#I empathize with haru so much it's not even fair

[beneaththemasks]

"it'll keep going."

[solatude]

ATLA Unpopular Opinions

I’ve had some thoughts about various aspects in Avatar: The Last Airbender. So, in order of least to most controversial, here we go:

Sokka looks better with his hair up. Sokka’s wolf tail is one of the more unique hairstyles in the show, at least for the guys. He looks so basic with his hair down. The wolf tail adds to his personality, his dramaticness, and humor. How can a water tribe warrior fight with hair in his face? Please also refer to his topknot in Book Three.

Sokka didn’t have as much pull as fans think he does. Pull, in this context, means to attract someone romantically/sexually. First of all, Toph is a child, so I’m not counting her because a 12 year-old crushing on a 15 year-old should be nothing more than that---a crush. Yue and Suki pulled him first, as he fell for them before they fell for him. Suki could care less for the sexist guy who insulted her on her own island; but teaching him the ways of the Kyoshi warriors, plus a kiss on the cheek had him blushing---HARD! He thankfully changed his mindset after that. Yue, while she barely had a choice, had accepted her role as princess and was prepared to dedicate her life to the values of her tribe in an arranged marriage. The amount of times she ran away from Sokka was both tragic and hilarious. But that only made Sokka want her more, she never chased him. To be honest though, he was probably the first guy who treated her normally, despite her status. I think she mainly wanted a friend, but was surprised to find a potential lover in Sokka. Plus he made her laugh. Ty Lee thought he was cute, but Ty Lee thinks everything is cute. That is all. If you wanna talk about pull, Aang had Zuko risking his life chasing him for three seasons (I’m joking, don’t think too deeply about that).

Azula and Katara are almost equal in power. I get that Azula is a firebending prodigy, but sometimes her skills are overestimated by fans and she’s made to seem as though she can overpower everyone. It makes perfect sense that she lost to Katara in almost every fight. Before meeting her, she’s only ever fought nonbenders, firebenders, and earthbenders. She never had experience fighting a trained waterbender, so her losing to Katara shows that even she has her limitations. Whenever she did win a fight against her, it was because she got help from her friends, brother, or subjects. Katara never hesitated to fight her, and being 14 years-old herself, allowed for an even exchange of combat. Let’s be honest, what bender would go up against Azula fearlessly except the one who’s element puts out fires?

Ursa was not a bad mother. Ursa was a victim of an abusive, arranged marriage. For context, Fire Lord Azulon wanted Ozai to marry Ursa because she was the granddaughter of Avatar Roku, and he felt that they would produce powerful heirs to the royal family. Ursa was forced to leave her village, family, and fiance behind for this marriage; because who would dare turn down the request of a Fire Lord? Ursa never really loved Ozai, but he never cared. He just wanted to increase his status and power. Ursa is often criticized for giving Zuko attention over Azula, while scolding Azula and not showing her any love. However, Azula was praised by Ozai, and as a result showed more of an obedience towards him. Ozai showed a great disdain for Zuko. Ursa was simply doing her best to show Zuko how much he mattered. He was living in his sister’s shadow, while being neglected by his father. I also really feel for Azula, because she was only valued for her firebending skills, and she probably had no emotional outlet that she trusted to help guide her. However, I do think Azula was too far along for her mother to really help her. Ursa encouraged Zuko to play with Azula; she genuinely wanted her children to get along like any other parent. I just don’t think there was anything she could say or do to encourage Azula to be less destructive and show remorse for her actions. She should have never called Azula a monster, but she was a woman filled with fear. She feared her abusive husband and the repercussions of speaking out against him, she feared the destructive tendencies of her daughter and the ways she hurt other people without caring for how they felt, and she feared for Zuko’s life for not living up to the impossible ideals of the royal family. Ursa was not a perfect mother, but she tried given the little power she had. Also, to be fair, we only see Ursa’s life from Zuko’s perspective in the show. Azula probably had many memories with Ursa but she most likely blocked them out to hold space for firebending forms and her father’s approval; one of which she never really secured.

