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PipingHotTea
Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 150
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:23 pm
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nargun wrote: |
rheiders wrote: | Hachi's feelings for Takumi are complex, but that doesn't mean Yazawa-sensei supports them. |
Hachi has terrible taste in men, or rather has a personality that sets herself up to [among other things] be exploited: it's kind of the driving force of her side of the story. I mean, how does it start? She's running away from her Small Northern Town 'cause her high-school affair with a married man doesn't work out, and then it kind of spirals down from there.
I _really_ don't think that Hachi's sexual and romantic choices are meant to be read positively by-and-large. |
Like Rihanna's song, she didn't fell in love, she fell stupid in love. But granted, she does learn from her experience. However, as much as Takumi is a piece of work, both are at fault for the mistakes and they have to suffer/learn for it. But it's more of Hachi having to face it while Takumi is just living in blissful ignorance.
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nargun
Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 930
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:34 pm
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PipingHotTea wrote: | But it's more of Hachi having to face it while Takumi is just living in blissful ignorance. |
Shoujo manga, see. Focus on the female experience: it's the female characters who [have to [be seen to]] change.
Consider how having Takumi stop living in blissful ignorance would read? "you can fix 'em", no? Not good.
[which is why diversity in stories-told and stories-consumed is important, it's the only way to add nuance [one narrative can only show one outcome]. Which is largely what's wrong with moeblob shows, US superhero comics, and a whole swathe of other genres, or at least the shitty exemplars: they're all the damned same.]
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la_contessa
Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Posts: 200
Location: Pennsylvania
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:10 pm
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Brainchild129 wrote: | Also la_contessa, I would almost agree with George, as he is indeed egotistical as hell, manipulative, and a master of mixed signals, but then I would arge that Yazawa never inteded George to be viewed as a great boyfriend. A hot one, sure, but not the kind of person who is ready for a long-term relationship, much less one with Yukari. |
Oh, I agree--Paradise Kiss is too perfect of a story about an emotionally abusive relationship not to be intended as such. We aren't intended to like him, we're supposed to see the dysfunction and how Yukari grew through and past it (to a point). But I am always horrified at how many people miss that. I know girls who think George is somehow romantic, and I cannot fathom why. It's not SAD that George left Japan and she stayed behind, it's good! Not every failed relationship is tragic, you know?
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Ggultra2764
Subscriber
Joined: 21 Jan 2004
Posts: 3952
Location: New York state.
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:13 pm
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Surprised at the lack of mention on Hana Yori Dango's Tsukasa Doumyoji.
Damn guy was possessive enough of Tsukushi to the point where he lashed out at her when she had interest in his friend Rui, almost raped her at one point, is willing to kill or maim anyone who brings harm to her and almost led her to be expelled from school because of, again, her interest in Rui.
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roseversailles
Joined: 13 Sep 2012
Posts: 236
Location: Washington, U.S.
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:28 pm
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I don't know, I think Akio should've just dominated the list, and made top entry. What a magnificent creep. Forget his backstory, he is literally the worst boyfriend you could ever ask for, especially if you're his sister...
I also would've thrown Ryo from Hot Gimmick in there. He is also a creepy abusive boyfriend! Prevent your girlfriend from having friends or family, berate her at every turn, give her an ultimatum concerning sex, physically abuse her... yep, he's sure a dream guy
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Tenbyakugon
Joined: 11 Jan 2012
Posts: 797
Location: Ohio, United States
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:04 pm
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Lol Satoshi most definitely will NOT win that new poll... He'll probably just be in the top four or eight Voted for Yugi.
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faintsmile1992
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
Posts: 295
Location: England
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Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:56 pm
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Aizen-chan wrote: | How about the reverse - a list of girls with the worst taste in men. Some possible examples:
Haruko from FLCL - she's gone after a young teenage boy, his deranged father, and a wanted space alien.
Julia from Cowboy Bebop - she cheated on her homicidal boyfriend with a guy who can't forget her but doesn't care enough to find her. And she may have tried to start something with Gren, who's tits are not his biggest problem. |
Haruko was simply using people to get what she wants, that's hardly evidence of what most people would call a taste in men.
Though she actually did start to feel something for Naota towards the end as Mamimi lost her affection for him, as part of his coming of age story when he finally started to man up. Anyways, Naota might not be one of those middle school shounen heros who makes all the girly otakus squee, but its still hot for a girl when she's the only focus of someones amorous attentions so her growing affection for Takkun isn't that weird if you think about it like that, and she is only 19 in human years. Although I can't imagine anyone actually having a crush on a FLCL character lol.
As for the girlfriends of the boys in the original piece, they remind me of this quote.
"All evil requires the sanction of the victim" - Ayn Rand
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
Joined: 20 Apr 2009
Posts: 3524
Location: Bellevue, WA
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:28 am
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faintsmile1992 wrote: | Haruko was simply using people to get what she wants, that's hardly evidence of what most people would call a taste in men.
