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[rushilsood]

Hetalia: Axis Powers stands out for its unique approach at depicting world history through anthropomorphized nations. Each country is personified, often with exaggerated stereotypes, engaging in comedic and sometimes poignant interactions that reflect their historical relationships. This setup offers a fresh and accessible way to explore complex geopolitical themes.

Hetalia highlights both Japanese and global issues through its portrayal of historical events and international relations. In Japan, the anime sparks discussions on national identity and the country’s role in global history. By using humor and satire, it encourages viewers to reflect on Japan’s past and its relationships with other countries, promoting a more nuanced understanding of history. Globally, the anime addresses themes of nationalism, war, and diplomacy. The exaggerated characteristics of each nation bring to light the absurdities and stereotypes that often underpin international relations. This satirical lens helps viewers recognize the complexity of global conflicts and the importance of understanding different cultural perspectives.

I personally believe Hetalia provides an entertaining yet insightful look at history, making it more relatable and engaging. The anthropomorphized nations and their interactions remind me of the importance of empathy and understanding in my own life. By seeing historical events from multiple viewpoints, I gain a deeper appreciation for the diverse experiences that shape our world.

Annett’s analysis in “World Conflict/World Conference: Axis Powers Hetalia” offers a valuable framework for understanding the anime’s impact. Annett explores how Hetalia uses humor to address serious historical and political issues, making them more approachable for a broad audience. This aligns with my experience of the anime, where the blend of comedy and history makes complex topics more digestible and engaging.

Given these points, Hetalia: Axis Powers is more than just a comedic portrayal of nations. It provides a unique lens through which to explore historical and global issues, encouraging viewers to reflect on the past and its influence on present-day international relations.

[ameier1]

I do agree with your take on Hetalia kinda treating historical conflicts like it's a Soap Opera where we see dramatic like cutscenes, tons of satire, and humor. I think the writer really wanted to put the dark history of Japan away into creating the anime by showing more of the creativity side of the culture by being hilarious, which the American cultures love while at the same time, really understand how some of these wars occurred in a non-traditional way

[mochicrackersss]

Blog Post - Your Name ᯓᡣ𐭩‧₊˚ ⊹

The movie Your Name is so recognizable within anime communities and is vastly known for its beautiful animation and endearing story. So why the hell have I not watched it until this class??? I knew for years this film would be right up my alley, and I loved watching similar movies like Suzume, Belle, and Weathering with You in the past. I even know the famous end-credit scene where Mitsuha and Taki reunite on the staircase years later. So I think I'm just insane or something, I don't know lol.

The movie was super cute, especially with its time-traveling Freaky Friday-like plot. I found the main characters endearing, with their struggles and embarrassment to live as the opposite sex. I liked how eventually, the two of them began to enjoy each other's lives and even helped save it. And I always enjoy a story that mentions the concept of the "red thread," or "Musubi" in the movie. The idea is that everything in the world is connected by time and place. Especially your soulmates, platonically or romantically, are all tied to your body by an unseeable thread until you find them is super fascinating to me. It felt similar to the anime, Kamisama Kiss, where the human girl Nanami and the fox spirit Tomoe were bound to fall in love again across every lifetime.

I will add that this movie surprisingly was an in-depth commentary on gender performance. A scene that stood out to me was when Taki, in Mitsuha's body, kicked a desk to stop the school bullies from talking behind her back. Everything that normal Mitsuha has done, being nice to them, staying quiet, and not bringing anything up, is stereotypically considered a "feminine" reaction to bullying. Your Name tells us that being feminine isn't the solution, and to stop someone from bullying you, the victim has to reject them in a "masculine" way (i.e. kicking your desk or getting into a fight). Of course, this isn't 100% true in reality, but the concept behind it is seen in the real world. Women have been taught for generations to bottle up their problems and not cause a scene so they aren't a nuisance, so some close-minded people believe only being a man or being masculine will get things done.

[ameier1]

When you talked about Taki kicking the desk as Mitsuha, it does fascinate me how you relate that women always bottling up their emotions because it can cause a risk in your overall popularity if you decide to show masculine traits. The same thing occurs when Mitsuha sets up a date with Okusada in Tokyo while controlling Taki body. Females are more likely to be the ones who really want to set up dates and pursue men in relationships than the other way around. You were born to be either a male or female and changing your overall approach in actions when you're someone who is LGBTQ can take some time to adjust to your new identity.

