#booksandchainmail watches oniisama e

[booksandchainmail]

the rose of versailles episode of oniisama e

[booksandchainmail]

[booksandchainmail]

😳

[booksandchainmail]

oh, so this show is old old

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 35

are all these mourners just Rei's classmates? She doesn't have other family, or family connections...

I wonder what all the other students think about Fukiko and Takashi leading this funeral... their connection to Rei doesn't seem to be publicly known, but I think at this point they've given up on discretion

ah hell this is going to intensify Fukiko's pride Issues

... look I want to make a joke about how the only on-the-mouth lesbian kiss in this show involves both incest and a dead body. but actually? this is correct here.

can't blame Nanako for being in the denial stage of grief, because I am also there

describing Fukiko and Rei's relationship as "peculiar" is underselling it a bit

Fukiko is being much kinder than I thought she might be through all this

even though she's looking away the whole time, letting herself cry while Nanako is in the room is a good sign

the whole "disband the sorority" plotline has been basically abandoned for now, which feels correct. Who can care about what side anyone was on at this moment?

SO SHE DID KNOW

I can see how the Ichinomiya's got away with it, Fukiko does look like her adoptive mother

Oh hey the beads from the opening

so I was right that Fukiko did not plan on going through with the suicide pact as a kid, that was initially a murder attempt

... is she going to go through with it now though. I'm getting worrying energy from all this

well. the sorority has ended, not with a bang but a whimper

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 39

Oh I love the shift to have Nanako writing to Sainte-Juste

What. Marriage? Already?

With Kaoru leaving and Fukiko graduating, next year all three of Seiran's famed students will be gone

Ok, there's why Nanako got so involved with Henmi and Kaoru: repressing her grief

"I'm not going to grow up. I'm never going to understand other people's feelings! Thinking of others just doesn't sit well with me." fuck yeah, Mariko, never change

"Better than Fukiko?" I love this butler

Fukiko is describing what she thinks Rei in love would have been like, missing that the kind of all-consuming devoted passion is how Rei treated her

gonna be honest, Fukiko, I don't think you actually wanted to see Rei fall in love with someone else! Based on how you treated her about Kaoru and Nanako

well, good to see her moving beyond Henmi

this whole monologue of Fukiko's is in theory about Henmi, but it's being vague (I think on purpose), so it can also be heard as being about Rei

If Nanako is secretly related to anyone else I'm going to scream

good thing they reduced Mariko's suspension, keeping it going after summer break would be incredibly pointless

Kaoru wearing Rei's number...

the subtitles specifically note Kaoru is eighteen, I guess to reassure the audience, but it does give the impression that Henmi was waiting just until she would be legal. (I mean I don't know what the age of consent was in Japan at this time so this may be unintentional)

getting married appears to have made Kaoru more feminine :(

where is Henmi's actual mother in all this? Did she die and it just wasn't mentioned/I forgot?

Sainte-Juste's "masculine fragrance", which is apparently just cigarettes

look. ending this on a two year timeskip actually feels correct, passage of time etc etc, but did they have to toss in that line about Nanako meeting a guy?

it does end up feeling like the ending of this show writes in straight romances as much as possible, and kills off the one character it can't convincingly heterosexualize. which is probably exactly what happened. so.

profoundly grateful that I live in the modern day

Rei...

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 37

in these shots we still don't see Kaoru's lack-of-boob, but there is notably not the same pectoral structure, which is a nice touch

incredibly vague statement for Nanako to find out about Henmi from

some very nice stylized waves

very reasonable assumption to make for Kaoru

interesting to have a late-game reveal like this that the audience has known since episode 4

scene of Nanako in the bath, prompting the realization that for all the nudity in this show, this is some of the first naked breasts shown, since everyone is so damn noodley

"if my stepdaughter learned that after my earlier divorce, I completely cut off all contact with my son, she might be upset" no shit dude

is everyone on this show just awful about divorces when the couple has kids, or is this accurate to the time/setting?

the only incest allowed on this show is lesbian. #feminism

I truly do not understand what apparently everyone sees in Henmi

cmon Nanako, you don't also have to join in on this

return of Nanako's white buttonup tucked into jeans!

honestly this episode kinda feels lie a finale

interesting shots of Kaoru, where it looks like the snow outside is falling upwards

Henmi should hold way more of a grudge against his father than this

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 34

oh god someone's going to have to tell Kaoru

the timing of this is going to be so hard on Nanako

why would you just let a room full of teenagers sit with the dead body

... hope Fukiko doesn't now feel compelled to go through with her half of the suicide pact

