#but also 26 episodes in and its good?

[mysteriousboo]

im officially caught up with the double!! what am i supposed to do with my life now? wait till the next episode airs?

[judahdenose]

I fully believe that Total Drama's biggest crime was not changing it's cast every season.

[arodykeism]

this is doing something to me

[aria0fgold]

Watching a movie and waiting for a specific scene from a trailer that was actually for a different movie can only happen with Detective Conan with its 26 (soon to be 27) movies and my horrible memory.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

AI turns Amazon coders into Amazon warehouse workers

HEY SEATTLE! I'm appearing at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival NEXT SATURDAY (May 31) with the folks from NPR's On The Media!

On a recent This Machine Kills episode, guest Hagen Blix described the ultimate form of "AI therapy" with a "human in the loop":

https://soundcloud.com/thismachinekillspod/405-ai-is-the-demon-god-of-capital-ft-hagen-blix

One actual therapist is just having ten chat GPT windows open where they just like have five seconds to interrupt the chatGPT. They have to scan them all and see if it says something really inappropriate. That's your job, to stop it.

Blix admits that's not where therapy is at…yet, but he references Laura Preston's 2023 N Plus One essay, "HUMAN_FALLBACK," which describes her as a backstop to a real-estate "virtual assistant," that masqueraded as a human handling the queries that confused it, in a bid to keep the customers from figuring out that they were engaging with a chatbot:

https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-44/essays/human_fallback/

This is what makes investors and bosses slobber so hard for AI – a "productivity" boost that arises from taking away the bargaining power of workers so that they can be made to labor under worse conditions for less money. The efficiency gains of automation aren't just about using fewer workers to achieve the same output – it's about the fact that the workers you fire in this process can be used as a threat against the remaining workers: "Do your job and shut up or I'll fire you and give your job to one of your former colleagues who's now on the breadline."

This has been at the heart of labor fights over automation since the Industrial Revolution, when skilled textile workers took up the Luddite cause because their bosses wanted to fire them and replace them with child workers snatched from Napoleonic War orphanages:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/26/enochs-hammer/#thats-fronkonsteen

Textile automation wasn't just about producing more cloth – it was about producing cheaper, worse cloth. The new machines were so easy a child could use them, because that's who was using them – kidnapped war orphans. The adult textile workers the machines displaced weren't afraid of technology. Far from it! Weavers used the most advanced machinery of the day, and apprenticed for seven years to learn how to operate it. Luddites had the equivalent of a Masters in Engineering from MIT.

Weavers' guilds presented two problems for their bosses: first, they had enormous power, thanks to the extensive training required to operate their looms; and second, they used that power to regulate the quality of the goods they made. Even before the Industrial Revolution, weavers could have produced more cloth at lower prices by skimping on quality, but they refused, out of principle, because their work mattered to them.

Now, of course weavers also appreciated the value of their products, and understood that innovations that would allow them to increase their productivity and make more fabric at lower prices would be good for the world. They weren't snobs who thought that only the wealthy should go clothed. Weavers had continuously adopted numerous innovations, each of which increased the productivity and the quality of their wares.

Long before the Luddite uprising, weavers had petitioned factory owners and Parliament under the laws that guaranteed the guilds the right to oversee textile automation to ensure that it didn't come at the price of worker power or the quality of the textiles the machines produced. But the factory owners and their investors had captured Parliament, which ignored its own laws and did nothing as the "dark, Satanic mills" proliferated. Luddites only turned to property destruction after the system failed them.

Now, it's true that eventually, the machines improved and the fabric they turned out matched and exceeded the quality of the fabric that preceded the Industrial Revolution. But there's nothing about the way the Industrial Revolution unfolded – increasing the power of capital to pay workers less and treat them worse while flooding the market with inferior products – that was necessary or beneficial to that progress. Every other innovation in textile production up until that time had been undertaken with the cooperation of the guilds, who'd ensured that "progress" meant better lives for workers, better products for consumers, and lower prices. If the Luddites' demands for co-determination in the Industrial Revolution had been met, we might have gotten to the same world of superior products at lower costs, but without the immiseration of generations of workers, mass killings to suppress worker uprisings, and decades of defective products being foisted on the public.

So there are two stories about automation and labor: in the dominant narrative, workers are afraid of the automation that delivers benefits to all of us, stand in the way of progress, and get steamrollered for their own good, as well as ours. In the other narrative, workers are glad to have boring and dangerous parts of their work automated away and happy to produce more high-quality goods and services, and stand ready to assess and plan the rollout of new tools, and when workers object to automation, it's because they see automation being used to crush them and worsen the outputs they care about, at the expense of the customers they care for.

In modern automation/labor theory, this debate is framed in terms of "centaurs" (humans who are assisted by technology) and "reverse-centaurs" (humans who are conscripted to assist technology):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

There are plenty of workers who are excited at the thought of using AI tools to relieve them of some drudgework. To the extent that these workers have power over their bosses and their working conditions, that excitement might well be justified. I hear a lot from programmers who work on their own projects about how nice it is to have a kind of hypertrophied macro system that can generate and tweak little automated tools on the fly so the humans can focus on the real, chewy challenges. Those workers are the centaurs, and it's no wonder that they're excited about improved tooling.

But the reverse-centaur version is a lot darker. The reverse-centaur coder is an assistant to the AI, charged with being a "human in the loop" who reviews the material that the AI produces. This is a pretty terrible job to have.

For starters, the kinds of mistakes that AI coders make are the hardest mistakes for human reviewers to catch. That's because LLMs are statistical prediction machines, spicy autocomplete that works by ingesting and analyzing a vast corpus of written materials and then producing outputs that represent a series of plausible guesses about which words should follow one another. To the extent that the reality the AI is participating in is statistically smooth and predictable, AI can often make eerily good guesses at words that turn into sentences or code that slot well into that reality.

But where reality is lumpy and irregular, AI stumbles. AI is intrinsically conservative. As a statistically informed guessing program, it wants the future to be like the past:

https://reallifemag.com/the-apophenic-machine/

This means that AI coders stumble wherever the world contains rough patches and snags. Take "slopsquatting." For the most part, software libraries follow regular naming conventions. For example, there might be a series of text-handling libraries with names like "text.parsing.docx," "text.parsing.xml," and "text.parsing.markdown." But for some reason – maybe two different projects were merged, or maybe someone was just inattentive – there's also a library called "text.txt.parsing" (instead of "text.parsing.txt").

AI coders are doing inference based on statistical analysis, and anyone inferring what the .txt parsing library is called would guess, based on the other libraries, that it was "text.parsing.txt." And that's what the AI guesses, and so it tries to import that library to its software projects.

This creates a new security vulnerability, "slopsquatting," in which a malicious actor creates a library with the expected name, which replicates the functionality of the real library, but also contains malicious code:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/12/ai_code_suggestions_sabotage_supply_chain/

Note that slopsquatting errors are extremely hard to spot. As is typical with AI coding errors, these are errors that are based on continuing a historical pattern, which is the sort of thing our own brains do all the time (think of trying to go up a step that isn't there after climbing to the top of a staircase). Notably, these are very different from the errors that a beginning programmer whose work is being reviewed by a more senior coder might make. These are the very hardest errors for humans to spot, and these are the errors that AIs make the most, and they do so at machine speed:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/#reverse-centaurs

To be a human in the loop for an AI coder, a programmer must engage in sustained, careful, line-by-line and command-by-command scrutiny of the code. This is the hardest kind of code to review, and maintaining robotic vigilance over long periods at high speeds is something humans are very bad at. Indeed, it's the kind of task we try very hard to automate, since machines are much better at being machineline than humans are. This is the essence of reverse-centaurism: when a human is expected to act like a machine in order to help the machine do something it can't do.

Humans routinely fail at spotting these errors, unsurprisingly. If the purpose of automation is to make superior goods at lower prices, then this would be a real concern, since a reverse-centaur coding arrangement is bound to produce code with lurking, pernicious, especially hard-to-spot bugs that present serious risks to users. But if the purpose of automation is to discipline labor – to force coders to accept worse conditions and pay – irrespective of the impact on quality, then AI is the perfect tool for the job. The point of the human isn't to catch the AI's errors so much as it is to catch the blame for the AI's errors – to be what Madeleine Clare Elish calls a "moral crumple zone":

https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/260

As has been the case since the Industrial Revolution, the project of automation isn't just about increasing productivity, it's about weakening labor power as a prelude to lowering quality. Take what's happened to the news industry, where mass layoffs are being offset by AI tools. At Hearst's King Features Syndicates, a single writer was charged with producing over 30 summer guides, the entire package:

https://www.404media.co/viral-ai-generated-summer-guide-printed-by-chicago-sun-times-was-made-by-magazine-giant-hearst/

That is an impossible task, which is why the writer turned to AI to do his homework, and then, infamously, published a "summer reading guide" that was full of nonexistent books that were hallucinated by a chatbot:

https://www.404media.co/chicago-sun-times-prints-ai-generated-summer-reading-list-with-books-that-dont-exist/

Most people reacted to this story as a consumer issue: they were outraged that the world was having a defective product foisted upon it. But the consumer issue here is downstream from the labor issue: when the writers at King Features Syndicate are turned into reverse-centaurs, they will inevitably produce defective outputs. The point of the worker – the "human in the loop" – isn't to supervise the AI, it's to take the blame for the AI. That's just what happened, as this poor schmuck absorbed an internet-sized rasher of shit flung his way by outraged social media users. After all, it was his byline on the story, not the chatbot's. He's the moral crumple-zone.

The implication of this is that consumers and workers are class allies in the automation wars. The point of using automation to weaken labor isn't just cheaper products – it's cheaper, defective products, inflicted on the unsuspecting and defenseless public who are no longer protected by workers' professionalism and pride in their jobs.

That's what's going on at Duolingo, where CEO Luis von Ahn created a firestorm by announcing mass firings of human language instructors, who would be replaced by AI. The "AI first" announcement pissed off Duolingo's workers, of course, but what caught von Ahn off-guard was how much this pissed off Duolingo's users:

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/25/0347239/duolingo-faces-massive-social-media-backlash-after-ai-first-comments

But of course, this makes perfect sense. After all, language-learners are literally incapable of spotting errors in the AI instruction they receive. If you spoke the language well enough to spot the AI's mistakes, you wouldn't need Duolingo! I don't doubt that there are countless ways in which AIs could benefit both language learners and the Duolingo workers who develop instructional materials, but for that to happen, workers' and learners' needs will have to be the focus of AI integration. Centaurs could produce great language learning materials with AI – but reverse-centaurs can only produce slop.

Unsurprisingly, many of the most successful AI products are "bossware" tools that let employers monitor and discipline workers who've been reverse-centaurized. Both blue-collar and white-collar workplaces have filled up with "electronic whips" that monitor and evaluate performance:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/02/despotism-on-demand/#virtual-whips

AI can give bosses "dashboards" that tell them which Amazon delivery drivers operate their vehicles with their mouths open (Amazon doesn't let its drivers sing on the job). Meanwhile, a German company called Celonis will sell your boss a kind of AI phrenology tool that assesses your "emotional quality" by spying on you while you work:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/publications/processmining-algomanage

Tech firms were among the first and most aggressive adopters of AI-based electronic whips. But these whips weren't used on coders – they were reserved for tech's vast blue-collar and contractor workforce: clickworkers, gig workers, warehouse workers, AI data-labelers and delivery drivers.

Tech bosses tormented these workers but pampered their coders. That wasn't out of any sentimental attachment to tech workers. Rather, tech bosses were afraid of tech workers, because tech workers possess a rare set of skills that can be harnessed by tech firms to produce gigantic returns. Tech workers have historically been princes of labor, able to command high salaries and deferential treatment from their bosses (think of the amazing tech "campus" perks), because their scarcity gave them power.

It's easy to predict how tech bosses would treat tech workers if they could get away with it – just look how they treat workers they aren't afraid of. Just like the textile mill owners of the Industrial Revolution, the thing that excites tech bosses about AI is the possibility of cutting off a group of powerful workers at the knees. After all, it took more than a century for strong labor unions to match the power that the pre-Industrial Revolution guilds had. If AI can crush the power of tech workers, it might buy tech bosses a century of free rein to shift value from their workforce to their investors, while also doing away with pesky Tron-pilled workers who believe they have a moral obligation to "fight for the user."

William Gibson famously wrote, "The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed." The workers that tech bosses don't fear are living in the future of the workers that tech bosses can't easily replace.

This week, the New York Times's veteran Amazon labor report Noam Scheiber published a deeply reported piece about the experience of coders at Amazon in the age of AI:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/business/amazon-ai-coders.html

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is palpably horny for AI coders, evidenced by investor memos boasting of AI's returns in "productivity and cost avoidance" and pronouncements about AI saving "the equivalent of 4,500 developer-years":

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andy-jassy-8b1615_one-of-the-most-tedious-but-critical-tasks-activity-7232374162185461760-AdSz/

Amazon is among the most notorious abusers of blue-collar labor, the workplace where everyone who doesn't have a bullshit laptop job is expected to piss in a bottle and spend an unpaid hour before and after work going through a bag- and body-search. Amazon's blue-collar workers are under continuous, totalizing, judging AI scrutiny that scores them based on whether their eyeballs are correctly oriented, whether they take too long to pick up an object, whether they pee too often. Amazon warehouse workers are injured at three times national average. Amazon AIs scan social media for disgruntled workers talking about unions, and Amazon has another AI tool that predicts which shops and departments are most likely to want to unionize.

Scheiber's piece describes what it's like to be an Amazon tech worker who's getting the reverse-centaur treatment that has heretofore been reserved for warehouse workers and drivers. They describe "speedups" in which they are moved from writing code to reviewing AI code, their jobs transformed from solving chewy intellectual puzzles to racing to spot hard-to-find AI coding errors as a clock ticks down. Amazon bosses haven't ordered their tech workers to use AI, just raised their quotas to a level that can't be attained without getting an AI to do most of the work – just like the Chicago Sun-Times writer who was expected to write all 30 articles in the summer guide package on his own. No one made him use AI, but he wasn't going to produce 30 articles on deadline without a chatbot.

Amazon insists that it is treating AI as an assistant for its coders, but the actual working conditions make it clear that this is a reverse-centaur transformation. Scheiber discusses a dissident internal group at Amazon called Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, who link the company's use of AI to its carbon footprint. Beyond those climate concerns, these workers are treating AI as a labor issue.

