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dragomfry · 2 months ago

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Non-Binary Reading of Yashiro

Some may be wondering, “Isn’t it obvious that Yashiro is a cis man? He’s always referred to with he/him and doesn’t mind. Can’t he just be a more feminine man?” Sure, Yashiro can be read that way. And maybe that was the intent to begin with. I’m not saying you can’t read him as cis because there’s lots of meaning we can interpret from that, too.. I actually was hesitant to accept a non-cis reading because I thought it wasn’t plausible, but then I considered this: is it not a bit odd that there are many aspects and scenes, consistent ones I add, that may suggest he isn’t cis? So I took my chances, and I found potential that I think is realistic. Considering a non-cis reading, imo, opens up even more exciting layers to Yashiro and can be interpreted as representation if we wish. So that’s what I choose to do. Without further ado, I’ll dissect evidence in support of a non-binary reading below.

But first, we must consider the opposite. What objective evidence do we have to show that Yashiro perceives himself as a man? The way he dresses can be. Even after he’s banished from the Shinsekai, he still presents himself as masculine (though his hair is longer now and can lean into other readings/hmm notice how most yakuza men have shorter hair). It can also be when he explicitly states that he’s not a woman/he is a man. “I’m not a woman, so you don’t have to treat me gently.” Ryuuzaki asks him if he wants to be a woman twice, and Yashiro mostly brushes it off, saying life could’ve been easier that way (I think a trans reading still works in both cases). He says he is a man to Tsunakawa, etc. But even in the times Yashiro refers to himself as a man, is it really himself he’s referring to, or the expectations of men generally?

Masculinity and femininity are loosely defined concepts, so we can’t really say that his “feminine” traits (wtf does that even mean honestly, traits not toxically masculine?) are indicative of a non-cis gender identity. But he does seem relatively comfortable expressing both, which could lean into a non-cis reading (I say relatively b/c, for example, he caught himself “speaking like a woman” at the hotel; could just be b/c he’s insecure, which I lean towards)

Considering a non-binary reading, then, there are many things we can focus on.

*Note: I’ll use he/him to refer to events in the canon in order to measure how likely they are to be interpreted as evidence of the reading, even though Yashiro would use they/them now. I’ll switch to they/them when I think Yashiro should be interpreted that way. Hope this makes sense.

Honestly, this interpretation was formed pretty recently, and I thought I didn’t have much to go off of with this reading even if it felt right (I always loved the implication of “beautiful person”). After taking another look at things through a gendered lens, I think this reading is what I find most comfortable. In this case, Yashiro uses he/they. They’re okay with he/him (don’t have much of a choice) but prefer gender-neutral pronouns. Yashiro does not fully feel like a man but also not fully like a woman. To me, they seem most comfortable with expressing both masculine and feminine traits and don’t like fitting either of those gender roles. They feel like a mix of both.

The scene that really made me consider this reading was the flashback in ch.10 to Yashiro’s young adult years, in which he was in a woman and a man was in him, and he says the woman felt good but the pressuring sensation of the man “felt unbearably dear” to him… Yashiro cries in this scene, and he rarely cries, so this moment really sticks out even if it was brief. Even if you don’t take a gendered look at the scene, it’s still very ambiguous in its meaning. (I will talk about the other implications of the scene in a post about Yashiro’s struggle w/ bisexuality) I interpreted their tears as distress with thinking they are supposed to choose which identity they want in this scene. They feel like they have to choose between the two sexes, the penetrating or the penetrated role, but can’t reconcile with their identity being either a man or woman. So, they cry; they cry because they do not, in fact, fit either role. They’re… in between.

There are a number of cases where Yashiro responds to or seems to prefer gender-neutral terms. Based on the translation by Kagerou Scans on Mangadex, in ch.9, Misumi calls Yashiro a wh*re (usually misogynistic) and a h*mo, but he replies to neither. But, the one he does reply to is the more neutral “pervert.” On a better note, for my favorite gender affirming example, they like it when Doumeki calls them a beautiful person or just a person in general 🤍. Yes, it’s because someone acknowledges that they are not an object, but now it’s also because that’s part of their identity they prefer.

