The Blog Project

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Assassination Classroom (S1, eps. 1,5,16 and S2, eps. 11)

This is not my first-time Assassination Classroom. I did not have the same reaction to it as I did the last time I watched it. Assassination Classroom follows the story of a group of students who are trying to kill their all-powerful alien teacher and save the Earth from getting blown up by him.

This show displayed the importance of education and learning. The students at the school compete against each other to see who comes out on top in many topics like math, science, history, and English. Even though Koro-sensei, the alien teacher, has to avoid getting assassinated, he still cares deeply about his students. He uses unorthodox methods to teach them. He sometimes takes them to historical places where the events in the books he provides took place. This allows his students to gain a better perspective of things and be able to answer any tough questions on the midterm and final exams.

Assassination Classroom also questions morality and ethics. We can see that the director of the school used some sort of mind control to force the students from Class A to comply with his need to eliminate Class E. That raised the question about the ethics of experimentation on living creatures and the responsibility that comes with having power. The director abuses his power in order to get more money from the government and to prove that the lower class can't surpass the higher class.

Overall, this was a great show with great humor, 8/10.

[leiogerio]

This is gonna be a hot take, but I actually don’t like the show that much. I can recognize that it’s still pretty good, but I felt that we weren’t able to spend enough characters to make many of their deaths feel truly meaningful. Pilar’s death really just came out of nowhere, mostly serving as a way to move the plot forward. Also, Maine’s fall into cyber psychosis only occurred during the span of a single episode. If we had gotten to see an entire arc where Maine kept trying to get new implants despite his growing insanity, just like what happened to David in the end, it would make both of their deaths so much more significant. Like I said, I don’t think that show is bad. In fact, the last arc is one of the best pieces of fiction I’ve ever seen, but I’m just sad that the series could have been so much more.

As with nearly all cyberpunk works, the show presents a speculative world that results from late capitalism. When businesses and profit reign supreme, it leads to massive social stratification, as shown by the different lives that David has to live compared to his high-class students. David is forced to pirate, his mother is forced to engage in illegal activities to make a living, and when David’s mother is horribly injured during a crossfire, he isn’t able to pay for her healthcare.

It's also important to note Lucy's desire for exteriority. Her dream is to go to the moon, far away from the capitalist dystopia of Night City, but the moon has simply become a tourist destination for more people to exercise capitalism. When she finally makes it to the moon in the final scene, she isn't happy because it seems as if all her efforts had been for nothing, having lost everyone that was close to her.

The show effectively portrays the harsh realities of a dystopian future where access to basic necessities such as healthcare is determined by wealth and privilege. This portrayal aligns with the cyberpunk genre's overarching theme of societal inequality resulting from uncontrolled capitalism and corporate control. It highlights the vast disparity between the rich and the poor, where the mega-corporations hold immense power, and the lower class struggles to survive, often resorting to illegal activities to make ends meet.

[bryanschmuck]

I agree with you about the deaths, the only one I was sad about was David. Also I agree that the show did a great job showing the wealth disparity between the rich and poor, and overall I think that the group struggling together for the show was very effective.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

I agree that this show shows how a dystopian future is not that great because of the basic necessities that are not available to the unprivileged.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Cyberpunk Edgerunners( Eps. 1,2,6,10)

Cyberpunk Edgerunners did not live up to the high praises for me, even though it was still a good show. The story felt rushed and did not convince one bit of me to play the video game as it was meant to do.

This show was meant to be an appetizer for Cyberpunk 2077, but it ended up providing some good insight into how capitalism is slowly but surely destroying the planet. David is somewhat of a problem child who causes a lot of problems for his single mother, who was barely making enough so that he could afford to go to school. After causing trouble at school, his mother had to go to his school to pay reparation money for what he did. On their way from there, they got into an accident that caused his mother's death. I believe that he's partly to blame for that, but the insurance company that came after the accident didn't help either. Since David and his mother weren't covered under insurance, the insurance workers didn't bother to help and left them to die. I think this serves as a warning about how the continuing increase in the price of healthcare and other things can be detrimental to the less fortunate.

This series also explores the effects of artificial intelligence and corporate greed. The artificial intelligence in this world is super advanced in that people don't even use phones anymore and talk with something in their eyes (I don't think it was ever explained what it was), and people can implement superpowers in their bodies, which I thought was cool. However, great power is always followed by greed. We saw how the higher class in that society wanted to control everything and even use humans as test subjects.

Overall, Cyberpunk Edgerunners was a good watch, and the animation was great. I would rate it at 7/10.

[bryanschmuck]

Perfect Blue

Despite the movie being only 81 minutes long including credits, and not being one of the things I voted for, I'm actually really glad it was chosen because this movie was a banger.

I've always sorta been a fan of psychological thriller type movies, even though I think some of them get a little too into the psychological part where it ends up making no sense unless you bend over backwards and jump through some hoops. But this movie was perfectly fine, and I found it to be super entertaining. The ending was really wild and I actually loved the twist ending.

As for analysis, I think that it's pretty clear the movie is taking a look at celebrity/pop idol culture and exposes some of the stresses involved with it as well as some of the problems celebrities face. We can see that Mima's psyche deteriorates over the course of the entire film, which causes her to not only hallucinate about committing murders, but also not be able to discern from filming her TV show and reality. The movie does a pretty good job of this, and while sometimes it can get a little confusing, I felt that overall it was done in a way that was still pretty easy to somewhat understand what was going on. A lot of psychological thrillers will have a scene towards the end of the movie where it shows what was really happening while the main character was hallucinating, but I've never really liked those except for very rare circumstances.

We can also see that relevant to some of our class discussions, the film comments on obsessive fan culture and the dangers of it. We can see in the film that there are multiple characters that are obsessed with Mima, being the one rapist character (I forget his name), and the main antagonist of the movie, Rumi. I believe that the film tries to show the audience the danger of becoming too obsessed with a specific celebrity, as it can cause you to literally do things that end up negatively affecting the celebrities own psyche. While Rumi clearly has some sort of mental disorder that causes her to act this way, I think it's still interesting that the film decides to deal with it.

