#anyways i just think the onee-san trope is really interesting

[shimzus]

【直接的性格】        BLUNTNESS AND DIRECTNESS

kiyoko is one of the more blunt characters in haikyuu , evident by the way she refuses second-year tanaka’s proposal , humbles the third years during their shrine visit by informing them that a prayer to the gods won’t grant them a victory at nationals , explains to sugawara that she has no intentions of marrying him when she tries to steady his hands with her own , and constantly rebukes tanaka and nishinoya’s outlandish requests to be spanked/scolded. 

this blunt character is unique , not only as a character trope , but also in cultural context. directness is viewed as a negative attribute in japan since it can be conceived as abrasive and self-centered—— and it’s especially considered a negative trait for women. in a lot of ways , japan is still conservative about femininity , and women’s behavior is certainly not exempt from scrutiny. most women in media and in trends exemplify youthful cute charms ( girlish femininity , innocence , kindness , etc. ). 

it is rarer to see mature and “sexy” styles , especially those that also involve blunt and direct personality types. part of the reason that kiyoko isn’t criticized for being blunt is because she’s attractive and able to suit this style. other haikyuu characters who go against the natural grain like ushijima and tendou don’t have the same sort of social “clout” that a beautiful high school girl does , so their directness is considered a fault. tendou isn’t conventionally attractive and he’s a bit of an otaku nerd ( which isn’t a problem in today’s high schools , but in a private high school 10 years ago could easily have been an isolating factor ) , and ushijima is attractive but a jock-type who doesn’t have the same social fluency as other students ( since he focuses mostly on volleyball and might produce very one-note conversations ). kiyoko may be blunt , but comparatively she doesn’t have anything that ostracizes her from fitting in. she simply chooses not to engage with people at times.

of course , if she weren’t attractive , her bluntness would be considered a fault. it’s simply because she was lucky enough to be beautiful that her direct personality isn’t considered “abrasive.” instead , it lends her character to the onee-san trope ( a mature , no-nonsense , cold woman type ). being beautiful and blunt effectively elevates a woman to some goddess-like level. it may be because onee-san types are somewhat “rarer” to find—— not only is beauty “rare,” but a woman who isn’t the average girly/cutesy type is also “rare.”

however , i think it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that kiyoko isn’t completely cold-blooded and unfeeling. her behavior with the team may make her an onee-san type , but with other characters and other teams , she’s not quite the same. rather than directly refusing others , she adopts a technique of disregard or avoidance. she ignores oikawa who tries to talk to her , rather than confront him—— a person she doesn’t know—— by saying she has no interest in him. she also avoids talking to the players on other teams at the training camp in tokyo who are ushering to try saying hello to her , by instead chatting with the female managers she’s more comfortable with. 

when she does have to interact directly with someone , she’s polite and indirect. terushima stops her in the hallway at the spring interhigh and rather than be blunt or ignore him , she uses the typical japanese style of deflecting ( which is considered more polite ) and explains that she has people waiting for her. in japan , people understand an excuse like this to mean that she’s not interested and to signal that she’d like to break away. 

also , the way that she interacts with yachi and the other female managers completely contradicts the notion that she’s cold and blunt. tanaka and nishinoya even ogle that she’s chatting a lot , smiling , and having lots of “girl talk” with the other managers , which means that she’s not the sort of solitary person who blocks everyone out.

at face value , an outsider would see kiyoko’s behavior of being quiet , enjoying time to herself , and avoiding/ignoring interactions with people she doesn’t know as being very onee-san-esque. it’s easy to label her as an onee-san because of her outwardly expressed behaviors , in conjunction with the fact that she also doesn’t fit neatly into the cutesy girly trope. from my experience , most japanese women are sorted into these two categories ( the third might be somewhere in the middle , like the “girl next door” type , though that tends to lean youthful and girly too ). but this trope is , of course , just a shallow label and doesn’t hold any weight when considering the spectrum of kiyoko’s social styles. it may just be because most people don’t end up talking to her that they view her this way.

in my portrayal i try to emphasize depth in her personality—— her humor , her tendency to take care of others without being asked , and her thoughtfulness that may not fully manifest as words or actions beyond simply her own ideas. i do think that she’s more blunt and direct than most people. i think she’s not afraid to speak her mind , and to do so concisely—— which isn’t common in japan. i think it makes her a unique character when compared with others in the series. however , i don’t think it’s the one and only aspect of her personality , nor do i think it should be emphasized as the encapsulation of her personality. it’s just one element , and clearly one that she disproves by her proclivity for disregard and avoidance , and her ability to have friendly , sensitive , and supportive conversations with other characters.