I wonder who put up the little memorial... since Kaoru and Nanako are just arriving and Fukiko doesn't seem up to it, I wonder if it was the train attendant who found her

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 33

weird to see baby!Rei in a skirt

everyone is always killing themselves in this show

stop making kids promise to protect someone! especially their older siblings right before you die, what the fuck

man this must have been traumatic for Rei. No wonder she's fucked up, and also fixated on protecting Fukiko

Oh! Oh! Holy hell. So that relationship is on the other side than I thought... well explains why Fukiko looks nothing like her older brother, but a lot like Rei. So if Fukiko was adopted into the Ichinomiyas (as the daughter of their maid) I'm assuming she was the illegitimate child of Mr Ichinomiya? So is Rei her full sibling who didn't get adopted, or a half sibling with no relation to the Ichinomiyas?

... does Fukiko know about this. knowing would give her issues! but keeping a secret is fucked up

that bird apparently broke a single neat piece out of the window

Kaoru is just vibing while Rei says concerning things

I like this scene with Rei and Nanako, really seems like Rei is trying to move on from everything with Fukiko and have her own interests

okay so Fukiko doesn't know. The subtitles say that Fukiko thinks she and Rei are stepsiblings, but I think that might be a mistranslation... can't think of any way for that to be the impression she has, was it maybe meant to be half-siblings? And they are actually full siblings it looks like.

You gotta tell her about all this!

You also gotta stop "protecting her pride with your life"

"My heart has found great strength for living" promising! It's very very good to see Rei piecing herself together and pursuing her own happiness 1340

... please don't let this date be you trying to recreate your mother's suicide

so it's nice to see Rei taking better care of herself, but I'm worried this is a preparation for her death, like how deciding on suicide can make people with depression suddenly seem better

holy shit she took off the bracelet

Tomoko doing some great finger guns

yeah I'm getting worrying vibes from all this

WHAT THE FUCK

... she just. accidentally falls in front of a train.

we've had so many cases of people half-jumping off of things and getting pulled back at the last moment. figures that the only one that sticks is the one that is an accident

gods will people believe this was an accident or (reasonably!) assume suicide

look. I went into this show kinda assuming Rei wouldn't make it until the end, just based on her character archetype and the show era/tone. she's very clearly borderline suicidal and worryingly careless with her safety! but I thought it would be... dramatic? suicide, or overdose, or some confrontation. not... this.

... she was getting better

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 30

finally this show is living up to it's french revolution character nickname

actually wait I just put together that since the author also wrote rose of versailles, presumably she did a bunch of reading on the french revolution and cares about it as a time period. Hence the weirdly obscure reference

"All of us are free and equal" really channeling that revolutionary energy into this highschool extracurrical

has someone done a les mis au of this? feels like it would work, I can see Kaoru and Rei as some of those students who die tragically on the barricades and get a lot of fanfic out of it, Kaoru is a young revolutionary brimming with zeal (and wanting specifically to avenge/protect Rei), Rei is a cynical illegitimate nobleman but finds motivation in her friend

(I've sort of half-seen the movie once so this is maybe not very accurate. oh well)

anyways

Tomoko should get in on this! The Sorority's arbitrary decision to select Nanako nearly destroyed their friendship, she's been hurt as well

"why can't I ever do fashionable things [protest] like everybody else": me (very boring) in high school

Nanako is growing up so much in these episodes

Rei doesn't have to canvass for signatures, she just sits there

ok. so the older Sorority girls approach these bully minions and go, hey... we have two slots... help us and we'll put your boss in one of them... and they go for it! absolutely no direct bribe to them! damn that's some loyal henching

imagine trying to stealthily incinerate a petition and then someone stops you by throwing an ornate dagger into it

I guess the loyalty goes both ways

So Mariko and Misaki were to a degree noble rivals/only one allowed to defeat me, and then devolved into stabbing in like a couple of months. This school really fucks people up!

everyone in this show is always trying to kill themselves

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 21

Borocop

Mariko really really doesn't like men, huh. That... is probably going to be a major issue in the long run. Will she try to go to a women's college? actually, does Japan have women's colleges?

one google later: yeah there are a bunch, I'm going to assume that's her plan

Henmi fully does not recognize Tomoko, honestly valid. I always wonder how well teachers are actually able to remember all their students, and preemptively introduce myself

conflicting priorities for Mariko: he's a man vs. he's related to Miya

or nvm she does not care about the family connection

it's objectively bad behavior, but I'm finding it really funny how completely aggro Mariko is being with absolutely no prompting

some kind of free speech nationalist meeting? I'm going to assume this would be a topical reference if I knew more about Japanese politics of this time period