I mentioned this before; even in the times Yashiro refers to himself as a man, is it really himself he’s referring to, or the expectations of men generally? Based on Blue Spring Scans translation of ch. 10, Yashiro refers to Misumi and Hirata as homophobes, people against homosexuals, in reference to himself. Later in ch. 10, he says to himself that he isn’t a homosexual (isn’t a gay man) but doesn’t bother correcting any of the men that think that. This supports that Yashiro could be speaking of how men perceive them as a man and not how Yashiro actually views themself.

With this reading, rather than saying he feels inadequate as a man (which makes sense for a cis interpretation), Yashiro feels inferior to cis men as a nonbinary individual. Society (yakuza) says that they are a man, and deserve to be punished for being effeminate and gay. Yashiro internalizes some of the abuse, subconsciously thinking they should be punished (it’s part of why they think they want to be treated roughly; “I’m not a woman so you don’t have to treat me gently” = “I’m supposed to be a man who is treated roughly”) because society has told them that they are an individual less than men, that they “ruin” perfectly good, straight men… but after the timeskip, they start feeling a bit more confident in their gender. They have, for the most part, left the abusively patriarchal environment of the yakuza and can now be more themselves (can we not interpret Yashiro wanting to leave the yakuza as them wanting to part with being forced into a male role? Yakuza = toxic masculinity/manhood are metaphors I want to explore more later). They grow out their hair. They start to speak up against men who want to use them and stand up for their right to determine who they should have sex with. Although they don’t think they should be punished for being less than cis men anymore, they still think they deserve to be punished by Inami (ch.47) and even Doumeki (ch.57) for being hypersexual in the past and physically unable to accept gentleness, for having developed trauma responses out of their control.

To recontextualize some other aspects with the nonbinary reading…

The prevalent straight fantasies of Doumeki and a woman would be explained by Yashiro believing Doumeki to be mainly straight, but they could still be imagining themself in the woman’s role. It’s still a mystery why they don’t imagine themselves with Doumeki. In the case of Izumi, they may feel like they aren’t good enough to be with Doumeki because they aren’t a woman. Them wanting to be treated gently is not necessarily because they think they are a woman and should be treated as such, but to be treated as just who they are without those gender roles. They don’t want to be treated roughly because Doumeki perceives them as a man, and they don’t want to be treated gently because Doumeki perceives them as a woman. They want to be treated as the person they are. It’s unfortunate because even though they want to be comfortable with their more “feminine” traits (Ig, sometimes how they speak or joke around, generally the way they act sometimes, sexual preference, wanting gentleness), society and especially their trauma prevent them from expressing those traits freely or w/out ridicule.

If you consider this reading, or the trans woman one which I also really appreciate, but still are not sure they’re quite plausible, let’s then bring up the opposite again. Has Yashiro ever expressed comfort in being a cis man or expressed fraternity among men? For both questions, I mean, it just seems like plain no. In ch.10, we find that he views men of the yakuza quite negatively, especially in his description as a young adult of why he seeks them out. He seeks them out because they’re only supposed to find sexual release with his body, nothing more. Why would he like/be comfortable being a man or being associated with them if he has just been abused by them all their life, specifically because they perceive him as a man (and to make matters worse, because he also likes men)? To add on, he seems to separate himself when speaking about men generally. Ch.3, “men, guys, males”; men do this, men do that; has it ever really been “we, us, our, my” iykwim? Yashiro feels isolated/othered in the yakuza not just because of his sexuality, but with these trans interpretations, also because “he” doesn’t fit in with men at all

Since I prefer the nonbinary reading, I believe it is more like “men, women, and me” to Yashiro.

Look at them. They’re so beautiful ;)

I said this before but I think all of the above discussion highlights how, regardless of how we interpret Yashiro’s gender, they are a distinctly queer character. And that subtext is definitely worth considering.

#saezuru analysis #saezuru #saezuru tori wa habatakanai #yashiro #and lets be honest #the nonbinary flag colors just fit so well with their design #looking back at my most recent art #with its color palette #I became conscious of just how right that identity felt #king and queen #best of both worlds #saezuru discussion

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reel-fear · 5 months ago

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If you want my opinion, I think we should give Lone Wolf the benefit of the doubt, yes it does look a little bit cheap in some areas but the game does look pretty fun and both the art and characters are still on point. Alice and Sammy are also returning so that’s a plus! I think it’s best that we stay optimistic for this game and Bendy’s future.