Lastly, a large part of the film is about blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Throughout the movie, we are unable to tell if some parts are real or not, which shows us the true psychological impact that the stresses of work life are having on Mima. I think it's a very effective way of storytelling, and I thought it was done well in this movie.

Pretty good.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

I agree that the film blurs the line between reality and fantasy. I was confused about which scenes were part of Mima's hallucinations and which were happening in reality. I guess that means the film did what the scenes were supposed to be.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue was an interesting watch as it touched on some complex themes like the concept of identity and the effects of fame on a person's mental health.

Mima left the pop idol life and embarked on a new journey to pursue a career in acting. However, things did not go as she expected as she had some lunging deep within her that didn't want to be an actress. Her inner self hindered her progress toward self-discovery as she was overconcern about her public image. Mima struggles to shake off that feeling, and she starts hallucinating her dark side. As she continues to struggle with this new part of her life, she starts losing touch with reality and is haunted by her pop idol past and the scene she had to force herself to act out even though she didn't like it.

The film's use of imagery and nonlinear storytelling showcase the psychological turmoil that Mima was experiencing. The nonlinear storytelling that the film exhibits mixes up reality and fantasy, creating a dreamlike atmosphere that emphasizes Mima's turmoil. It was confusing for me as I couldn't tell if she was hallucinating during the last thirty minutes of the film or whether that was happening in real-time and that her past self had taken over. The film uses mirrors and reflections to showcase Mima's struggle with her identity as an actress or a pop idol and the different personas she is forced to adopt while acting.

Overall, Perfect Blue is an excellent example of how fame can be too much for a person and drag them to their mental health limits and break them. It was a good watch, but too much thriller for me, 6/10.

[jjraderftw]

Sensōron

I don’t read much manga myself, believe it or not. Besides a few entries here and there that are either best enjoyed through manga or content I’m too anxious to wait for, I often prefer to watch anime. Though I know my way around manga for the most part, I have to say that Sensōron was quite dense. It was quite different from your average read because it felt as if the main character was talking to you directly. There was a very short yet loose narrative about a publication studio but that was only used as an analogy to segway into the real bread and butter of the manga: nationalism.

Each country has nationalism and there are often times when people of a certain country either make up stories or bend the truth to either make themselves look better, or others look worse. This is a main topic of the manga. The idea of false depictions of events are talked about thoroughly in the manga. When Poka-Q, a worker for the boss, takes too long in the bathroom, the boss sprays bug spray in the room to make him leave and justifies his actions by making up white lies about Poka-Q. Through these means, his employees believe him. This action mimics the idea of brainwashing that occurs globally. In the manga, brainwashing in Japan occured by convincing a lot of the youth that Japan was always in the wrong because of WWII’s events and deserved to be demeaned. The boss argues that many of the facts and images used throughout history to justify Japan’s inferiority and the sanctification of places like the US may have been forged or taken out of context. He uses the Nanjing Massacre as a common example of photos taken out of context that justify an event he deems has no real evidence.

Though I won’t comment on the events directly, the argument here can be universally applied. It’s a straightforward message of “don’t believe everything you see and read.” Oftentimes, you must fact check yourself and the sources you find online due to the massive spread of misinformation. With tools such as photoshop, image editors, and other facts, images can be skewed to prevent telling the complete story. Furthermore, like the boss’ example, evidence may be used in situations where they are not directly tied yet are passed off as legit and directly tied to an event. You must be careful what you trust. Furthermore, with artificial intelligence growing rapidly and voice modulations becoming an ever present idea, even voice recording and videos may be the subject of fact checking as any form of “evidence” can be faked in our day and age. The boss also talks about this idea of “evidence” which I found interesting. He critiques the idea that without evidence, you can’t always trust or believe something. However, sometimes the evidence may just be some testimonies or accusations by people who are making things up. The question then becomes, do you trust this form of evidence or not? This is a big problem we face in our society where any form of accusation can have serious consequences on a person’s life, despite the accusations and potential “evidence” being forged or taken out of context.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

I agree that we can't trust any evidence as they can be modified to be true evidence with AI and Photoshop. We will need to verify that everything is as they seem before making a decision that can impact someone or a group of people in a negative aspect

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Thoughts on Sensoron

This was undoubtedly an interesting manga to read. It was clear that the manga was some sort of propaganda for Japanese nationalism. It seems like it was very far right-wing as it often criticizes the left wing.

This manga mainly criticizes how media often invents fake quotes and re-used images out of context to dehumanize a country or to push their agenda. It gave a lot of examples of how European and US media recycled images from entirely different events related to Japan in order to paint them as the evil in the world. The manga argues that since they were no conclusive evidence that Japan was the cause of the atrocities mentioned in the manga, they shouldn't be apologetic. This argument is flawed because it could be a pure coincidence that the newspapers use the same pictures to describe similar events that have Japan's name on them. Most news outlets nowadays use similar images with different headlines based on who their audience is, so it's not far-fetched to say that news outlets are manipulative and will only release news that gets the most reaction from the public.

One of the main messages of this manga is that not everything that you read in the newspapers is true. Throughout this manga, we see how everything in the newspapers is full of bias, flaws, and misinformation. This message is relevant to today's world, where everything can be modified by artificial intelligence to make it look like it's real. We have to double or even triple-check our sources to avoid getting false information about certain events.

[plusultranumber1]

My Thoughts on Your Name

I was happily surprised with how much I enjoyed the film, and I applaud its storytelling and emotional message. The film follows two star-crossed lovers, Taki and Mitsuha, trying to find one another through time and space, only connected by fading memories of living in the other’s place. The film touches on the traditional teenage romance themes of the power of love and youth, and also made homage to tradition and the natural world. The film shows that love and human connection transcends the surface and physical world, and that being in another’s shoes is the only way to truly understand someone.  

