#wrapped up with lesbian overtones

[ferociousmilfpope]

“The liquor of empire, alluring and corrosive at once, saturating everything, every old division of sex and race and history, remaking it all with the promise and the threat of power.”

“The people can still see their shackles. The Masquerade rules them, but it has not yet made them want to be ruled. The chains are not yet invisible.”

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson

[benditozorrito]

LoZ BotW Wrap Up

Sadly this marks the last post of the original play-through, and I'm unlikely to pick it up from this point 4 years later [at least not until I'm actually able to let's play games like I'd prefer]. Which is kind of a shame tho bc like a fool, this means me saving the best for last never actually happened. Because the Gerudo man!!!

I remember I had a lot of thoughts on the Gerudo, because I always do LOL I am always intrigued by their role in the story just for the fact alone that Ganon is from this race and they often are in vastly different situations in each game because of it. Like in OoT they're at war with Hyrule bc of Ganon, but there are some who arent cool with that. In TP it's strongly implied Selma is descended from the Gerudo, but otherwise they seem to have been wiped out. Same for WW, where theres really no hint of them at all.

In BotW though they are flourishing really, and well aware of Ganons origins from them. Urbosa makes a point that he's their responsibility, and that she takes pleasure in helping to rid the world of him. So I have to think since they have good relations with others, that the Gerudo of this game hold no love for Ganon and had to work past that stigma. Its also interesting that [to my memory] they dont seem to have had a male Gerudo of significance since. Perhaps because of Ganon they haven't been observing the whole "that one male every 100 years gets to be king" thing? But the possibility of it certainly is still a thing, since you can buy male clothes for gerudo, albeit in secret

No I'm not going to talk about the gender and the cross dressing thing bc uuuuhhhh you know why =_=;;; I'm sure theres essays about it, I remember a lot of discussion about it at the time.

However I am interested in talking about those 8 matron deities the Gerudo here have??!!?! I love this! I am so fascinated by this and want to know more! It appears to be the only mention of any other religion outside Hylia to my memory. And one of them is even forsaken?? In the mountains??? What happened with that??!! I dearly hope that it might be something expanded on in TotK, but I may be asking for a lot lol

Side note also, I adore Riju, she's so cute and is carrying so much on those shoulders and the hat doesn't even fit on her head yet lmaooo

Extra side note, I actually really loved in the final memory viewing, that tiny hint that Fi is still there in the sword.

I did also get the Champion DLC, and while that first trial bit sucked ass, I did like the little memory additions we got for the Champions and the options to learn more about them in their diaries!

Except for Ravioli. That guy continues to suck

Also like.....Urbosa and Zelda's mom were so a thing. Like, the lesbian undertones are practically overtones LOL

I have no idea when I will play TotK, as atm the purchase of it isnt even on my mind right now [grad school be suckin my wallet dry atm] but one day I will get it and probably post about it, if not LP it by then lol

Overall I loved BotW though, it was a fun game to play and a very interesting take on Zelda. Its honestly the one that feels closest to the OG, which I think was the idea lol I'm interested to see how the series will move forward

DISCLAIMER: AGAIN, I HAVE NOT PLAYED LOZ TOTK YET, DO NOT SPOIL ME PLEASE. ALL QUESTIONS AND POSTULATIONS ARE HYPOTHETICAL AND DO NOT REQUIRE ANSWERS!!!

[derpcakes]

Who wants to hear about a book that gave me psychic damage?

In Remi K. England’s 2022 YA novel The One True Me and You, worlds collide when a teen beauty pageant and a fan convention book the same hotel. Our main characters are Kay, a fanfic writer tentatively trying out they/them pronouns in the supportive, generally queer space among their fandom friends; and Teagan, a pageant contestant gunning for a much-needed scholarship and keeping her geeky tendencies and her lesbian identity firmly under wraps. The two meet when Teagan sneaks into a con event, and sparks fly. etc etc. It’s a rom com.

