#one of the only sentai i've seen multiple times

[t-u-i-t-c]

10 Years of Shuriken Sentai Ninninger

[broken-clover]

I can't help but find Amane compelling. For a lot of reasons, really, but his use of gender as a character motif gives him a surprising amount of texture the more you look at him (Especially for a series that admittedly veers into gender stereotypes a lot, but that's neither here nor there).

Which I guess seems obvious at first glance. I've often seen him lumped in with a lot of other 'trap' (ugh) characters, but in a way it's sort of funny, because it couldn't be more wrong as a takeaway. At a glance, yes, Amane is an androgynous man who wears dresses and makeup. Thing is, though, the point of it isn't to trick anyone- Amane is entirely comfortable in his gender and how he presents, and his choice of wearing 'feminine' things is entirely out of passion.

His visual appearance might offer confusion, but his personality doesn't offer the same sort. For someone that presents himself so gracefully and beautifully, Amane is outright described as

speak(ing) in a rather crude tone at times, and has a manly personality

While I don't know about 'crude' in particular, he has a tendency to speak very directly, and takes pride in his masculinity. His moveset is filled with references to super sentai series, which are often associated with young boys and filled with stereotypically 'boyish' motifs, like martial arts and giant robots. He makes no effort to obscure his gender identity, he perceives himself as a man, and corrects people who mistake him for a woman. But, clearly, being mistaken for one doesn't bother him, as he still happily partakes in his art form and makes no attempt to dress more 'masculine' for sake of having people perceive him as such.

(Even in terms of his non-dance hobbies, Amane leans toward 'feminine' things. He makes candies and is seemingly the only parental figure toward his numerous adoptive children, whom he loves and cares for in the sort of nurturing way that one might more typically associate with motherhood than with fatherhood.)

Amane's use of dance as a motif also leans heavily into this concept. Art forms like dancing often get written off as 'girly' with the unspoken implication that something with that descriptor is less important or even easier in comparison to stereotypically male-oriented hobbies. But dancing, especially in the professional world, takes an unbelievable amount of physical and mental training in order to do well and create a visually captivating performance. Amane's design being based on an onnagata kabuki actor, or a man who plays female roles, also ties into this. Though it sounds simple on paper, onnagata techniques can take years to master, and include learning a wide range of techniques, from makeup styling to posture to vocal training. The fact that Amane is a seasoned professional dancer means that he would be fully aware of all this. While he may employ those techniques on stage, he does not use them in casual interaction. In Amane's perception, he is a man, and having a ladylike appearance does not do anything to the contrary. He is merely himself, perfectly comfortable with both identity and presentation.

Likewise, it feels like these themes are deliberately contrasted with a more stereotypically masculine character in Bang Shishigami. Blazblue has multiple 'hypermasculine' characters such as Azrael and Kagura, but Bang seems to be the one the narrative most frequently draws a parallel to, as they encounter one another multiple times- And, fittingly, both are themed around very stereotypically Japanese motifs, kabuki and ninjutsu. While both seem to embody very traditional themes visually, Bang is a character that adheres more to those traditionalist traits in terms of personality, styling himself as a manly, physically impressive hero who tries to win a woman's heart through acts of valor. When Amane encounters him, as the first dialogue in the first game he debuts in, Bang confronts him not because he has any real business with the man or has mistaken him for a troublemaker, but because Bang finds him 'strange.'

"What kind of attire is that for a man to wear around...!? It screams 'frail' and 'weak'! I can hardly believe my eyes..."

Amane, just as a concept, confuses him and contradicts his idea of what a 'proper' man should be. It's something that Amane even calls him out for later

"Never you mind! It is a crime for a man to look so...so...so beautifully feminine! I shall smack some guts and conviction back into you as a representative of Ikarugan masculinity!" "Whoa whoa, don't you think you're being just a little prejudiced?"

Obviously, Amane sees nothing wrong with how he presents. He sees nothing wrong with a man being beautiful the same way that Bang does.

