So, a while ago I finally got around to reading Tokyo Mew Mew Re-Turn! I really loved it, and it got me super excited for the new anime!
And the extra chapter... I have things to say about it!
TL;DR I love how Tasuku effectively cuts down Masaya’s budding toxic masculinity with the power of Love Your GF
(spoilers for Re-Turn and the extra chapter under the cut)
Look, I won’t lie, a lot of why I love the extra chapter so much is because I absolutely LOATHE the whole trope of “uurrrgh, I must Leave all who love me and completely self-isolate lest I Harm them with my Awesome Powers” that men in fiction often go through. And when Masaya starts to do that exact thing after literally saving a train full of people with some leftover Deep Blue powers, Tasuku basically hits every single reason why it’s bs.
(look how scandalized Masaya looks to be called out on his brooding lmao)
First off, the fact that Tasuku gets Masaya to open up to him in the first place by essentially saying “I have exactly one brain cell, and it’s devoted solely to loving my girlfriend, so therefore you can vent to me about literally anything and I promise you that I will absorb none of it” is absolutely amazing, even more so that it actually works. Masaya does open up to him, precisely because he thinks he isn’t really being listened to. It’s one of the first indications of his toxic thinking, really, the fact that he wouldn’t have opened up if he thought someone was actually going to Listen and Care About It. Because he’s not really reaching out for a connection, he wants to wallow in his own despair over still having some of the Big Bad’s powers and whether or not that makes him Dangerous and Morally Opposed to his girlfriend. He’s really just venting, and Tasuku is just supposed to be a passive listener.
So that’s why he’s so shaken when Tasuku reveals that PSYCH! He WAS actually listening THE WHOLE TIME! And he tells Masaya in no uncertain terms that he thinks that sort of angsty self-serving brooding is BORING.
Tasuku is the The Normal Best Friend/Boyfriend, and he knows it. He has no powers to speak of, but it doesn’t really bother him! The fact that he can just be around Berry is more than enough for him. But here’s Masaya, who DOES have powers, and just used them to save a bunch of peoples’ lives, and he’s complaining about it. And not just that, he does so in a way that commits the worst sin possible in Tasuku’s mind: disregarding his girlfriend’s feelings.
Masaya is lamenting about how these powers MUST mean that he’s still this Very Dangerous entity, and so therefore he MUST stay as far away from Ichigo as possible for the rest of all of time because he Loves Her and will Definitely Kill her or something if he doesn’t leave her immediately. It’s super melodramatic (especially when you remember this kid is like, a high school freshman), which is why its so refreshing to see Tasuku, a middle-schooler, immediately shut that all down.
It’s not some cool mindset to look up to, to be aloof and distance yourself from your loved ones because you think you might have the capacity hurt them some day. That’s not being strong or selfless, that’s just giving up because you’re afraid of some hypothetical possibilities. There is no real indication that Masaya is going to become Deep Blue again. Both he and the other aliens even acknowledge that his show of powers was more of a residual after-effect than anything else. Masaya leaving wouldn’t necessarily protect Ichigo from any sort of definitive, immediate threat.
But it WOULD definitely, immediately hurt her if her boyfriend just left her side forever like that! And Tasuku bluntly points that out to him.
And maybe there is some resentment there too. Because like I said, Tasuku is completely super-powerless (he is, of course, absolutely overflowing with the power of LOVE FOR BERRY, but he can’t concentrate that into a laser beam or float people with it, so). Tasuku knows his role as the Normie Boyfriend is to be the support, the cheerleader, the one who’s there to give his Magical Girlfriend a hug after a battle because she needs one. And he doesn’t mind that at all! He loves any excuse to hug Berry, and if it helps her to save the world, all the better! Buuut, if he DID have superpowers, he’d definitely be using them to do Cool Shit!! Showing off for and impressing his girlfriend! Helping her out in battle! Maybe even swooping in to save the day or something! Who cares where it came from, superpowers are superpowers, and he knows how he would use them, and it would be to HELP his girlfriend.
So seeing Masaya act like it’s some horrible thing, that this means that he must exile himself, is like a slap to the face. Masaya is so lucky to have any sort of ability to do more than just watch and worry from afar. His powers can be used to help, that is literally what just happened, but all Masaya does with this revelation is start assuming it’s actually a Bad Thing. All he sees is the capacity these powers have to cause harm, completely overlooking that they have the exact same capacity to be helpful. Tasuku sees it though, and has no qualms about pointing all of that out to him!
And the best part? Tasuku absolutely succeeds in getting through to him. Masaya doesn’t argue against him (beyond an initial >:O kinda reaction at first), he listens and realizes that this kid is right.
Ichigo is the love of Masaya’s life. And she is constantly being thrown into danger by nature of her job already, so instead of giving up and assuming he could only be a burden to her, he realizes that he’s far more helpful to her when he’s there for her, to support her and love her. It’s what she wants from him, and it’s what he wants to do for her! So he makes his decision. While he still has to go back to school, he resolves to always, always come back to Ichigo. Just like he can’t undo the acts he committed when he was Deep Blue, he can decide on what path he will take for his own future. And he will always choose to be there for Ichigo.
News! - Looks like Kodansha Comics will be releasing the recent kanzenban version of the Sailor Moon Manga in America as the Sailor Moon “Eternal Edition”! The Amazon description describes it as the “definitive” edition of Sailor Moon, with an extra larger print size, premium paper, new cover art, more chapters (about 300 pages worth in length), and an all-new translation. The first volume is set to be released January 30, 2018 with a retail price of $19.99.
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