The film’s content matter has its focus on gender expression and sexual identity, as displayed in the swapping of places between Taki and Mitsuha. As the two live in the other’s life, people around them begin to question their clear change in behavior, which could be either advantageous or not depending on the social circumstance. When Taki is Mitsuha, he is seen as not ladylike enough by her father or too rambunctious by her peers, but also has an inspiring confidence and determination. When Mitsuha is Taki, she struggles with his busy lifestyle but her calm and vulnerable feminine nature attracts Miss Okudera. In relation to Foucalt’s writing, hegemonic powers in our world produce immense pressure for individuals to display heteronormative behavior. In learning how to fulfill and perform the other gender’s role, the characters struggle to perform properly, which is echoed in Foucalt’s writing that hegemonic powers in our world produce immense pressure for individuals to display heteronormative behavior.

The film heavily commentates on the tremendous power of love. Through the journey that Mitsuha and Taki both take, the film shows that love goes deeper than the surface. Even without knowing each other’s names and forgetting the past they shared, the connection between the pair never faded. The film teaches that love can not be possessed, but is rather a feeling that comes with one does not possess but instead is a feeling that spawns from hard work and investment in one another on behalf of the two people. Other more subtle themes the film discussed were tradition vs change, in which both Taki and Mitsuha abandon their roots in search of connection and love. Another observation I noticed was when the adults refused to heed the warnings of imminent danger from the children. This could be referencing older generations unwillingness to listen or acknowledge the younger generations' grievances about the damage to the ecological systems. 

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

I agree that the connection and love between Taki and Mitsuha were so strong that it prevented an unavoidable catastrophe from being too disastrous. I feel like this showed that when two people build such a great connection, they can make the impossible possible.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Thoughts on "Your Name"

Your Name" is a movie that explores themes of love, loss, and the power of connections. It tells the story of two high school students, Mitsuha and Taki, who mysteriously start switching bodies with each other, leading to a deeper understanding of each other's lives and ultimately to a powerful connection.

One of the main themes of the movie is the importance of connection, which is demonstrated through the experiences of Mitsuha and Taki. Through their body-switching experiences, they are able to understand each other better, despite their different backgrounds and circumstances. They start to see the world from each other's perspectives, and this helps them to grow and become better versions of themselves. The film suggests that by connecting with others, we can learn to overcome our differences and appreciate the unique experiences that each individual brings.

Another major theme of the film is the power of memories, both personal and collective. Memories play a crucial role in the story, as they not only help Mitsuha and Taki understand each other's lives, but they also serve as a powerful force that brings the two characters together. The film also explores the idea that memories are not just individual experiences, but collective ones as well. The story of the comet that appears in the film is a metaphor for this idea, as it represents a collective memory that has been passed down through generations.

The movie also explores the idea of time and how it affects our relationships with others. The fact that Mitsuha and Taki live in different time periods makes their connection even more poignant, as they realize that time is fleeting and that they must cherish their experiences together. The film suggests that time is not just a physical measurement but a psychological one as well, as it shapes our memories and relationships.

Overall this was a great movie, and I would definitely watch it again. I would rate it as 10/10.

[angel-is-not-creative]

Hetalia

I cannot rate this with a good conscience ❤

I have autism and Hetalia is my special interest so this is literally 3k words long and I have absolutely no regrets. I could have gone on longer but I wanted to remain relevant to the class. If you don't reply to me I will cry.

I'm gonna break this into a few sections so you can skip around. I'm going to try and stick to just season 1 with this discussion, which won't be too hard cause it's the most insane one. Also, I just want to say that I wrote this all before I read the attached article and I'm now seeing that I literally could have written that article because I know everything about Hetalia.

When do we cross the line between stereotyping and just straight-up racism?

Hey, why are we idolizing WWII Germany?

Oh, we are portraying war as silly and funny, okay cool.

Is this Japanese Nationalism? (a surprisingly controversial argument)

The Sub and the Dub are 2 totally different shows

The Fandom (and linking back to other class-related terms)

Okay I'll name one good thing

Alright, let's get started.

1.

A lot of people will argue that Hetalia is not racist at all because they are making fun of everyone. If you are portraying all of the countries as their most common stereotypes then it evens out in the end. I would argue that this is in fact, not the case. Especially when you set your show during WWII. I will give Himaruya credit in that he mostly focuses on European countries to make fun of, making a lot of the stereotypes less so targeted at minorities. However, a lot of these jokes are still highly insensitive and frame some countries in a worse light than others

Just look at the difference between how Northern Italy is portrayed as opposed to Germany or Japan. Or how France is a predator, Belarus is into her literal brother, and Spain is seen as a creep. It is often times mocking an entire country's intelligence, appearance, or personality. While it is not always that serious, it does lead me to the second point.

When you personify a country and mock it, you aren't just mocking a piece of land, you are mocking an entire population of people. These jokes may seem harmless but they can still be hurtful. While I don't believe that liking Hetalia translates to your actual views on world events, it can unconsciously impact your real-life thoughts and behaviors.

(also why does Britain see imaginary magical creatures, what is that referencing? According to the wiki, it is some popular folklore story of a rabbit who lives on the moon but like.. what? If Himaruya was doing this much research into these countries' cultural backgrounds why is he portraying them like this?)

2.

This show portrays WWII Germany in too positive of a light for my liking. I've noticed a trend in anime where they seem to love Germany (or Germanic aesthetics) a lot (AOT I'm looking at you). Now I'm not well-versed in the interpersonal relationships between Japan and Germany, but the idolization is not it. The way that Japan in this show is portrayed as being literally obsessed with Germany is the biggest example (Italy is also shown having an immense appreciation for Germany and is often gushing about his positive qualities, even writing him a song while he was being kept prisoner). But I mean look at how Germany is portrayed, even his stereotypes are mostly positive, he is hardworking but helps out his fellow allies, makes great food, and is super strong. His only negative trait is that he sometimes doesn't understand social scenarios and that makes him very awkward. However, he will always go out of his way to try and better understand his friends (like Italy) by purchasing books to try and help him learn the appropriate way to act in scenarios).