The fan convention is for a fictional story-within-a-story called The Great Game, a modern adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Kay narrates that it’s one of many, but it’s the best one out there: better than Elementary, and certainly better than the BBC one. Except, of course, it becomes fairly obvious that The Great Game is a fictionalised stand-in for the BBC’s Sherlock, and Kay’s fandom experience a stand-in for a very particular strain of Tumblr culture surrounding the series. Let me tell you seeing “JohnLock” shipping terminology on the page of a published book in the year of our lord 2022 made me a little dizzy.

The whole thing is so... SURREAL. Much of the novel’s depiction of fan practice feels like it harkens back to a just-bygone era, making it feel oddly detached from the flow of time. The vision of Scroll—a fictional blogging platform clearly meant as a stand-in for Tumblr—as a creative, queer-friendly fangirl paradise where everyone gushes about their ships and learns about social justice issues, feels deeply anchored in the culture and perception of the site from circa 2012 – 2016. 

Even the vision of “geeks” as social outcasts rather than, well, pretty mainstream, feels older too. Catchphrases like “witness me” and “BAMF” and “for the win” are pulled from an Internet lexicon of at least six or seven years ago and placed in the mouths of fictional teenagers ostensibly living in the present.

Even little details, like the characters brewing ship-themed tea blends, wearing vintage-style dresses printed with fandom references, talking about a bad episode as The One That Shall Not Be Named, someone “squee”ing at one point, even the construction of usernames… as someone who’s been on Tumblr for many years, watching Big Fandoms like Sherlock from the sidelines, it feels familiar, churning up memories from a dashboard of days gone by. 

Teagan, at one point, references a pageant from 2019, meaning the plot takes place at least a year after that. And yet, how can it, if it presents such a pre-DashCon image of online fan antics?

I almost wonder if this uncanny sensation could have been offset by making the novel a period piece, explicitly setting it in 2013 or 2014 and turning its nostalgic undertones into overtones: committing to creating a fictive time capsule of Tumblr and SuperWhoLock’s halcyon days. I wonder, too, if this manuscript was written closer to that heyday, and is (as can happen with the weird loops and timelines of a publishing career) only hitting shelves now—arriving on the scene when what was once a contemporary story now feels rather dated.

I don’t know that, though I do know from the acknowledgements that England intended The One True Me and You to be a cathartic, fun, wish-fulfillment story representing the queer fan experience they feel they missed out on in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. And as an outlet for that, I think the novel is wonderful, even if it’s rocketed me, personally, deeply into the uncanny valley. 

I wonder how it feels to read this as someone who was much deeper ingrained in Sherlock Tumblr? I wonder what the hell it feels like to read this as a modern teenager—the book’s intended audience!!

Years out from Sherlock’s pop cultural relevance, when its fandom has faded from the dashboard-dominance it once had, and when public perception of the series has generally soured and many people’s favourite piece of Sherlock-related media is ‘Sherlock is Garbage and Here’s Why’… can the wholesome and squeeful depiction of Sherlock-ish fandom in this book possibly resonate with any young people? I know marketing demographics aren’t always the best insight into a story’s inner workings, but I have to ask: who IS this for?

It’s not a bad book, and I don’t want this to be taken as a bad review of it. Sure, I found it to be weaker than England’s sci-fi novels: the prose is sometimes plain and leans on telling rather than showing in places, and it wraps up maybe too swiftly given the emotional weight of what happens in the climax. There’s also something to be said for how it’s vision of fandom as a queer paradise of acceptance where everyone is friends is... maybe a little overly-rosy. But if you’re in the mood for a short, cute, fluffy little queer romance between a pair of horny but endearing-enough teens, it will do the job. It will also rocket you back to a hyper-specific moment in fandom history with force that may or may not leave you with a neck injury.

