I think in the Hathaway movie, it would have been cool to have the scene were people are praising Hathaway Noa for his actions during CCA with a single piece of new dialogue. As they praise Hathaway for his talent as a pilot after the failed plane hijacking, he responds with "Thank you but I'm not Amuro Ray". This is said to give a signal to the Federation officer that 1, he didn't do a lot in his mind and 2, he isn't gonna be used and then tossed aside once the Federation is done with him. (I.E. how the Federation treated Amuro after the OYW and after his Axis Shock sacrifice with the censoring of NewType information). Though to be honest, part of me thinks I only thought of this because of my bias towards Amuro.
Do you have an opinion on some newer stuff like I'm in love with the villainess that are starting to become more open and pleasant with their relationships rather than the older stuff which was more angsty and repressed?
This video is absolutely incredible. You see parallels and draw inspiration from media I've never even heard of. Watching this video broadened my horizons in a way few video essays have managed to do. Thank you.
For me, Federation is exactly like the government of my country (France): a Bunch of people, raised in capital (Paris, who is very different from the rest of France), who goes to special school and worked only in hyper-values work. Due to that, they can't connect with the normal people and their reality. Their aren't specialy bad, racist, authoritarian or other thing, they just know nothing about normal life. For them, life is good, and they don't understand why rest of France have problems with the current country situation. They can be easily manipulated by some group of pression, because this type of group only need to produce some fake report and oriented investigation to create a new reality and trick the elite to obey their wish. And for the people who come from the people and succes to enter the elite, they are easely corrupted by money of their new fonction and they quicly start to loss connection with their bases, like the deputees. For example, Kéké, a woman from immigration who worked during many year as a cleaning lady, started during is mandate to abuse social appartement and use is paid to employ and another people to clean is place. Soo, the governent is bad, but not due to is wish to be a bad government. It's just a government who is too deconnected to the people to act correctly. But in final, the results are the same: incompetence, corruption, brutality... Like the Federation of Earth. Earth is like Paris in this word, and the colony are like the French "Province". Just imagine how the situation is difficult in France, and they are only few hours of cars to go to the Province! In Gundam, you need to take a spaceship for that!
Ever since I played lvl 11 on the n64 game I fucking hate that guy, he has grappples that are nearly impossible to beat and most of his moves force you into a grapple.
I normally dont watch anime but i had heard about shinji and kaworu through the internet and that drove me to watch evangelion. Even when Kaworu showed up for 1 episode the show truly surprised me with its emotionally complex story (I actually cant recall any other piece of media that successfully conveys the nasty human nature as much as eva does), and well written characters. And I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that, even when his appearance was a one episode thing, his overall presence and impact remained through following episodes and through the EoE movie. Its so frustrating and yet so beautiful how he and Shinji where so linked but doomed
Problematic, messy gay rep almost always speaks to me more than sterilized, "appropriate" representation because queer life is messy! My life is messy! I experience my life as problematic and messy interactions with other queer people and that's okay. Great video that reminded me to get back into Gundam
You dont seem to know alot do you? Cross dressing isnt "woke" and is fairly neutral with most people. What people dont like is the hyper sexualization and female stereotyping from Drag and the perception of women from Trans people, not to mention plain autogynephilia. Crossdressing getting fogged up by all of this that people forget it is its own thing from people on both sides of the conversation. Hence they lash out like you and them.
media about marginalized people don't always have to inherently be good, positive representation imo, but the more you know your target audience (is it a wider public audience or you're creating for the sake of creating) and intent, the more that'll inform how you handle those characters.
My god this video is awesome. You definitely should read manhwa called "Let Dai" it's not really popular but has similar themes that connect to homoerotism
As someone who loves Kaworu as a character but never had a concrete reason as to why, other than his story is a queer doomed romance i really like (and that i felt it somehow invalidated my liking of him and eva), I really appreciate this video. It makes me feel that liking stuff for their implied queerness even if the media isn't focused on it is valid and I'm not shallow for that being my introductory reason to liking a work (without a Kawoshin edit it would take me way longer to watch eva xd)
Mecha as body horror is so inherent to me as a disabled person, even when it's not meant to be mecha has this habit of Being About Bodies and having underlying themes of disability and autonomy and identity, horror truly feels like a natural progression of that a lot of the time!