This is 10x worse in the dub but we will get there. When one of your main characters, the one you are portraying in the best light, is a literal war criminal hot anime boy, you can understand why I would be concerned. I mean they gave him the whole blonde hair blue eyed appearance like come on. Now I'm not going to go into depth on fandom or anything here but Hetalia knows that its demographic is young tweens (primarily girls) so how can you be surprised when this portrayal of Germany leads to WWII fanfics sympathizing with Germany and 14 y/o girls in German military uniforms doing questionable things. (also Germany becomes a canonically gay character in Hetalia in like season 4 or something and that just makes me so mad, like yeah, of course, the gay character is WWII Germany that so cool) (okay, I would like to clarify that technically Sweden is the only confirmed gay character. Sweden is bad representation though because he has one-sided feelings for Finland and makes him uncomfortable by constantly referring to him as his wife)

3.

I mean yeah, obviously this isn't going to be an accurate portrayal of history but some of this is just totally misinformation.

Austria invading Germany is literally just Austria annoying him in his house for a really long time. But also there's like actual wars... and like all of the events of WWI are canon... and like there are some really serious episodes

Also, we literally see a bunch of countries going to war personally, like fighting on the frontlines. Which to me confirms that these people are all literal murderers, like mass murderers lowkey.

Do you know how many weird USSR jokes there are throughout this? So many. Lithuania is pretty much just in a running gag where he keeps getting manipulated by Russia into coming back to live with him. (Yeah, there are so many USSR fics as well).

ALSO! why is the American revolution portrayed as the saddest thing to happen thus far, the storyline is stretched out from episodes 16-20 and it is all drastically different from the tone of the rest of the show. Britain is literally on his knees crying saying that he can't shoot America (which also implies these countries can physically harm/kill each other). Like that is the war you wanted to make all sad and sentimental? Why? Is this how Japanese people think that we view the Revolutionary war? Because that is a pretty inaccurate view.

Anyways back to the original point. Some historical events should not be played for laughs sometimes. It is incredibly disrespectful for actual victims of these tragedies to portray these events as funny or goofy.

Though I will give credit because Himaruya does make all sides of the war look like idiots who have no clue what they are doing, which is a sentiment I can get behind.

4.

As a both non-Japanese and non-Korean person I can not really give my opinion on this however I can share with you both sides of the argument. This is mostly in relation to the original comic strip, but has some relevance to the anime as well. I just wanted to bring it up because it is interesting to me. (This is briefly mentioned in the article but I wanted to expand on the argument).

You may or may not have noticed that there is no South Korea character in this show, however, there was in the original comic. In the comics, South Korea is a pervert who is constantly touching Japan and he also takes credit for the inventions of other countries. Now I'm obviously not going to go into the past history of these 2 countries because that would be incredibly long but the South Korean National Assembly reviewed Hetalia and determined that it was a "crime against South Koreans, akin to slander". So yeah, South Korean people were not happy with this portrayal and the character was inevitably removed from the anime before release. (This is a real picture of the South Korean National Assembly reviewed Hetalia, the corner shows South Korea groping Japan inappropriately)

There are two opposing views to the Japanese Nationalism take and I'll link them both (Belittling Japanese Nationalism Hetalia: Axis Powers is the title of the first one)

The first one pretty much argues that Hetalis is not Japanese nationalism because it paints Japan in just as negative of a light as all of the other countries, no one is left out of being made fun of. Japan is seen as socially awkward, emotionally repressed, and obsequious.

The second argues that Japan is often shown to be more intelligent than other characters as well as often being of the voice of reason (especially compared to China) and most of his negative attributes are not nearly as harmful as some others in Japan’s case, even his “negative” stereotypes are inoffensive, as they pose no threat of meiwaku.

I think we see in the dub that Americans are a little more willing to make fun of themselves. Though there are a few good Japan self digs, like the capitalism joke in one of the first episodes.

5.

Oh boy I've been waiting for this.

The dub is 10x more offensive than the sub. Most people consider it a crack dub.

So many of the jokes are rewritten that it is practically a different show. The sub is from a Japanese perspective and the dub is from an American perspective.

First of all the accents in the dub are so bad like it is actually atrocious. Japan is really annoying because not only is his voice stereotypical but he always says 'nani?' instead of 'what?' as if that is a normal thing that people do. The narrator is the best part of the dub and she is hilarious.

So I don't really feel comfortable even typing out the jokes here so if you want to hear them I included the time stamps for the three nazi jokes I remember in season 1 (the last two being worse).

Episode 1 (1:35:1:38)

Episode 7 (2:13-2:19)

Episode 48 (1:28-1:31)

Those are just a few examples and it gets worse. The dub literally had no reason to include these jokes because there is not even an insinuation of them in the sub and it makes literally everything a million times worse.

I will give the dub some credit for being so utterly ridiculous that it's funny. I will provide a few timestamps for the funniest jokes that only appear in the dub from the first 19 episodes (but I really recommend looking up Hetalia dub funny moments on youtube because some of them are really priceless):

Episode 13: (1:45-2:05)

Episode 14: (1:12-1:22)

Episode 17: (0:59-1:15) (2:06-2:11)

6.

Now I've had this post typed up for a bit and originally I wasn't going to talk about the fandom but after reading the article that he assigned (and going through the fandom unit), I see that there is a lot of reference to fandom in particular so I want to at least mention it.

Not the 2 biggest problems with the Hetalia fandom are racism and the fetishization of gay men.

As mentioned in the article, there have actually been multiple fan incidents of them dressing up in WWII German military uniforms Germany/Prussia cosplay, and standing in front of temples with fake guns or doing nazi salutes in convention photos (If we want to bring racism and fetishization of gay men together there were two people who kissed in a holocaust memorial museum in Italy and Germany cosplay... there is no picture of this so it might be a rumor but it was well-known so it is worth mentioning). There were also a lot of people using imperialist Japan flags in cosplay/fanart and writing incredibly inappropriate fanfiction about real-life events.

