#i wonder if the japanese fandom knows abt that thing..? now that i think about it both the missing obsidian bio and the moon shaped thing o

[pikahlua]

pika hello

have you seen the jp bkdk artists' tweets on one of 2nd's lines talking abt izuku?

the "(he) wants to believe that in their depths a human heart resides" bit, referring to "the ppl he should dislike" and "even quirkless people"

so the jp tweets. are all about how izuku wants to believe in his own human heart = humanity, that everyone's equivalent in their humanity... but they also inferred that he tragically doesn't know so already 😭

some i've seen also made the connection that this is the reason that he has such a cognitive divide between himself and "kacchan and the others"/everyone else... i'm paraphrasing a lot but. basically. I'm Unwell.

izuku... he does not know!! he just wants to believe! that he has "the same human heart" as everyone ... 😭

i avoid asking abt izuku to you since imo 90% of ppl that go here like to shit on izuku abt how thick he is (/j) but i was wondering ur take on this/ if, u have a take on this? 👀

So two things.

I think the official translation may be right that the "want to believe" line actually refers to Kudou. Something like "he [Izuku] is one in whom I want to believe." At the time I kept trying to figure out a way that line would refer to Kudou's desire to believe but I couldn't make it make sense in my head because of the grammatical structure of all those prior sentences (it's like one big run-on sentence), but I really thought it was about Kudou's desire to believe because the grammar structure at play is not one normally used to refer to OTHER people's desires, just one's own. I was able to come up with an excuse in my head for the grammar about making it so it says "Izuku wants to believe," but now I'm back to thinking the other way. It probably should be "Izuku is one in whom I want to believe."

Knowing that the Japanese fandom read the line that way, I have to wonder about Horikoshi's choice to write the word mukosei without quotes. It's only used to mean "quirkless" when it's in quotes, and it wasn't written that way here. The fact the Japanese fandom still ascribed that word to Izuku sheds a lot of light on the phrasing, especially since it's all followed by something to the effect of "everyone similarly has human hearts." In a sense, it makes it seem like Izuku's desire to save and accept those "whom he should hate" is an effort to prove he himself is the same as everyone, that subconsciously he sees himself in need of saving just as he sees those others as in need of saving. And that he now has such strong convictions about it shows that now he really does believe he's the same as everyone else, he's learned that somewhere along the way, and that's what makes this battle an existential threat to his beliefs.

[red-dia]

I don’t know about the Obsidian theory because there doesn’t really seem to be a point for it anymore. There’s not really any indication that Obsidian could have been giving them the upper hand, especially since Dia was even able to use Obsidian’s swords to deflect the arrows. The way the Lunarians interacted with Phos also makes it seem like they’re the first gem they cooperated with. Red Beryl doesn’t have much development either so I always just thought of Obsidian as their sword counterpart.

oh yeah, imo obsidian is definitely acting on their own initiative, their reaction when sensei told everyone they should give up on him looked really genuine and i sincerely think they love everyone. We can’t even say their swords are shitty because that has to be the best thing they can have with their technology at the moment, so obsi is doing a rlly good job and we should be proud of them tbh

Though, i’m not sure about using the first interaction the lunarians had with phos as a reference, since we know phos chose to cooperate, while -i think?- the theory states that obsidian could have bee made by the lunarians to be sent on earth.. i dont know if that would count as a cooperation, since that doesnt involve obsidian’s opinion/knowledge of the plan.

With that being said, i think that theory was never meant to be serious (but uuuh correct me if i’m wrong, because i dont have the strength to read 4chan threads……). i guess searching for a meaning will lead you nowhere, just appreciate the mixed signals ichikawa keeps sending us (:

[icanandwillcry]

Me; The Yuki You Know

This is my first post on Tumblr so I decided to introduce myself with this 20 facts about me.

BTW if you know me from IRL, you'll know like, who's writing this(?) idk how to phrase it. But chances are, you came from my insta bio.

My name is Yuki (if you didn't know) and the kanji I was "assigned" is 幸.

I'm fluent in English, Korean, and semi fluent in Japanese.

I'm an ISFJ-T 4w3

I'm a huge MBTI enthusiast and can and will ask you your MBTI and memorize it all.

I like all sorts of art! (digital, traditional, writing, photography, acting, voice acting, etc.) Speaking of which, I'm currently writing a psychological thriller book, and I also auditioned for a voice acting company in Japan, but I didn't pass the first screening TvT so I'll probably try again next year.

I'm super into anime and games, so feel free to talk to me abt those! My current fandoms are: A3!, Criminal Minds, Viral Hit, Teenage Mercenary, Spy X Family, and more.

My favourite voice actors are: Seiya Konishi (also stage actor), Junta Terashima, Yuuki Sakakihara, Soma Saito, Yuusuke Shirai, Gakuto Kajiwara, Kana Hanazawa, Saori Hayami, Ayane Sakura, and Ayana Taketatsu.

My favourite stage actor is Keisuke Ueda.

My favourite A3! Song (they got so much and they're spoiling us help) is probably Double Solitaire.

My favourite overall song is Pomegranate by Soma Saito.

I'll either be super active for long periods of time or inactive for who knows how long jnsfknkvnsdj

I'm really into fashion and makeup too, which were one of my childhood dreams (fashion designer and makeup artist) but my first dream was to become an actress. Now, my dream job is to be a voice actor in Japan while taking on psychiatry on the side.

If you give me a book to read with an interesting bond with two characters, I'll look up for fanart and fanfics of them, and if I don't find jack shit, I'll do it. I'll fuckin' do it and nobody can stop me.

I'm really salty about this one but I used to be 164.5cm, and like, a week after my AP finals I checked it again and I FUCKING SHRUNK. I SHRUNK 1.3 CM. HOW.

I love to cook. Mainly simple dishes but I can make something fancy if I had to. If I had the time to, I'd cook for our family daily but High School likes to fuck over our schedules so I can't.

I clean when I get stressed, but the thing is, I get stressed so much that sometimes there isn't much to clean so I'd like, hold back my tears, mess up my room, and re-clean it. That was like, up until two months ago. After that, now I just... empty my closet and fold everything back in. Everything but the stockings.

I had like, a bunch of sheer tights, right? Like, a crap ton before I started attending my current HS. The reason for that's because we have a uniform (button up, tie, cardigan, hoodie, blazer, skirt, the works) and I always wear stockings. Otherwise I feel naked, and that applies with any skirt I wear. But anyways, I had a shit ton of stockings right? And now that sophomore year's practically over, I kinda realized how many stockings I've ripped. For you creeps wondering why, I didn't do anything kinky. I don't even fall or anything. I actually don't know why my stockings rip so much, and I'm underweight so it's not light my leg fat would just PSSHHT it open? And it's always the knees. Are my knees that sharp? That's just a question for another time tho.

I play 5.5 instruments. I'm saying 5.5 because I haven't gotten the full hang of viola yet and it's just something I've kinda messed around with in my free time. The rest are (in order of comfortability): Violin, Bass guitar, Electric/acoustic guitar, Drums, Piano.

My actual voice is on the lower side. I'm a bit self conscious abt it tho so I kinda tone up? or like, speak in a naturally higher pitch and people don't know that it's not my real voice. I can hit some low notes too, I think I can go down to a D3? Idk how high I can go up to but I can cover the full alto range and probably mezzo or soprano... My other ranges for voice acting is like, typical lolita voices (yk, the cutesy stuff), a bit of shouta voices, yandere laughs (is that even a thing), snobby asshole person voices, and guys.

