ryansanim-e-tionblog

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Abhiram,

I agree with what you said that the representation of Germany as a hard-headed but soft at heart character was a bit strange, knowing the actual impact that they had on the war. I also agree that the stereotypes of the different characters influenced how people see the country in ways that are made in a joking manner, but there are real world impacts of these stereotypes like how you mentioned that you are not a generalization of the people that you come from. If you looked online about the show, I think you would find a lot of people debating about this. The fan base, as Annette wrote, is very productive and they talked a lot about how Italy was represented in the show.

Hetalia and Stereotypes

This was my first time watching Hetalia and I have to say I did not like it. I found the stereotypes to be amusing, but the overall experience was just not fulfilling. It may be that I have just watched Your Name, but the story of Hetalia did not hit. I was also surprised to find out how popular this was since I have never watched it or heard of it, but it has over 9 seasons. I think it is offensive, but like the reading suggests it inspires conversation which is also important. For this discussion, I want to talk about the stereotypes in Hetalia.

I want to preface this by saying that stereotypes are not inherently bad. They can be very comedic when used to that effect. They are generalizations about a population which is definitely bad if it is taken as fact. However, most will not take a stereotype as fact so it is not a bad thing. I did not get offended by anything Hetalia showed. A big part of my not being offended may be that my country was not represented heavily. I can see how people from Italy and England could be offended by the depictions Hetalia showed.

Italy is depicted as a very clumsy and helpless country. This is true in some regard since they were not big winners in any major wars. Where I can see Helalia stepping too far is when they make Italy a country or a depiction obsessed with pasta which may be offensive to the Italians, any generalization about a country's interests will be offensive to some people. One of the only things I found truly funny from the show came from the chibi form of the show where the Holy Roman and Italian relationship was shown which was hilarious.

I also think that the depiction of Germany especially in this time as being something noble and likable is a bit weird. To most people, this time period in Germany is definitely villainous. They did some undeniably heinous acts and to paint them as some kind of good character is very odd. Obviously, the show does not go out of its way to have any villains. It is just trying to showcase a funny telling of events. It is still a bit weird.

In my life, I have seen a lot of stereotypes about Indians told to me. I do not let these stereotypes make me feel bad. I know who I am, and while I do fit some of them I am still my own person. I am not a generalization of my people.

Overall, Hetalia is a short show that can comically tell you about the history of the Axis powers. If you have some time you should check it out.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hetalia Blog

This is my first viewing of the show Hetalia. I found it to be very strange and the comedy was a bit corny. I will discuss the show in the lens of its comedy and allegory to historical events.

Hetalia uses humor and satire to make commentaries on the powers that were present during historical events, the most prominent of which being World War I. Italy, which during the days of ancient Rome was one of the strongest empires in the world, but now was depicted as some pasta-loving goofball, showing how weak of a country Italy was during World War I. I found it weird that the show made humor and made Germany a more likeable character despite the atrocities committed during the war. Germany is portrayed as hard on the outside with a soft heart in his interactions with Italy and other countries. This definitely was not the full story in how Germany is represented in the textbooks. While some of these representations appeared to be stereotypes that were meant to be taken lightly, like how China appeared to talk differently than the rest of the characters, other representations, like when Germany says that Japan had modernized really fast and that was positively conveyed, were shown in a more serious tone. Also, why was Japan the most dripped out country of them all. Seems a little bit biased.

When searching up how others feel about Italy and the representation about Italy, I related to the article by Annette in how she said that the fan base is productive. There were many, many threads dissecting how the fan's cultures interact with the work and different ways of understanding Hetalia in enunciative productivity. The fans are self-aware and can argue and discuss what elements of the show that they find to be inaccurate and what is more relevant to the contexts of the war.

Overall, I felt like the show related a lot about representation and how a country was represented by a single person. This had a lot to do with stereotypes and I found it interesting to see what different stereotypes there are for different countries. It made me more aware of their uses and how to avoid making stereotypical takes in the future.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Robian,

I agree with what you said that there appears to be this red thread of fate because both the two who swapped positions were able to meet up in person and were able to save the township. I also think that this show relates to Foucault's force relations because of how Mitsuha was laughed at for having a gender performance that did not align with Taki's body when she was talking to his friends. This is something that created a push and pull relationship at the local level which affected how a person would act. Furthermore, I found it interesting that the show held emphasis on maintaining culture with its ending relying on the rice wine to push the story forward.

