But I've also written before about how censorship shaped queer genres like yuri, limitations on speech can develop into their own stylizations of speech, and end up outlasting the censorship. And for some newer series that's kinda what it feels like. They're fully committing to wanting to tell a queer story, but if you don't pick up on it then it's just going to be your loss, they make no real effort to handhold the mainstream audience through what's really going on in the characters head. Especially with Rakugo Shinju, where everyone not talking about it / not having the vocabulary to talk about it feels like an important part of the emotional weight of the story. The gay subtext isn't being presented as like an optional reading of the text, it's not Top Gun. It's the intended story, and you're either understanding the full text or you're missing out on parts of the story, and that's how the author intends it.
Which I think is actually pretty interesting if you've got people telling queer stories and they're just like "if you don't get it then I don't care."
And I think in like Rakugo Shinju I think that's a super valid read but in most anime it feels like a maybe not accurate read. Like I would agree there is an art for displaying queer relationships while very technically not explicitly confirming they are queer relationships but serialized manga and anime I don't normally think it's a stylistic choice so much as an enforced stylistic constraint. Like take with Watamote I very much think the author has to work around unwritten (or possibly written, but unknown to outsiders) rules about what kind of material can be in a magazine aimed at teenagers, mostly teenage boys. I think if she made it any more explicit than she already has her continued serialization of the series could legitimately come under fire.
Or take Yuri on Ice which very clearly wanted to break out of the ambiguous queer subtext mold but was heavily pushed back against during production because of just how gay the show is. (Which is, very gay to point of being actually trangressive against Japanese law.) Queer subject matter only seems to get an easy pass in relatively "low brow" contexts where it's usually presented as a fetishistic fantasy for mostly straight audiences. (Ironically meaning that especially if you go back in time pornographic material was the most likely place to find positive queer representation, with the caveat that most pornographic material, even material with queer characters was still and is still not queer friendly at all.)
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
very excited to get a chapter of berserk that's all just skull knight, mister "i think today i will attempt to kill causality with a knife", chatting with guts about how to handle retirement emotionally
Are we to take from Sophia's dream that she's also a reincarnation? Or was it just a weird thing?
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LasbrookIt takes a lot to make a stewWhen it comes to me and youRegistered Userregular
Promare’s still really good, and real pretty. But I couldn’t help constantly thinking of that Unreal Engine 5 demo and them talking about how many triangles they can render at once and how Promare 2 is gonna look so much better.
Sophia's end game is having the 2 people most important to her get married to each other and then just move in with them so she can be with them forever.
Okay, that twist had me sort of intrigued. I don’t much care for isekai stories where it’s only an excuse for exposition and the past life doesn’t mean much to the story.
Okay, that twist had me sort of intrigued. I don’t much care for isekai stories where it’s only an excuse for exposition and the past life doesn’t mean much to the story.
Something I do like about Villainess is that she didn't actually finish every route of Fortune Lover, so her "cheat code" to the world is incomplete.
And just leads to her breaking the canon in chaotic new ways by being a nice, well meaning ding dong with the social density equivalent of osmium. Also inadvertently pointing out how silly these trope scenarios are if aren't limited in your choices and can act as a human being with empathy and not, ironically a cliche 2d villainous or villainess rather character.
"Grip 'em up, grip 'em, grip 'em good, said the Gryphon... to the pig."
Something I do like about Villainess is that she didn't actually finish every route of Fortune Lover, so her "cheat code" to the world is incomplete.
And just leads to her breaking the canon in chaotic new ways by being a nice, well meaning ding dong with the social density equivalent of osmium. Also inadvertently pointing out how silly these trope scenarios are if aren't limited in your choices and can act as a human being with empathy and not, ironically a cliche 2d villainous or villainess rather character.
I mean, in fairness, it's not like "person acts like an absolute asshole because they believe they're untouchable" is... even slightly hard to believe as a thing. If anything, our Katarina might be more unrealistic than the original one!
That said, I have to say, it's nice when the harem comedy actually spends time showing us why so many people might actually like the harem lead, rather than just having everyone fall over this person for no real reason. Katarina is about as bright as a black hole, but she's also genuine, empathic, charming, and tries her best to be thoughtful about other people (even if her best isn't always great because, again, not terribly bright).
Sukeroku seems more and more like a budding alcoholic. Like that friend of yours from college who's always a little more eager to go drinking than anyone else. He's not an alcoholic yet, but mostly because he doesn't have any responsibilities to interfere with his drinking. But you can just see him on that gradual downward spiral towards addiction. The one thing it's outweighted by is his passion for rakugo.
Kikuhiko says his master told him to break up with his geisha girlfriend, but... It doesn't seem very convincing? He was already pulling away from her before the trip, and the master seemed rather in favor of them being together. And then he gives a small speech to Sukeroku about how he doesn't realize how hard it is for Kikuhiko to be around him, and Sukeroku interprets it as just talking about rakugo, buuuut Kikuhiko acts like SUCH a wife to him, he's quite obviously always been in love with him.
