#but compared to most of my more fully made art? quite fast lol

[synthshenanigans]

Jashtober Day 10- Ego

[if tumblr crunches the image i stg]

All outfits & colors from TMPH! Colors are specifically, from the color palettes I made from the album!

Alt versions below! v

[thejolteonmastertj]

Privilege & Compassion: Digging Deep Into Kirishima’s Ep68 Characterization.

Early on Kirishima mentioned in passing that his Quirk isn’t as “flashy” as he’d like it to be, and it would be harder for him to become a famous hero because of it. 

Bear in mind this is the same kid who was one of the top scorers in the entrance exam for the most prestigious school for heroism in the country... although to be fair he did also fail the midterms... but then he also passed the licensing exam.

So we know based on these background details and his increasingly pertinent insecurities he’s shared with his friends in the flashback that he’s likely suffering from a combination of imposter syndrome and genuine academic stress.

Kirishima is actually right that his Quirk puts him at a lower level of privilege within U.A.  He lives in a world that heavily judges people based on their Quirks, and, especially for those seeking a job in hero work, “flashiness” is as much of a measurement of one’s worth as versatility or power.

However, while Kirishima’s insecurities about his place within U.A. are somewhat justified, he forgets that he’s still well within that top class.

He lacks the self-awareness to fully understand how to interact with someone from an entirely different level of society.

The thing is, this particular flaw is a common one that’s so embedded into people’s psyches irl that there are many cases in media where it’s not intended to be read as a flaw at all.  Indeed, nobody corrects Kirishima on it other than the villain himself, so if this were a standalone episode the audience might have been left feeling that Kirishima is in the right and the villain is in the wrong.

This is not the case for My Hero Academia... at least, it’s not if you do some really deep reading.  Personally I quite like how the narrative isn’t up in your face about this being a flaw for Kirishima, the kid’s 14, he has plenty of room to learn about it later (and even if he doesn’t, as many adults irl don’t, there’s nothing wrong with having a flawed character).

I haven’t seen many people talk about it though, so I’m curious as to if anyone else caught on to this nuance.

Perhaps this nuance is a bit easier for manga readers to pick up on after learning the backstories of certain villains.  Even without taking that into consideration though, the backstory with Midoriya in the first few episodes also made it abundantly clear that there are people in this world who can’t make it as a hero, or that if they do, they are very lucky for it.  Midoriya not only lacked a Quirk, he also lacked guidance to train.  All Might gave him both of these things.

Then there is the clearest clue.  Let’s look at this moment in the sports festival.

It’s interesting to see the contrast between how Midoriya interacted with Shinsou vs how Kirishima interacted with the villain.  Midoriya had the self-awareness to realize there’s nothing he could think of to say that would make Shinsou feel better about his situation.  Although I must add, I think Midoriya being at a loss for words entirely is also a form of immaturity (I don’t mean that in a demeaning way, he’s hecking 14 years old, he still growing), Midoriya is at a different level in his understanding of these situations as opposed to Kirishima.

But Wait, This Get’s More Complex

Another funny detail about Kirishima is this episode is not just giving us Quirk and class politics crap for me to sink my teeth into, it’s also, quite humorously, addressing what happens when you put a high-functioning low-self-esteem kid in the same room as someone who clearly suffers from extreme anxiety.  This anime brings in an intersectionality with mental health.

New drinking game: take a shot every time Kirishima tells someone he understands them or feels the same.

“That’s called ‘being positive,’ first year” is one of my favorite quotes from the episode.

Fatgum, amusingly gives no input whatsoever to this particular exchange, he just let’s this learning experience happen.

While I think bringing Kirishima in to help Amajiki open up was Fatgum’s primary intention, and given Kirishima’s strong sense of empathy it wasn’t even a bad decision... this is also a learning experience for Kirishima.

