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I started watching Buffy again ... I'm really getting into Season Seven. I ... still don't hate Season Six, even though that's the right thing to do. But Season Seven is a little more "Must See Next Episode." I just finished watching episode 22.9 tonight.
The show makes me realize I also miss Angel very much -- he's always been my favorite character. I feel a little embarrassed to say that; it seems so "SQUEE!" fangirl-y. But to be honest, it was really Boreanaz's acting that got me (YES, his acting). Just by his body language you can tell if he's Angel or Angelus. And that episode where he's possessed by a female ghost and thus plays a woman and manages not to make it into a joke? <3 Best. Acting. Ever. Maybe I need to ask Mark if I can borrow his Angel DVDs after I move.
I've also (like, for the last couple of months), been reading these spin-off stories about previous slayers. Mostly meh, but there was one I liked a lot. Still have three to go (unless I want to get the other books in the series ... I dunno).
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On anime ... I finished watching Midori Days aaaaand, well, given that I think I was being a good sport about, i.e. I watched it despite the premise, which is basically a long masturbation joke. I will also do with the other show![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
47nite gave me about a guy who up and goes to a girl's school to play out Marimite because his Dad tells him so. ... I still didn't like it. I DID like Rin, because she made me laugh a lot -- except when she encouraged a 10-year-old to try to seduce her brother ... then she was making me throw up. But, other than that, I really liked her and got stupidly happy whenever she appeared. She was loud and brash and occasionally stupid and always kind of an asshole, but not enough of an asshole to let her brother down. I loved, loved, loved the idea that she taught her brother how to fight. Speaking of whom, I also liked Seiji, because Seiji is basically Ichigo from Bleach in a romantic comedy. They are alike in looks, action and philosophy. And Ichigo is my favoritest male anime character ever and my second favorite male superhero. So I liked Seiji by proxy, and probably was more forgiving of when he acted like a jerk than I should have been.
Alas, the show was not called Me and My Stupid Fucking Cow of a Sister, which would have been an awesome show.
See, I'd recently been introduced to the idea of Bechel's Law via the blog of Karen Healey. I shall let her explain using quotes from here
A character in Bechdel's Dykes To Watch Out For states that she won't watch a movie unless:
- There is more than one women in it, and;
- they talk to each other, and;
- about something other than a man.
Looking over Midori Days...
1.) More than one woman
Let's see ... Rin, Ayase, Shiori, Big!Midori, Little!Midori (since I think they barely act alike I will henceforth be referring to them as two separate characters), Midori's Mom, Midori's friends ... hey, we're not doing too bad!
2.) Talk to each other
Hey, yeah! Rin talks with Midori. Rin talks with Shiori. Ayase has her friends, Midori has her friends ... although something seems off ...
3.) ... about something other than a man
Aw, damn. And you were doing so WELL.
I blame Little!Midori, for most of this, as her dialogue mostly follows these lines: "Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji ... SEIJIIIIII! Does Seiji like me? Does Seiji think of me? I love you, Seiji. Am I useful to you, Seiji? SEIJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"
Now ... I will admit it is the M.O. of teenagers, especially teenagers who've been infected with the stupid!disease, to obsess over a guy. And I would probably be a little more understanding of her obsession if she really should be thinking about more important things in life ... like, oh ... BEING ATTACHED TO A GUY'S MOTHERFUCKING HAND. But no, she's OKAY with that. No physiological trauma. She's with her SEIJI, all is well.
And yes, it's a fantasy. But so was Ranma 1/2, and all of THOSE characters had to deal with issues due to their changed bodies. And Seiji has to deal with having a girl for a hand. Little!Midori? Not really ... she seems to do fine.
The whole story is the male's story. Other than Rin, women really never get to do anything for themselves.
How this story dealt with the whole issue of sexual harassment really made me want to hurl. In two instances men have to "save" women from being victimized. Early on in the series, Seiji saves Ayase (who goes from being strong to a girl who gets caught by the head of the evil gant TWICE -- yeah, I get it was meant to show her strength was mostly bravado but TWICE?). Later on in the series, the Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature saves Midori-with-Seiji-on-her-hand from a guy who takes phone cam pictures of her panties in a dream sequence. Both of the girls are total victims in this situation. They get no revenge for themselves and are basically just damsels to be taken out of distress. Midori doesn't even really seem BOTHERED.
