Anime Thoughts: Wherein Morech Rambles About Gender Identification

Genshiken: Second Season [ep. 6 - Shout "Moe!" Beyond the Heavens]
‘…what Mean Girl’s so determined to keep from Ogiue?’ Damnit me, keep your characters straight!*

Lately, I’ve been wondering whether some of the situations that come up, like Hato having to wait in line for the men’s room while in drag, or Yajima being really hung up on whether he’s a guy or not, are in fact jokes at the expense of his cross-dressing. I’d have to watch the last few episodes again to really be sure, but I don’t think so. The waiting-in-line thing dwells on his discomfort and uncertainty in a way that makes it look ridiculous that he should have to agonize over something so simple. I wondered last time if he should’ve just taken off his wig, but in retrospect that’s not really a solution, because if he did that he’d be a guy wearing women’s clothes and would still get weird looks. With Yajima, the joke isn’t at Hato’s expense so much as hers, since what’s funny is how obsessed she can be with him being definitively one gender or the other and unable to just take him as someone who can switch between the two. It’s not that Hato’s confusing her; it’s that her perception of gender is too rigid.

None of that is about this episode specifically, but it’s related. Sure, I suppose there could’ve been an actual complaint that someone who doesn’t seem to be a student has been seen regularly on campus, but c’mon, what are the odds that Sketchy Guy didn’t just make that up to have an excuse to hit on the ‘cute girl’ he’d noticed? Just because of how Hato looks when cross-dressing, he assumed Hato was a girl. And because of her appearance and mannerisms, when Yoshitake’s sister showed up everyone just accepted that she was a boy. There aren’t really any jokes here, at least not about people who cross-dress or look like the opposite sex. It’s more of a send-up of how arbitrary the male/female dichotomy is and the way we try to classify people as being one or the other by ascribing certain personality traits and styles of appearance to each, as if those who are one can’t or don’t have those assigned to the other.

Heck, just look at the comment I made in my first post on this show, how “there really are no binaries other than reproductive bits.” Except, I’ve recently come across stuff like this (which I found through one of the comments here) and yeah, that’s not necessarily indicative of anything either. Consider that statement retracted, and I apologize to anyone I might have offended with it. Or for that matter, there’s the fact that I’ve so far been treating Hato’s ‘default’ gender as male. As far as I can tell he’s a guy who prefers to act as a girl in certain situations, but this whole thing does raise the question of whether that’s the appropriate thing to do. I’ll probably stick with it for now, but I definitely need to keep an open mind on whether it’s what I should be doing.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this. After all, the whole reason Hato started cross-dressing was to fit in better with fellow yaoi fans, who are predominantly female (to the best of my knowledge, at least). But would he put so much effort into it if his identity wasn’t more fluid? Whether it’s intentional or not, this series does seem to be raising some interesting points on gender identity. And that’s what’s standing out about it so far, at least to me. Which is probably why this commentary didn’t really have much to do with episode 6 beyond using some examples from it, but hey, this is what it made me think about, so it’s what I wrote about.

*I said Ohno when I should have said Ogiue last time.

Stella Women’s Academy [ep.6 – “Operation Soak” is Underway]

Well, that wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought. The bikini target-shooting was still kind of ‘yeah, did you really have to do that?’, but whatever, it’s not like it took up the entire episode, and there’s worse. This was really just a breather episode before what looks like the story arc that’ll take up the rest of the show. Setting up a shooting range was a neat idea (also, apparently Sono is an ‘I know a guy’ kind of person), and the ‘we spent all our money on tea and cake’ joke was, I’ll admit, mildly amusing. It wasn’t a necessary episode by any stretch, but it’s not like this is a high-caliber show that would be better served not having something like this, so again, whatever; let’s just see how the tournament goes.

The Eccentric Family [ep. 6 – Taking in Fall Colors]

So, Professor Akadama kidnapped Benten when she was a teenager. That’s sketchy – no, just plain wrong. And it instantly made Benten more sympathetic. Until now she’s come off as self-centered and generally unlikable, but now that there’s a hint of why she may be acting that way, it’s harder to fault her for it since it isn’t entirely her fault. Maybe things won’t turn out that way and she’ll be shown to have completely gone over to her current personality, but the scene of her crying at the well came off to me like she still feels some of the trauma and loss, that her selfishness and climb through the ranks of the tengu is an attempt to hide what she really feels. And it made Akadama, well, I’ve never felt much sympathy for him up to now – he seemed like a grumpy old man with an inability to let go, and not in a way that makes his emotional baggage understandable – but at this point I’ve got him fully in the ‘unsympathetic’ category.

