#idk it’s v generic shonen

[ttomuras]

the last five chapters were extremely rushed and the ending feels generic and boring to me. like i literally joked about how there is going to be a timeskip, deku is gonna be a teacher and they’ll have a pull-out-your-ass solution about how deku can still be a hero. joked in a “this is too goofy” way just like ppl joked about “this is our hero academia”. this feels v?? goofy?? but in a not fun way for me

[gallus-rising]

sometimes i feel like. just a significant amount of FMA Discourse™ would vanish if we all remembered to take into account the genre (a shonen action manga w a target audience of 12-16 y/o(approximate age) Japanese boys published from 2001-2010) conventions, buy-ins, and limitations

like. no media is beyond critique and i am a firm believer that kid's media can tackle serious topics but the time, place, and audience it was produced in has to be taken into account

is FMA super feminist? well honestly in the grand scheme of things it achieves a bit more than the minimum. there's only a handful of female characters compared to the much larger male cast. Winry and Hawkeye have personalities and character arcs and compelling motives but those things are directly tied to more important male characters (Ed and Mustang). there's only one female character that's highly sexualized (Lust) as opposed to all of them, the rest get to be v conventionally attractive instead of blatantly sexualized nonstop. in the context of being a shonen action manga aimed at teenage boys tho? it's fuck phenomenal

does it handle the Ishvalan genocide well? not particularly. but for Baby's First Introduction To The Concept in a country that's historically Not Been Great at acknowledging war chimes it does a decent job (note: i'm def not saying Japan's the only nation w that problem, just that they're one of the big ones in regards to the topic)

is it shitty that FMA's solution to corrupt systems is to just get rid of all the Bad People and put Good People in charge? hell yeah!! but a common buy-in for media aimed at this age group is that the heroes are all Good Guys who will achieve their goals and do good things. Mustang and Ling both plan to more or less keep the system as is but take out the Bad Parts which is bs irl but in YA-and-under fiction we can trust that they are Good Guys who will do Good Things

idk idk just something i've been thinking abt in general for lots of thing (also i know i'm not the adept at. like. media analysis, if you can call this that, so plz forgive me for any bs i might've said)

[psychewritesbs]

hi! i didnt have much success when looking through ur blog to see if uve addressed this alrdy so apologies if u have.

i was curious to know ur thoughts on jjk's portrayals of gender, esp women/femininity. if u have particular insight from a psych or philosophy bg, id be interested in hearing that (warning, i have a v feminist critique lens)

ik u love gege's writing 😅 but his handle on female characters/femininity has given me such a difficult relationship w jjk, and its v difficult to have discourse on it. on one hand, we're introduced to sm interesting realistic women, tbh i actually never stanned a woman in manga before jjk. but imo it cant be denied that gege is a sexist writer. despite how realistic jjk women r theyre all .. halfwritten? i cant think of a single one who isnt underwritten, not fully explored, not utilized substantially in the plot, etc. and there r sm ex's of extremely minor male characters in jjk who r given more thematic relevance than frequently recurring women that just underscores that gender gap imo

this isnt solely a gege problem ik but what bothers me in particular about jjk vs other mangas is how gege addresses strength, even in the light of nb/androgynous characters, and how it feels as if gege's def of strength is inherently masculine? even despite going so far as to give us a philosophical battle shonen w diverse reps of gender and emphasizing individuality that encompasses both femme/masc traits

how a reader interprets whether a jjk woman is strong or not is obv subjective. like, i think shoko is strong but shes not depicted as such bc she doesnt have a combative technique whereas yuki maki nobara or mei r depicted as "strong" bc of their battle abilities. but it also feels as if those women r strong bc they take on "masculine" traits/mindsets whereas there r no clear depictions of "femininity" making women or men stronger. even utahime who falls into v classic shoujo girl tropes is seen as weak despite teaching her students v proficientally in battle strategy (mechamaru v mahito is a good ex of that imo), as compared to how gojo teaches his (ie dumping them into missions for experience). but thats not what gege ever chooses to highlight

femininity also doesnt even seem to make men/nb characters stronger. the ex's i can think of r naoya as a vagina (lmao), geto as a mother to curses, yuta as highly attuned to his emotions, kenjaku as yuji's mother -- those r things that support these (mostly) men's strong sense of individuality but like, those arent really the things that lend those characters their "strength", u know? like geges just sprinkling in androgyny for the spice 🧐

what is feminine vs masculine, how an individual embodies those traits in their gender identity r already complex topics. im obv generalizing a lot here, but i just, idk despite how many other nuanced philosophies gege explores, what is strong/desirable in jjk still falls down to all-out fighting abilities/physical prowess, emotional detachment, isolation, extremism, etc -- all things we harp on toxic masculinity for. and even when he critiques that, theres no cogent counter solution/way to be strong that gege provides, much less one that incorporates "femininity" and women

maybe im just asking for too much from gege after having read so many great representations of women and gender by female (and male) mangakas/writers but.. i shouldnt be 🙄 he can utilize his female characters more imo, esp when he can clearly set them up so well. and im sure theres things ive misread about jjk and its portrayal of femininity, theres plenty of holes in my thoughts ^^ anyways, this is obv not a great topic to bring up in a fandom that is so polarized between dudebros and women w unaddressed internalized misogyny.. so i welcome any and all thoughts and interpretations on ur end! (also omg im rlly sorry this got so long)

I love you feminist anon, if I may call you that lol, I just always name my anons 😂. I am so grateful that you sent this.

I feel like you've very eloquently explained the deeper reason as to why I personally can't relate to the female characters in jjk. If I'm honest, I like them and think they are fun and good enough representations or attempts at depicting the archetypes that rule their personalities.

As you say, however, some of them remain rather superficial and underutilized... and please forgive me anyone who loves them, but some of them feel like they are basically dudes wearing skirts.

No offense to dudes who wear skirts or people who like men who wear skirts or anyone for that matter. It's just that, as a personal preference, I like female characters that wear skirts, pants, leggings, etc and have equal amounts of masculine and feminine energy.

So, even if I find they are good enough, I've never necessarily loved jjk female characters, because, as you also say, I've read/seen one too many amazing and iconic female characters by other authors...

And it's not like I think you're asking for too much from Gege in wanting better female characters, it's just that, as you also said, I like his writing and I read jjk precisely because of what it's doing for my masculine psyche. Like... quite literally.

So perhaps I'm more forgiving than you are because of it? Because in all reality, there are female character moments in other manga that I have to give the bombastic side eye to, and jjk isn't one of them.

Let's taco'bout it more under the cut.

So, that said, I have to admit that you might not find a lot of "feminist oriented" content in my blog because my feminist lens is reserved for dealing with lame dudebros in my real life, and also, I honestly do not know how to wear the lens on the same level of depth as you do.

Also, since my blog's lens is depth psych, I very much focus on femininity and masculinity as psychological qualities that exist on opposite ends of a continuum regardless of biological gender. You'll see me refer to femininity and masculinity like this throughout my answer.

So because of this, I'm coming at the whole issue from a slightly different angle than you are. The way I see it, I think the way the jjk female characters are written and thematically utilized (basically everything you said), ultimately comes back to how Gege's exploration of femininity is limited by his own sense of self, and very much likely biased by the sociocultural landscape he grew up in.

I don't know how much you know about Japan, but Japan has one foot in the future, and one foot in the past...

And like... ok I'm totally oversimplifying the whole thing. All I'm saying is... Gege is a man who grew up in a man's world, sharing his view of the world through jjk, which is a story about initiation of the male psyche that is published in a magazine for young boys.

Do you see the pattern there?

So If you feel like his female characters are underutilized and underexplored, and that thematically jjk focuses way too much on masculinity and masculine definitions of strength at the expense of the feminine archetypes he does present (like Naoya as a vagina LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL)... well... to me, we're basically looking at the limits of his own relationship to his femininity, which, this relationship is in turn an imperative precursor for psychospiritual development in depth psych. More of this in a bit.

Anyways, that's my anticlimactic reasoning for why I am more forgiving about the issue than you are. To be honest, I've been so consumed exploring my masculine psyche through jjk (because personally my feminine psyche is more developed in certain aspects) that I just never focus on the female characters (that is not to mention what I shared earlier).

ANYWAYS, I fucking love what you wrote about Gege's exploration on power from a masculine perspective because you're 100% spot on. What I'll say to that is that, to me, from a depth psych perspective, that's kind of the whole point.