[ameier1]

Hetalia Axis Powers

The opening scene of the anime Hetalia was pretty funny and somewhat realistic since the creator Hidekazu Himaruya imitated how French people love to drink wine, America always loving to play a hero role in wars, and Germans talking angry albeit it seems normal to them. During episode 4, we see a little bit of Military propaganda being used when promoting the U-Boats coming in 12 different colors while using a popular actress to voice the propaganda. This sounds very ironic to how military posters or commercials are where they try to promote how you joining the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy is keen to defeating the enemies. The problem is joining the military doesn't seem that easy and simple like the commercials. In episode 10, France used to be a very strong country in fighting wars but it shifted over time to where they're most likely to surrender, with Germany saying "Would you put your hands up?" In episode 14, we see the German character buy a basket load of sausage, which is ironic since one of the Germans favorite food is Bratwurst and the Spain cashier taking forever to checkout customers due to the fact that their lifestyle is easy. In episode 19, we see the United States being imitated when explaining at the dinner table that something shouldn't be leaked, which is so funny because America tends to have many data breaches and military leaks throughout their history. Although the overall concept of the anime might not have a central storyline to follow besides the Allies and Axis fighting each other, Hetalia tries to lighten up the mood when explaining about historical events, but at the same time, the anime does a ton of stereotyping through the imitation of what countries do like America always wanting to lead and be apart of everything. People in the real world tend to stereotype certain individuals based on their ethnicity like how Asians are always good at math while Mexicans are supposed to be good at building.

[ameier1]

Your Name

The anime "Your Name" was confusing at first because why is a girl shocked at touching their own breasts and being mesmerized. Then you realize that a guy was in control of a girl body. After sleeping, they return to their original bodies the next day via something both characters write on their arms. We follow Taki, a boy living in Tokyo working at an Italian restaurant ends up living the life of Mitsuha, a girl dissatisfied living in her mountainous town. When the bodies switch occur, both characters make mistake in their daily activities that their friends or coworkers notice the next day when they return back to normal. For example, Mitsuha having difficulties at "Taki's" job and Taki not realizing that he riled up Okudera the previous night. It took only 30 minutes in the anime that both Mitsuha and Taki realized they kept switching bodies. Both characters tried to lay some ground rules down in what they can do with their bodies but it doesn't work. Just like my mom, Mitsuha takes constant pictures of the food they eat while controlling "Taki" body and Taki being artistics and being good at basketball while controlling "Mitsuha" body. During the anime, we also follow this supercomet that is supposed to approach close to Japan, but ends up splitting and destroys Mitsuha town of Itomori. Taki traveling back in time as Mitsuha to evacuate the citizens and the anime ends with both characters seeing each other in their own bodies in Tokyo. Although the anime doesn't show any sort of LGBTQ, it can sometimes be challenging to remove your natural masculine or feminine traits when your overall identity changes as a transgender. I'm sure in the near future we will see some medical enhancement that will allow you to switch bodies with someone.

[pari-patel]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Blog Post

I appreciate how this deviated from what we have been writing about in our past blogs, but I’m still not a fan of it. It does offer an immersive experience that tackles important environmental issues, but it just didn’t engage me or catch my attention much. This game presents a narrative that resonates with both Japanese cultural concerns and global environmental ones. Set in a world where Earth has been destroyed, it reflects the vulnerability of natural disasters and the chaos that technological advancements bring. It aims for a balance between that and environmental preservation. The narrative connects to climate change and degradation which incites players to consider their own actions on the planet they live, making this both a global and native concern. Furthermore, it elicits that degradation drives human ingenuity for environmental restoration.

Personally, the themes of this game related to my own experiences of being raised in a world where technological progression has outstripped and overshadowed environmental considerations constantly. It further sheds light and is a reminder to prioritize ecological importance and restoration, furthering reducing out environmental footprint and helping better preserve and restore our planet. Through witnessing the impacts of climate change first hand, I advocate for more sustainable practices and, as mentioned in my previous blog post, that is mainly done through participating in annual walk-a-thons and even spreading awareness locally in campus. This further connects to the readings by navigating human relationships with natural ones and the need to recognize both aspects as an integral part of a system. They are not separate entities, but, instead, need each other to facilitate restorative acts and encourage individuals to preserve the planet for future generations to come. It highlights how human and ecological restoration must go hand in hand and that one thing cannot happen without the other supporting it. This is a little different than the Nausicaa Blog Post since that one relied on the planet to restore itself overtime, but this one relies more so on humans and the plant collectively.

