#no other long running shounen has managed to keep such a consistent through line arc after arc while never compromising on the main

[cosmicrhetoric]

sorry it's just getting crazier and crazier than im unironically telling people that this is one of the best pieces of media ive consumed in my entire life. and im talking about this guy

[sparda3g]

Gintama Chapter 681 Review

When a series pulls a time-skip, the reason is usually for the sake of powering up the characters and refills the element of surprise in their arsenal. When Gintama jumped time, I was under impression that it entered the epilogue and end like many series tends to do, and that’s fine. It was this very chapter that has changed my mind. Sorachi is doing an excellent work on delivering something meaningful and reasonable than simple powered-up characters or ending with a new family. It’s a rare outlook of the war aftermath that it has more harm than good and it will only grow worse.

Sorachi has been on his A-game in writing for the past chapters and there’s no sign of slowing down. Not only his comedy delivery has been top notch, vintage level if I may add, but so as his dark portion with Shouyou’s disciples with powerful scenes that are grander than a standard Shounen level. Praise the sun for the editors giving him the opportunity to end wonderfully. By this point, I don’t care when it will end; I simply enjoying every piece.

Takasugi has been a hell of a character since Shogun Assassination Arc. Sorachi has proven that even late in the game, he made sure his character’s development will be as significant as any other. I was surprised yet glad that we received the flashback of his. I truly like how sincere he has become with others. It’s rather a touching scene with him holding on Oboro’s remains and apologizing for unable to be the one to bury him with Shouyou. It moved me the fact he kept his promises and actually care deeply. It did sadden me that he was really going to die. This series has no friend.

It’s confirmed that he went to the room with Tendoushuu to kill them all before he goes out. It’s a hell of a scene with him glaring with eyes of death at the guy, the same one who ordered to kill Shouyou, and destroy the tube. It felt so good for the long awaited revenge to be done. If it wasn’t for the last chapter, I would have thought this is the end for him, but it did make me question on his survival. Another question popped up was if Takasugi only went there to kill them, not solving the falling ship issue, how they did stop it. The answer is most likely for another time.

Sorachi is one step ahead with the use of writing technique since he doesn’t let any opportunity pass by. In this case, it transitions to a crazy and eerie mind game against Takasugi. Tendoushuu warned him that the chain of enemy will not end when they are disposed, but Takasugi didn’t care. He’s one of the Shouyou’s disciples that live to see the day to avenge him. It was supposed to be a moment of glory, moment we have wanted to see. Then, it becomes dark, eerie, and mind numbing.

I was lost at first to believe that guy legit turned into Utsuro, but it was clear by the next page that it’s all in Takasugi’s mind. I got serious chill with the scene, surrounded by Utsuro, with Takasugi trying to grip on reality. The trigger was saying Shouyou made him this way, insinuating that he is the cause of his transformation. Was Takasugi taking on someone else for his anger? Imagine, a villain telling to a more or less hero about revenge won’t bring justice. That’s new. It also pushes further with the theme of humanity to be the problem of everything in which has been developing strikingly well.

I gasped loudly at the end of the flashback. I like how Takasugi got a grip on reality, though felt a bit terrified, only to resume on his path to kill them all. If his slow countdown to death wasn’t convincing enough to believe he was going to die, the end scene will. I don’t know if Sorachi really wants every one of the disciples to suffer miserably, but he getting stabbed by soldiers was simply brutal. I cannot believe there are people from Liberation Army that still worshipped Tendoushuu, but it would make crazy sense later on. Bottom line, Takasugi was in fact going to die here, one way or another.

There’s a nice touching reunion with Shijaku and Katsura at the graveyard. I thought he was paying a visit to Enshou, but it was for Nobu Nobu. I am still not ready for the anime to cover that moment; such a sad scene. I love the fact his final action was influential for everyone to make the unification happen. If it wasn’t for him, the war would have gone on and their hate would not have them working together to repair the damage. Basically, Shijaku and Katsura pay their respect and gracious for his sendoff. It’s telling with Katsura showing up, buried their hatchet a long time ago.