I'm dyslexic (it's not that bad compared to others) but I've practiced reading lots and now people think I'm lying when I tell them I'm dyslexic xD

[propshophannah]

Hi, so I’m not super sure what I’m trying to say but I’m feeling down abt some manorian posts I saw. It’s prob really dumb but I get like upset/sad when blogs I like a lot love everything SJM but then say they’re anti one of her ships. I’ve criticized SJM’s writing & there r ships I don’t particularly like...but I’d never say I was anti one of her ships? Idk. Maybe I’m just confused/sad abt why ppl who love SJM choose that word when it carries a lot of baggage in fandoms. idk. I was just 1/2

feeling kinda sad about it. I also saw ppl I respect a lot saying manorian isn’t a ship cuz they don’t say I love you/show PDA/only have sex. I was just…really hurt by that? It felt like they were saying ppl had to act a certain way for their feelings or relationships to be valid. I don’t think they meant to be offensive(?) they just didn’t realize they were marginalizing a lot of ppl & cultures that show affection differently. idk. It made me really sad & I’m not sure what to do. 2/2

—

Hi Nonnie, I’m sorry it took me so long to get to this ask and I’m sorry you’re feeling sad and confused. I want you to know that what you’ve brought up here is not dumb. Your feelings are valid and important! I’ll try to address your ask as best I can.

About fandom use of the term anti.

You are not alone in finding this odd or discouraging. I’ve seen stuff like this from time to time on “pro” blogs and found myself thinking the same exact thing. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people about it, too. It does seem like there could be a better way to phrase ship criticism or dislike of something other than to use the word anti because you’re right, it does carry a lot of baggage.

To play the devil’s advocate, I think it’s really important to remember that context is key. Just because a fandom blog you love says they’re “anti” something doesn’t mean they’re using the term in the same way Official Anti Blogs use it. (As I write this, I’m wondering if I’ve ever used it to express dislike, not realizing how it could come across!) It could be a joke you’re not in on, or phrasing used because the blogger was rage posting (we’ve all been there) and that was the phrase that validated their feelings in that moment, or it could be that they used that phrase without thinking about how it might come off to their followers.

Have you tried asking the blogger about it? Maybe just send a quick note about how it made you feel. They might not realize how it comes off. This could give you an opportunity to feel as though you’ve been heard and it would allow the blogger the opportunity to explain why they chose that phrase. I think you should ask them, Nonnie! Just because there are a lot of reasons someone might choose that phrase that don’t necessarily mean they are against SJM, or only pro the things they like about her writing and against everything else.

Now that’s not to say that a blog can’t be pro SJM and still be anti something about her books or (as you said) criticize her work. And if that’s the phrase they choose to use then there isn’t much we can do about it. We can’t change other people, but we can change ourselves. So maybe, you don’t follow that blog anymore, or you remind yourself that they’re still a great blog, but one you disagree with on word choice and topics.

About PDA and relationship validation.

I actually love that you brought this up because this is a conversation I’ve been having a LOT lately. There have been a handful of posts or comments on posts lately where things like PDA etc. were used to lessen or invalidate Manon and Dorian’s relationship and it just left an icky feeling with a lot of people.

I should be VERY clear here. I DO NOT think the people who use PDA as an argument for invalidating a ship realize they’re marginalizing people, or are being offensive when they do this. I think it’s more that they’ve just never been in a position where they were asked to think about it that way. The normative category is by definition ignorant of itself, right? Like, even I had a hard time figuring out why some of these arguments left a bad taste in my mouth, and it wasn’t until after I’d talked to a few people that I was able to really figure it out.

But you’re right! Not everyone expresses affection by exhibiting normative displays of romantic love (such as hand holding, cuddling, kissing etc.). Some people aren’t capable of those things, don’t like those things, or they just choose to express affection differently (maybe by validating someone’s feelings, keeping them safe, being present, providing for them in small ways like making dinner or folding their person’s laundry etc.).

And I think the best/most relevant point you make, is that some people don’t come from cultures that normalize PDA. Western cultures show affection VERY differently than Eastern cultures.

Recently I watched a CNN special on Japan that talked a lot about this idea of “sexlessness” and how culturally the Japanese don’t show a lot of affection, specifically touch affection (hugs, kisses, hand holding after marriage etc.). It was fascinating and I’d argue that the idea of cultural differences TOTALLY APPLIES to the Ironteeth in ToG. We don’t know a lot about their culture, but we do know that affection in any form is frowned upon and discouraged. So if we consider how Manon grew up thinking she was incapable of love/displaying loving or kind emotions (and subsequently beaten/abused for displayed them) it’s not hard at all to see how it would take her a lot of time (and deprogramming) to be able to show and express those kinds of emotions.

This is her ENTIRE character arc, right? From the very moment she appeared on page, she told us how heartless she was, while simultaneously showing us how heartless she was not. (I mean, helloOoOo Abraxos!) Her first “I love you” always belonged to him. But she didn’t need to say it for us to know she loved him. It was there the whole time in her actions. Same with the Thirteen. Manon loved them dearly. They were her sisters, her family. And just because she never told them “I love you” doesn’t mean she didn’t love them. I have plenty of friends whom I love very deeply who I’ve never said I love you to. I likewise have lots of friends who I have said it to. Also, it’s easier to tell a pet/animal that we love them rather than risk saying it to a person, right? Animals aren’t going to judge or reject you—or even verbally respond. Therefore, it’s a low risk endeavor. (Not to say I think this is the only reason she said it to Abraxos!)

My partner and I are not into PDA. At all. Sometimes, if we’re in a group of close friends or family I may be more into showing touch affection, but usually we save those moments for private. There have been MANY times when we’ve been out and people have hit on my partner because they honestly don’t know we’re together. And I don’t get mad/jealous or physically stake a claim or anything when this happens. I let my partner handle it. We just aren’t into sharing our intimate moments with other people. It’s for us only.

So I totally understand how an argument based on PDA can be really hurtful or potentially offensive. Especially when the argument ignores the great moments of communication we get with manorian. As if communication is less important to relationships than PDA…

I also see nothing wrong with casual sex, though I don’t see manorian as having had casual sex (even before the “stay” scene where they clearly did more than just sex). I think they both talk a big game about how the sex didn’t mean anything, but if that were true then why wouldn’t Dorian pursue Vesta? Why would the idea of Dorian with another person make Manon jealous? I feel like they both wanted to pretend like The Sex didn’t mean anything, but I read two people, who weren’t able to verbalize their feelings for one another, finding a shared safe space that was free of responsibilities and the horrors of war where they could be with one another and express their feelings the only way they could at that moment in time. (Which is another reason the “stay” scene stands out.)

TL;DR

A good friend of mine is not monogamous at all. She’s in a relationship with a married man (who’s in an open relationship with his wife). They’re bf and gf and she tells me how they say I love you to one another, take trips together, have AMAZING sex, he writes her the most beautiful love letters, they go on dates—they do EVERYTHING couples do. Except he’s married and they’re both sleeping with other people.

And sometimes it’s HARD for me to figure out where to put this in my brain because I grew up with a specific set of parameters that defined what a relationship was supposed to look like. Sometimes I get confused about how he also loves his wife, sometimes I get confused about how my friend knows their relationship is real. Like it’s hard because it challenges societal expectations of what relationships look like.

I think that happens sometimes with ships in books—or with anything in life that we don’t understand. When something is different than what we expect or are used to, it can kind of…blind us to what’s there. If it still bothers you, Nonnie, you could try explaining your side to these people and start a dialogue? It might actually be really helpful for you and them! Give it a try and let me know!

[minblush]

k-armys are spreading a tweet namjoon made in 2013 about korean independence where he says 'There is no future for people who have forgotten history' which shows he probably won't agree with working with a japanese imperialist, hopefully he still has this attitude in 2018 twitter(.)com/BTS_twt/status/367906282012831744

yeah i have seen them doing that ;; and fancafe and all the official tweets since then have been flooded with people talking about these things too, but bighit is playing dead fish so far :(

microwavehater said:Am i the only one who never believed that bts has ~creative freedom~ (anymore) ? If they (still) had, they’d use their influence to spread msgs like baepsae, not just love urself uwu (considering yoongi made political pre-debut releases &interview stuff) Also, their newer releases (LY her onwards) are v much lacking in the hiphop department which (i assume) was a marketing choice. Hiphop just doesn’t sell as well to a female audience (along w the fact that vocalists are the face of BTS).

i think they still have creative input but creative freedom definitely not, but it’s debatable if they ever had it anyway? idk.. and them moving on from hip-hop was definitely both trying to change things up as well as appeal to a broader audience, love yourself era overall was an attempt to basically touch as many people as possible, i don’t mind them changing their musical direction but what has bothered me was the loss of their involvement (because it is less)

Anonymous said:I totally agree with you about BTS losing their originality. I’m almost starting to get annoyed of them. Now bc they know people love their music for its topics such as mental health, etc I almost feel like they’re thinking that they’re obliged to constantly write music that only has a “social” message. I did not like Idol at all. It was pretty tacky and the idea of loving yourself seemed so forced in the lyrics. I want them to make songs about whatever they want at that moment. (1/?)