I love that idea "maybe they didn't intent to write a trans character but ended up writing a trans character" because I see that all the time. Like if no one even knew what trans identity was artists would produce it from scratch from their life experience and fantasies. Also I'm reading a lesbian webnovel called Katalepsis and I would bet money one of the main characters is a copy of Hibari.
According to the Japanese liner notes of a Japanese Zeta Gundam DVD boxed set, they had an interview with animator Kitazume who was talking about his stint as character designer for Double Zeta. In the interview, Kitazume talks about a note from Tomino left for him at one point. The note said, "Always remember that Newtypes…are just an excuse for a kid to be able to pilot a complicated machine like a Gundam." Of course that's contradicted by how Tomino himself used Newtypes and Newtypeness as main elements in his plotting, but I would assume that for at least the beginning third of the Gundam series, it was actually just an excuse for why Amuro was able to jump into a Gundam and destroy two Zaku mobile suits piloted by trained people in episode 1.
Your point about why the original Gundam and its Newtypes feel antiquated the further we get from the counter-culture movement of the 60's/70's is spot on.
finally got the time to smoke this and aaaah, i love the way you talk about those pieces of art. cause i feel like too many times do people gloss over them, condemning them as "wholly bad" when really there's a lot of very special and incredibly prescient writing, feeling and thoughts poured into each of them.
it’s not the representation we deserved, but it was the representation we had at home :) i feel the same about End of EVA. i have a hard time recommending it becuase of that one infamous scene. But i still love movie and the show that proceeded it becuase it gave the most raw depiction of the type of depression i was experiencing at the time
Tbh I think it's important to remember that "Class S literature," which is often described as "proto-yuri," portrayed sapphic relationships as passionate platonic experiences teenage girls go through. Fleeting experiences as one transitions into adulthood where they'll enter a regular heterosexual relationship. These influences dictate how stories like Oniisama E were written at the time. It was a way for lesbian experiences to be depicted whilst still being "acceptable" in 1930's Japan
Is really s*cks to think of it that you may have girl on girl relationships in your teenage years. Only for said girl leaving you to marry stereotypical sexist homophobic man, one of those who claim:"women are not people/if we didnt rape children wont be born" etc
As someone who has grown to seek out very messy and problematic queer stories (usually not completely canon such as will graham and hannibal lecter in Hannibal, dan cain and herbert west in re-animator, and billy loomis and stu macher in scream to name a few) I had felt a sense of shame in loving "evil" queer characters since I found a lot of people online will call you awful for liking such dynamics. I found this video to help alleviate some of my shame, you put it so well into words ^_^
Mentioning BPD here made me feel so validated somehow lol, like im not alone. Somehow, it tends to be people with BPD like myself who are drawn to these "romanticized" depictions of "taboo" topics that are close to gothic/emo in nature somewhat? It's like what they say, with art sympathizing with the disturbed or however that saying goes. Anyways, it's great to see people who also align with the way i think about the kind of media i enjoy/enjoyed consuming. There are subject matters in them that we all agree are bad or problematic, but i like to see these sorts of things for myself through a profound sense. These things depicted in fiction we dont like to see are things that happen in real life, and sometimes there's value in realizing it rather than just looking away. That's why my favorite yaoi manga to this day is Yatamomo by Harada, and why i love psychological horror Ive completely veered away from the topic, but yeah lmao
I love that you've tackled this subject! As a queer person, and especially as a queer person raised in a conservative, non-affirming household that heavily controlled the media I watched, these "problematic" anime were my first steps into seeing myself represented. Grell Sutcliff is a problematic representation of a queer woman, but she was the first lesbian and trans woman I ever saw on screen. I hope that more people will realize that we can acknowledge problematic elements of media without pretending these works don't exist/are inherently bad.
