English subs say: "San Lang. I wonder how he's doing. [Sigh] After being banished to the mortal realm, I have to give up everything, even my beloved the Paradise manor(?). For decades, centuries, I'd give it all up for him, even a lifetime."

Even with the bad translation, that last line tho T-T Also Xie Lian's sad pining just ahhhhh

Mu Qing showing up and assuming Xie Lian's surprise is because he expected Feng Xin and TOTALLY not because Xie Lian doesn't expect anyone to visit him, particularly Mu Qing (because he thinks no one other than maybe Shi Qingxuan likes him, and Shi Qingxuan is busy anyway). Mu Qing still Himself about well everything. Mu Qing wanting to visit... maybe gloat... but also idk hoping Xie Lian would be happy to see him cause they're hanging out again <.< (kind of, cause Mu Qing thinks he's good at pretending and Xie Lian totally didn't guess from like the very start or anything that the "junior official" was just him in disguise aldkjaldja).

XIE LIAN'S LITTLE SMILE AT MU QING EXPLAINING WHY HE'S THERE BECAUSE HE'S HAPPY MU QING CAME TO VISIT HIM/WANTED TO SEE HIM MAYBE and Mu Qing being like -hmph- aldkjaldaj And giving Xie Lian MEDICINE TO HEAL HIMSELF T-T Still caring for Xie Lian even after Everything TM and how Mu Qing doesn't think Xie Lian cares for him.

Because I focus in on weird details I will admit I was a tad distracted from the lovely FengQing fight over who's more in love with Xie Lian by Mu Qing's collar. I'm pretty sure everyone else has already long since pointed out The Collar TM but well here I am now, again, pointing it out.

This helps because last episode I was distracted by the cute little thing (his crown?) that's wrapped around Feng Xin's hair bun and I kept glancing at it this ep too alkdjalj His hair bun is a flower :3

The chibi fight was so funny aldkjaldja (and angsty :3 Please yes fight over which of you abandoned Xie Lian first and how you're both totally not mad at yourselves and each other about it :3). Xie Lian being like OMG GUYS STOP PLEASE!! But not trying to be too overbearing T-T

"You'd be happy if something bad happened to him, wouldn't you?" Feng Xinnnnn T-T

Both of them shocked Xie Lian is not being attacked and also alarmed he is just TOUCHING THINGS THAT IS DANGEROUS XIE LIAN DON'T YOU KNOW WHO THAT BELONGS TO????

Xie Lian: It's so cute tho :3 -nuzzles butterfly-

aldkajlkdjaj Hua Cheng GROPING XIE LIAN WAIST like I don't blame him. Get it, Sir. Xie Lian like, "yeh this is fine :3" They're so married already I love them.

Hua Cheng holding Xie Lian's sleeeveee T-T I cryyyy

Mu Qing: Xie Lian escaped!

Feng Xin: STOP BEING A DICK, HE WAS KIDNAPPED!

Hua Cheng: Have you missed me? I haven't missed any of you one bit.

aldkjaldkjaldja HUA CHENG IS SO FULL OF IT I LOVE HIM SO MUCH alkdjaldja Xie Lian shaking his head with a smile alkdjlajda He loves his husband yes, he does alkdjalj HUA CHENG HELD HIS HAND WHILE THEY WERE IN THE ARRAY TO PIGGYBACK THAT WAY I SCREAM (also Xie Lian's little smile over it, he's so chill with Hua Cheng's antics I love them)

Listen. Listen. If a dude who looks like Hua Cheng and sounds like that while smiling when he says, "Come with me," to you appears and does that... WHY WOULD YOU NOT???? Obviously Xie Lian has no choice in the matter!!! OBVIOUSLY!!!

Xie Lian is so sad about how he hurt Hua Cheng T-T

Hua Cheng is so upset he hurt his Xie Lian T-T

"Why can you still smile and apologize to me?" HE LOOKS SO SAD

STOP THE PRESSES E-MING IS DOING SAD SQUEAKING

The subtitles are pretty bad again, and some of the mistakes still lead me to believe it's possible this is an edited version of machine translation (getting pronouns wrong is a common mistake in machine translation), which is not a good sign. I'm really hoping they go back and fix this, especially if they sell this as a physical release like they did season 1. Also I hope they just fucking stop doing it this way and if we ever get any more seasons I hope they do not do this in future.

BUT OVERALL IT WAS A REALLY GOOD EPISODE AHHHHHH

Other episode thoughts for season 2 (didn't start till episode 3):

S02E03

S02E04

S02E05

S02E06 (you are here)

S02E07

S02E08

S02E09

S02E10

S02E11

S02E12

[telehxhtrash]

A masterpost on Togashi’s gay subtext and why it’s intentional.

Hi ! After seeing so many posts about Togashi dropping subtext about Killua's possible romantic feelings for Gon, I thought it'd be a good idea to make a sort of "masterpost" with all the subtext that Togashi has included into his work.

I usually see a lot of people trying to say that HxH isn't about romance and that Togashi isn't interested in writing romance into the manga, but when you analyze all the subtext that's been going on the further Gon and Killua's relationship progresses, I think it's incorrect to say that Togashi has never hinted at the possibility of romance in HxH.

This is going to be a long post, enjoy your read!

Also, please note that I will only base this analysis on the manga, so there can be no mistake that "maybe this is just something the anime made gayer" : i want to prove that the subtext is 100% intentional on Togashi's part.