And you know, I think this might be the first time she’s been explicitly referred to as human. At least, it’s the first time I remember it coming up. I assumed she was human at first, but then I got confused after seeing her fly. I looked it up, but if I hadn’t this would be the first time I saw explicit confirmation.

I also really liked the scene where Professor Yodogawa talked with Soichiro prior to the latter’s hot-potting. It was saddening, but also respectable how much dignity he had going to his fate, and how he was genuinely able to say ‘I’ve done what I wanted to with my life, and I know my family will look out for each other; I have no regrets’ (we should all be so lucky). It’s also an interesting little tidbit of tanuki culture how he was also saying ‘eh, this happens sometimes.’ Getting turned into a hot-pot is just something that could happen to any tanuki; it’s a fact of life for them. The brother that’s a frog says basically the same thing. Between the two details, having gotten that far, it’s like Soichiro would consider it an insult not to be eaten, if that makes sense.

It also introduces an interesting quandary with Yodogawa. Sure, he didn’t know tanuki were sentient until his encounter with Soichiro, but now that he does he still goes through with it. On the other, he saved Yasaburo’s mother, and it was obvious Soichiro bore him no ill will for his fate, perhaps was even happy that at least one person who ate him would fully appreciate it. If things go the way I suspect they will, those strike me as the things that will prick at the back of his mind until they make him come around and side with the ‘good guys,’ so to speak. Plus, seeing him get drunk and ramble on about how cute tanuki are and whether eating animals is actually a form of love, he comes off so endearing in a middle-aged eccentric kind of way that I can’t help but like the guy.

He seems to have overlooked something, though. Sure, he’s too much for one tanuki, but that just means he could feed a whole family of them. Now that’s putting his dead body to good use! Wait, is that hinting at something…?

I haven’t had much to say about this show until now, but it’s definitely picking up steam. I’m enjoying it more and definitely interested in where it’s going.

Anime Thoughts: There's a Minor Infinite Stratos Spoiler in the Genshiken Section. You Know, In Case Anyone Hasn't Seen It. And Cares About Spoilers. Um, Anyway...

Attack on Titan [ep.17 – Female Titan: 57^th Expedition Beyond the Walls, Part 1]

One thing stood out for me in this episode, and that’s the Titan encounters. Especially Spider-Titan, because we haven’t seen one like him before (and now I lament that ‘spider-titan’ doesn’t sync up that well with anything relevant). Regular Titans are bad enough, but they’re not exactly fast, and it’s easier to dodge feet or hands than a Titan who moves on all fours, i.e. faster than usual. And has his head level with you, for easier chomping. At least, Spider-Titan is worse out here, where you can’t just swing up onto a roof to get away. Let’s just say, I wouldn’t blame Sasha if she can’t stop looking over her shoulder for a little while. I know I probably would be. As for when the female Titan stops right on front of Armin; yeah, I’d probably shit my pants if I was in that situation.

And maybe I’m reading too much into this (like with ‘only the best candidates can join the Military Police’) but was someone expecting the Titans to go after Eren? Because  otherwise I can’t think of a reason why they’d give everyone conflicting information on where in the formation Eren is.

Also, I discovered this the other day, and it’s too awesome not to share. No wonder everyone holds Commander Pixis in such high regard!

Stella Women’s Academy [ep.5 – A Remote Island Game Burns Hot]

So I thought this was going to be a beach episode, then they jumped straight into a match once they got to the island, in their usual gear no less, and it looked like they were going to make the beach part incidental. Then the second half happened and it was clear this match was only happening on an island for the same reason most beach episodes happen in the first place – to have the female characters (AKA in this case, the entire cast) running around in swimsuits. Yeah, I’m not a fan of anime beach episodes, or fanservice in general. When I originally wrote this it had a mini-rant about that, but this isn’t really the place for it. It wasn’t that bad here, all things considered, and if that sort of thing works for you, more power to ya, it just doesn’t do anything for me.

