#kelsey liveblogs manga

[daisyachain]

I’ve come around actually, it’s a good and fitting ending. Itsuki tries for literal years to manipulate the poor guy into telling him what he wants to hear and after taking L after L he ends up being forced to take every first move. You failed. Good job. Maybe you got what you wanted but you had to go and prostrate yourself first

[daisyachain]

Long Period finale surprisingly mid considering the highs of every other chapter but still. God. Well. We’re done aren’t we

[daisyachain]

Last word on Asahina—he is the lone sane man, he is not the lone good man, he’s eaten of the tree which means he’s choosing his path knowing full well what that means

[daisyachain]

What 15 years of Gintama does to a mf. I do not know how Furuya N.-sensei managed her level of romance wizardry thru that medium but maybe she’s on to something. I think my updated ranking has to be Number Call = Long Period > Gunjou no Subete > KimiNatsu 2 = S to N > Futari no Lion > KimiNatsu 1 > Hoshi Dake ga Shitteru = KimiNatsu 3

[daisyachain]

Greatest mystery in the world. Why are manga people so sick. A) through regular virus B) through catching the Victorian ‘cold’ long since disproven as a conflation of viruses with hypothermia/TB and a false interpretation of the relationship between viruses and cold weather. Why are these poor poor people falling down every month with a dire illness. Option 1: rule of drama, sickness is just a manga trope in a way that it isn’t in western comics/tv shows in the same way forgetting your umbrella is a trope. Option 2: North America has a relatively spread-out population, even though there is contagion it just can’t spread further than a city or neighbourhood due to a lack of density. North Americans just don’t catch viruses that often once they get out of school. Option 3: viruses take hold more easily in a weakened or exhausted body, North American students and white collar workers on average have shorter work weeks and less strenuous environments compared to cross-Pacific counterparts and so there are many colds that simply pass us by

[daisyachain]

list of things that hikaru ga shinda natsu is about that i agree with

supernatural metaphor for when the first person in your friend group hits puberty

fable about wishing for your crush to like you back and realizing that the person who would treat you like you fantasize is an entirely different person from the one you loved in the first place

comment on the widespread idea that gay people spawn randomly in urban environments

clever little deconstruction that asks what truths folk tales ignore in their simplicity

rural high school au of tokyo ghoul

supernatural metaphor for how [miscellaneous] people have no future that they can see for themselves

exploration of how the strict external pressures of school create an environment where kids paradoxically have an amnesty to do whatever they want within those walls, and how integrating with society towards the end of high school/uni can be a cold, cold shock

[daisyachain]

How do characters in everyday manga live. Is the rate of illness in these stories reflective of the rate of illness in quotidian life. Not even when I was in elementary school when everyone smeared snot all over the shared pencils did I catch as many colds as your average slice of life character

[daisyachain]

It’s interesting how stylization and cultural divides combine, clash and intersect to create different paradigms of interpretations. Namely the tall light-haired young man with combed longish hair and a flat affect is considered to be the pinnacle of desire in manga, but when read through a north american lens the only archetypal character who corresponds to those looks is a complete dweeb

[daisyachain]

[head in hands] [drinking]

[daisyachain]

Hayakawa Nojiko draws such whimsical manga that delicately trace the dullest interactions between paper cutouts that strike up as many sparks as wet cardboard would. Furuya Nagisa hammers out workmanlike slabs of sequential art that sizzle with the savour of real people and natural dialogue.

[daisyachain]

Unforgivable for the b-options in a romance to be way more interesting than the main duo

[daisyachain]

Don’t ask what I was doing but for me I don’t like crossdressing in my romances not because I’m a killjoy, but because the point of a romance should be that it’s a rake in the grass. Centuries of heterosexism and misogyny have ingrained in people that for a girl, any boy is a potential mate, and vice versa. Even when you’re five you’ve got that knowledge in the back of your head. It’s a preprogrammed wet blanket over any kind of friendship or relationship that develops between two people—if you’re interested in somebody of the designated gender, it’s not because you like them, it’s because you’ve got no framework to interpret them outside of attraction.

