#except imagine if next ep plai comes to prince and asks him if he has her scrunchie and he says 'i thought you don't take back things

[usertoxicyaoi]

do you understand how i feel? [i do. how can’t i understand how you feel?]

[sol1056]

the most handsome slash nicest guy of the bunch

I was chatting with @ptw30 (as one does, when procrastinating on adulting) about how each season of VLD has given us different pairing-bait for Allura. But if the EPs’ hints (and what seems like a growing assumption in fandom) is that the story’s headed towards allurance, that’s pushing a message that’s... not really good.

Let’s review.

S1 was totally shallura bait, all over the place. S2 continued this to a lesser degree, but it was still a regular note.

I know how you feel, but you have to step away for a while. It's what's best for everyone.

S2 made various attempts at kallura bait, and really... fell pretty flat. Both the hug-in-space and hug-in-hangar were animated as rather physically-awkward interactions, which didn’t help. Then again, having two halves of a potential pairing on opposite sides of a significant racial conflict is gonna make it tough.

Well, sure, they're bad. No doubt about that. But at the same time, couldn't at least a few of them be fighting for good? ... It just seems crazy to lump everyone together.

Especially when one-half’s defense basically amounts to #NotAllGalra. 

S3/S4 was chock full of allurance bait, all the way up to Lance’s impassioned speech inspiring Allura to magic them all out of the Naxzela explosion pokey.

This belongs to you now. If I had to lose Blue to someone, I'm glad it was you.

And then there’s S5, most of which was dominated by equal parts lotura bait and Lance Being Annoyed. Lance’s characterization regressed to shades of who he was in S1, and make it clear exactly what kind of character he really is.

He’s a Nice Guy. 

Behind the cut: behold the evidence, minor salt at VA commentary, and two relationships that stand in contrast.

Lance’s Nice Guy Behavior

In S1/S2, Lance’s flirting is both inappropriate and pervasive, and he continues long after it’s clear that Allura neither welcomes nor enjoys his attention. She’s not even drawn ambiguously; her facial reactions make it clear.

Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?

Note that the narrative undercuts her agency. She reacts with disgust (and Hunk shows a kind of tired disapproval), but the rest of the casts’ lines treat it as a joke. Her reactions are the punchline. It’s soon clear that one time Shiro smacked Lance down for the inappropriate come-on was the exception, not the rule.

It’s not even “just not that into you,” so much as “does not enjoy being treated like a sexual/romantic object in situations entirely unrelated to that.” And with one exception (when Lance lucks on suggesting the one thing that Allura might actually want to do), her reaction doesn’t change. It’s there from the start.

The way she’s animated is almost as consistent as her irritation. 

Once into S3/S4, one could argue that Lance had finally realized a friendship had more value. He stopped flirting and started treating Allura with respect, listening as a friend, and recognizing her value and skills. 

Until Lotor shows up.

Lance’s opening reaction could be from distrusting Lotor as an enemy...

Look, it’s Prince Lotor, just hangin’ out on the bridge. 

...but he quickly moves into distrusting Lotor as competition.   

Lotor: ...you and I, a royal alliance between Altean and Galra... Lance: How ‘bout we don’t imagine that?

Lotor’s line could be seen as a thinly-veiled marriage proposition, but there’s wiggle room to take his words at face-value as simply suggesting an alliance. Notably, Allura shows no major reaction, let alone anything near the negative reactions she had for Lance’s flirting. 

We get reminders all season that this isn’t a one-time thing. Lance does it over, and over. He’s jealous when Allura responds favorably to Lotor’s compliments.

He’s territorial when Allura and Lotor leave without him, attempting to follow even though the invitation was explicitly only to Allura.

The next shot shows what prompted this reaction: Allura has taken Lotor’s arm. Allura is not animated as particularly physically-demonstrative; most of her touches (except for Coran) tend to be at the shoulders. This specific arm-touch characterizes Allura and Lotor as two people used to formal interactions, and kind of old-fashioned.

The problem is the ambiguity in the framing. I can’t shake the sense it’s meant to ‘reveal’ why Lance reacted badly, and make us sympathize with Lance’s unhappiness at seeing ‘his’ girl off with someone else. 