@RubenPalacios-qg1zd A queer person is someone who is gay (a person who is attracted to someone of the same gender), trans (someone who is a gender different from their biological sex), bi/pan (someone who is attracted to people of many genders/regardless of gender), asexual (someone who does not feel sexual attraction), aromantic (someone who does not experience romantic attraction), intersex (someone who is born with both biologically male and female traits), and any other person/group who is looked down upon from society for not fitting in with "traditional" gender and sexual roles (although queer people have existed and have been well-documented in many cultures spanning thousands of years). You might see some heterosexual/allosexual/cisgender people that are considered part of the community if they have different gender expression from the "norm" (e.g., a man who primarily wears "women's" clothes, even if he identifies as a man and is attracted to women). The term "queer" was originally a slur, as it's a derogatory term for "different". However, in recent years, people have reclaimed the term to embrace their differences. :) Hope this helps!
As the local Genderfluid Gay(tm) that saw Junjou Romantica when I was much too young to see it, identified heavily with Misaki and wanted the cute, androgynous look he had, I can already tell this video is gonna hit hard for me. Yeah 1990-2000’s era BL and yuri were filled with extremely toxic, shitty tropes, but as a confused teen trying to make sense of my self and the world around me, there was such a comfort in these stories. They reflect a sort of edginess that adolescence just brings out of you. I cannot recommend Junjou Romantica in good faith (even if I still think Junjou Egoist is my guilty pleasure), but I can’t deny that those funky abusive gay dudes helped me figure out a whole lot about who I am.
Ohh, I feel you. I watched both Junjou and Sekaiichi back when I was 13 (I'm 20 now), and I know how messed up is but they are kind of part of who I am now, mainly Sekaiichi. I genuinely don't think I should had watched Sekaiichi and all that shit when I was a preteen, I'm kind of glad I was mature enough to realize through the months how messed up Junjou and Sekaiichi were honestly. It happens that I had my first love during that time, it was my best friend at the time and then I spent years of my teen years "waiting" for her. I was just a gay girl projecting enough into this messed up gay fictional anime men though 😋, there was literally a point where I hated them so much I couldn't even watch the show because it reminded me of her. Well now as an adult nfnfm it's kind of fun thinking about that. I watched both of them again with my best friend (an actual best friend) and... I liked it. I found Junjou to be so ridiculously over the top that I couldn't take it seriously, then I read the manga and... They grew. I could never defend how it started, because it's horrible. But somehow the arc where Misaki comes out was so real it genuinely touched me, I genuinely wanted to cry because of how close I felt Misaki's experience to mine while coming out to his brother, his family. I can't really even explain how this freaky yaoi ass manga managed to have one of the best coming out arcs that I've ever seen. They feel like, real people. SOMEHOW!? Sekaiichi is not left behind, and I'm not going to lie but I was scared of coming close to the thing once again... But I liked it too, I enjoyed it once again for what it was as an adult. Onodera confessed his love (finally), the chapters before it happened felt like I was watching an actual couple. I wasn't as touched as I was reading Junjou but... I felt like I grew up while reading it. I suddenly felt all the differences between myself at 13 and myself now at 20 years old. But yeah, these guys are inevitably a part of what I am now... They aren't models, neither healthy, but they grew up with me and somehow helped me to figure out I was a lesbian.
@@tea_funz For REAL, the fact that Nakamura started Junjou as a formulaic “fucked up rich seme has his way with main chara” story but, with lots of time and development, made a legitimately heartwarming meditation on what it means to love someone and the casual horror of being outed before you’re ready is… Absolutely insane, but incredibly welcome. I think it just perfectly illustrates how these authors aren’t bad people for writing these trashy romance novels. I already believed it was unfair to judge the moral character of an author based on weird shit they write, but the delicacy in which later Junjou/Sekaiichi handles their couples is criminally overlooked. Yokozawa/Kirishima is the perfect couple to highlight this shift- Yokozawa started as the prerequisite love rival for Onodera, someone who fell for Takano during the years when they were separated, and he was a mean, toxic bitch as bitter love rivals tend to be. … Then the Kirishima OVA, which was much later in the story, happened. Kirishima adds SO MUCH to Yokozawa it isn’t even funny: Getting over a lost love, learning to be kinder and softer for the sake of others, letting yourself accept happiness, DOMESTIC DADS…. It’s slow, it’s arduous, but it’s SO sweet and tender. It’s better constructed than some of the “morally good” BL I tend to see get recommended! I like to think Nakamura’s shift from catering to the erotic, shock market to actually wanting to explore these characters and their relationships started with Misaki and Usagi’s confrontation in the Ferris wheel: Usagi outright admonishes himself for taking advantage of Misaki and believes it is Misaki’s right to leave him should he want to. Would a perfectly logical and “moral” series have Misaki leave here? Honestly yeah probably. But, life is messy and complicated and unpredictable, and sometimes we do end up falling for people who aren’t great. I’ve always really been fascinated by that scene, it reads like Nakamura wanting to acknowledge the bad start the duo had and have them face it head on. I don’t… love how Misaki essentially excuses Usagi by victim blaming himself, saying he could’ve left if he really wanted to. But, on the other hand, knowing Misaki’s series-long conflict with accepting sexuality, I am also totally willing to buy into a reading where Misaki stayed because he had latent sexual attraction and fascination for Usagi. Morbid curiosity sort of deal that became softened as he figured out Usagi’s crush on his brother. It’s not rational, it’s not idyllic, but it’s extremely human.