To be fair, his comment above wasn’t even that bad, just a bit naive.  Saying you understand how someone feels can be good in certain situations, but it’s a very delicate art even for adults.  It’s an understandable mistake for a kid, especially a kid who’s never known anyone who struggled with mental illness on the same level as Amajiki... and triple-so for a kid who himself has self-esteem problems but hasn’t internalized the fact that his own experience doesn’t directly translate to everyone else.

Although Kirishima’s tact is a bit rough around the edges at first, he is making a genuine effort to help and be a good friend to Amajiki in any way he can.  He’s using his existing skills in picking up on how other characters are feeling (something I will address in another meta) and tests them to the max when he’s even able to pick up on the fact that Amajiki got upset mid-fight because he took a certain word the wrong way.

Kirishima doesn’t outright belittle Amajiki for his feelings like Fatgum does, instead, especially by the end of the episode he’s being genuinely encouraging.  Kid learns fast.

Privilege has many layers

I think it’s important and also fascinating to address these dynamics in fiction because we can see how Kirishima’s experience with Quirk discrimination is valid while also seeing a bit of the other side of things.  Something about privilege few talk about is how people near the top can be victims to it’s systemic effect in many ways too, even if it would certainly be cringe af to compare their experience directly with someone near the bottom of society.

Another thing that even fewer people talk about is what can occur at the intersection of a privileged class and non-privileged group (”intersection” is a form of “intersectionality” in this sentence).  If we consider Kirishima’s lack of a “flashy” quirk as a metaphor for someone who has a mild disability irl... then his experience is very relatable for some disabled folks who end up in a privileged position in terms of social class or authority.

One of my professors once talked about how in his younger years he made the mistake of thinking he could understand the experience of all Latino academics just because he was Latino himself.  He was not corrected on this until he went to a conference in Latin America and was called out by a another Academic from a Latin American college (sorry I don’t remember the country).  My USA-born professor finally got a bit of a wake-up call then.

Being a technical minority in a position of privilege comes with it’s own unique experience and especially a need for unique lessons for us to be able to realize our full potential as someone who can use our privilege for good.

In terms of social class and/or functionality of one’s Quirk or disability, some of us are born into this partial privilege, some of us had to work for it... usually it’s some combination of both.  For those of us who worked hard and/or feel like we worked hard for our current place it’s very easy to forget we were born into a good portion of it as well, just as Kirishima has.

My Hero Academia already tackled these themes head-on through the anime’s main character: Midoriya

In the first season and especially during the Sports Festival Season 2 arc Midoriya was shown to be far more self-aware about his position in the world than Kirishima.  If anything, Midoriya is almost too hard on himself, since the Quirk he was given isn’t without it’s own drawbacks.  In some ways we could read Midoriya and Kirishima as foils in this regard.

For Kirishima to be characterized in the way he was in recent events without much fanfare is an interesting narrative choice which allows viewers to come to their own conclusions.  Perhaps some viewers won’t pick up on it until they re-watch the anime years from now (or until they read this post lol).  Portraying societal flaws without endorsing them in this incredibly subtle and nuanced way is one of My Hero Academia’s strengths in my opinion.

Edit: Edited for clarity, punctuation and consistency but I promise I’m done with it now lol.

[lunawings]

King of Prism SSS Episode 6 commentary (Minato)

The final episode of Part 2!

This was originally my favorite of the three episodes we are shown in the theatrical “Part 2″. But it was also the one I was most awake for at the time haha. Nowadays I think Joji’s is probably my favorite of the Part 2 episodes, but this one still has a very, very special place in my heart......... AS BIG AS THE OCEAN.......... 

And right off the bat we’re referencing the hidden curry subplot in Pride the Hero. Well, maybe it was obvious to some people, but I definitely wouldn’t have fully known about this subplot without reading about it. Basically early on in Pride the Hero there is a scene where Hiro casually refuses to eat Minato’s curry. Minato can be seen working on his recipe during the movie, but in the end it’s Kouji’s honey/apple curry recipe which gets Hiro back on his feet. Minato sees this as a failure on his part. 