Amazon's coders have been making tentative gestures of solidarity towards its blue-collar workforce since the pandemic broke out, walking out in support of striking warehouse workers (and getting fired for doing so):

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/14/abolish-silicon-valley/#hang-together-hang-separately

But those firings haven't deterred Amazon's tech workers from making common cause with their comrades on the shop floor:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/19/deastroturfing/#real-power

When techies describe their experience of AI, it sometimes sounds like they're describing two completely different realities – and that's because they are. For workers with power and control, automation turns them into centaurs, who get to use AI tools to improve their work-lives. For workers whose power is waning, AI is a tool for reverse-centaurism, an electronic whip that pushes them to work at superhuman speeds. And when they fail, these workers become "moral crumple zones," absorbing the blame for the defective products their bosses pushed out in order to goose profits.

As ever, what a technology does pales in comparison to who it does it for and who it does it to.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/27/rancid-vibe-coding/#class-war

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[widdowxd]

EJ for another base collab with @sinner-arts 😝 We’ll post the full thing on IG

Some head canon facts for my AU Eyeless Jack:

• Everyone mainly calls his “Eyeless”, or of course “EJ” .

• Like almost every other demonic entity in my AU, he doesn’t want to kill (or be a cannibal). Every now and then, he’ll go into these psychotic/feral episodes in which he needs to feed off of kidneys and human blood to stay alive, or else his black blood will begin to drain (out of his eyes); so he’ll go out hunting for humans before its too late and he lashes out on the other Slender-mansion residents.

• The others will help him find criminal humans to kill, they don’t intentionally wish to harm good people. It’s fucked up either way, though.

• EJ is pretty much a normal guy, other than his episodes and the fact that he needs to feed off of pure human blood and kidneys to stay… Somewhat human. (alright there Timmy tough knuckles)

• EJ can still actually “see”, but his vision is like an illusion inside his head if that makes sense. He can only see in black and white, though. Kinda sad. At least he sees LJ normally!

• His closest friends are Toby, Tim (Masky), the Puppeteer and Nina. He’s also cool with LJ but they aren’t super close.

• His hair rings are made from carved human bones!🦴

• When EJ needs to dispose of the human bodies, he feeds the remains to Seed Eater. “Seed” is like his pet. He thinks seed is fucking adorable.

• Eyeless likes alternative styles and body mods, he always has since high school.

• He’s 26 in 2004 (which is the year my AU is based in) and joined Slenderman and his proxies when he was 20.

• Since he was in medical school, he knows the most about medical topics and he usually takes care of the others wounds. He also provides medicine n stuff.

• EJ is really funny and humorous and likes to pick on Jeff, which pisses Jeff off so badly. But he can be serious when he needs to be, of course. He’s generally very mature.

• He’s definitely the most muscular and naturally strong out of everyone else. Mmmm..

• Ability wise, he has a slightly faster healing factor, improved strength, hearing, smell, more adrenaline, his teeth can become even longer and sharper, and he has three tongues that are impossibly long, which help him consume blood faster. He can control whether he wants those extra two tongues out though, otherwise they can’t all fit in his mouth!

Thats all I’ll share for now teehee, I have much more, I love EJ 😍💙🩸💉

[mossy-paws]

Fun fact as well! I have also speedran this game so insanely hard yall would not BELIEVE it. I am one month in and already more then halfway done with canto 7 the grind NEVER ends the rot goes so insane and my sanity bar has reached record lows /silly

Anyways guys don’t worry about me not being into PHIGHTING or anything anymore I’m still VERY insane over it, I will also have a lot of pretty PHIGHTING cosplay content coming soon, so keep an eye out for that stuff!

Fluid sac Faust because she’s the best ego ever I WILL DIE ON THAT HILL + trad doodles (Limbus Company)

Two posts so close together? WOW! Yall are actually gettin fed for once how fun! Anyways!!! Her. Fluid sac Faust my beloved I actually drew this about a week ago as a pose/water color brush practice! I just really wanted to draw her lmfao this ego has been carrying me through the game 🙏🙏 In total these all together took about 6(?)-ish hours I think it was, and I like how they came out a lot!

annnnnd trad doodles! These were drawn at school with a red crayola marker (absolutely peak art supplies tbh)

[yumeka-sxf]

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 5

Part 5 - Translating humor and wordplay

Translating jokes from one language to another can be difficult, especially when the humor revolves around wordplay that's only apparent in the original language. Luckily for a comedy series like SxF, most of the humor relies on concepts that are universal to all languages, but there are the occasional jokes that require creative translation in order to get the same effect in English. What I think is the most well-known example of this kind of joke in SxF is from chapter 26, where Yuri tells Anya that "knowledge is power" during their tutoring session.

The Japanese phrase for this is 知は力 ("chi wa chikara"). Anya mishears this as ちわわぢから ("chiwawa jikara"), which means "chihuahua power," which is why we see the image of a muscular chihuahua in her thoughts. This results in Yuri calling her チワワ娘 ("chihuahua girl") from then on. Obviously this joke would be lost if translated directly, so Casey Loe, the official English translator for the SxF manga, got creative with making it work in English. He cleverly utilizes the English expression, "the whole enchilada," which sounds enough like "swole chihuahua" for Anya to believably mistake the two. This translation also makes it so that Yuri calling Anya "chihuahua girl" later on makes sense.

But unfortunately, because a series can have different companies working on the localization of its anime versus its manga, inconsistencies between the two often come up. In this case, the anime team translated this joke completely differently, and less effectively in my opinion. You can see from the below screenshots that they had Yuri use the word "unleash," which then led to Anya associating a (muscular) dog without a leash as powerful (?) Again, this translation was a stretch in my opinion and not as good as the manga version. This also makes it so that translating Yuri's nickname for Anya as "chihuahua girl" won't make sense.

But what's interesting is that, many months and episodes later in season 2, they stayed consistent with that translation and had Yuri call Anya "stupid leash girl" in episode 28.

Despite my dislike for this translation, I have to give them kudos for remembering it all that time later and not just directly translating it as "chihuahua girl." Though it makes me wonder if they'll stay consistent in season 3 where Yuri will be referring to Anya as "chihuahua girl" once again.

A further complication is that, not only do these kinds of inconsistencies exist between the anime and manga translations, but they also exist between the different streaming services that stream SxF with English subtitles throughout the world. I only have access to the subtitled version from Hulu, which is where my screenshots are from, and I think other streaming services in the US like Crunchyroll, Amazon, Netflix, etc, use the exact same subtitles. So when I refer to "the Hulu subtitles" throughout this post, I mean other major US streaming services too. However, I'm not totally sure if they all do share the same subtitle script, so if anyone who has these services could confirm, that would be great! However, @tare-anime informed me that Muse Asia's English subtitles for SxF are completely different! For example, they translated the above joke more closely to the original, by using the phrase "puppy power" and keeping Yuri's nickname for Anya as "chihuahua girl."

There are further differences with Muse Asia's translation as well, for example, they directly translate Anya's names for Loid and Yor, "chichi" and "haha," as "Father" and "Mother" instead of "Papa" and "Mama."

(thanks again to Tare for the Muse Asia screenshots!) This is different, not only compared to the Hulu subtitles, but also the official English manga as well, both of which have Anya consistently use "Papa" and "Mama."

Tare also let me know that Disney Plus in Asia, another service that streams SxF, has yet another version of the English subtitles! And these are only the subtitled versions for the US and Asia - if SxF is streamed with English subtitles in other countries, I wonder if those are different as well. That means there's at least 3-4 different English subtitle scripts for SxF, with different ways of translating certain things, like what I described above. This could make things confusing for someone without any knowledge of Japanese who reads the English version of the manga and watches the subtitled version of the anime on one or more streaming services...if they read the first few volumes of the manga with the "swole chihuahua" translation, then watch season 2 of the anime, they're gonna be confused about why Yuri calls Anya "stupid leash girl." There's other more minor inconsistencies too, like how the Hulu subtitles have Yor call Anya "Miss Anya" all the time, but the manga doesn't.

I'm sure there's some licensing reasons why there isn't one official English subtitle script that all the streaming services can use, and why they don't consult the manga translations, especially for the more difficult-to-translate parts. It seems like wasted effort for so many official English translations to exist for the same thing.

But anyway, back to the translations of jokes in SxF, another one that stood out to me occurred in chapter 23. During the scene where Loid is asking Anya about a name for Bond, he explains how dogs have trouble discerning the sounds of consonants. The phrase he uses for this is 子音の聞き分け("shiin no kiki wake"), which means "distinguishing consonants," with "shiin" meaning "consonant." However, there's another word "shiin" with the kanji 死因 that means "cause of death." This is what Yor thinks he means - 死因の聞き分け ("shiin no kiki wake"), which means "determining the cause of death." So in her thoughts, she imagines asking Bond if he prefers death by blood loss (失血死) or by being crushed (圧死), and when he shakes his head at both, she says "you're not good at these distinctions, are you?"

This is a difficult joke to translate, so Casey got a bit loose by having Loid use the word "plosives" instead of "consonants," and then having Yor mishear it as "explosives." He then changed up Yor's dialogue by having her say that Bond prefers C-4 explosions over other methods of death.

While I don't think the translation of this joke worked as well as the previous one (I feel like Yor wouldn't know about C-4 explosions?) I couldn't come up with anything better myself, lol. It just goes to show how translating things as closely to the original as possible isn't always the best choice…but oddly, that's what the Hulu subtitles did! For some reason they opted not to even attempt to rework this joke for English, and kept both Loid and Yor's dialogue as exact translations. This results in an exchange that makes no sense and will leave people wondering how Yor could mistake Loid's "can't tell consonants apart" as "can't tell causes of death apart."

However, there are some cases where the wordplay works similar enough in both Japanese and English that the joke can be translated without too much modification. An example of this is in chapter 59 where Becky asks Yor how she was able to "get" Loid…"pierce his heart" as she puts it. Yor thinks she means this literally, to which she replies that she wouldn't hurt Loid.

The Japanese version is very similar, with Becky using the verb 射止める("itomeru") which means "to shoot down" (with an arrow). However, it has a figurative meaning too, which is "to win" as in "win someone's heart." Yor thinks Becky means the literal meaning of shooting down, so she says that she wouldn't shoot Loid and that she doesn't even use a bow and arrows.

The Hulu subtitles translate it more or less directly, having Becky say "shoot an arrow through his heart" and keeping Yor's "I don't use a bow and arrows" that the manga omitted. Rare case where I think the anime translation worked better than the manga!

In the case of this joke, the concept of "shooting someone's heart" to mean "winning someone's heart" is universal in both English and Japanese, so little reworking was needed. This also helped keep consistency with Yor's tendency to associate otherwise benign concepts with violence due to the nature of her work.

I'll wrap up this post with what I think is the most commendable translation of a joke so far in the manga: how Casey translated the names of the guest characters at the ski resort in chapter 94.

Their names are puns in Japanese as well, and Annie over on Twitter already did a great breakdown of how each of the wordplay in their names was translated, so definitely check out that thread here. Since this chapter has yet to be animated, I'm really curious how the anime translators will handle this…since it seems like they don't reference the manga, they'll probably either translate the names literally or come up with their own pun names, and either will unfortunately lead to the same kind of inconsistencies between the anime and manga translations that I touched on earlier.

To summarize, humor can be a very culture/language specific thing, so it's up to the translator to make sure the same feeling is conveyed in their translation even if they have to essentially make up their own jokes. With that said, it's a shame that there isn't collaboration between the translators of the anime and manga to ensure consistent translations across the franchise. So I hope this post helped shed light, not just on how some of the jokes in SxF were conveyed in Japanese, but also on why some things in the English version of SxF seem inconsistent between the anime and manga.

Continue to Part 6 ->

<- Return to Part 4

[honeyspeeches]

I’ve been thinking about something and wanted your take—

In the fandom, there’s this ongoing hate towards Lance where people really criticise or even villainise him for flirting too much. But on rewatch, I actually noticed… he doesn’t flirt nearly as much as people make it out to be?

Curious what your thoughts are. Do you think that reputation is deserved?

Well… first of all, what’s so wrong with flirting ?? It’s not like he’s touching anyone inappropriately… the only reason Shiro keeps telling him off for flirting is because he's being unserious in a serious situation. But it’s not like he’s harming anyone…

Okay, well, to determine that, let’s have a look at the times Lance actually does flirt.

Would you believe me if I said that the first time he flirts its actually not with Allura??? let me show you first when he flirts with Allura:

[26:19]

He has a very consistent flirting face:

ummm but... haven't we seen this face before???

[Season 1, Episode 1: The Rise of Voltron, 23:20]

huh. anyway!

When he catches Allura in his arms, he did so before he got a good look at her and found her attractive. So, it's not like he purposefully caught her in his arms 'cause he wanted to flirt with her.

[26:13]

Next time he flirts, it's again with Allura and we start to see a pattern of Shiro telling Lance off for flirting in serious situations:

I mean, Sendak just sent them a threat lmao this isn't the time to be flirting my guy.

I'm saying Shiro only does this in serious situations because when Lance wakes up in Episode 6 and flirts with Allura again, Shiro is smiling:

[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 02:18]

The way we as the viewers would think about Lance is very much informed by the ways other characters react to him. I think most people find his flirting inappropriate because of the way especially Shiro and Allura react to him, the two most mature characters in the first two seasons. Shiro keeps telling him to stop (in serious situations) and Allura is not receptive to his advances.

[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 02:16 ; Season 2, Episode 3: Shiro's Escape, 12:45]

So, Lance flirts with Allura a lot, and she's not receptive of it. But... she's also the only one not receptive of it.

[Season 1, Episode 6: Taking Flight, 09:40 ; Season 2, Episode 2: The Depths, 06:23 ; Season 2, Episode 7: Space Mall, 11:57 ; Season 4, Episode 4: The Voltron Show, 12:51]

So, Lance's flirting is situationally inappropriate, but otherwise harmless. And the only one who isn't receptive of his flirting is Allura, so it's not violating anyone in any way.

Lance also mostly flirts in the first two seasons, but it's not all the time. The last time he flirts, as in actual flirting as we see it above is in Season 2, Episode 7: Space Mall. In Season 2 Episode 11, Lance does have his bravado face on when he says "the sharpshooter is on the way", but considering he has just confessed his insecurities to the yupper, I think it's more Lance making up for his insecurities and the vulnerability he feels, rather than actual flirting.

And wouldn't you know it, Lance doesn't flirt with anyone at all in season 3. In Season 4, Episode 4: The Voltron Show, Lance is dubbed Loverboy Lance to which he says it's true even though we haven't seen him act like a loverboy at all since season 2. And although he's dubbed as Loverboy Lance, none of the shows actually include him flirting with anyone, he's mainly just kinda objectifying himself to the audience:

and the one time he does flirt, it's with the Red Lion...