If you would like to see any of these incidents feel free to look up "Hetalia the Boston Incident" I don't really wanna include the photos here.

The fetishization is not unique to the Hetalia fandom, but it is amplified to the max. Obviously, within Hetalia, there are almost no female characters, so this leaves only male characters to be shipped with one another. Now suddenly Germany is an uwu gay bean and not an actual war criminal. At the moment of writing this Hetalia has 32105 M/M fics on ao3 which is only one of the three fanfiction sites, with ao3 not even becoming popularized until after the peak of the Hetalia fandom. (the most popular ship being America/England who refer to each other as brothers in the show as England raised America, showing another problematic part of the fandom). I would argue that Hetalia has one of the gayest fandoms (My Hero Academia is giving it a run for its money though) and I agree with the article that it is inaccurate to say that this is only done by straight cis women. The fact of the matter is a lot of queer teens used Hetalia as an outlet to express their own sexuality through these characters. The straight women that do fetishize BL are likely only doing so because anime creators suck at writing good female characters.

I think that the "level of gayness" turns straight fans away from watching the show (again MHA is the same way today) as it is hard to interact with the fandom without seeing some yaoi content. However, many people view this as something wrong or cringy, when in reality it is a normal part of fandom culture. When gay people have such little content that is actually gay, you cannot blame us for creating our own through characters that we like/relate to. Again, I think the only issues that arise here are the problematic ships that give young people a bad impression of relationships (abusive, incest, pedophilia, etc) or the arguable problematic ones like China/Russia or Lithuania/Russia as again these are real countries with real political relations. (However, I will never forget the time that there was Russia/China fanart on the news, maybe they approve and I shouldn't be complaining)

The thing is, Hetalia only seems so bad because the fandom is so large and so young. A lot of shows have fandoms that sexualize the characters and have kinda problematic fans, but the sheer volume makes things seem worse. This is something that we covered when we watched Genshiken, but there is a lot of negative stigma behind this fandom in particular, but it is just a loud minority that gets a lot of news coverage between fandoms.

It also raises the question "Is a show responsible for the response of its fans?"

Because while Himaruya has no control over what people do with his characters or how they interpret a plot, if a majority of people are leaving your show spouting vaguely racist rhetoric and interpreting your show one way, isn't there some validity in that interpretation? I think a creator has to be aware of their audience, which in this case is a very young and impressionable audience who might not understand how offensive some of the things they are doing really are. They don't hold the same ability to separate fiction from reality.

That being said Hetalia had a large impact on fandom culture as a whole, largely starting things like 'ask a character' panels (along with like homestuck but we don't talk about her). If you go to any convention you will probably find a Hetalia cosplayer, and if you watch any dub there is probably a voice actor from Hetalia there.

I also want to mention Hetalia is also a fandom full of cultural capital, If you don't know every niche fact, you're not a real fan, If you haven't read Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart you haven't even met the entry-level requirements to be a fan. There are also no characters that are too sacred to be altered within the fandom. If you want to put Germany in a maid dress have at it, if you want to see all the characters as girls you're in luck cause Himaruya literally drew them. Fanfictions can take place anywhere from WWI to the present day and you can put any characters in any scenario and make it believable. There are thousands of pieces of fanwork, fan art, fangames, and fan AUs. These characters are malleable to fit your personal preference and there is really no way you could be mad at this as Himaruya does this himself, with no real established canon.

a Hetalia fan once said, "No one cares if Hetalia was written by a Japenese Imperialism apologist when you're 31 chapters deep into a human Au soulmate fic about Austria inviting Prussia to see his boyband perform in Berlin"

Himaruya is also the king of moe characteristics because he turned these Hetalia men into any cute thing he could think of, Chibi versions (Chibitalia), female versions (Nyotalia), and cat versions (Nekotalia). He has no reservations about drawing the characters in a dress or in cat ears. He gave the characters human names to allow for more standardized human AU's and made a DS dating game. He encourages fans to take his characters and use them in their fanworks as they see fit, canon is up to interpretation itself. I think Himaruya himself was a huge part of fandom culture (not that I could tell you cause no one knows anything about the guy) and saw how the female characters were often treated by fans and turned it on its head, allowing for females to sexualize the males this time.

Also, none of the male characters in this show resembles a Hegemonic form of masculinity. Even the most masculine character in the show (Germany) can be seen doing more "feminine things" like wearing a dress or proposing to a man. Which, you know, I guess is a good diversion from things you would typically see in an anime of this nature (but again there are a lot of instances of characters being feminine being played for laughs, like a man being girly is something inherently funny). Feat. Germany proposing to Italy with a tomato ring.

7.

I am Hetalia's biggest hater, however, I cannot deny the impact that it has had on my life and how much I love to talk about it. Hetalia is what introduced me to anime and fandom (and tumblr) for the first time. I met a lot of people I still talk to today because of this show. It encouraged me and a lot of other people to actually get interested in history. Thanks to this show I can identify every country in Europe, and it was a lot easier to remember historical facts if I just imagined the Hetalia characters. Also, Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart is a literary masterpiece and there is a reason it almost has a five-star rating on goodnotes (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/22064556) I love you George DeValier I hope you're doing good wherever you are.

I would like to make it abundantly clear that despite everything I've said that might make me sound like a woke blue-haired liberal, I don't really think this show is some horribly racist show or that the people who enjoy it are racist. I just wanted to provide a deeper outlook on the impact a seemingly dumb show can have on real people. I can't really blame the show for the terrible response of the fandom and it did honestly get better in later seasons that are not focused on WWII.

Despite all the bad stuff, it is a relatively funny little 5-minute watch, and you can really just jump in at any point you want to. If you don't take it as seriously as I do you might even enjoy it a little.

If you actually read this far I have major respect for you, I'm really excited to see what the general consensus on this show is.