And then we have Lance stressing over Allura to the exclusion of all else, while the team’s busy trying to fix the ship and save their lives.

What’s happening? What do you think they’re doing now?

I’ve seen arguments this is meant to show he’s just, like, really worried. The narrative undercuts that, though, because Lance is the only one expressing these worries. The others could’ve acknowledged his words, and made it clear that Lance is just saying much louder what everyone else feels. But they’re not only blasé, they’re downright annoyed with Lance to the point that Pidge demands for Shiro to get Lance out of their faces. 

Canonically, we’ve seen nothing to establish that Lance has an exclusive position vis-a-vis Allura. She’s only extended as much friendship to him as she has to anyone else on the team, yet Lance takes that as grounds to scowl, sulk, and obsess.

This is what Nice Guys do. 

To paraphrase an article otherwise not worth quoting, rom-coms teach us ‘the one’ is usually the one who was there all along. (The same article also concluded that “when you get on well already, sometimes all it takes is time (or possibly alcohol) for you to see someone in a new light” and now I think I need to go break something to get over this wave of revulsion.) 

two relationships in contrast

Of course, I can’t mention all of the above without pointing out that in-canon, we have two other characters who’ve done it right: Shiro and Lotor.  

Shiro's respectful of Allura’s knowledge and authority, not only frequently asking her opinion, but then following her orders. He has his own opinion and voices it, but he does so without dismissing Allura's. He worries but is proactive (he'll go with her, instead), and he doesn't get in her way when she makes her own choice.

When Allura insists she’s part of things and will play a role, the rest of the team is a bit taken aback. Not Shiro. His lack of refusal indicates he sees her position as valid. 

Allura: I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that? Shiro: Fine. Suit up.

An awful lot of media would have you believe it’s a valid counter-point to say since she’s pretty and a princess, by definition she’s not suited to joining the charge. Shiro doesn’t bother. (Interestingly, the only one who gets sent anywhere alone in S1 is Keith, and there’s an argument to be made that Shiro’s pre-existing knowledge of Keith’s abilities mean Shiro has a greater comfort zone for that.)

Or in short: Shiro is a Good Man.

Meanwhile, Lotor is clearly framed as the ‘bad boy’ -- from his actual position as the son of the Big Bad, to his smooth appearance (that hair), to his accent that codes as ‘high class’ to Americans. If Shiro is the stalwart quasi-military guy who opens doors for women but respects their position in the chain of command, Lotor is the quintessential rebellious rich boy (and even turns out to have a mushy center). 

Yet Lotor consistently shows respect for Allura’s agency and perspective, always checking with her first, rather than presuming. He asks for consent, rather than plowing right past Allura’s dis/comfort.  

He’s deferent when it’s her area of authority, openly credits her, and seeks her opinion. The few times Lotor gets snappish, it’s usually related to his parents, and Allura shows every sign of realizing the distinction.  With no flirtation in play, there’s little reason to see him as having romantic ulterior motives. Sure, he may have other motives, but I’d have a hard time making an argument that Lotor sees Allura as a purely romantic object. 

Lotor may be ‘the bad boy’ in this paradigm, but if you look at the way he -- like Shiro -- treats Allura, he’s not a boy, either. Like Shiro, Lotor is also fundamentally a Good Man.

a dash of VA-related salt

For the most part, I’ve rarely had reason to side-eye Josh Keaton’s interviews, but the recent one where he said something to the effect of Shiro shuts down Lance’s jokes (euphemism for ‘unwelcome flirtation’) because Shiro’s jealous he can’t make those jokes himself...

Cue reaction gif.

Really? We’re talking about a character who insists on persistent attention of a romantic nature, with no regard for the recipient's clear disinterest or obvious discomfort. 

We have a name for this: sexual harassment.

Yet Josh thinks the only character who ever speaks up to shut that shit down is doing so because he’s of the ‘if you can’t, I can’t’ school of reasoning?

Josh, wtf, over. Uncool.