I'd also like to mention, although I will analyze it further after listing the subtext, that Togashi is a VERY smart man. There are always little details in the story and/or foreshadowing that are easily missed at first but when you notice them, it truly makes you understand how much attention and care Togashi puts into his work. There are countless details and symbolism that are analyzed daily through wonderful meta posts, from the main 4′s birthdays and their link to their character or the religious symbolism in Kurapika’s story arc.... Togashi loves to foreshadow and plant little details into his work, so when Togashi plants subtext, I'm sure he 100% knows that he's writing it, and it can't be seen as unintentional.

I'll also link all my references for this post at the end of it, so feel free to read all the additional textposts and content if you want to know more.

Well, let's get into it!

EDIT : i can’t believe this post is still being used as a reference it makes me so happy... thank you so much !!! i edited this to tweak it a bit because i wrote this a while ago and the phrasing seemed off to me, so if you’re reading or re-reading this post, hi, welcome to masterpost on gay subtext 2.0 !

GREED ISLAND ARC

Greed Island is to me the arc that lays down the nature of Killua and Gon's relationship. It's during this arc that we get to see a bit more of what Killua thinks, how he's lucky to have met Gon and that he feels really grateful. Gon’s behavior in this arc is also very affectionate, with him always reassuring Killua about his place next to him. While the scene where Killua thinks "You've got it backwards, Gon, I'm the one that's glad I met you." can't be considered as subtext, I think it's something that lets the reader know a bit more about how Killua feels towards Gon. 

But other than this scene, which can clearly be dismissed as platonic, there are 2 more moments in the Greed Island arc that are layered in subtext.

��� The Rainbow Diamond (chapter 151)

During their time in Dorias, Killua uses Risky Dice to gain cards from the slot machines. The first card that Killua gains is called "Rainbow Diamond", the description of the card being "A diamond that shines in a rainbow of colors. Propose with this diamond and she is guaranteed to say "yes"". 

There are 3 different things we can take from this panel. First, the card is a marriage proposal card, so it's obviously romantic in nature. Second, the object is a RAINBOW diamond. And third, Killua, wanting to keep the card safe, gifts it to Gon.

In short, Togashi sat down at his desk, decided to draw Killua winning a MARRIAGE PROPOSAL CARD (it could've been any card, but Togashi CHOSE to make Killua win a marriage proposal card) that has a RAINBOW diamond on it and made Killua gift it to Gon. 

While I personally don't think that subtext can be used to 100% ascert that Killua has romantic feelings for Gon, I think it's a funny little touch from Togashi, and I'm even gonna say a sort of hint towards how Killua's feelings for Gon are going to evolve in this arc and the next.

• “It has to be Killua” (chapter 166)

Now this is a scene that I've never seen anyone talk about, at least on Tumblr, but when I read a bit of analysis on it I was 100% convinced this was intentional subtext. I'm basically quoting here what this article explains, so if you want more detail, I recommend reading it.

As you probably recall, during their deadly dodgeball game against Razor, Killua decides to sacrifice his hands to ensure that Gon could use all his strength. When confronted about it, Killua insists that it's nothing, and Gon shocks him by saying that he knew all along that he was hurting himself for his sake. 

Gon then says that it can only be Killua holding the ball, and that it has to be Killua, resulting in Killua being absolutely awestruck and embarassed. I'm also going to talk about the anime adaptation for this one, because it's perfectly executed and translates extremely well the nuance that the second sentence bears. If you want to rewatch it, this scene happens in episode 70. It's worth noting that in the anime, we see Killua not reacting to Gon's first sentence, but losing his composure entirely when Gon says the second sentence. But why ?

The reason was lost in translation. His exact words are "Booru wa Killua ga motte-kurenai to. Killua ja nakya dame nan da.". Both sentences basically say the same thing : It has to be Killua holding the ball. That second sentence can be translated literally as "If it's not Killua, that won't do." However, the second sentence, in a different context, can also be used to say a totally different thing. 

While it's certain that Gon used this sentence in the context of the dodgeball match, the sentence "~ja nakya dame nan da" also serves as a confession of one's feelings in japanese. It's basically the equivalent to "you're the one for me". When you google the sentence, it turns up romantic songs, forum posts asking what it would translate to in English and posts on how to confess to someone. 

The sentence basically drowns in romantic subtext. As mentioned before, Killua has no reaction to the first sentence "Booru wa Killua ga motte-kurenai to.", but loses his composure at the second one, and I think that was a very deliberate thing Togashi wanted to convey : this sentence has an additional layer, and clearly Killua is taking it to heart.

I will come back to this specific subtext in a bit, because we can parallel it with another subtext-y situation, so please keep it in mind for now.

CHIMERA ANT ARC

Now onto the sad gay arc! This arc is so RIDDLED in subtext and parallels that it's making me lose my mind.

• Gon, you are light. (chapter 199)

This scene is just... So romantic in nature. I’m not too objective on this, but I really do believe that this moment is the exact moment Killua fell in love with Gon and started to realize he felt a bit more than friendship towards him. It’s Killua respecting Gon for who he is, realizing that he’s light and he’s always been, he’s the one who saved him and who’s always been so bright and optimistic and always makes the best out of any situation. In this scene, Killua lets himself drown in Gon’s light, allows himself to feel this “wow” moment of pure admiration and love, and it’s absolutely beautiful.

It's extremely important to take the context of this scene into account. What happened is that Killua, who has been struggling mentally for the entire series with the fact that he's always running away, ran away once more, leaving Kite to die with Pitou. This ENTIRE chapter is literally adults absolutely DESTROYING Killua, first Kite's troupe bashing him for leaving Kite behind, and then Netero, Morel and Knov coming in like icing on the cake telling Killua that "After all, he's just a kid", and that he should hurry up to his mommy. 