And yet what happens when Ayase and Little!Midori come into somewhat sexual situations with the GUY they like? Ayase later punches Seiji in the face for attempting to kiss her. And Little!Midori slaps Seiji silly whenever he sees her or she sees him naked accidentally.
So what's the message? Women can't fight when it matters, because they must be saved by men in dramatic scenes that prove how much of a hero the man is (except in the case of Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature, because that was a dream sequence and he's still Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature). However, women CAN fight back when it doesn't matter, because it's funny! Even when the Marin-lookalike fights back when she thinks she's about to be hurt ... well, it was really just Seiji and Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature was supposed to save so it's still FUNNY!
[long sigh]
Now, I will admit that this may be sort of turned around when Little!Midori helps save Seiji save Kota from the gang who just brutalized and sexually humiliated him. (Sheesh, aren't Japanese comedies NICE? The ugliness of life is so funny to Japan ... :-P) But ... well, if she wasn't so "THIS IS MY FAULT AS I AM INCONVENIENT TO HIM AND SEIJI ..." It would have been a bit better.
Also, would it have killed the writers to have SOME character similarity between Little!Midori and Big!Midori. Would a girl so painfully shy that she couldn't bring herself to talk to a guy normally suddenly open up and confess her feelings AFTER she's undergone a major physiological change AND the guy she's obsessed over sees her naked AND she's been shown to be a bit of a prude? I really, really do not buy it.
But I do have to admit ... during the last scene, when Big!Midori opened up to Seiji, overcoming all her fears and finally confessing to the guy she liked and found that this big, scary guy who she somehow loved anyway and would have loved to talked to but never felt she could liked her too ... I was really with the show. Because there is a nice wish fulfillment in there.
... Too bad the show wasn't anything like that.
---
Um, wow. I didn't expect that to be so long. I'm also watching Lucky Star, which is like Azumanga Daioh but requires extensive annotations for Americans so we can pretend to laugh along with the joke on a Japanese shampoo ad from the 70s. Yeah, the jokes on this show are obscure (They mentioned the freakin' 3DO console system ... I NEVER thought I would hear that name again.) But it's goofy enough that I like it anyway. Oddly enough, I think my favorite character is Kagami ... which doesn't really make any sense because she's such a stick-in-the-mud, but also trying to be sensible among all of the insanity around her and ... mmm ... okay, I understand myself better now.
I'm also wondering about the implications of having a otaku female character whose interests run very, very male. (She reads mostly shonen and hentai.) At first I was like, "They couldn't have tried to write for the girl audience?" but then I kind of chilled out and thought it was better this way. (Midori Days may have made me trigger-happy.) Konata would probably drive me crazy if I hung out with her -- maybe that's why I like Kagami so much -- but I can forgive a lot for uniqueness in a character.
Still, I wish she didn't introduce me to the concept of moe. That shit kind of skeeves me ... while providing me with inappropriate Stooge images.
Oh, andcyberweasel, with your "Why no Nintendo?" ... a character was playing the DS Phat in one episode.
Anyway, I'm six episodes into this one and still going strong and all. Maybe I'll watch one before bed.
---
I started reading Agnes Grey, because I had a dream about the Brontes and felt like it was fate, but I've been ending up reading from a collection of prize-winning newspaper stories instead. I don't really feel like I want to dedicate myself to a long thing right now, I guess.
---
I was going to write something about Judaism ... but I'm too tired now. Later.
The show makes me realize I also miss Angel very much -- he's always been my favorite character. I feel a little embarrassed to say that; it seems so "SQUEE!" fangirl-y. But to be honest, it was really Boreanaz's acting that got me (YES, his acting). Just by his body language you can tell if he's Angel or Angelus. And that episode where he's possessed by a female ghost and thus plays a woman and manages not to make it into a joke? <3 Best. Acting. Ever. Maybe I need to ask Mark if I can borrow his Angel DVDs after I move.