Anonymous said:Also every fan keeps saying the same thing about them being unfiltered when actually they’ve become SO filtered now. They’ve almost created this illusion of being super open with us when actually we barely know anything about them. I don’t mind that but I hate how they’re touting that as something that applies to them. Honestly most fans now are the bandwagon type and the fandom is starting to feel more like a cult versus a community like it used to. (2/2)

i don’t know if i ever talked about them losing their originality? because originality is debatable in this case too, if you mean their original intention then yes i agree with that, and i agree they definitely created the illusion, once i got out of the bts bubble a bit and also thought back to the old days, i realized how closed off and filtered everything is comparison to the past and even to other kpop groups nowadays that are way more direct, i feel like even exo is more outspoken these days and direct with their fans which i thought could never happen??? i used to stan them and it was hell hah.. and these days.. wowza..

Anonymous said:Fuck yesss we need new yoongi mixtape and i agree abt what you said i wish bts could read that and be like okay guys i think they are right we have done some questionable things and shit has to be addressed whether we like it or not and just fucking do so. Some fans will drop but some would drop anyway bc it is getting out of hand i would never want to call bts problematic bc shit i cannot imagine that being true but them supporting problematic people is kind of making them ones

i just feel like nothing will change because bang pd is too greedy.. he really is eyeing like building a global empire with all the business deals he has been making.. also bts have done plenty “problematic” things themselves, though not to that extent, but some of their actions have hurt a lot of people too, but it depends on what bothers you, i find colorism and things like that a problem, but ofc definitely different thing than pedophilia and such, i just meant to say that nobody is perfect

Anonymous said:Do you ever just wanna randomly bump into bts and be like “hey lets talk!” And then tell them about all these issues and fandom drama and just tell them to wake the hell up? Cos I do haha

well even if we bumped into them, most of them wouldn’t talk to you so dkajsdka

Anonymous said:i agree with everything you have said but what bothers me is he is a co produce of produce 48 and nobody really complained about it even though he is know for sexualizing minors... or did i miss something?? also i feel sorry for you getting hate you were just saying your opinion and people should start to accept some facts! it's not the first time bighit did something questionable ://

oh but actually when that was announced there was backlash? i remember seeing complaints about the producer as well as some of the trainees due to their supposed right wing associations, there were also complaints about women’s rights cause of the oversexualization of some of the girls back in japan and the producer’s lyrics, i think this backlash seems bigger or more visible to you because it’s happening in your fandom ;; that season of produce even ended up having the lowest rankings and voting participation so :/

Anonymous said:I have three words to describe the part of the fandom that blindly accepts all the things, even the problematic ones, BTS do. 'Situationally woke cult'.

that fits perfectly

Anonymous said:i rly appreciate sou voicing your thoughts even if they r not in essay form or refined for days. I agree with you on many things but at the same time it's not as disappointing to me bc I guess I never held them to high standards. like in the beginning I could kinda imagine that they were somewhat sincere (but still remained sceptical) but the more they got famous the more I accepted that that sincerity and authenticity would stop bc that's just the kind of business that kpop is... (♤)

Anonymous said:like it's an inherently dishonest industry. they sell an image just like everyone else, and at best(!!) they were as real as possible with us in the beginning. no doubt they wanted to be different from everyone else and it was easier as long as not that many people gave a fuck about them. but as soon as they started to this chance was over. so i guess what I'm saying is that my view didn't change and I'm not surprised, because I never really bought what they were trying to sell...(♤)

Anonymous said:I still love them, theyre likeable & adorable boys. but theyre not changing the world. they're not in the right kind of industry for that. they love their luxury expensive stuff & the glamour of it all & that's okay. I just take every concept the whip out w/ a grain of salt & a knowing smile & enjoy the entertainment. that's just my own two cents that nobody in the fandom wants to hear so I'm bothering u. & its not an analysis or anything just what is on top of my mind while watching TV lol (♤)

Anonymous said:(♤) oh ps. except for that whole controversial stuff with that misogynist jpn songwriter and supreme boy and what not. I take that seriously , I wont act as if that's just a cute quirk. but they're men so I didn't expect much lmaoo. I knew that those kind of disappointments are just part of the deal ever since I learned that jimin (a whole cutie pie and my ultimate bias) stans chris brown. definitely would kick jm in the shin for that if I ever got to meet him. at least keep it to yourself lol.

haha i wish you didn’t start this with a backhanded compliment but dkajsd yeah overall i see your point and agree... i understand like if you didn’t buy into that whole spiel, then of course you can just keep on going and stanning them as idols and all that comes with that, but many people and me included sincerely thought that they were different, i have stopped stanning kpop groups for a while and got drawn back in with bts because i felt they were so fresh and unique, genuine and open with fans in comparison to other groups i have stanned.. but ofc that image crumbled as time went on.. things have changed as well... and i agree, it’s fine to enjoy it for just the entertainment and like the boys as people, accepting they are just as any other idol.. and maybe i will continue with that perspective myself!! but i honestly find it difficult having believed in it and also bighit continually selling this image to their fans despite evidence of the contrary, i can deal with idol business but like continually being blatantly lied to and then being in a fandom where most of the rhetoric is build around blindly believing it and eating anything the boys and bighit sells? it’s honestly emotionally exhausting sometimes.. but yeah.. you’re honestly right.. even with the last point lol... they are men, and korean men at that sigh.. that’s why i’m burying myself in girl groups nowadays adkjsd to heal my soul

Anonymous said:Hope you have a wonderful day filled with only good things ❤ - the cutest person in the world

thank you so so so so much! you have a wonderful day too ♥ cutie

Anonymous said:simple question, not loaded at all, no wrong answer, the honest answer is the right answer- yaddah yaddah you get it -what do you think bangtan is lying about and what exactly are you saying overall? i just need the language simplified for my 3 braincells :) if i do get what you're saying - whether the actual members of bts are real or not, their message is. "dont let anyone tell you what to do" "live your own life and not a borrowed dream" "life is a marathon, not a race - go your own pace"etc

you can read this post as well as the tags to it to see some of the examples, i mean i have been saying lots of things so i don’t know what exactly you want me to clarify? i think their message is compromised when their actions contradict it, whether it’s their actions or bighit’s is up to debate, like i was talking about in the post though, you can’t have things both ways, can’t hail the boys as woke independent kings while propagating the idea that they are just the company’s pawns at the same time, if you accept their authenticity isn’t there then ofc it’s a different argument, and the things you have listed there may be true, but isn’t is soured knowing they are just things that are said in order to sell bangtan as a product to you? to me they are

Anonymous said:I'm not gonna disagree but I like to see all the sides of a story. Bang pd is their boss, bts made a contract with him, he will ALWAYS have the last word on, well, everything they put out. We like to think that bc bts has creative freedom they can do whatever they want, well obviously they can't. Even if bts wanted to talk more about issues and not work w bad ppl, bang pd wants them to succeed, he wants to make money bc it's his business and bts is the only thing bringing money to it.

i get this argument a lot and to that i will answer again this and this, i don’t understand what your point is exactly though, so you are saying bts are pawns that have to do as they ceo says, yes and? i am criticizing the decision he has made? i’m criticizing that what he cares about the most is money? that he will stop at nothing to widen his wealth and influence? i will not support bts cooperating with vile people just because it wasn’t -completely their decision-, i’m sorry i’m really struggling to see what your point is about the other side of the story, it’s a shitty situation and if they all go through with it, it be greatly disappointing

[hidewari]

Do you think Hide generally loves Kaneki or if It is some kind of bromance? I think it's romantic love just because it's makes more sense considering his actions then bromance but I'm seeing all these posts of 'HideKane fans are misunderstanding Hides 'confession' and I'm just so sad. I'm 100% sure it is romantic love...