[Season 4, Episode 4: The Voltron Show, 16:00]

which uh... okay. Anyway!

He doesn't flirt a single time in any of the rest of the seasons, either. Not even with Romelle:

[Season 7, Episode 2: The Road Home, 05:29]

He's not wearing his flirting face at all. In fact, he finds her super annoying.

So Lance hasn't flirted with anyone (except the Red Lion...) since season 2. Season 3, we saw him grow a lot, and he becomes a much more serious character from then on. To paint Lance as an overexcessive flirt is to frankly ignore canon and all the growth he's shown across the show.

[digi-lov]

DIGIMON CARD GAME: Next Plan Announcement

Very exciting news for what's to come in 2025 and beyond!! Must read for Appmon fans!

SPECIAL BOOSTER Ver.2.5 [BT19-20] Release Date: February 28, 2025!

In Japan the next release is BT-20 Booster Over the X!

We got some previews of what to expect! With Tamers from Digimon Chronicle and Chronicle X, Digimon Seekers, and Digimon Liberator, as well as Alphamon Ouryuken Ace and Zephagamon Ace!!

The Special Booster Ver. 2.5 will include serial cards WarGreymon & MetalGarurumon!

There will be a Celebration Event for Special Booster Ver. 2.5 The Event Period is February 21 - March 7, 2025 and all players will receive a BT20-090 Yuuki alt-art as a prize!

Here's another look at the first wave of official sleeves for 2025!

Next we have the illustration and logo to commemorate the global unification of the Digimon Card Game release! This included the Japanese, English, and Simplified Chinese releases.

The Release dates for the next Starter Decks, ST-20 Protector of Light and ST-21 Hero of Hope have been revealed to be April 18, 2025!

These Starter Decks will include double tamers for the Adventure cast, as well as "Scramble" cards of all colors with new artwork!

There will also be a Release Event encouraging people to introduce friends to the game!

Next up, the release date of BT-21 World Convergence on April 25, 2025!

This set will once again include Digimon and Tamers from all anime seasons, but now including Digimon Universe Applimonsters!

Now we also finally got to see the new [Link] keyword! This effect reads as follows, in this case for [Appmon] trait: Cost 1 (Plug this card from the hand or battle area sideways into the specified Digimon in the battle area.) In the case of this Gatchmon card, this will give the linked Digimon an extra 2000 DP!

BT-21 will also include Owen Dreadnought and Elizamon, and Zenith and Vemmon from Digimon Liberator!

We will also get the previously announced signed cards, and now get a look at the artist's signatures!

Titamon by toriyufu, WarGreymon (X Antibody) by As'Maria, Agunimon by Naochika Morishita, Lanamon by Tonamikanji, Beelzemon: Blast Mode by Keita Amemiya, GraceNovamon by Nakano Haito, and Zephagamon by sasasi!

We also get a sneak peak at the cards from the "Illustration Celebration Pack" which will be included as Box topper! These cards had previously been voted for by attendees of Digimon Con 2024, and got new artworks by the same artists.

There will also be a purchase bonus pack, [LM-05], with 6 new promos and 4 alt-art reprints! The new cards are Valkyrimon, Vikemon, Regalecusmon, Rasielmon, Darkdramon Ace, and Ghoulmon Ace!

Much like the Special Booster Ver. 2.5 will include numbered WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, BT-21 will feature a low pull-rate numbered Omnimon!

Now more looks at future releases!

EX-09 Extra Booster VERSUS MONSTERS has been announced, with a release date of June 26, 2025! This set will pay homage to the Digital Monster Ver. 1-5 v-pets!

It is unclear if the cards with these special borders will be the Special Rares of the set, or if all cards will recieve them.

Next up, BT-22 Boster CYBER EDEN, a long awaited Cyber Sleuth set! This will be Aiba Ami's debut to the card game! Scheduled to release July 25, 2025!

A tease for EX-10 Extra Booster SINISTER ORDER! They say it will include Villains from all Digimon Anime Seasons! Scheduled to release September 19, 2025!

Then an announcement for LM-06 Limited Card Pack BILLION BULLET! Pre-orders will start in March 2025 with a planned delivery in October 2025! What do you think could be in there?

Lastly another encouragement to go read Digimon Liberator! We got a preview of Episode 10 Part 1 and 2 covers, with the first "good look" at Violet's Ghostmon in its new mega form!

[scoatneyhall]

Ted Lasso season 4... thoughts...

LOL so it sounds like they're definitely going to have Ted come back to coach the women's team himself as opposed to just being around a bit for whatever reason... while I know plenty of women's teams do have male managers IRL, do they like... have to? Like do they have to make that narrative choice instead of having a female coach?

And they've said the first episode is apparently going to be set and filmed in Kansas, so I assume it will be Rebecca going over there to ask him to come back?

If this is where we are going with it, I now really hope there's a significant time jump, skipping the amount of time we've missed IRL, like 3 football seasons - and that it will be set in the 25/26 football season. He left summer of 2022 and is coming back summer of 2025. I mean, for starters, they can't explain the kids aging any other way if Henry or Phoebe is a part of it. And in terms of the aim of the initial 3 season arc, it would be insane for Ted to just come back a few months after he left. Like. Okay it's fine to leave his son again? I assume in this situation Henry (and possibly Michelle) will move WITH him, because otherwise what was the point??? So we really have to be on top of the kid's age, and it has been 4 years since filming s3!

I used to really dread the idea of a time jump as I didn't want to miss Roy's journey as manager (AND THERAPY), but now it feels like it's the only way it'll work, in particular if the focus is Ted returning to handle the women. A Tedless continuation that focused on Roy should have had no time jump, but this version definitely should.

I have written before about how it is completely and utterly unreal that they don't already have a women's team, even if they were only semi pro, so I feel like if they wanted to explain the whole "starting" the women's team with some level of football realism, you could do it like, okay, they did already have the women's team and they've been playing in lower leagues, way way down, with no funding, Rupert didn't care, Rebecca didn't initially care, and Keeley's plan was about building them up now they had the resources, not starting them from scratch. And after a few seasons of serious investments and promotions they are ready for the WSL, and they need a more high profile manager? I guess???? Like the last few years have been a Welcome to Wrexham situation with 3 seasons of promotion in a row under another coach, and now that coach is leaving and Ted comes in to take them to the highest level? I GUESS.

But also like. Sorry but Ted Lasso in its former form was such a man centric show. Which I wasn't mad at! But what i mean is like Ted as a coach really seems like his most powerful quality is helping boys become non toxic men. Men's support, men accessing their emotions, men's mental health. Ted help guys to Man Good. I just don't think those same vibes will come across well when it's about him mentoring women? I don't want to see him trying to mentor women?? They deserve better?Ted works as a coach when he's helping men be good men. The women don't need his methods.Like yeah he helped Rebecca but I think that was very different. I don't need to see him being Coach Dad to a bunch of lesbians. I just don't.

But honestly I don't really care what Ted does with himself, I need that time jump to happen regarding other characters, to keep their stories something I feel good about. At this point, I really don't think Phil Dunster is doing it - Jamie may show up as a guest in one or two eps... and if it was a direct continuation, I cannot stand the idea that he left Richmond the same reason Roy became manager and Richmond entered the Champions League. I really, really don't think it would be in character for him to do that even though there would have been interest to buy him. But I could believe it if it has been a few seasons and he had a really great offer - especially if it was back to City. I could accept him being transferred after a decent time jump, but I hate the idea of making OOC choices about him to fit their availability or plot ideas. He Would Not Do That.

But if the focus is mainly Ted and the women's team, it's possible that Jamie is still there and we just don't really follow the men's team action? Brett Goldstein IS doing the show but also has many other commitments, so I am kind of assuming we won't be in the men's team dressing room or filming men's matches or doing heavy Roy plot, and Roy will only pop up for Rebecca admin scenes/Keeley personal scenes.

Because possibly the football action won't follow the men at all, as in, they won't even rebuild that old set and stuff, and mainly be in Ted's new office in the girls changing room (sigh, how many jokes about him not looking will there be) so it is possible Jamie is still very much at Richmond, and we see him a couple of times in a social capacity with Roy or Keeley, but if there is no more scenes in the men's team dressing room etc, and the plot won't in any way focus on the results of the men's season, he won't be in the background of basically every office or training scene like he was before.

The more I think about it, the more I actually think this "no men's team scenes" is probably likely regardless of who is still on the men's team - because they want to do all the work they need to do for filming matches and training and stuff, which is big and expensive, I think they'll do just the women's games - they would actually probably get roasted if they focused too much on the men after all this talk about promoting the women's game. Like we had 3 seasons of just men - even splitting season 4 into 50% men's team focus and 50% women feels kind of bad in terms of their aims about platforming women's football. So I am now betting men's team will be almost invisible, with some players popping up in incidental/social scenes.

So. It is possible that Roy pops up in a club admin way/Keeley relationship way - though I do NOT want them to get back together - and that Jamie still is there and around those characters socially but we don't do everyday team scenes. It is also possible Jamie will no longer play for Richmond.

Either way I really need that time jump. I cannot stand the idea of Ted regretting his choice and moving back immediately after all that. I cannot stand the idea of Jamie moving clubs in the same transfer window Roy is hired. I cannot stand the idea of pretending the Henry actor hasn't aged 4 years or the idea of recasting Phoebe. I am furious that they feel JSuds was integral to the show as an actor and that it still needs to focus on him cominh back and coaching. He could have just written it and popped up as a Diamond Dogs Zoom friend a couple of times.

But if this is the way it is, they NEED a time jump. Furious to miss Roy's managerial/therapy journey, it will be insane for all the growth to happen off screen and will probably sit very weird with viewers if he comes back on screen acting significantly different, but you'd HOPE he has changed in that time and at least it would leave us a really good fanfic gap to play with, between the summer of 2022 and whenever this will be set - particularly if Jamie is gone.

All in all I feel like I'd rather they just ended with season 3 and did not do this extension of the show, especially as they seem to have lost a lot of goodwill with the audience since season 3. I personally am very wary of what kind of football realism they're going to destroy in order to "start" the women's team and am going to be on edge until it comes out in terms of "how bad they've fucked it up." That wariness also extends to off screen character choices they will make in order to explain who's no longer around. Cool sentiment to be anticipating about a show I'm meant to like!

[adachimoe]

the other adachi bd/dvd-only anime scene

i think people have seen this one before? in the older p4 anime, there's a scene of adachi reading his letter from the true ending where he goes "yeah i lost" and talks about something bothering him about the case and where he first heard of the midnight channel:

i've noticed on reddit that that ppl dont realize this because of his golden social link, but adachi always sent you the letter even in the ps2 game. if you do his social link, then in golden, the letter continues and he talks about how he looks back on the time spent in the dojima house. hence, the original p4 anime only has him reading the lines about the investigation, while the golden anime only has him reading the part about being at the dojima house.

like the golden scene, this is also bd/dvd only, but for a totally different reason lol. p4 the anime has 26 episodes. in japan, only 25 episodes aired on tv with 25 being the good ending from the game. like, the investigation team defeats amenosagiri and captures adachi, then the anime just ends with yu leaving inaba. but after the credits, it shows igor in the velvet room, and he creates the orb of sight and talks about its ability to dispel lies. a person who has played the game and got the true ending would be like, "oh shit fr?"

a few months after the anime's tv airing finished, there was a limited run theatrical movie called "the factor of hope". if you've seen this art of yu, izanagi, and magatsu-izanagi, it was made for the movie!

the first hour or so is a recap of the anime and how the team came together and how adachi committed silly tv crimes. then after the yu defeats adachi, it cuts to content from the unaired 26th episode where adachi is in jail writing the letter. then yu goes on to fight izanami and unlocks the true ending, etc. volume 10 of the anime's japanese bd/dvd release has the unaired episode and the factor of hope.

the unaired stuff also includes adachi chugging canned coffee in casual clothes and getting the magic handshake.

i imagine some people dont know this since sentai's release of the anime in the states included the unaired 26th episode by default. i dont think they ever included the factor of hope (understandable tbh, it's really just a 1.5hr long recap lol.)

unrelatedly, its assumed sentai lost their license of the p4 anime in 2018 when it was removed from hulu so i think the first anime is always gonna be stuck in some kind of aniplex usa licensing hell.

[horse-girl-anthy]

Ikuhara Collaborators

as fans, it's easy to attribute any given aspect of an Ikuhara work to its flashy director. he is indeed a showrunner, the one who provides the uniting vision for a project. however, that doesn't mean that he is "the creator." anime production requires a lot of teamwork, which ultimately determines the quality of a work. rather than being a lone auteur, Ikuhara's strength as a director stems from his ability to draw in talent and create synergy between members. this post will highlight the individuals who worked with Ikuhara to bring his shows to life.

a quick note before we start: there are countless workers involved in a single anime production. for my sanity and yours, I focused on the ones I could find detailed information about. if you know of any additional contributors, or have detail to add about any of those I've included, feel free to leave a comment!

Sato Junichi

the first person who should be mentioned in regards to Ikuhara's career is Sato Junichi, his mentor at Toei. Ikuhara worked under Sato for his first animation projects, including a children's series called Maple Town Stories. Sato was the lead director for the first two seasons of Sailor Moon, but over time, he allowed Ikuhara more and more space to flex his own creative muscles. Ikuhara eventually directed the Sailor Moon R movie and became lead director on the season Sailor Moon S.