[ameier1]

When you talked about how the people who play this game can be influenced by their decisions in the real world, it would've been so cool if the game kinda followed a more variety storyline where certain decisions in-game can affect if you save Elysium/World Tree or the world ends up being covered in these deadly clouds. I also agree with your point of how sometimes the further we evolve technologically, the further we get away from returning nature to its original state. Sure, having walk-a-thons might bring more awareness of the climate change issue to some but if there is no sort of legislation in place, you can't always trust everybody to maintain their duties of keeping the Earth clean all the time.

[ameier1]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

In the video game Xenoblade Chronicles 2, we follow the character Rex as he and his crew are hunting for salvage above the clouds while destined to visit the most peaceful place in the planet, the World Tree. During the "Something in Common" cutscene, we hear the term Elysium multiple times by both Rex and Nia which means a place up in "heaven." I want to relate that term back to one of my favorite Matt Damon films that is also called "Elysium" where the overpopulated and destroyed Earth is overshadowed by a magical floating structure in space called "Elysium," where citizens are living in luxury and no sort of fighting. In the same cutscene, Rex says "There be no need to fight over dwindling land and resources" and "A dream like that, isn't that worth believing in?" We look at our world now and we see a future filled with potential, but the problem is we are fighting for precious resources without considering being fair for all parties. We are mining into our Earth for copper in Africa, just so the Chinese companies can benefit with their new iPhones while the Africans who got the copper were paid very little. Imagine if an abundance of oil was found in Haiti, 50 countries are fighting for territory of the oil composite. Nia even says at the end of the cutscene "I always thought people were very selfish by nature," well that quote said by a video game character does relate to how people would rather benefit for themselves than consider how the world is impacted by your decision to cut down a bunch of trees to build a home. The character Malos throughout the storyline can be seen as an anti-environmentalist who believes that the world can't be saved at all and would be more beneficial to kill the Earth as a whole than trust humans to recover what's possible or change their habits

[mochicrackersss]

Blog Post - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind ᯓᡣ𐭩‧₊˚ ⊹

I have very fond memories of watching Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind last year. During my and Dad's flight to Japan last summer, we downloaded all the Ghibli films we hadn't watched in preparation for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Going to Japan, but ESPECIALLY the Ghibli Museum was on my bucket list for so long because I'm such a huge fan of Ghibli, so I wanted to make sure I could enjoy every bit of it! And I'm glad I did, as I don't know why I never watched Nausicaä until then. Not only is it (kind of) the studio's first release (since technically it was created and directed by Hayao Miyazaki even though the studio was founded after its release), but it's also just a beautiful animated story that holds up great even today.

During my second watch, I noticed Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind has a similar setting and tone to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both stories are set in this post-apocalyptic world populated with monstrous, alien creatures. Although, it seems Nausicaä's world is more far gone than Evangelion's. The air is barely breathable due to the spore-like infection covering almost every inch of the Earth, and massive insects that could crush any remaining human civilizations. However, unlike the Tokyo-3 citizens, Nausicaä stresses to her people that cohabitation with insects and humans is possible. If anything, similar to Evangelion, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind illustrates that humans are the root cause of violence and destruction. The soil and water were polluted by the wars thousands of years ago, which caused the air to be unbreathable, all the plants to be lethal and the toxic jungles to grow.

Side note, I absolutely love the music for this movie. Joe Hisaishi ate so hard with the 8-bit synthesized fantasy score, it tickles my brain so well.

[ameier1]

I do agree that humans are the reason why the world in Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind turned into a toxic wasteland that led to massive bugs taking over the land. The more chemicals we use in our planet, the more toxins that spread into our air and waterways, the higher the temperatures become in our world, Earth will turn into a steaming pot filled with bad stuff and we will end up moving to another planet by 2050 minimum. Nausicaa created her own ecosystem in her basement of plants that were previously deemed dangerous now look safe and can produce CO2 effectively.

