Yeeeah. I dunno about this one, my peeps. I mean, I checked out of the show after an episode, but to me, it's like saying Queen's Blade is about female empowerment because it's all strong fighting women. Even just the premise of forcibly changing someone's gender against their will because YOU think that'll fix them I'd think would be... fraught.
Oh in less iffy news I read the fist few chapters of Throw Away The Suit Together and it's... good!
The premise is a lesbian couple of two college grads are now job hunting and it's making them miserable. One thing leads to another and they make the impulsive decision to move to Okinawa to get away from everything. With a premise like that you might expect drama but so far it has been very cute, pure gay wish fulfillment. (For example chapter 2 ends with one of them shouting over the island of Okinawa "I'm gonna marry this woman!" Then the other tells her-suprisingly chill-aunt about how she's eloped to Okinawa with her fiance and the former lets the two of them bum out in her unused beach condo for the time being.)
So this series is pretty promising. It's got some similar vibes to Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. From the first six chapters I think I like it a little more than what I've read of JJK, not as much as CSM.
The subtext to me read like less remilitarization and more, uh, problematically anti-semitic with the third act reveal of what's going on in the world (aka S4).
I stopped caring when it stopped being about giant naked weirdos eating people and instead was about how Japan should totally remilitarize
I still think this is a really bad reading of the text unless there's some author comments I don't know about.
Specifically, the author had a burner Twitter account they used before writing the manga to basically do a little playful revisionist history and say the Japanese occupation of Korea basically wasn't that bad and that 'comparing them to Nazis is wrong.' There's enough meat on the bones to say that the ending of AoT
can be interpreted as criticism or actually being in support of imperialism and remilitarization. There is not so small portion of alt right folks in Japan who believe this stuff, history books have already been changed much like in the US, to whitewash away warcrimes specifically against Korea. End of the day the work is critical of the cyclical nature of war but I think you can absolutely read it's ending that way. Revisionist history actually plays a huge role in the story of AoT. Specifically with King Fritz and his sex slave wife, you can unfortunately draw some real fucked up parallels with how some Japanese feel about what they did to Korea and China.
In the end, I think everyone agrees the ending of AoT is baffling and frankly disappointing as hell. What a way to squander an excellent chance to really make a statement on the horrors of war, and instead use it to soapbox for some alt right ideals
back in the day internet detectives found an anonymous twitter account that could've been the author (iirc basically all the evidence was plausible but also, could've about just as reasonably been someone in the same social or work circles) that appeared to have bought into revisionist history bullshit about how, actually, imperial japan had improved things for korea if you really think about it (deeply brainless, gross)
i think the actual reporting around that was largely pretty, uh, dogshit in a way that clarified nothing and in fact made things more confusing, but also y'know. Sometimes the Vibes Are Bad
personally my read is just that Isayama is a very bad writer who managed to stumble into basically every possible pothole once he actually had to start resolving and revealing things, sometimes getting weird and bad force multipliers from the way individual bad decisions interacted with each other (blatant, subtlety-free historical analogues x bioware-ass "in the past this group was the oppressor but now they're the oppressed, makes u think" type writing hits worse than either on their own, for example). He might be an ultraconservative dipshit but imo comes off as more just fucking terrible at making an uninteresting, nihilistic point. wet fart of a storyteller.
I'm really not a subtext kind of person, it being the cowards way, but when you start putting armbands on people I'm going to give your thing the weirdest of looks.
It's a lot of speculative interpretation surrounding a story that isn't sure what it wants to say and in the end isn't particularly well told.
One thing that isn't speculative at all
the final words of the story, as war ramps up again, is that "if you fight, you live. If you can't fight, you die." That feels pretty on the nose to me, with regards to remilitarization. Because Eren intentionally made himself the bad guy to try to bring about an end to the constant wars, but instead it backfired and radicalized people all over again. Again feels kinda on the nose to me.
Did AOT do the fuckin' stupid Lost mystery box writing method where the author came up with a bunch of cool mysteries to hint at then went "wait shit I actually have to think of resolutions for these? Aw man"
0
PiptheFairFrequently not in boats.Registered Userregular
Did AOT do the fuckin' stupid Lost mystery box writing method where the author came up with a bunch of cool mysteries to hint at then went "wait shit I actually have to think of resolutions for these? Aw man"
no, the resolutions to the mysteries are good
it's the resolution to the story that is lacking, even though I can get what they were going for
+11
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
I'm really not a subtext kind of person, it being the cowards way, but when you start putting armbands on people I'm going to give your thing the weirdest of looks.
One of the bigger crimes of the fascists - ruining armbands. It's a cool look!
It is really hard for me to think of popular long running stories, like more than a decade of serialization, that both have a great ending and a wholesome message even when completely divorced from the unique world of the story. Seems the default is to expect the opposite.
Marty: The future, it's where you're going? Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
Kay Yu has worked on some high profile anime and games. That amount is... yeesh.