[skyhopedango]

State of the Season

Sooo. Not sure what to think about this season, but at least it’s still better than the previous ones this year. Not that this means a lot, considering how crappy this year was for anime (for me, anyway), but still.

On the chopping block:

Kabukichou Sherlock: I’m really sorry to let this one go, but it became a chore to watch and well, I’m still not getting paid for watching anime, so. Anyway, it’s a pity because this is a well-made show, nice animation and visuals, nice voice acting (most of the time), nice music, but the outdated humor and the outdated and/or boring (and/or “wtf why”?) character tropes really grate on me. The humor is the kind of third-rate TV comedian shit that is painfully unfunny to me, it’s the sort of stuff that I would have tolerated in my early anime-watching days, but now? Nope. (And it’s not that my sense of humor is so sophisticated, I love and enjoy absolute, shameless trash like Prison School and Yondemasu yo Azazel-san.)

And the characters... I guess they’re meant to be “loveable idiots” but they’re not loveable! They’re just unfunny idiots who lack any charm, and don’t even make sense as pastiches of the characters they’re named after. Sherlock may have worked if he was some random weirdo who solves crimes, but as a Sherlock Holmes pastiche he’s incomprehensible to me, and since the show insists on him being a Sherlock Holmes pastiche (with a Watson, a similarly incomprehensible Moriarty, a Mycroft, etc.) I can’t just treat him as some random non-Sherlock Holmes character. And the rest are just paint by the numbers anime staples - the burly, manly-looking onee who keeps hitting on dudes (yay gay panic!), the well-meaning oaf, the high-strung weirdo, the selfish but deep-down-well-meaning girl, etc. Lucy had some potential, but she’s a side character. 

There were three shows I’d been really looking forward to in the fall season: Bananya, Tokunana and Kabukichou Sherlock. I ended up dropping the latter two. Huh.

Still good, though:

Bananya: Bananya! :D The day I get tired of adorable banana cats being silly while Kaji Yuuki and Murase Ayumu make cat sounds is the day I give up all reason to live.

Beastars: Well, this turned into the best show of the season as far as I’m concerned. It’s well-made, really well-acted, the story and the characters are interesting... I’ll definitely read the manga once the show is over (although I heard things about it that make me wonder if it has jumped the shark at one point?). I just wish the wolf girl (Juno?) didn’t have droopy ears, I mean come on. 

Mairimashita Iruma-kun: This one continues to be a low-key delight, just a cute, fun, unoffensive little show with a cute premise and mostly cute characters. Keep it up, show, keep it up.

Babylon: Whooo boy. I’ll have to write a separate post about this (not that anyone is interested :DDD) but in short: 1. I told you bullshit was coming, 2. weirdly enough, the show still makes some good points, albeit in really strange ways. I’m still along for the ride, although I can’t shake the feeling that the resolution is going to be really stupid.

Hoshiai no sora: This one is... well, its heart is definitely in the right place, and I appreciate that. But as much as I like its intentions, I feel that it’s just trying a bit too hard. For one, it often comes off as didactic and simplistic, with the bad parents being pretty much just two-dimensional caricatures who behave in stereotypical ways and give really stereotypical speeches showcasing what bad parents they are, while the main character is so open and accepting and non-judgemental and well-informed and generally a perfect cinnamon roll (<- outdated meme alert!). It often comes off more as a feel-good fantasy than an actual, relatable story. 

Also, by this time how many kids have been revealed to have abusive or toxic parents? The show is teetering precariously on the edge of melodrama, and as it’s trying to cram in as many issues as possible it’s spreading itself way too thin - the characters and issues end up not having room to breathe. Like, what’s going on with the main guy’s father, the last we saw him there was a confrontation and... that was it? Are you telling me that an asshole like that, someone so petty and mean and toxic to have done all the things he’s done so far, just took that lecturing from a kid and hasn’t been pestering them since then, out of petty meanness? Come on. Also, I guess this is my personal preference, but I wish that they had built up Mitsue better, given her more attention. I think what she’s going through is something that a lot of the show’s target audience goes through whether or not they have other issues, and if they can pull her story off it will be one of the stronger and more resonant ones in the show. But will they be able to, what with every kid on the team having an issue to work through?

(And well, it doesn’t help that I still don’t care about soft tennis and I find myself tuning out every time they’re doing a match or talk about strategy.)

Not saying the show is bad, I just kind of wish it was better.