Usagi's character development in AIB season 3 felt rather misogynistic to me. like her whole character revolves around her father or her husband. mostly her father, which pisses me off more than her revolving around her husband. because i love Arisagi, and, well, they are married so it makes sense that they revolve around each other. Usagi hadn't fully healed from her father's death, i think they show that in early season 2, especially because she never knew what actually happened. that's fine. but she is also the person that helped Arisu cope with his friends' deaths. it just felt weird that she decided to abandon Arisu and her Married & Employed Life™️ just for her dad, she never talked to Arisu about it and decided to consult a stranger (Ryuji) instead. it felt like they tried giving her a "woman who goes crazy and does bad stuff" kind of trope, but they still wanted to make her a shadow of another man and make her look kind and pure anyways (because she IS kind). i kinda liked her relationship with Ryuji because they want to make it seem like she got manipulated to the point where she falls for him. but no, she's just a nice person and helps him out when needed. even if it kind of felt like they started a love arc (mostly one-sided) that was never explained but idk, i might be reading too much between the lines.
the thing that pissed me off the most was, needless to say, the fact she was pregnant. not only female characters are always paired up with the male main character, and in this case i don't mind it because i like Arisagi's development, but also they have to be pregnant every single time. accidental pregnancies are common, but it's usually in couples who haven't got enough sex education, or are poor and can't afford contraception, and it doesn't really feel like Arisagi's case. but whether it's realistic or not, i fucking hate this trope okay??? it felt like reliving Squid Game s3 again (and what a nightmare it is), with the baby participating in the games and all. when she finds out she's pregnant she's mildly shocked, but moves on and fulfills her duty as a mother, because OF COURSE, women have to be mothers and they don't get a say. if you think of the writers as misogynistic, her reaction makes sense, but her other actions don't match. as in, she wasn't worried that much for her baby considering how much she had moved around and so possibly hurt her. at least there were no unrealistic deliveries this time around, and somehow Usagi's pregnancy was important, but it was only another plot device, and not Usagi's whole character development... which revolved around his dad and was weirdly written so idk.
then Usagi's strength felt like it oscillated. she can climb the Tokyo tower, but said climber can't swim properly without the help of a man? one of which is an ex-NEET full of wounds (how the heck didn't his wounds open up with the DIRTY water???)
what balances all of this out is that Arisu revolves around Usagi so they basically match. Arisu does everything for Usagi and tries to fulfill his duties as a father, just like Usagi. Usagi gets a little less screentime and less bonding with her teammates aside from Ryuji, but okay. it's the incipit with her dad that i don't get. why was her dad there? why didn't we get any explanation???
i talked about this because it seemed less obvious than other plot holes. the fact that banda seemed important but then was useless, the heck happened to yaba?, most importantly THE ZOMBIE GAME MADE NO SENSE couldn't they have just. zombified everyone from the beginning? then absurd pacing issues which were present in the other seasons too, and the shit ending in the USA I'M GETTING SQUID GAME 3 FLASHBACKS STOP!!!
maybe i'm looking too much into this, in the end Arisu matched Usagi so maybe the misogyny towards her wasn't that bad. except for the pregnancy. i hated that. bye