@@Cosplaybuddygiraffes OHH YOU UNDERSTAND IT SO WELL. What's exactly what I feel, their relationship grew so much from over the top, ridiculous and borderline creepy to something sweet, deeply messy and overall human. They feel fear, they have problems, they misunderstand each other at times... But they talk about it, they solve it and they trust each other. It's genuinely heartwarming. I like to refer to this changes as the "Nakamura's exorcism" lmao, it's not hard to tell how after the Ferris wheel scene things go gradually less over the top and erotic to something that genuinely deserves to be watched/read. I'm literally praying for a fourth season! And yes, I think the most charming thing about couples like Yokozawa/Kirishima and Egoist it's just how... Mundane they are. How simple, yet sweet they are. Yokozawa, Kirishima and Hiyori are a family, they face the simple problems of a family and of course some of the deals of being an homo-parental family, such as when they are going to tell Hiyo that they are a couple or Kirishima asking Hiyori to tell other adults that Yokozawa is his "special someone" if they ask why Yokozawa is taking care of her. And Egoist it's just seeing a long-life couple living together, they fight over simple things sometimes, they're frustrated because they don't make it home at time to be with each other sometimes... It's so simple and so warming at the very same time. And something great about later chapters of Sekaiichi is how it starts to aknowledge the consequences of Takano's mistakes with Onodera. There's this scene were they are about to have sex, but Takano is mad and he Is being too rude, leaving his hands marked on Onodera's wrists... He of course doesn't enjoy it, and for like four chapters later they don't do anything and the marks on Onodera's wrists still there, because it hurted. Of course Takano feels guilty over it and asks forgiveness, he aknowledge his own bad actions... Wich, of course, It's surprising to see in a work like Sekaiichi itself. After this, it's there is nothing ambiguous on their relationship, Onodera wants to say "I love you" but Takano doesn't Let him unless his confession ends up being dramatic like in a shoujo manga. And it's so sweet after it, it doesn't seem a borderline unilateral relationship full of doubt but a fully reciprocated one, even if we knew already it was like that, it Is so refreshing to see it on their actions. Of course Onodera's confession it's just the climax of all this conflict on the messy nature of their relationship. I could talk hours talking about the other couple's as well. Everyone here it's so, so messy yet somehow so human at the end to a surprising point because of how Nakamura's work it's often reduced as that "toxic problematic yaoi I saw at 12 years old" when It's so much more than that. An example of a couple that is problematic and extremely messy it's the Terrorist, oh they are creepy... And then you learn that Miyagi was in love with his teacher when he had Shinobu's age and he had to literally introduce him TO HER GRAVE in order to be with him!? It's just an story about a repeating cycle of abuse and it's so fucked up I can't. You can make a whole ass analysis on each couple trying to scrutinize on their dynamics, changes, grew and reasons to be if you want. I would never recommend Junjou and Sekaiichi to someone, but if they watch it I truly hope they can see beyond the creepy early writing of both.
Because of thos video essay i started watching dear brother, its interesting how the first episode was able to keep me engaged despite it just being introductions