Bloodbending is overrated and unnecessary. Some fans claim that Katara should have had a more positive reaction to becoming a bloodbender. However, it was never in her character to be so controlling, especially against another person’s will. Bloodbending is also not as useful as it’s made to seem. Since one can only bloodbend on a full moon, you would have to wait an entire month to even utilize the skill. That’s extremely inconvenient and because you have to wait until nighttime, it’s even less practical. How often does Team Avatar fight during the night compared to the day? They would be sleeping if anything. Also, when your team consists of an agile airbender, a master waterbender, a powerful earthbender, and a weapons strategist, plus Appa and Momo; why would anyone need to bloodbend? Most of the Gaang’s enemies never required that level of power in order to be defeated. Bloodbending is also VERY niche. If this is allowed, should bonebending be allowed since there are minerals in bones? Should soundbending be allowed since sound is produced from vibrations? I admit it’s a really cool ability, but it’s not that important in the grand scheme of things. Also, speaking of Katara...

Katara gets too much hate. I’m not sure if it’s the surge of new fans since the Netflix debut or the repressed thoughts of old fans but lately Katara’s character has been mercilessly criticized. It’s been said that she brings up her mother too often, and that she’s overly emotional and selfish. First of all, Katara was eight years-old (and Sokka nine) when her mother was murdered. During the run of the show, only six years have passed since then, as she’s 14 when she finds Aang. She lives with survivor’s guilt due to her mother lying about who the last waterbender was so that Katara wouldn’t be taken prisoner. Unfortunately, the firebender soldier Yon Rah wasn’t taking prisoners that day, implying that he was going to murder her. Katara mentions her mother only a handful of times, usually to relate to another character who lost someone close to them in an effort to empathize (Aang, Haru, Jet, Zuko). People forget that she saw her mother’s dead body after running to get help. It was definitely wrong for Katara to tell Sokka that he didn’t love their mother the way she did in the Southern Raiders episode, and she definitely should have apologized. But, she was right. Sokka was shown to be closer to his father. She was in extreme emotional pain and instead of being comforted, she was criticized by Aang and Sokka for wanting revenge. How many times has Katara sacrificed something for the sake of others? She barely had a childhood considering she took on a maternal role in her tribe after her mother’s death. She had to deal with Sokka’s sexist comments, she had to suppress her talent for waterbending, and she felt isolated and alone because the one parent that was alive left to fight in the war. When someone needed encouragement, Katara was always there to encourage them. When someone needed help, she never hesitated to assist them. She often put herself in harm’s way if it meant someone else didn’t get hurt. For a 14 year-old girl in a war torn world, she is immensely brave. How many times has Zuko gone on and on about his honor, or lashed out at his Uncle for a seemingly small reason? How many times has Sokka talked about meat? Or Azula and her speeches about controlling and manipulating people? Toph and her rebelliousness? Even Aang’s laid back attitude turned into carelessness every now and then. Every character has a crutch that they attach themselves to, but Katara isn’t given the grace that other characters have been given. Yes, Aang lost his entire nation, and Katara would never know what that felt like. However, Aang wouldn’t know how Katara felt either. Aang was in the presence of children his age and was able to travel around the world to make friends (i.e. Bumi from the Earth Kingdom and Kuzon from the Fire Nation). He was taught to be less detached, so his idea of family is very different from Katara’s. He never witnessed the dead bodies of his people firsthand, though he did see Gyatso’s skeleton later on. Katara grew up in a world ruined by war. She had little to no friends, and the one person she was closest to left her life very early. Her tribe was VERY small and I doubt she had a lot of people to talk to. She had never left the Southern Water Tribe before, so it’s very likely that she was going to stay there her entire life had she not met Aang. She’s been accused of not allowing Sokka to feel sad about their mother, but why should she? It’s not Katara’s job to burden the weight of Sokka’s emotions, especially about their mother. She cannot force Sokka to open up about his feelings, that is something he must do at his own free will. Sokka hides his pain behind his masculinity. He’s protective because he feels guilty about not being able to do anything to help his mother. He doesn’t even remember what she looks like, he could only picture Katara’s face in her place. He felt even worse when his father left and he, understandably, couldn’t go with him. Sokka is not upfront about how he feels, but Katara should not be blamed for that. Overall it may be said that Katara was a flawed character that has recently been more scrutinized for her flaws than acknowledged for her strengths. We can do both, but there’s been an imbalance. She successfully revolted to free Haru’s father as well as other prisoners of the Fire Nation. She guided her friends out of the Si Wong desert despite the obstacles that stood in their way. She healed Aang and Zuko when shot by lightning, ultimately saving their lives and the lives of many other people who have been physically hurt by someone. She even washed Sokka’s underwear and sewed his pants. We can cut the girl some slack if she wants to talk about her mother, can’t we? She’s the glue that holds everyone together. Katara’s emotions make her a stronger fighter. Her trauma has shaped her into someone determined to master waterbending and has allowed her to be more empathetic to those around her. But she shouldn’t have had to go through all of that. She was forced to mature faster in order to survive. Katara can sometimes be arrogant, misguided, oblivious, and doubtful, yes. But she is also resilient, brave, selfless, and generous. That is the duality of her character. She is NOT to be disrespected. After all, as she said to Sokka in The Painted Lady, “I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!”. And she hasn’t.