Your Name

One of my all time favorite anime films for sure. Every time someone who doesn't watch anime asks me for a recc I always say "Your Name" which has also led me to watch this film like 4 different times. I was going to watch it again for this class, but honestly I can remember most of the movie by now from memory except, ironically, their names apparently because I'm sooo bad at remembering names😭. Also this movie definetly has the best plot twist of all time, gives me chills. Alright time to stop yapping about my love for this film and get to analyzing!

Some interesting information is that Makoto Shinkai was largely inspired by the events of the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Many people suffered and lost there lives. Makoto felt completely powerless and felt as if there was no way he could help these people. This led to him starting to portray disasters in his films such as Your Name, Weathering Away With You, and Suzume. Disasters seem to happen more frequently than ever and he wanted to do his best to "explore and face disasters that are only possible through anime and entertainment".

Okay the next theme people often think about when watching this movie is the red thread of fate which is a reference to old Asian Myth. Basically two people are fated to be together no matter what. Even though the main characters are seperated by time and space they are still pulled towards one another. But I'm going to hard disagree even if theres some obvious references to the thread of fate (I mean Mitsuha literally wears the red string of fate😭).

I think the movie is about destiny rather than fate. Now you may be asking "arent destiny and fate synonymous?" In contemporary english they might as well be but if you're as picky as me technically they aren't. Fate implies a predetermined outcome while destiny implies personal contribution to the outcome. The word "fate" originates from the latin word "fatum" which means "has been spoken". It implies an outside force predeterming an event. Destiny comes from the latin word "destinare" which means to "establishing or make firm". You pave the way to your own destiny. I say "Your Name" is a movie about destiny rather than fate because even though they are seperated by space and time, they both put in effort into reaching the movie's outcome. Quite literally they changed Mitsuha's destiny. Honestly, I'm definetly putting way too much thought into this movie and y'all probably think I'm just yapping, but I love this movie so please just give me a pass🙏.

Oh yeah, the movie also has a somewhat romantic theme (tying in with the red string of fate), but honestly I think this movie is so much more than just romance, so I'll spare you and myself from any more writing.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Your Name Blog

This is my first viewing of Your Name and the soundtrack is straight heat. I am going to discuss the show in terms of Kizuna and Foucault's Force Relations.

Your name follows the story of two teens who on alternating days swap bodies with one another. Taki Tachibana and Mitsuha Miyamizu both create chaos in each others lives at first and learn to organize their daily interactions in a diary. I only noticed it one time in the entire show that it related to Foucault's force relations. Mitsuha was inside of Taki and she was talking with his friends. She used the wrong phrasing of a word and was laughed at. This relates to force relations because power is not being exerted from some force above like the government and gender roles are being reinforced on the local level. Society is pushing and pulling Mitsuha to act in a way according to gender roles that are accepted, but those that are foreign to her.

Taki and Mitsuha are both separated by 3 years of time. While I am not sure how they can swap since they are not even in the same timeline, I will go with it because this is fiction. In the story, Taki comes to learn about a comet which hits Mitsuha's town and ends up killing her as well as the 500 or so people who lived there, making it a ghost town in the future timeline that Taki live in. This relates to the Kizuna incident because in 2011 there was a tsunami which caused the Fukushima plant to melt down, killing 20,000 and washing over rural regions. There was conflict between whether or not these towns should get rebuilt because they were already decreasing in populace and people would be more productive in cities. However, the ending opinion was that connections between people in rural areas should not get abandoned. After some terrorism committed on the part of Mitsuha's friends, they are able to make the townsfolk evacuate. While the town was destroyed, its people were safe, upholding the opinion found in the Kizuna discourse, that the people and their cultures should be protected.

Overall, this show related to me because it explained how every relation made with someone has a push and pull effect on me and how I also have a push and pull effect on others. It made me more aware of my actions and to consider making a more positive push and pull effect on others.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Abhiram,

I disagree with you on how you said that only through playing the game can the commentary be understood. Through what we see from Klaus, I believe that he represents an extreme of the Anthropocene. Humans have pillaged the Earth to an extent that nature can no longer autonomously repair itself and it is up to humans to fix it themselves. The commentary is, unlike in Nausicaa, that human intervention and growth alongside the environment can ultimately protect both systems. In Nausicaa, however, it claims that humans must let nature fix itself without human intervention to interfere with the process.