I invite you to look at it from this other level of perspective (in addition to the whole "Gege's psych is a product of his upbringing"): the whole idea of individuality and focusing on the sense of self as a measure of "The Strongest" is being shown as an incomplete part of the equation...

... that leaves "the strongest" ultimately feeling dissatisfied.

This is a sentiment echoed by several characters because ego strength (masculine definitions of strength) is ultimately an unbalanced measure of strength precisely because it ignores feminine values and measures of strength.

Who knows where Gege is taking jjk at this point, but I will admit I am hoping he is going to explore this in more depth because, central to Jungian thought and depth psych is the idea of the Buddhist middle path and union of opposites.

In Jungian psych this means that, when you have an unbalanced ego attitude like that, something has to give so that the pendulum swings in the opposite direction, which gives the ego the experiences it needs to integrate the "opposite" attitude. This ultimately results in a more holistic and balanced perspective for the ego.

That to say that I'm wondering if Gege is going to make the pendulum swing in the opposite direction with the whole "individuality" idea since self-preservation is a "masculine" trait. Again, psychologically, it's all about balance, and right now, the story is out of balance in favor of the masculine traits you mention.

But... to bring it back to Gege's possible limitations around his perception of femininity and how developing a healthy relationship to his anima (femininity) is a precursor for psychospiritual development... what if, on a meta level, jjk is depicting part of Gege's journey towards integrating and deepening his relationship to his femininity and what you're seeing is the beginning of that journey?

Hint hint Tsumiki! maybe I'll write about it someday

This is the thing... In depth psychology, more specifically what is called "the psychology of fairy tales", fairy tales and myths are stories that depict the thinking patterns of a peoples through metaphor and symbol. The characters in these myths and stories are thus characters playing out dramas in our own psyches. So basically, think of jjk as an objective exploration of Gege's subjectiveness (psyche).

Admittedly, even if the pendulum swings in the other direction (more feminine definitions of strength), you might find that his exploration is rather shallow or that it falls short of your expectations for what you'd like to see from a feminist perspective. And you wouldn't be wrong for it, it's just that Gege is probably not on the same level of understanding that you have about femininity because he's, like you and I, a human on a journey of self understanding and growth reflecting on how his environment has shaped who he is.

The same goes for women with internalized misogyny. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and coming to an understanding of it is a process that doesn't take place overnight.

So I think the only part I'll disagree with is that Gege is a sexist writer. But that's perhaps because I'm being a bit too technical in what sexist means? i.e. masc supremacy or hating women and perpetuating stereotypes. I think that rather than being sexist, his unconscious biases are showing, which is why someone like you can pick them out.

I do understand where you're coming from though, and admittedly perhaps I am being too forgiving of him.

Last thing I'll say is that I've said a couple of times that wanting for jjk to have these iconic female characters feels like an exercise in futility. In retrospect, I now understand that it's not that anyone shouldn't want for jjk to have iconic female characters, but that doesn't change the fact that jjk will probably remain the wrong manga to look for them, and that's something to make peace with because it is what it is.

So, here's to hoping we get a chance to see a deeper representation of feminine values in jjk or Gege's next manga. Because, if he's done such beautiful work with the masculine psyche, like you, I'd be curious to see what he makes of a deeper exploration of the feminine psyche.

Between you and I, I'd actually love reading a proper battle bl from Gege. And I mean proper. Like... gays so canon that even the dudebros can't deny it.

ANYWAYS... giiiiiiiirl what an ask 😮‍💨. I don't think I've done it justice tbh. But hopefully I made sense? I really do love what you wrote. It was very eye opening to see this age-old argument spelled out the way you did it. So thank you again for sharing your thoughts!

If you over have any other thoughts on the topic I look forward to hearing from you!

I rambled too so... hopefully I made sense 🤣.

[neige-leblanche]

actually gonna compile my current thoughts; slight spoilers below cut

- having watched all the main series i can say RANPO IS MY #1 FAVE!!!!! i love how whenever i see him i go "yayyy it's ranpo yippeeee" and i love how i share this trait with a vast amount of the cast himself included. watching this show @ the same time as reading wha and loving beldarut sm is making me realize how much i love characters who are immensely powerful and also a consummate silly billy. hes everything i wanna be. i too want a government salary & to spend it on snacks

- i also love kunikida sm he feels like if riddle & trey were one guy. i am ALSO so glad he has not been killed yet. every kunikida-centric episode felt like the anime equivalent of a dead wife flashback and i kept bracing for him to die at the end of every season 💀

- i'm also grateful for the rlly small amount of mcd in general; i feel like esp in earlier seasons that would have given the story an emotional tone that it wasn't rlly set up to handle well

- i feel bad saying this but i wish i liked atsushi more 😭 i do like him plenty but it's not proportional to his prominence in the show which is prob why i didn't like season 1 v much; he felt like a p generic shonen protag

- ALSO feel bad saying this but i did not like nikolai's voice acting v much (i watched the japanese; he might be great in the dub idk). the character slew so hard but his voice esp the more maniacal lines felt deficient in pussy 😭💔

- i kept thinking fyodor had azul's voice actor. even after i looked it up and found that they r different.

- thank you so much kyouka for being one of the only well written female characters esp earlier before yosano got her character development. i want justice for higuchi especially 😭

- maybe this is controversial but i loved all the suicide jokes. dazai felt like a rlly honest portrayal of what it's like being suicidal p much all one's life & the fact that hating yourself/wanting to die absolutely does not always translate to gloom & self-effacement

- on that note and . this might come out mean but since it is such a "he's just like me fr. oh that is absolutely not a good thing"-heavy story i do think it requires some sophistication & critical thinking that is not handed to u outright. like you might watch it & think "these characters feel the same way i do & are dangerously unwell; i must be fucking insane" however they do rlly drill in the "yet we all keep living & working anyway", so i think viewers who feel this way r meant to ask themselves what sanity is, how much of the world secretly feels unwell & othered, etc. instead of jumping right to "i am irredeemable and/or clinically disturbed"

- anyway lmfao. i was shook to find out the manga didn't have [much] more 😭 v happy to see more fyodor lore though; i'm excited for the next installment!!

- speaking of fyodor!! i like him. as i mentioned dostoevsky is one of my fav writers irl and i do like the character! i liked the references (teases being a demon/possessed; nikolai as a kirillov parallel was hilarious; i do wonder if the references to fyodor being "underground" was meant to reference notes from underground which would. also be funny bc the proverbial underground is absolutely not what that book is about lmfao)

- conflicted bc i enjoyed scenes with mori (he has crowley's va!!!) howsoever i will be popping the biggest bottles when he dies, hopefully as gruesomely as possible 🙏

- akutagawa was just funny after a while im so sorry dude 😭 he was broody & secretive for five minutes and afterward was like "I HAVE DADDY ISSUES" every single time he appeared

- i wasn't gonna look for the light novels until i read on the wiki that they have an hg wells character who is a crossdressing woman & whose ability is the time machine; i love that novel sm and ummmmm👁👄👁

- I LOVE JOUNO!! HE REMINDS ME OF JADE!! I HOPE WE GET MORE OF HIM SOON!!!!!!!

also i finished season 2 of bungo stray dogs it was great!! i didnt like season 1 very much so im glad i held on 🙏

[quidfree]

do you have any thoughts on class 1a dynamics as a whole? i really love whenever they make an appearance in your fics (like the party in tlaao) would love anything more you had to offer, whether in high school or in a hypothetical future

honestly i dont have that many thoughts on the subject bc if im being real i only care about like 40% of class 1-a lol. sorry to the extras but so many of the charas are not developed or interesting enough for me to have thoughts on them. i vacillate between wanting to just flesh out characters myself or point to canon and just give in to the fact that loads of the characters are boring / have no depth, so i dont have specific takes on like The Entire Class. but i do enjoy the way certain charas bounce off each other and some of the friend groups, notably the whole kirishima/kaminari/sero/ashido subgroup who i think feel like an actual group of friends w clear similarities in temperament but distinct personalities, unlike a lot of the nebulously fanon friendships in the class.

