#she is a girl who never outgrew her sailor moon phase

[dandadamnit]

She just has to be a mahou shojou otaku. If we ever have a glimpse of her house (aside her dad's "study"), I bet her room would be full of Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure merch.

I also bet that during her childhood she demanded for her dad to style her hair like Chibiusa and asked if her Mom is like Sailor Moon fighting off a war somewhere in another galaxy.

Aira thinks she's the protagonist of a magical girl story so bad

[the-rodent-of-shalott]

#it's 2025 and as far as I'm concerned Tom Sloane still sucks

Best tag award;)

Admittedly, I had quite a journey with "Daria" the series where each step of said journey was attached to a particular phase of my personal evolution and growing up process. From heavily identifying with Daria and sympathizing with her and her views when I was an angsty teenager infested with the "not like other girls" complex and internalized misogyny. To realizing the major writing flaws as an adolescent and admitting the show that inspired me and countless other teenage girls could've had a much better representation of women (especially when comparing it to series like Sailor Moon; which - for all it's massive issues with "a girl needs to sacrifice her personal needs for the sake of the Greater Good TM" 90-s trope - had a remarkably diverse collection of female leads all of whom had different personalities and goals and all of those were considered valid).

Then, as a tired adult who fully outgrew my "not like other girls" syndrome and realized this mindset is not remotely feminist (unfortunately, contemporary Disney and modern popular media still hasn't realized that) I was able to see how problematic "Daria" the series was in terms of, on one hand, celebrating those traits of Daria that needed to be deconstructed and shown as something she had to overcome (hence why she never overcame them and remained of a belief any girl who has different priorities than her is "shallow" and any woman in her 30-s who dares to enjoy her social life and looks is a selfish miserable hag). While on the other hand shaming Daria for actions and decisions she had every right to take, such as saying "no" to uncomfortable situations and protecting her boundaries (it will never be not infuriating how the final episode before the College Special is literally called "Boxing Daria"; where, of all the legitimate issues with Daria's behavior, she was condemned for initially turning down a request to participate in activity she didn't want to engage in).

But the one thing that remained a constant throughout the described process? Tom being a quintessence of everything that was wrong and sexist about the male writer's mindset.

I detailed the issues with his storyline in the posts/replies to you already therefore now I will only add that my first exposure to alcohol in my teens was to take a sip of martini when Daria and Tom finally broke up. Because not even the misogynistic male writer who clearly identified with Tom's emotional bankruptcy and him picking Daria over Jane because Daria was more insecure and wouldn't "demand much" from a man as fit and proper as him (and would cherish the very fact that a "treasure" like him gave her unconventional outcast self time of the day) could make this train-wreck work.

You have summarised all this so expertly that not only do I have nothing to add, I'm publishing this under my ''Daria'' tags and my ''things that give me life'' tag, and I consider you one of the few people who's my actual friend in my many years of being on this site.