Prussia and South Italy were my favorites in case anyone cared

If you're wondering why I didn't do my presentation on Hetalia despite my extensive knowledge, it is because I would be incredibly biased and I would go off the rails I think.

Also, my biggest fear is current Hetalia fans finding this and killing me, that might seem irrational but the Gundam fans found me last time so I wouldn't put it past them.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Wow, you were not kidding about writing a 3k-word post about Hetalia. You made many interesting points that I didn't think of while watching this anime. I agree that the anime portrayed Germany in a super positive light while also degrading Italy throughout the 19 episodes.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Hetalia Axis Powers S1(1-19)

This was undoubtedly an interesting anime to watch. Hetalia: Axis Powers have a unique way of demonstrating the relationship between the world's countries, especially between the Allies; the United States, France, Russia, China, and the United Kingdom, and the Axis Powers; Germany, Japan, and Italy.

This anime uses personification of the countries and satire to depict their relationships and how they interact with each other. It uses a lot of stereotypical notions of the countries exaggeratedly to make it more fun and relatable. There was a special spotlight on Italy especially. Italy was portrayed as a coward who was always the victim of bullying from other nations like Austria and the United Kingdom. Italy was depicted to be more of a wimp than history has told; he was always ready to wave the white flag before anyone and only cared about eating pasta.

Hetalia also shows the cultural exchange between countries. Italy was also at the forefront of cultural exchanges as he loved art, food, and music and incorporated them into his life. The cultural exchange depicted in this anime shows how important it is to share cultural experiences as it could foster new friendships. Hetalia also depicts how Japan was basically raised by China. Still, since they held different ideals, they ended up on different sides of the wars that happened, one on the Allies' side and the other on the Axis powers' side. This shows how power dynamics can change as time passes and how small countries can overcome imperial rule and be involved in significant conversion with them. Although Canada seems to be an exception to that.

Overall, this was a good and lighthearted anime to watch, 7/10.

[jjraderftw]

Xenoblade 2 cutscenes

Xenoblade is an insanely good franchise that I’m currently playing through right now. I’m still on the original game (Xenoblade Chronicles) and have about 40 hours on it right now and doubt I’m even halfway done with the game, it’s just that fun. Though the second game’s story is mostly self-contained, the big focus on social topics and deep stories are a shared facet of the Xenoblade games. Issues talked about in this game include posing the question about what it means to think for yourself and how nature is at the mercy of humanity.

Rex goes through the hero’s journey through the game. Though he isn’t scared and too naive at the start of the game, he learns throughout the story to respect the will of others and to take sacrifices for the sake of a greater good. His stubbornness to continue fighting after the deaths of his comrades showed his rash nature and unwillingness to stop after a threshold. This caused a devastating fight and put others in harm. Though it awakened Mythra who was integral to the story, it showed how early Rex was stubborn. His separation from Pyra and Mythra at the end of the game and his acceptance of their own decisions (which were different from his) showed how he had grown as a person through his quest. This shows how people should be determined but not hard headed. There should be a good mix between doing what is best for you and best for those around you.

Rex isn’t the only critique on human nature. The very idea of drivers and swords bring up the idea of what it means to be human. Is it human that we die and forget our memories? Is forgetting a bad thing in every circumstance? Do we really think for ourselves? Swords are born from crystals and can be reincarnated several times before becoming titans (rumbling?…..who said that). They are awakened by a driver who uses the power of the sword for combat and other activities. The bond between driver and sword is similar to a friendship but with a catch: the sword takes on the ideas and motives of the driver. This means that swords hardly think for themselves initially. Though they look and sound human, they don’t have an independent mind per say, and their ways of being are partially shaped by the driver. Furthermore, their life and existence also depends on the driver. If a driver dies, the sword is remade into a crystal and their memories are reset. Though swords look and act like drivers, why are they always subject to the wills of drivers? What makes them less human than us? They were unwillingly born into the world as swords and have no choice but to be what they are, yet they are subjects to the wills of others who look just like them. Though some relations are good, some sword-driver relations teeter on mere tools. This frustration can cause a chain reaction of oppression and malice like we saw with Malos which can bring about an ugly future for everyone.

A final message I noticed in my watch of Xenoblade 2 was the critique on humanity’s relationship with nature. Humans in our world have been slowly degrading the natural world. Resource extraction, industrialization and expansion, and the burning of fuels all contribute to a declining state of nature that will inevitably lead to natures destruction. Though our actions are hurting nature, are human activities considered natural, or are we separate from nature? The idea of Xenoblade 2’s world having a shrinking amount of land resembles the idea of increasing sea levels on Earth. Our land masses are shrinking as oceans increase due to the bad habits humans have had on global warming. Similarly, the large scale death of titans and small inhabitable land were caused by human interactions. The character of Klaus also resembles human intervention. He wanted to play God and create new worlds because the fighting in his world had gotten out of hand. The planet was in shambles and he saw no other alternative. This shows how human interaction, if left unchecked, could cause nature a lot of turmoil. Klaus’ creation of organisms in the new world, however, shows how humans aren’t far removed from nature. Just like any other animals in nature itself, we come from the same source and location. Just like a beaver’s nature is to build a dam, human nature involves creating culture and societies like the ones we live in today.

[jpt1311-blog]

I really like how you talked about Rex in relation to how he represents a side of human nature. I also liked how you talked about the relation between humanity and nature. You made a really good point when "a beaver’s nature is to build a dam, human nature involves creating culture and societies like the ones we live in today". Overall great post!!

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

You made a good point in mentioning how humans tend to try and reach their highest ambitions without considering the possible consequences they might have on people around them and their environments. By the way, on what console is the Xenoblade Chronicles available?

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2-Cutscenes

I've played and watched a lot of video game playthroughs, but Xenoblade Chronicles 2 takes the top spot because of the interesting story it entails. Rex, the protagonist, goes on a hero's journey to discover himself and save the world in the process.