It’s pleasing for Shijaku and Katsura to be in a leadership role, carrying off Nobu Nobu’s wish. I like how those two have to work together to repair Edo as well as working on their side of the issue. It’s the reason why Edo is getting repaired at a faster rate. Imagine if Edo was alone on this; it would have look like post-apocalyptic. I’m glad that Sorachi didn’t brush Shijaku away like just a one-time thing for the arc and it makes sense for him to take over Enshou’s place. I also like how wise he is, unwilling to accept any praise because it was his people that brought war upon them. It’s not cooperation; it’s atonement. He is a nice noble character that fits well with the series.

The conversation becomes dark and like many times before, it intrigues me greatly with how Sorachi manages to expand the lore at this time. I do love how ending the war doesn’t result to happiness, but instead, good and bad will occur like hand-to-hand. Earth has it bad enough with shady Government and Katsura is likely running the city to push them away from creating any damage. Shijaku sadly has it worse because there are planets that have people forming an organization that essentially become terrorists. It’s rather dark for Sorachi to write terrorism in the series, including their action that revolves with suicide.

The plot becomes grimmer yet more appealing with the introduction of a religion called Tengenism. It feels odd to read a Shounen Jump series that talk about religion that could have gone controversial. It is true that religion can be a belief in which people depend on through the midst of chaos, but it can be misled as well. I won’t go too deep since it can get personal. Tengenism consist worshippers of Altana and with multiple planets that has its own, the collision can change the ideal. This is getting close to home.

The ideal made the writing clearer on why we have a time-skip as well as Tendoushuu’s revival. The main point of bringing Tengenism into the discussion is the symbol of a phoenix, which means undying. With this religion that is interchangeable, it now translates to worshippers of Utsuro. That is horrifying how corrupted it can become. For the record, when Katsura gets serious, it’s actually haunting at times, so with him elaborating the detail of their major problem, you know this is very serious.

It is insane for people to worship a murderer, but it’s his immortality that grasped their attention, wanting one for themselves. Their mind is at a desperate state for a desire to take back their loved ones; that’s the misleading part. It’s eerie but it’s not far from reality. It’s why we have a time-skip; to build up the religion to have a large capacity. The effect won’t happen overnight, so it’s convincing how it has grown so large in the matter of 2 years. Not to mention, Tendoushuu’s revival would have taken time as well. It also appears that they have regain power with religion worshippers. This whole time-skip has been meaningful and justified with many new plot threads that could have happen realistically. It’s as if Sorachi has decided to work on part 2 without announcing it to be as such. He’s making sure all plot threads are complete.

The last scene was gut wrenching and heartfelt. Takasugi has steadily growing to be in my top 5 favorites with his development and sincere personality. I was awestruck on how he felt like everything was going to end for him on a sour note with history repeating itself. His action would have gone in vain and pained him how he couldn’t keep any wish, especially for his beloved master.

The final two pages are powerful because he was left no choice but to abandon his humanity not for his sake, but for others. I love that he is carrying on Oboro’s wish behind him and motivated him to keep standing and take whatever means necessary. It becomes literal when he used the remains and stabbed across it and himself. That’s how he obtained immortality. That was jarring. The last panel is pure tensed. Now I really don’t know if Sorachi will kill him off in the end. He never ceases to amaze me.

This chapter was very gripping and intense. The artwork is pretty stellar with the intensity of vengeance and the brutality Takasugi suffered from mental and physical torture. I believe there are very few panels that aren’t finalized but they’re not distracting. The important ones are drawn to perfection. The connection with the flashback and the uncovered story of Tengenism was thought-provoking, which is why it didn’t feel out of place. In doing so, it created a strong narrative. This arc has been outstanding so far and it’s only getting started.