[ameier1]

Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind

In the anime Nausicaa, we see the world become devastated with a global catastrophe that left most of the world polluted with toxins. Nausicaa, a young girl stops an ohm/big insect with flash grenades and turns a fox squirrel from hostile to peaceful after a simple interaction. The Tolkemian Army later swarms into Valley of the Wind, the place where Nausicaa resides after one of their airships crashed near them the previous night. Kurushma, leader of the Tolkemian Army plans to make a deal with the Valley of The Wind. She wants everybody to burn the toxic jungle together in exchange for taking their land. This sounds so familiar to the Saviors from The Walking Dead, where there massive band of individuals are willing to take partial or full ownership of their land and good in exchange for protection against zombies. After the death of King Jhil, Nausicaa resides in a greenhouse like room where Lord Jupa notices that some of the toxic plants that resides in the Jungle filled with poisons that usually require a mask are healthy with clean air, soil, and water. We see this freshness in nature again after Nausicaa and Asbel end up under the Jungle, which is filled with super clear water. Relate this back to the real world, where we use a lot of pesticides and chemicals to either help kill weeds or grow fruit. While it provides a benefit for us humans, it isn't really helping the environment since that means the topsoil is filled with chemicals that has the possibility of reaching well or irrigation water. In the latter portions of the anime, we see all three groups(Valley of The Wind, Tolkemians, and Pejite) fight for what to do with the big ohms and resources. It will get to a point in the future that we will need to fight for precious resources in a scarce world, similar to movies like Mortal Engines, the Mad Max series, and Waterworld. In the end, all groups realize that working together is a lot better in defeating the ohms than sacrificing a village and having the ohms still be present.

[mochicrackersss]

Blog Post - The End of Evangelion ᯓᡣ𐭩‧₊˚ ⊹

I followed Neon Genesis Evangelion pretty well despite skipping a lot of episodes. The show was confusing, sure, but it posed a lot of interesting philosophical themes of self-hatred and fascinatingly illustrated biblical imagery. I even thought the ending of the original show was sweet despite its suddenness. I felt the characters deserved to learn to love themselves after the hardship they went through.

HOWEVER! The End of Evangelion movie confused the shit out of me! I thought the show was done? Does this take place after his self-love revelation in the last episode or before??? If so, why is Shinji now going insane again??? WHY DID SHINJI DO THAT IN FRONT OF ASUKA'S UNCONSCIOUS BODY IN THE HOSPITAL?????? WHY ARE A BUNCH OF ADULTS SEXUALLY HARASSING KIDS???????? (Insert defeated Shinji leaning over chair image here...) I just truly feel like I missed something here. I still don't understand what "The Promised Day" means, who Rei and her clones are in relation to Shinji's mom, why those black armored soldiers are attacking Nav HQ, or why Asuka and her Evangelion are going berserk.

I don't know... I feel like the original show put a lot of care into showing their characters' flaws, but also demonstrating that these flawed people were born from their terrible environment. Therefore, if they could accept their wrongdoings or learn to love themselves and others, they deserve to live peacefully. So is the movie trying to take back their claim or show the other side of reality? Is it saying sometimes despite bad environments, bad people don't try to change? Because End of Evangelion made a lot of their characters into suddenly shitty, violent people. It's fine to have those kinds of characters, but not so suddenly with no buildup. But that's just me, and like I mentioned, maybe I missed said buildup in the show.

At least those white, angel-like Evangelions are pretty cool design-wise. I have no idea where they came from, but I like their wings and hoverboard swords.

[ameier1]

That's why I wasn't really a big fan of the End of Evangelion because it included a whole new storyline that wasn't needed, but it did make these characters feel out of place in regards to their actions and personalities unlike the TV version. Shinji did go from learning to accept himself to going haywire with his emotions and I thought the flashback scene where Shinji was going to school alongside Asuka made more sense of an ending to a well developed anime focuses on male queerness. At this point Grace, it might be better to delete End of Evangelion from Netflix and anime for life since the ending ruined the overall series rating.

