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ferrets-are-noodle-cats · 2 years ago

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IDK how far along the Anime is so potential manga spoilers ahead

This is all mostly correct but I'd argue Ishigami is more of a deconstruction of bland harem protags. He's a nerdy, introverted otaku that most people ignore, who suddenly ends up getting a lot of female attention. However, Ishigami works in subverting the wish-fufilly self-insert harem stereotype by having to actually grow as a person into the type of guy women actually want to be with.

In the early chapters, he is very much a kind of creepy loser. A well meaning and misunderstood creepy loser, but a creep nontheless. You can honestly see WHY people accept the rumors about him as true. But his problems are fixed not by just meeting some hot girls that love him no matter what, no, instead he works to actively better himself and try to form connections with other people, that's the point of the Cheer Squad arc.

Had he actually been the protag of one of these generic Harem animes, he wouldn't have this type of development or self-awareness, because then the audience would find it harder to project onto him. But the develpment can occur, because Ishigami isn't the protag of the story, he's just a side character. By the time he's introduced, the audience is already able to project on Shirogane and Kaguya, so Ishigami doesn't have to be a relatable blank slate like the characters he deconstructs. He can feel like a real person with flaws he needs to work through, and it's only after working through those flaws is he able to become the type of guy that women would actually WANT to be with.

Hell, the deconstruction goes further. Playing with the whole "Sexually-oblivious protag that never actually bones the women who want him", by giving him actual reason to turn down Tsubame's offer of Sex. And speaking of Tsubame, even though she is a love interest for him, someone he's been chasing after for so long, SHE TURNS HIM DOWN during his confession to her. Explicitly saying that she won't date him, once again doing something that would have been unheard of for a regular harem anime where it needs to sell the idea to lonely people that these women want to be with a protag like them no matter what. (Not saying all harem anime is like this, but broad strokes paint the fence).

BUT IT CAN GO EVEN DEEPER. Part of the deconstruction or subversion can be found in how... well, some parts just flat out aren't subverted. Ishigami DOES have admirers in people like Iino and Osaragi, as well as chemistry with characters like Maki. Hell, his relationship with Kaguya could also be part of deconstructing the fantasy. The wealthy tsundere archetype is in love with another man who seems to not like her back, being the first person we see to try and reach out to the lonely perv with a heart of gold. In any standard harem with Ishigami as the protag, this would be the grounds for Kaguya to start crushing on him and such.

There's probably more that I haven't touched upon, but I think that this is enough to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I think the idea of him being a deconstruction of characters like Edgeworth and Sasuke is that from the start he's portrayed less like a mysterious emo boy with wisdom and more just like... a really depressed awkward nerd who always messes things up.

If we’re treating “Kaguya-Sama: Love is War” as a deconstruction of the romcom manga genre:

1) Kaguya is a deconstruction of the “ice queen tsundere” character. She has all the typical traits but because she’s paired up with another tsundere, there’s no one there to point out her problematic behavior. She has to learn how to become a better person on her own, which means confronting her insecurities and how she treats the people around her. Hence the “Ice Kaguya” arc, where Kaguya comes to the realization that being icy all the time is hurting herself and others.

2) Miyuki is a deconstruction of the “handsome prince tsundere” character. He’s good-looking, top of his class, and looks down on everyone around him. Typically, this character would be paired up with a girl on the low-end of popularity (someone like Miko Iino, for example). But because he’s paired up with rich girl Kaguya, it’s Miyuki who feels the pressure of having to measure up to his partner.

3) Miko is a deconstruction of the traditional shoujo manga heroine. When you think about it, Miko has all the traits of a protagonist; she’s the most “normal” of the group, she’s a hopeless romantic with an idealized view of love, she’s neglected at home, she falls for the brooding bad boy, and she’s naive and clumsy. Aside from not being the protagonist, Miko also differs from the tropes since she’s intentionally written to be a difficult character. Usually, shoujo manga heroines are easy to like and optimistic about life.

4) Ishigami is a deconstruction of the “brooding, bad boy” character. This is the character who you think would be loved by everyone since he’s so “mysterious”, “handsome”, and says something profound every now and then. Think characters along the lines of Sasuke Uchiha, Miles Edgeworth, or Shouto Todoroki. Instead, Ishigami is written as the least-liked student in the school and is regularly bullied, even by his friends. There was even a chapter where Ishigami gave Kaguya actually good advice on the meaning of true love and Kashiwagi called him a creep for that.

#yu ishigami #kaguya shinomiya #kaguya sama: love is war #miko iino #maki shijo #kobachi osaragi #tsubame koyasu

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dullahandyke · 2 years ago

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[Image description: a web-weaving post, compiling different sections from songs, manga, posts, and stories. The first image shows a panel from Kaguya-sama: Love is War, in which Kobachi Osaragi holds a clipboard to her chest and smiles. She narrates, "I'm Kobachi Osaragi, a member of the discipline committee. My last name looks like it should be pronounced 'Daibatsu', but it's actually pronounced 'Osaragi'. Please remember that."

