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branchandrootSo, there's a new anime this season that I find myself ambivalent about.
It's got good production values. It has, so far, an episodic yet lively plot that manages to be interesting even with limited overall plot to tie it together. Most of the episodes are essentially horror, but so far psychological suspense outweighs disturbing gore. I don't like horror, and I'm still watching it anyway.
The thing is it's very... Gainax. There are lots of women! On the face of it they're independent-minded and powerful women! And yet... so many of them wind up helpless or destroyed.
It's not glaring. In fact, it's pretty subtle on the usual scale of these things. But this is the kind of show that feels like a technical Bechdel pass while violating the spirit of that litmus test.
And yet! Lots of women! Engaging characters! Really quite subtle drama and suspense! Very few characters who are hamming it up, and those are lampshaded for it! And, to be fair, the vast majority of the male characters are just as agency-less in the end.
*sighs*
The premise is that there is a phantom library, Dantalian, in some kind of indeterminate space, which contains all the books of forbidden wisdom, the words that cause things to happen just by being spoken, the books that emerge into the world and take possession of it. (It's really very Prattchet's Witches, in some ways.) This library is accessed through the yomihime, three beings who are pretty clearly not actually human but who look like young girls. They enter into partnerships with "Keykeepers" (adult males, so far) who are, with the permission of these gateway beings, permitted to access the library, usually to fix what has been messed up by unqualified people messing around with one of the phantom books from it.
The moment of access is the "transformation sequence" of this series, seen every episode, and it involves the men using their keys to open the locks on the (fortunately aged up) gateways. Dantalian's lock/heart open up in a truly disturbingly vaginal way, while Flamberge's whole body splits open, and the men reach through. The visuals are, quite possibly, even more disturbing than they sound written down.
There's nothing non-consensual about this; the keykeepers are chosen by the girls and only try to access the library on being granted individual permission each time. This is the only thing that keeps me from screaming off in the opposite direction. It's about as tasteful and SSC as something that's loli-bondage can be.
I have hopes that the yomihime will turn out to have their own agendas, and so far the horror is rarely past my "dark" threshold, so I'm still watching. We shall see.
In closing, Our (first) Hero is quiet and thoughtful and competent, and kind of unfairly hot, and Our (first) Heroine snarks a blue streak.
*sighs*
It's got good production values. It has, so far, an episodic yet lively plot that manages to be interesting even with limited overall plot to tie it together. Most of the episodes are essentially horror, but so far psychological suspense outweighs disturbing gore. I don't like horror, and I'm still watching it anyway.
The thing is it's very... Gainax. There are lots of women! On the face of it they're independent-minded and powerful women! And yet... so many of them wind up helpless or destroyed.
It's not glaring. In fact, it's pretty subtle on the usual scale of these things. But this is the kind of show that feels like a technical Bechdel pass while violating the spirit of that litmus test.
And yet! Lots of women! Engaging characters! Really quite subtle drama and suspense! Very few characters who are hamming it up, and those are lampshaded for it! And, to be fair, the vast majority of the male characters are just as agency-less in the end.
*sighs*
The premise is that there is a phantom library, Dantalian, in some kind of indeterminate space, which contains all the books of forbidden wisdom, the words that cause things to happen just by being spoken, the books that emerge into the world and take possession of it. (It's really very Prattchet's Witches, in some ways.) This library is accessed through the yomihime, three beings who are pretty clearly not actually human but who look like young girls. They enter into partnerships with "Keykeepers" (adult males, so far) who are, with the permission of these gateway beings, permitted to access the library, usually to fix what has been messed up by unqualified people messing around with one of the phantom books from it.
The moment of access is the "transformation sequence" of this series, seen every episode, and it involves the men using their keys to open the locks on the (fortunately aged up) gateways. Dantalian's lock/heart open up in a truly disturbingly vaginal way, while Flamberge's whole body splits open, and the men reach through. The visuals are, quite possibly, even more disturbing than they sound written down.
There's nothing non-consensual about this; the keykeepers are chosen by the girls and only try to access the library on being granted individual permission each time. This is the only thing that keeps me from screaming off in the opposite direction. It's about as tasteful and SSC as something that's loli-bondage can be.
I have hopes that the yomihime will turn out to have their own agendas, and so far the horror is rarely past my "dark" threshold, so I'm still watching. We shall see.
In closing, Our (first) Hero is quiet and thoughtful and competent, and kind of unfairly hot, and Our (first) Heroine snarks a blue streak.
*sighs*
no subject
Date: 2011-08-22 04:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-22 04:57 am (UTC)