[ameier1]

End of Evangelion

At the start of the anime "End of Evangelion", we see Shinji trying to awaken Asuka from the hospital bed after her traumatic experiences in the TV series, but nothing prevails. After that scene, the Japanese military attacks the NERV headquarters so Gendo Ikari doesn't use human instrumentality, which focuses on creating a single entity for all humans on Earth, for the sole purpose of reuniting with his wife who had some control of EVA-1. During the firefights, Asuka and EVA-2 are placed at the bottom of the lake to avoid detection. Asuka shows femininity when she is dreaming about the fear of the death, then shows masculine hegenomy after reaching for her mom's "hand" and destroys all of the Japanese military defenses with ease. Inside the NERV headquarters, Misato tries to protect a distraught Shinji while trying to head to EVA-1, but gets shot in the process. I'm really starting to hate Shinji again because he can't make up his mind if he wants to become a man who wants to constantly fight or a little girl who can't handle any sort of trauma. I understand that Shinji is showing signs of queer masculinity, but spending so much time trying to identify your true self will end up making you more lonely like in Episode 26 of the TV series. After the Third Impact actually strikes the world, Shinji still doesn't know where happiness lies and the end of the anime really does show how quick you can go from manly to feminine in a second. Shinji was choking Asuka, but Asuka grabs his face and Shinji stops choking her and cries, then Asuka says "disgusting" and the anime end. Although the "End of Evangelion" is supposed to provide a clearer ending to Neon Genesis Evangelion, I would rather have took a happier ending from the original than complicate the anime by showing that Asuka has become masculine again. Also the number of nude scenes throughout the anime doesn't really help the cause of masculine hegenony or queerness.

[robian]

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. 

[ameier1]

I like how you mentioned about the character plot for Asuka piloting the Evas for a sense of care from others. That seemed to be a pretty common theme throughout the anime for Shinji because if he didn't pilot the EVA in episode 1, then he will end up living a life of loneliness since he showed fear but his own father, Gendo doesn't even like him. As you mentioned, Shinji obliged to every order given by him since if he denied an order or action since it felt wrong in his heart to fight, no one will care for him. Episode 26 best describes the feeling of loneliness and its good that we saw the alternate universe where Shinji can express his queerness without the possibility of becoming avoided by the majority population.

[kwanyoung]

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Part 1) | Themes of Masculinity & War

The Plot Of The Anime

Violent enemies, called Angels, roam the planet Earth and cause havoc on the human created infrastructure. A young boy named Shinji Ikari is forced to join the NERV (a secret organization under the United Nations who battles against the Angels) by his father Gendo Ikari, who is a commander of the organization, with complex relationships with him. Gendo is also the director of the construction of the top-secret Evangelion weapon project. Shinji eventually is tasked to control Evangelion Unit-01 to battle against the Angels with his group, which Evangelion Unit-01, being a powerful giant biological mech, much like what you see in Mobile Suit Gundam (I should stop making references to that dumb anime).

The Issue In Question

In episode 1, we can clearly see themes of masculinity crossed with themes of war. Gendo is the director and has a powerful position in the United Nation's secret initiative, NERV, who was also chosen by his authorities to do what he wants in control. We see that this reflects the male hegemony system, where males dominate over females in crucial positions or missions. Additionally, we can see the father wants his son, Shinji to be the one to pilot the mech and engage in war, which also shows this pattern of passing that male hegemony system down as society expects men to be mentally strong and discipline, even though Shinji is a child. However, Shinji is more of a different person, showing a presence of a female's gender performance (according our society), refusing to pilot the mech and go to war, which subverts the social norms in the anime. This is also one of the reasons why the son-father relationship is poor as the father is seen more as a masculine figure while the son has a more feminine figurine side, but I will probably discuss more on that on another blog as the focus for this blog is male hegemony.

The Issue Addressed In Japan & Beyond

Male hegemony is very present in our modern world and even has been the same historically. Men are more likely to take on very powerful positions such as being a president of a wealthy nation, a general of a powerful military, or even a CEO of a large company. In Japan for example, there hasn't been a female prime minister yet, nor in the United States, has there been a female president. Most if not all CEOs of the most valued companies around the world are occupied by males. of In the This leaves women to take on less powerful positions, specifically roles that meet what society expects in gender performance like nurturing or housework for women. However, this situation has been improving as a result of awareness for gender equality and the laws passed with it. Females started rising in importance in society and are praised for taking more powerful roles males formally took on.

My Personal Takes

I want to talk about my personality and my physiques as a male and how it doesn't really reflect how society imagines a true male looks. Men tend to look tall, muscular, and handsome as those are physical traits that make of masculinity (sounds like muscular). I do not possess most of those traits as I am a lean person who often loses in arm wrestling. However, I am tall, but not as tall as some of the more masculine dudes out there, and also I did not win the genetics of having a handsome facial features like a diamond-edged jawline.

