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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.