There are a lot of places where @dynared and I will bang heads in our interpretations, but somewhere he commented that fandom might be surprised at how the writers aren’t nearly as progressive as some fans would like to think. (Or that the EPs would like us to believe.)

There are smaller examples of that: Keith pulling a #NotAllGalra, or Lance paraphrasing right-wing tripe as “Galra-on-Galra violence”. Or the way early S3 demotes Allura, or makes her fearful, self-doubting, and incompetent. Lance is the biggest case, though: if the end-game is really allurance, that’s like an entire series of positioning the Nice Guy to eventually win his prize.

In a word, that’s disgusting. 

If they couldn’t manage a romance subplot without falling into such corrosive tropes, personally I would’ve preferred romance be left out altogether.

[mdwatchestv]

The Magicians 2x07: The Fillory Job

One of the best things about The Magicians is that for better or worse something new is always happening. Not every new plot or character may work, but that's ok because next week there is going to be something completely different! Last week we had Prince Ess and a declaration of war, this week none of that matters because we are doing a bank heist! On most shows these changes would be jarring, but the audience for The Magicians has been trained to expect the unexpected which allows the show to go in any direction it pleases. I'm not mad about it.

The bank heist in question, while still connected to the larger plot, was also a clever way to set the main story aside to put our heroes all back together once more. After having our main group split up for the entire second season thus far, this episode was a reminder of how well this show work when our heroes interact together. Quentin's character in particular is so much more effective when playing off the emotions of a larger group, versus when he is spiraling out by himself. His anxieties come across as more grounded in the context of relationships with others which makes his character more relatable and sympathetic as a result. Often I find Quentin's self pitying frustrating, but having Alice act as a physical manifestation of his depression and anxiety really makes you feel for the guy.

I have also never loved Alice so much as when she is Evil!Alice, even that Peter-Pan-collared mini dress is looking cuter by the second. I extra love that Evil!Alice throws Quentin's White Knight complex back in his face, such as when she tore apart his idealized version of their relationship. Evil!Alice may be Evil! but girlfriend spits some mad truths. I am also passionately looking forward to seeing her take over Quentin's body- truly cannot wait.

Additionally, Penny's long time reunion with Kady was also very welcome. Their romance acted to anchor his character, and without that relationship he often came off as a one dimensional bully. The group reunion also gave Eliot, who has spent the past episodes being slowly crushed under the weight of increasing responsibility, a chance to return to his role as comic relief. The magic dancing disco bomb is an item I need present in my life immediately. Also Queen Margo as a criminal mastermind was all my dreams come true. It was fun to see our gang flirt with their original roles after they have gone through so much life changing trauma, horror, murder etc.

More important though,  we have to talk about something. HOW is Julia traveling places. I'm seriously asking, does she have the ability to apparate and I just forgot? Once again she just showed up outside the bank from Brakebills in a matter of seconds! I am thinking of the time they had to fly to North of the Wall Brakebills as ducks, had to use magic fountains, take planes, etc.  I didn't think apparition was a thing (except in Penny's case and that's what makes him so special!) Can she travel through the mirror? Please if someone reading this knows, I implore you to reply.

Anyway Julia popped up quite speedily (however she did it) when all seemed lost in the heist,  and she brought with her the very convenient 15-second time turner. This device would have been super helpful in almost every other situation they have encountered, but yolo it was pretty fun. This episode had a lot of 'device' magic with the disco ball, wooden spoon, time turner and these clever physical props really spiced it up from the usual tutting. What else can Eliot enchant? The imagination runs wild.

Finally the episode ends with Julia unceremoniously getting her abortion. In true Magicians storytelling fashion, after all the urgency placed on this procedure it happens off stage and then we are moving right along to whatever the next thing (there was a complication?!?) is. Usually I pride myself on being able to guess a shows twist and turns, but the glory of the Magicians is that this complication could be literally ANYTHING.  

                          Why didn’t he just get on top of the gold????

Overall this episode was a delightful diversion from the comparatively heavy content of the main storylines this season. This ep wasn't quite a ship-in-the-bottle, but I am now thinking I would love to see The Magicians do something completely standalone. As I opened with, I think we the audience would be open to pretty much anything at this point. I mean, we've already been shown giant centaur dick, what else ya got?