[impalementation]

Why do you think the scene when Dark Willow absorbs the magic Gilles got from Wicca looks so sexual? It seems like she is getting sexual gratification from it and I thought it was odd they portrayed it that way

i actually have a lot of thoughts on that, and they’re connected to how i see the way the season uses the magic/drugs imagery, storyline and metaphor. i know that many people dislike willow being addicted to magic, because they think it contradicts and undermines the way that season four used magic to suggest the lesbian sex that it couldn’t show explicitly. (leaving aside the fact that magic had been portrayed more like season six portrays it in episodes like “witch” and “the dark age”—as something negative, if not addictive). and given that obviously a lot of people left season six annoyed and confused at these multiple uses of magic, it’s not wrong to argue that the show did mix its metaphors in a self-defeating way, whether or not it intended to. no arguments from me on the execution of the storyline being heavy-handed either.

but i guess personally, i don’t really see the magic metaphors as all that contradictory. i see them as a duality. the positive form of connection and ecstasy is the magic that willow does with tara. all the times that they hold hands and are able to increase their power, etc. the show calls back to this with willow and kennedy in “chosen” as well, with kennedy lending her power as willow does white magic. white magic is love and intimacy, the way connecting with people empowers you, and this is the version that’s always associated with lesbian sex. by contrast, all the dark forms of magic often involve extracting power instead of sharing it (say, catherine stealing amy’s identity). and i think it’s telling that when it comes to willow in season six, most of those dark moments of power extraction are associated with men. rack taking her power, willow taking his, willow taking giles’. the wrongness of her seeking ecstatic escape this way is underlined by the fact that she is doing so with men, who she has no desire for sexual or romantic intimacy with. meaning there’s no path for her to achieve the positive version with them. similarly with dawn, willow dehumanizes her, talking about her as energy instead of a girl, when threatening to take her power—and you can’t have a positive exchange of power with someone you don’t see as human. i don’t know if any of this was the intent of course, it’s just how it reads to me. in general, i think the season vaguely sexualizes a lot of willow’s dark magic moments because it’s trying to say something about fake-ecstasy as escape. it creates a parallel with buffy trying to escape herself with spike. this idea that when people are new and confused adults, and/or don’t feel in control of their lives or emotions, they are tempted to seek out easy-but-self-destructive ways of feeling better—like they’re in control.

it also fits into the season’s many moments and suggestions of sexual coercion. in season six, sex and power are frequently wrapped up in each other, whether that’s the trio and their rapey “hijinks”, the intricacies of the buffy-spike powerplays during their relationship, willow’s sexualized attempts attempts at magic-induced control/release (not to mention her attempt to mindwipe tara), or spike trying to force buffy to love him in “seeing red.” over and over characters in season six try to control the people around them, frequently sexually, as a proxy for the lack of control they feel otherwise. so whether or not it’s pleasant, it does fit with the season for willow’s extractive acts of power, including the one with giles, to have overtones that can be read as sexual. (obviously, in the “grave” scene and others, willow’s supposed to be acting high, but i don’t think you’re wrong to see the similarity to sexual gratification, especially in the context of the season).

it’s all a bit uncomfortable, of course. these are uncomfortable themes. and i wouldn’t say the season always executes them with the delicacy it maybe should have. but i do think they’re interesting and astute themes nonetheless. i like to think of seasons six and seven as two sides of a coin sometimes—six is about taking power, and seven is about sharing power. so six drills down on all of this unpleasant imagery of people having power over other people, and often getting off on it. while seven has more imagery of people trying to touch and connect and share. but that imagery maybe works best when you see the seasons as responding to each other. reflecting the same duality that the magic metaphors do.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

BnHA 84 - 86 | Uchitama 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Eizouken 10 - 12 (FINAL) | Magia Record 8 - 13 (FINAL) | ID: INVADED 12 - 13 (FINAL) | ACCA OVA

BnHA 84

Ey? So Gentle is basically Luffy, only he can do stuff with air too.

“Tokoyami, it’s in lesson 3.”

Eizouken 10

LOL, you can see a name similar to “Rachel Enyoung Choi” in one of the credit lists. Update: Euyoung Choi is credited on one of the other folders.

“Kanamoney” is catching on, I see.

“Well, dough.” - Sarasoju, where soju is some alcoholic Korean beverage.

The back of the clock reminds me of that Skipper and Skeeto game I used to play.

Did Kanamori get a fringe cut…?

You can see the symbol for Eizouken on the (imaginary…?) warehouse.