Xenoblade and Objectification

This was my first time engaging with the Xenoblade series other than in smash bros, but it was very long. Only watching the cutscenes did not do justice to the story, since we were not able to actually able to engage with the game's combat system or world made it so that we missed out on a lot of the experience. However, for this blog, I intend to talk about the objectification that is present in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

In Xenoblade, there was a great disaster that left the world in the state we see it in the present. The characters we see are living in very distant civilizations. We also know that there is a place that is supposedly untouched by the damages of the rest of the world called Elysium where nature thrives. The characters in the story aim to make it to this mythical place, to find the paradise.

However, when the characters make it to Elysium they find that there is no paradise. No where that is pure and nature. We see Elysium is in ruin, the tree is dead and their are man made structures everywhere. The characters even question if they are in the right place when they make it to Elysium. There they meet the one who destoryed the world: Klaus. He made sure that nature could never repair itself.

We see that the only reason life can even seem to exist is through a solution Klaus devised where he artificially created life again to populate the world. This is done primarily through his genius, the genius of humans, as well as through humans since humans are needed in the process to bond with. In this way we see that the text is contrary to the idea of the objectification of nature. Nature in this case will be a part of humanity since it is humanity who ultimately will bring back nature. This game proposes a solution for ecological issues in which humans are the main providers.

I can relate to this concept of objectification of nature since I often do think of nature as something I can use to help me but not something I am truely a part of. I think the way society has become leans less into nature at least less so obviously. A lot of those processes that used to require direct nature are now made a lot simpler and do not require direct involvement.

Overall, Xenoblade Chronicles is a game you need to play to understand its environmental commentary. I would only recommend you to watch the cutscenes if you really do not want to buy the game.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Blog

I hate Pyra and Mithra. In Smash Bros Ultimate. This is the first time I have interacted directly with the series itself. It is a long and convoluted story and I will discuss it with the lens of the Anthropocene and Objectification.

The story follows Rex who is in search of the mythical world, Elysium. At the Elysium, a place which is where nature is supposed to thrive, they find that it is a desolate and human-altered region. The trees and rolling hills that Rex had imagined are no longer there and have all died out. Klaus explains that he destroyed the entire world and that he attempted to restore the ecosystems using the cloud sea and the Blades. The world is covered in nanomachines that collected genetic material of those that were lost and became the core of Titans to give way to another generation. This solution is something that deeply contrasts Nausicaa.

The restoration of nature and humans themselves must go together. Human intervention opposed to human bystanders in Nausicaa allows nature to flourish. As well as this, the series explains how there is a mutualistic nature between humans and nature where they need each other. In terms of objectification, the show critiques this concept. Objectification is the idea that nature is an object that exists separate from humans, while the show emphasizes the connection between people and the wellbeing of their environments.

In relation to the Anthropocene, the show makes the connection because the Anthropocene describes a time when humans have had a great impact on the Earth's climate, ecosystems, and landscape. Klaus destroyed all these things and had to make an attempt to regain them all. Klaus depicts an extreme to the concept of the Anthropocene where it leads to the demise of all life.

This series relates to me because the concepts of Objectivity and the Anthropocene in the show leads to a call to action that something can be done to save our environments, albeit the show does this too late when there is nothing original left to save.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Robian,

I like that you included that quote from Albert Einstein because this is essentially what we saw in the film. The people from Nausicaa's village were somewhat distanced from the technical advancements that the Pejite people had. I also believe that Nausicaa as a character represented something that a Second Wave Feminist might support in that she was empowered and was nurturing at the same time. However, the fact that she fell under a typical gender script or role is something I think that a Third Wave Feminist would disagree with. Nausicaa was a character that appeared to represent some sort of religious connection with nature because of how she was martyred in front of all the Ohms.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

I actually think this is my new favorite studio ghibli film. Something about it was extremely beautiful and touching. Was I just under a rock, I don't know how I haven't heard of this film before. Also before this analysis begins, I just wanna put out there a theory that the design of Malenia from Elden Ring may be partially inspired by Kushana. Could be a coincidence but that's why it's just a theory.

Two major themes of the film are Anti-war and connection with nature. I'll start with Anti-war. The films depicts a world one thousand years after a nuclear war. The soil and water is filled with radiation/poison and is fetal to humans. The forest keeps spreading is seen as a threat to mankind, but in reality it's devitalizing the world with new soil through the ashes of the trees. This film was created not too long after the cold-war in which many worried about the possibility of a complete nuclear war. If that war was to happen it would have damaged the earth, leaving lasting effects for thousands of years. If a nuclear war on the scale of a World War happened, it could very well be the end of humanity or at least set us back many years as depicted in the film.

