Disqus - Latest Comments for the_patches

Re: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners – Episodes 1-2

the_patches — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 10:59:13 -0000

Chiaki, that you are a Nazuna fan who appreciates Akudama Drive means you're perfectly positioned to review this show. Can't wait to hear what you think of the rest.

Re: Chatty AF 115: Toradora! Watchalong – Episodes 20-25 [FINAL]

the_patches — Mon, 11 May 2020 13:30:50 -0000

Thanks for the great coverage. I'm glad you found lots to like in this show that remains one of my favorites.

If you ever need a pretty good shot in the feels for this show, re-watch Ryuuji's opening monologue and see how it really acts as a thesis statement for the show.

Re: Chatty AF 114: Toradora! Watchalong – Episodes 14-19

the_patches — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 09:58:41 -0000

This coverage is really excellent. Can't wait to hear what you all think of my favorite moments coming in the back half.

Love all you, keep it up!

Re: [Versus] Decade Apart, Miles Ahead: Lady action heroes in Bubblegum Crisis and Tokyo 2040

the_patches — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 13:25:43 -0000

The link to the author's page at the bottom of the article is broken.

But otherwise, this is a really good summation of what's great about the reboot.

Re: [Feature] By returning to their roots, Dark Magical Girls could provide hope

the_patches — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 07:44:44 -0000

I have been thinking about this since I read the article yesterday, but Pretty Cure has a long history of rehabilitating loners and showing how hope can come from Darkness. HUGtto has a strong example in Lulu/Cure Amoure in the current season, but the movies also outright state that its a running theme in _Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage 2: Kokoro no Tomodachi_ From members of the PreCure that actually straddle HeartCatch (Fresh and Suite), a wayward fairy learns that even someone who harbors negativity can become a beacon of hope.

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Re: [My Fave is Problematic] Kill la Kill

the_patches — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 11:19:27 -0000

Man, Tegami Bachi. THAT is a deep cut. Respect, respect.

Re: [My Fave is Problematic] Kill la Kill

the_patches — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:57:46 -0000

I try to stay out of the comments and just signal boost, but...

1. Thanks! This was a good read that both takes the show to task and addresses what's there to love.

2. What's in the new top 10. :D

Re: [AniFemTalk] Positively depicting sex and sexuality

the_patches — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 10:27:26 -0000

The line between sexiness and service has to do with whether drawing attention to a character's attitude toward sex helps to explain who they are as a character in a meaningful way (this also applies for general sexy costumes, but my KLK feelings probably deserve their own discussion).

The reason why Fujiko (ESPECIALLY in her own series) is held up as an example of good use is that Fujiko knows that her appearance as a sexual object is a tool she can use. Since she does use it, the show also needs to make sure to show that she owns her own sexuality, otherwise when she turned to use it as a weapon it would feel more like the plot was moving her instead of the other way around.

Conversely, you can use sexuality and sex appeal to shade a character. This is probably the last time I'll get to heap praise on Masamune Shirow before he turns out to be even more of a garbage monster than a guy who draws balloon-tit girls for replica gun magazines is on the surface, but GODDAMN, do I love Deunan Knute, Makoto, and Leona Ozaki.

Deunan gets a lot of time to prance around in underwear and cute outfits between work in full combat armor with E-SWAT, and for her, it's partially about Shirow's love of drawing pretty ladies, but in Sgt. Knute's case it also helps humanize her. She's never sexily dressed in combat and her fashion really highlights her whimsy. In addition, I think that showing her sexiness and willingness to perform it at the right time helps add an air of authenticity to her relationship with Briareos which forms the emotional core of the manga.

Similarly, manga Makoto has a complicated relationship with her body, but Shirow still finds excuses to get her all oiled up and sexy--off the battlefield. Sure, her "combat outfit" is "revealing" but since she's full-body prosthetic you COULD argue that this appearance has a lot to do with Makoto's ambivalent relationship with her hardware. The one notoriously sexy scene in GiTS occurs in VR under heavy influence of drugs. When Makoto wants to undwind, she works to actively distance herself from her physical body that people spend so much time bemoaning.*

So: Yeah. I love Symphogear, but I can get behind people who claim that their outfits are cheesecakey without good reason and I consider that valid critique, but when a woman's attractiveness is part of what their character sets out to accomplish, it feels more like a defined character choice than palliative to make woman-centric content easier for a male audience to swallow.

* There is maybe also a read that Makoto chose a "sexyish" looking body partially because it makes her read as an object. AND because "male soldiers tend to react less readily to a woman-looking threat" which was something he argued when choosing the gynoid designs in Black Magic M-66. Makoto wants to appear less capable than she is because it gives her a combat advantage in a line of work where any advantage can save her life.