[sssn-neptune-vasilias]

I guess the “Jaune Issue” is really starting to boil yet again. It’s happened almost every season and I can almost understand the need to want to protect him from people who’re being overly harsh on him, or those who just downright hate him, but at this point, four seasons in, if you can sympathize with Jaune more than the people who’re put off by Jaune, you’re missing something really important- something that people have been arguing is a really big issue with this show in general

I just wanna start off with saying a lot of people feel cheated out of a different anime thanks to Jaune. All of the marketing during the trailers and most marketing today is about RWBY- four girls- and the audience this show gathered back then was obviously an audience who were hungry and starved for more shows that featured girls kicking monster ass. Jaune becoming such a prominent side character that he’s essentially one of the main protagonists now was something not many people wanted, and something the show or Jaune has never really earned.

Jaune started off as an audience surrogate (a trope you can learn more about in the link provided, and I’m gonna be linking back to tropes like this as often as I can). Everyone else in the world that we’d met so far already knew what Hunters were supposed to be doing, what Beacon was for, etc, etc. Ruby or Nora wouldn’t ever need to ask about Aura or Semblances or weapons, because they’ve been training and fighting for years before Beacon. Juane is the character who needed this all explained to him, and through Jaune’s eyes, we were given crucial information about the world. In a show like RWBY, a Jaune is important, as it eases the burden of world-building and allows these really basic conversations that normally wouldn’t be happening with regular characters to happen with Jaune.

Jaune then continued to evolve as a sympathetic character during Jaunedice. “I’m tired of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree while his friends risk their lives!” That line to this day is still so fucking powerful, and Miles Luna is so fucking good at delivering those heart-wrenching lines with quivering voices about feeling inadequate. During season one of this show, people LOVED Jaune. “My baby” “My son” etc, were common terms of endearment for him because Jaune’s feelings of inadequacy were so powerful and so relatable. Despite the fact that Jaune Arc was basically the “Ordinary High School Student” main protagonist of every shounen anime ever, the FNDM loved him anyway because of his conviction. He desperately wanted to get better and we believed him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Despite all of this, Jaune took up an unearned amount of screen time during season 1. Jaunedice 1, Jaunedice 2, Forever Fall 1 and Forever Fall 2 was a four episode long arc based almost exclusively around Jaune. 4 episodes and 25 minutes spent on away from RWBY and the rest of the plot of the show just to showcase Arkos’ rocky start, reveal Jaune’s dark secret, and a bullying arc that all could’ve taken less than an episode to tell and ended up resolving itself in a self-defeating way: Pyrrha never told Jaune she helped him kill the Ursa in the forest. Despite the fact that Jaune was ready and willing to allow Pyrrha to teach him how to fight, Pyrrha never took the time out to explain to him how absolutely dead he would’ve been had she not intervened. Because of this, Jaune doesn’t get the growth he needed, he doesn’t actually get to understand just how dangerous this job really is. It spares Jaune’s feelings, but also puts him and everyone he’ll ever fight with in danger until he actually learns that lesson.

Granted, if you’re unwilling to forgive a show for not-so-great pacing and a few loose ends during its first season, you probably shouldn’t have been following a start-up show like RWBY in the first place. The writers were so obviously just beginning to learn how to tell the story, and needed time to get better. So most people held their complaints and waited until season two.

Here’s where shit absolutely hit the goddamn fan.

Jaune had a crush on Weiss since volume 1, while Pyrrha had a crush on him from before he’d even seen Weiss. The same Love Triangle trope we see all the time. It’s a bit tired, and Tumblr hates it for its heteronormative aspects, its potential to create abusive relationships, and for the simple fact that polyamorous relationships are an easy way to end the trope, but most people just shrugged it off because it hadn’t been to intrusive yet.

Then it got really fucking intrusive.