Iroh should be banned from the Earth Kingdom. It’s not an unpopular opinion that Uncle Iroh is a war criminal, but I just don’t think he should be allowed anywhere near the Earth Kingdom; either temporarily or permanently. Yes he played an instrumental role in Zuko’s redemption, with tea in his left hand and wisdom in his right. However, that does not excuse his invasion of Ba Sing Se. He laid siege to the impenetrable city for 600 days. Surely hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent people died under his commands. He broke the lower ring, home of the poorest members of the Earth Kingdom. The only reason he stopped was because his son, Lu Ten, died in battle; not aware that many citizens also died as a result of his actions. How many children’s lives has his army taken away? How many sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, aunts, uncles, and grandparents have died under his siege? Not only does he get to establish a business and earn money, he is elevated to the upper ring of the city; meanwhile an entire population can barely afford food and stable jobs. I understand that is was for plot purposes, but It’s a slap in the face to allow him to thrive in the city after Aang defeated Ozai. His wanted poster should be everywhere, not just for supposedly betraying the Fire Nation, but also for crimes against the Earth Kingdom. The very least he could do was shut down his tea shop and hand the building over to a family who may need it, and establish a tea shop in the Fire Nation. I’m not saying Iroh couldn’t be redeemed for his war crimes, but it definitely would take more than what was seen in the show for him to be forgiven for them.

Anyways, let me know what you think. This took an ungodly amount of time to write.

[chrismerle]

what’s up i spent way too long typing up a post about my thoughts on P5S, and it isn’t even all encompassing. i guess if you’re curious about anything i didn’t mention in this trainwreck just ask.

my spoiler-heavy thoughts/pseudo-review below the cut

THINGS I LIKED:

The characterization, broadly speaking. If you, like me, loved the Thieves in P5/P5R then you’ll be pretty happy with them here. There are a couple moments that made me roll my eyes (lookin’ at you, hot springs) but on the whole, the main cast are unchanged.

The new characters. Sophia and Zenkichi are great. Sophia is precious and Zenkichi straddles a very fine line of ‘realistically out of the loop, but gives as good as he gets.’ I don’t even care how silly their costumes were. Sophie looked like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man, though I did like her little emoticon visor, but also she had no pants. Wolf’s mask was badass but the fact that his stupid pointy hat was riveted to the top of his stupid disco high collar killed it and I wanted to see someone grab his hat and pull it back to see it fling back into place like a drinky-drinky bird. Even so, the characters were great, and when I noticed that all the attacks for Sophie’s initial pseudo-Persona had question marks after them (Kouga? Dia?), it made me laugh, and Wolf’s a good all-purpose party member because he hits like a fucking truck and nothing is immune to Almighty. Plus in some of his post-battle dialogue he calls them all ‘kiddos’ and they consistently call him Gramps.

The gameplay. I mean, yeah, it’s VERY different than P5, but you all know that. And hey! The game no longer immediately ends if Joker gets knocked out (unless he’s the only one left in the party, obviously). It ran pretty smoothly, there’s something weirdly charming about the other Thieves showing up perched on cover points, and the only consistent issue I ran into is that in segments where the camera gets forced into a certain angle, it can switch back so abruptly at the end that you accidentally go walking right off a ledge.

I’ve never really played a Dynasty Warriors-type game before, so it took me a Jail or so to get used to it, but then I was just cackling as I mowed down swarms of Jack Frosts like a weed-whacker in a flower field with a knife the size of Joker’s torso. Honestly, it took me the longest to get used to the fact that the circle button became the all-purpose ‘interact’ button than anything else.

Actually, that’s a lie. It took me the longest to get used to the fact that if I left a Jail, I wouldn’t be losing any time. I’m very used to Persona games having the calendar constantly counting down, which wasn’t the case here.