Re: [Feature] Disability Rights with Monster Girls: Why Machi doesn’t need a “cure”

the_patches — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 10:19:47 -0000

I can follow that. My knee-jerk reaction is "that isn't medicine!" but that's not entirely correct. I can see how developing engineering solutions to ease symptoms or difficulties is something that shouldn't be ignored.

Not sure I'd consider the floor thing "medicine" but I'm probably splitting hairs. I guess my question was pointed at the underlying idea that basic research into human abnormality (no connotation intended) in the field of medicine generally looks towards resolving any negative conditions. On the surface, cures make sense because they don't carry an additional burden for the cured (a person who can walk probably doesn't need a wheelchair, for example). I'm just trying to parse this all in my head.

Re: [Feature] Disability Rights with Monster Girls: Why Machi doesn’t need a “cure”

the_patches — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 10:09:41 -0000

I mentioned on twitter, but this perspective is lovely. It's great to see a more nuanced take on how society should meet disability in the middle instead of trying to erase or remove it. This is something I'd never considered and could never have come up with. I'm glad to have read it.

I DO have a question, however. If you've got some time, I'd love for you to elaborate on your final point (outside of the scope of the anime) about how "cure" should not be the goal of science in the pursuit of understanding biology. Is it more about the application? Does "I am insistent on developing treatments that patients can use if they desire." mean more that our medical system needs to seek better to empower its patients to decide their own course of treatment or that research itself should not consider disorder and disability as a problem to be solved?

(I basically grew up at NIH, so I am curious about critiques of medical science as an institution)

Re: [Review] Seven Mortal Sins – episode 1

the_patches — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 10:58:09 -0000

Shizuka Itou has a long pedigree of chewing scenery in ecchi shows, so it's not really surprising that she does so well here.

Re: On Moé, Misogyny and Masculinity

the_patches — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:59:37 -0000

So, let's preface this reply with the outright statement that unlike Taisho Baseball Girls or Chihayafuru, I don't believe that New Game set out to truck in feminist themes, but instead stumbled upon something interesting.

What struck me the most interesting about reactions to the show (in the early episodes) is how many people really connected with the depiction of Aoba getting into the swing of her first job. I think this, combined with what is clearly a choice to staff Eagle Jump with only women (especially women in management roles) resulted in something a little more than maybe its writer expected.

It's true that the show has more than a few moments of pandering and the awkward infantalization of Nenecchi and Aoba makes it clear that it is, in part, targeted at the core "moe demographic" (to say nothing of Kou's pantsu), but here, moreso than Lucky Star or Yuyushiki New Game! hides little nuggets of reality in the moe soup. And I think that's worth pointing out.

In addition I think the show cared more about Kou and what she wanted out of her life than it let on at first. By the end of the show, you had a sense of what her hopes, dreams, and fears were just as much as Aoba and frankly a show about harmless moe pandering didn't need to accomplish that.

Moe and the techniques that tease it out CAN be a tool in a toolbox that serves a wider purpose. While Higurashi and Madoka are the most obvious examples of using that delivery mechanism to deliver a complex payload, I think shows like New Game and Love Live show that there is maybe more room for development on other fronts.

Re: On Moé, Misogyny and Masculinity

the_patches — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 13:42:09 -0000

Pictures 1 and 3 are Love Live Sunshine! Picture 2 is Sweetness and Lightning, picture 4 is New Game.

Re: On Moé, Misogyny and Masculinity

the_patches — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 13:19:32 -0000

Oh, good. The Keion avatar. :DDDD

I think it's worth mentioning that moe also allows for clever subversion. In addition to the interesting idea posed by New Game (the last picture) which takes place in a successful all-woman game development studio and seems to sprinkle useful workplace lessons among all the pandering (the OTHER core theme of the show seems to center how how hard you should work for your dream / to be proud of what you create).

BUT ALSO: Taisho Yakyuu Musume that I stump for at every possible opportunity. It's got pretty moe character designs and does a bit of database (each girl falls into an archetype) casting, but man is that show ever explicitly feminist (the plot is about a bunch of girls who learn baseball in part to prove to a bunch of jerks that sports can be for women, too, and by inference the whole modern era can be for women).

BUT ALSO: Let's talk about Onoda from Yowamushi Pedal and Waver Velvet from Fate/Zero. It's possible for men / boys (more likely boys) to be moe as well and the willingness of anime to start to offer them consistently (see also: Free!, Cute High Earth Defense Club) season-to-season demonstrates that kind of appeal can reach across gender lines.

It don't mean it ain't problematic, but there is some creative room for shows to use it alongside solid story telling and actual characterization.