Jaune. Wouldn’t. Leave. Her. Alone. Over and over again she rejected him and he continued to pursue her. Walking to her dorm to harass her and ask her to the dance, harassing her during class, etc, etc. Now considering a lot of the FNDM were women, Jaune alienated the core audience RT had been marketing towards. So many women came forward feeling irked, annoyed, and even triggered by Jaune’s constant harassment. He was every guy that didn’t know how to take “no” for an answer to these women- and if you talk to them, almost all of them have at least one story similar. But for some reason the narrative painted WEISS as the bad guy here. With Yang ruffling Jaune’s hair with “Some day” and Yang again calling Weiss an “ice queen” after slamming their door in his face, the show had somehow made Weiss the antagonist to Jaune’s “lovable and charismatic dope.” Pair that weird framing with younger male members of the FNDM who related even more with Jaune because of this, and it was a disaster. So many posts from guys about how “girls just don’t understand how hard it is to try to flirt” and “if Weiss weren’t so mean to him then maybe he’d get the message” flooded the tag and it was just all around disgusting. Because of how the show had framed Jaune as the guy trying his hardest to earn what he wanted up to that point, “Weiss” just became “something he wanted” instead of an actual person who had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. Then the added conversation with Neptune sealed the deal and people outright despised him for his grandiose, accusatory and entirely hypocritical tone he took with Neptune. Most women were put off almost entirely by a character they used to identify with. Some guys identified with him even harder because they hadn’t yet learned that Jaune’s failures at love weren’t something to sympathize with, but to correct.

So we ended up with this huge divide in the FNDM, and people on the left didn’t want anything to do with Jaune even if they’d previously liked him, while people on the right would go to any length to defend his actions and keep up the same “he’s just a teenager, he doesn’t know any better” attitude that Jaune himself had asked people to stop using on him.

Two other nitpicks from season 2 were Jaune reading comics while he was supposed to be studying, and Jaune’s reaction to seeing Pyrrha take charge during The Breach when he’d failed to. The first is just a minor character inconsistency- season 1 he’d been so willing to try to learn to be the best Huntsman he could be, why is he slacking off long before his first real test as a Huntsman? The second, though, was a bit more alarming. With RWBY in trouble, Jaune hesitates, unsure of how to rush in to battle. Pyrrha takes charge and rallies JNPR forward into the fight. Jaune- instead of running behind his teammates, instead of being glad Pyrrha helped him out, instead of being thankful- groans at the missed opportunity. Not only was that groan inconsistent with Jaune’s earlier promise to allow Pyrrha to help him, it was just downright childish. People’s lives are on the line and he wastes time from joining the fight to pout that he didn’t get to rush his team into battle? That’s good behavior from a leader at all.

Two seasons in and there’s already a divide about Jaune. He’d taken up so much screen time and people were all around tired of seeing him. People were so tired of Jaune as a character, that he was the only character whose figure didn’t sell out at RTX and ComiCon. Again, here’s where I’m assuming RT got the hint- less Jaune please!

And they followed through! Jaune had so few lines season three and so much less screen time some of the people who’d been feeling alienated by him started to get over it. Jaune was finally being used to further Pyrrha’s plot- a plot with actual relevance to the overall plot of RWBY- instead of his own. He said all the right things, his characterization stayed consistent, and people genuinely felt bad for him when Pyrrha shoved him in the locker and blasted him off. The one thing Jaune hated the most, and Pyrrha did it to him to save his life. Granted, a lot of people took issue with the fact that Jaune never actually tried to get a hold of any of the professors Ozpin had commanded him to, and instead called Weiss before breaking his phone, but not everyone’s perfect. 

Season one Jaune was back during season three. Someone the original targeted audience could and wanted to relate to.

Unfortunately the plot is bending yet again to Jaune Arc’s shenanigans. Most people can agree the pacing for this season is god awful, but somehow the efficiency of Jaune’s alienation of the original FNDM has increased.

“We hit it, harder” was an absolutely terrible explanation to his actually somewhat decent plan, that required further explanation and precious time the others could’ve gotten seriously hurt during.

Melting down Pyrrha’s shield and tiara into his armor seemed like an entirely inappropriate gesture- instead of being laid to rest, they’re being used to strengthen Jaune? The gesture would seem less inappropriate if Jaune actually managed to start becoming a better fighter, but no... no he doesn’t.