@sweetgm2 said:I read tgre ch 148 and my major question is: What kind of love did Hide mean when he said he loves Kaneki? Does you know the Japanese raw meaning for that moment cause I’m fangirling so hard right now. Our son is back and as beautiful as ever and he is so pure in his devotion to Kaneki I’m just like askdksaksnsj

anonymous said:i like hidekane and all, but im kind of annoyed by the people screaming abt how gay it is and how canon their ship is bc hide said “i love him”, when suki ‘好き’ was used, not ai'愛’ or koi'恋’ or anything which p much strictly indicate romance. real talk if my boy hide got some romantic feelings for kaneki im happy as long as he is but like. it’s the s h i p p e r s im annoyed w yk. like pls dont give me long ass rants abt how u kno it’s romantic when i s p e a k japanese (not @ u just in general)

@gooodluckmode said:Hi! I was wondering if we knew what type of love hide said in that panel? I’ve been trying to find a post about it but havent been able to ;_;

anonymous said:French reporting here! In our translation they went by “parce que je l'aime” which is really as ambigous as the other… Sorry my language isn’t much of a help either 😅 That’s clearly not something you’d say to ‘just a friend’ but it doesn’t necessarily is romantic either… But this is reaaaaallyy affectionate for sure

anonymous said:Hey. Go read the comments on Hide’s wikipage. They’re pretty interesting. Also there is a few Japanese people down there, who have said that in the official manga, Hide did say because I love him. I believe the real, official Japanese scans was アイツの事好きっすもん (romaji: aitsu no koto sukissumon) and that directly translates to “because I love him”. According to those Japanese people. I’ve seen people say it was different in the Japanese official scan, I just thought I should share this.

and like nine other anons also asking about the same thing.

So, my initial reaction was that I thought it was just platonic. I didn’t really think that Ishida would pull something like this, to be entirely honest, so I just took it to mean that he loves Kaneki very strongly, perhaps more than even a friend, but not to a romantic extent, but my outlook has changed a bit now that I’ve looked into it more.

I’m gonna talk a bit about how the Japanese fandom seems to be perceiving this (since they speak the language, they’re probably the next best person to consult other than Ishida). I won’t mention my own interpretation on this post but I’ll make a post soon about what I personally think about this.

Firstly, @thatshamelessyaoishipper made a fantastic post on the subject here.

@ayumifey also brought my attention to a reddit post which was translating Japanese comments on 2chan. The contents of the post are very long so I’ll just paste a couple comments from the Japanese fandom and their translations here:

851 ：マロン名無しさん：2017/11/06(月) 21:46:33.00 ID:???.net まぁ好きっすもんは普通に友人としてだろw ヒデホモはさすがにないw (Translation: “Well, when he said '好き’ he probably meant just as a friend, lol. No way Hide is gay, lol.���) 

583 ：マロン名無しさん：2017/11/06(月) 21:13:48.40 ID:???.net 友情で好きとかは絶対言わん あんなホモホモしい会話で男の友情は感じんわ まあ腐はあれを友情とは感じるんだろうがな (Translation: “No way you would say '好き’ with a friend. That gay-sounding talk doesn’t feel like friendship between guys. Well, fujoshi (T/N: I’m guessing 腐 is short for 腐女子) probably feel that is friendship.”)

606 ：マロン名無しさん：2017/11/06(月) 21:16:08.60 ID:???.net 男同士で好きだなんて言わないんだよなぁ (Translation: “Yeah, you wouldn’t say '好き’ between guys.”)

618 ：マロン名無しさん：2017/11/06(月) 21:17:17.45 ID:???.net ヒデがホモじゃないって奴は友達に好きって言ってこいよ (Translation: “Those who are saying that Hide isn’t gay, go ahead and tell your friend '好き’.”)

630 ：マロン名無しさん：2017/11/06(月) 21:18:41.19 ID:???.net 「友達だから」でいいのになんでホモカミングアウトみたいなこと言っちゃうんですかね (Translation: “He could just have said 'Because he’s my friend’, so why is he talking like a gay coming out of the closet?”)

753 ：マロン名無しさん：2017/11/06(月) 21:32:56.70 ID:???.net ホモじゃない 愛してるだけ (Translation: "He’s not gay. He’s just in love with him.”)

Here were OP’s thoughts on the thread overall.

It’s true that 好き can used for a great variety of things - hobbies, food, etc - but when used with a person (eg. 君のことが好き) it generally carries romantic implications. It’s a common expression, yet I’ve literally never heard it used platonically between two male friends - if someone else has, I’d be interested so please let me know.

Obviously when it comes down to it, pretty much anything we read can be subject to some degree of interpretation (it’s not like we can look into the author’s mind). However, going by the number of posts complaining about whether this line means Hide is gay or not (for reference, the word “gay” / ホモ appears 112 times in this thread alone, most of it in relation to Hide), I would say that it’s pretty clear that the author intentionally went out of his way to phrase it so that it sounded like he was admitting to romantic feelings.

I think I also saw someone else who claimed to speak Japanese on one of @kirakira-tae‘s posts claim that Hide’s dialogue had heavily romantic implications but I can’t find the post anymore :s

Now, I have seen a couple Japanese people who still claim that the meaning is ambiguous, but it seems that the general consensus was that the dialogue had romantic undertones since it’s not something a man would generally say to another man, especially not a friend. I think this was definitely deliberate on Ishida’s part, so I think it’s safe to assume that Hide’s statement had romantic undertones, if not a right out confession.

I want to make a separate post about my take on Hide’s love for Kaneki because this got quite long and I sort of want to single out what I have to say about this since it’s slightly different.

[toraonice]

Could you explain a little bit more on why you think the JP fandom is focusing on the "look at me~" part of the drama instead of Chihoko stuff (what you mentioned in your ask abt the event). I'm just wondering what you mean about that, or if you could explain that part a bit better than it seems it was in the snippets we got from Twitter? Thank you for all you do :>

Hello! I think it’s a matter of wording… Like, some lines sound more impressive in Japanese. There are some parts I remember very clearly and some where I had forgotten the exact wording, but yesterday I could find a very complete and accurate Japanese report of the drama (to be honest I find it hard to believe that someone could have written such a perfect report by just taking notes on paper, but.. yeah…).

My impression is based on the fanarts/fancomics I’ve seen. Of course, I cannot possibly have seen each and every single fanart about the event, but for example let’s say that I’ve seen about 300 Japanese fanarts and 50 foreign fanarts (numbers are not exact but they are close to what I’ve seen so far). Out of all the Japanese ones, none of them used the line that in English has been translated by some as “I could search all over the world~”, while I’ve seen at least 5-7 foreign fanarts about it. That’s quite a difference. The reason is that this line doesn’t sound as “deep” in Japanese at all, so Japanese people don’t give it so much importance, it’s just Yuuri trying to convince Victor to get down.

Details and partial translations under the cut.

The exact translation of this part (if the report is accurate, but as far as my memory goes I believe it is):

Victor: “Who’s better, Chihoko or I!?!?”Yuuri: “Who is Chihoko??? Uff… There’s no one better than you in the whole world!!!”Victor: “Am I shining!?!?”Yuuri: “Jeez, yeah you’re dazzling!! Just put some clothes on!!!”

Listening to Yuuri’s voice makes it even clearer, but here he’s not really praising Victor with all his heart, he’s just trying to convince him to get down, and in Japanese their dialogue just sounds hilarious.Now, to be exact, the literal translation of Yuuri’s line is indeed “even searching all over the world it’s not possible to find someone as ‘incredible’ as you” (now, this “incredible” in Japanese is “sugoi” which can also have a humorous nuance, as if he’s saying “I’m sure no one else would do the things you do”), but what it conveys in Japanese is more like I have translated it above.