Sato is known as a great mentor--he also helped Kōnosuke Uda, Igarashi Takuya and Hosoda Mamoru early in their careers. it's safe to say that Ikuhara learned a lot from him. his respect for his mentor is shown by the fact that he asked Sato to provide storyboards for the vital episode 34 of Utena, "The Rose Crest." although Toei animators often used pseudonyms when working on outside projects, Sato declined to do so, wanting to celebrate his work on Utena.

other notable work: Goldfish Warning (Series Director); Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R (Series Director); Sailor Moon S (Episode Director); Neon Genesis Evangelion (Storyboard); Vision of Escaflowne (Storyboard); Yume no Crayon Oukoku (Episode Director, Storyboard); Cowboy Bebop (Storyboard); Princess Tutu (Series Director, Storyboard, Manga); Sgt. Frog (Series Director, Storyboard); Aria the Animation (Series Director, Head Writer, Storyboard)

Enokido Yoji

a member of Be-Papas, Enokido was heavily involved in the writing and composition of Utena. he and Ikuhara attended the same high school, in the same year, but it is unclear how well they knew each other; but they were friends by the time Ikuhara was a film student. Enokido previously worked alongside Ikuhara on Sailor Moon, while also contributing to scripts to Evangelion. on Utena, he wrote roughly half the episodes: 1-5, 7, 9, 13-15, 22-23, 25-26, 30, 33-34, and 37-39, all crucial to the story. he handled every Miki episode and frequently focused on that character in interviews. while he did not handle animation composition on the film, he did write its screenplay.

if I had to say what Enokido brought to Utena, it would be articulation. he was able to understand Ikuhara's ideas and express them both in writing and in animation. my impression is that Ikuhara and Enokido got along very well and shared a vision, but Enokido balanced him out by injecting a bit of skepticism and realism into the work. it's hard to say how his visual style influenced Utena, but given that he was in charge of composition, he must have had a good eye and an ability to lead a team.

other notable work: Sailor Moon S (Series Composition, Script); Sailor Moon S: The Movie (Script); Redline (Composition, Script); Ouran High School Host Club (Series Composition, Script); Neon Genesis Evangelion (Script); Bungo Stray Dogs (Script, Series Composition); FLCL (Novelization)

Saito Chiho

a mangaka, her expressive and sensual art touched Ikuhara so much that he became determined to work with her. The Flower Crown Madonna, Saito's manga focused on the Borgias, served as an inspiration for Akio and Anthy's relationship.

along with the rest of Be-Papas, Saito created the Utena manga, starting it about a year before the anime aired. she later wrote and drew a manga companion for Adolescence of Utena, and in 2017, she honored the series's 20th anniversary by releasing the tribute After the Revolution. over the years, she's contributed a great deal to the Utena fandom. she also drew a ReoMabu piece for the Sarazanmai anthology.

of Saito, Ikuhara once said, "she's the most important woman to me, and truly understands me." it seems that they developed a strong relationship while working on Utena, which has lasted for decades. the two have collaborated on other projects, such as World of S&M, and done interviews together as recently as 2020.

other notable work (all as mangaka): Tenshi no Tattoo; Waltz in a White Dress; The Flower Crown Madonna; Kanon; First Girl; VS Lupin

Hasegawa Shinya

also a part of Be-Papas, Hasegawa was the principle character designer and art director for Utena, as well as a storyboard artist. he brought a sense of humor and eroticism to the project which suited it well, working closely with Chiho Saito to create Utena's artistic landscape. he was behind many little flourishes, such as Saionji crying in the opening credits. in addition to working on Utena, he also provided key animation for Penguindrum's first OP and final episode.

other notable work: Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon S, Sailor Moon R (Animation Director, Key Animator); Neon Genesis Evangelion (Key Animation); A Certain Magical Index (Chief Animation Director); The Girl Who Lept Through Time (Key Animation)

Oguro Yuichiro

Be-Papas member Oguro is credited as series planner. Empty Movement note that he was likely the one who handled publicity and marketing for the series, but may have also helped out in other ways. it was important for Utena's success to have someone with connections involved, and what's just what Oguro brought to the table.

he is the editor-in-chief of the magazine Anime Style and has interviewed other individuals on this list.

other notable work: Gekigangar 3 (Script); Kemonozume (Research and Planning Assistant); Goku and Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (Series Composition)

J.A. Seazer

though not a member of Be-Papas, J.A. Seazer, the composer for the duel chorus songs, left a huge mark on Utena. in fact, the series's very conception was influenced by him. Seazer worked with one of Ikuhara's greatest inspirations, the experimental theater/film director Tereyama Shuji. a few of the duel songs actually predate Utena, including "Absolute Destiny Apocalpyse," which was written for a theater production. most of the duel songs were written explicity for Utena, and Be-Papas have said that they matched each song to its respective duelist. without the esoteric and powerful music that Seazer provided, Utena wouldn't be the same.

in the years since show's release, Seazer has gone on to write three whole new Utena albums, as well as many remixes of the original duel songs. you can learn more about them on Empty Movement's audiology page; I highly recommend checking them out if you haven't already.

other notable work (all as composer): Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets; Moc; The Woman with Two Heads; Shintokumaru; Grass Labyrinth; Farewell to the Ark

Ohtsuki Toshimichi

speaking of J.A. Seazer, producer Ohtsuki Toshimichi is, according to Ikuhara, the only reason that he was able to get the composer on board for the project. producers often go unmentioned, but when considering a production, they are, naturally, essential. luckily for us, Ohtsuki was willing to take a chance on Utena (series and film), allowing the creative team total freedom. that willingness to go out on a limb taught Ikuhara the importance of taking risks.

other notable work (all as producer or exective producer): Metropolis; FLCL; Shaman King; Lorelei; Evangelion Rebuild Films

Kobayashi Shichirou

Utena's art director, Kobayashi, was and is a legend in the world of anime. known for his extensive work with director Dezaki Osamu, he was known for his beautiful backgrounds. known his hand-drawn paintings, Kobayashi helped to shape the look of many beautiful anime, including Utena.

it could be said that he was the one to help bring Ohtori to life. he was responsible for many of the backgrounds from both the show and the movie. his studio, Kobayashi Productions, was also instrumental in bringing the franchise to the screen.

other notable work: Moomins (Background Artist); The Gutsy Frog (Art Director); Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro (Art Director); Ashita no Joe 2 (Art Director), Golgo 13 (Art Director), Urusei Yatsura 2 and 3 (Art Director); Angel’s Egg (Art Director, Layout Supervisor); Venus Wars (Art Director); Berserk 1997 (Art Director); Legend of Basara (Art Director); Simoun (Art Director)

Yamaguchi Ryōta

under the penname Noboru Higa, Yamaguchi wrote all Nanami episodes of Utena. he was not a member of Be-Papas and was asked to write her episodes in such a way that they would feel out of place. I think we can all agree that this had a positive effect on Utena. there isn't much information available about his work on the show, but it seems that his brand of comedy had a great influence.

other notable work: Sailor Moon S (Script); Sailor Moon Sailor Stars (Series Composition, Script); Ranma ½ Season 7 (Script); Vision of Escaflowne and Escaflowne: The Movie (Script); Medabots (Series Composition, Script); Kanon (Script)

Igarashi Takuya

Igarashi wrote Utena episode 19, directed episodes 9 and 19, and storyboarded many others, all under the pseudonym Kazayama Juugo. as he discusses in this interview, the staff members often had their own special character that they felt closest to and worked on the most, and for him, it was Saionji. he storyboarded Part A of Adolescence, meaning that he handled the Saionji duel.

Igarashi was another hire from Toei, having also worked on Sailor Moon. given that he storyboarded the crucial episodes 25, 30, and 37, he must have quite the artistic talent. however, if you read his interview, you'll see that he also has lots of great insights into Utena's themes as well. he talks a lot about the mood and tone, which often go undiscussed.

other notable work: Sailor Moon R and S (Director, Storyboard); Sailor Moon R: The Movie (Assistant Director); Cutie Honey F (Director, Storyboard); Mushishi (Director, Storyboard); Ouran High School Host Club (Director, Storyboard); Soul Eater (Director, Storyboard); Bungou Stray Dogs (Director, Storyboard)

Hosoda Mamoru

believe it or not, Hosoda worked on Utena before he ever directed a film of his own! having also been mentored by Sato, he met Ikuhara at Toei and came to work under him on Utena under the pseudonym Hashimoto Katsuyo. while Igarashi felt a kinship with Saionji, Hosoda's focus character was Juri. while he mostly handled storyboards and key animation, he wrote one script: the one for episode 29, the final Juri episode. he gave an interview about her two-episode concluding arc here. in addition, he storyboarded Part C of the Utena movie, which includes Juri's duel.

other notable work (all as film director): Digimon: The Movie; One Piece Movie 6; The Girl Who Leapt Through Time; Summer Wars; Wolf Children; The Boy and the Beast (also wrote); Mirai (also wrote); Belle (also wrote)

Mitsumune Shinkichi

Mitsumune composed Utena's beautiful background music, for both the series and film. I can't find much information about him, but I had to include him on this list because I adore every single track he penned.

other notable work (all as composer): FLCL; Yu-Gi-Oh (it looks like he more or less scored the entire franchise); Dragon Dive; Rocket Girls

Aizawa Masahiro

at last, we come to an entry that isn't confined to Utena! Aizawa worked on Utena, Penguindrum, and Yurikuma, all in the area of animation. credits include storyboards, chief animation director, key animation, and more. he seems to have taken on the most responsiblity with Penguindrum, being heavily involved in episodes 17 and 23.

it appears that he's another animator that Ikuhara met at Toei. he's still active in the anime industry and works under the pseudonym Aizawa Kagetsu. his notable work section might look short, but that's because he's made small contributions on a large number of projects.

other notable work: Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Mine Fujiko (Animator Director for OPs and EDs); One Piece Film: Z (Key Animation); Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge (Storyboard, Director, Key Animation)

Nakamura Shouko

Nakamura got her start at Production I.G and Gainax and is known for a feminine, sensual animation style. she codirected Penguindrum with Ikuhara, along with storyboarding many episodes, providing key animation, designing the settings, and working on the OPs/EDs. at least as far as visuals go, she may have been the most influential person to work on Penguindrum, and Ikuhara handed the crucial task of directing the final two episodes over to her.

Nakamura has had a long and successful career working on many projects. I'm not able to find any interviews with her on Penguindrum, but given how much she invested into it, she must have been just as determined as Ikuhara to see it made.

other notable work: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Key Animation); Mushishi (Key Animation, Animation Director); Kimi ni Todoke (Key Animation, Animation Director, Storyboard); Kill la Kill (Key Animation, Director, Storyboard); Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (Key Animation); Doukyuusei (Chief Director, Storyboard, Key Animation)

Nishii Terumi

now a veteran of the anime industry, Nishii's first ever job was working behind the scenes on Adolescence of Utena. she later served as animation director and character designer on Penguindrum. when asked about working with Ikuhara, she said it was "very hard," because, despite the freedom he afforded his staff, "he changed his mind every week." in fact, she said that Penguindrum was the hardest project she ever worked on.

Nishii is a major critic of the anime industry's treatment of workers and is a member of NAFCA, an organization lobbying for better conditions for animators.

other notable work: InuYasha (Key Animation); Saint Seiya Franchise (Character Design); Mushishi (Animation Director, Key Animation); Death Note (Key Animation, Animation Director); Heartcatch Precure! (Key Animation); JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable (Character Design, Chief Animation Director); Jujutsu Kaisen (Chief Animation Director)

Hoshino Lily

a manga artist, she worked on Penguindrum as a character designer and also drew all the end cards. she's known for BL, including Naruto doujinshi and fan art. in 2013, she contributed to a Utena tribute book on Pixiv.

like Nishii, she mentions Ikuhara frequently changing his mind while developing Penguindrum. though multiple character designers worked on the project, it seems that Hoshino was the one primarily responsible for the looks of the main characters. apparently, Sanetoshi is meant to look like one of her "long-haired ukes."

other notable work (all as mangaka): Harem de Hitori; Boku dake no Ō-sama; Rabu Kue; Otome Yōkai Zakuro; Yumemiru Koto

Nakamura Chieko

like Nishii, Nakamura worked on Utena very early in her career and went on to be an animator for Penguindrum. she worked on the backgrounds and was the art director for many episodes, including the first and last; she also contributed to the "Crystal World" of episode 9. later, she would collaborate with Ikuhara again on Yurikuma as a background artist and art director.

other notable work: Eyeshield 21 (Background Art); Kids on the Slope (ED); Sengoku Collection (Art Director, Background Art); Doukyuusei (Art Director, Background Art); Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence (Art Director, Art Setting, Background Art)

Hayashi Akemi

a pattern is emerging: Hayashi also worked on Utena relatively early in her career as key animator (6 episodes and film) and animation director (8 episodes and film). later, she contributed to Penguindrum as a key animator--specifically, she is the one who animated the Princess of the Crystal transformation sequence!

Ikuhara said in an interview that she is "good at drawing small details" and thus asked her to handle Himari and Shoma's backstory. she storyboarded, directed, and provided key animations for episode 20, a major series turning point.

other notable work: Slam Dunk (Key Animation); Fruits Basket (Character Design, Key Animation, Chief Animation Director, Animation Director); Gurren Lagann (Animation Director, Key Animation); Banana Fish (Character Design, Chief Animation Director, Key Animation); Doukyuusei (Storyboard, Character Design, Animation Director, Key Animation)

Hashimoto Yukari

Hashimoto deserves to have her praises sung to the heavens for composing the OST for every post-Utena Ikuhara work--not only the BGM, but also the arrangements for the Triple H songs (originals by the band ARB) and the musical numbers from Sarazanmai. according to this staff article, "she's able to respond to any out-there requests Ikuhara makes." that's readily apparent on the Yurikuma OST, where she seemlessly blends a wide variety of musical styles to create a unique sound.

other notable work (all as composer/arranger): Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei (OP and ED); Toradora!; Poco's Udon World; March Comes in Like a Lion; Osomatsu-san (2020); Komi Can't Communicate

Ikami Takayo

Ikami "is a Japanese novelist, detective fiction writer and screenwriter born in Tokyo in 1975." she is credited as cowriter for all Penguindrum and Yurikuma episodes, as well as the Yurikuma novelizations. it seems that she may have been the one to come up with the phrases "Yuri approved" and "Is your love the real thing?" outside of writing, she has also dabbled in series composition.

other notable work: Thirteen Eyes in a Dark Sky (Short Story); Isolde's Garden (Novel); Watamote (Script); Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation (Series Composition, Script); Otherside Picnic (Script)

Yamada Haru

Yamada is a big name sound director and the cofounder of Sound Team Don Juan. he's worked on many projects over time, including some blockbuster hits, but still found time to be the sound director of Penguindrum, Yurikuma, and Sarazanmai.

other notable work: Your Name (Sound Department); Shin Godzilla (Sound Department); Made in Abyss (Sound Director); Banana Fish (Sound Director); Suzume (Sound Director); Shin Ultraman (Sound Department); Skip to Loafer (Sound Director)

Shibata Katsunori

Shibata was relatively inexperienced as a director when Ikuhara took him under his wing, giving him a lot of responsibility on Penguindrum. he provided storyboards, directed episodes, created special effects, and drew concept designs. he was credited for the "bear dance" ED of Yurikuma and did storyboards/key animation for episode 4. on Sarazanmai, he directed episode 6, codirected the OP along with Ikuhara, and did storyboards for episodes 1, 6, and 10.

other notable work: Xam'd: Lost Memories (Key Animation); Sword of the Stranger (Key Animation); A Certain Magical Index (Key Animation) Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Key Animation); Sengoku Collection (Storyboard, Character Design, Animation Director, Key Animation)

Kaneko Shingo

the more you look into it, the more it seems like Penguindrum, Yurikuma, and Sarazanmai were staffed by the exact same people. that's not true, of course, but there is a lot of overlap.

in this case, there's overlap with Utena too. a former Toei employee, Kaneko is the only person on this list who worked on all four Ikuhara works. he provided storyboards for Utena episodes 2, 11, 32, and 38, and was also assistant director on a couple others. on Adolescence, he served as a unit director and storyboarder for Part B. he provided the script for episode 16 of Penguindrum, one of my favorites. he directed the episode as well, along with 4 and 23 under Nakamura Shouko.