Jaune getting all of the character development the loss of Pyrrha allotted the team is just bad writing. ALL of RNJR (as well as RWBY) lost a friend in Pyrrha. So far Jaune’s been the only person to have gotten any sort of growth from her loss (the recordings she left behind). Jaune wasn’t supposed to be a main character, why has he taken up growth that could’ve been spread evenly across RNJR or delegated to Ruby- the main protagonist of the story.

Calling Jaune the “strategist” of the team always seemed so out of place. Even more so considering how quick-thinking and resourceful Ruby always has been, from opening Neo’s umbrella, to shooting Nora with lightning Dust during the Tyrian fight in such a way Tyrian entirely thought the shot had been meant for him and gave Nora a clear shot for what would’ve been a fantastic OHKO. A couple of ill-described plans does not a strategist make.

Tyrian’s insinuation at being interested in Jaune for some unknown reason was- at least for me- the straw that broke the camel’s back. What exactly is so interesting about Jaune Arc? Well, we the audience don’t know- nor do most of us really care at this point- but RT will be sure to tell us eventually anyway. This pattern of giving Jaune unearned and undeserved attention stretches all the way to people who’re actively plotting the world’s demise. We’re tired of him, stop making him even more important without having him earn it!

Jaune closing his eyes, entirely unimpeded and unencumbered while holding the melted down remains of someone who died to protect her friends as the first person to ever show him an ounce of kindness at Beacon was about to die was so absolutely terribly bad. Ren and Nora at least were trying to recover from Tyrian’s assault. Jaune closed his eyes and grit his teeth and didn’t even bother trying.

And after watching Qrow save Ruby’s life and suffer a pretty bad injury at the hands of Tyrian, begins to demean Qrow for the adverse effects of his Semblance. “Some load of help you’ve been.” Jaune’s talking down to a man who’s not only a father figure to Ruby, but a man who saved all of RNJR’s lives and who stepped in to save Ruby when Jaune was too busy trying not to watch.

Last episode left off with Jaune being a huge dick to Ruby, who was only trying to comfort him. “They’ll be okay. “You don’t know that.” Jaune. Buddy. Pal. You’re kinda holding the comatose body of Ruby’s uncle, desperately trying to find medical help before he dies. “Our two friends who just split up probably won’t be okay” is not what she needs to hear right now. But for some reason, framing Jaune as more pragmatic was more important than giving Ruby and growth or emotion about the whole situation? Okay...

Now- for the reason I’m writing this in the first place- the Great War WoR. People are already assuming Jaune’s weapon, Crocea Mors was the sword the King of Vale had used during the final battle. Whether or not it is, whether or not Jaune is a relative of the King and through that, royalty. Whether or not all of these theories are unfounded, I can say this. Through my observation of the FNDM, most people are tired of Jaune Arc. Making him an heir of the king or placing any more unearned importance on him is going to drain people.

Let him fight. Let him earn his title. Let us see Jaune grow into the warrior Pyrrha saw in him. Quit pulling McGuffins to show us more of Jaune’s “untapped potential” and actually show us him trying to use it. I think that’s what most people want from him- what most people were expecting.

Tbh, I wrote this to try to explain all of the trends I’ve seen throughout the history of the FNDM as well as my own personal issues with the show, but I already feel that people are gonna take this as me targeting and hating on Jaune and not like, pointing out actual inconsistencies with characterization and storytelling the show has created on a consistent basis like I’ve been trying to do. If anyone who reads this feels similarly about Jaune, I’d be glad to hear what exactly puts you off about him to confirm or alter my theories about why the FNDM is so tired of him. If anyone who reads this thinks “Jaune is a great character, stop hating, it’s just a story, if you don’t like it don’t watch uwu” then like, please don’t bother commenting because I don’t feel like turning this post into another explanation as to why RT are failing Jaune as a character. Shoot me an ask instead, I’ll be glad to answer it there, but I wanna keep this post just for discussion for people who already have negative feelings towards Jaune.