Killua is beating himself up for running away again, got destroyed by Kite's team and 3 extremely strong pro hunters. His morale is down in the drains right now. He expects Gon to be mad at him for betraying Kite, for running away once again, for leaving Kite to die alone and ripping Gon away from Kite : he expects that he'll lose Gon for his cowardice.

HOWEVER, the first thing that Gon says to Killua after having been passed out for god knows how many hours is "Thank you". 

Gon woke up and instantly eased up all of Killua's fears : he wasn't a loser for running away, and Gon was actually thankful for him. Gon, at this moment, was the only one that showed kindness, understanding and gratefulness towards Killua. Gon even goes so far as saying that he knows that Kite isn't dead, and that they have to help him. At this instant, Gon is truly Killua's saving grace. He's the one that trusts him with his entire heart, and believes in his choices when even he can't believe in himself. Gon is truly Killua's light at this precise moment, because he was the only one who supported him, trusted him and reassured him in this awful situation.

How can someone shine so bright in such a terrible situation ? How can someone be so positive that nothing bad will happen ? 

Gon asserting all of this makes Killua respect him a lot. Keep this word in mind, because it’s going to be important in the next piece of subtext I’m analyzing, because those two scenes canonically follow each other and are basically Togashi highlighting that something special happened when Killua called Gon his light, and that his feelings deepened.

• Introduction to Palm's character (chapter 200)

This piece of subtext is very very easy to miss but it's one of the most important subtext-y scene, because coupled with the “Gon, you are light” scene, it’s very clear that this dialogue is deliberately highlighting Killua’s feelings.

This chapter introduces Palm's character (which, imo, is a character introduced for the sole intent of being a catalyst to Killua's feelings towards Gon, but I'll talk about it in my post talking about the CAA parallels) - edit: i talked about this briefly here.

So, Killua having looked into Gon's eyes for like 10min straight and concluded that Gon was the light of his life a chapter ago, is now chilling with Gon as they meet Palm. 

Palm takes them to a café and STRAIGHT OFF THE BAT harasses them about how much she's in love with Knov. Like when I say harassing, it's literally a whole page of her explaining her feelings towards Knov. 

There are two interesting things that can be drawn from this interaction.

First, it's extremely easy to draw parallels between Palm's situation towards Knov and Killua's situation towards Gon. Palm starts by saying how amazing her master is, that she probably has special feelings for him but the most important thing is to respect the other person. Remember how I talked about how this last scene was Killua having a surge of deep, deep respect for Gon ? Palm makes sure to highlight that special word, that it’s important to respect someone when it comes to love.

She then goes on to say that she hasn't said anything to Knov, and never will. All of this adds nothing to the story, it's empty dialogue, Togashi could've introduced Palm in virtually any other way possible, but he chose to drag her and the gay duo to a café and make her have a monologue about love RIGHT after the extremely emotional panel of Killua declaring that Gon is his light just a chapter ago.

But there's more. Not only does Palm monologue for a while about love, but after finishing her monologue, this happens :

This panel features ONLY Palm and Killua, her looking at him like the psycho she is, and straight up telling him that "love can suddenly spark out of nowhere, don't you think so?". 

What's so interesting about this is the fact that Togashi made the deliberate choice to have Palm say this to Killua and Killua ONLY, which after the gay existential crisis he had last chapter, can very much be applied to his situation. Love DID spark out of nowhere, and Togashi wants you to notice. Togashi could've made Palm say this to herself, with no distinct listener like the last panel, but he made the conscious choice to draw this panel with Palm adressing herself to Killua SPECIFICALLY. 

Those two pieces of subtext, that fit perfectly together, make me believe 100% that Togashi knows what he's doing and he's not unintentionally planting gay subtext in his work. The fact that Togashi sat at his desk, drew Killua calling Gon his light, and then followed this scene with the introduction to a character who picks Killua apart to tell him that "love is something that just happens, don't you think?" is 100% proof that Togashi knows what he's doing.

• Date with Palm (chapters 217 and 218)

I think this situation has many layers, but many people still dismiss it as bro behavior so I'm gonna try my best to counter argue. First of all, and although that's not proof of anything, Killua looks EXTREMELY distressed by the prospect of Gon going on a date with Palm, but that can be counter-argued by saying that Killua is just worried because Palm is completely crazy. 

What I want to talk about is the scene that happens right after, when Gon and Killua go to the gym (because theyre DUDES YEAH WE WORK OUT NO HOMO), and the conversation casually drifts to Killua asking Gon if he's ever been on a date before, valid question considering what just happened previously. There are multiple things here :

1) Killua seems distressed that Gon has been on dates before. While it can be argued that it's a normal reaction because Gon has and he hasn't, I believe that Killua - who is in no way a normal person who would get flustered about "not having been on dates before a certain age" - would not feel uncomfortable that his friend is more experienced than him - especially when literal seconds later, he monologues about how he doesn’t care about dates and just wants to stick with Gon.

2) Gon then proceeds to ask Killua if he's ever been on a date, to which Killua responds :

What I want to highlight is the panel where Killua says "And the truth is, I want to stay by your side... Always...". Basically, what Killua is saying, is that he doesn't care about dates, all he wants to do is be with Gon.

I don't think this can be counter-argued as bro behavior, but with all the subtext I've explained before, this right here is pretty gay. Togashi put this panel deliberately to show that Killua doesn't give a crap about dates when he can stay with Gon, and with the "gon you are light" scene and everything in mind, this is another intentional subtext.

There's also the fact that Killua stalks the date like a jealous girlfriend - but I'm not gonna count that as subtext because it can be argued that he's just worried about Gon because Palm is insane.