The story, broadly speaking. It had some hiccups and some issues, which I’ll get into, but for the most part, it was fun. I’m...not going to outline every detail of the story here, but it felt very P5-y and I enjoyed it.

THINGS I LIKED BUT THAT NEEDED WORK:

The writing. It was a little inconsistent, beyond just the usual weirdness that I have accepted comes along with Persona games. (//patiently clicks through numerous conversations of the gang going ‘did this super obvious thing that this memory threw in our faces happen? Let’s debate about whether the most likely answer by a huge margin is the answer’ and several conversations of ‘are we sure this person is bad? We saw them playing nice, like literally every other villain we’ve faced’) A lot was great! Like, the bit with the Okinawa locals breaking into the RV while the kids hide in the bushes? Genuinely unsettling! Akane’s Jail and the fake Thieves was fun, and seeing Zenkichi scuttle from hiding place to hiding place without Thief powers was funny, and his Shadow’s glowing eyes watching him before becoming his Persona was both badass and unsettling. The realization that EMMA was actively lying to Konoe was nice. Character interactions were great and I loved that Sophia went with Ichinose at the end. There was a lot that was good. But there were also a lot of missteps.

Like, it kind of felt like the direction for the writing changed partway through. It started out as if each member of the Phantom Thieves was going to get their own time to shine, identifying and empathizing with a Monarch. Ann realized she could have been Alice. Yusuke realized he could have been Ango and also saw redeeming him as sort of like redeeming Madarame by proxy. Mariko was a link to Haru’s childhood and her father. The ghost Jail on Okinawa lured Sophie in and by the end she realized how much she meant to her friends ryuji said fuck. Akane was Zenkichi’s literal daughter. And then it went to Konoe and then EMMA, so Ryuji, Futaba, Morgana, Makoto, and Joker didn’t get a chance to shine in that regard. The switch from ‘a Jail for everyone to identify with’ to ‘whelp here’s the decoy and the end boss’ felt like they came from two separate drafts of the script, and it’s not like they had to watch the time; I got through P5S in about a third the time it took me to get through P5R. It took me about 35 hours. Considering the game kind of relies on you having played P5, they already knew their target audience has a longer attention span than that.

Owada was talked up as kind of a big deal, but he had like two scenes on-screen and otherwise was an entirely off-screen character. There’s a lot of mid-combat dialogue that is very difficult to focus on, which was sort of annoying when some of it was actually relevant. Ichinose’s reveal as a villain is very info-dump-y.

Plus, Joker wasn’t utilized particularly well as a silent protagonist. He’s got more implied personality than basically any other Persona protag. Which means he’s actually pretty expressive throughout the game, but I can probably count his lines of dialogue outside of combat with fingers left over. No one expects Yu Narukami to actually react to anything, so it doesn’t feel odd when he doesn’t. But the combination of Joker being reasonably expressive and having a demonstrated personality means you’re perpetually EXPECTING and WANTING him to say something about the shit going on, and when he doesn’t it feels like mentally missing a stair.

THINGS THAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

The cut corners. Like, a lot of things just seem lazy. There were scenes that really should have been included that weren’t, like how the Thieves escaped from the hotel after the police showed up; it cut from Zenkichi warning them and getting arrested to them arriving at the temporary hideout, so we never even got to see how the Thieves reacted to realizing the cops were outside. Requests to bond with the other Thieves only got a couple of text boxes, when they could have shown a tiny scene of them hanging out like they had all over P5. Rather than having Sae actually on-screen for her brief scene, the camera instead very unnaturally switched to an angle as if it was from her point of view, which was literally the only time the camera did that in the entire game. All of the Sentries look the same from Jail to Jail, instead of being unique to each Jail. Igor is completely absent for the entire game, and other than a throwaway ‘my master can’t be here’ from Lavenza it’s just not really acknowledged.

The missed opportunities. Like, there is no way to look at this except to assume that Joker was a horrible friend to literally everyone in this world state. Like, I can pass off the fact that everyone has their baseline Personae as being because they haven’t had access to their powers for a while, but when you combine it with the fact that NONE of Joker’s other confidants show up or even know he’s back in Tokyo, it leaves little to assume except that in this world, no confidants got maxed out. On top of that, the Personae are all basically pointless. They could be Pokemon or Stands or Digimon or fucking YuGiOh cards, and it wouldn’t make a difference; NOTHING about the game says ‘these entities are integral to this world and important to these characters.’ Also they could have had Akane actually realize who the Thieves were and it would have been hysterical, but that’s just my personal sulk.