The more related personal aspect of me to this blog is the personality aspect, where my dad's personality is very ruthless and scary, especially when he gets mad. I do not have those traits as my siblings don't seem to be scared of me at all. I do have a big soft side like Shinji in the anime and also have contrasting personalities to my dad just like Shinji and Gendo.

[ameier1]

When you mentioned about the fact that Gendo is expecting his son to be masculine but ends up showing more of a feminine side, It is important to remember that the reason why Shinji was okay living alone in episode 2 until Misato stepped in by having him moving was due to the fact that Gendo and Shinji never got along. Shinji family lived separately throughout their lives which I found weird but you wonder what happened if Shinji followed the traits that his father has early on his life. It will be more likely that Shinji wouldn't be sacred of taking over the Evangelion Unit-1 even with lackluster training and have more assertiveness in his personality, which didn't get revealed until episode 16. With real life, everybody has a soft side to them since being too ruthless towards a young boy as an adult can make the boy even softer and fear speaking out or fighting.

[ameier1]

Neon Genesis Evangelion Part 2 + Shinji Escaping Boyhood

Recapping the first portion of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji isn't really fond of fighting to stop the Angels in the war but after Rei injury, he operates the Evangelion Unit-1 out of good faith but ends up resigning after the pain and suffering as a pilot. Shinji ends up returning again full time alongside a new female pilot, Asuka, who doesn't really have the traits or personality of a female. she is super aggressive, ready to fight, and is very demanding. Albeit being a female, she shows a lot of hegemonic masculinity that we don't see in our guy pilot Shinji. In Episode 8, its seems like the crew is dealing with a shark like Angel, but we still see the feminine side show when Shinji is always asking for permission from Misato to take down the Angels. Asuka didn't care about asking for permission and was ready to fight. In episode 16, we see Shinji willing to take the lead of a fight/operation without having to rely on Misato permission and while the fight doesn't work in his favor at the start, he later escapes from the shadow ball. Now we are seeing more of the natural masculinity come into play without outside factors or influence causing his violence. Then we get to episode 24 and Kaworu Nagisa goes more in-depth about the queer population, saying that most people are sometimes scared of sharing their intimacy towards other. That's why we don't see Shinji really express love in any form during the anime that we might see for the masculine man approaching a female that they like or love. In episode 26, Shinji is experiencing a ton of hate in his dreams when anyone mentions about "running away" instead of embracing themselves to fight. This relates to how some people shelter themselves and go into a deep depression or loneliness knowing that if they reveal themselves in being queer, they might end up alone with no one supporting their decision. There was a lot of pressure on Shinji to operate the Evangelion Unit-1 in episode 1 due to the Misato and Ritsuko assuming he is manly. In the alternate universe where there is no war against the Aliens, Shinji doesn't have to worry about developing masculinity traits that quickly.

[ameier1]

Neon Genesis Evangelion Part 1

During the first few episodes of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, we drop into a nasty war between NERV, a secret government organization and Angels, big alien like monsters who basically can wipe out a whole tank battalion without breaking a sweat. We follow Shinji Ikari, a young boy who doesn't look like he is prepared for any sort of war. In the opening scenes of episode 1, we see a war room filled with old men making the decisions in battle. This sounds very familiar to the term "hegemony" as described by Raewyn Connell, which follows suit of men always holding dominate positions in whatever sort of job they work, while the women act as subordinates. While the workforce roles has changed dramatically since 1995 to where we see more women take leadership roles, this masculine hegemony still shows in the anime a couple minutes later. Midway through the episode, Gendo Ikari, Shinji father, is looking for a pilot to operate the Evangelion Unit-1, a highly advanced warship that is supposed to act as it's last hope to take down the Angels. Gendo decides on his son to become the pilot, but the problem initially is Shinji was denying to operate the vehicle. Shinji was scared and while he might be considered fragile, it deviates from all males willing to fight to protect their loved ones. At the same time, we also see more of the masculine hegenomy become true again in the same scene since why didn't Gendo choose either Misato or Ritsuko, in which both characters have more knowledge about Evangelion Unit-1 than putting it on a young boy. In Episode 4, we notice a non-masculine trait come out of Shinji when he decides to reside from operating Evangelion Unit-1 due to the amount of pain and suffering he has endured. Many people have resigned from tough tasks in the past, but when the world is on its heels, giving up instead of fighting is more of a social norm for females(not to be rude). I'm curious on if Shinji will become manlier in the upcoming episodes or will he keep running away from fear.