• Gon is my best friend ! (chapter 219)

Remember how I told you to keep the "It has to be Killua" subtext in mind because I was gonna come back to it later ? Well.

During Palm's date with Gon, Killua runs into Rammot, who would definitely have ran into Palm and nenless Gon. Killua is forced to confront his worst fear : this is the moment where he knows that if he runs away again, Gon WILL die. Killua is literally overcoming his "programming", the physical representation of years of abuse out of love and care for Gon. He's ripping out the needle from his forehead out of pure, genuine care for Gon, because if he doesn't, then he'll lose him forever. 

Now, what I actually wanna talk about is this panel :

What we see is Killua thinking happy thoughts about all his adventures with Gon because he can't - won't - doesn't want to run away anymore, and all this for his sake. But what I wanna draw attention to is the dodgeball panel that's bigger than all the others, and the only one where you can actually clearly make out what's written : "Killua ja nakya dame nan da". 

Now, isn't that interesting that the panel that takes a bigger place in the whole panel is the one with this particular sentence? Remember what I talked about a bit earlier, about how "~ ja nakya dame nan da" is a sentence with a lot of romantic connotations (would pretty much equal to "you're the one for me" in English). Clearly this particular sentence stuck with Killua. 

I'm not completely objective on this matter since I firmly believe that at this point, Killua has romantic feelings for Gon, but I interpret this as another deliberate thing Togashi did : putting the panel bigger so we can see that it has a particularly significant importance to Killua, and Killua's state of mind right now (not wanting to lose Gon). 

In my opinion, two things happened here: One, Killua remembers this specific interaction because he knows how much Gon trusts him and he doesn't want to betray his trust. But I also firmly believe that Killua remembered this specific interaction because of the romantic connotation the sentence "Killua ja nakya dame nan da" has. Those words clearly shocked him, and I think he remembers them in this life-threatening situation, after the "gon you are light" scene, Palm talking about "love just happens", the "i want to stay with you, always" because he realizes that he wishes Gon would say that sentence in a romantic context, and not in the context of the dodgeball match, thus leading him to surpass himself to prove his love and perhaps live to see the day where Gon could say those words in that romantic context.

Now, of course, all of this is my interpretation, so it's really up to debate, but I really wanna highlight the fact that Togashi deliberately CHOSE to highlight this particular interaction between Gon and Killua, this sentence with romantic subtext, to lead Killua to finally break his chains and be able to be protect Gon fully. It’s also interesting to note that the 2011 anime adaptation also makes it a point to emphasize how deep these words stuck to Killua by making it the last flashback that makes Killua effectively rip out the needle out of his head. 

Also let's quickly mention the irony in the situation here : while Gon is on a romantic date, Killua fights to protect him, overcoming his weakness to prove his love. It’s not Palm who deserves that date, it’s Killua.

• A lovers’ suicide (chapter 286)

Now, onto the most important piece of subtext, that can not be counterargued as platonic in any way, shape or form. During the palace invasion, Killua leaves Gon's side, proceeds to go kick Youpi's butt only to have to fall back because he used up all his electricity nen. When Killua is charging up, he meets with Meleoron, and tells him that once he's done charging, he'll go back to Gon's side. 

They briefly exchange information about the battle, and then Meleoron proceeds to ask Killua what's the plan for him and Gon. That's when Killua explains that "Once Gon is like this, he won't budge an inch. Worst case scenario, it'll be a double suicide.". At worst they both die, cool. They “go down in flames together”. It’s actually much, much more meaningful than that.

The specific word that Killua uses for double suicide is "心中" (shinjuu), which is a heavily romantically connotated word in japanese. Shinjuu, also translated as "lovers’ suicide", is when two people die out of love, by the same method, because there's a belief that this'll allow those two people to spend eternity together. Shinjuu is a major theme of Japanese literature, and it is always used romantically. It's a very uncommon word to use to refer to two people dying together, because of its heavy romantic connotation, and because it always refers to double suicide committed by people bound by love. In literature, it always refers to two lovers, in love. If you want to read more on shinjuu, i suggest this and this, those articles explain its historic roots and the definition, also emphasizing the feeling of "oneness" that characterizes shinjuu. If you’re interested, I also suggest reading the japanese article that defines shinjuu, and hitting the google translate button, it has some pretty interesting sentences like “Shinjuu is traditionally committed by men and women out of mutual love, in the hope that they will be connected in the afterlife because they can't be together in this world.”

So basically, what Killua is saying is that he wants to go back to Gon's side to die with him, committing a "lovers’ suicide" because he doesn't want to leave Gon to die alone, and wants to die with him.

I also want to emphasize how special this word is to Killua, and that he and everyone around him know the special meaning of this word - In chapter 300, Ikalgo literally says "We were... No, KILLUA was ready to commit shinjuu with Gon". Ikalgo is really highlighting the fact that this word holds special meaning, especially to Killua, and that it was HIM who was willing to commit shinjuu by staying with Gon. Ikalgo and company dying with Gon wouldn't be shinjuu, but Killua dying with Gon would be, and Togashi emphasizes this through Ikalgo's thoughts.

This is pretty much the gist of it, but I suggest reading the wonderful post I linked in the references below if you want to know more about this specific subtext.

(edit : i actually wrote a post going a bit more into detail on Killua’s shinjuu wish if you want to read it here ! :3)

• “The one that Gon needs the most is you” (chapter 294)

I will go into this subtext more in details when I write the post about parallels in CAA, but I still want to talk about it briefly here.