for the class as a whole i do find their like group dynamic interesting objectively given 1) the insane amount of trauma theyve been through and 2) the way certain classmates are unarguably like the mvps of the class. theyre all traumabonded war vets by this point so i imagine theyre pretty close regardless of personal affinity, but then also 5-10 of them are consistently involved in high stakes drama and 3 of them are like the main characters of their universe, espeeeecially bakudeku. i have this whole thesis on 1-a v bakudeku that ive never worded properly which is like… yk how all might says theyre 2 sides of the heroism thing? i think thats also true wrt to their class. like in their own way i think both of them are kind of the heart of the class/the class mascot. i know that may seem like a stretch regarding bakugou but i think its p true. theyre both fairly aspirational and also heavily involved in class plots (for bakugous side think sports fest and kidnapping for starters lol), n i think lowkey both have similar leader traits ™ despite opposite approaches as the story progresses. importantly they have like opposition/foil roles to each other so i think in conjunction is when they really act as class mascot. and i love that in recent arcs bakugou is like the class voice of reason leader to midoriyas rogue agent thats a fun reversal (altho id argue midoriya has always been a pretty reckless and independent actor who is a team player only by chance).

also i just enjoy narratives where there are some people that Stand Out and i wish there was more of a… idk, Vibe there where 1a acknowledges the Otherness of some of their classmates instead of typical ‘together we fight! we are here for each other! go team!’ ra-ra shonen bs. bc it would be really weird and interesting to examine what its like to be a character w like normal / above average but normal for 1A abilities but then have to contend w these Super OP classmates. imagine going to class and endeavours kid is there w two quirks. and one guy has all mights quirk. and the other guy gets kidnapped by the league of villains as a recruitment stunt bc hes that good. ok.

i realise ive gotten very off topic from ur ask i think in a less meta way something i enjoy is the semi unlikely spinoff friendships that develop w age. like i always enjoy making uraraka close with both bakugou and todoroki bc i think she admires them both a lot in hs and sort of befriends them individually by accident through midoriya except it just sticks bc shes good-natured but not much of a pushover so she can handle their antisocial antics. or like sero is unexpectedly one of those ppl who just has everyone’s number bc hes really chill and has unlikely hobbies. in general i think 1a likely hang out a lot even as adults and their in-jokes are all really disturbing but funny to them alone. they also try to drag the horror trio kicking and screaming out of pure workaholicism whenever they can (kirisquad esp). i feel like the first couple of times 1a went out they went massively overboard bc of their abnormally important need for stress release and it was a complete mess that barely anyone remembers anything of except the usual sober(ish) contingent. todoroki and bakugou both know more than they let on but will take the memories to the grave for a variety of reasons.

theyre probably all very competent heroes in general when older also but like yk how when youre surrounded by smart people you forget theyre smart? i feel like their sense of normalcy is so skewed none of them realise how impossibly trained they all are at their jobs. their peers/the GP is in consistent shock and theyre just like ‘whos up for drinks next tuesday lol’. running gag that all of 1-a is ridiculously overqualified and also like way too used to dealing w earth-shattering danger so normal villains avoid them like the plague to spare themselves the embarrassment.

[marimopeace]

there's a limit on how much you can be an isekai intellectual...

a bunch of analyses have been popping up before me all day so i wanted to throw my hat into the ring. all love to ppl who are exercising their creative minds + ppl like geoff here who just talk about these things because of fan interest but i feel like there reaches a point where exploring the "types" of isekai is pointless? i've seen ppl list out the different types of villainess revenge isekai or fantasy mmorpg isekai but eh why fit them all into separate boxes like that?

i think it's easier to think of isekai as a "type" (genre) of itself with only two categories: 1) a focus on isekai (lit. another world) 2) tensei (lit. to be reborn). this allows for a variety of applications and thus tropes that ppl see so many trends of!

with isekai - in another world

you see everything from:

pure fantasy (inuyasha, digimon wait maybe not the best example but in my childhood mind i count digimon as pure fantasy, fushigi yugi)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (.hack//legend of twilight, sao ugh, log horizon, overlord (LOVE OVERLORD!)

otome game-esque worlds >>> this is where it gets complicated with "villainess routes" since i admit there are multiple villainess tropes but this is why it's nice to not think of this as a "sub-type/genre" bc it frees you from those complications! (the saint's magic power is omnipotent, the white cat's revenge as plotted from the dragon king's lap soso cute!, the savior's book cafe in another world, i'm a villainous daughter so i'm going to keep the last boss wait i can't remember if she's reborn in this one lmaooo see this is why rules make everything hard)

with tensei storylines - being reincarnated/reborn in another world as *insert character/role*

you see...

the same tropes!!

pure fantasy (a returner's magic should be special, reminiscence adonis, the lady and the beast, light and shadow, i can't think of a manga off the top of my head for this ah)

mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (so i'm a spider so what i stan kumoko so hard, her majesty's swarm, can't name another off the top of my head ah i hate lists shorter than two things...)

self-insert based games/novels (fiance's observation log of a self-proclaimed villainess, who made me a princess, death is the only ending for the villainess, the villainess wants to marry a commoner, honestly games vs novels are different applications but i'm not in the headspace to try to remember a bunch of both lol)

*insert line break to give random ppl a break from scrolling but tl; dr just enjoy things for what they are no need to micro analyze*

similar variations occur in both genres (if ppl want to be super technical i guess i'm arguing that isekai itself is a massive genre that has the "another world" subgenre and "reincarnation" subgenre tl; dr) so i think it's honestly a huge pain to try to separate all these trends into so many different types of stories. for me personally it's easier to not get overwhelmed by this gigantic umbrella of "isekai" that spans light novels, manhwa, manga, and mobile games by just stripping each story down into its trademark tropes (aka character archetypes, story structures) and slapping "oh this is a person going to a world that's not ours" and "this person gets reborn as blank in another world". none of this "omg this power fantasy is such a this kind of isekai moment" or "there are 14 different types of villainess revenge stories and this series fits into this" bc AH labels! limitations! circle-jerks via ppl trying to compartmentalize everything and sound smart for leaving a comment on story analysis instead of ooh-ahhing over a character's face! dividing things into light novel manga vs manga vs korean manhwa ft. female characters!

the last bit is mainly why i feel frustrated by ppl's insistence to group everything?

the video linked at the beginning of the post (honestly good video essay, i enjoyed it, i just kept thinking in my head the whole time "marimo these are tropes do not take the genre talk literally") has a baby comment thread talking about "korean isekai manhwas" as a genre featuring nothing but reincarnated villainess' and i can't.

like i cannot acknowledge that as a genre of any sort. the energy i felt reading through some of those insights takes me back to 2012 when all yt americans discovered k-pop and deemed all korean music k-pop from then on! (ppl still do this now, yes you are seen and don't talk to me pls i don't like you. k-pop is korean pop music and nothing less and nothing more. take a few seconds and try to parse apart aspects of korean culture instead of slamming everything into a monolithic label that has the letter k and a hyphen.) it feels so odd to see a bunch of young ppl on ig and tiktok acknowledge korean media that happens to be in the form of a webtoon as "oh stories all about young girls becoming villains in stories they made/played" bc it feels so reductive u.u

(positionality disclaimer that i'm praying isn't actually necessary: i am a 3rd-generation korean of japanese descent do not fite me i am exhausted irl of ppl asking for validation/verification bc massive shove off.)

breaking news! korean manhwa...is just as multifaceted as japanese manga...bc how can comics as an art-form not have multiple genres...huh such a shocker?!?! same likely applies to media in other parts of the world like chinese manhwa and french comics--not my place to explain either of those i just know those industries exist bc of wakfu and donghua shows by Tencent.

at the end of the day it's not like analyzing any kind of isekai is wrong--absolutely not!! i think it can be super fun to think about how isekai elements complicate a story (MCs trying to go back home, ppl from the og world, reincarnation plot-twists) or maybe even bash a series for including some kind of other world element when they could have just written a super fun fantasy.

insert marimo's brief ramble that hey you can get sick of truck-kun's hitting disillusioned guys who happen to be super duper smart or girls who happen to be master chefs/craftsmen but transporting a fully-grown being into a fantasy setting is the ultimate cheat code for making mundane modern technology seem cool and overpowered, and being reincarnated as a fully grown person in a world with a pre-made story/game set-up completely bypasses the need for an author to slowly flesh out world-building in a natural progression so isekai is actually a really smart writing tool it's just that there are some series where the author didn't use it well at all and it's cheesy or clearly isekai was misused as a vehicle for character/story development and it was pointless *DEEP BREATH OUT*

in this essay i will argue...lol i am such a culture studies major!! if i were an english major i would be talking all about writing but here i am having a side-tangent about world-building via someone being reborn wow i love this for me (don't get me started on when an author has someone reincarnate as a baby and the story is mostly them having warm fluffy moments with their family--typically father figures--and getting lots of powers i could and would and probably will rant about east asian toxicity)

but anyway am i crazy????? like yes for being passionate about the technical use of a word like genre (i am a scorpio rising let me be fussy pls) but i don't think it's a lot to ask for ppl to not unironically see "villainess revenge isekai" as the definition of korean manhwa.