XO MD

PS I wish I could have a menstrual blood spoon goblin :(

[apprenticemages]

Bloom into You was… just wow this week, the strongest episode this week and arguably of the season so far.  Tsurune finally premiers, and doesn’t wow me at all.  All this and more after the jump!

The shows that I am watching are in bold, shows my wife and I are watching together are in bold italics, and strikethrough marks dropped shows.

A Certain Magical Index III Eps 1-3

Index is back, along with all it’s pseudo-religious pseudo-magical gobbledygook and massively overpowered MC.  I mean seriously, people complain about Kirito but not about a guy who can stop any attack (magical or technological) simply by using his right hand?  WTF is up with that?

That being said, yah, I’m glad it’s back and I’m enjoying it in all it’s utterly ridiculous over-the-top glory.

The most interesting development so far is in Ep 3…  Touma’s memory loss has been a Chekov’s gun on the mantelpiece since the middle of the 1st season, and they finally pulled the trigger.  Now it’s out in the open…  and Misaka (Railgun) is pissed.  To be honest though, I don’t remember enough of the story to tell/know whether she’s pissed at him or for him.

Anima Yell! Ep 3

Basically your bog standard “now that we’re a club, what do we do” episode..  Except, they’re not a club (yet) so they don’t really get any support from the school other than an assigned practice space.  Also standard, a member (Kohane) studying hard with the help of her clubmates to improve the club’s chances.  Yeah, though standard it does show how determined she is when it comes to cheer.

The latter part of the episode was interesting.  Asked to cheer for someone in a situation where cheering isn’t really applicable, they still sit and hear her out and offer advice and support.

Also, HUGE shout outs and props for taking the situation seriously and not laughing, jeering, or shaming.

Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru Ep 3

That was…  one h_ll of an episode.

Touku continues to court Yuu, but she’s not being a stalker or being creepy or forceful.  She’s just being her.  She’s simply there as a friend without forcing her attentions.  On her part, Yuu still doesn’t ‘get’ this love stuff..  But without even realizing it herself, she’s starting to accept Touku, as a close friend if nothing else.

And that all culminates in the scene above.  I’ve seen kissing scenes aplenty, and more than a few (implied if nothing else) sex scenes, and every variant you can imagine…  But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scene as poignantly, beautifully,  intimate as the ones in the screenie…  Tooku takes the ultimate, irrevocable, step of opening her true self to Yuu and she accepts it unconditionally.

Bunny Girl Senpai Ep 4 Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai / Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl-senpai no Yume wo Minai

Sakata gets some great lines, doesn’t he?

It seems the anime is going to follow the structure of the light novels, one volume on one girl and then move onto the next.  Not a bad structure overall, and I’m glad it takes the form of a continuing story rather than resetting reality each volume.  Though resetting reality could make for an interesting meta-tale given the stories already revolve around resetting reality.  One interesting consequence of this is now that Sakata is involved in solving Tomoe’s problem, he’s also faced with working things out with Mai.  She’s a strong willed cuss and unlikely to make that an easy task.

Iroduku Sekai no Ashita kara / IRODUKU : The World in Colors Ep 3

There was a lot of comment this week about Hitomi using a Pocky (sorry, ��Popocky”) while she was trying to get the coffee cup to levitate.  I think some of that is because we’re used to Harry Potter and various kinds of RPG’s, where a wand is intrinsically magical.  Here it seems to be used more as an aid to concentration, which makes sense to me as her Great-Grandmother emphasized focusing.  That also seems to be consistent with the water walking scene…  As long as she believed she could do it, everything was fine.  But when she was distracted… splash!

There was also some commentary about the Photography Club’s competence and approach to recruiting members….  All I’ll say at the moment is that looking at it as a photographer and someone who sometimes teaches photography it’s not as simple an issue as it appears.  There’s more than meets the untrained eye and I’m still ruminating on how to express that.