And it’s not like this episode was terrible. It was fun to watch the other team use some unconventional tactics. It was also nice to see that Yura’s getting better and gaining more confidence, and there’s fodder for future episodes in how it’s also making her get so wrapped up in the match she ends up a little too in the zone.

Wait, the next episode is called ‘Operation Soak’? I don’t like where this is going.

Genshiken [ep.5 – Go Next!]

Poor Ohno. Nothing was going her way this time(“Changed my mind, I’m going with the guys.” “But…but…cosplay! You!...My Madoka!). And poor Hato. Not only does he keep running into hiccups while cross-dressing, but apparently Kousaka is just that much more amazing at it. That said, this was last episode, but I kinda wonder why he didn’t do something like take off his wig while waiting in line. I’ve never cross-dressed, or had to wait in line for a public bathroom while doing so, so maybe I’m just not thinking of a reason not to make it clear that yes, he’s a dude while in that situation. Or maybe it’s all just part of the commentary the show seems to be making on cross-dressing and gender binaries. As for the bathroom incident this episode, sure, he’s cross-dressing as a girl who cross-dresses as a boy (supposedly, see: rest of this sentence), so I suppose in a sense that brings him full circle and he’s a guy again, but yeah, I’m sure everyone who watched Infinite Stratos was fooled when ‘Charles’ first appeared.

For a second (and by ‘second’ I mean ‘episode 4’) there it looked like Madarame, and stuff like his crush on Kasukabe, weren’t going to get as much screentime as I thought, but now it looks like they are. Or at least it’s going to be a major recurring thing. Because what, three-quarters of this episode was Hato fretting about how Madarame has a crush on Kasukabe, who already has a boyfriend, and how he’s not sure what to do about it. And yeah, Madarame is definitely a ‘bottom.’ Because whether it’s Angela or he somehow does manage to end up with Kasukabe, in either case she’d totally be the one in charge.

And what, no resolution to what Mean Girl’s so determined to keep from Ohno? Eh, she wasn’t even at ComiFest (ComiFes? Comifes? However you’re supposed to spell it); it’ll probably come up later.

The Eccentric Family [ep.5 – The Friday Fellows]

Now that we’ve met the Friday Fellows, my only question is what’s the point of this society? So far it just seems like an excuse for a bunch of rich old guys (and Benten) to hang out. The only discernible thing is their year-end tanuki hot-pot, and for that matter, what’s the purpose of that? The only explanation so far is *affects his best Tevye voice* tradition. Oh, and one of them is the one who saved Yasaburo’s mother some years back. I’m sure that won’t prove significant later…

That’s the thing with this series. It keeps introducing a lot of things – a mysterious woman with supernatural powers, the rivalry between the Shimogamo and Ebisugawa families, how Yasaburo’s father intervened in a similar feud between tengu families, a long-standing society with no discernible purpose so far except to eat a tanuki once a year – but there isn’t a clear picture of what’s going on. Which is probably the point. At least, it’s working for me. I’m a little confused, but I’m also curious to see how everything will, hopefully, fit together.

Anime Thoughts: Who Eats a Whole Cake? Someone Who Isn't Paying For It.

Attack on Titan [eps. 15-16 - Special Ops Squad & What Must Be Done: Night Before the Counterattack, Parts 2-3]
Mikasa vs. Captain Levi – now there’s a fight I’d pay to see!

Glad to see they’re keeping up the pacing of the series so far. There’s more to it, but it’s still written as an action show, and excels best when it focuses on fights with the Titans. Plus, they’re finally going out beyond the walls, which is bound to get interesting, and would be even if the preview didn’t set up that they’re about to run into something unusual. I’m still curious about who killed the Titans, but focusing on the investigation isn’t the best idea. It’s bound to take a long time regardless, because it could literally be anyone in the military. There’s gotta be no shortage of soldiers with more personal grudges against the Titans, because Jean is most definitely not the only one who’s had a friend die messily and pointlessly at their hands, or who are just plain uneasy about two of them being inside the walls, no matter that they’re staked through like acupuncture cushions. There’s also the possibility that it isn’t someone in the military. If this society can have an underground slave trade, it can have a black market able to get its hands on military gear, and powerful people willing to use shady connections. Or it could be whatever Eren’s father’s part of that’s responsible, but they might fall under the latter.