Though the gag reels are non-canonical, the 'Contest of Manliness' from Chronophantasma seems almost designed to highlight the concept. Amane enlists in the contest to display his sense of endurance, making it to the finals to the surprise and shock of Bang, who views him as a 'gentle-mannered pretty boy,' at one point bringing up a similar point from their encounter in the arcade route

"Despite your appearance, you are actually quite tough..."

Even in combat, he displays this sense of duality. He battles using fans, his scarf, and a parasol, all more stereotypically ladylike implements compared to something like a sword or firearms. He can hit has hard as any other male character, but his movements are graceful and agile, with a sense of elegant poise. It isn't that he is powerful *despite* his feminine presentation. His power is his own. It is simply a matter of what medium he uses to comfortably express that power, regardless if some might view it as weird.

Amane is not a man trying to 'trick' anyone into thinking he's a woman. Amane is Amane. He is a very pretty man who likes to dance, and he is very manly while doing so, and is also very pretty while kicking ass, thank you very much.

[strawberryvanillablast]

An Essay: The Appeal of Tommy Oliver

First, obligatory Tommy Oliver gif.

I've been thinking about this for a while, seeing people ask as to why Tommy Oliver, one of the faces of the Power Rangers franchise, was so beloved even to this day.

I have to admit that when I dove headfirst into this franchise, I was not a Tommy Oliver fan at first. No, that first belonged to both Sky Tate from Power Rangers: SPD and Andros from Power Rangers In Space. But I slowly got attached to this ranger in multiple colors. It does beg the question of why.

Let me start off with a disclaimer stating that I'm not an expert in any way, shape or form. These are just my thoughts here on display.

The one thing that I think appeals Tommy Oliver to me personally is, beyond the cool powers and suit, the subtle character development.

Now, when I speak character development, I understand that it's not in the way that most would think. For the most part, Tommy's whole personality stays the same save for Power Rangers: Dino Thunder. It seems that the only thing that changes is the suit that he wears.

However, throughout the seasons that he's been in, there is actually a decent amount of subtle character development in his arc from start, to middle, to finish (sort of).

When he starts, he's the new kid who gets mind-controlled into being a loyal and effective servant of Rita Repulsa, the main enemy for both Season 1 and half of Season 2. He's freed and becomes a member for the team.

But this gets tempered with losing his powers, gaining powers, and then losing his powers of the Green Ranger permanently.

I want to focus on this for a moment because Tommy Oliver at this point in time is trying to find his footing on the team. He's the new, fresh ranger who really doesn't know his way around. Sure, it's not present as much in the 90s series, but it's more pronounced in the Boom! comics. And from what we see, Tommy has a hard time.

Flash-forward to the White Ranger arc. Now, everything is propelling forward for Tommy! He's the new leader with these new super-duper powers!

Already, this signifies a big contrast to his beginning. Rather than be the evil Green Ranger, he's now become a Ranger

Well, no. Not really. Because he not only has to deal with the loss of the Command Center along with everyone else in the beginning of Season 3, but also with dealing with Kimberly's loss of powers with the addition threat on her life, which presents subtle tension and a subtle stress on Tommy. It's not present as much as I would like but let's save that for another day.

Add in the Power Rangers Zeo where he goes from getting broken up with Kimberly to being brainwashed again by the Machine Empire. At this, it's also implied that it has permanent side effects as seen in one later episode.

Power Rangers Turbo, well, there was the Pit of Despair. And Power Rangers: Dino Thunder has a million essays on the effect the ranger life has on Tommy's psyche.

All of this happens and I'm surprised that Tommy is as well-adjusted as he is. But it also shows the whole completion of his arc, from bad guy to good guy to leader to eventually a mentor to a team.

Also, I don't think that most of his popularity is his fault. The Super Sentai version of him (Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, in case you were wondering) was also very popular. And the fact that he lasted long enough as he did (five seasons in total) gave his arc a sense of the completion.

And the fact that he goes through a lot and still has a sense of the responsibility without shying away from what he's done.

That.

That's kind of why his fans like him.

Do you agree? Comment or reblog as to why you like him, Tommy Oliver fans! Sorry it got so long!