Like I said before, to me, Palm was introduced as a catalyst for Killua's feelings towards Gon. Togashi purposefully wrote Palm as having romantic feelings for Gon to foil Killua's feelings for Gon and make him show jealousy towards Palm. 

To Killua, Palm is someone who stole Gon from him, he sees her as a threat because maybe she'll make Gon happier than he does ? (ofc we all know thats not true but Killua is baby) - Basically, Killua thinks Palm might be more important to Gon than Killua is, because he believes they are romantically involved. That's why when he sees her again later on, after Gon rejected his help, leaving Killua helpess as to how to save his dear friend, Killua sees Palm as a saving grace. 

He knows that if Gon sees Palm as a chimera ant, he will spiral down even more, so he tries to reason with her to get her to be gentle to Gon, because if not her, then who could? Palm would clearly be able to comfort Gon, with whom Killua believes is romantically involved with, better than him, right ? If Gon rejected Killua, then clearly Palm could help, since she seems closer to Gon (BECAUSE HE BELIEVES THEYRE DATING), right? 

This confrontation between Palm and Killua closely ressembles a situation like an ex confronting a new girlfriend - and I think this is exactly why Togashi wrote Palm this way. He wanted Killua to confront who he thought was a threat to their relationship, making him believe that this person who's """"dating"""” Gon is more important to him than himself, only to have her openly admit that she means nothing to Gon. The only one Gon needs is Killua.

And that, my friends, coming from someone you believe is romantically involved with your best friend (who you probably have a crush on), someone you're jealous of, the one you thought was the person most important to him, that's a pretty meaningful statement. 

Basically, what's happening, is that Palm reaffirms that Gon holds Killua closer than a potential romantic partner. And that's why Killua is so, so happy to hear that. He was questioning his entire relationship, questioning if Gon even cared about him, because he rejected him a few minutes before, but then his "rival" comes in and reaffirms that even she knows that no one comes close to Killua to Gon.

I also want to mention that this act of pure love (Killua only thinking of saving Gon when in a life threatening situation) is what made Palm come back to her human senses. d'awwwwww

• Illumi and Hisoka’s parallel on lovers who die of Alluka’s requests. (chapter 323)

Now onto the final significant subtext - while I don't particularly think of it as subtext-y, I know a lot of people have so I still want to include it here.

When Illumi explains Alluka's powers to Hisoka, he explains that there are two different types of linked deaths when a request is failed : 1) the person who failed + the person they love the most 2) the person who failed + the people they spent most of their time with. 

When applied to Killua, Hisoka naturally comes to the conclusion that no matter the outcome, Gon would always be the one dying with Killua, because he's spent so much time with him, and because he's the one that Killua loves the most. In the panel where Illumi explains this, we see a romantic, heterosexual couple  demonstrating the effects of not completing one of Alluka's requests, and thus the "most important person dying". 

While not making any true parallels, the fact that Hisoka, and the readers, are drawn to compare a heterosexual, romantic pairing to Killua dying with Gon because he's his "most important person" is an interesting piece of subtext.

_______

I want to finish by talking about Killua's birthday and how significant it is in my opinion. All the main 4 characters have birthdays that fall on specific dates, related to Japanese tradition, and often with events that can be associated to their character. Gon's is 5/5, which is Children's Day. Kurapika's is 4/4, the number 4 being considered an unlucky number, and this being an unlucky day to have a child. Leorio's is 3/3, Hinamatsuri (not really any main parallels here but still). But Killua's birthday is 7/7, and is the Japanese day to celebrate Tanabata. 

If you are not familiar with Tanabata, the story is as follows : Orihime is a princess who works for her father, working hard and well, but she laments the fact that because of her hard work she can't meet someone and fall in love. Her father arranges for her to meet Hikoboshi, allowing Orihime to leave because he expects her to come back to work for him, but the two immediately fall in love and get married, and she never returns. I won't get into the rest of the story as it's this part that interests me the most, but if you want to read more about Killua and Tanabata I suggest reading the post I referenced below.

Does the story of Orihime remind you of anyone ? Killua also works for his father, but laments the fact that he can't go outside and meet someone. His father then lets him go, saying, and i quote: "he will come back, because he's my son". Doesn't this remind you of the tale of Tanabata ? Killua's story references the tale of Orihime perfectly, and I believe this is intentional : Killua's birthday isn't of any importance to the plot, so why make it Tanabata, a day that celebrates a love story that closely ressembles Killua's story ? The answer is simple : subtext.

With all this in mind, I think it's pretty clear that Togashi is writing intentional subtext to hint at Killua's feelings being romantic in nature. Togashi is a master writer, he has years of experience, and I strongly believe he knows what he's doing and not planting unintentional subtext. He's a very smart man, and knows how all of this can be interpreted.

I will finish by saying that Togashi is NOT an author that would deliberately queerbait his readers. So many people dismiss the possibility of having gay subtext leading onto an actual canon gay relationship because "it's not like the author would ever have gay main characters". While this holds true for a lot of manga authors, especially shonen manga authors, it does NOT apply to Togashi. 

Togashi has always displayed interest in queer subjects and queer representation, putting trans characters in all of his major works (Miyuki in YYH, Mikihisa in Level E and Alluka in HxH). There were also canonically gay characters in his previous works : Itsuki in YYH, and a character named Kuramoto in Level E. 

Togashi also always had interest in mangas having BL elements, citing Maya Mineo's "Patalliro!" as a manga he was attracted to during High School. If you're unfamiliar with Patalliro, the story focuses on the main character's love life as a gay man.  He also admitted to basing Hiei's (YYH) design off a character from that manga. 