idk as someone who resonates with why japanese isekai is so popular domestically + why a lot of korean manhwa feat. the same tropes (it's not for great reasons lads it's actually depressing tbh) i'm just starting to feel kind of pained by the generalization and need to separate "cute japanese girl in an otome game"/"japanese boy finds a harem in another world" from "korean girl dies and comes back as a villainess" bc they are just! applications to the same story device!!

recommendations for any who makes it this far down below <3

// also gladly recommend any of the examples i've listed in the above rant as i've read/watched all of them and adore them v much! //

save me princess

super refreshing fantasy manhwa ft. a princess and her ex-boyfriend having to save the world!

the beginning after the end

an AMERICAN web novel turned into a comic (but see it being not korean/japanese doesn't really matter when you just consider isekai as a genre...isn't it nice to not overthink it?) ft. a super-powerful wizard king reincarnated into another world and starting from scratch--gives mushoku tensei vibes but huge twists!

the reason why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion

love love LOVE this story--read the title and you'll learn how this girl reincarnated as the character raeliana in a book gets married to a duke!

trash of the count's family

such a good novel!! a guy gets reborn as a lazy oaf and he takes the hero of the story under his wing...plot twists come up later on!

this time i will definitely be happy!

v good and refreshing for a shorter series! she's been reborn 3 times and remembers every time the hero's stabbed her in the back, and now she just wants to break up with him!

silver diamond

older manga but v good adventure w intrigue! a boy who loves plants get sucked into a desert world with demonic lizards and a mysterious bodyguard by his side. shonen-ai not BL but wonderful vibes nonetheless + great side characters!

the princess imprints a traitor

adore everything in this from the world (not in that way this society makes me so angry) to the machinations at play and the dynamic between the fl and ml

[charmspoint]

Beauty of Jujutsu Kaisen women

A very long and gay rant

We all by now know how well Jujustu Kaisen treats it’s women, especially when compared to it’s contemporaries which I won’t mention by name cuz I hate pitting shows against each other but they flashed in your head didn’t they. Jujutsu Kaisen women are some of the most well rounded female characters I’ve seen in shonen for a good while. I often end up disappointed in shonen girls because they are made with cool ideas and massive potential and usually shoved aside in support of the boys in their respective stories. How many times did you wonder ‘why wasn’t this female character included in this mission, her power would be perfect for it’ or ‘why did all the male characters get intense emotional arcs and bloody fights while the girls stood aside and didn’t even get a scrape on them’ or for me the most frequent ‘why does this woman have to have her whole chest out and barely a silver of clothes on to be confident in her body’. Not to say that women who are confident in themselves can’t dress however they want, I’m a rabid supporter of dress in what feels most like you. But I’ll always remember the recap episode of my favorite anime of all time, presented by a female character who was usually buttoned up to the throat. And the recap episode had her going ‘i decided to be confident in my body!!’ and putting on what essentially was a swimsuit. And the thing is I never once got the impression that this character was uncomfortable with her body. She simply dressed how she dressed because it suited her and suited her personality. She always appeared confident to me, highly intellectual, always the calm presence in the cast and the one who worked the hardest and had the best understanding of the situation. And this was in the show I liked and who, aside from that recap episode, had great writing for their female characters. But there are many other shows who couldn’t excuse this with ‘well its just a one time gag’ because the whole confidence of their female characters really consists of them looking as sexy as possible. And while that is one kind of confidence, it does hurt a bit to think this is presented as the only way a woman can be confident in her body, only if she bares it to the world.

And that really brings me to jjk and how goddamn beautiful every female character is while none of them are used for fanservice but all of them are very confident in who they are and what they stand for. I always felt this way about the female characters of jjk but it really struck me with the revel of Maki’s new design and how feral the internet went over it.

Not to be gay on main but god she’s gorgeous.

And it really struck me how traditionally unfeminine she looks. Her hair’s been cut short, her skirt replaced with pants, very prominent scaring on her face, which I’ll talk about in a bit. I feel like most shonen artists would never dare to hurt their female characters in such a way that it left such a big mark on them, something that can’t be hidden away and something that is openly stated won’t heal over. But the confidence she carries herself with, the core strength of Maki that survived the attack when the man who believed himself better than her didn’t, THE OUTFIT, THE BELT, THE CAPE AAA. It makes her look powerful, it makes her look confident, it makes her look as someone who survives and keeps pushing forward no matter what and that’s what makes her look so badass and so gorgeous that both my tumblr and twitter were flooded with Maki art barely an hour after the chapter dropped. It just feels so so powerful to me that Gege added to Maki’s power and badassery by putting more clothes on her instead of stripping her down. He’s just clowning on every single artists who thinks that making women hot means putting them in bikinis' like son this is what peak design looks like.

This is not even mentioning other female characters like Nobara who we just saw in the last ep and who’s nothing if not textbook definition of self assured and confident. 

I love Nobara so much she’s allowed to be both feminin and badass. Remember how important it was to her to get a cute tracksuit to train in? That’s me, like that’s literally ‘I can’t do this thing if I don’t look cute’ mentality that I have. She’s allowed to care about clothes, she’s allowed to like shopping and looking cute and pretty and she’s never once made to feel like her interests somehow make her less or that she needs to give em up to be a badass. She’s never made to be that ‘all girls care about are clothes and accessories’ stereotype. And her love for fashion and looking pretty never translates into dressing reveling. I love Nobara’s style.

These are pretty clothes!!! They are pretty while also being somewhat spunky and playful. They are loose but still flattering to her figure and her general color scheme. They are Nobara! Idk it’s just really nice to see a female character interested in fashion and with a distinct fashion sense that isn’t based on putting on as little clothes as possible. Especially one that isn’t forced to then keep that beautiful look no matter what, never getting a scratch on her face. It’s so nice!

Like even Yuki Tsukumo who’d I’d probs label as Jujutsu Kaisen’s most ‘proud to be hot’ character looks like this.

Look at the way she struts, this woman knows she’s a smoke show and she owns it. In any other series this woman’s tits would be spilling out of that v neck and her legs would be goddamn anywhere. But look at her she looks like such a fuckin lesbian I’m sorry I can’t describe it any other way. The biker jacket, the mesh v neck, I can’t remember what the top she wears in the last pic is called but it’s good, the goddamn fuckin sleeveless turtle neck, her MIND. She’s obviously very confident in the way she looks and you can read that out of her stance and that’s all that’s needed. Her clothes or lack of thereof aren’t meant to signify that she’s confident cuz her body language already does that. Instead, her clothes tell us about her tastes and therefor more about her.

I’m gonna bring this to the end cuz now it’s just turning into gay rambling and I’ve lost all point besides ‘girls pretty’ but I also wanted to say a word about scars. As I said in a lot of shonen I watch girls aren’t allowed to participate in as intense of fights as guys and they especially aren’t allowed to gain any serious scaring DOUBLE ESPECIALLY on their face. Why? Because you don’t want to disfigure some nerds precious waifu now don’t you. JJK gives no fucks here, it looks you in the face and says ‘your waifu is in a nightmare situation she will get fucked up just as everyone else.’ We see this with Maki’s burn scars being clearly stated to be unhealable but even before with Utahime who is immediately introduced with very prominent facial scaring. 

And hopefully we will see it with Nobara too cuz like...

And I absolutely refuse to believe she’s dead ;-; she’s gonna come back n have a badass facial scar guys I swear.