Kaneko additionally storyboarded and directed episode 8 of Yurikuma, but took on a bigger role with Sarazanmai, where he storyboarded the Kawauso Dance and directed episodes 2, 8, and 10. apparently, he's "earned a reputation as Ikuhara’s comedy chief." thanks, Kaneko!

other notable work: Slam Dunk (Assistant Director); Parappa the Rapper (Storyboard, Unit Director); Fullmetal Alchemist (Storyboard, Director); Soul Eater (Storyboard, Director); Sengoku Collection (Storyboard, Director, Key Animation)

Furukawa Tomohiro

after doing some key animation on Penguindrum, Furukawa went on to be a major figure in the production of Yurikuma. he did storyboards/key animation, acted as Ikuhara's assistant director, and took on the final, crucial episode 12 as lead director.

Furukawa is now a showrunner in his own right and still acknowledges Ikuhara as his mentor, though he doesn't want to be pigeonholed as his "follower." this article suggests that, based on comments Ikuhara has made, Furukawa's knack for euphony left its mark on his mentor's work. in return, Furukawa has joked about Ikuhara's "insincere grumpiness" and praised both his management style and gift at mentorship.

other notable work: Death Note (Key Animation); One Piece Film: Z (Key Animation, Assistant Animation Director); Kakegurui Twin (Director); Revue Starlight Franchise (Showrunner)

Morishima Akiko

a yuri artist, Morishima was inspired to become a mangaka at age 19 after she read an Ikuhara interview. she was afraid to accept his offer to work on Yurikuma out of fear that she would "ruin everything," but ultimately came onto the project to create the manga.

in the linked starting guide, Morishima and Ikuhara go into detail about the planning process for Yurikuma. it's revealed why Ikuhara likes to work with mangaka; he has them draw the characters first and creates their personalities based on their art. he specifically wanted to work with Morishima to give him some yuri cred. when asked, Morishima discusses her likes and dislikes when it comes to yuri. she apparently prefers writing about older women and doesn't care about how sexy a yuri is, but only about the strength of the romance.

Morishima has drawn tributes to Ikuhara's other works, including Penguindrum and Sarazanmai. she also wrote the Yurizanmai section of the Sarazanmai anthology.

other notable work (all as mangaka): The Conditions of Paradise; Hanjuku-Joshi; Renai Joshika; Onna no ko Awase; Motto Hanjuku Joshi

Kurosawa Masayuki

Kurosawa is a digital artist, editor, director, and storyboarder. I don't have a lot of information on him, but I decided to include him because he storyboarded Yurikuma episode 11 AND Sarazanmai episode 8 (along with 10). what does this mean? well, he handled both Lulu and Enta getting shot, of course! funny how these things work out.

in addition to storyboarding, he is also credited as Sarazanmai's editor.

other notable work: Wolf's Rain (Director); El Cazador de la Bruja (Editor); Revue Starlight (Editor); My Happy Marriage (Editor)

Takeuchi Nobuyuki

Takeuchi was working at Shaft when the studio picked up some outsourced animation for Utena. his work was striking enough to catch Ikuhara's attention, and so he was brought on to Adolescence as an animation director. as the 2000s began, Takeuchi saw success working at Shaft with director Shinbo Akiyuki. this article describes him as particularly talented at externalizing characters' inner struggles.

Takeuchi, though presumably quite busy, contributed to Penguindrum, specifically episode 9, acting as the sole director, key animator, and storyboard artist. he got a chance to shine with that episode, which is now a fan favorite.

the reason that Takeuchi is so far down this list is that he played a larger role in the production of Sarazanmai. he's credited as the codirector along with Ikuhara, as well as a storyboard artist and key animator. Takeuchi is noted for his focus on the Kuji brothers, having directed episodes 4 and 9. he gave an interview about his work on Sarazanmai, which can be read here.

other notable work: Spirited Away (Key Animation); The Cat Returns (Key Animation); Howl's Moving Castle (Key Animation); Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Key Animation); Bakemonogatari (Storyboard, Animation Director); Weathering With You (Key Animation)

Migi

a mangaka, she provided Sarazanmai's character designs, contributed to the anthology, and is still drawing the Sarazanmai manga. she's said that Tooi was the hardest character to design, and she argued with Ikuhara over Sara's look, since they apparently have different definitions of bishoujo.

Migi has an active Pixiv account where she still posts Sarazanmai art. she also did this lovely tribute for an Ikuhara exhibition.

other notable work (all as mangaka): Robot; Gelatin

Utsumi Teruko

Utsumi got her start "working as a production assistant at Brains Base and slowly inching towards writing via literature management duties." she's credited as the cowriter of all Sarazanmai episodes, working closely alongside Ikuhara. she also coauthored the light novels, wrote song lyrics, handled series composition, and acted as a manager. on top of all that, she is the one who created the model bridge which transports the Golden Trio to the Field of Desires.

other notable work (all as script writer): A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepherd; Enride; Cheer Boys!!; Kakegurui Season 2

[patopq]

Hey so this is my list of Molly character traits i gathered through talks and various sources

Thought it could help anyone figuring out how to write molly, if you even care? Take this however you want, ill just leave this here

These are factual shit taliesin or others said about him, my personal opinions or notes are between the [ ] thingies

(in case someone wants the source of X thing, just ask me)

• contrary to percy de rolo (who is trying to find his place in the world) molly ALREADY found his place in the world, the world has to contourt around him and he's not changing anything about himself, fuck all

• he has a clear, strong moral code that he follows strictly, even if his actions seem random. [and thats why i dont consider him "chaotic" in the alignment chart, even if he SEEMS chaotic]

• talking about alignment, he also doesnt have any, he def doesnt fit into the "lawful" category, but also "neutral" doesnt sound like him, which makes sense because taliesin based molly (among other things) around the idea of a character NOT being able to fit into the alignment chart, as if if he ever picked a weapon that only worked for people of certain alignment, the weapon would never work with him. Everything explodes [this is all mentioned in the m9 wrap up, regarding mollys creation]

• molly doesnt want to be lonely / is lowk afraid of being so. He doesnt know what its like to be alone because he literally has no memory of ever being so; he has always been in company. And so he's NOT eager to find out.

• he likes complex group dynamics because he's used to them, so being with the nein feels comfortable. (Taliesin said, he literally just went from shifty group to another shifty-unhealthy-group) Still, he knows theres some shit they have to work out in terms of "you fuck everybody over, but THIS group of people you dont fuck with"

• to the previous point, molly is very serious about the little group he has, be it the circus or the nein, you DONT fuck this people over, you may start a war with the dynasty, but THIS group you dont fuck with, and i believe molly has explicitly said this himself (i think around ep12. not the dynasty part though, he doesnt know what a kingdom is in the first place)

• hes damn functionally illiterate, dont care about books, and hes not that bright [*looks at that 10 int*]

• hes a classisist (no explanation needed. I also am not going to rewatch 26 episodes rn to psychoanalyse this part of him. Give me 2 years)

• he doesnt care about anybody's backstory, he doesnt have one, "doesnt see the point in the mess" he will wait until you ACTUALLY do something fucked up and then we'll see [taliesin said that he doesnt think thats a good way of thinking,, but well. NEVER think that their dnd characters are right, ever]

• he didnt learn any name of any Town he went to "because WHY. BOTHER." [This is very conected to the whole illiterate deal, he really doesn't know anything about the world and doesnt care (take for example this moment)]

• he's his own moral compass. He's the center of his own moral reality. He's a deep believer of "I am smart enough to not do anything wrong UNLESS its entirely by accident. So anything i do on purpose cant possibly be wrong because i'm never a wrong person" [yes, thats fucked up LMAO, & im quoting this from taliesin]

• he has a "experience everything" mentality because of the fact that he lost an unknown number of years of his life, and suspects that his past will eventually come and bite his ass and.. he probably wont survive it. so he doesnt think he will be here for long

• theres a definite fear of mortality (?said taliesin) [which is weird since i thought he didnt care? aw man, now his death is even sadder -> this was written when i wasnt over molly's death, okay?]

• he thinks all tm9 is attractive "this is a very shaggable group" [-said taliesin in a panel-]

• he was a BAD roommate. Take this however you want, but for example, he would be casually naked, [at least often enough for taliesin to say this]

• he takes advantage in people making assumptions about him and hes comfortable with it

meaning, if you're a weirdo who enters a room, the way people react about you, tells YOU all you need to know about THEM

[In case its not clear, skip this if it is: if when people see you the first thing they do is side-eye you and make assumptions about you, then you easily learn you dont even need to engage with them, "why talk with someone who makes assumptions abt ppl like that? They've got problems"]

There are more things, if i didnt add them, i probably just didnt even think about adding because i thought of them as obvious, or i actually missed it.

[mooshlovely]

Nein Again Episode 9

"Wessek the Trim" Nott: "We have the same middle name" iconic (20:31)

I love that Caleb is constantly looking for ways to scam people (26) Also Fjord sitting back and just watching it happen

Yeah Fjord really is the voice of reason. Telling Molly that they won't be going to go rob random people (32)

Molly: "We're also always big fans of underbellies, especially if there's an underbelly with a heart of gold" Jester: "Especially one if it's furry and you can pet it" (47)

I loved the Gentleman plot line on my first watch. Especially because everyone who warns them away just makes them want to investigate even more (49)

Fjord coaching Beau on compliments and smiles "You're really attractive" with an absolute grimace. One of my favorite reoccurring jokes (54)

They're so fucking nosey. Is this secret meeting at all relevant to what they're doing? Probably not. Are they immediately consumed with investigating? 100% (57)

Also wow this meeting does such a good job of setting up the conflict in the empire. The disconnect between the people and the government, the pervasive level of discontent and distrust for the Cerberus assembly. Matt knew what he was doing

Beau's absolute disbelief in Jester's mom makes so much sense in hindsight. (1:19)

"Families missing in Nogvurot! Crick kidnappers steal them away in the night" God the foreshadowing is so fucking good. That would be the anamnesis (1:28)

This is the moment when Caleb starts thinking about running again. He's so concerned with staying under the radar and remaining hidden and just when he was starting to settle into this group, the rug is suddenly pulled out from under him. I didn't realize the first time through how much of an impact this interaction likely had. (1:32) Also Fjord again keeping the peace

Nott really does have a cut and dry sense of morality lol. Absolutely no gray area. I don't like them, therefore they are evil (1:57)

Caleb "I don't want to stick my neck out, but anything that is a thumb in the eye of empire, I am all for" Beau clocks this so hard

Actually Beau has a good point, it is kind of funny that both Nott and Caleb have an element they aren't a fan of. They just need two people with air and stone trauma to complete the set (2:34)

Wow you can see how this interaction kind of enforces the image that Nott is child-like. Teaching her how to swim like a baby, joking about giving her a sticker (2:40) Really helps her hide her real backstory cause its so far off what they expect

You know I think Molly's insistence on truth was one of the things that bothered me the first time round. Even before it's clear how much he's lying, it feels hypocritical. Also the insistence on truth when it's clear that the others have good reasons for not sharing. You can't just demand honesty before you've earned it (2:43)

It's actually pretty funny how the rest of the Nein treat Yasha's reticence to share her past in comparison to the way they interrogate everyone else. Turns out the trick to keeping your secrets is to give one word answers and look super uncomfortable about sharing them (2:44)

What towns can Molly not enter??? (3:01) It's like he wants the vibes of Ashton but doesn't have the backstory to make it work. Also again, he pretends to be an open book while lying out his ass. Unless the circus really fucked up some shit, there's no way he's been around long enough to have fucked up that much shit

Jester being remarkably clever and manipulative again while looking innocent (3:04)

Actually kind of wild in hindsight that gated communities have dispel fields. On one hand, good for them, but also I feel like there's a lot of rich people who want to keep their secrets.

I got so much second hand embarrassment watching this scene the first time. I thought Jester was deluding herself thinking that her mom would just send her money after she wasted all of her own (3:17)

The continued insistence that Caleb just clean up and get a nice coat. I also was confused about why Caleb refused to dress nice but the poor man just absolutely does not want to be recognized. (3:29)

[dethroned-by-ghosts]

The Women of Trigun 98

People need to understand how ahead of its time trigun 98 is in regards to women and their portrayal. You can't keep looking at modern media and comparing it. It's the 90s. It was a different feminist movement back then. Back then women wanted to be seen. Wanted to be taken seriously and handle jobs previously titled for men only.

Below is a review of every single episode (all 26) of trigun 98 and how women are depicted in each one. I also added a summary on Wolfwood and Vash.

I'm gonna add the conclusion here too, as a tldr:

In the end, I think I’m just happy that the 98 anime was written and done the way that it was. I’m glad that I wasn’t disappointed by it. I’m genuinely so happy that it has all of these 90s elements without having the uncomfortableness that comes from watching an old anime with outdated thoughts and views on women and society. I think people need to look at it more critically and see how much it gives to the women in the series, in some instances it’s even more than the manga just because they had the time and space to stretch out and expand more. I hate seeing it discredited, or seeing people characterize 98 Vash and Wolfwood as “weird”. My feeling is that this is a collective reflection of people’s view on 90s anime, and not an actual analysis or conclusion from the 98 anime itself. I want people to be able to appreciate what 98 actually gave us. It’s not cheap, it’s not superficial, it’s a deconstruction on many levels, and a good interpretation of the manga and story of trigun.

Everyone is of course entitled to their opinions and thoughts, I’m not out here asking anyone to love 98, I’m just asking that people stop throwing it under the bus for no reason other than a time-era bias that doesn’t even hold true when you actually analyze the content of the anime.