I've also (like, for the last couple of months), been reading these spin-off stories about previous slayers. Mostly meh, but there was one I liked a lot. Still have three to go (unless I want to get the other books in the series ... I dunno).
---
On anime ... I finished watching Midori Days aaaaand, well, given that I think I was being a good sport about, i.e. I watched it despite the premise, which is basically a long masturbation joke. I will also do with the other show
47nite gave me about a guy who up and goes to a girl's school to play out Marimite because his Dad tells him so. ... I still didn't like it. I DID like Rin, because she made me laugh a lot -- except when she encouraged a 10-year-old to try to seduce her brother ... then she was making me throw up. But, other than that, I really liked her and got stupidly happy whenever she appeared. She was loud and brash and occasionally stupid and always kind of an asshole, but not enough of an asshole to let her brother down. I loved, loved, loved the idea that she taught her brother how to fight. Speaking of whom, I also liked Seiji, because Seiji is basically Ichigo from Bleach in a romantic comedy. They are alike in looks, action and philosophy. And Ichigo is my favoritest male anime character ever and my second favorite male superhero. So I liked Seiji by proxy, and probably was more forgiving of when he acted like a jerk than I should have been.Alas, the show was not called Me and My Stupid Fucking Cow of a Sister, which would have been an awesome show.
See, I'd recently been introduced to the idea of Bechel's Law via the blog of Karen Healey. I shall let her explain using quotes from here
A character in Bechdel's Dykes To Watch Out For states that she won't watch a movie unless:
- There is more than one women in it, and;
- they talk to each other, and;
- about something other than a man.
Looking over Midori Days...
1.) More than one woman
Let's see ... Rin, Ayase, Shiori, Big!Midori, Little!Midori (since I think they barely act alike I will henceforth be referring to them as two separate characters), Midori's Mom, Midori's friends ... hey, we're not doing too bad!
2.) Talk to each other
Hey, yeah! Rin talks with Midori. Rin talks with Shiori. Ayase has her friends, Midori has her friends ... although something seems off ...
3.) ... about something other than a man
Aw, damn. And you were doing so WELL.
I blame Little!Midori, for most of this, as her dialogue mostly follows these lines: "Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji, Seiji ... SEIJIIIIII! Does Seiji like me? Does Seiji think of me? I love you, Seiji. Am I useful to you, Seiji? SEIJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"
Now ... I will admit it is the M.O. of teenagers, especially teenagers who've been infected with the stupid!disease, to obsess over a guy. And I would probably be a little more understanding of her obsession if she really should be thinking about more important things in life ... like, oh ... BEING ATTACHED TO A GUY'S MOTHERFUCKING HAND. But no, she's OKAY with that. No physiological trauma. She's with her SEIJI, all is well.
And yes, it's a fantasy. But so was Ranma 1/2, and all of THOSE characters had to deal with issues due to their changed bodies. And Seiji has to deal with having a girl for a hand. Little!Midori? Not really ... she seems to do fine.
The whole story is the male's story. Other than Rin, women really never get to do anything for themselves.
How this story dealt with the whole issue of sexual harassment really made me want to hurl. In two instances men have to "save" women from being victimized. Early on in the series, Seiji saves Ayase (who goes from being strong to a girl who gets caught by the head of the evil gant TWICE -- yeah, I get it was meant to show her strength was mostly bravado but TWICE?). Later on in the series, the Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature saves Midori-with-Seiji-on-her-hand from a guy who takes phone cam pictures of her panties in a dream sequence. Both of the girls are total victims in this situation. They get no revenge for themselves and are basically just damsels to be taken out of distress. Midori doesn't even really seem BOTHERED.
And yet what happens when Ayase and Little!Midori come into somewhat sexual situations with the GUY they like? Ayase later punches Seiji in the face for attempting to kiss her. And Little!Midori slaps Seiji silly whenever he sees her or she sees him naked accidentally.