Re: Photo of the Day

the_patches — Thu, 26 May 2016 17:40:52 -0000

Hey! I was thinking of your coverage this morning when NPR was busy asking a guy why Hillary didn't appeal as much to middle class white dudes as Bernie. The guest (a state senator from Pennsylvania) claimed that Hillary didn't seem to be as good at politicking as Obama or her husband. That she didn't seem as comfortable working an entire crowd.

Through the coverage you've shown here and at BNR, I'm inclined to believe that Hillary finds politics EXTREMELY personal. For all that Bill Clinton can charm a whole room at once, I get the sense that one-on-one Mrs. Clinton is actually better than her Husband? I have always wanted a President who I felt listened. Whether to advisers or voters or whomever. One who tries hard to UNDERSTAND before making decisions. For me, she's proving that it could be her.

Re: What Are You Even Doing, Sanders? Today's Edition.

the_patches — Tue, 24 May 2016 11:10:06 -0000

Is the quote at the top supposed to be repeated twice?

Re: Open Thread

the_patches — Tue, 24 May 2016 09:41:58 -0000

Blue Icee is a MAJOR vice of mine. So this image made me smile / crave a blue icee.

Re: LawBreakers first look

the_patches — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:36:15 -0000

I am actually pretty interested in this, having read the article. Say what you want about the writing, but Bulletstorm was SUPER fun to play. CliffyB knows good, visceral gameplay when he sees it, but it's possible it will get lost in the storm of Overwatch's continuous marketing engine.

Re: Shakesville: Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

the_patches — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 10:12:14 -0000

I would like to raise you the theme to the NEW G-Force anime. It's got a little bit of gazeyness and a borderline unfortunate portrayal of a gay man, but Hajime Ichinose is one of last year's best women in anime:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

the_patches — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 22:02:06 -0000

Yes, and that's also part of the point of the whole narrative. That said, I think it's pretty tone-deaf? Although maybe it is also spot-on. I had planned for a discussion of it in my next post, and this comment has me re-thinking some of the angles. DAMN YOU FOR YOUR INTELLIGENCE.

Re: This May Be the Most Incredible Interview You Will Ever See, on Fox News or Anywhere. Ever.

the_patches — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:42:34 -0000

Thank you Melissa or whoever provided the transcription. I could not have watched that even if I'd tried. I don't even have words. Wow.

Re: Priming the Pump

the_patches — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:16:25 -0000

I had not read that. Two quick things in response:

1. I had not meant that Guilty Crown pushed that message intentionally. That's sort of the thing. Even if GC was aware of what it was doing, the consequences and his relationship to the victims was not examined. The show just barreled forward. It creates the problem mentioned above.

2. Which basically can be reiterated as my second point. The pastiche E-Minor pointed out does little to really cause the audience to think. The result is that GC isn't satire, it's exemplar. It doesn't challenge our notions of what we want from anime besides giving us a lot of action and having the other elements be bad. Given the gentle treatment of its cast (especially Shoe) at the end, I'm unconvinced the show wasn't operating to some extent in earnest. But unlike say, Madoka, Utena, or Penguindrum, this show did not force us to rethink its narrative besides as a justification as to why everything was present.

ALSO, the existence of K Project undermines E-Minor's point a little, since K is also pastche-y but is delightful.

Re: There are similar narratives about men who only...

the_patches — Fri, 31 May 2013 15:34:53 -0000

The issue is not with whether it exhibits growth, more that men are not really allowed to cry over women. Melissa is indicating that only other man things move men to emotion, which reinforces the idea that manpathy is different from empathy. At least, that's how I read it.

Re: What About the Waifuz? - This Show is Not For You

the_patches — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:05:19 -0000

The article is an interesting read because it also speaks to "male privilege" as seen through a transwoman's eyes. I think I differentiated the words because her writing couches the "women like assholes" chestnut closer to gospel than perception. She wrote about it like it was real instead of taking a step back to consider that it was more likely a misperception caused by complex patriarchal factors.

What's important--and this is what I believe she is saying--is that between now and when we've obliterated oppression (so, for awhile. ^^;) this perception FEELS like truth to many lonely boys. This post basically unpacks some of how I feel about that.

Re: What About the Waifuz? - This Show is Not For You

the_patches — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:09:31 -0000

That's probably true. I think in my rush to get this idea out, I didn't finish marrying it to the "real world" terribly well. I think Saionji's situation is important TO HIM, but Anthy's quest is overall more important.

I guess what I'm saying is that while it's maybe possible for Saionji to reform, it's ultimately his quest. Lovely lesbians focused on tearing down the system should keep at it.