Uchitama 9

The video got encoded funny again…

I‘ve heard of AIBOs before. They’re robotic dogs, although with newfangled drones, Google Nests and stuff, they went out of fashion years ago.

Aibou (with kanji) means “partner”, come to think of it...

While everyone else is talking in the foreground, I’m staring at Beh in the background…

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen Kuro and Nora interact all that much.

Natsuki Hanae as Leo, huh?

Uchitama 10

Second-last episode!

Neko (cat) -> Koma -> ari (ant)…isu (chair) -> suika (watermelon) -> tamago (egg, or sometimes it sounds like tabako/tabacco to me) -> ??? -> koi (carp) -> ???? “Kooten” seems to be a nonsense word.

The video got encoded funny again…

…and that’s twice now…

LOL, this is based on Millionaire.

…thrice…

The original quote is (something like), “It is said that heaven does not create one man above or below another man.” (Yukichi Fukuzawa)

The answer was C, obviously.

…4 times.

Bull does his best Thinker impression.

Oh my gosh, they’re bringing that joke back…? (LOL) Update: The portal joke.

“chunk of meat” – Uh…what?

Holy s***! It’s Bull’s dad! Bull time travelled!

Magia Record 8

I like how the anime introduced Gomakashi, then had the proper OP.

Chuo Ward (Chuoku)? In Hypnosis Mic, that’s a sign Ayappe is definitely a girl…but this ain’t HypMic, so no worries!

The greeting is “Kamihama” because it sounds kind of like konbanwa and the host is Mr Hammer because that sounds like the back half of Kamihama, I guess.

Magia Record seems more overt about its lesbian undertones, I see.

I noticed a piano on a poster in the back. Wonder what that means…?

Just reading translations of radio transcripts like this makes me think of the HypMic radio show. I’ve been using that (and all of HypMic, to be honest) to cope in these tough (COVID-19) times, which is why I’m mentioning it a lot.

Mami!

Eizouken 11

So this is how they met, huh? I never knew Kanamori could have such little faith in people, considering how she is now.

ID:INVADED 12

What I don’t get is Hayaseura’s motive…

Uraido…”from behind”? I need kanji to figure this one out…

Whose well is this Bliss background, ayway…?

Momoki and Matsuoka pass a sign saying 大井南 (Minamioi), which is in Shinagawa.

Why does Momoki need drugs…? To subdue Asukai…?

Oh no. Inami is going to have a vendetta after her man was killed!

According to Ramuda, the optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole…I think’s that’s important for that moment.

…Welp, when a hole in the brain doesn’t kill you, a shot to the stomach does.

In this time of COVID-19, I think talking about people coming back to life is inappropriate…

Post-credits segment!

Uchitama 11 (FINAL)

According to Ramuda, the optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole…

“Tullip” (sic).

Oh, so instead of “Tama” it said “tanu___”, so the kids assumed it said “tanuki”.

Ooh, cat meeting. This should match the dog meeting from earlir in the season. Plus Nora’s face on the title card.

The video got encoded funny again…

“I’m busy right now.” – Nora, sleeping – Yup, that’s my mood. In fact, I was woken up by a call this morning…

I still think the Momo x Bull ship is stupid…

Nora can talk to crows…?

BnHA 85

…huh? What’s up with Bibimi?

Oh, in La Brava’s room there’s a graduation album. No one translated that.

Seriously, Deku’s gotten kinda creepy these days…

Tobita = essentially “to fly” + “field”. Makes sense when the Quirk is elasticity.

“It’s dangerous to go alone!” – I want to reply with “Take this!”…LOL.

This bouncing around thing was basically done by Sonic in OPM.

Update:  Turns out the kanji for elasticity is read dansei, which is th same rading for the characters for a man (but with characters meaning “male gender” instead and the last kanji being shared betwe the two). That’s why Danjuro is Gentle Criminal.    

BnHA 85

I noticed some of the decorations around the school look like heroes we’ve seen – there’s a Midnight one and a Thirteen balloon.

Why is the crowd chanting for YaoMomo…?

It’s in English, huh?

End of credits segment! Keep watching!