Also – the Survey Corps has had 60% casualties in two years. And they’re expecting 30% casualties on the next expedition. In any other situation someone, probably several someones, would be getting court martialed for something like gross incompetence or criminal negligence with a casualty rate like that, and any military undertaking with casualty projections like high would get scrapped. But this isn’t other situations, so Commander Erwin and his officers get to keep their posts, because in all honesty that probably shows they’re doing a good job by keeping as many alive as they are. It’s a reminder of just how desperate and unconventional the situation is and, most importantly, how much guts the main characters have for joining. Well, Eren’s probably still too angry to care, and Mikasa’s already kind of a badass, but the others, they’re really brave. I have no idea how I’d actually feel in circumstances like theirs, but knowing about myself as I am now, I’m pretty sure I could never do something like that – one wrong move, one moment of inattention, and chomp! I like not getting eaten, thanks.

Genshiken: Second Season [ep. 4, Beards and Boobs]

Have those girls at ComiFest shown up before? I mean the ones selling doujinshi, not Mean Girl and her friend. It’s been awhile since I saw the actual second season, so I don’t remember if they’ve been in the show before or not. But they aren’t given any introduction, so I can only assume the viewer is meant to already know who they are. I probably just forgot about them.

And if I was the betting type, I’d wager what Mean Girl doesn’t want to tell Ogiue is that her middle school boyfriend has since come out as gay. Possibly because what Ogiue did made him realize it, which does sound like it could help Ogiue feel a bit better about the whole thing. It’s still not something she should’ve done without his consent, but if it helped him become truer to himself, at least some good came of it. Mean Girl maybe had a crush on him as well, which would by one way to explain why she has a chip on her shoulder about the whole thing.

Stella Women’s Academy [ep. 4 – Learn to Hit the Target Without Firing]

Until now I was assuming the way Yura kept imagining the battlefield as a ‘real’ version of whatever they were playing was just that, her imagination, or not even that, just a way to make things more visually interesting during intense moments. But now it looks like she actually is seeing things, somehow. It’s weird. Granted, you could still argue that it’s all in her head, and she heard Sono call the gun Chojiro once while half-listening and didn’t remember that she had. But then Rento gets caught in her vision of deity-Chojiro’s final battle, which seems to clear all doubt that it actually happened. I love her reaction (‘I knew that cake tasted funny!’). The really weird part is, I suspect this will never come up again. It was all just some sort of vision quest to help Yura learn to shoot better. I’m probably dwelling on it a bit too much since it’s not the point of the episode – Yura coming to understand that there’s more than one way to play airsoft games, and more importantly, more than one way to win them, is. It’s pretty typical ‘you win as long as you’re having fun’ stuff, though (and she understandably still wants to, you know, actually win on occasion), and it’s the imagination parts that stood out to me.

That being said, I feel like I should say something about the part when Sono opens up a little about her mentor, because that part isn’t just ‘you win as long as you’re having fun’ stuff, so I’m going to try. It does highlight a potential issue with this series – that it’s about a bunch of teenagers using realistic-looking equipment to play games which simulate something that most definitely isn’t a game. And it’s interesting that Sono continues to play them, when she’s lost someone so close to her because of war. But it sounds like she does continue because she feels it’s the best way to honor his memory, in that it allows her to remember what he taught her and pass it on to others, like she does with Yura. The idea, I think, is that while airsoft games can be fun, if done properly they’re also a way to teach a healthy respect for guns and violence, in that they’re dangerous and shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all, to play they have to use walled-off areas and wear safety goggles; that alone is a reminder that what they’re doing is more dangerous than a typical game. And maybe that’s the real point of the episode. No idea if that’s the intended idea, or if it’ll ever come up again, but hopefully it makes sense.

The Eccentric Family [ep. 4 – Battle of the Daimonji Leisure Cruisers]

Not a lot happened this episode, but we did learn a bit more about Yasaburo’s father, specifically how he intervened in a feud between two tengu families, which I assume will turn out to have played some part in the reasons behind his murder. The air battle between the Shimogamos and the Ebisugawas was also at least fun to watch, but the music when the latter showed up was kinda disappointing; wasn’t pirate-y enough. Also, if you’re worried about someone getting too close to the edge of a flying house, why not just have guard rails you can slot in when it’s in the air or something? Yeah, that’s all I got.