Theres this famous quote from Albert Einstein that I can't help but think of: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones". Nausicaa realizes that the hate and war needs to stop. Even she was blinded by rage from the murder of her father and retaliated by killing people. Yet, she learned to put aside her feelings for the good of the people and from that time on, she never killed another soul.

Nausicca has a special connection with nature. From a young age she's depicted protecting a baby Ohmu. She gets along with every animal she meets and most importantly she doesn't see the forest as something to be feared. In the end, nature quite literally brings her back to life symbolizing a new beginning where the world is connected with nature once again. The nature of the forest was the world healing itself after the nuclear war and the Ohmu shared the feelings of the Earth. The film criticizes current society's distance from nature. Current society does not respect nature but rather uses it for it's own benefit. The pathway to peace is a world where we embrace the Earth rather than fight unnecessary wars that end up harming it.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind Blog

This was my first time watching Nausicaä and I enjoyed it for the most part. I am going to critique it with the lens of instrumentalism.

The story is set in a post-nuclear world, following Nausicaä, a princess who lives in a village that attempts to distance itself from reliance on technology. Nausicaä is shown to be a strong leader and does not follow traditional gender roles. In the movie, she is a character that symbolizes resistance to environmental instrumentalism, where people believe that nature is just another tool for humans to use and that they can manipulate nature in any means necessary as long as it is beneficial for themselves. This belief is represented in the Pejite people who try to use the Ohms for their attacks and they have large mechanical ships to increase their military strength. Nausicaä represents this viewpoint that nature should be protected because of her nurturing nature towards the environment: an example would be how she tried to save an Ohm when she was really young or when she let Tito bite her to show that there is nothing to be afraid of. This does not follow the third wave of feminism as it broke down these roles such as nurturing for women and aggressive for men. A third waver would likely disagree with this part of the message.

Nausicaä finds that the forest plants are not toxic and the toxicity comes from the soil itself, which has been poisoned by the nuclear war that ravaged before. Nausicaä appeared to be the martyr of environmental protection with how she died and came back, completing the prophecy that Obaba foretold. I do think that the message that action should be taken to save the environment would be better served had Nausicaä died, instead of being revived by the Ohms, but I digress.

Overall, the story creates the message that we should not see nature as a tool, but coexist with it in a healthy way. I believe this relates to us because we need to find a balance between the use of nature as an instrument for human development and allowing nature the right to live as well.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Robian, I agree that this movie was unhinged. I did not know that Kawaru was thought to represent Jesus that needed to be removed. However I could see how this would relate because Evangelion itself relates to the gospel in Christianity. This movie had a starkly different critique than what we saw in the anime. The message in the end was that it would be difficult to find a world where hegemonic masculinity and gender roles would not be present. However the opposite it true in that queer masculinity is also present. The last two people on Earth in the movie are complete opposites. I also believe that the hospital scene was Shinji's final attempt at trying to align with hegemonic masculinity, however, it did not feel right to him (I wonder why...).

End of Evangelion

Sorry for cursing, but what the actual fuck did I just watch. To understand this film, I basically had to read an entire essay about background information that can only be found in outside sources such as video games. I even watched a 5 minute YouTube video purely just to understand the infamous hospital scene. 

If you're confused like I was please read this:

and read:

https://imgur.com/2oRZv

Shinji at this point in the story is just absolutely fucked up in the head mentally. Both of his friends leave. Asuka is comatose. Rei is swimming in a juice bathtub. He even killed the guy that finally accepted him and even liked him. By the way apparently some people think Kawaru is a representation of Jesus who needed to be killed. Anyways, Shinji was just mentally not there. Shinji's in this shit mental state and knowing Shinji, he doesn't know how to properly express his emotions. So naturally what does he decide to do? Bust a load to Asuka's comatose body. Btw although the anime doesn't show any attraction for Asuka prior to this (except the kiss maybe and the childhood friend fantasy) apparently there's some side content that makes their relationship make a bit more sense.

I would explain the events of the story in more detail, but reddit can explain it better. Basically at the end Shinji decides he would rather live in the new destroyed world than a fantasy and the only person that we can see who also decided to stay is Asuka. Basically,Shinji chokes Asuka so he knows he's not living in some weird fantasy. Asuka caresses his cheek and calls him disgusting, letting him know that it isn't a fantasy. Basically Shinji has the craziest character development in all of anime history. Although it's hard to say if he's even alright at the end.