[longboxd]

2022 comics reading log

In the early days of last year, I was inspired by some twitter mutuals to post my comics reading in the new year and kept it up from Jan 1 2022 till just about the bitter end. Something about it really helped keep me invigorated by the medium even in some pretty bleak times, so I’m going to keep it going this year, but here at Longboxd instead of on twitter, which I’m trying to spend less time at. Before I can do that though, I want to archive the 2022 entries in a spot that’s more permanent/less twitter-iffic, so here we go—pretty much every comic I read in 2022! (As transcribed from here)

Part 4: 60-83 (of 387)  

(I can “only” post 30 images at a time here, so that’ll dictate the length of these catch-up posts)

60) Avengers Forever #2 

61) Avengers Forever #3 - Kangtown, USA

62) Moon Knight #7 - the way Moench writes the multiple personality stuff Is so camp

63) Moon Knight #8 - Frank Giacola on early Bill Sienkiewicz kinda feels like Ken Landgraf, I dig it.

64) The Silver Coin Vol. 1 - “Not since the days of Pat Moriarty’s BIG MOUTH have we seen…” 🤪 This was a fun inversion of the power dynamics of the “art showcase anthology” being driven by the artist-as-auteur rather than the other way around.

65) X-Men #7 - Duggan is really working hard to make a case for Cyclops and I’m starting to feel it just a bit.

66) Human Target #4 - What I was initially buying for the art has served me up a lot of nice JLI moments.

67) Grrrl Scouts Stone Ghost # 3 - probably the funniest thing I've seen in a while is some poor soul complaining that Mahfood's art doesn't look as good as it did in the Clerks Special.

68) She Hulk #1 - I would like more big 2 comics to realize that "some random person shows up" is not a good cliffhanger.

69) Monkey Prince #1 - haha, okay now THAT is a cliffhanger!

70) Super Sentai Himitsu Sentai Gorenger - I wish I could make comics this pure, brainless, and good.

71) Aposimz vol 7 - More oddly compelling, elliptical, atmospheric, sketchy wasteland and tunnel comics broken up by biopunk tokusatu battles 

72) Aposimz vol 8 - Interesting thing in this & the last volume is how the art has actually gotten more solid, maybe for speed, w/Nihei finding a new balance between his normal style and the super airy drawings of the first few volumes. (personally I like it better when it's less solid but 🤷🏽‍♂️)

73) Batman and Robin and Howard - A very fun, breezy bedtime read with my son. (He quickly asked about the existence of a follow up book as we finished, so hopefully there’s more) A large part of the book’s charm is the positive examples of social communication between kids that don’t immediately get along.

74) 2000AD Prog 387 (1984) - I got a short stack of newsprint 2000ADs. Look at this beautiful shit. I know “the best Kev O’Neill is his b/w work” but anytime he breaks out the dyes and markers I am so on board.

Inside cover, love the newspaper photo style on the Tharg illo. Cool Cam Kennedy and Ortiz pages.  Wagner/Grant and Ron Smith (who does lovely work here) truly doing the work to make sure people know that the Judges are the bad guys.

75) The X-Cellent #1 - Not exactly sure how I felt about this but it’s got enough of that old juice that I thought about picking up the next one (but didn't).

76) The Thing #4

77) One-Star Squadron #3 - Giffen & DeMatteis’ How To Get Ahead In Advertising wasn’t on my bingo card but here we are.

78) Dead Dog's Bite #1 - Stylish, but this kinda felt like if they’d roped Adrian Tomine into one of the waves of Vertigo comebacks that didn’t work.

79) Future State: Gotham #10

80) The Jam: Super Cool Color Injected Turbo Adventure From Hell #2 - A thin POD book of *mostly* new BEM, I'll take it however. Forever missing his ink on paper era, but I guess that's long gone—& “A Secret Bowman” looks about as good as anything he's done since going digital.(prints a little dark) The extra material is variable but fun enough.

81) X-Men #8 - MODOK makes sense as an X-Men foil. I like the soapy stuff with Synch.

82) Venom #5 - The way Venom is now Elric...

83) Marauders #21

To be continued! Read Part 1 here