hi this is so random but my class on performance in early modern europe has forcibly reminded me that enstars costuming is absolutely incredible. (if this has been pointed out before, oops. i don't play enstars i fear, i just take humanities classes)
i'm gonna do a deep dive into this costume from raison d'etre:
i think people (im people) have mostly theorized that this costume is a representation of shu and mika being each other's bride and groom, and while i 100% think that's true, i think it's ALSO an amazing reference to 17th century french burlesque ballet and shu and his grandfather's relationships with gender/femininity.
ballet back in the day was extremely gendered (in different ways than one might think, but...also in the usual ways), but there were always characters that didn't fit into the gender binary. androgynous characters appeared often in burlesque ballet, but they were often reserved for depicting "others" as opposed to the racially and binarily(?) uniform french monarchy. ballet was supremely political back then as well, with the hero often representing the king.
the androgynous character's political/racial role in dance history is a whole can of worms that i fear i'm not qualified to really talk about, BUT. what matters here is HOW they were depicted. nowadays, androgyny is often used in relation to an absence of gender, but in burlesque ballet, the word meant an embodiment of both genders--specifically in costuming, split down the middle.
(Mark Franko, From the Royal to the Republican Body: Incorporating the Political in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century France, 1998)
in other words, one half of the androgynous dancer was male, and one half was female:
(some mikas to demonstrate the masc/fem sides separately:)
this means that shu's costume in the event (which like totally also represents shumika marriage don't get me wrong) may primarily represent his acceptance of his own femininity/androgyny, and following in his grandfather's footsteps in awakening to his true self.
i read through the raison d'etre story (super engagingly translated by @twilightmalachite!), check out their page for more context n other translations BUT basically:
shu's grandfather had a feminine side (which he disguised in his diaries as a lady named "mademoiselle") and crossdressed in secret, which brought him a lot of happiness. shu sees himself in his grandfather, knowing this: "I am honored to say, my grandfather and I were truly alike."
(shumika is 100% real too btw)
(another note: burlesque ballet was often satirical or lighthearted, and shu and mika express that raison d'etre is part slapstick romcom)
haters will say that crossdressing was a major thing in old european performance art bc it totally was (i.e. "travesti," a type of character performed by an actor of the opposite gender), but like. his grandpa wasn't living in the 1600s lol. taking their story into account, this is such important representation of if not full on transness then euphoric, self-affirming explorations of gender beyond the binary line. this reference to androgynous ballet constuming sort of historically confirms that shu is both masculine and feminine. his acceptance of his true self, seeing himself in his grandfather, and having mika at his side results in his happiest performance like ever.
there is, of course, also the 100% chance that this is just a coincidence. but what with the importance of french performance art to valkyrie/shu, the ballet-like choreography in le temps des fleurs (go watch it again i fear i don't have the power to screenshot everything), and shu's relationship with gender, i choose to believe this was an active and brilliant choice.
one last note abt shumika bc this story is absolutely about them, too:
the white half has pink accents (representing boku/shu) and the black half has green accents (representing ore/mika) :')))) (and the white half still has a black stripe on it, interpret that how you will!)
tldr: enstars costume designers do their research and i respect them so hard for that. holy cow!! like They Did That!! they referenced 17th century french burlesque ballet for these costumes man!! AUGH
reblogging this to add that I often think about the old man yaoi mangaka on bluesky who said "the phrase that finally convinced me that the English language is truly beautiful was 'this shit is so ass'"
the thing with romance for me is that you need to convince me through behavior and dialogue that the characters enjoy spending time with each other and seek each other out. even with enemies to lovers a foundation of mutual respect goes a long way. you can be like "he's the youngest ever general of the dragon slaying guild and I'm secretly a dragon, but he's the best swordsman I've ever fought and our sparring matches are the only thing that make me feel alive ever since my family was killed." if he implies something similar then bam, you have a reason for the two of them to hang out even though one of them knows it's dangerous. you can't be like "he's a dragon slayer and he's mean to me all the time but the flex of his arms when he swings his sword is just too sexy." it does not matter how many times you have your protagonist say "I shouldn't be drawn to him... but I am" if you never show a real moment of connection between them that draws them together
The thing that’s amazing about taylor swift fans is they think she’s the most calculated person alive and her breathing pattern is Morse code and there’s hidden meanings in the way each strand of hair on her head falls and nothing is ever unintentional up until she’s hanging out with maga guys with rape accusations and then it’s like umm she probably doesn’t even know who they are how is she supposed to know who she’s associating with she’s just a little birthday girl you can’t be mad at her she doesn’t even know how to read
read this and remember it. read this and remember that she is going to use the profits of her fucking ego-stroking reboot to decimate trans rights. read this and remember that every time you pay into her IP, you are emboldening her to hurt us more.
our lives matter more than your fucking nostalgia.
trans lives matter more than your fucking nostalgia.