On one hand I think Evangelion is a masterpiece and on the other hand I think it's garbage. It's an anomaly within anime. As a story writer, if most people can't understand your story, then it's badly written. However, Evangelion reminded me of poetry. It was confusing but clearly had deeper meanings. I doubt anyone could ever COMPLETELY understand Evangelion by only watching the series&movie. It practically requires discussion between people to even grasp it. If the writers wanted to leave a lasting impression, they certainly achieved their goal.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Neon Genesis Evangelion Ending Blog

There was so much to process and I was hoping that by the end that something would tie it all together. But alas there was no such thing. I think I might need to get my college degree before I can actually process everything that went into this ending. However, I can still discuss some elements that related to Hegemonic and Queer Masculinity.

The beginning to the show is absolutely bonkers. We just open up to Shinji committing an act of hegemonic masculinity. But I didn't want it to be like this. Him ripping apart Asuka's clothes and then doing the dirty right above her body while she is in a coma. While this is an act that is completely depraved and I think that Shinji definitely needs mental help, this is his first (somewhat) successful attempt at hegemonic masculinity. He objectified a woman and used her for the means of sexual pleasure. This is a terrible sentence to say in any other context. But he just cannot agree with or continue this path. His desperate attempt to finally align with society and hegemonic masculinity had failed.

For the rest of the movie, Shinji just does not know what to do with his life. He only moved anywhere because the plot of the story took him there. His hopes that he could be something like Kawaru had died when Shinji ultimately had to kill him and now he simply has exhausted all of his options. He goes into some dream state where he chokes out Asuka, the representative of hegemonic masculinity in hopes to get it out of his life. Then the story just derails completely and Rei basically hits the reset button on humanity, where (for some reason) Shinji has to choose whether society should all become one organism so that no one person must learn fear, or it all reverts back so that everyone has their own sense of self. Shinji chooses the latter and all that is left is him and Asuka. He tries once again to kill her, but he just can't. This creates the message that there is no way to remove hegemonic masculinity from society.

I don't think that this part really relates to me at all. It was crazy and I cannot begin to understand some of the motives of these characters. The ending in the movie is starkly different from the ending in the TV show, but it has a much more pressing critique. That there may not be any place outside of gender performance that is expected in society, or that finding a place would be very difficult.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Robian,

I agree with you that all of the characters had their own problems and Shinji was internalizing all of his pain that he could not meet the demands of a society that required him to act in a hegemonic masculine manner back onto himself. I think that Shinji didn't like to pilot the Eva because it did not reflect his own character and violent masculinity was something that he did not agree with. I believe that the ending message is that each character even if they did have their problems can find a spot where they are comfortable within their own skin. Somewhere they feel they have value and can accept the praise of others.

Evangelion Part 2

Alright Part 2 is where I can actually get to writing. I wrote my part 1 blog almost entirely on Shinji so I'll start off by explaining what I meant by his “character development” that I mentioned in my last post.

Those last 2 episodes were probably super confusing. They probably felt like they came out of nowhere. Some people say it's an amazing ending, while others say it's horrible. Honestly, I don't know how I feel about it. I even needed the help of redditors to get a semi-understanding of what it meant without having the movies spoiled for me. Basically these two episodes are all about Shinji's self hatred and at the very end he comes to finally accept himself. Really, it seems to be that simple. Of course, I haven't watched the movies yet, so if there's more to it, that's probably why.

 Honestly, I knew that Shinji hated piloting the Eva, but I feel that we don't get a true understanding of his self-hatred until these last two episodes. You can say this is dumb, because it may seem like the writers just suddenly had Shinji hate himself, but personally I feel that the story had some obvious hints along the way. When people yelled or even hurt Shinji, he never defended himself. He always avoided problems. Someone who hates themselves, doesn't have the power to protect themselves. 

Alright, I should probably talk about some other characters. Rei still confuses me and I'm betting there's more info In the movies because it seems she has some connection to Shinji's mother. Rei's character development is basically her smiling and shedding a tear. She's attempting to find her humanity and sense of self even though she knows she is different from everyone else. 

Asuka says she's piloting the Eva for herself, but in reality she pilots the Eva as a coping mechanism for her mother. Her mother never cared for her, and the chance to become an Eva pilot meant that people would always care for her, unlike her mother. She believes that if she isn't the best, people will stop giving her attention. She believes that she'll lose any value she has. As of the ending of the series, Asuka is still in a depressive state, but I'm assuming she'll get back on her feet in the movies. 