If there is ever a scene where anyone is crying (there will be a few more examples of this before the end of SSS) take a look at Leo. If anyone else is crying, it’s basically guaranteed that Leo is also crying too. He doesn’t even know why Minato is crying here!!! LeoooooOOO..............

Everyone always cheers for Taiga here! Good job.

Okay, according to the Part 2 pamphlet, from left to right...

Misaki, Nagisa, Gen, Kou, Shiho. 

They all have sort of marine-related names. (cape, shore, broadside of a ship, sailing, saltwater...)

And these two we already met in Young of Prism. 

(Ushio means tide, Tsubasa means wing....)

I really love the voice work on Shiho here. She really sounds so natural. So cute. Favorite Minato sibling.

I know I said Yukinojo’s grandpa was best King of Prism old man, but I’m not sure anymore. Minato’s grandpa is also in the running ahah. I love his intense drama and yet down to typical old man-ness at the same time. HAVE A FISH.

OVER RAIN

Okay this one is forgivable because he says their abbreviated name “O-Ba-Re” which I always struggle to translate. Usually I just spell it all out or put OtR.

It was established in this episode that Minato can taste when something has been made with love. 

This means that Yamada-san’s ramen noodles were clearly MADE WITH LOVE at least.

I think at one point I posted a shitty out of context spoiler about the DARK HISTORY of Edel Rose. Here you go ahah. 

The cheering audience loves Yukinojo’s reaction here. Everyone be like.... nu nu nu nu nu nu..............

This is the only time I know Taiga has been associated with soba except for when they just kind of decided to make it his food item on Prism Rush........ (because I guess pudding a la mode wasn’t a thing back then..............) 

Minato’s reaction is notably a bit more low key than the other boys during Kakeru’s turn.

Kakeru’s catering WASNT MADE WITH LOVE 

Every time I see this I think to myself that I have got to figure out where this is and go there. But I haven’t yet. 

Shizuoka isn’t that far from me and I go there every few months or so for Love Live stuff or to visit Shizuoka Prism Stone, etc. A few days before Part 2 premiered I was actually in Shizuoka and actually spent a good amount of time thinking of things I might see from Shizuoka in Minato’s episode. I was at a tourist attraction (Izu-Mito Sea Paradise) where I went to the snack bar and noticed they had Mishima croquettes. It was the first time I had heard of them. But I decided on something else instead. 

So every time I see this, I think......... should have got the croquette....... 

(and now I must live with the regret.............. forever......................) 

I talk a lot about how this or that is art in SSS. 

But Minato meeting Kouji REALLY IS ART 

In the stream someone called this a “prismgasm” and now I can’t get that out of my head thanks.................................

I love how Minato is not the first, but SECOND Edel Rose boy just entered into Edel Rose against his will by a family member ahaah. (After Taiga by his sister.) 

Okay so, let’s pause for a minute. 

As you can see here this is a senior high school application. So this means Minato was never in the junior high division of Kakyouin Academy and went straight to senior high. 

If we rewind back to Kakeru’s episode, you’ll remember that there was a flashback where Yukinojo met Kakeru back in the heyday of Edel Rose, and they were both wearing junior high uniforms. So this means that a.) The first member of the seven to enter Edel Rose was probably Yukinojo and b.) Kakeru and Yukinojo are the two who have known each other the longest. 

I don’t think you can make an exact timeline of who joined when, but it’s possible to piece together a rough estimate of the order everyone joined by the end of SSS.

So this actually destroys my headcanon that the reason Minato calls Kakeru “Kazuo” is because they have known each other the longest and he knew him before he was Kakeru. So now I don’t know what to think about that anymore ahah. 

Anyway Minato why are you taking the Shinkansen to Tokyo. It’s only like 3 hours from Shizuoka!!! That is insanely close (...... from my perspective...............) what a waste of money haha. 

Favorite Minato face of all time by far. 