The Requests. I liked the Mementos missions in P5/P5R. They felt like they had a point. Requests in P5S are all basically just fetch quests. ‘Go to Location A, fight so many of Enemy B to get so many of Item C. Turn in Request.’ Hell, one of them bugged out on me, I swear. There’s a Request to teach Zenkichi how to cook a simple meal, and Haru gives you a recipe including beef. I had no beef on me at the time, because if you want SP restoratives you gotta cook a fair amount and I used it, and I could find literally no beef in the city I was in at the time so I had to abandon the Request. On top of that, outside of getting food or a few moments where another character specifically asks for Joker’s attention, character-specific Requests mostly replace the ability to bond with the other characters individually.

The restoratives. Or, more specifically, the disparity between HP restoratives and SP restoratives. There’s essentially one cookable recipe to restore SP for every four recipes to restore HP. Even if I stopped at every store and vending machine, I’m pretty sure there were a couple cities where I could find NO SP restoratives for sale, while most stores and vending machines had at least two or three HP restoratives. And while it is true that you can go in and out of a Jail whenever you please to restore SP, that doesn’t help you if you run out during a boss fight you weren’t expecting (mini-boss encounters are virtually identical to regular monster encounters) or during one of the times where you CAN’T leave the Jail for reasons XYZ.

The final boss, and not just because I died and had to start over a few times. As a concept, EMMA could be cool, but in reality she just seemed like the writers threw Yaldabaoth and Maruki in a blender and poured the results into the game. Like Yaldabaoth, she is a false god who seeks to control humanity, claiming it’s what they want. Like Maruki, she seems genuinely deluded into thinking it’s for the best and that she’s not doing anything wrong. Her Jail looked like a slightly sci-fi reskin of the Depths of Mementos. The shtick with the multiple platforms and getting to actually SEE an all-out attack at the end were nice, but for the most part the fight itself was nothing special. Ultimately, EMMA had nothing unique going for her except her name.

Plus, EMMA’s entire rationale was that the majority of humans want someone else to control their lives for them, essentially out of convenience. And she’s presented as being more or less right, but that just being one of the hurdles of being human. It seemed a little dour and far-fetched. Like, the Thieves repeatedly point out that struggling allows people to grow, and they’re right, but in my experience, I’ve never actually met anyone who, upon hitting a roadblock, decided ‘Jesus take the wheel.’ Considering the greed with which her weird tentacle arms snatched up the solidified Desires, the pettiness of the complaints she used as a “gotcha,” and the fact that she just kind of reiterates her ‘people want to be controlled’ point over and over, I think it would have felt a bit more true to life and given her more agency if, instead of presenting her as largely correct, it instead acknowledged that everyone at some time or another hits a wall and wants someone to tell them what to do and had her capitalizing on those individual brief moments to hook people in, despite her having reams of data that for most people, those moments are temporary.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: My Little Monster, Episodes 8-10

In which I finally give Mizu her due, I consider the push and pull at the story’s core, and the supporting cast makes up the difference with aplomb.

No Goldfish

There’s been a question bouncing around my mind pretty much all throughout my watch of My Little Monster as to how much leeway I’m willing to give the spinning-wheel element of the central romance. While my thoughts on Kimi ni Todoke and Zero no Tsukaima are pretty much exhibit A as to how much I hate when a show feels like it’s going back on its promises, the concept of a hot and cold romance that bounces bath and forth for a while before coalescing isn’t in and of itself an inherently flawed storytelling device. Not all love is perfect, after all, and stories that explore imperfect love that nevertheless tries its best have value. That said, I think it’s safe to say that telling this kind of story well is a particularly challenging affair, considering how easily it can descend into endless take-backs and endlessly repetitive stuttering in place. It all comes down to execution: can you justify how slowly this romance gets off the ground while still making your audience root for its initiation? Honestly, I’m still not sure how well My Little Monster answers that question. But at least now, I’m starting to get a better sense of how it’s trying to answer that question.