Also, I’ve seen lots of people in foreign fanarts use Victor’s line “I am Yuuri’s ‘now’”. However, this line doesn’t exist in the drama! In fact there are no Japanese fanarts that use it. As I said in my other post, it can’t really be helped because everyone is reporting based on their memory. I didn’t recall hearing it, and reading reports I could confirm that indeed there was no line like that. I think it might be a wrong recollection of Victor’s monologue:

Victor: “That time, I was indeed angry. But not at Yuuri… at myself, for thinking that I knew everything about him. Sha Chihoko. Chihoko… who the hell are you!? Ah, well… I don’t care who Chihoko is. After all, the past is what made Yuuri who he is now.”(”Yuri on Ice” starts playing in the background)“Yuuri… you have surprised me a lot. You surpassed my imagination, by far. You always looked for an answer with shining eyes. That brought new colors to my world. Now it’s my turn. I will try to surpass your imagination, by far. Yuuri… I’ll show it to you. This is my true…. REVERSE SHRIMP POSE!!!”

I think maybe the person who wrote the report had an inaccurate memory of Victor saying “the past is what made Yuuri who he is now”, or “now it’s my turn”. He never says “I’m Yuuri’s now”.(note: I have no idea how to properly translate “逆海老反り”. It’s the shachihoko pose.. like a shrimp arching his back… Literally it’s somewhat like “reverse shrimp back-arching”.)

Finally, the “look at me” part is by far the one where “the way it’s pronounced” is most important, in my opinion. The translation goes like this:

Yuuri: (dead drunk voice) “Dun jus’ look at Chris, look at me~..”Victor: (sweet voice) “I’m looking at you?”Yuuri: “You’re noo~t”Victor: (disturbingly sweet voice) “I am~♡”Yuuri: “Hmm.. ‘ell then… Do it, with me..” (when he says “do it with me” his voice is much lower than before, like a murmur)Victor: (suddenly serious tone, almost whispering) “….Do what?”Yuuri: “Hn.. whaddyou do when you drink~…”Victor: (still like a whisper) “…What is it, that you do?”Yuuri: (suddenly loud) YAKYUUKEN, of course!!!!!!!!”

Yakyuuken is strip janken (rock paper scissors), the one who loses removes one piece of clothing.Anyway, the above is the closest I could get to how it sounded in Japanese! I’m sure even in Japanese it’s still not possible to fully understand how it sounded without listening to the actual thing, but language-wise, it still sounds closer than in English. I swear I wanted to melt into the chair and disappear during this part, it was that embarrassing. (note: I’m praising it) Many Japanese fans agree that you could picture a heart at the end of Victor’s line, lol.

The parts I mentioned above are the ones where I found the most differences between the reaction of the Japanese and overseas fans, but as I already said it’s not someone’s fault as it’s not possible to recall everything 100% correct by just listening to something twice, even if you take notes.

Lastly, it is confirmed that Victor was naked when he was doing the shachihoko pose on the castle roof (I’m surprised he didn’t get arrested for obscenity lol), but actually we don’t know about Yuuri. I don’t think Yuuri went to the castle only wearing his underwear, so he either undressed on the roof or did the pose with his clothes on. This is not confirmed in the drama or by the staff so far, and even among Japanese people there isn’t a fixed interpretation.

Final question corner (questions I haven’t been asked but someone might ask).

1) If you say that everyone is reporting based on their memory, how can you be sure that what you wrote in your post is correct?

The report I’m using as a reference was written by someone who either has genius-level memory or used “tricks” to remember it correctly, because it’s way too perfect (I only hope these “tricks” are not something which is forbidden at events). If you ask me “what did they say?” I myself can only remember the exact wording for some lines, but if you show me 5 different versions of the same line I can tell which is the one I heard at the event. And that report was like… exactly what I heard at the event. So I’m pretty positive it’s almost completely correct.

2) Can this drama be considered canon?

My opinion is: “Why not?”. I think everyone was in character. We know that Yuuri goes crazy when drunk already from episode 10, where he shamelessly clung to Victor even though they weren’t even acquainted (he even remembers it as “I didn’t have the courage to speak to Victor”), and this drama is set in the off-season after the end of the series, when they are much more intimate (however you prefer to interpret “intimate”). Same for Victor, he was already undressing and clinging to Yuuri in the Chinese restaurant of episode 6, so yeah… “Victor undressing in public when drunk” doesn’t sound impossible. All other characters sounded like themselves too, and let’s not forget that YOI does have some “surreal” parts (the triplets in the first place) even in the anime series, so I believe what happened in the drama and the subtle sides of some characters that we got to know here (can kisser drunk Seung-gil be considered “subtle”..?) make sense.

[wendynerdwrites]

Im glad that u also like archer. Ive been rewatching it (im on s2) and i feel guilty as a feminist for liking it so much :( i know a lot of the jokes are supposed to be ironic but i still feel bad for laughing, and my bf has made comments abt "how can u laugh at that as a feminist" (he isnt one, hes using it as a gotcha). How do u feel about this? Any advice for separating myself from toxic fandom to just be able to enjoy something problematic? Love ur blog btw happy friday 💋💋

Thanks, and don’t worry, anon: You’re not a bad feminist. 

It’s funny you ask this, but I used to have an entire essay series on this exact topic, and on Archer, particularly!

My philosophy is: don’t ignore the problematic, examine it. Use it as a springboard for analysis so you can learn more about the issue conveyed. Use your problematic responsibly! Because, let’s be honest, there ARE no unproblematic pieces of media. So just use it to educate yourself instead. For instance: my love of West Side Story (starring Natalie Wood as the Puerto Rican Maria) got me to learn more about the issues of white-washing.

Being a feminist is not about being perfect, it’s about learning and being open to examination and learning. Use your fandom for good!

Laughter is the balm for the soul. And listening to your boyfriend telling you how to be a feminist… less so. Kind of the opposite. 

My old articles are lost, for the most part, but under the cut, I’ve pasted them for reference and included a great video on satire that also very easily applies to this discussion (just substitute feminism with the Holocaust)

Our Faves Are Problematic (And So Can You!)

Nothing and no one is perfect, so isnt it about time we learn how to call out the things we love?

We are all familiar with guilty pleasures: those things we like in spite of ourselves, that we are ashamed to admit we enjoy. Usually the term is applied to something we enjoy despite a perceived “lameness”, or because we’re not the right demographic for something. For instance, I still have a deep, abiding affection for Sailor Moon: that colorful, stock-footage-laced Japanese phenomenon that still gets me shouting “MOON PRISM POWER!” when I’m in the right mood. Yes, childhood is over, and yes, the show’s American dub did give me incest panic as a child, but I can’t help but love it.

But then there is the more difficult brand of guilty pleasures guilty pleasures that involve actual guilt instead of “mild embarrassment”. I’m talking about problematic faves the stuff that we love despite it containing clearly objectionable material.

willing18

(Image copyright Vertigo Comics)

…This is a panel from Bill Willingham’s Fables. The character there is Bigby Wolf, one of the main (anti) heroes of the story and the character the writer identifies with most. The person Bigby is waxing poetically on pro-Zionism to is someone literally called “The Adversary”.

Fables also happens to be one of my favorite comic book series on the planet.

Safe to say the issues surrounding Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East are a bit more complicated than that. And my own feelings on the matter are far more complicated. But this glorification of Israeli military policy is… um… in very tame terms… uncomfortable. After reading this, I resolved to only check Fables out of the library: a way for me to enjoy these comics in a legal way without financially supporting these ideas, however indirectly.

There are other problems with Fables: a lack of ethnic diversity, some murky racial and class commentary, and instances of some objectionable tropes, but there is a lot to recommend of these books as well. The stories are fantastic, the art brilliant, the characters well-fleshed out, and there is a definite progressive take on issues like gender and sexuality. But as much as I love this series, there is no getting around the fact that these stories have issues.