Oh gosh this scene. This scene. Where do I even begin. I love, LOVED seeing this side of Minato. He’s always everyone’s rock (excuse me harbor) so it’s really mindblowing to actually see him all nervous and flustered and just oh gosh it made me love him so much more. 

And not to mention Kouji just dragging a boy he’s known for three seconds to eat a children’s lunch......

Everyone goes nuts for this at cheering and agrees they still want to eat this kind of lunch as an adult. I guess I don’t quite understand because I was never a child in Japan haha. But this was the only moment at the mostly quiet 8am showing (when I saw it for the first time) where I could hear people laughing/freaking out.

I have mentioned this already but I just have to say I really love this line. This moment. This whole concept. Minato can taste love. 

I didn’t think it was noticeable from Young of Prism, but when we actually met all of Minato’s siblings and saw that Tsubasa is basically the only one who doesn’t have a marine color scheme or a directly marine-related name.... Even before this scene in the back of my head I was like..... hm...... 

The least they could have done was given her a marine-themed name geez

I had to go back and slightly change some wording in my Young of Prism translation because of this reveal.

I WAS REALLY EXCITED WHEN I SAW THIS, AND THEN ACTUALLY DISAPPOINTED WHEN KOUJI CAME

I WANTED TO SEE SHIN’S COOKING

SHIN BABY WHAT WERE YOU GONNA COOK

Also his face

It’s not “a” new dorm, he’s probably talking about the new dorm that the new boys still live in (but our seven moved back here by choice in episode 1 remember........)

This is another scene where I’m kinda wondering if this plot thread seems sudden or out of place to people who don’t know the side materials. 

Minato’s confidence issues have come up on Prism Rush several times before, and I was actually waiting the entire episode for it to come up here. 

This episode in particular really requires a lot of extracurricular homework doesn’t it....

I believe this is mistranslated. He used ~すら which I think should be “All I could do is watch......” JLPT N1 textbook grammar Minato why......

The least they could do would be to leave a note that says “Minato” means “harbor” but that’s TOO MUCH TIME I GUESS GOTTA GET THOSE EPISODES OUT IN AN HOUR CHOP CHOP

I really like this speech. It’s shockingly down to earth and refreshing. Especially compared to Kakeru and Yukinojo’s episodes. 

Like the other members of the old dudes club, Minato’s family has a tradition too. But Minato is not particularly expected to carry on that tradition since his family realizes it’s no longer viable 

Instead they encourage Minato to enjoy his youth, find himself, and if he doesn’t become a star that’s OK.... of course he can come home anytime. 

Nrrrgggghhaaaaaa such good supportive parents ahhhhhhh

Been waiting a couple months to read this. In the theater all I can ever catch is Shin’s message. (But still the point comes across.) 

“Well that was fast” - the cheering audience (about the sunrise, ruining this beautiful scene lol)

THIS.... SHOW.........

So, a while back I casually mentioned that Kakeru and Taiga’s prism shows were in my top three. Nobody ever asked what the third one was. But. It was this one. I LOVE this show.

From the very moment Minato looks up at the camera here I just get goosebumps from head to toe, and it just stays throughout the entire show. No other prism show has ever made me feel quite this way. 

So towards the end of the Prism Rush Main Story, there is a chapter where the boys are talking about what they want to accomplish in the Prism King Cup. (This is before they know who will be in it.) Minato has a line where he talks about wanting to perform a show like warm soup or something, and as soon as I saw this show I just immediately remembered that line and thought THATS IT. 

THAT’S IT

ITS SOUP 

Even though there are so many cool colors, somehow, it just makes me feel so.... warm. 

Although it didn’t stay for as aggressively long as Joji’s did, this was the first song from Part 2 which got stuck in my head and it’s just... it’s so nice........

Also, even though I have complained about Minato always getting stuck in chef uniforms for his performance outfits I do kinda like this one. It’s the floating jellyfish scarf thing at the back that makes it I think. (I have no idea how else to describe that.) 