Finally, I'll talk about Misato Katsuragi. At first, she just seems to be this strong, independent, happy, snobbish, beautiful lady. However, we later find out that she's dealing with some serious trauma of her own. Her dad, who she originally hated, sacrificed his life to save her. It left her confused as to whether she hated her dad or not. She unintentionally sought out things that reminded her of him such as her job and her boyfriend to fill the void left in her heart. At the end of the series, it seems to point out that she is scared of being alone. Her dad leaves her. Her boyfriend leaves her. She just wants anyone's attention and even seemingly makes a move on Shinji.  

Hopefully y'all didn't seriously read all 500+ word yapping session, but part 2 was definitely where the phique of the characters was delved into more. As for my opinions on Evangelion (before watching movies), I liked it, but I don't really understand the hype. 

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Part 2) Blog

This part was a bit confusing to string together because we skip around so much. However, I think I understand the jist. Just like my last post, I will continue to look through the lens of Queer and Hegemonic Masculinity.

In this part, we meet Asuka who appears to represent hegemonic masculinity herself. She is much more aggressive and is a better pilot than Shinji. Asuka, like Misato, repeatedly brings up the fact that Shinji is a boy and must act accordingly, appearing as a guide to show that Shinji has missed the mark in his gender performance. We see Shinji attempt to combat this when fighting one of the Angels. He goes in saying that "Fighting is a man's job" but he immediately fails and gets trapped, having to be saved by the rest of the crew. This is Shinji trying to mimic hegemonic masculinity, but he just cannot reproduce it himself.

We later meet the fifth child Kawaru. He is the opposite of Asuka. Kawaru is the representation of queer masculinity and shares his emotions with Shinji. Shinji looks up to him because unlike himself, Kawaru is proud and not resentful of his personality. Kawaru later goes on to betray Shinji because Kawaru is an Angel so he never had to follow the rules of human society. In this way it closes the door on Shinji that he can be comfortable with himself in a society which expects hegemonic masculinity of himself because Kawaru is not human. After a really, really long deliberation, Shinji makes the decision to kill Kawaru.

Shinji wants to be worth something but he internalizes his hatred against himself because he cannot meet other people's expectations of himself. In the last episode we see that he has this great epiphany that it is okay for him to have queer masculinity in a dream representation of another world. He sees how he can live a life where he is proud and confident. The ending also relates to gender performance because Shinji would not know the form of his personality if there were not other people to base it off of.

This show relates to me because it makes the message that you do not need to act in the ways that are socially expected in a sort of cookie cutter manner and proves that you can be proud of yourself even if you don't meet the expectations of others.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Abhiram,

I agree with you that Evangelion criticizes queer masculinity by comparing Shinji's passive personality with the demands of those around him who require him to perform acts of valorized violence and act in a manner that aligns with hegemonic masculinity. I would even argue that Misato, his new roommate, is somewhat of an example to Shinji on how to perform his role of hegemonic masculinity and to solidify his gender performance as a male. She is a lot more aggressive and decisive. Furthermore, she constantly reminds and pressures Shinji to act according to his role, saying "Aren't you a boy?" However, he finds it difficult to meet his social requirement of hegemonic masculinity.

Evangelion and Masculinity

This was my first time watching Evangelion. I was aware of it well before I watched the episodes I did, but I never got around to watching it. I do think the episodes I watched did not give me the full idea of the story, and it left me a bit confused about the world so I would recommend watching everything if you do. For this blog, I want to talk about Evangelion about masculinity.

Mecha anime in general typically focuses on performing actions of violence through using mech suits. It is this violence that is tied to hegemonic masculinity in a normative sense. Men in a traditional sense are expected in society to engage in violence when they are needed which is something that mecha anime shows often through their conflicts with deadly threats. This applies to Evangelion as we see that from episode one Shinji is called up to bat to fight off a giant monster, but he is deadly afraid and rejects his role. This goes against the willingness to engage in violence that hegemonic masculinity in men expects and leans more toward queer masculinity for Shinji. We also see that in the society of Evangelion that this queer masculinity is highly criticized. Shinji is pushed into the role and he is called a coward for denying it, his fear of stepping up to the plate makes him the subject of a lot of disrespect from the scientists, his father, and his friends. This shows that when someone engages in a lesser form of masculinity such as queer masculinity, straying from the expectations of Hegemonic masculinity then they cannot be readily accepted in society as a true contributor.