Anime Thoughts: And to Think I Thought There'd be Nothing Worth Watching This Season

EDIT 09/10/2013: The Genshiken section of this post contains an inadvertent but still inexcusbale gender-essentialist statement, which I've since retracted here.
 
Genshiken Second Season [eps. 1-3: The Other Side of the Path. The Promised Place, Cross Over My Legs! & Daydream Believer]

That’s an interesting choice of title, seeing as this is the third season and all, but maybe it’s supposed to refer to how this is an almost-complete overhaul of Genshiken’s membership, a ‘second’ version, so to speak. It’s good to see the old cast have cameos, but since time does pass and people do graduate in this show, they couldn’t stay forever, so it’s nice to get a bunch of new characters, and to see that they’re focusing more on otaku women this time around. Then again, Madarame’s gotten an awful lot of screentime in the second and third episodes, and his crush on Kasukabe looks like it’s about to become a major plotline, but I doubt it’ll overtake the new faces and their stories. I also like how Hato’s cross-dressing, and resultant things like Yajima being uncomfortable with it, are treated seriously. The humor comes at the expense of gender expectations, not Hato himself. I really liked episode 3, where he has dinner at Madarame’s house as a guy and manages to identify traits of the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ in a yaoi relationship in both of them. He’s thinking in terms of a same-sex dynamic, but since one is supposed to be dominant and the other submissive, you can extrapolate it to traditional gender roles, where men are expected to be the former and women the latter. That Hato can’t neatly pin himself or Madarame into either category is a nice commentary on the arbitrariness of assigned gender traits – there really are no binaries other than reproductive bits.

Even though I thought there’d be nothing to watch this season, that wasn’t strictly true since I was always going to watch this. I liked the first two seasons, so it was a safe bet I’d like this too, and so far I am. I figured there’d be nothing else, which is a little unfortunate after last season, where I was practically spoiled by having three whole shows worth watching. Well, there would’ve been four, but since I don’t live in the U.S., there’s no legal way for me to watch Railgun S. At least barring Funimation putting the subs up for free on its YouTube channel. But those numbers probably says more about me and my tastes than the actual lineup.

Stella Women’s Academy, High School Division Class C3 [eps. 1-3: Any Volunteers to Enlist!?, I am Charged With Guarding the Lady & Does the Enemy Fire Pierce Even the Soul?]

I wasn’t planning to watch this. I’ve enjoyed ‘cute girls + [something else]’ shows before, but I don’t go out of my way to watch them. But when this got such a good reception in the ANN preview guide, I decided to check it out. I do find it weird, though, that it was getting praise for its lack of sexual fanservice (a point in its favor, in my book), and then I start watching and there’s a shot of Yura’s butt within the first three minutes. I guess they missed that? It is the ‘blink-and-you-miss-it’ kind. And to be fair, they were only going by the first episode, so they didn’t see the second open with Sono walking out of the bathroom naked.

But enough about that. There’s still very little fanservice, which I definitely appreciate. The rest of the show is a lot of fun so far. There’s some silly stuff, like the inclusion of tea and cake (because K-On! I guess), or the club pulling transparent stunts to try and get Yura to join, but the actual matches are great to watch.

I’ve said so before, with Mei from Another, but I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly with a ton of friends when I was a teenager, so I can sympathize with Yura’s desire to come out of her shell. She also seems to have a great imagination when she’s on her own but is at a loss around others and has a self-doubting streak, so in a lot of ways she reminds me of myself. There’s times I found myself wishing she’d do things differently than she is, but I wouldn’t necessarily have done different when I was her age, so I can’t project myself as I am now onto her. And I guess when you wish a character would do something else, while also agreeing that their actions make sense for them as they are, it’s probably a sign that you’re rooting for them. I also had an experience similar to what she’s getting by joining an anime club in university, so I understand what it’s like to find something that clicks with you (I’d watched anime before, but the club is what introduced me to how much there is beyond what’s shown on TV and cemented my interest) and introduces you to people with similar interests.