“Guys like you who say there are no do-overs in life…”

Hawks! This is the first time I see him outside spoilers!

ID:INVADED 13 (FINAL)

Was gonna finish this the day I got it, but I got access (limited to 1 week)…to Akira, which is a movie I’ve never seen before.

The sharks are a nice touch…(LOL…?)

Welp, John Walker has his hat back now.

Uraido…Hayaseura. Of course, how the heck did I not make the connection?!

The video got encoded funny again…

…wow, after learning a thing or two about CPR, this part actually makes sense to me now…Amazing. (Also, I learnt about comminuted fractures from Double Decker.)

COVID-19 is entering these notes too…because if you cut yourself off from society, you won’t know about pandemics…

Why do I get the feeling Kiki’s gonna kill herself…?

She…almost did it. (Wow, I should try predict things more often.)

That pool…is basically the one from Minority Report!

Wow, that just did an Eva…

Why did they choose such a lively ending song…? Anyways, that wrapped up really well (no pun intended!). See you next time!  

Magia Record 9

The tower appars to be modelled more after Tsutenkaku rather than Tokyo Tower.

For some reason, the subbers like to capitalise “Magical Girl”.

One of the speech bubbles in the back says koneko no gorogoro, or “the cat’s laziness”.

“Stand alone!” This is probably some kind of wordplay on the Solitude (Hitoribocchi no Saihate), since “alone” is hitori de.

Interestingly, the word for “delete” here is keshite (literal meaning: “to erase”).

The sign that passes Sana by while she’s on the boat says “Futaba” on it.

The blue letterboxing is an interesting effect.

“Sorpredente” = surprising.

Eizouken 12 (FINAL)

“They have their own business to run.”

I’ll miss this OP song when it’s gone…*sigh*

LOL, the contrast between Asakusa’s imagination and reality is huge and that’s what makes Eizouken so fun.

“I’m here to deliver the promised data,” Kanamori says (which I think is a more literal translation, ut works better).

It’s unfortunate Comiket 98 was cancelled…

Hey, why didn’t Anime vs. Real Life cover Eizouken?! That would’ve been so good!

I noticed one of the viewers had a “No Disc” pop-up of some sort. Also, the moving logo exists now, too (LOL).

I like how 1 of the UFOs hits the windshield.

The arrows really bring your attention to what’s the same in the split screens.

Magia Record 10

The Mifuyu in the previous episodes was either a flashback or a fantasy, right?

Mami is wearing a Wings of Magius badge…!

On the titlecard, there’s what seems to be a radio tower with a small lightning bolt above it.

BnHA 86

Hey, Tsu has a sister..?

Ah,so this is Mirko! I’ve heard of her too!

Is it just me, or does Endeavour hav CGI on him…?

Hawks reminds me of Fubuki from OPM…

Wow, even Endeavour’s trying to be funny…the world really is different now. (This humour has a terrible success rate with me, though.)

There seem to be holes in Hawks’ jackt for his wings.

So basically, Hawks is being the Iori to Endeavour’s Riku (but without too much of the homoerotic overtones that come from being close in age, since Endeavour is 46 – 7 and Hawks is 22), so to speak.

Oh! That punch is based on All Might’s! Same framing and everything!

Hajimari no doesn’t suggest a pronoun, so they must have chosen that based on the manga or the production company or something.

Magia Record 11

Shaft headtilt!

This Witch…apparently it appears early on in the OG series according to This Week in Anime. It does give off that vibe.

…wow, that fight was fast.

The video got encoded funny again…

Why are all the magical girls Naruto running???  

Hachibey = Kyubey (where kyu = 9), but for 8.

ACCA OVA

Who’s this-oh, never mind.

I don’t remember the OST being so…cool.

Jumo, where ju = tree I guss.

Nino! Who’s the blonde though? I forget…

Jumo for Jumoku…right. I forgot.

Shinro, literally “path of advancement”. I’ve grown a lot since I last watched ACCA, but I only feel I’ve gotten dumber since then…to be honest.

I like how the flashback is saturated in blue…actually, that reminds me of Given, now that I think of it.