I hope he gets a sailor suit next time though eheh. (I like how Minato has a marine theme now too, not just food. Well, he probably always did but it’s more prominent now.)

So Minato technically lost to Joji, but the individual match-ups mean nothing in the long run. (Except for you know..... the last one...... when it’s down to the wire and each side has put up their strongest member...............if you remember who that match-up is--)

It may not be obvious at first, but Minato’s prism show was pretty low leveled compared to the other boys. 

(He did start doing prism shows later than most of them after all... Um Shin being a special case.) 

He only did two jumps and they weren’t even connected. So that being considered, this score is pretty amazing for him. It makes me think the Shuffle members must only be doing like one jump per show to be scoring in the 7000s geez. 

And thus the curry plot goes full circle. Minato, good for you. 

Thus ends what I know as the Part 2 episodes, and also the halfway mark of the series. (There are 12 episodes in all.) Ready or not, on to Part 3.

I really like and have been looking forward to the Part 3 episodes. I think they are a little better than Part 2, but maybe not quite as good as Part 1. I also think Part 3 is possibly the most heart-wrenching collection.... Leo’s episode in particular, which is coming up next week, I have a very strong and personal reaction to. That combined with feeling the need to point out all the PriPara references may mean my post for next week may take some extra time and be frighteningly long ahah..... ha....... 

[herrunawaystories-blog]

10 THINGS I LEARNED (SO FAR), 100+ DAYS AFTER I WENT ABROAD

March 23, 2017: “The things that don’t kill you, only make you stronger”

A dramatic title! Or for some particular reason I might “just” be a dramatic person. So first of all, it took me more than 100 days later to finally write a post and have the courage to test my English-grammar-skills. It’s honestly “a climb” to improve my not-so-but-I-guess-okay-capacity to communicate with the German Language and the fact that I’m not entirely certain with my current English Grammar. But hey…I love writing and before this post comes up, I’d probably read it a couple of times to spare myself from more embarrassment.

Grammatically speaking… This post is not (really) about noun-verb-connections. It’s about something more scary: ADULT INDEPENDENCE 101. Let’s RECAP, 100 days ago, I flew to Germany to work and (to see the world), but honestly more on the work and study part. Yes… I know the studying part is quite endless. I too, actually wonder, when will it end but since the answer is at the moment blurry…I’m still studying at 26. (And I’m curious why mom and dad find it so great?)

So, when you decide on something massive, like moving out from your parents’ house, 6, 444 miles away, on your own, thinking that everything is going to be okay, I’m sorry to tell you that it’s NOT. I’m not a mean person, in fact I’m telling the truth. But it’s NOT that all BAD either. There are of course some perks and surprises. But hey that’s just the way life is, a balance of good and challenging experiences. And so, for one, I wrote all of my experiences and in congruence to that, 10 things that I learned about life, now that I’m so far away from all of the things that I was once used to.

IT’S HARDER TO SPEND YOUR OWN INCOME. I never really had the chance to fully understand this understatement. My parents would usually sponsor my financial deficiencies and I honestly don’t have to worry. I mean everybody knows how difficult dealing with your own money is. And now I find it more difficult to whether I’d buy something that I really (really) want or sparing it for the future. I’d die of wanting to buy something out of lust and find myself deciding to return it and just walking away from it while repeating the Mantra “Do not return”.  It’s funny how my brain tells me to get it and how my conscience tells me otherwise. But 100 days later I’ve gotten used to it. One thing that I learned is: “Do not indulge on small, petty things. Save your money for the best, most important and unexpected occurrences of your life”.

THE ART OF BUDGETING IS KEY. It is the ultimate key of survival albeit wherever you are. But then you have to make new adjustments every now and then, depending on your needs (and not distinctly according to what you only want). But the most important aspect is that: “You make it all fit in. You make it work. And you stay firm.”