Anyway to sum up

JJK women: very good

Me: very gay

[midoriyaizukustan-inactive]

yall i get so Tired when i see some ppl complaining abt how “boring” midoriya is like if u could think critically for one second my dude,,

like. stop and think for one second for me. where have you ever seen a character like midoriya before? like, beyond a few similarities? i see ppl compare him to fuckin naruto but beyond their demeanors, theyre not the same character at all

like ok.

midoriya’s smart, not naturally, but because hes observant and a critical thinker. bro is constantly shown to be thinking and calculating and that this is a skill he has honed over the years; where else have u seen a smart main character act like that?

he cares so fucking much its kinda a flaw sometimes (like how hes never held bakugou accountable for his actions). idk this is kinda typical of shonen protags but he’s not a weird dick abt his compassion either; he cares and shows it in ways both the audience and the ppl he cares abt understand

he cries all the time. THATS definitely different. he’s in touch with his emotions through and through and is never really ashamed for it (except for that one scene in the manga where he’s having a rough time and has that whole “heroes dont cry” mantra going through his head, but that doesnt last). i think thats rlly a great characteristic. ppl make jokes abt him being a little bitch but lol,,,sorry a character actually expresses emotions instead of being a ~stoic badass~ all the time

his mom is still alive, which breaks shonen main character cliches (which tbh doesnt have much to do with his character particularly but still its a point in his favor). in a similar vein of thought, he doesnt have daddy issues canonically (at least not yet idk what hisashi/dad for one is gonna end up being djkdjk)

most importantly tho, midoriya had to WORK to get to where he is; he was never some “chosen one”. no one “just had a feeling” about him. literally everyone told him he couldnt become a hero, everyone implied that he could try as hard as he wanted to but that he would never make it, but he persevered despite that.

bc of his hardworking and determined manner, midoriya EARNED every. single. chance and opportunity he was given. bro had to prove himself first even to ALL MIGHT, who ended up being the FIRST person to believe in him. all might didnt just trust him bc midoriya reminded him of himself. no one believed in him until he believed in himself first, and thats why he DESERVES one for all (and respect in general but yall are clowns)

hes a light for all of those kids who felt like giving up. he’s living proof that the situation youre born into, that society forces you into, is not your ending; you can still push on regardless. you can still be happy regardless. thats important for both kids in his society, and in our real one!! midoriya is a guide for so many ppl, real AND fictional.

and some other stuff;; hes socially awkward but still tries his best because he never wants anyone to feel how he felt when he was growing up. this isnt abnormal for protags, but the way he’s socially awkward is both more genuine and also more realistic like. “im a dick but ohh wait i have a soft exterior that you must dig for” is such an annoying way of showing off “social awkwardness” and midoriya breaks that stereotype so thank GOD.

hes baby but hes also an absolute feral child sometimes as well; hes more complex than people give him credit for in that regard. kid literally will only value rules at face value. he works with them only until they go against his interests; then he has no issues whatsoever breaking them

and this last point is v important: midoriya has been through a lot in canon; his once best friend became abusive for ten+ years, before just becoming a prick he could handle himself in high school; his mom is single and trying to work for both him and herself; he was completely alone until he was 14/15; no one, NO ONE believed in him until he could prove them otherwise, and even then, he still received some doubt concerning his abilities, purposes, and intentions (bakugou, aizawa, and nighteye). at the same time though, midoriya’s not angry with the world; hes not really angry at all. despite all hes seen and gone through, midoriya is still kind and optimistic and i think thats really what separates him from other main characters, especially those in his genre

midoriya is a guide. he is a light. ik i make jokes abt him being sunshine but he really IS; his whole POINT of existing is to inspire kids both in real life and in his fictional world and to reassure them that their situation will only end the way they make it; they can get out. they can be safe. they can live up to want they want to be

and thats important. thats inspiring. that is the farthest fuckin thing from “boring” you can get

anyway so if i see one more person saying midoriya is “boring/bland/etc” one more time just bc he isnt an edgy bitch like other main characters, im gonna throat punch someone. stan my boy or die

[fizzingwizard]

Okay I really enjoyed this week’s episode! It set up a bunch of cool stuff that I can’t wait to see, and it was a fun watch. We got a number of desperately needed partner/Digimon moments, and we got some much needed Taiyama friendship action going on - as well as some other stuff I super appreciated (but still want more of). I’m so stoked for how the team is coming together.

We didn’t get a few things I normally would have expected, and I’m never quite sure if I feel that way because it’s truly missing or if it’s just that “this ain’t your momma’s Digimon Adventure” yadda yadda. I don’t think i’ll ever get used to Taichi being so serious in comparison to his 99 incarnation (but, I get the feeling he is more in line with original V-Tamer Taichi, so there’s that).

So not a slam dunk for me, but all in all, it was good!

I just took as many Taiyama pics as I could so why don’t we just knock one out of the way before we begin xD

They look so coooool all beat up and windswept

More below!

Sooo last week, the aptly named Eyesmon evolved into the equally well-named Orochimon. I always think “hydra!” (thank you Hercules) so initially my thought was that the plan would be for each of the kids to take out one head. Then I remembered, we only have six kids so far... and then I got a better look at it:

(this cap’s from much later but it shows the whole body so)

there was clearly one head that was significantly different from the others and appeared the most connected to the body! So the strategy was clearly lop off the central head because that’s what’s controlling the rest! A la VenomVamdemon only slightly less gross hahaha

Meanwhile back in real Tokyo, as Koushirou explains, the electronic pulse generated from this freaky Digimon’s battle is affecting anything digital, or even just anything that uses electricity.

Kaaaboom!

Our kids try to fight but it’s pretty obvious they’re out of their league. I did totally love MetalGreymon and Zudomon leading the charge together sort of. Because I continue to be a sucker for Taichi/Jou growth parallels! Anyway they both get knocked out and de-evolve so Taichi calls for them to regroup.

Aww piggyback

The way Jou carries Gomamon like an infant though ;___;

Sora and Garudamon lead the retreat, scooping everyone up and carrying them out of danger and omg look at Gomamon he looks so cozy gaaah

but not before Taichi realizes someone’s not with them... it’s Yamato of course... he’s just standing there... staring...

Why? Because “my little brother’s in danger in the real world!” That is adorable. Stupid but adorable.

Also stupid yet adorable... Taichi immediately runs to go get him. I have no idea WHAT his plan was but I am eternally grateful that he is such a dork because it gives adorable dorkiness like this:

and this

and ultimately this

pffffffftb

weregarurumon tries his best he really does

(no but really this is now my PREFERRED method of transportation for these two, one each tucked under WereGarurumon’s armpit and just dangling like that while he runs like crazy protecting his precious cargo... also look at Taichi holding onto Agumon’s arm the whole time eeeeeiiiii I love those detals it almost distracts from WereGarurumon’s expression of shock when they inevitably get shot and fall to their doom x’D)

yeah so everyone gets shot and falls to their separate dooms, and this was 100% just an excuse to put Taichi and Yamato alone together. The shonen action anime equivalent of “and there was only one bed!”

Jou continues to cradle Gomamon like his very own son

The kids wonder what to do and Jou has a cool moment here and there (like legit cool, where he acts all responsible)

... er, I did say “moment” :P

Meanwhile Koushirou is all cryptic and scary. That is his main job after all. You may think it’s to be the team brain, but it’s actually to make sure we viewers know just how terrible things really are so we can lose all hope of survival even though we already know they’re going to win x’D

I mean that is pretty scary tbh

Taichi breathes a sigh of relief. I wasn’t exactly surprised that he’s not running out to fight - even 99 Taichi usually understood when it was time for a strategic retreat. At the same time, maybe it’s just me, but I totally got the sense that he was scared in this scene. Not out of his head with fear, but definitely worried, I mean none of them seemed to have any effect on this monster earlier. It’s interesting to feel his tension.

“Yamato why did you just stand there in the street while we were trying to make our getaway?”

“Because... my little brother’s right in the center of danger back home... I can’t let this monster continue its rampage or he could get hurt...”

“Yeah man that’s all fine but I mean why did you just stand there in the street like an idiot I’m pretty sure you won’t be much use to your little bro if you’re steamrollered?!?!”

He looks so surprised that all this has been because of brotherly love. I can’t remember, is this the first Taichi’s hearing of Takeru? I know he wasn’t there when Yamato told Sora & co but maybe it was mentioned way back when they jogressed... Either way I wonder why he doesn’t say “I get it, I have a sister back home too that I’m worried about too.” Seems like a moment for bonding ya know?

That is the one thing I felt was missing here... we went through all the trouble of getting Taichi and Yamato alone together, and all that happens is Yamato confides something in Taichi that he’s already shared with the others. I mean, Taichi also shows his willingness to help Yamato and work together, and I think that is the important thing we’re supposed to take away, as Yamato’s all touched by it... but uh, for the most part I felt like not much happened in this scene, at least not that we haven’t already seen before.