The second image shows a post by SaintEmilioSandoz, which reads, "Doomed by the narrative and haunted by the narrative and a secret third thing (narrating the narrative)."

The third image shows text which reads, "Someone has to leave first. This is a very old story. There is no other version of this story."

The fourth image shows a page from Kaguya-sama, flashing back to Miko Iino in middle school. She walks through the halls as people murmur around her, a note stuck to her back. Osaragi narrates, "Miko didn't care at all, and just kept on going. At least, that was what she let people see." Miko notices the note stuck to her back, and we see her face, hollow with realization. Osaragi narrates, "But it wasn't like that." We see Osaragi calling out to Miko, who is crying in the girl's bathroom, as the narration continues, "She was so scared. She was just as hurt as anyone else would have been." We see Miko standing before the school noticeboard as the narration continues, "Miko was so serious and so strong, but no one understood her." Kobachi Osaragi looks on at Miko and narrates, "Why couldn't anyone understand? She was just trying to do what was right."

The fifth image shows a post by Stanarrators, which reads, "'Unreliable narrator' but it's 'narrator is deeply in love with the person they are narrating'." ID of images under the cut are placed under this cut.]

The sixth image shows lyrics which read as follows:

"On some level I think I always understood,

That these hands of mine were clumsy not clever,

And I tried to do the best that I could,

But try as I might, I could not bring myself to hold you."

The seventh image shows a paragraph which reads as follows:

He smiled understandingly - much more than understanding. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced - or seemed to face - the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favour. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of that, at your best, you hoped to convey."

The eighth image shows a page from Kaguya-sama, in which a young Miko holds a bookmark to her face and smiles brightly, saying, "I'm just... so happy right now..." Osaragi smiles from the sidelines, and she narrates, "Yeah. That made for a much prettier story."

The ninth image reads, "Brief pause. I'm walking backward into my own myth." Crossed out, the text continues, "I was trying to walk out."

The tenth image reads, "The centre of every tragedy is the image of a human being who has already died but keeps talking, someone whose face is a mask."

The eleventh image shows a page from Kaguya-sama, set during middle school. Turning away from Yu Ishigami, Miko says, "Suit yourself." Her obscured face morphing into a look of shock for a moment, Osaragi narrates, "That's not right, Miko-chan." She looks to Ishigami, sweating and looking forlorn, as she narrates, "You have to believe in him." We see Ishigami's unwritten apology letter as she continues, "You have to support him. That's the role you need to fill." Unsteady, she narrates, "Hey, Miko-chan. Are you really okay with this?" We see Ishigami's messy room as she continues, "He was the one who supported you all this time. Now's the time to repay the favor."

The twelfth image shows a transcript from The Stanley Parable, in which the narrator says, "As Stanley picked up the phone, a white light engulfed him, filling him not just with radiance, but with hope. Hope for a life reunited once-" He continues, the transcript highlighted. "Wait... oh goodness.. Stanley, did you just unplug the phone? No, that wasn't supposed to be a choice; how did you do that? You actually... chose incorrectly? I didn't even know that was possible. Let me double-check..." The sound of papers rustling plays, and as he continues, the text is unhighlighted. "No, it's definitely here, clear as day." Highlighted, he continues, "Stanley picks up the phone, he's taken to his apartment, where he finds his wife, and the two pledge themselves to one another. Music comes in, fade to white, roll credits. Not picking up the phone is actually somehow an incorrect course of action." Unformatted, he continues, "How is that even possible? None of these decisions were supposed to mean anything! I don't understand. How on earth are you making meaningful choices? What, did you-" As he continues, the text is highlighted. "Wait a second, did I just see... no, that's not possible. I can't believe it. How had I not noticed it sooner? You're not Stanley. You're a real person. *Sigh*. I can't believe I was so mistaken. This is why you've been able to make correct and incorrect choices!" He concludes unformatted, "And to think I've been letting you run around in this game for so long. If you'd made any more wrong choices, you might have negated it entirely!"

The thirteenth image shows a page from Kaguya-sama, in which we see flashbacks of middle school Ishigami, doing things for Miko. Osaragi narrates, "I'm pretty sure Ishigami barely knows that I exist, but he's been watching you, Miko-chan." We see Miko's conflicted face as the narration continues, "This is something only you can do." We see Miko's back and Osaragi's shadowed face, pursed into neutrality, as she narrates, "Miko-chan, please... be there for him."

The fourteenth image shows text which reads, "How many times she must have written to him thus, in how many varied moods. Little notes, scrawled on half-sheets of paper, and letters, when he was away, page after page, intimate, their news. Her voice, echoing through the house, and down the garden, careless and familiar like the writing in the book. And I had to call him Maxim."