Last but not least, Togashi mentioned in a note included in volume 1 of YYH that he wanted to write a sports manga, called The Trouble Quartet, where basically all the characters are gay. Togashi said he based it off his own interests as a writer, and that while it was refused by Shonen Jump, he got deeply attached to the project and that he would love to explore this project in a different shape once he made a name for himself. I suggest reading this post because the parallels between The Trouble Quartet and HxH are HILARIOUSLY accurate.

In short, Togashi has always had interest in queer matters, and was always interested in putting queer representation in his work. After YYH, which was a terrible experience for Togashi as a writer, he managed to snatch a contract that basically allows him to do whatever he wants with HxH. Having always held dear BL matters but never being able to explore it to his full intent, I believe Togashi is exploring queer identity further with HxH, because Shonen Jump basically lets him do anything.

To conclude, with Togashi's past experience and skill, his interest in queer representation, and the amount of subtext surrounding Killua, I honestly believe that Togashi is trying to explore further queer representation, and I wouldn't be surprised if HxH ends with Gon and Killua becoming a canon pairing, whether it be delivered in an ambiguous manner or not. 

Edit : I actually wrote a post on why I believe it won’t be ambiguous, and that it’s truly never been ambiguous, just developing : here.

I hope you enjoyed the read, thank you for reading all of this, and feel free to show this to anyone who denies subtext in HxH !

REFERENCES

- "It has to be Killua" - Medium article, "Impossibilities in Translating Queerness : The Dodgeball Dilemma" 

- Palm's Date Scene - Reddit post, "Togashi's love of Ambiguity: Chapters 217 and 218" 

-A thematic analysis of Palm’s character : ”The Issue With Palm”

- Shinjuu - Tumblr post by hunterxhell, "A lovers' suicide, I guess." :  + the post that mentions Ikalgo talking about shinjuu 

- An analysis on different subtext-y situations

- Illumi and Hisoka’s parallel : here and here 

- Killua’s birthday : "Killua, July 7th, and the significance of his birthdate”

- Togashi's interview mentioning Mineo's Patalliro 

[esselley]

I saw your answer about Kazetsuyo and I agree with every description about Kakeru and Haiji as characters, Haiji is one of the best characters I've seen lately. The more time passed the more I came to love and appreciate the characters, the anime was so refreshing and beautiful. BTW it is based on a book by Shion Miura that I'm dying to read (though they made it much gayer in the anime, but I'm still into whatever kakehai dynamic) However, there isn't any English edition. So I'm still waiting..

Ah yes it is just one of the best shows out there, I love it so much! The novel is honestly still pretty gay, tbh - Miura is a BL manga fan and has actually published a collection of essays about yaoi so even though the book itself isnt outright romantic, I really don’t think she was oblivious to her own subtext! There are some INTENSE lines about what Kakeru and Haiji mean to each other and how they changed each other that made me super emotional, like, please look at this excerpt:

[“When you ran past me on the street that night,” Kiyose calmly spoke. “I thought to myself, there it is… I wanted to cry out, ‘That’s the shape of my dream right there!’ I chased after you on my bicycle, because I recognised that you were Kakeru Kurahara from Sendai Josei High School. I knew exactly who you were, yet I still did all I could to drag you into this.”  

Why would you tell me this now?

To Kakeru, Kiyose’s candidness was both laughable and cruel.

Before, you said you called out to me because you thought I was running so freely and happily. You even told me you had no idea who I was… you could have just lied to me…  

“Haiji…” Kakeru turned to Kiyose. “You gave me a place to belong to. You showed me the way to go. It was you who taught me to think about these things.”

The train had started to slow down again. They were almost at Yokohama station.

Kakeru got up and took Haiji’s arm, pulling him from his seat.

“I just want you to know, I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me.”

Kakeru and Kiyose alighted at Yokohama station and headed for the east exit via the underground tunnel, squeezing together with the sea of people.

“Hey, Haiji…” Kakeru leaned in and whispered to Kiyose, as if sharing an important secret. “Tomorrow, let’s run and set the best record we’ve never achieved before.”

Whatever misunderstandings they have had in the past, or whatever truth had come to light… there is nothing that could happen from here on that would erase their feelings and the trust they have built between them.

No matter what demons lie ahead, they will not run away again, nor will they cower in fear.

The day where their dream has taken shape has come. The only thing left to do now is to run with all their heart.  

“Yeah. Let’s do this, Kakeru.”

Eyeing each other, a gentle smile broke across their faces. And then, not knowing who had prompted it, the two sprinted down the road and ran towards their hotel.]

LIKE????????? i have goosebumps, it is so beautiful i cannot stand it T_T Excerpt is from this blog post here!

I’ve never found a full translation, but there are good ones on tumblr of important scenes, like that one, plus more context from the novel (Kakeru’s character is quite different in the novel as well and a lot of translators have really good notes on his character depth). There is the blog that excerpt came from and they work their way through many of the pivotal moments as well as this blog that has more in-depth translations of the first couple chapters!

[lightsandlostbells]

The greatest gift Skam France has given me so far is that I can’t help but see Daffy and Imane as Angela and Phyllis from The Office when Phyllis managed to take over the party planning committee from Angela.

Good: I like the girl squad.

Less good: Contrivances that come with doing a close remake.

Clip 4 (post-cabin return)

Yann saying some “not like the other girls” bullshit is aggravating but I mean … it’s very much something a teenage boy would say. I’m not really going to hold it against him. Character flaws are good. Also, if I’m being optimistic about the show, you could say they’re going to knock down all this “girls are superficial” crap with the formation of the girl squad and the power of female friendships, so potentially it’s there on purpose.