Release the Spyce Ep 3

The first part, Momo’s confidence and skill issues, went past pretty fast…  we’ve all seen that before.  The second part, where we finally get a good look at the villain group was much better…  Interesting that they hire/rely on mercenaries rather than having their own troops.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.  Loved the action scene with Momo and Fu battling Byakoo…  Classic!

The mystery here, who is the traitor?  For some reason I can’t see any of the senpais being a traitor…  So it’s either one of the other apprentices or (my pick) the curry shop girl.

Run with the Wind / Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Ep 4

So Kakeru hates his past self…  Not just the events with the running club, but gambling and the consequences of that too.  And it wasn’t just one instance either, he was sleeping rough even before he no longer had money for food – and chose gambling over food.

That being said, it’s still not entirely clear to me exactly what his past trauma was or what role the former friend will play.

I laughed my _ss off at The Prince’s monologue and it’s untimely ending.  🙂  We still don’t know what Haiji sees in him, but his character is finally emerging.

Sword Art Online: Alicization Ep 3

Basically, the third ep was a recap of the first two eps…  Which is annoying because the second ep was largely a recap of the first.  Dammit SAO, even though I’m a confirmed fanboy, even my patience is wearing thin.

Fortunately, the final moments of the ep promise that we’ll see some action soon.  On the flip side, it’s a depressingly familiar SAO scenario – there’s a damsel in distress and Kirito has to come to her rescue.   Want to know the reasons Asuna is Best Girl?  She’s never been a cardboard cutout in need of rescue.  She couldn’t escape Sugou’s trap on her own – but she damn well tried.  She faced down the monster lungfish thing.  Kirito and her mother have both tried to steer her onto a path, and she’s told ’em both to go pound sand.  And when Kirito was dying because of Kuradeel’s treachery, she took it on herself to be the one doing the rescuing.

Ahem, ok, enough of that.

Though SAO is not a harem anime (no matter what the clueless critics say), this habit is why the charge of being one is so often leveled against it.

The Girl in Twilight / Akanesasu Shoujo Ep 4

A western themed world?  Now they’re just being silly.  And how long will it take them to figure out that things aren’t happening by chance?

I think I can predict how the rest of the show will go…  Each girl in turn will have her personal issues worked out and gain the ability to become an Equalizer.  In the final ep, they’ll confront the Big Bad.  It’s all been done before.  Trying to find how many eps Twilight is supposed to have I came across something I’d forgotten – the anime is a promo for a mobile game.  Yeah, that just increases the feeling that they aren’t going to color outside the lines and explains a lot about the show so far.

Kudos though for not making the game play elements too obvious, that’s actually pretty rare.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime / Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken

I don’t have anything useful to say about Slime this week…  But I couldn’t help but admire this joke.

Tsurune / Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudou-bu Ep 1

So far, pretty much a standard setup for a sports/club anime.  Of course, being Kyoani, it’s a lushly produced and well-directed standard sports anime!

But being Kyoani can’t save it from being compared to Run with the Wind and Tsurune comes off the field in a losing position.  They threw a ton of characters at us, and none really have any distinguishing characteristics or personalities…  They’re pretty much all archetypes.  I have to work at it to remember them as distinct individuals.  The MC is one we’ve all seen a million times before.  At the end of the episode, I didn’t really feel any tension because of the sense of “BTDT, I have a feeling I know what happens next”.

Tsurune is really going to have to up it’s game in the next couple of episodes to break out of the pack, and I don’t get a feeling it’s going to even try.  It might have rated better in a slower season (such as Spring or Summer of this year) or a season where it wasn’t going head to head with a closely related but better executed show.

=========

I think part of what’s making it easier to write of late isn’t just the shorter form…  As I was working on this week’s entry, I realized I was simply assuming the reader had watched the episode.  Not having to describe what happened unless it’s really relevant and needed saves an awful lot of energy.  Since I think of what I do as more commentary than review, yeah, I’m gonna just roll with that.

Too bad Karandi has already trademarked the concept of the “100 word review”….  (I kid, I kid…)

So how did your week go?  What do think about my thoughts?  Drop a comment and let’s chat!

Fall 2018 – Week 3 Bloom into You was... just wow this week, the strongest episode this week and arguably of the season so far.