That's fair and I respect your opinion, I think my thing is I'm worried people are too optimistic about Bendy's future games being better than the ones they've already created because the team behind Bendy is very anti-listening to feedback. Which means it's likely these games won't improve unless fans make a bigger push to be more critical of them and show the devs they won't spend their money unless the team can prove they care about this franchise and aren't gonna let the polish drain just because it makes more money.

I criticize Bendy not because I want it to die or be bad, I only do it because I hope one day either 1. A competitor rises up and gives the fans essentially a better version of Bendy that they deserve and they can use my feedback and others to see where it can be improved. or 2. The bendy team listens to my feedback and the general fandom's to make future games better. Plus generally get their act together.

As it stands the trailer is rushed and cheap, which is bad because a trailer for a game should be the most polished part of the affair. I mean this is what is supposed to convince people to buy the game when it comes out! I had the same problems with The Cage and I'm unhappy to see this becoming a pattern. [I mean that's a game I'm even more confident is going to horribly crash and burn cause I honestly don't know why'd they make a midquel to a game which everyone hated the ending of-]

Look. I understand some people feel a sort of loyalty to the Bendy devs, it's hard not to feel like you're in some sort of friendship when it comes to such a small indie team. But at the end of the day you have to remember defending them when they mess up only gives them more reasons to ignore feedback and most of all you don't know Mike or Meatly as people outside of what they Choose to show in their public image. So when the public image they've crafted is one that's bad and leaves people worried about how the games they're making are gonna turn out. Nobody can be blamed but them. And if you really care about them and/or Bendy it's better to boost feedback even if it's negative.

Like sure Sammy and Malice are returning but look at the treatment they got in Dark Revival! Meatly and Mike have never addressed how poorly done the original characters were in that game and I think it's cause far as they're concerned it was perfectly fine and people are complaining about nothing. [That or enough people didn't seem to care for it to matter to them whether that point was valid or not] Despite the fact Sammy was shot down for a gag after finally speaking up [and was in a ton of Dark Revival marketing material] and Malice was nothing more than a rip off of her chapter 3 self with no interesting changes, we never got to hear her thoughts on how the world is doing, on how she feels now hearing her enemy, the ink demon, was supposedly killed, or on Wilson, the keepers, etc. I mean it was a huge waste and with the promise Sammy will be 'restored to his Chapter 2 glory' I want to call this poor writing out now rather than wait for the cage to come out and pretend I never saw it coming.

Criticism is a good thing for Bendy, we should embrace it rather than shunning or discouraging it. I hope most of us can agree on that. Even if I seem harsh, I would rather lean towards that, than risk going too easy with my words and being ignored by the devs.

#ramblez #feel free to reblog!#batim #batdr #bendy lone wolf #bendy and the ink machine #boris and the dark survival #bendy and the dark revival #I hope this doesnt seem too harsh this person was being fairly polite its just that its a little frustrating when ppl are like #but why cant we just ignore the red flags and its like I understand ur trying to say think positive #but ignoring red flags esp abt a game people are gonna spend money on just feels kinda crappy #like no I dont want to mislead people into thinking I liked this trailer I did not and I wanted to say why and why I think Bendy is getting #worse by also talking abt the trends its following with recent releases and such #if others disagree thats fine but telling me I should be more positive just kinda feels sometimes like Im being told to shut up #esp being told to give the benefit of the doubt to a team who has not earned it at all like Im sorry but no I will not #they are not to be trusted I dont trust them and I dont think anyone else should either #I cant stop those people obviously but like u cant tell me to give them the benefit of the doubt and then have the most mild #defenses of the trailer on how it brought 2 characters back and looks fun #also Im not sure I agree on the art considering the animations look p bad but agree to disagree I suppose #anyways if anyone reads all this um if u check my ramblez tag u can see the og post I made on that trailer the ask is refrencing #okay bye-

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