This is an interesting stray away from typical mecha main character traits. We see that in Mobile Suit Gundam Amuro is ready to jump into action, taking his father's creation and going into battle at the first sign of danger. This is in stark contrast to Shinji who avoids this responsibility and seems to let everyone who was relying on him down. This passivity is what gives Shinji a less masculine appearance and makes him so different from all other characters in the mecha genre.

I can relate to Shinji's fear of taking on that responsibility. If I was in the situation he was in, where I had to enter a mecha robot to fight a threat I would likely not readily step forward. I do not think I would consider my male status to be on the line in my decision, but I do think I would have accepted since the situation was very dire. In that way, I do think I am a mix of the hegemonic masculinity and the sissy masculinity.

Overall, Evangelion is a very interesting mecha anime that focuses on Shinji a timid and cowardly boy who has to try and step up to perform the masculine hero role. The series seems very interesting and worth the watch if you have the time.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Part 1) Blog

This is the first time that I have watched Neon Genesis Evangelion and I was excited to see what it had in store for me because this is a show that I had on my list for a while but never got to it. I am going to discuss the show with the lens of Queer and Hegemonic Masculinity.

The story opens with Shinji, a fifteen year old boy who is being recruited by his distant father to pilot a giant mecha in his organization called NERV. Throughout this plot, we see how Shinji aligns with queer masculinity. Heasley explains how men who are straight can also deviate from hegemonic masculinity and can present themselves as queer, although that may not be the intention. Examples of hegemonic masculinity are competition, valorized violence, aggressiveness, and objectification of women. None of these categories really seem to fit Shinji. Throughout the show, Misato asks him, "Aren't you a boy" when he has to deal with traumatic experiences such as piloting the mecha and that he must endure hardships without shying away from them. Shinji is also very passive and cannot perform valorized violence as when his friend asked him give him a punch, he said that it was wrong and that he deserves to be hit instead because he is weak and timid. He believes that he fails to meet this social requirement of hegemonic masculinity which is imposed on him by those around him and his father.

As well as this, when the boys were peering up at the girls who had been sectioned off at the pool, Shinji was asked what body part was most striking to him, an objectifying question. However, he did not answer and instead asked why Rei was all alone on the side. Of Connell's supposed dictionary of subordinated masculinity such as wimp. nerd, sissy, lily-livered, and milksop, I would classify Shinji as lily-livered, meaning weak and cowardly. The series shows the differences in the types of masculinity and subordination that occurs as a result.

I would say that hegemonic masculinity relates to me because it is something that legitimizes the dominant position of men in society and that is something that needs to be considered in the way that we view others and not just follow social norms.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Robian,

I agree with you that it is wrong to discriminate against people because they present themselves differently from us. This relates to the lesson about gender performance because, as Butler said, gender is something that has to be performed correctly, and there are strict punishments and censures for those who do not perform correctly. While I disagree with this viewpoint that there must be censures and punishments, we do see it in the show. The entire class makes fun of Nitori and the staff even try to shut down their efforts as if they are in need of fixing.

Wandering Son

Honestly, at first I thought this anime was a comment on discrimination against transgender people. However, by the end of the show, I think the anime was more of a comment on cross-dressing. Either way, the discrimination portrayed could easily be applied to either one because most people can't differentiate between the two. Most people, if they saw a bio male in a dress, would automatically jump to the conclusion that the person was transgender.

I thought it was interesting how the anime portrayed the contrast between male and female cross-dressers. Women can pretty much easily get away with dressing as a man, but if a dude were to wear a skirt (unless you're about to whip out the bagpipes), people would judge him. My personal thoughts on the cause of this is that women tend to be more fashionable in general, so a woman dressing as a man could just be seen as fashion.

The anime makes a pretty clear statement that society frowns upon men to women cross-dressing. What I think is interesting is how we've applied gender labels to so many things. Even the color pink is seen as girly. Personally, as a dude, I love the color pink. Society, from a young age, conditions us to like certain things. Boys are given toys different from girls, they're dressed in different clothing, etc. There's nothing biologically that implies a guy can't like wearing a skirt. It's all psychological conditioning.

I wonder if transgender people feel that they were born into the wrong body because their interests happened to align with the opposite gender's. gender and sex are fundamentally different after all. One is based on psychological aspects while the other is based on biological aspects. In my opinion, theres actually nothing psychologically wrong with transgender people at all, rather, it's society assigning labels that's the problem.

