#this post isnt directed at anybody. but jfc

[mari-itami]

i didnt wanna make this post so late when nobody will see it at such tense times but i cant hold this off any longer. i want to talk about bna.

let me start off by saying that bna is not the groundbreaking, astounding work y’all think it is. did bna push themes of systemic oppression, and how some minorities (e.g. disabled people) arent accomodated for? yes! it did.

but the way it addressed these themes was conflicting, and it still managed to badly fuck up.

lets talk about nirvasyl syndrome. can anyone tell me why the minority stand-in has a built-in aggresive mode where they will ruthlessly attack anyone in sight, and transform into scary, violent versions of their beastmen form? can anyone tell me why nirvasyl syndrome is supposedly a result of the mixing of different beastmen? if you dont see the issue with that, it feels a lot to me like that translates to “mixed-race” in place of the “mixing of beastmen who as a result feel their territory’s invaded”.

and lets talk especially about how the antagonists of the show were beastmen themselves. the terrorists at the beginning are spared from harm, despite the amount of damage they could have caused - and theyre beastmen. pingua is angry and horrified at how not only have his family and all other migratory beastmen not been accomodated for, but shot and killed as a result, and yet he’s painted as a sympathetic criminal. alan is literally on track to eradicate beastmen as a whole - and then it turns out he’s actually one of them! why does bna have a pattern of showing the result of oppression of minorities, and then needlessly turning around and makinng the perpetrators be the oppressed minority stand-in themselves???? whats the fucking point here? whats the message being sent??? that we’re responsible for our oppression? that our anger, and our outcries in actions are wrong?

shirou telling pingua to leave, since he hasnt done anything wrong isn’t cute or romantic. shirou tells pingua to leave. and then what does he do? nothing. pingua’s dialogue resonates to an extreme degree, especially as of recently, becauses hes right - nobody does anything without being motivated to. remember how cities finally began to take action after riots and protests? pingua is angry, and justifiably so; after all, he spent his years campaigning for equal rights, and then found out that meant being restricted in his freedom. if what you take away from that scene, and shirou and pinguas relationship as a whole, is “aww cute boyfriends!” you need to wake the fuck up and pay attention to what the shows fucking fumbling to tell you. pingua, in fact, is the LEAST offensive, since hes let go and painted as more morally grey than an actual violent criminal or villain. i dont mean to make y’all cry and feel bad, but good god, really? really? thats what you took away? and it hurts, because i KNOW pinguas struggle. i know his fight. and thats not even touching alan, where his twist is not as much as a clever “gotcha!” as the show thinks it is - what the hell do you get out of maing the villain who wanted to commit fucking GENOCIDE AGAINST A RACE being PART OF THAT RACE???? and if you took away from that, from alan being allowed to live, was “awww shirous so sweet for not killing in front of michiru his baby daughter!” i suggest getting your fucking eyes checked. what you need to take away from that is “what the hell, studio trigger? why isnt the villain who wanted to eradicate an entire race punished?”. im done.