Haru and Mizu’s dynamic has a very familiar framework of the cold girl who needs to loosen up and enjoy life paired with the hot boy who needs to chill out and get his priorities straight. And I’ve given plenty of attention to Haru’s side of that equation (and will continue to do so later in this post), but I realize now that I’ve only ever spared a passing glance for Mizu. And that wasn’t fair of me, because there’s a clear logic to the way her emotional processes work that helps contexualize how flighty she is about committing to Haru. She’s always been a very solitary person, focusing on her studies and grades before any sign of social interaction. The reason behind this decision, though, is very telling; because of how different her parents ended up being, she sees herself as wanting to follow the sure, steady path of her career-driven mother over the freer, but much more tempermental way her father lives. As such, she pries herself on her decisiveness, on knowing what she wants and how to get it. She only has to worry about her own emotions, and she’s got them marching to the perfect beat of her internal drum.

But the catch with that life of certainty was that it limited her into only feeling certain ways, shutting her off from the broad spectrum of human emotion. And she didn’t always know how to process it when her more empathic, human side came creeping in. There’s a great detail about the time she thought the family was getting goldfish, and even though she didn’t want the pets, she still dedicated time to learning about them and how to care for them. But when they didn’t end up getting goldfish after all, despite thinking she didn’t really care about them, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Because deep down, part of her was eager for the challenge caring for another living thing would bring. Part of her was eager for that connection, even if she didn’t realize it. But she could never bring herself to commit to that connection, because she was afraid of the countless uncontrollable variables that would bring. She couldn’t sacrifice the comfort of that certainty for a world where things were less sure, but more hopeful.

Feeling Lonely

It’s only now that Haru and all the rest of her friends have begun breaking out of her shell does she realize how much she actually cares about them. Yes, there are so many more variables at play, and it’s wreaking havoc with her ability to commit like she used to. She’s still trapped by her old way of thinking, unsure how to handle the emotions brought on by having people other than herself to consider. In that sense, I can actually buy how quickly she can rush into big declarations without ever being confident on the follow-up; she wants to embrace these new connections, but her old fears and insecurities are still holding her back. There are goldfish in her bowl now, but for all her preparation, she has no confidence in her abilities to care for them, and that scares her. Yet at the same time, there’s no way for her to return to her isolated, purely self-confident life. There’s a great moment when she’s puzzling over her feelings with Yamaken, and she wonders why in the past she could be alone just fine, but now not being on the best of terms with Haru of Natsume feels lonely for her. To which Yamaken responds with one of the most profound pieces of life advice I think I’ve ever gotten out of anime: you can only feel lonely when you have people to feel lonely about. Her new friends have changed her priorities without her even realizing; now that she knows what it’s like to be part of something bigger than herself, she feels the absence of solitude that much clearer.

That, in the end, is the real source of the conflict at the heart of this show; two people who know rationally what they want, but often have trouble bringing their emotions to bear on those wants without running headlong into the walls of their old hang-ups. And while that can be frustrating, it’s also remarkably human. Speaking as a massive introvert myself who only really started having friends in high school, Mizu’s desire to remain the master of her own little closed-off universe hits very close to home for me; opening up is hard when the outside world feels so much less certain than your own head. But open up we must, because people aren’t designed to live their days in isolation. And it seems like Mizu’s finally starting to recognize that fact, helped in no small part by Haru’s not-unjustified frustration at her rejecting his advances, yet still acting towards him as if she had feelings for him. The moment where she confides in Haru that she’s confused about how she feels and just needs time to sort it out feels ten times more justified than anything we ever got out of Saito and Louise’s endless cocktease. Like Yamaken tells her, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing; her studies and her love for Haru don’t have to be mutually exclusive. There is room in her life to be the person she truly wants to be, no compromises necessary. And the moment where she finally goddamn confesses to him at the end of episode 10 feels like she’s finally got a handle on that truth. It’s no good being lonely if there are people you don’t have to feel lonely about. Mizu loves Haru, and that’s all there is to it.

Hard Knock Life

Of course, if Mizu’s finally sorted her shit out and is ready to make this relationship work, Haru still has a ways to go. Because man, is his possessiveness starting to cut an ugly picture. Thankfully, it also feels like the show is finally starting to recognize and challenge his worse tendencies as opposed to just passing them off as romantic bickering. There’s a chilling moment in episode 10 where he and Yamaken are arguing about their feelings towards Mizu on a balcony, and he ends up wordlessly reaching toward Yamaken as if he’s preparing to push him off to remove the competition. It’s genuinely unnerving, and Yamaken’s obvious discomfort after Haru leaves him alone makes it clear that this ain’t a justifiable action Haru took. If Mizu has learned to trust herself to figure out what to make of her life even with someone else in it, Haru needs to learn to, as Mizu tells him, trust his girlfriend to be her own person and be able to dictate her own life. He’s starting to get there- recognizing how he flipped out when Yuzan showed up at the cultural festival was a good first step- but he’s got to start applying that self-awareness both in the moment and in regards to Mizu. That’s how he’s going to justify being part of this pair.