No excuses.

But it’s not just Fables that has disappointed me in the past. I am now and forever a Trekker, yet despite how horribly sexist episodes like “The Turnabout Intruder” are, or the very troubling anti-Semitic coding of the Ferengi. The Star Wars prequels famously had racist caricatures with the Trade Federation and the infamous Jar Jar Binks.

In the world of media, there’s no shortage of problematic content. From the novels of Robert Heinlein containing pro-fascist commentary, to HBO’s Game of Thrones misogynistic adaptation decisions, there’s nothing that is quite free of some messed up messages, subtle and blatant alike.

Now, when we talk about such media, we don’t merely mean triggering factors (i.e. the presentation, portrayal, or discussion of potentially traumatizing issues like domestic abuse, racism, hate crimes, substance abuse, or sexual assault), but rather how these matters are portrayed. A piece of media, such as Marvel and Netflix’s excellent Jessica Jones series, can portray certain issues (such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and mental illness) in a respectful, progressive, and sensitive light. Thus, while the content of the show can be triggering, the skill with which they portray these matters keeps it from being problematic.

In contrast, something like Game of Thrones, which portrays sexual assault in a thoroughly insensitive, exploitative, and misogynistic manner, is highly problematic.

Unfortunately, progress has been a slow-moving process, with many issues such as race, gender, sexual identity, mental illness, substance abuse, and violence only being examined in a more nuanced way fairly recently. As a result, almost all media is problematic in one way or another. Especially since even today, the majority of executives crafting, publishing, and greenlighting books, shows, comics, movies, and other forms of media are in fact cisgendered, heterosexual white men.

So what do we do?

Good news: here at Fandom Following, we don’t believe in dropping something you like just because it’s problematic. Why?

Because knowing, examining, and yes, even appreciating problematic content can be incredibly important. While certain content can be damaging, it can also teach us a great deal. Not only about current issues, but also about how to go about discussing these matters, and constructing narratives in general.

The racial issues in things like Star Wars and Star Trek can teach us much about how coding works, and how to avoid reinforcing stereotypes. The exploitation of women and rape on Game of Thrones can open up a dialogue of how to portray these things properly and improperly.

There are three tricks to enjoying problematic media: 1) Recognizing that there is an issue, 2) Being ready for a dialogue, and 3) Not ignoring or silencing the complaints about said issues.

Well, we here at Fandom Following have decided to tackle this issue head on with a series called “Our Faves Are Problematic (And So Can You!)”, where we will be exploring specific media franchises, creators, and works and, specifically, the problematic content they contain. In this series, we’ll be examining the issues, talking about why they’re important, discussing what this piece of media did wrong, how to approach the issue in a more progressive way, and the best ways to go about discussing the issue itself. Various writers will be contributing to this project, and we’re excited to present this feature to you!

So let’s get down and dirty, people. We all have our problematic faves. Let’s talk about them.

My Face is Problematic: Archer

Honestly, doing a post like this on Archer, a show which is deliberate in its dark humor, is a bit hard for me. Not because I like the show, but because I think there’s true validity in the argument that humor and narratives about really messed up, problematic stuff has its place. The show exists to be as outlandish and absurd as possible. The extremes and the awfulness of the characters’ personalities and their actions is the point.

I VUZ BORN IN DUSSELDORF AND THAT IS VY THEY CALL ME ROLF!

Joking about awful things, awful circumstances, and awful people is hardly new ground for comedy to cover, nor does it send a poor message, necessarily. Mel Brooks wrote a movie in which one of the characters was a Nazi, who wrote an overblown pro-Nazi musical produced by men deliberately trying to make a flop. Springtime For Hitler, as it exists in our universe, is not problematic. The Nazis are the butt of the joke, in which any pro-Nazi sentiment can only function if it is wildly fabricated and over-the-top, and even then, it will still be taken for satire. Because Nazis are utterly terrible, they built their movement on total bullshit that they dressed up in shiny boots and Hugo Boss uniforms and German exceptionalism and “glory”. This song-and-dance number about “Don’t be stupid, be a smartie, come and join the Nazi party” only ever deserves to be a joke, as the Jew who wrote it can tell you. Nazis fucking suck and it’s hilarious that anyone would ever suggest otherwise.

There’s justice in reducing Nazis to self-parody, and doubling down on that by making a joke about them being reduced to self-parody. Especially when said self-parody and depiction of it is crafted by the very people Hitler tried to destroy. No one enjoys or masters mocking Nazis like the Jews. Plain and simple.

Joking about awful things and how terrible they are can be a good way to process things and not allow them to hurt you anymore. Comedy, at its core, is a defense mechanism against horror and pain. There’s a reason slapstick is a classic subgenre of comedy that people have built entire careers around. Laugh at terror and pain to make it go away. Unfortunately, some of the things we manage to find humor in can really make you wonder if were all just terrible and have no limits.

Angela’s Ashes is a memoir by Frank McCourt about his impoverished, abusive, dangerous childhood in Ireland. In it, he chronicles his own starvation, life-threatening illness, abuse, and suffering at the hands of alcoholism and brutality from adult authority figures. He was a child laborer who went days without food while his father drank away the family’s money and abused the rest of the family, who often came down with horrifying illnesses as a result of the terrible conditions he lived in, and spent his formative years suffering along with all the people he loved. Three of his infant siblings die within the space of a chapter. We get a glimpse of the time when his father, overjoyed at the birth of his daughter, finds the will to stop drinking, stop mistreating his family, go to work, provide for his family, and just generally be a better person so that his children don’t have to suffer. For a short period, the McCourts have food, heat, and happiness. Then the baby promptly dies and Frank’s father is back in the pubs, once again squandering any pay he manages to acquire on alcohol and returning home at three am to scream at and beat his wife while his remaining children try to cover their ears and sleep on the cold ground.

Along with being praised for it being a both an unflinchingly brutal depiction of poverty and a testament to the triumph of the human spirit, the book is also praised for its humor.

Remember: Angela’s Ashes is a true story written by the very man who suffered through all of these horrible things. And it’s considered a pretty funny book. And the author who, once again, is the person who actually suffered all of these horrible things, actually did intentionally try to make people laugh as they read about that time he was in the hospital with Typhoid Fever and enjoyed it because it was the first time he’d been in a place where he was fed regularly and got to sleep in a warm bed.

Hilarious.

That being said, there’s satire and dark humor, and there’s just gratuitous, shock-jock bullshit. There are jokes that are terrible simply because of what they’re about and how they’re handled. George Carlin said that anything can be made funny, even rape, if you imagine Elmer Fudd raping Porky Pig.

If we can build entire films and musicals about how any pro-Hitler sentiment can only ever be taken as satire, isn’t that proof that you can joke about anything?

Yes, you can, but that doesn’t mean you should try, that the joke is funny, or that it’s alright, necessarily. Maybe Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, and Springtime for Hitler prove that anything can be made funny and that’s okay. But if that’s true (and no, I’m not saying that it is), that still doesn’t mean every attempt at making something funny is either acceptable or funny.

Springtime for Hitler is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for any attempt to make a terrible subject the object of humor. Standards need to exist.

Unfortunately, the line between good or acceptable dark humor and simply gratuitous, insensitive, inherently problematic jokes can blur. The excuse of humor can only go so far. Yes, make light of Nazis. But there’s still a point where “humor” is used an excuse for people to act like assholes. And it’s an excuse that is used all too often. Radio Shock Jocks have been using that excuse to help reinforce racism and rape culture for quite a while. Whether certain dudebros like it or not, there’s a point where it stops being gross-out and just starts being gross.

Which brings me to Archer, the animated spy comedy on FX that premiered in 2011. Like many comedy series like Seinfeld or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a major part of the premise is that certain characters are, quite simply, terrible people. These characters and their abhorrent behavior is the joke. And, as the show is about spies, these terrible people are often put into highly dangerous, outlandish, and traumatizing situations.