Where’s Grossular? I liked him the best because he’s basically older!Kyosuke Kuga. Update: Spoke too soon.

Now that I’ve learnt keigo between the OG and now, I can understand more of what Mauve says.

Magia Record 12

(no notes, sorry!)

Magia Record 13 (FINAL)

Is it just me, or can I see a feather-like object floating down the screen…? (Or is that static?)

You can see one of the hooded Wings (on Touka’s left) has dark blue hair – roughly Sayaka’s shade.

Ooh, Mami and Sayaka fight! (I’ve never been one for catfights, but this is certainly a match-up I want to see!)

Mami’s fate really sucks, huh? Her head came off in the OG and now she’s a tool for the Magius…

Yachiyo does look a lot like Togo from Yuki Yuna, doesn’t she…?

Anyways, this is all for now. There’s an s2 on the horizon, but COVID-19 means it could be years down the line…see you when s2 arrives.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Symphogear AXZ, Episodes 1-3

Season 4, go! In which we’re pulling out all the stops, Chris takes center stage, and the villains are uniquely enigmatic.

A Stunning Symphony

And so, we reach the final season of Symphogear. Well, final season for now; I’ll be returning to the franchise once XV finally wraps at the end of summer, so look forward to that in time. But for the moment, yes, this will be my final foray into this magical world of operatic lesbians piercing the heavens with their gay, this ridiculous series that swept in and captured my heart in ways I never could have predicted. And if AXZ is to be my temporary swan song for Hibiki, Tsubasa, Chris, Miku and all the rest, then it’s looking to be pretty much the perfect goodbye. With three seasons of experience under their belts and enough audience goodwill (and money) to support their endeavors, the Symphogear team is wasting no time making sure this season is the best it can possibly be. The animation has taken another step up, this time in the realm of action craft; I never thought we’d be able to top season 3′s mountain-smashing opening until I saw the intricately detailed, masterfully realized sakuga that marks the introductory battle this time around. Something about the cinematography this time around does a really fantastic job emphasizing the three-dimensional battlefield from all angles, adding a new layer of depth to the bombast. And the character interactions are all snappy and sure, balancing the increasingly sizeable cast without letting anyone slip through the cracks. I think this is genuinely the most cohesive and valuable the team has felt since all the way back in Symphogear season 1, an especially impressive feat considering we’ve doubled the number of players on the field at this point.

But what’s really standing out this time around so far are the songs themselves. It’s funny that for as central as the pop-idol musical motif has been to this show, I haven’t really spent all that much time breaking down the songs themselves.  What can I say, I’m not a music critic. But I can definitely say that so far, AXZ’s songs are my favorite album of the bunch. All of them are just rock-solid, strikingly unique tracks that manage to stick in my head long after they’re done. I also think there’s a more conscious effort to highlight everyone unique musical style; Tsubasa’s shamisan overtones and Hibiki’s celtic, bagpipe-y melody are incredibly prominent whenever they take the stage for themselves. And it’s that conscious level of unique distinction that’s really got me hyped for this season so far. Every aspect feels more sure of itself than it ever has before. the world more lived-in, the characters more distinct, the action more nuanced, the tone more balanced. This is Symphogear at its best, and if it can keep this level of quality up, I’m going to have very little to complain about.

The Un-Seeing Eye

All that said, what’s grabbed my attention about this season’s overarching plot thus far is that its villains seem to be of a very different stripe than anything we’ve faced so far. I know I said that last time too, but whereas Carol and Team Fullmetal were set apart thanks to their unique powers and their relation to Hibiki’s goals, what interests me about the Bavarian Illuminati, a massive shadow group of alchemists that have been pulling the strings behind most of the major conflicts thus far (and who Maria mentioned offhandedly back in season 2, so I guess this show really does love planning in advance), is how their attitude differs from villains of seasons past. Put simple, the veritable Jojo’s trio of antagonistic dames we’re facing this time around feel like the least personally motivated out of all the villains so far.