[kwanyoung]

Wandering Son | Themes of

The Plot of the Anime

The anime takes place in the first year of middle school. We are introduced with Nitori Shuichi, who identifies as female while assigned male during birth, which they wear a woman wig and woman uniform. The second main character, Takatsuki Yoshino, is introduced, who identities as a male while assigned female during birth, who has short hair and male uniform. The characters see that students are more mature and are settling into their classes. When the students are introduced, we can notice some have gender non-conforming traits (e.g. having no preferences wearing gender-matching uniforms), which shows how gender-fluid their world is. It also appears that Shuichi has affection towards Yoshino at one point, but Shuichi doesn't understand what love is.

The Issue In Question

As the two main characters are transgender, each faced some discrimination due to their identity. We have Shuichi who was made fun of at school calling them by "tranny" as well as locking them outside of class. We also see people looking at Shuichi in a weird way in public as well as girls being surprised and angry at Shuichi trying to express their female gender identity. Shuichi is also resisting to dress up as their female-self because they feel like they could be discriminated.

We also see a scene where Saori Chiba, who initially confessed her love to Shuichi, angry and bullies Yoshino because Chiba found out Shuichi expressed their love to Yoshino, effectively breakikg Chiba's hopes of having a relationship with Shuichi. When Yoshino wore men clothing to school, the school staff questioned them and Yoshino had to clarify the situation.

From these observations, the takeaway issue is that for someone who feels like they are another gender (transgender people or any LGBTQIA+ members), it is more difficult for them to adapt to society due to discrimination and perceptions.

The Issue Addressed in Japan & Beyond

Japan is a pretty friendly nation towards queer or LGBTQIA+ members, however in certain situations or in nations worldwide, there comes to be discrimination towards and the inability to adapt to society for any gender non-conforming people.

Discrimination-wise, there are a lot of scenarios of discrimination towards queer people in schools and even online. In schools or other professional institution, there have been cases where they would ban any queer education or identities, restricting them from exercising their identity in those spaces. There are a lot of people online who are sending hate messages towards queer people.

We can see that just like in the anime, we see the same issues in our real world where queer people are often called out as "weird" and also are not respected or thought of as unusual.

My Personal Takes

While I do not identify as queer nor is part of the LGBTQIA+ community, I have personally seen a lot of acts of discrimination and bullying towards these members, however the worse cases I've seen is on social media like Instagram. Note that I am a straight person and I do not have the full picture of the LGBTQIA+ community, so please take my observations lightly. So like, there are people calling these groups, especially online in comments or posts, as "insane" and "mentally unjust", as well as hearing them talk about wanting the community to be banished.

I am not affiliated with these negative discussions but I do believe they are discriminatory and give an unfair perspective on these communities and people. Again, please do not actively criticize me in a personal level, like beyond this blog post, but you are free to drop your perspective within this blogpost. Please be positively minded.

[ameier1]

I want to further dive into your point in regards to how institutions ban anyone of LGBTQIA+ identification to an extreme for countries in the Middle East. Everybody knows about the brutal human rights record in the Middle East but even worse, they absolutely ban any kind of homosexual activity or in relation to the anime, transgender individuals. If you identify as a LGBTQIA+ individual in United Arab Emirates, your spending time in prison while in Saudi Arabia, you'll end up with the death penalty as the punishment. I think one of the main reasons behind the ban in workplaces is it can end up becoming a distraction in the workplace if you showed up dressed a girl while being a guy inside or if you talk like a gay individual with a high pitch voice and stuff. Again, people aren't really fond on going against the norms exhibited by their gender like buying makeup as a guy or dressing like a tomboy as a girl. People need to learn that they shouldn't really care about the way they dress or look because at the end of the day, if they have a good heart, then that's all that matters.