Though she actually did start to feel something for Naota towards the end as Mamimi lost her affection for him, as part of his coming of age story when he finally started to man up. Anyways, Naota might not be one of those middle school shounen heros who makes all the girly otakus squee, but its still hot for a girl when she's the only focus of someones amorous attentions so her growing affection for Takkun isn't that weird if you think about it like that, and she is only 19 in human years. Although I can't imagine anyone actually having a crush on a FLCL character lol. |
You were doing fine until you said that Haruko is only 19 in human years. She may *appear* to be 19, but that's not her actual age. Heck, she treated Amarao the same way she treated Naota (at least to start with) when Amarao was Naota's age. It's really impossible to say how old she is, but she's definitely much older than 19.
But yeah, she wasn't actually going after Naota's dad or Atomsk in terms of forming some sort of romantic relationship with them. And in Naota's case, I think it may be more accurate to say that she grew fond of him rather than she started to become seriously interested in him, and that was, I think, because Naota opened up to her throughout the series (which I think the size of his N.O. gate reflected); as far as I can tell, Amarao withdrew, and I wouldn't be surprised of his N.O. gate actually shrunk; Haruko said it wasn't very big to begin with, more or less.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:42 am
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faintsmile1992 wrote: |
As for the girlfriends of the boys in the original piece, they remind me of this quote.
"All evil requires the sanction of the victim" - Ayn Rand |
Thanks for the weekly reminder of what a colossal myopic juvenile idiot Ayn Rand was. I needed that!
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 02 May 2011
Posts: 3014
Location: Email for assistance only
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:53 am
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Zac wrote: |
faintsmile1992 wrote: |
As for the girlfriends of the boys in the original piece, they remind me of this quote.
"All evil requires the sanction of the victim" - Ayn Rand |
Thanks for the weekly reminder of what a colossal myopic juvenile idiot Ayn Rand was. I needed that! |
This. Can we NOT get into The Fountainhead and Rand's wonderful rendition of how women secretly want to be raped? Seriously insulting.
The characters in these stories may not be real, but they are the fictional victims of sexualized violence written for girls as role models for romantic relationships. With the exception of Utena and Nana, which actually portrays the relationships as dysfunctional, these are situations that are supposed to make female audiences hearts flutter.
I could get far more analytical about gender roles and patriarchy, but seriously, what you got from this is "victims want it" ?
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3728
Location: SoCal
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:24 am
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la_contessa wrote: |
Oh, I agree--Paradise Kiss is too perfect of a story about an emotionally abusive relationship not to be intended as such. We aren't intended to like him, we're supposed to see the dysfunction and how Yukari grew through and past it (to a point). But I am always horrified at how many people miss that. I know girls who think George is somehow romantic, and I cannot fathom why. It's not SAD that George left Japan and she stayed behind, it's good! Not every failed relationship is tragic, you know? |
Oooooooh yeah, experienced that firsthand when I watched the series and was really worried about where it was going until, well, it ended up where it did and nestled deeply in my heart as one of my favorite anime series. I was sooooo happy with how Yukari was characterized, how she overcame her relationship with George, learned from it, became a better person, but still found the strength not to be resentful of him and take responsibility for her own life, which was the most valuable thing he taught her, awful boyfriend in other regards or no.
AND THEN. I watched it with some high school buddies of mine and a few (though to be fair, not all,) were really upset that at the end Yukari and George didn't end up together. *siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh* Kinda depressing, honestly. I'm just going to log that away in my brain as them not being perceptive/thoughtful media consumers and hope it doesn't mean that's how they see real relationships. There's romanticism and then there's...idolizing and pursuing horrible jerk-men. D:
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rheiders
Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 1137
Location: Colorful Colorado :)
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:32 am
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JesuOtaku wrote: |
AND THEN. I watched it with some high school buddies of mine and a few (though to be fair, not all,) were really upset that at the end Yukari and George didn't end up together. *siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh* Kinda depressing, honestly. I'm just going to log that away in my brain as them not being perceptive/thoughtful media consumers and hope it doesn't mean that's how they see real relationships. There's romanticism and then there's...idolizing and pursuing horrible jerk-men. D: |
Ugh, I understand how you feel! We watched the live-action ParaKiss film as part of a Valentine's Day event with our Japan Club, and I was horrified when the movie ended with a tearful reunion in America! Completely ruined the entire thing for me! And the person who chose that movie was saying how she "likes the manga too, but doesn't like that they don't end up together." I think the worst part was that this was my friend's first exposure to ParaKiss and, indeed, to anything Ai Yazawa, and she walked away thinking it was corny, meaningless fluff.
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Sky_Renzokuken
Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 22
Location: Seattle, WA
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:55 am
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What about Vicious? He gave Julia the choice of kill Spike or die. Although Takumi, yeah total douchebag. I hated that ending.
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Godaistudios
Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2075
Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment)
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:22 am
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Just a consideration - since the genre of monster tournaments is based on the symbiotic relationship of master/servant, I was surprised that none of the characters from Fate/Zero or Fate Stay/Night were mentioned.
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enurtsol
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14876
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Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:31 am
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Heh, met a few gals like that............. interesting observing their spiral...............
Anyways, for a lighter side, another old quote:
Women marry men hoping to change them, but they never do.
Men marry women hoping they will never change, but they always do.
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