Warning that this is 10k long all together, sectioned into the episodes:

Episode 1. Look at Meryl and Milly, out in the wild, two women on their own, no man around them, tasked with tracking down and containing the one legendary and terrifying gunman, the Humanoid Typhoon, the man who single handedly destroyed one of the biggest cities on the planet. They alone are tasked with this. Not only this, the 98 introduction for them is the "classic" bar scene joke. The men pointedly state "for this gag to work, you gotta-" they are literally breaking down and defying this misogynistic gag in episode one and showing you how strong and scary Milly is. How cool and collected Meryl is. Attributes associated with male lead characters. We also get introduced to how much power they have on their own. It’s something else to have a shounen show open with their two main female support leads being fearless from a bar full of men and then scaring the men trying to demean them. The show literally opens and tells you this isn’t your regular show. Meryl and Milly are powerful. Milly carries a giant heavy stun gun. Meryl carries 50(?) guns on her cape, she carries that daily on her back, she walks around like that weight on her back is nothing, it drapes to her shins! These weapons aren’t just for show, they know how to use them. But what I like is they’re not just badass, they have such a vibrant personality!! They keep approaching “Vash” despite rumors, despite how unsure they are, they have that courage and perseverance to them, and they’re going to do a good job no matter what.

Episode 2, Marianne. Posing as an innocent sheltered girl. She's not. She's a cop. She's on a covert mission. She is fighting for everyone's rights here. She's a good cop. She never needed Vash's help. She never even needed to be in any of the random romance situations. This also isn’t the first or the last time we see women showcased in the 98 anime as fully capable fighters who stand on their own. Vash being all love struck was also just his way to get closer and address her wound, inquire about what was going on. Was he disrespecting women? Did he cross any boundaries he shouldn't? no. The ‘peeping tom’ gag is in this episode, yes, but the intentions were for the injury, and the animators didn’t give the watchers anything either, there’s no reward for the gag (instead you get Milly being very perspective and lovely). Did Marianne express being uncomfortable and he pushed ahead ignoring her comforts? no. A full episode for one random woman not mentioned in the manga, they just dedicated it to her to build on the tone of the manga and Vash's values. (I need to rewatch it to address meryl and milly here, i'm sorry)

Episode 3, we have a lady being THE bartender and master of that space. Is she being mistreated and demeaned? no, she kicks you out immediately. She takes no slander and no drunkards. She is the master of her space. She dictates what happens there. She also clearly tells Frank that she's upset with him, but also never calls him out as Frank in front of others, because she and the rest of the town still hold up their pride of housing him in their midst.

Episode 4, we have a daughter learn about the atrocities her father has done. She is a spoiled girl. She lives in luxury. She gambles (gasp, shock, booing, omg you don't like women being lazy and as bad as men? wow, where did your equal rights go). She learns that she has been living off of money stolen from the lives of others. She doesn't look away from that reality. She's a gambler, remember. She doesn't escape out of it. She looks that truth head on and vows to do something about it, to fix what was done. She also doesn't forsake her father, (and to my memory, her dad also didn't forsake her? either way not the primary point). She stands on her own and makes her own decision regardless of her father.

Episode 5, and I'll admit that my memory of this is primarily from the manga, but Rosa and her lady friends are the ones that hold down Vash and corner him. It’s primarily a group of young women. It’s a mom that gives the speech about capturing Vash for the money needed to help the plant survive, so that her sick son can get better. It was a young girl who delivered the message of capturing Vash to the mayor. This is all being done by the women for the town, for each other.. You have to understand the subtle details that are uplifting women here. It’s a 90s show, it will be subtle about this. That’s how the culture was, women were still laying down the groundwork here. It was brief, but they actually had nearly forced Vash to make a stand and do something, had they not been interrupted. That's a whole town failing and 4-5 women winning, had the mayor not released the Nebraska family.

Episode 6, oh my freakin gosh episode 6. Elizabeth, a gorgeous woman. She is not touted around for her beauty, but her intellect and her own hard work that placed her as a plant engineer, though she uses that aspect of herself (beauty and looks) for her ends and goals, and that is feminism too, idk what to tell you. Femme fatale, whatever you wanna call it. I don't care. 98 made the effort to go out of their way to tell you a story from a survivor of the most atrocious event humanity witnessed in its brief history on that planet. If I may be so bold, this is one of the best additions to all the trigun media currently out. We don’t just see a survivor trying to take revenge, we get a full in-depth dive into who she is. They took the time to show you the grief and loss witnessed by one small girl. She’s very complex in that regard, especially for a one-episode story character. All she went through to find the culprit and avenge her parents, her life. She is taking the path of vengeance, yes, but she is also here because of her hard work and efforts to survive. Did she nearly forsake an entire town herself? yes!!! Women's wrongs!!!! OMG!!!! But here’s the thing, though, they go as far as showing how she recognized Vash as the same person who comforted her, however briefly, in the ruins of July. It’s the complexity of meeting your hero or source of hope/good in a bleaker memory, and realizing they were also the cause of the suffering. She knows this man helped her. She knows she wants to, but can’t harm him. She knows that what she was about to go through was the same as what had happened to her, but here she gets, at least, some sort of resolution. That her whole life, one way or the other, she’d gotten stronger and smarter and navigated life with a goal in mind, but now she gets to move on from it, we never know. It’s implied. Vash doesn’t absolve her from anything either, he acknowledges her pain, acknowledges the hurt he has caused her, one way or the other, despite not knowing or remembering anything of the truth. She has to take his truth and believe what she must to move on.

Episode 7, not too much to say, except the resourcefulness of Meryl and Milly despite not being properly funded by their jobs sndkfjvbsdkfhd not the greatest moment, but they are so resourceful i love them

Episode 8, Hallelujah, the girls are there to save Vash. He'd be a piece of toast with bullet holes if not for them stopping BDN. They also help Vash while he's injured. Also we get introduced to Rem. Is she the motherly saintly figure? yeah yeah sure, but who is following her every principle and guidance and outlook on life? a man and the main character of the show. Vash. Her philosophy of pacifism, something so often associated to women and their ‘aversion of violence’, their ‘nature’ to care and nurture… he’s the one taking it up, he’s the one who is looking at the world through her eyes, her outlook on life, and tries to show others how it can be seen as well. The show isn’t conceited, it genuinely is taking so many ideas and concepts that are generally subconsciously associated with women or ingrained misogyny and deconstructing it to show the viewers why these women are amazing.

Episode 9, a single mom with two kids. not much here, but it's rep and we love rep. Oh! Oh I completely forgot that Meryl and Milly come to the boys’ rescue twice here!! Milly’s quick thinking to fire her stun gun helps hold off the robotic sentinels (or the murder machines that the episode is named after). When Vash and Wolfwood get stuck in the underground piece of lost tech, it’s Meryl and Milly who blast through the ceiling to get them out. The voice of the ‘murder machine’ is also feminine, and that’s also a small nod to women being in a role of fierce protectors, vs gentle nurturing, etc etc.

Episode 10, also a single mom with a self employed job, and the guys doing what they can to help her. What is misogynistic about that???? Meryl and Milly celebrating with the guys at the end is great imo. Is there a gag or two through the episode? yes? And? It’s a filler episode, a little bit more so than the previous ones, and I think it’s good at showcasing the group’s values when they are functioning together for the most part. Vash tries to flirt, and literally fails with his face in the ground. It was so out of nowhere, like they wanted to show him being casually able to dissuade any attention from coming his way by being an absolute annoyance. Kudos to having none of the women fawn over him, heck none of the women seemed to quite fawn over anyone in the tournament where guys competed by showing off their gun skills. Milly gets drunk during the episode, but we aren’t shown anything, and the implication is neither did Vash or Wolfwood, they don’t take advantage of Milly, they didn’t take advantage of the single mom. Wolfwood was found helping her, and yeah, he roped Vash in for a few reasons not directly in the sake of helping, but he justifies it by emphasizing that this would help the single mom, and in the coded language that is vash and wolfwood’s ‘read between the lines’ they basically agreed to be taken for fools knowingly by each other if it meant helping out. Afterall, Vash and Wolfwood are both good, respectful people when it’s in relation to single moms. Perhaps I have a bias in that interpretation, that’s fine. (I know we don’t see Wolfwood growing up with a motherly figure, but he has his own orphanage, I think he knows the value.)

Episode 11, ANOTHER 98 win imo. The independence needed from a young lady and a young man trying to defy human trafficking going on for too long, the complexities of found family vs blood family and what you owe to your parents when they are in the wrong and using you ulteriorly despite loving you. Also freakin hell a full episode for Milly???? For showing off how strong she is? How selfless she is? How powerfully righteous she is? How she takes scalding water that will 100% scar her for the sake of these two strangers? Is this building too much on your 'misogynistic' narrative of women being sacrificial for the next gen and caring and kind and good spirited? Need I remind you that both Milly and Meryl get so mad in this episode? How Meryl points a gun at Vash? How Milly outright throws him to the ground with a punch, unfiltered rage? Are you going to tell me that Milly and Rem are written as weak women because of how they self-sacrifice to protect the future of others in their own way? Vash does that too, and you like him for it. Are you going to tell me Vash is a better character because he has these qualities but is a man instead? I can go ON for hours on how amazing this episode is and how everyone seems to dislike it. Another thing to note is how Wolfwood in particular takes a good portion of the episode admiring Milly, her intelligence, her perceptiveness, her kindness, her anger, her earnestness, her strength of character and physical strength, her conviction, her beliefs, her determination to do what’s right, her unwillingness to compromise on anything she might regret in the future, her self assuredness with herself and her actions. People sleep on Milly, and you have Wolfwood here telling you how amazing she is. He looks up to her. He looks up to Vash. But while Vash is an oddity, Milly is an oddity that everyone admires for similar qualities. Vash and Milly are written to parallel each other in many ways. This episode, Wolfwood highlights it further. Milly and Vash’s good will and personality that doesn’t allow for compromises in morals, that they snap into action and do what is right regardless of the situation and circumstances, they will choose to do good no matter what, because that’s who they are. He tells Vash as much, and Vash agrees about how good Milly is. There’s also another layer here where Milly and Vash get directly compared, and it’s treated as an honour to be compared to Milly to begin with. Wolfwood admires and wants to be like her, like Vash. (this rant will also somehow convince at least somebody of how amazing polygun is, they all love each other). Ahem, I also want to point out that Milly’s anger that had her go all the way to punch Vash as hard as she could, that Meryl threatening Vash at gunpoint and her disappointment in him, both of their disappointments in him stem from how earnest they are, how good they are, and how they’ve come to trust Vash to be the same. I love the distinction, too, where Meryl is upset but feels bound to her job and sets her personal feelings aside, while Milly doesn’t care and makes sure Vash takes the full brunt of what her disappointment (and some of her anger) looks like. It was a breach of trust, what Vash did, but ultimately revealed as a facade he had to keep to make the entire thing believable. I just think it’s absolutely amazing that this show kept the integrity of its two main female characters and showcased them in contrast to the main male characters. Wolfwood also stood aside despite wanting to help, because he knows there are rules that govern the world they live in. He’s similar to Meryl here, where he struggles to follow in his own emotions and follows ‘the way of the world’ in defeated acceptance, but like Meryl, is trying to find inspiration and a way out.

Episode 12, Diablo, Meryl spearheading the defense for Vash. Milly capturing so much of Vash's mask. Showcasing Meryl's strength and intellect in navigating law and the world of men, showcasing how intelligent and perceptive Milly is. Meryl going in to defend Vash. Milly being protective of Meryl, but of Vash too. Both of them being so protective of each other and of him. Vash never belittles them. I could talk about this episode forever, and I do actually talk about it again, a bit more in depth, near the end of this, so stay tuned.Episode 13, a full reflection of Meryl (and Milly) on Vash, their journey, their own opinions that 98 highlights is what colours our view of the show and main character so far. We are guided through them. They are giving us the narrative. We also never see Vash demean them, he treats them with the utmost respect. He never encroaches on their comfort, he never makes them uncomfortable, he never flirts with them, he's kind to them, he cares for them. He knew from episode 1 that they were approaching him professionally, and he might make their life a little difficult, but he'd never cross a boundary with them that may jeopardize their career, or their assignment which they need to keep being employed. Contrasting with many anime, Vash never pursues either of them, or gets the trope of being torn between his mission and the love he found along the way. No, he is genuinely there to love Meryl and Milly as people and as their own persons. He also tries to protect them, maybe brutishly at times by pushing them away, but they take none of it, and they don’t allow for even a small crack of doubt in their capabilities. I’ll just add here what I say later on, which is that after this episode, Vash doesn’t pretend around Meryl and Milly as much anymore. They’ve seen him as he is. He lets them into his life, and promptly wants them out of it for their safety. He cares about them, and has never once encroached on their jobs or on them as people until he feels it’s become too dangerous, and he knows and acknowledges how capable they are.

Episode 14, Little Arcadia, an episode dedicated to Meryl and Milly, and their view on family, on life, on what they want to do, on what the future looks like. It's important. It's not domestic. They are actively fighting to protect this family, and trying to figure out their own lives. They have a story. They have a life outside of what the show gives us. It is important to who they are. Would it be nice to look into that? Absolutely, but that's not the story theme we are here for. We are here for humanity, and the 98 team did their damndest to show us how rounded all these characters are. Let’s not forget that this episode we get Badwick’s lovely mom, how supportive and strong she is, how she doesn’t back down from anything, and she treats her son as her son, and that is, she’s not about to have him go making bad choices or badmouthing anyone, because she and her husband are doing all of this for him, regardless if he understood or not. We also get Milly’s strong outburst to finding out that Badwick was outright harming his parents to appease a stronger power. It’s important to me that we constantly see the women fighting back on what they see as being stupid logic, and they do so by fighting sdfkhvbshdf Also, hello??? Nebraska family women side???? Marilyn is adorable??? unapologetically herself, happy to dress how she likes, happy with herself and her family. Also the mom (Patricia) being super powerful and amazing, this is a point to Nightow for not constricting women to specific body types and shapes and power levels. Btw if you skip this episode, you're being a misogynist :D teehee

Episode 15, Dominique my beloved, but before we get there, we have the three women Legato saves. We are shown misogyny in this world. The women we have seen thus far are free women. Facing hardships, surviving, but none of them had a man beating them down or telling them they can't work, they can't be [insert anything], but here? Here we see cruelty, and yet even our token villain doesn't stay silent about it and doesn’t let it pass. We know why from the manga, but that's not the point here. As far as 98 goes, this was voluntary good will from Legato to respect women. Back to Dominique, she is powerful. She goes toe to toe with Vash the Stampede. If he hadn't figured out how she was doing what she was doing, he'd be dead. He survived because she was toying with him, what a queen. Is the unbuttoning of her shirt misogynistic? Yes, fine, you can see it that way, I won't rob you of that. Hear me out though. She takes out Vash's buttons, he just returns the gesture in kind, it's a show of equal power. I am not encouraging this, I'm not a fan of this trope as it is, but I'm saying it doesn't decrease from her power and influence and neither does she seem all too bothered by it. Again, not my favourite thing in the world, but I'll leave it there. We also get tensions between Vash and Meryl & Milly. They scold Vash for mistreating Dominique, and Meryl questions him on his evasive behavior. Which, if I may add, wouldn't be happening if the writers were misogynist and wrote Meryl and Milly or one of them as a love interest. 