LONELINESS IS A CHOICE. This word is sad enough as a word. (LOL). That’s probably one of my many concerns before deciding to work outside my country. But the gift of time changes one’s illusion about life. You see time is an endless element and when a person uses it wisely, a lot of things can happen in a day. I guess, what I’ am trying to imply and what I had probably been doing this past four months, is using my time here in Germany on a happier scale and not on the depressive part. You can be physically lonely but you don’t have to feel alone. In the same way that you are not the only person on an island (unless you literally are) and that possibilities and opportunities towards reaching out are always abundant.

TO TRAVEL IS ALWAYS A GOOD INVESTMENT. You’d be surprise of how things are vastly different but still beautiful from one country to another. And I’ve been to only 2 European Countries and I want go further and experience more: the sights, the people, the culture, the food and so on. Diversity is more to what my camera can capture. And I wished I can do better and share it with the people I love at home. Personally, I think it is better to invest on good memories than buying an expensive signature bag that can only fit basically 3 to 5 items.

A LANGUAGE IS THE SOUL OF THE COUNTRY. I have to be honest, I learned German to be able to work here in Germany and as communication medium between me and my colleagues and also my patients. Which is basically the purpose of the course. But now that I’m really using it as part of my daily life I have to say that I understood more than just what the person is saying but also how they feel. The emotions strike through me: happiness, sadness, fear, excitement, loneliness and more. I finally understand now, that the language of a country is the fabric the holds its culture together: how the people of a place express their nationality, their traditions and their customs. And yes…I love every bit of the German Language the same way I love my mother tongue and the same way I was able to get through with my English Grammar.

THERE’S MORE OF YOU THAT YOU DON’T KNOW YET. It’s funny how you thought that you already figured yourself out and discover that you can actually do more. Made me smile that I’ve been trying new things and eventually find out that I’ am capable, I find it amusing and that I never thought I can do something like that. I mean, COOKING by the way. There’s actually more, like not eating rice 3 times a day, 7 days a week. That’s a compromise that I find so hard to accomplish. And 100 days later, here I’ am still alive and writing how ridiculous it is to be able to adapt to such change. One more example, I never thought I’d sweat at 10 Degrees.

INSURANCE IS IMPORTANT BUT D*#@ EXPENSIVE. Maybe I’m just too grown up and that I find myself day dreaming about my future. Not that 3-to-5 years-kind-of-future but the one that’s too far away, when I’m all wrinkly with gray hair kind-of-future. I still however find being ensured very important, I just never expected that insurance companies would also secure a good price. But I learned… and it’s fine. All things in life, those that are important cost more. And you should never be frugal when comes to these things. Health is still more important than Versace.

THE TIME ZONE DIFFERENCE IS A BRAIN TWISTER. Well you wake up and the people back home are eating lunch. You just finished lunch and the people back home are about to sleep. You’re about sleep and they’re at the peak of breaking dawn. And here I’ am counting the hours thinking if they are working, sleeping or watching whatever. Time is already too confusing for me and the Time Differences make it worst. I arrived here last December and I’ am 7 hours late than my parents in the Philippines and this coming spring I’ll be only 6 hours late. Why? I don’t know. The geographical explanation is too broad for me. Or maybe I wasn’t paying attention in school back then.

SOME THINGS JUST TAKE TIME. Is it just me or I just learned a lot of things about time? It’s to versatile. It can stretch towards extremes. It can be too fast or it can be to slow. Sometimes you chase after it sometimes you wait for it. But with adaptation it requires all measures. But what’s important is, you take (your new) life one day at a time. You work accordingly, sometimes you need to hurry up because time is almost up, sometimes you take work lightly while there’s still time. Also, every person has their own respective time. You can’t compare your clock value with other people. The situation, like people is always different, slightly the same but never exactly identical. That’s why you can’t pressure yourself with what or how fast others can achieve something. Things happen perfectly according to one’s own time.