And I don’t mean that as a criticism, to be clear. Looking back over the past villains- Sakurai/Fine, Maria, Ver, Carol- they were all defined by their intense inner drive to achieve their goals. They all sought Armageddon, salvation, or whatever with the same single-minded determination Hibiki brought to stopping them. The Bavarians, on the other hand, act as though this is simply a mission they’re carrying out. They spend no time at all bracing against Hibiki’s belief in the power of song, no time setting up an ideological conflict between their hopelessness and her hopefulness. They simply act and advance, giving no second thought to the Singing Lesbians except as obstacles to be swept out of their path. They play their motivations and overall outlook very close to the chest, and aside from some vague hintings at wanting to “save the future”, we’re not quite sure what their deal is at all. They’re an enigma in every sense, made even more mysterious by the uncertainty over the power structure of the Illuminati at large and the ultimate goal of the unseen Adam directing them. Thus, in keeping with the pattern GX set up, we’re once again facing an antagonist whose ultimate purpose in the narrative has the potential to go off a million different ways. Uncertainty, it seems, is the name of the game now.

Now, all that’s just the baseline. Where the Bavarians end up in the ranking of Symphogear’s baddies will come down to how well their story is teased out from here. And while there’s not much to them yet, there are still those hints at inner lives that keep them from being blank ciphers like Sakurai. One of the girls has a line about spending enough of her life telling lies and wanting to be true to herself from now on, hinting as a much more self-assured foe than anything we’ve faced so far (And additionally, this might be completely off-base, but something about the way she said that line, coupled with the unusually deep register of her voice, makes me wonder if she’s going to end up being a trans character? Maybe not, but the thought occurred to me, so I figured I better at least consider the possibility). There’s one heck of a mystery to reveal here, and considering how well Symphogear’s been able to handle that kind of unraveling in the past, I hold out hope that it can keep that streak alive.

Scars of War

So, while we’re waiting for the enemies to reveal the extent of their game plan, it comes down to our heroes to fill up the emotional space. And lo and behold, AXZ is setting out on a vastly different path than I was expecting: turning the reins over to Chris. It’s honestly kind of shocking to find ourselves returning to the well of trauma that was established back in season 1, and it’s even more shocking to realize that this time, I actually give a shit about it. Thanks to the improvement in the storytelling since the unevenness of that first foray, Chris’ backstory of being a war orphan who saw the horrors of the adult world firsthand has actual gravitas now that the show is capitalizing upon to great effect. It’s clear from the moment she first clenches her fist watching the aftermath of their opening mission that the memories of the hellscape her own home became are crawling back to the front of her mind, only becoming more obvious when it’s revealed that this operation is taking place in that same country, the fictional Latin-American nation of Val Verde. We’re explicitly revisiting the site of her formative trauma, and this time, the conflict is dragging all her old pains and fears back into the spotlight. And that fear becomes crystalized in one horrifying moment, when she ends up shooting the leg off a civilian to keep him from being dissolved by the Noise. Now, it’s her actions, however indirectly, that are wreaking havoc on the place she once called home. Now, it’s her presence here that threatens to lead to even more kids just as displaced and forgotten as her.

It’s a deeply disquieting realization for multiple reasons, but most prominently is that since season 1, Symphogear has (mostly) learned the art of subtlety, and what it tried to communicate before in overwrought speeches now comes through in tense, uncomfortable silences and unspoken regrets. Every ounce of agony is always just a few steps away from spilling out in an unbroken tide of hurt, hindered but not suppressed. There’s a great moment where she feels the wounded kid’s hand on her shoe, and she wordlessly fights with herself until finally taking his hand to try and comfort him, that’s more effective than any of her season 1 blow-ups. It’s a kind of on-the-ground, visceral, personal pain that Symphogear hasn’t really addressed before, taking a step back from the brazen beauty of blasting a hole through a mountain and casting an eye back down on the millions of tiny, blood-soaked tragedies that occur every day, the agonies that can’t be solved by punching through them, the hurts that don’t need mystical power sources to leave long, lasting scars. And by tying this unsettling intimacy of violence back to one of its protagonists, this season is promising to marry character and theme in a uniquely upsetting way. Something tells me this season is going to hurt real good.