So, the main characters, by virtue of their profession, spend a lot of time killing people in cold blood. Or trying to seduce or manipulate enemies. Or engaging in clandestine operations of sabotage that harm a lot of people. Horrible, violent things are going to happen, things violent enough to serve as narratives on their own. But most of the characters are as awful as the situations they encounter, so the horror is amplified. And it’s a comedy.

Indeed, in the first episode of the fifth season, we get the whole main ensemble recounting all of their actions and experiences working for the spy agency ISIS that we’d witnessed over the course of the show’s run at that point. Drag racing with the Yakuza, knee-capping the Irish mob, encountering human traffickers, 30 year affairs with the head of the KGB that only ended when the guy was blown up because one of the ISIS members had choke sex with the victim’s cyborg replacement, actual piracy, paying homeless people to fight for spectators, defling a corpse, defiling a different corpse, sexual assault, kidnapping the pope, blowing up oil pipelines, “smuggling Mexicans”

Yeah.

There are comedic arcs about cancer, illegal immigration, kinky S&M bondage murders, cocaine addiction… a lot of stuff, basically.

Now, take those situations, and add in characters who get aroused by things like homeless people, being choked, sex with food, and the thought of their mother dying. Who spend their weekends starting fires, making hybrid pig-people, rubbing sand into the eyes of their employees, competing in underground Chinese Fighting Fish tournaments, and calling in bomb threats so that they can get a table at a fancy restaurant. You get the idea.

And it’s all totally awesome and hilarious and god damn it I kind of love these characters.

This show has a season-long sub-arc about one of the main characters getting so aggressively addicted to cocaine that she not only consumes (literally) half a ton of it in the space of a few months, but almost gets her head chopped off for buying amphetamines from the Yakuza with counterfeit money. It’s one of the most incredible things the show has done.

Pictured: An absurdly self-centered man feeling genuine dismay and concern over his friend risking her life to achieve an unrealistic standard of beauty.

The title character has a butler named Woodhouse who practically raised him. One of the first interactions we witness between them is Archer not only threatening to rub sand into Woodhouse’s “dead little eyes”, but making him go out and buy the sand himself and check if they grade it, because he wants the sand to be coarse. He’s also done things like make the man eat a bowl of spiderwebs and deliberately keep him in the dark about his brother’s death and funeral.

Another character is a mad scientist and possible clone of Adolf Hitler who kills a young intern by giving him a drug designed to turn him gay. That’s one of the less disturbing things Dr. Krieger has done.

Frequent gags on this show include one guy repeatedly getting shot, another character repeatedly getting paralyzed (it’s complicated), people trying to remember the inappropriate puns that they wanted say as one-liners, the horrific abuse and neglect Sterling Archer has received from his mother his entire life, and basically everyone being a sex-maniac.

There are plots revolving around mind-control, drugging people, and hypnotism. You can imagine the paths some of those episodes go down. Yes, there is a character that has tried to sexually assault one of her sleeping co-workers. And later deposited two unconscious, naked coworkers in a bathroom stall with an octopus, in an episode that has already made tentacle hentai jokes. Yes, the openly gay character on the show is often the target of jokes about him being gay or a woman from his coworkers. Yes, the female lead, a black woman, is referred to as a “quadroon” at one point by one of the characters.

Yes, the following exchange of dialogue does take place in an early episode:

“Oh my god, you killed a hooker!”

“Call-girl!”

“No, Cyril, when they’re dead, they’re just hookers!”

And yet… Oh my god. How it manages to play around with stuff in an amazing fashion. For one thing, it is amazing how often this show skewers micro-aggressions and fucks around with stereotypes. And, despite how unabashedly messed up it is, the writing in it actually manages to be oddly pro-social progress in ways that most modern media doesn’t even seem to be aware of.

I take pride in my sex work and I will not put up with your bullshit!

For instance the “hooker” referred to in that exchange? (spoiler alert: she wasn’t really dead) She’s Trinette, and she an unbelievably refreshing and strangely progressive depiction of a sex worker. While she’s a minor character, every time she shows up, it’s awesome. Trinette is a sex worker who is unashamed of her job, a woman who truly does take pride in and enjoy her work, who does not put up with poor behavior from her clients, and is just generally awesome. She call people out and makes them pay for any mistreatment she receives, from calling out micro-aggressions by insisting on her preferred terminology for her profession (“Call-girl, you puke!”), shaming men for their sexual misdeeds (“How can you cheat on Lana bare-back?!”), demanding restitution for any injuries or threats she’s suffered (Threatening Archer into giving her his car after he fakes her death and stuffs her in a rug to fool Cyril into thinking he killed her), and determining her work and clients (“What about Trinette? She said that? Damn it!”). When she has a baby, she gives it her last name along with his father’s (“Magoon-Archer”) and she unapologetically proud of her Irish heritage. She’s easily one of the most functional characters in the show, and every one of her appearances on the show manage to defy at least one whore-phobic trope a minute. She’s the best.

Then there’s the show’s handling of race, which is mixed. While arguably the most important female character in the series (the show, despite its name, is very, very much an ensemble, especially as the series progresses. But in the early episodes when they focussed on fewer characters, she was the one who got the most screentime) is Lana Kane, a highly-competent (for ISIS) African American woman who is really, really well-developed, there is also the fact that she’s the only POC in the main cast. Granted, part of that IS the point. One of the earliest episodes is “Diversity Hire”, where, aside from Lana, the spy agency is so overwhelmingly white that they hire a “diversity double-whammy!” Conway Stern, a black Jew.

“Sammy Gay-vis Junior!”

Now, granted, that doesn’t sound great the way I describe it, but there are so many great moments in this episode alone. For instance, when Mallory Archer, terrible woman and owner of the spy agency mentions their lack of diversity, Cyril, the tragically white accountant and “nice guy” puts his hands on Lana’s shoulder and says he thinks they’re pretty diverse, a statement Lana finds hilarious. Cue Sterling Archer, other horrible person, telling Lana she’s “black-ish”, then responding to her offense at this with “Well, you freaked out when I said quadroon!”. The framing of this entire discourse is that Cyril and Archer are fucking idiots and Lana is of course taking offense because, duh, she should. The episode proceeds with a lot of references and discussion about racism, highlighting casual racism in a nuanced, funny, and organic way. For instance, Archer’s relief that Conway didn’t sleep with his mother. While Archer freaks out about anyone sleeping with his mother, regardless of race, Conway believes it’s racism on Archer’s fault. And in no way does the narrative act like he’s overly-sensitive or irrational for thinking that. Because the stereotype about black men seducing white women and fear from white men about this is still a very real, pervasive thing that has somehow managed to survive in our “enlightened” times. Of course Conway encountering a guy who displays a downright violent fixation on whether or not his new black coworker is sleeping with his mother will assume it’s a race thing. Because why would anyone be so preoccupied with such an idea? In that situation, it’s almost certainly based on the long-standing paranoia white men have about black men’s sexuality “conquering their women.” It’s one of the most common varieties of anti-blackness in existence.

Of course, since it’s Archer, who has kidnapped a LOT of people under the suspicion that they were having sex with his mom, we know this is the one case that it isn’t racism. It’s Archer’s disturbing, Oedipal relationship with his mother. He even kidnapped and threatened his role model, Burt Reynolds, for dating his mother. When he says “Not in a racist way” to Conway in this episode, it’s actually true. He’s just honestly that screwed up where his mother is concerned.

Conway’s conclusions on this, regardless, are still framed as a totally understandable. To the point where the episodes suggests that it would make no sense for Conway to think otherwise. Part of the joke is that no, Archer isn’t a horrible racist at all. He’s way too screwed up for his actions to be motivated by racism.

And before anyone asks, no, this wasn’t the “episode that acknowledges that racism is a thing.” You know the ones… The episodes that talk about race and why racism is bad to prove to the audience that they’re not racist, then proceed with the rest of the show, which never acknowledges race and racism again. There are frequent instances of highlighting racism, from violent outright bigotry to common micro-aggressions to clueless white people demanding how the thing they just did/said could POSSIBLY be considered racist! They’re not racist! How is THAT racist?! Cue Lana face-palming.