Society is wrong for discriminating these people just because they don't fall under it's standards. Just let people like what they like. If it isn't hurting anyone, then what business do you have with them. To all my homies out there, if you wanna go dress up as a woman, go do it. To all the ladies out there, if you wanna dress up as dude, go do it. Who cares what society thinks, cause it's all BS anyways.

p.s. if you disagree or feel strongly about any of the things I said just know I don't read any of yalls reposts, but feel free to criticize🙏

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Wandering Son Blog

While watching this show, I got so confused at who is who because every character has at least two different presentations of themself and when the dialogue throws in a "he" or "her" my guess is as good as yours. The characters look too similar. Anyways, aside from this gripe, I am going to discuss Wandering Son with the lens of transgenderism and gender performance.

The story depicts the middle school student, Shuichi Nitori, a boy who wants to be a girl and their friend Yoshino Takatsuki, a girl who wants to be a boy. The first line of dialogue in the show is Nitori questioning and trying to make sense that their physical body does not match the gender identity that they feel aligns with their personality. At the beginning, Nitori aligns with the male gender and wants to switch his role in his performance of gender to something more fitting. Throughout the show, we see how Nitori aspires to be like Takatsuki, who presents herself in a gender performance that she is comfortable with. However, it seems as though gender is being policed so much for Nitori to perform their gender because of how much easier it was for Takatsuki to present herself in a masculine manner.

Butler claimed that the things that we do constitutes our gender: the way we walk, dress, and talk. Throughout the show, Nitori dressed in a feminine manner and wore wigs to feel more like themself. But there are strict punishments and censures for those who do not perform gender in the correct manner, because gender is a performance that not only one can play. It must be accepted by others. This is a problem that Nitori has as his sister finds it disgusting when he wears her dress, saying that he will dirty it up. While Nitori made a few friends that agreed with his presentation, the majority of people in his class did not. This is because, as Butler puts it, Gender is a performance, but not one that you can don and doff at will. An actor within a play has a personality beneath the mask that they put on. While some may enjoy this simply as a performance, as many of the students in his class enjoyed the gender-bender play, it was not something that they agreed with in real life.

Overall, I don't really think that this show had any relation to me as I am comfortable in the performance that I play. However, I do see and recognize that others may not be. This show opened my eyes to the challenges of those who want to be transgender and the very real applications of gender performance.

[ryansanim-e-tionblog]

Hello Abhiram,

I agree with you that the show related to the negative aspects of gender performance and how Retsuko had to suck up her feelings towards her sexist boss and had to maintain her gender performance to be affirmed by others. This concept is something that chains every character to some extension such as Gori, the gorilla, who says that she must walk in a feminine way to not show "weakness." I also believe that she show comments on something that is critical and relevant to todays world and gives a take on modern gender performances. It makes it seem as though any slippage in the act of gender performance is detrimental to ones affirmed image of their person.

Aggretsuko and Gender Performance

This was my first time watching Aggretsuko and I liked it. It was very cartoony and the animation style was enjoyable to watch. The episode length was also really good, it never overstays its welcome or goes overboard with its comedy. For this blog, however, I want to talk about the gender performance in Aggretsuko.

I think that in Aggrestsuko gender performance is integral to the story. Gender performance is the idea that every person is not put into a specific gender at birth but rather it is these performances or behaviors in line with a gender that gives one their gender. One of the ways this applies to Aggretsuko is in the pure fact that you can identify the characters' genders. They are animals and so in real life, you would never be able to tell, but in this series, they are clothes in gender-defining clothing telling you exactly what gender each one is, without that I doubt I would be able to tell what animal is what gender. Hence, gender performance in the form of clothing is a way that the world of Aggresuko is represented.

Additionally, we see the behavior of Aggresuko also falls in line with this gender performance concept. She is a woman in a hard and abusive at times job with no real outlet for her anger at her situation so she has to just suck it up and act polite and nice which is what any woman traditionally would do. In reality, she does channel this anger through her love of death metal which she hides from people since it does not fall under her gender identity, and would be strange for any woman to do that to vent their anger. This shows the binding that obeying one's gender identity can have on them where they cannot truly express themselves.

In my life, I can relate to the concept of gender identity and I am sure everyone can. According to the idea, gender is a construct, and thus any act that I can define as belonging to the male gender also belongs to this idea of gender performance. If I acted in a different manner then I could be defined as the other gender in my mannerism. Additionally, if the male and female performances were reversed I would likely be performing those acts that define women now since they would define men in this hypothetical.

Overall, Aggresuko is a funny watch that I would recommend. It covers the topic of gender performance and especially that of woman in the workplace extremely well as well as being something funny to watch.