there’s no variation on this trope that isn’t absolutely peak. “im unlovable but i desire that connection so ill let myself be used instead”? peak. “im unlovable so ill drive everyone away” is automatically peak however you play it. “i am an unlovable thing so i will become a new person who isn’t”? peak beyond belief!!! i love characters 🥰
When I completely understand (and also thought of) the rain parallels between Mizu4 and Kasa6 sets, but also my second thought was
Like wow how interesting that Tsukasa had to pretty much submerge himself into a mindset he never would have normally considered and Mafuyu's true thoughts had to emerge from being submerged and in these particular moments, she's acknowledging the warmth that shaped the beginning of her dream, even though she'd been afraid to reach deeper and accept/push past the pain, and Tsukasa is caught up in the hypothetical prospect of losing his dream that he's dissociating onstage and the duality of sinking deeper and floating to the surface--
(I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't stop thinking about them. I want to write so much more for them. I'm going to be That One Mafukasa Writer Who Doesn't Shut Up, I just know it)
For a second I didn’t realize it meant “high” as in a stoner--I thought “High Geologist” was like a rank of geologist or something and he was insulted you would challenge him to naming stones
interesting thing to me that i don't see mentioned very much (although it's ENTIRELY possible i'm just not in the right circles/algorithm to see it) is how daiwa scarlet's career and routes are kind of haunted by a through-line of her mother neglecting her. it's interesting, mostly because scarlet herself treats it so nonchalantly, like it was simply a necessary evil that came along with her mother being such a respected racer with so many responsibilities that required her traveling the world. she was always *kind of* there, never fully there, always "doing her best".
take this clipping from episode 6 of her umamusume story. her mother congratulated her! that's so sweet! scarlet says herself that she was elated to receive the message! her mother supports her dreams, her little girl is growing up to be just like her, and yet she was absent from the race. she still sent that voicemail, so it's clear scarlet's mother is *trying*, but it's hard to say whether that really is enough. scarlet is always describing her mother reaching out in indirect, immaterial ways - sending a message rather than watching the race in person, sending her a tiara in the mail to celebrate being accepted into tracen academy (that, remember, scarlet would sooner be caught dead than caught not wearing). it's all too little, too late, from a mother figure who can't give anything more due to a career that's, no doubt, swamping her completely. in response, scarlet is constantly covering herself in these keepsakes and memories of her mother, but it's all... superficial, to be blunt. compare this to vodka's love of motorcycles, and her dream to win the japanese derby. what's stark about this is the *specificity* of it - vodka likes motorcycles because her dad took her to see motorbike shows at an impressionable age, she wants to win the japanese derby because her dad took her to watch it when she was at an impressionable age. scarlet's goal, likely influenced by her mama is laughably vague in comparison, so much so that the fact she struggles to define what "being number one" even means for her is a source of conflict between her and vodka. it's clear this lack of interaction from her mother is where scarlet gets her model student schtick, and by extension her *crippling* self esteem issues. her mother is such an incredible role model umamusume, and number one umamusume are busy, so if scarlet gets busy and is number one in everything she does, maybe mama will prioritise her for once. if her career and her work is what's captured mama so much that she can't find the time to go out of her way for her own daughter, then maybe scarlet just needs to become as big as that work so she can't be ignored anymore. she just has to be the perfect daughter
she was faster than anyone else in her home town and this gave her hope, because it was the one thing she saw her mama truly dedicated to, so it had to become her goal. her story is actually so compelling to me because of how pernicious the force of her mama is. oftentimes neglect isn't even *considered* abuse, why are you complaining? at least they're not beating you, right? they're trying their best, they just don't always have the time or resources! but it can be just as damaging, even IF the parent is still *trying their best* anyway. unfortunately people's psyches are simply extremely malleable a lot of the time and good intentions can't take trauma away. i don't think daiwa scarlet's mother is like this evil horrible influence in her life. she's just cold and busy, and that can sometimes be all that's necessary to mess a kid up.
furthermore this is why I think vodka "i'm so close with my freaking awesome delinquent father he'll just drive me to summer camp on a whim so my classmates think i have a motorcycle and think im cool" is the perfect foil to scarlet and why their relationship is so engaging to me but that'd be another post i think. i love you daiwa scarlet youre so important to me
been stewing on an analytical approach to fiction which I call "is this book afraid of me?" and in order to answer this question you determine how hard the book is trying to make sure you don't come after the writer on twitter
Please keep making art. Please make it for yourself. Please don’t let everything become even more of the same flat general appeal nonsense that doesn’t seem to have anything to say
This reminds me of this post: https://www.tumblr.com/switchelsweets/720604113161830400/i-want-to-share-some-wisdom-from-my-high-school
I want to share some wisdom from my high school art teacher.
In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with
I want to share some wisdom from my high school art teacher.
In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:
“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.
“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”
it's kind of a shame that mob psycho 100 was released before these talks of 'main character energy' and 'npc behavior' really started to take hold in an annoying way. 'i am the protagonist of the world' no you're not you're the protagonist of your own life just like everybody else is. bitch.