And I hope he gets there, because beneath this troubling exterior, it’s clear that Haru’s a genuinely good person. He does listen to Mizu, and he does want to make her happy. Hell, his response to the goldfish story is to try and catch her a crawfish as a big romantic gesture to make her feel better about the opportunity she missed back as a kid. As Mizu touches on, he cares deeply about the things that barely even matter to her, because he knows how much the little things count when doing right by someone. He doesn’t want to be the isolated bundle of rage he used to be; he wants to get better. And I have faith that he can. I just hope he gets there before the next time he’s on a balcony.

I Love These Idiots

Thankfully, while we wait to see whether or not Haru can pull up his big boy pants and make this relationship work, we’ve got plenty of time to hang out with these kids enjoying the springtime of their youth. And my god, I think it’s official: I unapolagetically love these dorks with every fiber of my being. If there’s any sort of trouble when it comes to the central relationship of this show, there is no such dark cloud to be found on the sidelines. The supporting cast and their group dynamic are some of the most imminently likable and eccentric chums I’ve seen, and their chemistry is utterly killer. I compared them to Kimi no Todoke in the past, but honestly, I think the better comparison might be Ouran Highschool Host Club; there is never a moment when these idiots aren’t 100% on, flush in the prime of the comedic potential and reveling in their own unique brand of nonsense, assisted ably by some incredibly sylized, lanky character animation and constantly emotive derp faces. These characters feel alive in a way that few ensemble casts manage to achieve, bursting with life and vigor and a lived-in authenticity that grounds the absurdity of their personalities. And it’s that dynamic that’s making this show just a gas to watch; putting the romance aside, I could spend countless episodes just watching these guys hang out and shoot the shit together.

And what memorable personalities they all are. I love Mizu’s hard-luck dad, who I’m just realizing is voiced by goddamn Dio himself in what might be the most understated performance he’s ever given. I love Oshima and her self-aware inferiority complex, as well as maybe having the best fucking confession of all time: ”Like in a female attracted to a male sort of way!” Sweet buttery Christ, that had me rolling on the floor (not to mention Haru’s equally gut-busting response: ”As in, do it?”). I love that moment where Sasayan and Haru communicate dirty thoughts to each other, much to Natsume’s chagrin, just through suggestive eye movements. I love how Yamaken’s fellow bad boys have basically formed a fan club around Natsume and worship her like the goddess she is (”Me like tall girls!”). And on that note, Natsume might be the best character of the entire bunch. I love how fucking expressive her face is; almost every moment has her matching Sawako’s legendarily wibbly expressions, while voice actress Atsumi Tanezaki hurtles through her flustered ramblings with the controlled chaotic grace of a drunken ballerina. She feels like a person constantly on the verge of utter collapse in the best way, racing between thoughts faster than her brain can keep up with them and leaving uproarious chaos in her wake (”Oshima knows her place!” OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE). Not to mention she throws a mystery party invitation like a goddamn shuriken, because that’s exactly the kind of cluelessly extra motherfucker she is. I may have my gripes about the show, but as long as Natsume remains on hand to beg her friends not to assault Santa, its prospects are far from grim.

Odds and Ends

-”You were supposed to introduce us to some girls, not a rooster!” Hey, don’t disrespect Best Girl like that.

-”Let’s play pretend Zelda!” But I repeat myself.

-Lol at Natsume’s hat taking a second to follow her into the bush. Dork.

-”Your pride will be your undoing one day.” DRAG HIM MIZU

-”I’d rather have an oblivious kid like you around.” I love her dad so much.

-”Die, stubby.” aksjdhkjshaksdyakjdsh

-”You went to the same middle school as me?” “You just realized that?!” ffs Haru

-”Why are we talking about him? Wait, wasn’t I the one who brought the topic up?” Congrats, you played yourself.

-”I was joking.” THEIR FACES HOLY FUCK YAMAKEN YOU GOD

-”You have phimoses anyway!” aksjdahsdkjasdhdsksa Jesus wept

Aah, this show is fun. See you next time for the finale!