The fifteenth image shows lyrics which reads, "Some things you'll do for money and some you'll do for fun, but the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one."

The sixteenth image shows lyrics which read, "Swimming through sick lullabies, choking on your alibis, But it's just the price I pay, destiny is calling me."

The seventeenth image shows a page from Kaguya-sama, in which Osaragi watches Miko from outside the room she sits in, despondent. She narrates, "Miko-chan really has the worst timing. Every single time." We see Osaragi's back turned as she continues, "I'm sorry, Miko-chan. I really wanted to support you, but... just this one, I've got to act on my beliefs." We see Osaragi turned to the side, her eyes gleaming, as she thinks, "I hope you'll at least forgive me for wishing for his happiness."

The eighteenth image shows text which reads, "There is a part of the wolf that has always thought - no, has always known - that it would get caught eventually. He's thinking that there's something abhorrent with that he's doing. But he continues anyway. He is still continuing. Shame is a foreign concept to him."

The nineteenth image shows text which reads, "Same here. 'Will you cling desperately to your frail life? Or will you let it slip? Another choice. Make it count. Or don't, it’s all the same to me, all a part of the joke." Crossed out, it continues, "And believe me, I will be laughing from the moment we fade in, till the moment I say 'Happily ever af-"

The twentieth image shows a page from Kaguya-sama, focusing on a picture of a marital fairytale ending as Osaragi says, "In fairy tales, they always say that 'The two lived happily ever after', but in reality, I think that idea can only go so far." We see her stormy face as she berates, "Ultimately, anyone who sees marriage as a way to lock in their eternal love is just in for a bad time. After all, the human brain isn't designed to feel eternal love. The love you feel towards anything at any given time is bound to dissipate eventually!"

The twenty-first image shows lyrics which read, "If what they say is, ''Nothing is forever', then what makes, then what makes, then what makes, then what makes, what makes, what makes love the exception?"

The twenty-second image shows Osaragi looking pained as she says, "Since the very beginning, Miko-chan had a choice between either me or Ishigami." We see Miko, her face obscured, as Osaragi continues, "If she ended up choosing Ishigami, then we'd have ended up here one way or another."

The twenty-third image shows text which reads, "I've always been glad I said that." Highlighted, it continues, "It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end." Unformatted, it continues, "First he nodded politely, and then his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we'd been in ecstatic cahoots on that facet all the time."

The twenty-fourth image reads as follows. "Stanley? Hello? Are you... is everything okay?

"Stanley, please...I... I need you to make a choice. I need you to walk through the door.

"Are you listening to me? Can you hear m? Is everything alright?

"Stanley, this is important. The story needs you. It needs you to make a decision. It cannot exist without you. Do you understand me?

"Whatever choice you make is just fine, they are both correct; you cannot be wrong here." Highlighted, it continues. "We can work together; I'll accept whatever you do. I simply need you to take that step forward. Please? Choose?

"Do something! Anything. This is more important than you can ever know. I need this. The story needs it.

Unformatted, the text continues, "So, you hear me? Are you there? Are you listening to this? Stanley, are you there?!"

Highlighted, it continues, "I... okay... it's okay. I can wait. You need time to decide, time to make sure your choice is correct. That is the best choice.

"Take as much time as you need."

The twenty-fifth image shows text which reads, "On doomsday you offered me a plea, to be still friends, at the time I was so naive, thinking we could get over this."

The twenty-sixth image reads, "Turn it up, this is my favourite song." Highlighted, it continues, "You hear me but you don't listen. I have my story and you have yours."

The twenty-seventh image reads, "I'm simply speaking the truth in the simplest of words. You're in love with me and it's going to make you miserable but it'll pass. The pain will lessen and that ache in your chest will fade till it's tolerable. You’ll laugh more often. Soon it'll be easier to get up in the mornings. This is a law, a rule, a fact. No matter how precious that pain is, how inescapable- it'll pass."

The twenty-eighth image reads, "We wove a new story out of blood-read thread. Fuck the stars, we write our own myths. You be cowboys I'll be pirates. Finally someone worth hurting for."

End image description]

Narrators, Beginnings, Endings, and Love

saintemiliosandoz // Richard Siken, War of the Foxes // stanarrators // The Crane Wives, Never Love an Anchor // F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby // Anne Carson, H of H Playbook // Jon Darnielle, The Gods Show Up // Davey Wredon, The Stanley Parable // Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca // The Mountain Goats, Love Love Love // The Killers, Mr. Brightside // Lev St. Valentine, I Hope You Read This // OutKast, Hey Ya // Basement Tuesdays, Jeffrey (Over You) // offbrandcornflakes // Aka Akasaka, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War

#hi op! i'm in tatters #long post #osaiino

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