On that note, I want to give the remakes the same trust I had in Skam at its best; the thing is, I’m not sure it’s earned it yet, because it’s such a close remake that I can’t actually get a sense of this production’s own values. If the series were to write a new season about Daffy or Alex or Yann from scratch, what would it be like? The one thing Skam France has really done to build some trust on its own merit, IMO at least, is cast more POC; other than that, their choices have made me trust them less (not casting actual teenagers is the biggest one for me). Skam broke the audience’s trust in certain areas, but it also did a number of things right that created the trust in the first place. People were disappointed in S4 partly because S3 had handled so many sensitive issues well. Anyway, this will be easier to discuss later in the season as it is still early.

Emma smiling after Yann compliments her is the most I’ve liked her so far and the most natural the actress has seemed, as well as the most chemistry this couple has had.

Clip 5 (Manon and Emma in Spanish class)

I like Manon. She has a different vibe from Noora and seems a bit softer and less sure of herself, whereas Noora seemed outwardly confident and outspoken. Noora was confident enough to correct the teacher and Manon was all “I’m just trying to be nice” (although lol, mentioning that Emma didn’t do her homework is throwing her under the bus a little).

Here’s a minor example of how scene flow and motivation sometimes seem muddled, though. In the original, Noora rescued Emma by being all, “Here’s the mistake you made, teacher” and Eva was like ???? How did you know that? and Noora explained that she lived in Madrid. Whereas in this version, this is like …Manon speaking very good Spanish, from what I can tell? But not presenting herself as an authority like Noora did, but it’s still treated as this thing that needs an explanation. Like maybe Manon is just gifted at Spanish? That’s not exactly unusual. But I might be missing some other context lost in translation, I’d like to know if there’s something I didn’t notice (like IDK, Manon’s Spanish accent is different from the one typically taught in French high school Spanish classes). It’s not a huge thing, just something that seemed a bit off.

Not trying to start a ship war or anything but Noora/Eva was way way WAY gayer in this scene. Remember when Noora was talking to the teacher in defense of Eva and Eva stared at her as if she’d seen the goddess of her dreams? Remember when they looked at each other afterwards and there was a ton of eyes flitting down to each other’s lips? That was a thing that happened, very blatantly. The whole “Eva wants to be friends with Noora” thing was SO much more drawn out, over the first three episodes and ended up having a bunch of parallels to the later canon couples on the show (Eva stalking Noora’s Facebook vs. Isak checking out Even and Sana checking out Yousef). Like by all means, board that Manon/Emma ship and set sail, I can see it from Manon’s end, but nothing came close to Eva’s heart-eyes. H!

I mean this is throwing down the gay gauntlet to Skam France. Bring out yer lesbians.

This is not a substantial comment at all but I am in love with Manon’s white cardigan.

Clip 6 (girl squad UNITES)

Okay, I wanted to talk about this clip in particular, because I went back and rewatched the scene in the original, and I was really impressed at how good Julie’s directing can be. I think we know she can pull off the big showstopper moments, but she’s also great at getting the little details that you don’t even think about until you’re actually analyzing the scene. Conversely, there are parts in the remake that come across as contrived.

I was a little worried about Daphne/Daffy in the first episode, but I liked her more here. “Liked” in the sense that I felt better about the actress, not that she was at her most likeable here.

So the introduction of Imane to the group.

The original scene does something where Chris enters and is in the frame on the left and says, “This is Sana, she wants to be on the bus” (paraphrasing) and then the camera slides over the empty space to reveal … a Muslim girl. There’s kind of an element of surprise which is certainly how Vilde reacts; I don’t want to speak on behalf of Norwegians, but I wonder if it wasn’t done for the audience as well? Considering the attitudes about Muslims and russ not mixing in S4. (I mostly just want to mention this shot because I think it’s effective. The remake makes Imane immediately visible next to Alex.)

Vilde is instantly taken aback and appears to eye Sana up and down. Her first question is to ask how Sana and Chris know each other, which in this context doesn’t seem like friendly small talk, but disbelief (”how could you two possibly know each other?). Her obvious discomfort and the sudden tension is what I think makes Sana reply sarcastically about meeting at the mosque. Then we have the incredibly awkward moment of Vilde asking whether Sana can participate in russ as a Muslim. She never actually accepts Sana into the group during this scene.

In the remake, when Alex asks if Imane can join them, Daffy’s discomfort is less obvious (it’s there but it’s shorter and less pronounced from an acting perspective) and she says yes. Yes, she also says a bunch of dumb shit 10 seconds later. But the first thing she says is agreeing to have Imane on board. That should immediately set a different course for the scene, because even though Daffy is being ignorant, she is at least superficially accepting Imane into the group. Her asking how Imane and Alex know each other is therefore not quite as hostile in this context, but Imane makes the same comment about meeting in the mosque. So … did Imane manage to pick up on Daffy being uncomfortable anyway because she’s used to microaggressions? Because she figured a bunch of white girls would instantly question why a Muslim girl wanted to be involved? Or is she just making a joke by way of introduction? All of these are plausible explanations, but this is part of the problem with doing such a close remake. You end up keeping the dialogue and events the same even when the execution - the directing and acting and staging - doesn’t really flow or match. I don’t need to be force-fed explanations for why someone says or does something, but I also am not sure much thought is going into some of these interactions besides “it happened in the original.”