Gonna be honest, Rei pulls off arrogant and pretentious much better than her older brother does

this animated band really blatantly is not playing the music we're hearing

all three of those siblings are apparently always surrounded by girls

a convenient rainbow shows up to halo Mariko

love this wall of pinwheels that starts spinning on dramatic cues, reminds me of utena student council meetings

well, that's one way to deal with creeps. Just be loud and confusing enough that everything stops

and then Mariko just fucking stops crying in an instant, excellent

very jealous of the open windows on this elevated train line

[booksandchainmail]

Hold on

I'm comin

I say a little praye

Green Onions

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 19

getting big Touko Bloom Into You vibes from this whole "don't change" conversation. Also ties back into the doll thing

WAIT WHAT HOW DOES THE ONIISAMA KNOW KAORU

sidenote but I have no intention of remembering his actual name

maybe it's meant to be tights but nanako has no toes in this closeup of her foot

another moment of appreciation for Tomoko's outfits. Modern anime is losing out by making everyone wear uniforms

big light up sign with the silhouette of two women that says CAMP in this shopping montage... whatever could it mean...

So Rei's siblings do live together, it's just her that is apart

DONT TELL MIYA WHAT REI IS UP TO

DONT MENTION NANAKO

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

just stop! don't give Miya more reasons to go after Rei

also fucking hell stop talking about your little sister corrupting younger girls

anyways

Shoutout to the one girl who brought an old timey camera for Sainte-Juste basketball photos. And then doubles down by asking for one with Kaoru in as well, very bold

"You've gotten really cocky". I mean. It seems to be working for her.

What kind of rich kid tea cruise is this

ok but using seagull meat would be so inefficient, they're not that big and you'd have to catch them

"Rei's soul is enslaved to a goddess" ... ok! normal way to describe a normal situation!

WHY DOES THE DOLL SEEM TO HAVE GLOWING EYES

... this is a wild phone call

so if they met as 10-11 year olds, they almost certainly aren't full sisters, so my "Rei is illegitimate" theory is gaining steam,

wow kid!Rei really looked like a little fauntleroy prince boy

yeah OoK this is an, uh, non-standard sibling relationship. hoenstly this loops right back around to me being right about them being exes

really fun pulse effect on Miya's reaction here

she is so good at billowing

[booksandchainmail]

this show is very subtle in its imagery

[booksandchainmail]

IT WAS A VERY NORMAL ASSUMPTION TO MAKE WHILE LIVEBLOGGING

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 13

well that's an ominous title

"Despite your friendship. And despite your feelings." Feelings you say?

love Nanako mentally running through all the bullshit drama she's been exposed to over the past weeks, then just pushing it aside and going "but are you eating well"

oh, both Sainte-Juste and Miya play piano

man, Nanako is hitting the jackpot as far her classmates would think if they knew about this. Working alongside Kaoru to dress Sainte-Juste... probably don't mention this to anyone

I'm maybe getting some religious vibes from this scene, the way Sainte-Juste is draped in her long nightshirt

there's a nice shot of Nanako as she walks home that reads very masculine to me, I'm not sure why? I think it might be that I've seen that style of shot elsewhere mostly with male characters

Nanako. Your friendship with Tomoko is fine. What Sainte-Juste and Kaoru have is much more homoerotic shaped by how they both seem to have had a rough time of it. You are a teenager, you're allowed to have a more surface-level best friendship.

that said I really do like the thoughts she has about them: "We think of friendship as something which entitles... not as something which obligates. They are only a year older than us... yet they are so much more kind to each other, so much more patient."

admittedly most of that kindness and patience seems to be coming from Kaoru. It cannot be easy to watch someone you love self-destruct (with outside prompting) the way Sainte-Juste does.

I like that when Nanako wonders if there's something ~more than friendship~ going on, the episode flashes back to Kaoru and Sainte-Juste naked in bed. But Nanako wasn't there for that, so I'm choosing to believe this is diegetically her imagination

that emotion isn't doomed :(

nice to see that Tomoko and Mariko seem to be more-or-less getting along

new favorite character: ghost of a butch girl from the showa era. That is a very handsome faceless silhouette

WHY DID SAINTE-JUSTE POP OUT OF NOWHERE LIKE A HAUNTED HOUSE

... and she can jump down a story and just kind of bounce away. alright. admittedly takes some of the impact of her teetering around high places.