Takeru’s phone, he’s waiting for a call from “oniichan” T-T my precious boy

And we actually get to see him!! His face!! His adorableness!! Ahhh Takeru I miss youuu!

Family photo! Parents’ faces not shown in the usual tradition of “divorcees in kids’ shows”! Also the tell-tale brothers are holding hands, but parents are standing as far apart as possible...

Meanwhile Taichi’s mom and sis are trying in vain to evacuate while their car flips out. Hikari sees an image of Orochimon broadcast on a nearby building and flinches away. No one else seems to notice it so maybe this is just her special ability like in 99 Adventure?

Traffic’s at a complete standstill and everyone’s electronics are going bonkers so Mama Yagami has them get out and head for the trains. Unfortunately this is what everyone else decides to do as well, and Hikari winds up like Simba in the wildebeest stampede, only there’s no one to jump in and save her so she tragically dies. :P

taichi: I see your ‘brother in danger’ and raise you one ‘dead sister.’

yamato: screw you

“You did great Mimi!!” A JOUMI MOMENT WE GOT A JOUMI MOMENT sort of okay but beggars can’t be choosers HE PRAISES HER (FOR STUFF HE WASNT EVEN THERE TO WITNESS THO LOL) AWWWW ITS SO CUTE

Then he remembers to praise his partner!!! All by himself! (Finally!) Gomamon’s so happy! It was so unexpected and he’s ecstastic!

Piyomon instantly gets jealous!!!! It’s so adorable!!! Sora is quick to reassure her that Garudamon is indispensable.

“And I’m the prettiest, right Mimi?”

“When you’re Lillymon, anyway.”

“D:”

lol the return of Mimi only appreciates Lillymon’s sense of fashion tickles me. an essential Mimi characteristic

Tentomon shyly and awkwardly tries to wring a compliment out of Koushirou too. It works, Koushirou is quick to tell Tentomon that he’s super cool as AtlurKabuterimon. I will be honest though, I wanted him to fail, just because we need to let these kids actually develop!! Their arcs are over so quickly! It took 99 Koushirou 52 episodes to be able to say “I love you” (I think it was “thank you” or something in the original Japanese but the point is he was being super honest and vulnerable at long long last). Imagine what an important moment this would have been if Tentomon’s “and me?” had been met with “huh? uh uh... I was thinking about how to defeat Orochimon... what are we talking about?”

That is something I continue to miss, not just with Koushirou but with everyone... their personal weaknesses just don’t really feel like weaknesses the way they did in 99 Adventure. And I’m just wondering why? For me, that was a driving force of what made 99 Adventure really great. It wasn’t afternoon special “stories with a moral” type drivel, because what they learned in the moment still had to build upon, and they would fail again, and learn again, and become their best selves slowly. And they’d risk a lot in the meantime. It was powerful to ten-year-old me. We are at ep 17 now and by this point in 99 Adventure, we’d had tons of scenes like that. I keep thinking “okay it’s early, we’ve got time!” but at this point it’s not so early anymore! But comparing with 99 Adventure is also a useless effort and I continue to choose to enjoy this show as its own separate thing and believe there’s still lots to come.

Taichi expresses his willingness to fight alongside Yamato even though as Yamato warn’s “it’s gonna be totes yabai”

Taichi: “I eat yabai for breakfast”

Yamato: “smiles”

jokes aside... the way Yamato smiles at Taichi is so cute! It’s hesitant, but once it’s there it doesn’t waver. He’s clearly starting to get used to relying on Taichi for backup, at least, and it’s no question that he feels friendship for him and the others, he’s just reluctant to admit it. The question is how all this will hold up when the situation’s reversed.

I LOVE this particular cap, Idk, there’s something about the sheer determination on Taichi’s face and the trust in Yamato’s as he looks back at him while they ride Garurumon directly into Orochimon’s line of fire... Fizz I think you’re reading too much into the animation. DON’T MESS WITH MY DREAMS OK I KNOW THESE KIDS BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF

obligatory Best Boy cap

Suddenly, in the real world, the fight is broadcast on the screens!! I was expecting this to happen every time a screen flickered, but once it did, I was like wow!! they’re going to let the whole world in on the secret of the digital world already!? and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that

BUT... that’s not what happened, maybe. Because so far the only ones who for sure are seeing these images of Digimon and the Chosen Children are Hikari and Takeru. No one else reacted to Orochimon and Mama Yagami doesn’t go “hey, that’s my son!” We could argue no one noticed because they were busy evacuating like maniacs, and Mama Yagami was busy looking for Hikari on the ground and not looking up at the screens. But it feels impossible that someone wouldn’t notice! So my current theory is only Hikari and Takeru can actually see these images... at least for now.

The fight rages. Meanwhile, the others soon catch up, as the only reason they were separated in the first place was to let Taichi and Yamato have a Moment. One thing I really liked though was Sora more or less leading the charge to join Taichi and Yamato. I want more of “second in command Sora” now and forever. (My personal headcanon since I was a kid was always that if something happened to Taichi, Sora, not Yamato, would take over. Tri did not go that way though :P)

Burning eyes of courage!!

They beat Orochimon by taking off his central head, as predicted. Then they all go and take a nap in the street. It is full of d’awww.

Gabumon and Agumon mimicking their partners’ body language always get’s a mega d’awwwww

Taichi: “That was yabai!”

Yamato: “I warned you it would be.”

Taichi: “Yeah, but we made it somehow!”

Yamato: “... smiles”

Uggggghhhh I can’tttttt with these two

Like Koushrou, Yamato is totally whipped by Taichi’s smile... oh dear... my heart is pulled in two directions... Taiyama... Taishirou... “my number one my number two...” (anyone else remember that dumb song there used to be tons of love triangle amvs on youtube set to it...)

I mean just look. look at Yamato looking at Taichi. he can’t make himself look anywhere else. ToT

Sora and Piyomon also win Adorable Award of the Day.

Honestly everyone gets it... I apologize for not having any cute Tentomon resting on Koushirou scenes capped! It’s because they drew Tentomon’s head freakishly big and I just couldn’t do it bahahaha but they were cute too

And that’s the end of... oh oh wait, did you think the battle was over? YOU NOOB. xD

every veteran Digi fan was not at all surprised to see this countdown appear and what looks like yet another bad guy evolution next week. Also next week...

... looks like Takeru’s finally going to join us!! Yaaaay! Very dramatically too it seems!

We got a glimpse of Hikari in a similar moment BUT... I’m not convinced Hikari will truly be joining us. She was separated from her mom and is clearly going to have a Digimon interaction of some sort like Takeru, but I think this is “eighth child” build up, one because the current ending theme is completely Takeru centric, and two because it just makes sense to me that Takeru would be Crisis One and Hikari will be Crisis Two. Idk of course it’s just a hunch.

Fizz before you said Hikari was killed in the stampede I WAS KIDDING

kidding about children dying??? OMG Y’ALL

maybe though Hikari’s swept away by those people, gets her Digivice, then is promptly captured by... idk evil Digimon, or shady government officials? More likely, she gets her digivice and helps but keeps it a secret and plans to show her brother when they reunite... we’ll see!

This ep I give 8/10!!

Ending with one more cool Taichi cap from next week’s trailer!