So what's the message? Women can't fight when it matters, because they must be saved by men in dramatic scenes that prove how much of a hero the man is (except in the case of Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature, because that was a dream sequence and he's still Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature). However, women CAN fight back when it doesn't matter, because it's funny! Even when the Marin-lookalike fights back when she thinks she's about to be hurt ... well, it was really just Seiji and Disgusting Otaku Toad Creature was supposed to save so it's still FUNNY!
[long sigh]
Now, I will admit that this may be sort of turned around when Little!Midori helps save Seiji save Kota from the gang who just brutalized and sexually humiliated him. (Sheesh, aren't Japanese comedies NICE? The ugliness of life is so funny to Japan ... :-P) But ... well, if she wasn't so "THIS IS MY FAULT AS I AM INCONVENIENT TO HIM AND SEIJI ..." It would have been a bit better.
Also, would it have killed the writers to have SOME character similarity between Little!Midori and Big!Midori. Would a girl so painfully shy that she couldn't bring herself to talk to a guy normally suddenly open up and confess her feelings AFTER she's undergone a major physiological change AND the guy she's obsessed over sees her naked AND she's been shown to be a bit of a prude? I really, really do not buy it.
But I do have to admit ... during the last scene, when Big!Midori opened up to Seiji, overcoming all her fears and finally confessing to the guy she liked and found that this big, scary guy who she somehow loved anyway and would have loved to talked to but never felt she could liked her too ... I was really with the show. Because there is a nice wish fulfillment in there.
... Too bad the show wasn't anything like that.
---
Um, wow. I didn't expect that to be so long. I'm also watching Lucky Star, which is like Azumanga Daioh but requires extensive annotations for Americans so we can pretend to laugh along with the joke on a Japanese shampoo ad from the 70s. Yeah, the jokes on this show are obscure (They mentioned the freakin' 3DO console system ... I NEVER thought I would hear that name again.) But it's goofy enough that I like it anyway. Oddly enough, I think my favorite character is Kagami ... which doesn't really make any sense because she's such a stick-in-the-mud, but also trying to be sensible among all of the insanity around her and ... mmm ... okay, I understand myself better now.
I'm also wondering about the implications of having a otaku female character whose interests run very, very male. (She reads mostly shonen and hentai.) At first I was like, "They couldn't have tried to write for the girl audience?" but then I kind of chilled out and thought it was better this way. (Midori Days may have made me trigger-happy.) Konata would probably drive me crazy if I hung out with her -- maybe that's why I like Kagami so much -- but I can forgive a lot for uniqueness in a character.
Still, I wish she didn't introduce me to the concept of moe. That shit kind of skeeves me ... while providing me with inappropriate Stooge images.
Oh, and
cyberweasel, with your "Why no Nintendo?" ... a character was playing the DS Phat in one episode.Anyway, I'm six episodes into this one and still going strong and all. Maybe I'll watch one before bed.
---
I started reading Agnes Grey, because I had a dream about the Brontes and felt like it was fate, but I've been ending up reading from a collection of prize-winning newspaper stories instead. I don't really feel like I want to dedicate myself to a long thing right now, I guess.
---
I was going to write something about Judaism ... but I'm too tired now. Later.
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More Midori thoughts...
I thought so too; Big Midori is definitely a different character than Little Midori. Much like how Nyu (Elfen Lied, now) was a catalyst for reuniting Kouta with Lucy in a mostly harmless series of events, Little Midori's purpose in the story seemed to be helping Seiji overcome his otherwise shallow preconceptions of love-bordering-on-lust. Would this change of heart in Seiji have made a difference in how he reacted to Big Midori's confession at the end? Who knows. But at least we got an adventure out of the whole deal. :P
"Would a girl so painfully shy that she couldn't bring herself to talk to a guy normally suddenly open up and confess her feelings AFTER she's undergone a major physiological change AND the guy she's obsessed over sees her naked AND she's been shown to be a bit of a prude?"
Sounds like you already disproved this argument, though, by simply acknowledging there's two Midori's.
Perhaps Ayase being able to beat up Seiji is a metaphor of how much of a softy he really is... ^_^
But anyway. Rin.