I just really, really like this. It doesn’t just end there, either. Racism is called out pretty frequently on this show, and not in a cliche, strawman way. Nor is it treated like something that only exists in the form of aggressively bigoted bad people shouting slurs and holding cross burnings. Nope. The “heroes” of this show just say shit that you could easily imagine someone saying in real life, shortly before getting defensive about any racism on their part. It’s treated as a common, pervasive thing that Lana and other PoC have to deal with every day, and the offense they take at it is treated as nothing short of sympathetic or justified (even in the cases of misunderstandings, like with Conway). This includes Mallory telling Lana to “put [the race card] back in the deck!” as reminder of how much of an unapologetic douche Mallory is.

It’s made clear: people say and do some super racist shit on a regular basis with realizing it or meaning to, and regardless, it’s still uncool and people have every right to get upset and call you out on it. See: Ray’s bionic hand at the end of season six.

Lana’s reactions and how they’re framed is usually pretty awesome. Mostly they come in the form of small, reasonable confrontations, which are never framed as an overreaction on her part. The fact that she “freaked out” when Archer called her a quadroon is framed as “well, duh, of course, she should.” Then there are instances like when she, Archer, and their child visit a high-end nursery school where they encounter a pretty obvious racist. The guy ignores and dismisses Lana at first, then expresses surprise at the fact that she’s the mother of the child (despite the baby being black), remarking about the “times we live in” and telling Lana “good for you!” when she informs him that yes, she is the mother, not the nanny or the maid.

Not all of the racism stuff stems from Lana being back, either. They skewer bigotry against Latinos on a pretty regular basis. When an Irish mobster rants about Latinos (he doesn’t refer to them by that name) “taking American jobs!”, Archer immediately calls bullshit, recalling actual history of the Irish being accused of that exact same thing during the mass immigration of the Irish to America during the potato famine, and it’s just as shitty and bigoted to say such things about immigrants now as it was in 1842. He is extremely irate about a mission ISIS is assigned to do on behalf of border patrol to  arrest people who just want to get a job, and he ends up siding with and befriending the Mexican illegal immigrants he encounters. All of this while aspects of certain Latinx cultures are often highlighted, often very favorably (���Ramone is Latino, so he’s not afraid to express affection.”)

That being said, there are still a lot of issues in the show. The lack of diversity is definitely an albatross around this show’s neck. Especially so many seasons after the “Diversity Hire” episode. While I do praise Archer for not treating racism as a thing that is rare and only needs to be addressed in one twenty-minute block of time, it is telling that the lack of diversity at ISIS is never addressed again.

Then there’s the approach to sexuality. The show loves gross-out sex humor, especially regarding Krieger. And the depiction of sexuality is actually pretty mixed. On one hand, the openly gay character in the show adheres to a lot of stereotypes about gay men: he mocks Lana about her “knock-off Fiacci drawers”, his go-to alias is “Carl Channing”, his free time is spent at raves, and he loves to make effeminate poses. He’s also a frequent target of homophobic jokes and remarks. His outrage at this is treated as being every bit as valid as Lana’s, but it doesn’t change the fact that their main gay character is basically ALL of the stereotypes, as are a number of the other gay characters.

“Alright! Were off to get our scrotums waxed!”

Then there is the sexual assault. Which, once again, is called out for being what it is, in defiance of many common biases (such as the idea that female-on-male sexual assault isn’t a thing). But this show is way too flippant about this.

While I consider Archer to be very sex-positive, allowing every character, regardless of sex, age, or orientation, to be comfortable and expressive about their sexuality without judgment (a lot of jokes, yes, but not any that come off as particularly shaming). Almost every character, male or female spends a fair amount of time naked or scantily clad. We see Archer stripped down just as often as Lana. And the fan service isn’t relegated to just women who adhere to the typical youth and weight obsessed eurocentric standards we all know and hate.

Pam, who is a big woman (and often the target of fat jokes, which the show always treats as nothing short of detestable) is a total sex goddess who grows to be utterly confident in herself as a woman to the point where she’s giving Mallory (one of the most desired women on the show) advice. When she reveals that she keep ingesting cocaine because it’s made her thin with big boobs, Archer is utterly dismayed, telling her she was way better off the way she was, acting horrified that she’d risk her life to be “hot”, and just generally freaking out about Pam’s desire to be thin. It manages to avoid being cliche or empty given that Archer considered Pam the best sex he ever had before she got thin, to the point of blowing off assignments just to have sex with her, because she’s just that awesome. After she gains the weight back in season six, she’s still sexy, making Archer’s jaw drop in the episode “Edie’s Wedding.” She’s also unapologetically pansexual, which is awesome.

Mallory, meanwhile, is still actively sexual and treated as desirable. While sex and sexuality are always sources of gags and jokes on Archer, never do the jokes about Mallory’s sexuality ever come across as ageist. Sure, some characters make ageist comments on the show, but it’s never treated as valid. Mallory is still treated as being extremely sexy and confident about it. While Mallory is generally a horrible person, her enthusiastic sexual agency is never once treated as a flaw or something disturbing or gross. What’s disturbing, gross, and worthy of ridicule is her son being so preoccupied  and reactionary about his mother having a sex life. It’s clear: if you have a problem with Mallory having a lot of sex and enjoying it, you’re the one with issues.

Even the one young, thin, white woman in the main cast gets to be unapologetic about her kinks. It’s really only a problem when her desire for choke-sex motivates her to lead a KGB cyborg to the ISIS safehouse. Or when she coerces Cyril into sex. And generally acts like a violent, awful person.

Essentially, there’s no tolerance for shaming women for being sexual. All of it, regardless of preference, age, size, or race, is nothing but fun and should be enthusiastically represented. “Can’t talk, got a pussy to break!”

Being a predator is shameful. Having belly rolls is not.

Who on Earth finds this funny?

But, then there’s the flippancy about sexual assault. There ARE gags about Pam and Ray dropping their pants when encountering an unconscious Cyril. And sorry, but the framing of it is all manner of screwed up. There’s tons of sexual coersion as well. Another one of the most problematic instances comes in an episode of season two, where Archer is repeatedly sexually assaulted by a sixteen-year-old German socialite. The show goes out of its way to make it clear that Archer explicitly refuses consent, that he’s being violated, yet the show treats this as funny.

While I get that this is a comedy show and that in-depth exploration of the trauma of sexual abuse isn’t going to be something they can spend a lot of time on, the option they should have gone with is, you know, not base an episode around a german schoolgirl raping the main character. It’s not funny, guys. It’s not necessary. It’s actually just uncomfortable and off-putting.

The show mentions things like alternative gender identities, emotional triggers, and sexual exploration in ways that treat these things as totally valid, which is good. It also frequently portrays poor people as jokes in and of themselves, which is a lot less good. While materialism is lampooned frequently, it’s not treated as a joke in and of itself the way poverty is.

The way the show often portray legitimate abuse for laughs also often goes overboard. While the show does a good job of exploring and following through on all the ways Mallory’s abuse screwed up Archer, there’s a point where the volume of “abuse humor” gets to just be downright gross. Dark humor is one thing, not being able to go an episode without a “Haha, ten-year-old archer was abandoned in a train station at Christmas!” joke is, uh… Not great.

Archer is an awesome, immensely watchable show. But it’s not one I always feel clean watching. It’s a show that celebrates extremes, yes, but there’s a point where certain lines are crossed and it’s just problematic rather than gallows humor.

Archer is one of those series that really makes me struggle to distinguish the gallows humor from the simple tastelessness. To give pause to the idea of problematic content being the “point.”

The line blurs with Archer. A lot. It often manages to distinguish itself with the things it gets right, especially since they often do well on things that most shows, movies, and books are often terrible at. And that’s enough to buy it some goodwill for when they screw up.

But seriously, guys, please stop treating sexual coercion and child abuse as bottomless gag wells. I would have really preferred to have Pam and her awesome sexuality without her sexually assaulting Cyril and Ray. It’s not funny or clever or edgy. It’s just gross.