Rex is your typical protagonist; he is brave and is always ready for an adventure that you might consider him a bit reckless. The game kick-off with Rex accepting a quest that he absolutely had no information about in search of an adventure. Most of us could relate to that side of Rex as we sometimes participate in activities we like while ignoring the potential danger those activities might create.

In the later videos of the playlist, we learn how the world that Rex lives in came about. We learn that a scientist created that world because of his ambition to create a world that'll help him reach the power of a god. The Architect believes that the natural state of humans is "to harbor desires and struggle to realize them." He wanted to break away from that natural state, which is why he tried to build a new universe in his own image. In the end, things didn't go as planned for him. That shows how human ambition can overwhelm to the point where it can influence their surroundings in a way they wouldn't expect.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 shows some critiques of human interference in nature with all the pollution we're causing with all the fossil fuels extractions, deforestation, etc... Due to the Architect's creation of a new universe, their earth is mostly submerged under water, and the people are always in fear of fully submerging under water. This was one of the reasons Rex went on a journey to fix his world by going to Elysium, where the Architect resides.

Overall, the cutscenes from Xenoblade were really good and convinced me to try to play it some time.

[plusultranumber1]

My Thoughts on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

I thought that this film was pretty okay, it wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible. The heroism of Nausicaa and Lord Yupa definitely carried. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world a 1000 years after the collapse of industrial civilization, and the landscape has turned to a toxic jungle like The Last of Us, which spreads and threatens the survival of the human race. I thought the dynamics of the plot also held similarities to Dune. The film has a strong anti-war sentiment and is heavily focused on the dire ecological consequences of humanity’s pollution. The film features a young princess named Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and her struggle to protect her people and save humanity from certain extinction. Nausicaa is a protector of all life, and uses her strong connection to nature and her strong yet gentle disposition to save the day.

Nausicaa is portrayed as an idealistic strong female protagonist, as she is capable of overcoming insane tribulations while maintaining traditional femininity. She is a pacifist and nature conservationist at heart, and is willing to be the sacrificial lamb at any moment. While she is more than capable of fighting for her people, she becomes afraid of herself when her rage drives her to kill during the siege, and breaks down when she encounters others who are willing to wage war. This is meant to show the downside of the hegemonic masculine norm, and the harm of violence and warfare. Nausicaa represents a balance of a kind spirit who is willing to lay it all on the line for the righteous cause. Her selflessness and steadfast determination make her the ideal candidate as the prophesied savior, a metaphorical Christ-figure, who is meant to guide humanity back to purity. 

The film’s anti-war sentiment can be seen through the devastating effects of war on not only the planet, but also its inhabitants. The Kingdoms beyond the Valley of the Wind are torn by war and starvation, which have led them to become heartless conquerors and rulers. Despite Tolmekia coming in the name of peace, its true goals were much more nefarious, and its counterpart Pejite was no better. The nations have become infected with greed, and have lost sight of their shared humanity, much like the world of their past. The differences in ideology can also be seen in Princesses Kushana, a warmongering maniac who, despite being saved and shown mercy, continues on her destructive path. Nausicaa on the other hand is appalled at the justification of killing people for the good of the planet, and stands in defiance of solutions born of violence. 

The film’s stance on the protection of the ecosystem is evident throughout its runtime. While the people believe that the creatures which have come in response to rid humanity, the insects only serve to preserve the planet because of humanity’s failure in the past. Aside from Nausicaa and the Obaba, humanity believes that humans and insects cannot coexist, and the insects are meant to be exterminated despite having done nothing wrong.  Because of her belief that life is sacred, Nausicaa learns to make a connection with the creatures, and becomes the only one able to communicate with them. I found the scene towards the end of the film when Obaba gives up hope when she sees the stampede of Ohms as a symbol of the old generation who has given up trying to save the earth, while the Princess, representing the younger generation, has not yet given up. Ultimately, the Princess is rewarded for her efforts to save the Ohms, and is given new life, representative of nature giving humanity a chance to change its way in its rebirth. 

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

I agree that this movie had an anti-war message with all the destruction and harm war is causing to the environment. The anti-war message is also shown through Nausicaa's pacifism.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was a great movie to watch as it depicts a major concern humans are facing right now in climate change and pollution.

One of the main themes of the film was environmentalism. The toxic forest and the Sea of Decay were caused by the "Seven days of fire." The film portrays a world in which humans have caused widespread destruction and devastation to the environment, leading to the emergence of a toxic jungle that threatens to consume all life on Earth. The film portrays the forest as a living entity that must be protected and respected rather than destroyed. This message is particularly relevant in today's world, where climate change and environmental degradation are major concerns. The film is a warning about the dangers of environmental destruction and the importance of preserving our planet for future generations.

The movie also showcased the leadership and responsibility that Nausicaa had to attain in order to keep her village and environment. After her dad was killed by the Tolmekian army, she embraced the responsibility, unlike Shinji from the last anime we watched. She is brave and never hesitates to do the right thing to achieve the goal of protecting her village and environment. She is also very empathetic towards nature. She tried to see the world through their eyes and understand their pain and suffering. Through her understanding of nature and the insect, she was able to build a bridge between the insects, the kingdom of Tolmekia, and the kingdom of Pejite.

Overall, this movie was a great watch. I would recommend it to anyone who watches anime or don't. This movie provides some special messages that we all could incorporate into our lives, like trying to protect the earth instead of trying to destroy it. I rate this movie at a 9.5/10.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

SwampCon Blog Post

SwampCon was an amazing experience. This was the first ever time attending a conference of any sort. It was great to see everyone embrace anime fan culture in their own ways and also have a platform where they can share their passion for anime and comic fan culture.

It was great to see how the University of Florida embraces this event. From what I've heard about the previous SwampCons, this year's SwampCon was at a larger scale than it usually is. SwampCon was very welcoming to everyone who attended it, and the guests were amazingly nice and happy to be there and experience swampcon to the fullest.