So, the thing that’s appealing about a romance is where the expectation is not there. Where the relationship has to stand on its own; where the connection is so strong it forces people to unpick their own assumptions, overturn their worldviews, risk their own identity or safety to be with another person. Where even realizing what’s happening is a struggle and an accomplishment. The crossdressing trope doesn’t work with that because it cheats that. The romantic interest is forced top-down per the above rule. The one character doesn’t actually like the other, they just react instinctively to presentation and it’s booooring

[daisyachain]

I think another reason why Fumino Yuki/Furuya Nagisa’s romances work is that they pay special attention to the supporting cast. The friendgroups are a well-developed part of the story with a good amount of screentime. By seeing how the main character interacts with them, you see what they’ve got and what they lack in terms of a social life. Not that other series don’t have fun friend characters, but in HgK especially they’re equally important to the story

[daisyachain]

paper…copy…

[daisyachain]

Princess Jellyfish is as fun as advertised so far, but it’s also just in the uncanny valley of women’s media. Men’s media doesn’t fuss, it simply portrays girls as an inscrutable subspecies, as pets, or as a trivial nuisance to be avoided at all cost. Some works by women though, they acknowledge all the annoying and tricky bits of life that have been made so by misogyny and then turn around and say that you can’t escape it and shouldn’t bother trying.

Under a patriarchy the best position available to a woman is to be desirable and have a respectful, attractive husband. So works like your average romance novel or even a smart romance novel will show you that ideal! They know their audience aspires to it because what else can you do! A girl brought up in this world of ours can only dream of a being a hot girl with a hot guy because it’s what is promised as the ultimate happiness. For a lot of women it is a relief and a joy to see a frumpy nerd be a beautiful woman with a cute rich boyfriend without sacrificing her interests. But why not stay ugly and undesirable! Why not have the secret makeover not work, why not have the female characters’ looks be irrelevant

[daisyachain]

Mm Daiya and Oofuri are fun to compare as an example of the same series going in tie very different directions.

Strong and insecure player leading a weak team as a united front. Weak and overconfident player infighting his way to the top of a dominant team. Earnest hotblooded shouting VS calculating inner monologues. Vague rules and cartoony play styles VS detailed breakdowns of the logic behind every play. Rotating signature character moments VS slow, steady build of characterizations through background dialogue.

What stands out most is that DnA’s characters are super strongly sketched with arcs that seem to fizzle out, while Oofuri’s characters are far more normal and temperate with steadily-shifting stories. Oofuri delivers on every promise it makes. You watch games and games go by with ease and then you hit Sakitama II and get a payoff to an investment that you didn’t even know you made. Even within the course of the show, there’s a real sense of completion within each arc. It all makes sense. The Bijoudai-Sayama (Saiyama?) arc still feels satisfying because it nails down the characters.

Contrast Daiya, it has a lot more flashy moments and a lot more moments of ‘wait. What are we doing.’ Chris is the focal point of cour 1 and gets demoted to talking head soon after that. Furuya is introduced as the foil the rival the kindred spirit and spends so little time interacting with Sawamura that it’s an in-series joke. Miyuki occupies an odd spot as the second POV character who doesn’t actually do much for two dozen episodes.

The whole thing feels slippery. Who are we supposed to be following, with Sawamura doesn’t get to do anything and Furuya doesn’t get to say anything? What’s the point of Miyuki if he’s just reading other characters’ thought bubbles? Why bench Chris when he’s been Sawamura’s most interesting scene partner to date?

Best way I can describe it is that in Daiya, you can tell what each character’s role is supposed to be at a glance. The third-years’ personalities broadcast loud and clear from the start despite splitting screentime so much. In Oofuri, you’d be hard pressed to tell Suyama and Nishihiro apart by the end of season 1.

On the other hand, every character in Daiya falls short of their title. They can’t do what they advertise for. Ryousuke as an example is supposed to reckon with his inferiority complex, his relationship with his brother, his treatment of his own bestie. All these things do come up to trouble him. Then…he’s ushered off stage left and you never really resolve any of that, because all he says in his sole cameo is that it stings a little. Contrast Oofuri, the Boring Guy Suyama’s arc from 0 to the unexpected delight is one that keeps happening. He hits once and then you start noticing it more and more, then once he’s become a pillar of the team you get it lampshaded that he’s been trying for it all along. Daiya as a story makes loud promises that don’t always come true, Oofuri as a story never says anything it doesn’t mean