I’ll definitely keep watching this. I didn’t expect to, but I’m glad I gave it a shot. I’m wondering whether I’ll be able to blog about it much, though. It seems, so far, like much the rest of the show will be more of the same. Having them play different types of matches against different opponents is a way to keep the show interesting, but what can you really say about that week-to-week? But I probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions. There clearly is other stuff, like how Sono has a history with the leader of the team they lost to, and character development, like the fallout from Yura panicking and costing them the match. I guess I’ll see.

The Eccentric Family [eps. 1-3: Goddess of the Noryoyuka, Mom and Raijin, God of Thunder & Yakushibo’s Inner Parlor]

I’m not really sure what to say about this one. Even three episodes in, I’m still not sure what the plot is supposed to be. All I can gather is that there’s these feuding tanuki and tengu families living in modern Kyoto, a mysterious woman named Benten, this group called the Friday Fellows she hangs out with, and the reason Yasaburo’s father was cooked in a hot-pot is somehow key to everything. Nobody is even really that eccentric, unless being supernatural, or having supernatural powers, counts. I suppose Yasaburo’s cross-gender shapeshifting could fit, but a guy with the power to change shape becoming a cute girl (because of course) isn’t anything new. Maybe still eccentric, but not new. Most of the humor, though, comes from how he still has a masculine voice and male body language, which I haven’t seen before, so at least that’s different. Maybe I’m just missing something – I still plan on watching it, so maybe things will get more interesting shortly.

There was that one part, though, where Yasaburo and his little brother go into the shop to see Benten. And come out the other side at a dock by a lake with a sunken clocktower in the middle (are they outside? Somewhere supernatural?). And then Benten dives into the lake and pulls the tail of whale that’s in a (freshwater?) lake, for some reason. That was weird.

Don't Worry, I'm Pretty Sure the Messiah Did Say That: The Uncanny Valley - The Reviewers

Oh cats, why is it videos of you doing something mundane can be so hilarious?

But anyways, The Reviewers. It’s about two guys who want to become internet reviewers, and a commentary on what it means to be one. This one resonated with me on a personal level in a way the previous ones didn’t. I don’t have any aspirations to be an internet reviewer, but the stuff I want to be paying the bills one day is also the kind creative arts work you can’t find by applying on a job board, so I can understand where Thomas and Steve are coming from. Sometimes you’re like Jeff, recognizing that success and recognition take time, willing to work a not-so-great job so you can make money, and accepting that not everyone will like your stuff, nor should they. Other times you feel like Andy, frustrated with your circumstances, fretting over your lack of hits, and discouraged by that side of the internet that seems dedicated to being negative. Because on the one hand, it’s easy to see that Rickhead’s ‘critiques’ are just ad hominem attacks, homophobia, the ‘you’re either with me or against me’ fallacy, and just plain negativity for the sake of being negative. After all, criticizing Count Thomas Howell for not reviewing vampire movies has no meaning when it’s obvious that if he did, Rick would be ripping on him for being yet another vampire who reviews vampire movies – that’s precisely why he isn’t. But on the other hand, if him making a video about Andy and Jeff gives them traffic, it means he has an audience, and it’s kind of depressing that enough people actually enjoy things like that. Stuff like that is even worse when it claims to be legitimate criticism, like Rick insists, while being nothing of the sort. Honestly, yeah, Steve and Thomas’s videos are bad, but look at the early work of any internet reviewer – it’s probably bad too. You have to start somewhere, and it takes time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Saying ‘your stuff is bad and you should feel bad’ isn’t helping anyone. And while Jeff has a point that since they’re making fun of stuff, people should be allowed to make fun of their stuff, but, presumably, they’re focusing on the actual movie they’re reviewing, not making stuff up so they can put someone down. When you bring in the actual people behind these movies/videos/whatever, you need to be able to back up what you’re saying about them.

But while Rickhead may represent the side of the internet that just likes to bash stuff, it’s also a great platform for people to be creative and share what they love with a wider audience than ever. Like anything else, doing it in a way that makes you successful will take time and hard work, but it also reminds us that you can’t do something like this just to become famous; you need to do it because you truly love what you’re doing. But if you really do, you’ll persevere. It’s a great message, and definitely one I can get behind.