On the first day of SwampCon, I volunteered at the registration stand. Working at the register, I got to meet and see a lot of different cosplayers. After my shift ended, I went to explore multiple events that were held on the ground floor of the Reitz and at the Grand Ballroom. They were some gaming going on at the ground floor of the Reitz, including VR gaming and some music-making games. It was nice to see different people in their natural habitats enjoying what they like doing. I didn't get a chance to try some VR games because there was a waiting list, but people were having fun playing those dungeons' escape games. At the grand ballroom, there were some singing and dancing performances. It was so cool to see so many people enjoying anime music and vibing with it. They were singing along like true otakus at an idol stars concert.

On the second day of SwampCon, I visited some vendors and the grand ballroom costume contests. The costume contest was disappointing, to be honest; it was short, and some of the costumes were great, while others could have been better. The vendor panels are where you'll find all the derivative works that otakus created in order to feel closer to the anim(e)ted world. These derivative works are pretty tempting if you're into buying figurines and fan art. They were some cool things for sale, like plushies, figures, and jewelry; the prices were also fair, from what I remember.

They were people of all ages attending the convention. The otakus that we've seen in Genshiken are way different than the ones who were at the convention. The people at the convention are a little on the milder side of otakus than what was displayed in Genshiken. They were on the calmer side of things and were less otaku-like. They seemed to be able to distinguish between reality and fiction. Even though I like watching anime, I didn't feel the excitement of going to SwampCon and touring the different panels and vendors like an extreme otaku would in the same situation.

The vendors enhance the fandom culture by creating fan art and publishing them for other otakus to consume. In return, these derivative works increase the fandom culture and potentially have parents bringing their children to conventions such as SwampCon. This exposes the children to a whole new world of anime and therefore increases the fandom culture and youth culture.

Being able to cosplay however you want without being judged for it is one of the significances of SwampCon. SwampCon provided a platform for the guests to explore their cultural identities. Having that safe space allowed the guests to be who themselves. Seeing how the otakus act at SwampCon improves the image and cultural identity of otakus.

Overall, SwampCon was a great experience, even though I didn't enjoy it to the fullest like others did. I hope I can actively engage in next year's SwampCon.

[voicesofthechord]

The End of Evangelion

This film was a wild ride. First scene starts with Shinji committing a despicable act to an unconscious Asuka in the hospital. And then as the film proceeds through a lot of intense action, it continues to portray Shinji as unlikeable as it can. While everything collapses around him, he is just cowering in a corner completely consumed by his self-hatred. His blinding hatred for himself makes it so that he doesn't have the motivation to do anything, and several other characters, including Asuka and Misato, die while either waiting for Shinji to get his act together or trying to escort Shinji to Eva 01.

Shinji's completely shattered mental state makes him a prime candidate for kicking off the Third Impact. Rei, with the souls of Adam and Lilith inside her, rejects Gendo's plan for Instrumentality, instead choosing to entrust Shinji with carrying it out. And of course, Shinji in his destroyed mental state gladly carries out Instrumentality, which dissolves the individuality of all humans and attempts to merge all the souls into one being. Shinji wishes to escape the world that brought him so much pain, and Instrumentality represents that ultimate place of escapism. It is a new state of being that is very far removed from the reality of individual humans. He hated the world which had always rejected him, and so he decides that letting it all end via Instrumentality would be best.

Around this time is also roughly when the events of the last two episodes of the Evangelion TV series take place. While Instrumentality is happening, Shinji has a moment of deep self-reflection. Instrumentality also aids in that, as the combination of all human souls allows Shinji to look into the minds of others. Through this intimate mingling of souls and minds, Shinji learns that his perception of self-hatred was far out of proportion to what others actually think of him. Others, including Asuka, also through the experience gain a true understanding of Shinji's severe mental struggles. As Instrumentality starts finalizing, Shinji begins missing the old reality of individual humans with its life of highs and lows. This is when Shinji decides that he wants to go back to the old reality. He wants to see his past friends again, even though those human connections might lead to pain. And him overcoming his barrier and fear of human connection is what leads him to reject Instrumentality. Having that desire to live as an individual human brought him out of the primordial soup of collective humanity back into reality.

But of course, the world has already been destroyed by Instrumentality. Shinji was finally able to break free of his self-hatred and regain a desire to want to build deeper connections with others, but he is faced with a desolate wasteland of his own doing. Upon seeing all of this and Asuka, who is laying still next to him, Shinji for a moment relapses into self-hatred and by proxy hatred for the world. And he chokes Asuka, both at the end and in the coffee dream scene, because she is the representation of the world's rejection of him. But when Asuka gently touches his face, she showed a modicum of care/understanding toward him, which breaks Shinji out of his rage and despair. At the end, Shinji can only break down crying like he has always done, but this time it is not only out of pure self-hatred, this time there is a tiny bit of hope there. At least that's how I interpret it.

Asuka's final word before the end of the film, "Disgusting", also has many interpretations. What is she referring to? Is she talking about Shinji's action back in the hospital scene at the beginning? (Asuka does know about it). Is she talking about Shinji crying once again? (Asuka did always dislike that part of Shinji). The film ending is also in stark contrast to the ending of episode 26. Here everything remains dark and mostly lonely. There is no sudden happiness, because that is simply not how depression works. A lot of work still needs to be done, but at least there is a hope and renewed drive to move on. Shinji hasn't fully come to love himself unconditionally, and he hasn't fully opened himself to building real connections with others, but at least there is now a hope for it. And Asuka has also not fully come to accept Shinji exactly for who he is, but at least there is hope for it. As for the rest of the world, I'm inclined to believe that there is hope for them to come back. With all the biblical Christianity references in this show, Shinji and Asuka coming back to the real world must be some representation of Adam and Eve, starting the whole of humanity anew. And perhaps when Shinji made the decision to reject Instrumentality and return to reality, he opened up the door for others to make that decision too.

[bluelockholytrinity-jpt1311]

The End of Evangelion helps make sense of the last two episodes of Evangelion. It gives the background information about Lilith, Adam, and Rei that were lacking in the last episodes of the anime. Good analysis and pointing that out.