FAMILY IS STILL EVERYTHING. Well apart from bigger dreams and greener Pasteur, I personally decided to go beyond boarders not just for me but for my family. It entails sacrifice with almost everything (that includes basically numbers): Distance, Time, Currency and an infinite amount of love that surpasses every challenge that I encountered so far. And it’s not just me… I’m sure somewhere not too far from where I’ am, there’s a Filipino who feels the same. And I’ am actually proud and happy because it is our innate nature (as a Filipino), without obligation to still find the heart to help without anything in return. And to share what you have, to the extent that you have less than what you gave, has always been difficult. And it’s funny because we still do it anyway.

And about the photos, I always wanted to shoot (with my camera) in the woods. But not as little riding hood, though the concept would have been epic. So, we went to this little town called Bastei, and hiked all the way to heaven. Just because it everything was heavenly at the top… Hoped you like the photos as much as like taking them.

And now that I’ve written 1,655 words in this article, then I think it’s already sufficient and also close to boring.  I shall therefore end this post with day dreams and may fluffy unicorns navigate your way to the most colorful rainbow.

[murasaki-murasame]

Monogatari Series Rewatch Part 1: Bakemonogatari [Hitagi Crab]

I was planning to keep up with the rewatch going on over at the anime subreddit, in preparation for Owari S2 coming out, but I got sidetracked and now it’s been going on for like a month and a half. Hoo boy. Let’s try and get this done before the next season starts. This whole thing is just gonna me my vague unplanned ramblings as I rewatch each arc. I’m caught up on the anime, outside of the Kizu films, so I’m not really gonna avoid spoiling later stuff. Keep that in mind.

More under the cut. [This got a bit longer than expected. Huh]

So here we are. Owari S2 is finally approaching and so now I’m finally getting around to rewatching the entire series. Woo. Truth be told, I haven’t actually rewatched this series at all since I first saw it around 2013 or so, outside of stuff like the OPs/EDs and a few random good scenes I could find on youtube. So it’s been a while since I first watched this arc, to put it lightly.

Probably the most surreal part of this was just how much I actually remember quite vividly. But that’s largely due to having seen like a thousand screenshots and reaction images from the show over the last few years. I’m almost more used to seeing this show in static image form rather than in motion, so this took some getting used to. It made it feel pretty nostalgic, at least.

I’d definitely forgotten the extent of how bizarre and sort of creepy and tense the early parts of the show were. It definitely gets toned down a little in later seasons. It makes a lot of sense in hindsight that the director of this season worked on Kizu after this and someone else took up work on the rest of the series. I kinda wish that some of the artistic decisions from this point were used more/at all later in the series. Like that really Sayonaya Zetsubou Sensei-esque part of Araragi having his head ripped off and spaghetti flying everywhere. I completely forgot that happened, so that threw me off a bit. I kinda loved it, though.

On the topic of artistic elements, it’s interesting to me how ambitious and dense this still feels even though you can tell how Shaft was probably falling apart at the seams as a company behind the scenes. It still feels remarkably similar to later parts of the series, just less polished. It probably helps that the version I’m watching seems to be the BD version. Not sure how that’ll hold up for future seasons. Anyway, I love the attention to detail with how all the characters move and pose and talk. This show really knows how to sell you on it’s characters immediately. The whole first-person POV scene of Araragi talking to Hanekawaw and fidgeting with his pen, with it almost always covering her eyes, was a pretty fantastic scene in general, with setting up the dynamic they have, and his personality. I kinda wish there were more scenes like that, but even in Bake I don’t remember there being any others. It’s fitting that it’s one of the first proper scenes we get of Araragi, though, since it helps to immediately set up the idea of us seeing things through his eyes, both literally and metaphorically. The way that this show plays with concepts of unreliable narration in a visual way really is amazing, even if most people, including me, tend to not notice it before we start getting arcs from the POV of other characters. But I’ll get into that when the time comes. Which won’t be until the SS arcs, really.