[ameier1]

Wandering Song + Difficulties of Being A Transgender

When I was watching the first few minutes of the anime Wandering Son, I didn't really see the characteristics of someone trying to become transgender based on the looks itself like you would notice in real life due to Shuichi already sounding and looking like a female, although Shuichi was born a boy. We see one of the main transgender issues come into play with Shuichi being careful when leaving the boys bathroom so Shuichi doesn't get caught. Near the end of the first episode, Shuichi gets into a fight with one of the girls after trying on a dress and the boy like features get exposed after punching her along with Shuichi wig falling off. Skipping over to episode 7, the students were making fun of our other character, Takatsuki, who identifies as a boy although was a girl at birth for reading a passage that was describing the traits of a female. The difficulties of being a transgender still continues on throughout the rest of the episodes. We are seeing more people identify as a different gender over the years and while that puts a sign of relief on them personally, the overlying community still isn't fond of the idea due to the fact you're deviating from social norms. Obscene jokes will be said towards you and bullying will keep growing as more transgender individuals come into play. While the LGBTQ population does get a ton of hate from heterosexual individuals since you're basically not following the norms of your gender, transgender people take the biggest hit knowing that being lesbian or gay doesn't affect your body parts that a transgender individual has to handle. While the anime does help us learn about the struggles of wanting to identify as a different gender like the bathroom situations, which was very similar to the 2016 Bathroom Bill in North Carolina where transgender individuals couldn't use the bathrooms based on what they identify, instead via birth certificate.

[mochicrackersss]

Blog Post - Convention Preview ᯓᡣ𐭩‧₊˚ ⊹

I've always enjoyed participating in fandom experiences! Though, I haven't been to anything crazy, like Comic-Con or Anime Expo. My most notable were just a few local Florida conventions. But they were still fun overall and gave a great look into youth culture and fandom communities with its vast amount of participants around the globe and things tailored for each fandom.

My first convention was PolyCon at Florida Polytechnic University. I don't remember much about it because it was a couple of years ago, but would say it was a good time! The convention itself was pretty quaint with not a lot to do and not many people attending besides Polytechnic students. But for being my first exposure to convention life, I was enamored. There was also a student-run maid cafe that was amusing to go to, specifically because my dad came to the convention with me. Younger me had absolutely no idea how to explain to my dad why a bunch of college students were in cat ears, maid costumes, and doing intricate dance routines. He was so confused... it was lowkey hilarious but also embarrassing.

I'd say the most memorable convention memory I have is when I went to Mega Con in 2021! It wasn't super long after the COVID quarantine got lifted, and so until then, I hadn't gone to anything or seen many people for what felt like a long time. Being able to go to a convention (of course, by then it was safe to be in public spaces) and simultaneously going with my best friend for her first time was just what I needed. However, it was very different with COVID regulations still in place, like masks and social distancing. But I did notice the convention felt like a sense of normalcy for many con-goers after the pandemic. Everyone I met was so kind (and that's rare because you're bound to run into a few bad eggs or creeps), and every cosplayer I saw, even with the masks, made the most out of their costumes! My best friend and I also tried to cosplay as our favorite characters from Demon Slayer because the anime was a huge comfort to us while we holed up inside our homes with nothing to do. Yes, I think my costume was horrible because I am no professional, and I lowkey hate looking at pictures of it, but it did act as a nice escape from the COVID-filled reality at the time. Because of that, I was so happy to spend that precious time with my best friend! And buy a lot of stuff in the artist alley because Mega Con's is so big lol.

Another convention I went to earlier this year was the University of Florida convention, Swamp Con! I never knew until later in my first semester that UF held its own convention, and I think more students should know about it! Swamp Con is an event completely run by students in the Reitz Union, which I think is super impressive based on how many activities there were to do! There were panels, quizzes, performances, cosplay contests, an artist alley, outdoor games, special foods and drinks, and even a maid cafe (which was so funny to see a second time in a college). I also cosplayed again for this convention as Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle, which is such a huge shocker based on my Tumblr. 

Overall, the convention setting on a college campus took an unseen pressure off, which is something I also remembered feeling at PolyCon. I thought that would be an interesting thing to point out compared to venue conventions! 

[ameier1]

It had to be a difficult time for Otaku fans like you not being able to go to conventions due to COVID-19 being present but after the restrictions lightened, you had to be so pleased because being restricted at home with no one to really socialize with outside of your school friends, which might've not been the biggest fans of Otaku can provide good relief to a community that will support you 100% of the way. I didn't even know there was a mini anime convention at University of Florida so in the fall, I will try my best to attend it as a student although you won't see me cosplay since wearing a costume isn't my thing.