Rin's quite enjoyable as a 'pure' comic relief character too, reminding everyone to just laugh and suspend disbelief now and then. On a minor note, I wonder why you don't have as much nice things to say about Yukari-sensei (Azumanga Daioh). ^^; Despite her general insanity, her dedication to teaching her students was part of her appeal, at least for me.
Ohhh, and since you warmed up so well to Rin and Seiji's interaction, I'm much more confident about mailing you the manga (you'll get the first four volumes soon; I still need get through the next four XD;) At times, the manga practically IS just The Rin & Seiji Show. ^^
I told Lyn (my brother's former girlfriend/current wife) the reason I like Rin so much is because this just PROVES my point that all older siblings, no matter how sweet and considerate they are to others, are eeeeevil to the core when it comes to their younger siblings. ::mostly referring to childhood experiences:: XD;;;
Speaking of resemblences, what about Kouta = Shinji (Evangelion) in a supporting role? Eh? Eh?
Lucky Star
Yes, Kagami's my favorite too (more so as the series progresses). Perhaps it's because she has such a healthy grasp on life- being studious but able to balance it out with the occasional cartoon or manga. Her devotion to Tsukasa is just full of 'awwwww', too. ♥
But Konata. Konata is like a charismatic amalgam of all our less enviable aspects. Aside from having a thoroughly corrupted mind, every episode you see her procrastinating- sometimes reluctantly procrastinating- on her homework (and sadly enough, I'm procrastinating on my homework by sneaking in another episode)
.....some of the show's slice-of-life moments hit a little TOO close to home. ¦3
(ahaha, the Initial D parody in ep. 6 killed me and I never even watched that show in my life)
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
...I'll let you formulate your own opinion(s) on that... ^~
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Hah! That rocks.
Little Midori's purpose in the story seemed to be helping Seiji overcome his otherwise shallow preconceptions of love-bordering-on-lust. Would this change of heart in Seiji have made a difference in how he reacted to Big Midori's confession at the end? Who knows.
I guess you have a point. But it does go back to my whole "this story is only from the guy's point of view" criticism. I just wish mangaka had put a little more thought into a few things.
Sounds like you already disproved this argument, though, by simply acknowledging there's two Midori's.
[Lewis Black voice] I don't want it to be that GOD DAMN CONVENIENT! [/voice]
Perhaps Ayase being able to beat up Seiji is a metaphor of how much of a softy he really is... ^_^
She did also sucker-punch him ... while he was ruining his teeth on that Pocky. [goes all shuddery as she remembers her teeth fear]
On a minor note, I wonder why you don't have as much nice things to say about Yukari-sensei (Azumanga Daioh). ^^; Despite her general insanity, her dedication to teaching her students was part of her appeal, at least for me.
I have to admit I never really got that impression ... especially since poor Nyamo, who seems to give more of a shit, kinda gets on the hard end ... maybe in the end I do side with the Kagamis of the world.
Ohhh, and since you warmed up so well to Rin and Seiji's interaction, I'm much more confident about mailing you the manga (you'll get the first four volumes soon; I still need get through the next four XD;) At times, the manga practically IS just The Rin & Seiji Show. ^^
Sheesh. You're the only person I know who would go, "You didn't like the this? Great, you can see another version." :-P
I told Lyn (my brother's former girlfriend/current wife) the reason I like Rin so much is because this just PROVES my point that all older siblings, no matter how sweet and considerate they are to others, are eeeeevil to the core when it comes to their younger siblings. ::mostly referring to childhood experiences:: XD;;;
And here I was seeing a big sister who just loved her brother even though she couldn't exist the Tooooor-ment. [glowers in her evil big sister way]
Nah, I think I'm a bit more mature. I admit with shame that I used to hit him when we were little ... and tease him for longer than that. But that was a long time ago. Now I just ask him embarrassing sex questions. :-D
Speaking of resemblences, what about Kouta = Shinji (Evangelion) in a supporting role? Eh? Eh?
Well, the "I think I'm kinda gay" part fits ...
(ahaha, the Initial D parody in ep. 6 killed me and I never even watched that show in my life)
Damn, THAT'S where that was from. I forgot.