I read this arc in LN form a few months ago when it came out, and seeing this arc again in anime form, it just makes me more and more surprised at how much Shaft added to the experience. Logically I knew that the LN wasn’t exactly gonna have art or music or voice acting, but it surprised me how relatively . . . barren it felt, and how much slower the pacing seemed. But I’ll talk about that more if/when I do a big review post of the three Bake LNs.

The relative plainness of the LN’s tone made it even more surreal and interesting to be reminded just how dark and creepy and sinister and fast-paced this arc in particular feels in the anime. I really love it. Especially the weird little Kizu recap at the start [which was kinda odd to watch when we now have the Kizu films to compare it with]. And the rapid text flashes and such. It’s a great example of how much artistic direction can affect the atmosphere of something like this.

It feels weird to talk about the actual story of this arc, at least since I don’t want to literally recap the entire thing or anything. And I don’t want to get ahead of myself and talk about how this plays into other arcs, especially Kizu. I guess I’ll work it out as I go along. Anyway, one thing I definitely want to talk about is that I’d somehow forgotten, at least before I read the LN version of this arc, that Senjougahara was a victim of sexual assault. Since it’s basically never mentioned again after this arc. I really appreciate how this series can touch upon some surprisingly serious, real-life stuff in realistic and nuanced ways, while still having such a bombastic, comedic atmosphere most of the time. It’s neat. It makes me appreciate that she’s depicted almost always as being completely in control of herself and her body, and that she’s the one who tends to be romantically forward with Araragi. Obviously this is part of the unreliable narration and everyone else sees her as being way more ‘normal’, so to say, but still. Sometimes the fanservice in this series is a bit . . . iffy, but as a whole the story avoids handling Senjougahara in too gross of a manner, in the context of what happened to her in the past.

Which reminds me, it still surprises me how much I like their relationship, considering how much I tend to be turned off by perverted male MCs and tsundere female love interests. I honestly can’t really fully explain WHY I like them so much, but I do. It’s actually one of the few m/f ships I genuinely really like, instead of feeling sorta ambivalent toward [or outright disliking]. Who would have thought?

I don’t have a lot to say about Araragi at this very moment, at least since the more interesting parts of his character play out in later arcs. But I do really, really like Senjougahara, and I wish she appeared more in later arcs. She’s just immediately compelling as a character. I love how weighty and overwhelming and sharp her presence in so many scenes feel, as Araragi tries to keep up with her. And I quite like her softer side, which we see at the end of the arc.

I also still really love basically every OP and ED in this entire series, even though I feel like I never quite liked this arc’s OP and Bake’s ED as much as most people do. I feel like a lot of the later OPs feel more interesting and memorable, and I tend to find all the EDs in this series to be a bit forgettable for some reason. Oh well. I still love the art in the ED though, and I appreciate that they kept that style intact for the later ones.

I feel like this post in particular might end up being longer than later ones since there’s a lot to get off my chest right at the start. Hah. My other ramble posts will probably be shorter. Dunno about the review posts I might do for each entire season, though.

P.S: If there’s anything I’d like to get across in this entire rewatch, it’s that, even if there’s some iffy elements that I sorta ignore, there’s still a whole list of elements to this series that I adore, which have nothing to do with fanservice. As a gay man, it sometimes bugs me when people act like this series is nothing but cute girls, as if there’d be no room to like the series at all if cute girls aren’t your thing. So I want to let myself ramble about all the other parts of the show and how much I love them. [Though, ironically enough, there’s actually some elements to the fanservice that I genuinely appreciate, which I’ll probably mention as they appear. Which I already sorta did a bit in this post. Sometimes people go a little overboard about acting like the fanservice in this show is pure art and that all of it has purpose and meaning outside of, ya know, fanservice. There’s definitely parts of it worth discussing and praising, but lol let’s not kid ourselves, this series is definitely aimed largely at people who like cute girls, and that’s fine.]