Episode 16, Fifth Moon, 98 style. The ladies make their own decision to follow Vash, knowing all the risks. They witness the second act of god on this human colonized planet. They are not terrified by it, though they also are. It's not 'love sickness' that has Meryl wanting to stay and reach Vash, it's her own will, her own curiosity, her own emotions. Milly grabs and runs with Meryl for her own safety out of her own will. Because what do people keep forgetting? Milly is a protector. A strong one. As bullheaded about it as Meryl is. As Vash is. Wow. Women getting to make different, individual decisions based on their moral and ethical code separate from the wants of any male in the cast. Wow. As much as this episode was Vash facing off against Legato and the GHG, it starts and ends with Meryl and Milly's agency and their own persons as individuals who have their own life, thoughts, and choices.

Episode 17. Rem. Boy is she flawed in 98 and girl do I love her for it. She is the epitome of your 'misogynist-written' caring motherly peaceful woman to a fault who has a dead lover and condones any and all violence so much that she overlooks it. Hit pause for a moment. Let's rehash that for a second, shall we? Not any single person is made to be a mother. No one is made to be a mother. Nobody has that stuff figured out, so don't you dare reduce motherly traits to the female character most likely to exude it. She herself admits she barely knows what she's doing. She's just playing with the kids and pointing out lessons as she goes. Emotional maturity and/or intelligence is something thrust on all women by society, whether they're good at it or not. She has a flawed sense of what peace should look like, so much so that she never properly addresses the physical abuse the twins are going through. At 'best' she never notices, or at 'worst' she ignores it entirely and brushes it aside as something they have to work on to get people to accept them. Does this sound motherly? Not really? Good, you're catching up to the breakdown of the 'perfect womanly image' you thought Rem was embodying but is secretly a deconstruction of. Let's continue. She also never addresses or makes any comment about Steve's unwelcome groping of Mary, it's like she doesn't see it happening in front of her. She's in her own dreamy world. Let me quickly point out that having a dreamy world is fully valid, she is the positive spirit of the crew and their source of optimism, but she is actively not equipped to address things she doesn't agree with despite what she puts out in ideology. She even wants a fair hearing from Steve, fully ready to ignore Mary's claims. Women are always dismissed when they claim rape or SA, and sometimes other women, because of how society raised them, can actually work against the rights other women should receive. I am not saying Rem isn't right, that a fair trial needs everyone to be heard properly, but she's not being the best here either. 

Mary, now, Mary is a lovely complex woman, because by her own admission as she complains to herself, she finds it fun or interesting how Rowan and Steve fight over her, but she is clearly not enjoying whatever Steve is doing to her, and she's not comfortable about it. She easily agrees to accuse Steve and has no remorse about it had it not been Rowan who went too far and tampered with Steve's cryopod. 

Rowan and Steve are both Misogynists. Steve walks around seeing Mary’s body before anything else and doesn't care for any slap on the wrist he gets or discomfort Mary shows. Rowan feels he is owed Mary's unconditional love and at the first sign of rejection he kills her, because her value to him was only in her existence as a woman and nothing else. If she rejected him, then she didn't even need to exist at all. He had no qualms pointing that gun at Rem. I do think he would have fired, he wasn't mentally there for that exchange, and reactions from a twitchy shaking finger are more than enough to cause irreparable damage. Here, though, I do commend Rem and how she shows compassion for someone who is very clearly in a nervous breakdown and not mentally stable, and she approaches him with calm stability that he cannot deny or argue with. She also takes charge here, defending the twins and trying to get everyone into a safer, calmer state. I do think that the 98 writers weren't quite fully settled on how she conducts herself, but the latter half of the episode showcases so much of her strong determination, her personality, and her capacity for leadership and taking control of a situation. She did, after all, save all of humanity with those qualities of hers.

Words by my dear friend, legendofthesevenstars: The fact that they depicted these characters in such a realistic way is what makes it so effective. They aren't caricatures of evil villains. These could be real men who exist in the real world. THAT'S good writing of character flaws and an excellently painful depiction of misogyny. We as the viewers are uncomfortable not because the writers are disrespecting women, but because they've so effectively shown the pain and discomfort that these women are put through by these two men. Not what you'd expect from a shonen, huh?

Ultimately, Mary isn't quite written to be her own person, not fully, but rather as a show of contrast and to show how misogyny looks in a workplace setting, in a domestic setting, on an interpersonal level. Rem was shown to us as playing everything by ear, for the most part, when it comes to motherly qualities. She never addresses a lot of things, including Vash and Knives' fight and disagreement. She just tells Knives he shouldn't have done that, no explanation or reason given. She placed him on the bad side, and he retaliated by going there fully. IQ be damned, he's 1 years old. I have more to say, but I said a lot already and you get the gist. Maybe I will quickly add that 98’s version of Rem and having the SEEDs ship be a skeleton crew instead of her alone with the twins, and having the group dynamic be this? I think they knew what they were doing with Nightow’s spark notes. I think they did a very good job at adapting this episode to convey the core of the themes that 98 deals with conceptually, and framed it in a way that viewers can easily see the flaws.

Episode 18. Bless Sheryl and Lina. Bless them in particular. Before you go and tell me 'but it was an elderly woman and a little girl finding this old man in the alley and caring for him, taking up stereotypical caretaker roles thrust onto women and young girls’. Hold that thought for a second. Sheryl is a single grandmother with a rifle. She is respected in her small town, and seemingly known for her capacity to do what she threatens to. Lina is a young pre-teen who has either lost or is estranged from her parents. She's not your typical young girl in this sense, and that makes her choice to bring back Vash to her grandmother and ask to save him somewhat self serving and reflective to her character and to Sheryl's. Maybe you could imagine 'I couldn't help my parents', 'I don't know what happened to my parents', 'Maybe a stranger was this kind to my parents if they were found like this'. Look, ignore my thoughts. Stick with this: what 12 year old would find an old man in a back alleyway barely standing or speaking or looking coherent and thinks 'I gotta take this man home and take care of him because I want to be a good woman'. No one. The answer is no one. The answer is someone who has had their share of traumatic or semi-traumatic thoughts and wonderings about missing parents and living alone with their grandmother. Maybe I'm speaking from a place where I can see myself in Lina here. I'm not commenting about that in public. Now, yes, Lina and Sheryl take care of Vash as Eriks and get him back on his feet. Please pay attention to the fact that neither Sheryl nor Lina treat Vash with 'traditionally feminine care'. Sheryl is strict and harsh and straightforward/blunt, and verbally gets him moving. Lina physically gets him moving by dragging him around, kicking him about. They both treat him like a normal capable human being and not coddle him which is what a misogynist narrative would do. I also think it’s nice that their treatment of him isn’t ableist either (i’m not very confident saying this publicly).

Episode 19, the Fris & Polo feud. I can't say much remarkable here, except that we get to see Meryl and Milly happily back in pursuit. Aside from that, we have two men fighting to avenge a murdered daughter. Not the strongest feminist rep this episode, but we're here to broaden the narrative from other aspects and cast light on how we now see the parallels between Vash and Rem, now that we know, and how it's detrimental and not practical or functional or even remotely just. It's just the principle to keep people alive and able to speak for themselves and make choices for their own paths. A bad person can't make amends or be a better person if you choose to damn them and silence their soul forever, etc. etc. Oh, I'm not 100% sure, but is this also the episode where we see Meryl and Milly in the office for the first time? We see them not being treated or respected to their fullest potential due to small tidbits about their personalities that they don't give up or forsake for others in the workplace, and I freakin love that. Let them be themselves unapologetically. Additionally, this is where we get the mini lecture from the side character Karen, about “womanly happiness” where Karen doesn’t seem to understand how Meryl would have felt fulfilled or happy chasing around an outlaw, being out in the wilds. This happens in the manga, too. The implication is that what Meryl is doing could never possibly make a ‘normal woman’ happy. I think it’s effective that we see this office scenario after having gotten to know Meryl and Milly to the extent that we have because we see how restricted they are within that space. We know their full potential, and we see others dismiss their strengths, and it’s upsetting, but realistic and reflective of their choices in going back after Vash. In a way, they’d found their freedom through the course of this story, and it’s shown to us in the sense of ‘you don’t know what you had until it’s gone’ type of thing. Meryl doesn’t stand for it when she finds Milly being ‘punished’ with menial cleaning tasks when she knows how strong, smart, and powerful she is.

Episode 20 & 21, I love that we just get an actual typhoon and put Meryl and Milly in its path to witness and feel it. There is something about showing them face disasters together and alone and come out just fine being very satisfying to me. Moving on, we have Jessica. I love Jessica. Any Jessica slander in my house will get you kicked out. She is more than what she is shown or acts to be. She is that hopelessly romantic dreamer, yet another trope deconstruction (have you noticed how many we've had so far???) She gets taken hostage, another trope, except her face is also used as a puppet and weapon against Vash. This episode we also get more Plant rep, and while we don't get much, I count that as worthy of mentioning, because plants, despite being a full enigma in the 98 anime, are still shown to have a will of their own and capable of their own choices despite the situations they are placed in (see episode 6 as well). Back to Jessica, she is not a one note love-struck young woman, she outright blames Vash for Brad's death and casts him out and away from anything to do with her or the Seeds colony that fell 'because of him'. It was also the puppet with her face that shot Brad, the shot being meant for Vash. If Jessica was written by a 'misogynist team' she'd mourn Brad while being held in Vash's arms. Not here, folks! Here we have a woman full of anger, anguish, devastation, she lost her home, her life as she knows it, the one person who was always there next to her despite her fantasizing about another man, and she's directing all of that at Vash. Again, I'm here to support women's wrongs, justified as they are!

Episode 22, a moment of peace and caring. Recuperation. Before anyone says anything, the guys do their fair share in taking care of the place and being parental towards the kids. The work isn't left to Meryl and Milly, they just chose to do the jobs they are most comfortable with. People forget that feminism is supposed to allow all women to choose whatever they wish equally, including being presented as caring for children and/or cooking. It is a choice. Either way, the episode's intent is to reflect a peaceful domestic life. Take that as you will, I can't stop anyone that wants to see this as either misogynist or regressive to Meryl and Milly's characters. In my view, they are exhibiting things we'd never see from them early on in the story, and that's because they're more comfortable with themselves, perhaps, but also, there's kids in need of adults here. They're not gonna play super modern a la 2024/25 style and deliberately have the ladies look down on cooking simply because they are 'educated independent women who are above such roles and tasks'. Before anyone says anything further, Wolfwood is immediately introduced to us as helping out being a chef in episode 10, and Vash isn't bad at it either. Neither of them see themselves as 'too manly' to do tasks that need to be done and need help with. Wolfwood spends the episode admiring Meryl and Milly and all the work they do, he’s even jokingly jealous of how Milly gets the kids to smile. Both Vash and him are smiling and admiring the girls, not as love interests, not in any uncomfortable way. The line “women are a marvel” is really genuinely admiring women as amazing people, admiring women and all that they do, all that they handle in a society, how much they have to shoulder, how powerful they are. Wolfwood and Vash both respect women so much. If one more person tells me Wolfwood or Vash are misogynists.... well I wouldn't do anything, I'd roll my eyes and ignore them, but it's annoying to see so much lack of comprehension.

Episode 23, possibly a controversial one on the topic of women, but again, hear me out. The whole group is mentally in shambles. They are desperate for any form of normalcy, and they also can't stomach pretending to be normal after what had happened. They end up finding a place to take a break in, but ultimately everyone is taking a break from each other and trying to reflect and organize themselves after the traumas. Milly reaches out to Wolfwood, she is sympathetic enough to hear him out, and not afraid or withholding her judgement in telling him how what he did was wrong, even if it was the right thing to do at the time. She listens to him, she hears him, she offers him a shoulder to cry on. Things go further, yes, they're both in grief and seeking an escape. Milly isn't one to just let others take advantage of her. She chose this, too. Meryl also cares about Wolfwood. Wolfwood cares a lot about the ladies and Vash. They're there in his paradise, his paradise isn't complete without them, and they, in turn, have lost their chance at paradise with him there. 

Episode 24 continues with the emotional devastation on the team, compounding it onto Meryl and Milly being given the truth and reality of what they're dealing with and the consequences of being close to Vash. Remember that Meryl has a huge arc for her character in opening up to others, being more emotionally honest with herself, and not repressing her wants and needs. Aided and guided by Milly, not by any romantic rush of emotions, she makes the choice that would have her be kinder to her future and past self, and that is to pursue her own wishes regardless of what others tell her to do, and that is to reach out for Vash with Milly alongside her. Milly, herself, is also grieving and hurting, but she is shown as strong and emotionally mature to not wail about the loss, but to move forward and find what she can do for the people she cares about who are still with her. Both are such strong, strong women.

Be that as it may, we do get them captured as hostages and their autonomy and safety threatened by Legato. Effectively, they are used against Vash to force his hand, not by virtue of them being women needing to be saved, but because they are Meryl and Milly. They aren't just anybody. They are the people left to Vash and the only people alive where he would pull the trigger on someone else's life for the sake of saving them. I think it also shows a lot that when Vash is trying to stop his angel arm, he thinks of all the women in his life (plus Wolfwood). He thinks of Meryl, Milly, Wolfwood, and Lina (that’s his little sister!!). It's so important here that, after having Rem mocked to his face, he makes the decision that these are two women, two people, he'd rather lose Rem's spirit than lose them forever. Rem already gave up her life to save him, his brother, and humanity. He can keep her alive in his memory for as long as he lives, but Meryl and Milly are here and alive now. and this is the culmination of all the deconstruction we have been carefully going through across the entire anime. I've said this before, but 98's scene for this is more powerful to me than trimax in the sense that Vash isn't thinking of owing someone or being tied to an obligation (don't get me wrong, i love livio & razlo and trimax and how it contextualizes this decision, but 98 is a masterpiece especially when you remember they were going off of spark notes and nothing else). Vash actively makes the decision to let go of Rem and her spirit and all he has lived by just to make sure he doesn't lose anyone else after so much loss, but especially these two individuals who have stuck by him through every single thing and never tired of him, instead they welcomed him into their hearts despite everything. This is also after Vash told Meryl everything and left, hoping they’d never go after him again. It is so much deeper than just having the heroines needing the main lead to save them. It is so, so, so much more and part of me thinks the only reason people might dismiss 98 for this is because trimax gives more bl angst fodder. 