Just a note about the directing: In the original scene, after Sana is introduced, Julie puts the camera behind Chris, and has Vilde keep looking over to her, both for guidance (”can you help me out with this situation”) and in a “why did you bring her” sort of way. It’s a pretty interesting choice that adds an extra complexity to the scene; it’s not just this racially tense conversation between Vilde and Sana, it’s also adding the silent conversation that Vilde is trying to have with Chris and taking note of that relationship. Especially I think Vilde does feel stupid after Sana makes the comments about the mosque and the stoning. I mean, she was being ignorant and I can’t say I feel bad for her in this moment. But Chris is her best friend in the group, the only one she’s close with so far, and Chris is loudly and obviously laughing at a joke make at Vilde’s expense. Chris has taken Sana’s side, in a sense, making it a sort of betrayal to Vilde. How could you invite someone like that to be on the bus with us, how could you laugh when she’s making fun of me?

The remake doesn’t have this extra layer in its direction; it’s shot in a pretty straightforward way, the conversation between only Daffy and Imane, really. And that doesn’t mean it’s bad, but it does show how different directorial decisions can add subtext and layers in the smallest of ways.

There is a more lingering shot of Daffy toward the end, which does not bother me nearly as much as the lingering shots of Lucas, because a) Emma is sitting there anyway and b) it’s not revealing anything we couldn’t have guessed about Daffy’s state of mind from her dialogue and attitude in the rest of the scene, while the bits with Lucas hint at something that he’s hiding.

OK, I have to mention this, too. Does Imane go to parties? If so, wouldn’t it be likely one of the other girls would have seen her at some parties? Especially for Daffy who would surely see a Muslim girl and go “does not compute.” If not, then why does she want in on this one specific party all of a sudden? It made sense for Sana to want in on this specific cultural event, that has a lot to do with proving herself and tying her Norwegian/Muslim identities together, and saw the girl squad as an opportunity to be on a bus when Pepsi Max and other groups would likely reject her. It makes less sense here for Imane to … want to be popular? If she wants that, then what was she doing before to achieve that goal? Is this a new aspiration of hers and if so, what motivated that change? Does she just want to make bank on this party? But overall, it’s just murkier why Imane would want in on this random party, especially a party thrown by the school losers. Unless she just wants friends, which is fair enough!

All of this could potentially be really interesting if they explored it. Maybe they will have Imane talk about her reasons by the end of the season. And honestly, if I hadn’t seen this story already, I probably wouldn’t question it at this point. My issue is that I get the feeling they’re not going to account for this shift in motivation and just do a shallow find+replace on the situation without taking into account the different context.

That said, despite all of this, I loved Imane right off the bat. And Alex!

But like … garr, the setup of the whole hitting-on-Lucas gag is SO much more contrived than in the original, like Chris was actually standing there while Vilde was talking to Eva. Isak was sitting directly in front of her. Her flirting fit the scene while this other conversation between the girls was happening. Alex is super cute and charming and if you look at it charitably, it’s a nice establishing character moment? But less charitably, it’s an attempt to shoehorn in a moment from the original even when the blocking and directing doesn’t fit. (It reminded me of Julie’s comments in the script for 3.5 about how she changed the locker room scene because of the way the room looked, and the blocking made it difficult to film what she wrote, so they re-did the scene. I hope they feel free to do that here.)

Clip 7 (girl squad PLANS SOCIAL DOMINATION)

I don’t have much to say about this clip because it felt like a bit of a non-entity compared to the original. The original clip felt very much like an establishing scene for Sana as a character more than anything. Sana had all the answers, never hesitated, spoke so confidently, and the longer it went on the more you were astonished by this girl, until she was nodding in satisfaction and essentially congratulating herself for a job well done while the other girls sit around her in stunned silence around their new queen. I do like Imane but because the clip was so much shorter, and felt kind of perfunctory, it lacked that specific punch. Even the way it ended, like YOU HAVE TO DUMP YOUR BOYFRIEND, felt more like a ooooOOO wacky cliffhanger, what will Emma do? sort moment, more than an emphasis on Imane.

There’s one little moment I like, when Alex and Imane are talking at the beginning and Manon looks over at Daffy who gives her this look and small smile, like it’s friendly but there’s also some exasperation and disappointment behind it, “this is not the way I imagined this going” kind of feeling. It’s the sort of tiny and subtle beat that I want to see more of in the show.

Maybe I’m missing something because I don’t speak French, or I’ve missed it in the social media, but when is this party supposed to be?  Because I thought the synopsis for the show said that they would be planning the party over the first two seasons?

General Thoughts:

One thing I will say is that it’s becoming clear that pacing matters. Not just the pacing of the clips as spread day by day, but the pacing within the clips themselves. I think part of the reason Skam felt really natural to us is that events took time to unfold, the show was not afraid to have long pauses or silences and to let moments breathe, to let tension build or realization dawn or slowly change the tone of a scene. With Skam France it’s apparent that the scenes are often rushed. They’re just plowing through the dialogue.  If there are time restraints that mean the show has to air within a set amount of time, then there was unnecessary stuff this episode that could have been cut to make room for more important content.

The reworking of the russebuss into a generic party is pretty contrived as many have noted, but I want to get an answer on when the damn party is supposed to take place before I comment further.

I like all of the girl squad so far except Emma. Sorry! I’m not trying to drag this actress, she’s just … not there. I can’t imagine her pulling off the vulnerable moments later in this season. I would be happy to be proven wrong.

The thing about Lucas is that I don’t necessarily think he’s a bad actor, but he seems like the most obviously “acting” and the least natural and so far he doesn’t quite fit in what’s supposed to be a hyper-realistic teen drama. I could see him doing a good job in a different type of production like a stage play where everything’s heightened and dramatic.

But I also saw some people who speak French be like nah, he’s pretty bad so (shrug). I do think you can kinda see him think “here’s my line” and “here’s where I hit my mark” in his scenes.