[stopthebig3]

i’ve only recently become a watcher/reader of naruto (idk about “fan” lol) and going by the in-world politics - will of fire, curse of hatred, uchiha massacre - it really seems kishimoto is nationalist irl. to be brief he paints sasuke’s dissent against the state as maligned and nothing in konoha changes under naruto’s reign. it really reads as propaganda and it worked v well! ex. the hero worship of itachi, justification of his actions, and glorifying his being groomed as a child by the state

You folks take him wayyyy too seriously to think he would bother writing propaganda, he’s just a mediocre writer who bit more than he could chew and ended up writing a generic shonen ending because he wanted out. He even said he knows is naive way to wrap everything up but he won’t bother doing better because kek sold out

[sirenalpha]

do you know how insanely condescending reading this was? “If you don’t hate Aang as a character and actually separate him out from literary criticism then that’s lamentably rare in the fandom.”???? My entire original post that every Aang fan in the area was hounding me on was that I could separate how Aang was written as a character from my feelings about him and Aang fans couldn’t

I like Zuko way more than Aang and can still admit where he was poorly written, like I think they did a terrible job on treating him like he was actually a prince, I think him hiring an assassin was bad writing as I really think they just did it as a lazy way to get him onto the gaang, I think maiko is a bad pairing for him, I just don’t deny that this all happened in the show and is in fact bad writing

you basically called me ableist for saying based on my literary analysis of the show that the show did a bad job with Aang’s character arc, Aang’s not my fave, I don’t hate him, but his fans like you are really making me want to hate him

I am not ‘assigning’ Aang a character arc, I’m watching the show and how Aang’s arc developed where it basically straight up says what Aang needs to do because for the most part it is a well written show and that’s what well written narratives do, if you’ve read my other meta I’ve tracked the various ways in which Aang has good character development in season 1 and 2 for it just to be struck down in season 3, and I clearly do not do this through the lens of what type of literary conflict the show features because I don’t think there is just one type in this show and that you’re necessarily limiting your scope on Aang’s character arc if you’re focusing only on the man v society conflict instead of idk his actual character arc

I’m not saying that man v society isn’t a conflict in the show or that it’s not present in Aang’s arc or Katara’s arc, but I am saying that that is not the end all be all reading of Aang’s arc, and even if it were Aang should have had time where he criticized his own culture aka Air Nomad society like Katara has to do with the Water Tribe and Zuko has to do with the Fire Nation (even Toph and Kuei has shades of this with the Earth Kingdom) but he doesn’t

so even in a man v society lens, his arc still fails where Zuko’s and Katara’s don’t it’s plainly not as comprehensive a criticism on society

also Jet and Hama are not good representatives of ‘society’ in this lens anyways, they’re clearly meant to represent outliers and the effects of war on its victims, I really do think they’re better read as why the war is harmful and needs to be ended because these are not officials in power, these are not people running governments (even Zuko despite being a prince isn’t a good rep, he’s banished in the s1 finale and on the outs with his father the man who actually holds societal power)

General Fong is a better pick as a representative of society if you’re going to make that argument and like I said in one of my meta, this is in season 2 when Aang’s arc is fully functioning, he bends to ‘society’ or in other words Fong’s will and is punished for it by Katara getting hurt and him losing control so he leaves, this is a plus on Aang’s character arc and it’s not the problem

Because viewers go in expecting a ‘rise to the challenge’ ‘prove yourself by fighting’ type story, a la testosterone-fueled action hero conventions, they can’t see it for what it is.

idk how to tell you this, but that actually is what the show is....Aang literally ends the show in a man v man battle and proving himself by fighting, granted it’s a smart one, but it’s still a kid’s show about fighting I actually think it’s on you if you think kid fight shows can’t have anything interesting or good to say, I mean FMA is also a shonen adventure series but I don’t think anyone’s saying it’s stupid and meaningless

(someone else did a wonderful analysis on this, how Aang is an Eastern styled philosophy protagonist in a Western dominated media pool, which people have a hard time digesting. I replied to it in more detail. This pointed retention of goodness through adversity- rather than being hardened by it and embittered and hating those who are aggressors- is not familiar to a lot of gritty, tough-guy Western conventions, either. This is simply not a character arc a lot of audience in the West is equipped to vibe with upon first inspection. Thus the trend in the fandom to dismiss it and call him ‘weak’ for not toughening up.)

dude I was watching shonen anime you know actually Eastern shows and not just American men plucking what they wanted out of Eastern shows at the time I originally watched atla, and since then I’ve also watched/read Korean and Chinese media content, a lot of people into atla at minimum watch anime it came out in the era of toonami with people watching sailor moon and pokemon and dragon ball, I don’t think fans of the show are oblivious or completely removed from actual eastern media, and as someone who has consumed eastern media atla is more like western shows than it is eastern shows, you would never mistake atla for anime any more than you would mistake idk FF7 for being American made

and just to be annoying for how insane this point is and how condescending this whole post was, Harry Potter the biggest western franchise ever literally has the protag be soft despite the abuse he suffered as a child, he chooses to be a good person despite the trauma and everything else, and he still killed Voldemort, granted the series had more time to grow up and the protagonist grew up more than atla and Aang, but that’s still part of the point of the series, ‘western’ people can totally get behind a character being soft and they proved it by making Harry Potter insanely popular, keeping goodness through hardship is a really common theme in western media that’s like half the point of heroes

atla’s own popularity proves that people can totally jive with these themes, it’s not just Aang that had these characteristics on the show of still being kind after hardship, having multiple characters demonstrate this is what makes it thematic, even Zuko does it starting from episode 3 where the facial burn victim decides not to burn the face of the adult man with authority needlessly antagonizing him

it’s not the damn themes my dude people don’t like Aang as much because his arc is not as good, that was also the point of my original post, you’re making shit up just because you want Aang to be perfect and calling everyone else stupid and uncultured for not seeing things the way you do

anyways, as for show don’t tell with the chakras

they literally didn’t show us Aang finding out the chakra was blocked, he straight up told Toph that’s how we found out

what do you want me to do? make up shit to make you feel better? it never happened

yeah we’re told Katara spent weeks on Aang’s injury, we don’t see it happen on screen they have a grand total of 1 healing session on screen then the show acts like all Aang has is a scar, none of his bending or energy is otherwise disrupted, until they drop the chakra blocked news at the midseason point episodes later

there is no reason to assume anything is wrong with him until we are told by Aang something is wrong, that’s telling not showing

you yourself say “I bet” when saying what happened with the rock which means you don’t know because it wasn’t shown, you had to put in the work to make a major point in turning the tides in the finale work because the show didn’t put in the effort

you’re also really putting in the work to misinterpret me and my points, protags coming back from death is not that unique in story telling and yeah you could assume that things are wrong with Aang from that injury except the show doesn’t show that, it goes from a really heavy episode for the premier of season 3 then the next episode is lighthearted footloose with no signs of Aang having any lingering difficulties, he in fact seems perfectly happy and normal and is more upset with the teacher than any lingering pain or energy flow problems that was my point, not that the episode was purposeless

there was a point to the episode, but the point was not to demonstrate that Aang had an injury and needed to work on the Avatar State, and my point in pointing that out was that the show decided to not focus on Aang, his injury, his chakras, or mastering the Avatar State and regaining his honor like he claimed he needed to do literally the episode before, it’s tonal whiplash that’s just what it is

and now you’re what accusing me of being anti-semitic and a holocaust denier because of a joke the entire fandom makes about 3.02 being a footloose adaptation? buddy, you are going out of your way to make yourself look bad

(also pretty sure word of god confirmed they added break dancing because Zuko’s voice actor Dante Basco break dances...people think it’s break dancing because it is break dancing....)

your last paragraphs also have nothing to do with Aang’s character arc but you are so arguing with the wrong damn person I absolutely do hate male characters when they kiss female characters who are giving no indication they want to kiss and Aang does it twice over the series idgaf if Katara has blushed at him other times in those moments there’s no indication she wants to kiss him and actually does get mad at him after the second one and I absolutely wish I would just throw the entire series out over Katara’s portrayal in the entire franchise because it is genuinely shit like I could blow my top off for what they did to her in the comics and LoK that’s why I don’t read them or rewatch LoK and yeah I do think the headband wasting time on romance is a literary sin because it didn’t improve that episode in particular but in the context of all the media I have ever watched shitty romance plots that are bad for female characters are plentiful and all equally infuriating, but since we’re on it anyways kataang only happens because Aang is a bryke self insert and so of course they use the misogynistic trope of treating Katara like a trophy Aang earns for being a protag when nothing in the narrative indicated he’d actually proven himself to be a good romantic option for her (and then it’s just proven he’s not good in LoK and he’s a shit father lmao) it’s all still bad writing

you did absolutely nothing to prove that Aang’s character arc is well done or my analysis was incorrect you’re welcome to try again but you literally just aren’t showing up in my notifs I found this on accident and I actually have better things to do with my life than bother aang stans the way they come around and bother me 

@sirenalpha Look I’m sorry I got mad. If you don’t hate Aang as a character and actually separate him out from literary criticism then that’s lamentably rare in the fandom.

So let’s do the literary analysis thing.

Here’s the previous discussion, for anyone reading (Tumblr dumped this post twice and having to retype it was UGHHH so I finally gave up and made this separate)

https://captlok.tumblr.com/post/638478816737673216/sirenalpha-herebeatla-sirenalpha-oh-my-god-i

You are assigning the character arc you think Aang should have had, not what was actually presented, on purpose, which was the literary conflict type Man vs. Society.