You can literally trace this back to Tezuka and his trying to make the financials of TV animation work, where he "balanced" the budgets on the back of the staff and set up a tradition that is going strong decades later.
Did AOT do the fuckin' stupid Lost mystery box writing method where the author came up with a bunch of cool mysteries to hint at then went "wait shit I actually have to think of resolutions for these? Aw man"
no, the resolutions to the mysteries are good
it's the resolution to the story that is lacking, even though I can get what they were going for
AoT spoilers
Personally I think the whole "mind time traveling ability from the flesh gundam" was kinda stupid.
0
PiptheFairFrequently not in boats.Registered Userregular
Did AOT do the fuckin' stupid Lost mystery box writing method where the author came up with a bunch of cool mysteries to hint at then went "wait shit I actually have to think of resolutions for these? Aw man"
no, the resolutions to the mysteries are good
it's the resolution to the story that is lacking, even though I can get what they were going for
AoT spoilers
Personally I think the whole "mind time traveling ability from the flesh gundam" was kinda stupid.
+2
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
The reveal that
Eren is actually the villain of the story
is pretty good.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
+4
PiptheFairFrequently not in boats.Registered Userregular
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited March 4
I appreciate that AoT has a fairly clear anti-war message, even if the execution is a bit wonky. What's questionable is if the author had that in mind from the jump, or just thought it up to pad out the plot more.
It's a lot of speculative interpretation surrounding a story that isn't sure what it wants to say and in the end isn't particularly well told.
One thing that isn't speculative at all
the final words of the story, as war ramps up again, is that "if you fight, you live. If you can't fight, you die." That feels pretty on the nose to me, with regards to remilitarization. Because Eren intentionally made himself the bad guy to try to bring about an end to the constant wars, but instead it backfired and radicalized people all over again. Again feels kinda on the nose to me.
Should probably clarify that this is about the ending.
Posts
By all accounts it toned it up.
The premise is a lesbian couple of two college grads are now job hunting and it's making them miserable. One thing leads to another and they make the impulsive decision to move to Okinawa to get away from everything. With a premise like that you might expect drama but so far it has been very cute, pure gay wish fulfillment. (For example chapter 2 ends with one of them shouting over the island of Okinawa "I'm gonna marry this woman!" Then the other tells her-suprisingly chill-aunt about how she's eloped to Okinawa with her fiance and the former lets the two of them bum out in her unused beach condo for the time being.)
So this series is pretty promising. It's got some similar vibes to Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. From the first six chapters I think I like it a little more than what I've read of JJK, not as much as CSM.
It's on CR and Hulu now.
https://www.crunchyroll.com/watch/G8WUNMMMW/attack-on-titan-final-season-the-final-chapters-special-1
i mean, back when it was just giant naked weirdos eating ppl there was the worry that the giants were a metaphor for invading immigrants
and well
More to the point, the main plot became less about giants eating people and more about its questionable politics
Kay Yu has worked on some high profile anime and games. That amount is... yeesh.
Specifically, the author had a burner Twitter account they used before writing the manga to basically do a little playful revisionist history and say the Japanese occupation of Korea basically wasn't that bad and that 'comparing them to Nazis is wrong.' There's enough meat on the bones to say that the ending of AoT
In the end, I think everyone agrees the ending of AoT is baffling and frankly disappointing as hell. What a way to squander an excellent chance to really make a statement on the horrors of war, and instead use it to soapbox for some alt right ideals
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i think the actual reporting around that was largely pretty, uh, dogshit in a way that clarified nothing and in fact made things more confusing, but also y'know. Sometimes the Vibes Are Bad
personally my read is just that Isayama is a very bad writer who managed to stumble into basically every possible pothole once he actually had to start resolving and revealing things, sometimes getting weird and bad force multipliers from the way individual bad decisions interacted with each other (blatant, subtlety-free historical analogues x bioware-ass "in the past this group was the oppressor but now they're the oppressed, makes u think" type writing hits worse than either on their own, for example). He might be an ultraconservative dipshit but imo comes off as more just fucking terrible at making an uninteresting, nihilistic point. wet fart of a storyteller.
One thing that isn't speculative at all
PS - Local_H_Jay
Sub me on Youtube
And Twitch
I think attack on Titan is pretty good through seasons 1 and 2 and the twist at that point.
It's problem is resolving the underlying mysteries in just some real asinine ways
Because... Yep, it's really not all that great!
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no, the resolutions to the mysteries are good
it's the resolution to the story that is lacking, even though I can get what they were going for
One of the bigger crimes of the fascists - ruining armbands. It's a cool look!
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
You can literally trace this back to Tezuka and his trying to make the financials of TV animation work, where he "balanced" the budgets on the back of the staff and set up a tradition that is going strong decades later.
AoT spoilers
is pretty good.
well, kinda
theres also the whole colonizing oppressive millitary hegemony too
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
Should probably clarify that this is about the ending.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
it's actually about how re-litigating the 2016 election constantly is productive and good
simple mistake
this suite is so good
PSN: Robo_Wizard1