#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 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 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]

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 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]

Hold on

I'm comin

I say a little praye

Green Onions

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 17

"Kaoru-no-Kimi is more manly than the pathetic boys around here, and so good-looking! And that way she talks: effervescent, like fresh soda!" run that last one by me again

Nanako voice: Mariko is so direct... meanwhile I've met the most complicated girl in the fucking world

Nanako you are not the right character type to pull off sexy smoking

of course Sainte-Juste carries her schoolbooks tied together with ribbon instead of in a bag

so. looking at this scene where Miya is all but caressing Sainte-Juste's hand. I think it was in fact very normal that I assumed they were romantically involved

Sainte-Juste seems so small in this scene... even when she's not vibrant like she was during the game, she's always taking up the space around her. Like this is just wrong

the pills Sainte-Juste buy come individually coated in glitter for maximum visibility as they are dramatically cast away

"You make me proud, Rei!" awww

Sainte-Juste in her natural environment, playing music in a suitably Romantic location as girls swoon around her

"She is all alone in the gym, in the early afternoon... it can only be that she is love-sick for someone." ... I think it could be some other things. It isn't, but it could!

ok, so Mariko has some separate issues around men

absolute power move from Miya, inviting Nanako over and then just playing the piano at her

... did she rig those windows up to a foot pedal or something so they could fling themselves open at a suitably dramatic moment

the back half of this episode is just people shaming Nanako for potentially having a boyfriend, and she's just desperately trying explain she was trying to tell her brother that she's gay

"I like your gentle nature... and how obedient and submissive you are." ok! Guess it was that de Sade reference that got Nanako into the Sorority

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 16

Sainte-Juste getting on the phone and then just pulling the blanket back over her head is a big mood

I think it would be fun to make a modern basketball sports anime and see how long it would take audiences to realize the leads were Kaoru and Sainte-Juste

Rei: "I am no longer depressed :) Time to chase Kaoru's fangirls through the woods :) For funsies :)"

I want Sainte-Juste and Mariko to hang out... the unparalleled levels of melodrama that could be unlocked

this is what happens when you study together with a girl, Kaoru, they fall in love with you

gonna be honest I do not get what Mariko is seeing in basketball. Now if they were playing soccer or hockey... but to be fair I think these character designs would snap like a twig

"You're really hot on Kaoru-no-Kimi!" Tomoko is way more observant than Nanako

Mariko's only defense about her crush is that she isn't into butches

oh WOW that is some nudity. Marcille DungeonMeshi voice: woAH HEY

based Kaoru! "I don't accept that [the Sorority] is a valid part of Seiran in the least"! hell yeah!

oh, so Miya is keeping Rei off the team? Just for general isolating her reasons?

watching Rei play like this... she looks so much more alive. I don't know what's up with her and Miya, but it does seem like she's been artificially starved into tragicness

aww, instrumental version of the OP

now, what to think about Kaoru and Mariko? I was going to say this has come on quite rapidly, bu that actually isn't true: the obvious inciting incident is studying together recently, but they're been interacting since the early episodes, and at the very least they see each other all the time in class.

I get what Mariko sees in Kaoru: she's the class heartthrob, handsome and popular, but also kind, loyal, and patient. And I think Kaoru would be good for her: at the very least she's practiced in being a stabilizing influence.

Less sure about what would draw Kaoru to this, though actually I had noted that Mariko is similar to Sainte-Juste: pretty, dramatic, clever, funny in a biting way, prone to self-destruction. I wonder how Kaoru would feel about the kind of obsessive devotion we've seen from Mariko in the past being turned on her?

I think the real stumbling point would be (as always) Miya: Mariko is a member in good-ish standing of the Sorority Kaoru despises. And since I don't see Kaoru compromising her morals on that one, Mariko would have to choose at some point.

[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.

[booksandchainmail]

oniisama e, episode 12

hey, I recognize that "rolling along" onomatopeia from Train to the End of the World!

I love how determinedly normal Nanako is. Sainte-Juste passes out calling her a doll, and rambling about some prophetic fairytale, and Nanako is just like "okay. how about I make you some pudding. :)"

"incredibly edgy dramatic tragic-backstory anime girl meets a girl who is just like. normal" is a very fun story to me

incredibly niche comparison: this is just like the nanoha vivid manga

Sainte-Juste is very tragic and all that of course. But "fridge only has random frozen ready meals" is I think the state of most teenagers who are cooking for themselves. Or at least a normal amount of them.

Kaoru to Sainte-Juste: "Are you a masochist!" I don't know, she wasn't in the room when Nanako started rambling about de Sade

ah fuck. well that scar is not in a great location. very symbolic the way the bracelet hides it though

I want Sainte-Juste to wear a t-shirt saying "if found return to Kaoru"

look, I get why Nanako is lying to Miya here, and I do think that admitting she helped Sainte-Juste would not go well. But if she admitted it, she could play it off, make it sound like she didn't know what/why was going on. Lying badly about it not only makes it clear something happened, it makes it clear she doesn't trust Miya

love nanako just bringing Sainte-Juste food. I don't care how tragic you are, you will eat some veggies

"If you don't like it, throw it away"... is that what you did to Sainte-Juste?

it is certainly a choice to have Miya holding a riding crop throughout this scene

WHAT

SISTER?????

ok.

so that changes things.

did not expect it!

I mean I guess I can see it, they both have the blonde curls and the long faces and the fondness for frills

is this like, actual for realsies sisters? or the yuri onee-sama~ thing? both???

WHAT THE HELL