Aang and Gaang oppose Jet’s revenge-obsessed blindly loyal micro-society.

Aang narrowly avoids being killed by another revenge-obsessed person, Hama.

Aang saves his enemy, Zuko’s, life after being told by Society, in the form of Sokka (and the vast majority of people who would agree with him) to instead let him freeze to death.

All along the way, Katara and Aang are challenged repeatedly by people telling them ‘pragmatism,’ ‘revenge’ or ‘justice’ are the RIGHT ways to go about things. And every time, because that is the story they were telling, they win this Man vs. Society conflict.

Culminating in the finale.

A thematic whole.

So you’re right, let’s step back here and keep addressing what’s amiss with your literary analysis, not simply Aang.

If you have at least elevated yourself above people who hate Aang as a person, then again, that’s good.

Aang is told repeatedly by Society to do other things, too, like Joo Dee. There’s another thread that lists all the examples. Aang is a troublemaker throughout the series in the eyes of Society.

But.

Because viewers go in expecting a ‘rise to the challenge’ ‘prove yourself by fighting’ type story, a la testosterone-fueled action hero conventions, they can’t see it for what it is.

(someone else did a wonderful analysis on this, how Aang is an Eastern styled philosophy protagonist in a Western dominated media pool, which people have a hard time digesting. I replied to it in more detail. This pointed retention of goodness through adversity- rather than being hardened by it and embittered and hating those who are aggressors- is not familiar to a lot of gritty, tough-guy Western conventions, either. This is simply not a character arc a lot of audience in the West is equipped to vibe with upon first inspection. Thus the trend in the fandom to dismiss it and call him ‘weak’ for not toughening up.)

Now onto the chakra issue.

Dude we are shown that meditating puts you in touch with your chakras. It should only take 3 more seconds of thought to conclude that this knowledge was gotten with more meditating.

As the old writing advice goes, “Show, don’t tell.”

That in itself, gaining the knowledge of what was wrong, I had no issues with. It was obvious. It was only the physical injury part that took longer for me to figure out, upon a re-watching and paying attention to the wording.

MIGHT this have benefitted from more ‘hey this GAPING WOUND and scarring is disrupting the body’s natural energy flow’? Meh. I guess.

I bet when that blockage was jarred loose, like they do with deep tissue massage, it hurt like the dickens. Acupuncture can also be painful even aside from the needles. Heat from skin and itchy, burning discomfort are reported.

Didn’t come across as unique?

A master healer, Katara, spent weeks on end working on him without his waking up.

‘Show, don’t tell.’

Besides, HE DIED. You can’t get much more ‘unique’ than DEAD.

“but they decided to adapt footloose instead.”

Wow. That’s what you got out of that episode? The purpose of that episode, along with other hints we got throughout Season 3, is that the Fire Nation is oppressive even to its own people. It feeds very small children propaganda to make them blindly loyal to a violent ruler (the puppet show we see Ozai in at one point).

I remember seeing a chilling example of this brainwashing in the real world where four year olds had AK-47s strapped to their backs while calmly watching others aim and miming of violence with adults.

All expressions of divergent thinking, like our boy “Kuzon” who stood up to a teacher repeating propaganda about the deceased Air Nomads, are quickly silenced.

[Sidebar: It also demonstrated that many martial arts styles are interwoven or derived from dance.]

[Which, yes, they should have said that outright, but, can’t be perfect. The fans slobbering over how Zuko looks like he’s breakdancing while doing Northern Shaolin leg sweeps will have to do, I guess. XD XD]

Anyway, I didn’t see anyone in Footloose asserting that actually the Jews had an army and they were threatening.

But if there’s a scene of systematically approved Holocaust denial that I missed, please point me to it.

Now, did the Kataang hog up the spotlight from the worldbuilding? Yeah, and that annoys me. But people would complaining that it wasn’t demonstrated she was attracted to him even more than they already do when they mentally block out this episode and the looks she gave him.

“Show, don’t tell.”

Oh and reciprocating his kiss on the day of the invasion, but again, let’s get back to the worldbuilding and literary analysis. For The Headband, if focusing on romance over other more interesting potential elements were a literary sin, then whole seasons and whole series (and books!) would be on the chopping block.

To then claim that one episode cannot be spent on romance, that’s just short-sighted, in the eyes of literature.

If you want to discuss the whole of Season 3 pacing, episode by episode, then please start a different thread. (I may or may not comment. Feel free to tag me.) I’ve said my piece on the central pacifist conflict of the series.

[majorasnightmare]

Boiiiiii if you don't do Jack for the OC meme imma fite u bc I know nothing about them

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS I LOVE JACK I JUST NEVER GET TO TALK ABOUT HIM 

IM GONNA DO HIS DND INCARNATION BECAUSE ITS THE EASIEST TO UNDERSTAND

Full Name: Jack Galanodel

Gender: Undecided/Masculine (idk if Cis or Trans guy yet??)

Sexuality: Gay as fuck

Pronouns: He/Him

Ethnicity/Species: Afro-Brazillian in human AU’s, undecided Elf in DNDBirthplace: Unknown, raised in Shadow Monk temple high in the mountainsBirthdate: Unknown, Aries

Class: Dual Class, Shadow Monk, Assassin RogueAlignment: Chaotic Good

Guilty Pleasures: Knives. Dude just LOVES knives. Especially butterfly knives. He collects them and uses them as fidget toys. Jack also unironically loves cheesy sci fi, and puns (but never makes them himself), and strawberry chocolate

Phobias: Insects and anything big enough to swallow him whole

What they would be famous for: His overall skill. Jack strikes fast and hits hard, and then is gone again before you even know what hit you. Rarely is an enemy not taken down by one or two of jacks attacks, as his skill in hand to hand combat is second to none, thanks to years of training as a monk, then an assassin, then as a student learning from Alice’s swordplay techniques. What he lacks in obvious magical talent he more than makes up for with his skill with knives and martial weapons. Jack is one of the few members of the team who isn’t reliant on magical talents, mainly using his shadow magic to aid his natural stealth. 

What they would get arrested for: unintentional trespassing, and accidental vandalism (and possibly assassination if he was ever found out)

OC you ship them with: I don’t have a boyfriend for Jack yet and its a DAMN SHAME

OC most likely to murder them: How could anyone hurt that beautiful face, you just cant

Favorite movie/Book Genre: unironically loves the Fast and the Furious series, and loves typical shonen/adventure storylines like the beginning of Hunter x Hunter and One Piece

Least favorite movie/book cliche: Love at first sight, it makes no sense yOU JUST MET AT LEAST GIVE ME SOME BUILD UP BEFORE YOU MAKE OUT UGH

Talents and/or Powers: Jack has a natural affinity for lightning and shadow, which boosts his speed and agility (responsible for why he’s one of the fastest characters in the team), and as mentioned earlier, he is ridiculously talented with martial weapons. Why someone might love them: Witty and charming, Jack is also an easygoing prankster, a kindhearted and good natured person, and loyal to loved ones to a fault. Jack’s easygoing mannerisms helps hide deep seated insecurities of not being capable enough to defend his loved ones from those who would harm them, of not being good enough, and worries if his friends and loved ones care about him as much as he does them

Why someone might hate them: if anyone hates my knife son, meet me behind an arbys in twenty minutes for an ass kickingHow they change: Jack’s arc centers around jack accepting and acknowledging his own feelings as just as valid and worthy as everyone elses. Jack has a bad habit of assuming his problems dont need to be dealt with since he doesn’t see them as as bad as everyone elses, resulting in him bottling up his problems, including hiding his crush on Uriel, as he doesn’t think its important enough to talk about. Eventually, a cave in during a dungeon crawl results in Uriel and Jack being trapped together, resulting in all of jacks bottled feelings coming to the surface and him blowing up at uriel unintentionally, ending with a feelings jam and a closer bond between the two of them, even tho uriel doesnt reciprocate jacks crush(uriel doesnt date much in general), and jack admitting it was more of a shallow crush overall. They end up passing the time telling stories from their childhood, something uriel appreciates as jack has plenty, and uriel never had much of a childhood. Why you love them: jack originally started out as a wolf and lightning themed loner, who never said much of anything, and while the themes remain, jack is now one of my most vocal and playful characters in the group. ive always loved the “rogue with heart of gold” trope ;v; and jacks just a super nice character overall? really nice, super friendly, and a great help to other characters with mental illness as he shares his coping methods (Jack has ADHD, along with comorbid depression).