For me 98 is stronger for framing the decision as Vash fully weighing Meryl and Milly as more important to him than keeping Rem's spirit alive. vs trimax framing it as Vash finally making a choice being due to honouring Wolfwood's sacrifice and trying to meet him half-way in their back and forths. Don't get me wrong here, both versions of this scene are extremely powerful, and let it be known that I have an LR bias (the characters, not to be confused with the 98 town of LR). I just have a preference for how Vash broke his vow in 98 because it also was purely and simply a choice. No battle. No distractions or exertions. A choice. To take one life by his own choice to spare two, or keep his hands clean and doom two lives.

Side note: I saw someone lately say that people cheered when Legato was killed in the manga. I don't know about the majority of people, but I didn't. I didn't in the manga, and I didn’t in the 98 anime. Legato dying isn't something to be celebrated, and the 98 anime and the manga very explicitly tell you it shouldn't be celebrated so idk what that was about. Both scenarios showcase how traumatic that was for literally everyone involved.

Episode 25: I have mixed feelings about this episode, but I'll get to that in a bit. From the standpoint of Meryl and Milly, I find it actually quite interesting in how they are both portrayed in this episode, and there are different ways to interpret it when you consider the horror and trauma of what they'd just survived in the last episode, and the loss of Wolfwood still weighing on them. Now they are faced with possibly losing Vash. 

To give the premise, the insurance ladies find a town to stay at and take care of Vash while he was a) unconscious for a number of days from the shock and trauma, and while he is b) recovering from said shock and trauma. The town itself is possibly the same town that the men Legato was controlling came from, because I can't think of who else would have untied Meryl and Milly and helped them out. That in itself adds a ton of levels of messiness here, and the ladies were left vulnerable to danger even after Legato’s control faded, plus the situation they're in semi forces them to be as kind and pleasing to this town as possible to stay safe. Maybe I'm assuming too many negative things about the townspeople. 

Edit: I just checked the episode summary and it says “a small town well away from LR”, so apparently they managed to get out of that situation, somehow, and get well away from there…. That kind of seems logistically not reasonable with Vash unconscious for 10 days.

I'll start with the interesting depictions here that I kind of liked. Milly gets to help and is working hard alongside all the men, showcasing how strong and powerful she is. She’s capable, she’s seen throughout the series as almost being a jack of all trades vs how her boss treats her at the office simply because she ‘arrived late’, which is such a stupid offense, and he put her on cleaning duty. What I’m trying to say is, I love that she gets to be on the same playing field as the men, I love that she seems to be happy, busy, trusted to work, depended on to work in a setting outside of her duo with Meryl. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We know Meryl (and Vash and Wolfwood) are the ones that truly see her potential and trust her. When we are shown the office boss’ attitude towards her we get the sense that she is not being treated fairly nor put up to show her full potential in a setting that standardizes expectations and what a ‘good worker’ means. In contrast, here we see her almost thriving. She’s still mourning, she’s still there with Meryl, she’s still worried about Vash, but she is able to help by being her unabashed self.

Meryl. I will admit I wasn’t too big of a fan of what was done. I’ll be the first to say that. In contrast to Milly, she’s struggling to fit in, she’s surrounded by leery men while working as a barista, she’s placed into the ‘caretaker’ role. Hear me out for a minute here, though. I’m not happy with that setting for her either, but hear me out. This isn’t the first time we see her (or Milly) working in a job of service. We know how capable and sharp both Meryl and Milly are, the show doesn’t shy away from showing us that, either, and emphasizing it. We also get to see her have that time and space to think for herself, to contemplate what they, what she went through, and what it is she wants to do. She is trying to find her path, just as much as Milly and Vash are.

Here’s the thing. This episode is subtly telling us that the ladies are done (forever or temporarily, or not at all, you can interpret it as you like, but here’s my short take) they’re done with the insurance job. They’re done with following around the stampede. They’re in this town of their own choice, of their own will, and they’re taking care of each other, they’re taking care of Vash, they’re trying to find their space in this world. The events before were, understandably, similar to a wakeup call. Any normal person would have dropped everything and walked off. They didn’t. Not entirely. They stuck together.

They're there for their friend, who just sacrificed something they know he had worked hard to keep in a world that threw every opportunity at trying to take it away from him. There is guilt, yes, because he chose to drop his lifelong ideals for them. There is so much more love. The way Meryl hurts and doesn't know how to comfort him, period, when he breaks down remembering what he'd done. And I like that. I like that she has no clue how to comfort and support him. She can feed him. She can make sure he goes through the mechanics. She doesn't force herself to talk. She doesn't force herself to be traditionally nurturing. Meryl’s character arc is learning how to be emotionally vulnerable with herself first and foremost, and meeting others halfway afterwards. She never got to meet wolfwood halfway. She nearly just died. Vash may never be the same again or recover. She wants to meet him halfway. Milly keeps telling her as much, that she should, that she shouldn't keep frozen and watch the world and life pass her by. This is important because a misogynistic writing of a main female lead would have her be miss perfect, full knowledge and control of emotional control and softness, full fledged ability to care for the wounded, endless empathy and sympathy and ability to adapt to others' needs. That's not Meryl. That's not even Milly. They are both unique, individual women, with their own personality, their own person, they have their own misgivings and failings, and their own strengths and confidence. In this episode, Meryl gets to finally connect her emotions to herself, she gets to be empathic, she gets to see others and put herself in their shoes more than before, and most importantly is she is finally able to communicate and be understood by others. She gets to finally reach others. She understands what the cycle of hate and fear can do. She wants to break it. She does. She succeeds. She successfully talks down a situation. No flashy guns. No power moves. No sweet talking. She communicates, she emotes, she gets through, and she also saves Vash in the process by giving him hope for the future, in humanity, and in himself. He wouldn't have been able to go on and face his brother without that. 

I also don't think that Meryl and Milly were used for giving Vash “man pain”. Vash was devastated for having killed another living being. This is the same Vash who begged wolfwood not to shoot a giant worm about to eat them. 

Episode 26: Rem. She’s the focal point here, to me, and this ties my arguments to the past two to three episodes. Rem haunts the narrative. Rem is a person. She influences Vash in every episode. His actions, in turn, influence others around him. They influence Meryl so much that Vash could see Rem’s spirit reflected in her actions of that moment. She literally is the embodiment of the song of humanity, she sings her Sound [of] Life and cascades it down to the world. Rem is not a fridged female character.

What is a fridged female character? I’m gonna be very broad here. Literally speaking, think of Mister Freeze’s wife, Nora, from the Batman series. Think of Singed’s daughter, Orianna, from Arcane/League of Legends. What do we know about these two ladies? Nothing? Next to nothing? They are literally female characters that are frozen within the narrative. They do not get shown to have a personality, they are not shown to be their own person. Their will, their mentality, they don’t affect the respective male character or others who are related to them. They exist as a motivation for those male characters’ actions.

All this to say, Rem is not a frozen female character. Rem is very much there, very much shaping the world we are seeing through Vash, his hopes, his actions. From episode 1. We may not know she was there, but we see how she has shaped Vash, how he makes his decisions based on her values, how he sometimes needs to take a moment to properly remember her before taking action again. She haunts the narrative. We first see her in episode 4, where we see how far Vash goes to save a life, where we see Vash seeing her in others who are also finding their way, and turning to see that life can offer them a different path. She is a guiding light not just for Vash, but for all of humanity in a metaphorical, symbolic way. She’s the power of choice, the power of freedom, the power of choosing to be kind and choosing to not stand for what is wrong. She’s also a powerful motivator for survival of the community with how her essence and message spurs on that trait in others. Humanity doesn’t need to know that Rem existed, because she is an essence that is present in all of humanity that we get to recognize and see alongside Vash and how it encourages him in a world where violence and life-loss seem to be so common.

What I love about this episode? This ending piece to this show? He honours Rem by giving her a place to rest. He is symbolically communicating that the world, humanity, the people she gave herself to save, himself and knives, whom she sacrificed everything to protect, it’s all okay now. We see, and Rem symbolically sees, though Vash, that the world understands the importance of breaking out of the cycle of hate and violence, that they understand the world needs love and acceptance to be at peace. Vash, who has been struggling for a century and almost a half with his emotions towards his brother, how many times he’d tried to convince himself that violence was the only answer, that he had to hurt him, that he had to kill, but he couldn’t. When he realizes that there is another option even for Knives, that’s when he understands. When he accepts and understands and forgives that his brother was also the cause for Rem’s death, for her last living relative’s death, for the indirect destruction of July, for the indirect scar on the moon, Augusta, for the indirect deaths of many people…. When he finds in himself and understands on his own how Rem would have forgiven him, only then he finds it in him to let her go and find his own path. He returns to Meryl and Milly. He doesn’t leave them alone. We see him happy after so much anguish and loss we go through with him in the past series of episodes. I don’t think the female characters in this episode were done badly at all.

Vash the stampede as a flirt. My friends, trigun 98 is a shounen anime from the 90s. Scratch that. It’s a shounen. You’re telling me none of you dropped My Hero Academia because that one underage character who constantly hits on women and girls and peeps and flirts and justifies his actions. For comparison, MHA ran from 2014 to 2024 and the anime is still going. Anime and manga alike under the shounen tag still run this gag. Yes, I despise it too. I despise it so much that I dropped MHA like a hot potato. I nearly dropped naruto when i was younger, if it wasn’t for the fact that the gag wasn’t used often (full transparency, I barely watched naruto, i vaguely watched shippuden, and my only media interaction with it was the manga and video games). Bleach didn’t run the gag much in the manga either, but the anime bombarded it through Kon for a while, and kept bringing him back just to remind you that it’s a shounen. I’m bringing those examples because I can’t remember other popular or recent shounen that I’ve watched. I’ve actually not interacted with any of these fandoms, just the media itself and not with any dedication or intensity. 

My point was, most manga don’t focus on the gag, but most anime do. I’m also saying I can’t stand the gag, and generally drop the show if it makes me uncomfortable. Trigun is no exception to using the gag, it’s a shounen, but the difference here is it never gave me the ick that every walking woman is treated as an object to be ogled, a damsel to be saved, or a prize to be won. Let me quickly re-dive into this here. Marianne seemed like an oggle piece. She was a cop in disguise, about to crack a case and take down a monopoly. Stefany seemed like a damsel. She learned the truth, she made her choice, she sided with what she saw was right and didn’t give up on that despite familial relations, despite that she was kidnapped. Elizabeth seemed like a prize. She was/is actually a super well established engineer who also had a near catastrophic plan to enact her revenge and justice. The manga itself never uses the gag except in the pilot chapter, which frankly was done very practically in order to get the idea approved. You go up to a shounen comic and you have one shot to get them to agree to let you write your messed up and/or deep story, what do you do? Guarantee an in, and show them what they want to see. Beyond that? Vash doesn’t disrespect a single woman in the manga. He also doesn’t disrespect any woman in the show either, by the way. Yes, he flirts. Yes, he asks random ladies out knowing full well he’d get rejected. I know the fandom excuses his behaviour as a bit. It is a bit. Vash literally only does it when he’s trying to worm himself into or out of situations by getting others to physically kick him out or not care about his presence at all, he’s not stupid. We see him switch from silly and stupid to serious and calculative in milliseconds, multiple times. The show is telling you it’s a bit. Vash never disrespects Meryl or Milly. He takes them both very seriously. What I love about the 98 early filler episodes is that they very clearly establish who Meryl and Milly are, and who Vash The Stampede really is. Vash also learns from episode 1 that Meryl and Milly are assigned by their job to follow him around. He knows it’s a business task for them. He doesn’t flirt with them, he doesn’t distract them, he tries to run away and keep away as much as possible, he never flirts with them, he never makes any unsavoury comments towards them. He even stops doing the bit. His ‘I'm dumb silly ignore me’ bit, after Monev’s attack. He was so worried about them, and saw what lengths they went to in order to protect him, and he stopped pretending around them to be someone he’s not. He doesn’t want to see them hurt, he keeps telling them to stay away. He cares and he wants them as far away from him as possible. 

Wolfwood. I read a long post of someone's review of 98 after they'd finished it, and they didn't want to articulate anything about Wolfwood, lumping him in with Vash as misogynistic beyond compare, or something to that effect, and I was so, so boggled by that. What?? Is it because he got paired with Milly? Is it because they did the bit where she pretended to be pregnant and he her husband? Is it the one night stand? All situations in which Milly was an active decision maker and decision driver??? You know Wolfwood wanted no involvement in helping the young adult kids escape. You know he would have never taken advantage of Milly, even if he was being vulnerable and a bit out of it. I'm not defending him on that point, I'm just saying I don't think Milly would let herself be taken advantage of. She doesn't hold her punches. The only transgression I can really think of is how in the bus on their first meeting he cozies up to Milly and sleeps on her shoulder. If it were me, I would have kicked him off, idk who that is. Milly could easily punch him through the bus roof. She didn't. It's also Milly, her general outlook on things and what she allows vs doesn't allow aren't exactly the norm in this world, or ours, even, but we love her. Wolfwood loves her too. Wolfwood also loves and respects Meryl. They don't get much interaction, but wolfwood never encroaches on her space or bothers her. He reads her demeanour and acts accordingly. When wolfwood thinks of his perfect paradise, his Eden, Meryl and Milly are front and center right along with Vash. Wolfwood is also a character who keeps people at arm's length, and the fact he warmed up and loved these two so much speaks volumes for his character with how standoffish he is Conclusion: In the end, I think I’m just happy that the 98 anime was written and done the way that it was. I’m glad that I wasn’t disappointed by it. I’m genuinely so happy that it has all of these 90s nostalgia without having the uncomfortableness that comes from watching an old anime with outdated thoughts and views on women and society. I think people need to look at it more critically and see how much it gives to the women in the series, in some instances it’s even more than the manga just because they had the time and space to stretch out and expand more. I hate seeing it discredited, or seeing people characterize 98 Vash and Wolfwood as “weird”. My feeling is that this is a collective reflection of people’s view on 90s anime, and not an actual analysis or conclusion from the 98 anime itself. I want people to be able to appreciate what 98 actually gave us. It’s not cheap, it’s not superficial, it’s a deconstruction on many levels, and a good interpretation of the manga and story of trigun. Everyone is of course entitled to their opinions and thoughts, I’m not out here asking anyone to love 98, I’m just asking that people stop throwing it under the bus for no reason other than that a time-era bias that doesn’t even hold true when you actually analyze the content of the anime.