Miyokichi meanwhile... It seems like she at least suspects that Kikuhiko is gay, but for her that's just fine. The two of them (mostly) get along together well, and considering that she's a former prostitute and current geisha, a sexless but affectionate, secure marriage is obviously pretty tempting.
Actually yeah going on to ep 9, Kikuhiko breaks up with Miyo, she's not unfairly pissed, and her revenge is... immediately going after Sukeroku. She knows what that means.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
...So they could enter her into Sumo matches and bet on her. Poor tade. Energetic Ogre girl deserves better.
Also, holy fuck, reading the backmatter on these i'm in awe of the effort Ryōko Kui puts in. She's a frigging genius, boht world building an artskill wise, and has some really cool tricks for making sure her characters are distinct - like she'll draw the faces in profile, focusing on the noses and mouths, or just draw the eyebrows and eyes to make sure everyone has their own distinctive shape. Or draw characters with similar body types in each other's clothing to make sure they're still distinctive as characters.
Seriously, give this an anime adaption, and give it to a studio that'll do credit to the hard work she puts in because it's gorgeous and amazing.
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Or take Yuri on Ice which very clearly wanted to break out of the ambiguous queer subtext mold but was heavily pushed back against during production because of just how gay the show is. (Which is, very gay to point of being actually trangressive against Japanese law.) Queer subject matter only seems to get an easy pass in relatively "low brow" contexts where it's usually presented as a fetishistic fantasy for mostly straight audiences. (Ironically meaning that especially if you go back in time pornographic material was the most likely place to find positive queer representation, with the caveat that most pornographic material, even material with queer characters was still and is still not queer friendly at all.)
Begun, the ship wars have
I mean
I’d be worried about you if they weren’t unnerving to you
by one of the jojo TV artists
Da fug
This will be here until I receive an apology or Weedlordvegeta get any consequences for being a bully
when are we getting to the fireworks factory?!
I want more of this show
also I am honestly very invested in these two wonderful dorks
This will be here until I receive an apology or Weedlordvegeta get any consequences for being a bully
AniList
(is that the "b-dmp" sound effect?)
Love Interests: "Godammit not another one!"
In fact part of her strategy seems to be a tag team assault with Nichol so they can win the Katabowl together.
Steam
It should be fairly obvious from the context but
We don't know whether she also died young, or lived a full life and reincarnated
Though, I do like Futurama...
...It's exactly that though.
And just leads to her breaking the canon in chaotic new ways by being a nice, well meaning ding dong with the social density equivalent of osmium. Also inadvertently pointing out how silly these trope scenarios are if aren't limited in your choices and can act as a human being with empathy and not, ironically a cliche 2d villainous or villainess rather character.
I mean, in fairness, it's not like "person acts like an absolute asshole because they believe they're untouchable" is... even slightly hard to believe as a thing. If anything, our Katarina might be more unrealistic than the original one!
That said, I have to say, it's nice when the harem comedy actually spends time showing us why so many people might actually like the harem lead, rather than just having everyone fall over this person for no real reason. Katarina is about as bright as a black hole, but she's also genuine, empathic, charming, and tries her best to be thoughtful about other people (even if her best isn't always great because, again, not terribly bright).
ep 8/9 has a lot going on.
Kikuhiko says his master told him to break up with his geisha girlfriend, but... It doesn't seem very convincing? He was already pulling away from her before the trip, and the master seemed rather in favor of them being together. And then he gives a small speech to Sukeroku about how he doesn't realize how hard it is for Kikuhiko to be around him, and Sukeroku interprets it as just talking about rakugo, buuuut Kikuhiko acts like SUCH a wife to him, he's quite obviously always been in love with him.
Miyokichi meanwhile... It seems like she at least suspects that Kikuhiko is gay, but for her that's just fine. The two of them (mostly) get along together well, and considering that she's a former prostitute and current geisha, a sexless but affectionate, secure marriage is obviously pretty tempting.
Actually yeah going on to ep 9, Kikuhiko breaks up with Miyo, she's not unfairly pissed, and her revenge is... immediately going after Sukeroku. She knows what that means.
Reading the dungeon Meshi extras.
Why did Subaru's party bring along Tade?
...So they could enter her into Sumo matches and bet on her. Poor tade. Energetic Ogre girl deserves better.
Also, holy fuck, reading the backmatter on these i'm in awe of the effort Ryōko Kui puts in. She's a frigging genius, boht world building an artskill wise, and has some really cool tricks for making sure her characters are distinct - like she'll draw the faces in profile, focusing on the noses and mouths, or just draw the eyebrows and eyes to make sure everyone has their own distinctive shape. Or draw characters with similar body types in each other's clothing to make sure they're still distinctive as characters.
Seriously, give this an anime adaption, and give it to a studio that'll do credit to the hard work she puts in because it's gorgeous and amazing.
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This is my favorite so far
Rabbit In The Spotlight