Going Global

En route to that inevitable pain, though, this is still Symphogear, and it’s still as gloriously over-the-top as ever. There’s a distinctly global edge to the proceedings now, thanks to the unique, topical location and the yet-unseen reaches of the Bavarian Illuminati lurking in the shadows. We’re no longer confined to the simple villainy of a group of troublemakers setting up shop in the greater Tokyo area; now, third-world warlords can summon Alca-Noise and pose a threat across the globe that must be dealt with. And the consistently batshit use of “alchemy” by this show to justify whatever crazy idea it comes up with has now been expanded to include Aztec gods of destruction, time reversal and subspace pockets. As if FMA couldn’t spin in its grave any faster. We’ve got one hell of a season awaiting us, and I look forward to sharing it with you all. Here’s to Symphogear, and all the fantastic memories it’s leaving me with.

Odds and Ends

-”Miku, you’re an angel!” Holy shit best way to start this season off

-”Get a room, you two!” OH MY FUCKING GOD CHRIS

-Okay, the comedic timing on Hibiki getting beaned with that show was perfect.

-Ogawa being a ninja will never not be funny to me

-CHRIS NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO CATCH BULLETS WITH YOUR TEETH

-”I naturally assumed she missed me so much she came all the way to England-” akjsdhass Tsubasa you player

-”It’s kind of hard not to look!" I love literally everything about this little interaction. Kirika’s gay panic. Shirabe’s obvious jealousy. Ye gods, this show is going to slay me.

-”Eat lightning, crap thunder!” ...beg your pardon?

-You ever just whirlwind so hard you rip the jaw off a serpent demigod?

-Okay but why would you tease that pirate backstory and not give me a ten-cours spinoff based on it

-”That’s it, just punch through the impossible!” “Fist 1, Reason 0!” As if this show couldn’t get any more Gurren Lagann.

-”Actually, there is one more thing...” Is- is this happening? Is Hibiki finally letting her GF share her problems? HUZZAH! CHARACTER GROWTH!

-Oh my god Miku’s phone lock screen is Hibiki smiling oh my god

-”Well, don’t bother.” sajdhadsk fucking hell Chris always when I least expect you

-Also, she and Tsubasa are totally on a date right now, aren’t they?

-So their combined special move is a literal battleship sword. Jesus wept, this show.

Let the battle commence, folks. See you next time!

[alleyskywalker]

trekstarsss replied to your post “Hey, ITV, you do know that like…bisexuality is a thing that exists,...”

was he supposed to be bisexual? when he said different kinds of love I wasn't sure if he meant "I love men and women" or "I

No, I don’t think they really meant for him to be bisexual, hence the kinda snide post about whether they realize bisexuality is even an option, given that they clearly wanted Alfred and Wilhelmina to have romantic overtones (given that he kissed her in a way that’s culturally understood to be romantic and his proposal itself was no unromantic.)

I’m really just very frustrated and conflicted about all this because...

On one hand, I’m frustrated and upset that they seem to want to have their cake and eat it too. Meaning: they want A/W to have romantic overtones, hallmarks of a traditional het/romantic relationship but without making Alfred bi. And networks already have a hard enough time with straight up gay/lesbian rep - bisexuals get an even worse deal (and like, I know people IRL who basically doubt that bisexual is a thing that exists and the lack of media rep is NOT helping this). I’m so tired of this shit, is what i mean. And this could have been great too - all they had to do, given they know they will have a S3, was not wrap this storyline up in the Christmas special and wait until S3 and develop this as a classic friends-to-lovers. They already had the groundwork.

On the other hand, I really do love the idea of having, on screen, a healthy and happy marriage (and I do think they’d have a good marriage) which isn’t founded on sex or romance. I love the idea of a tv show acknowledging and showing a relationship between two people who aren’t in love romantically nor are immediate blood relatives having a relationship which is extremely meaningful to them and which they priorities. (Also, the episode being what it was, I feel like it would be too soon after Edward’s death to give Alfred a new romantic interest; and clearly he’s still in mourning.)

IDK, I guess it’s just...I like A/W but I think I wish it was done differently.