Discover Top Posts Tagged with #chachakaka

Hello Mizukagami-Takamagahara! What're your thoughts on Shiori? Wish people would discuss her more as I personally love her

I’m answering this a LONG time after it was sent, but the timing of when you originally sent this ask was kinda funny- that same day I happened upon two pieces of Shiori fanart! They’re in the queue now! Shiori fanart is pretty rare, so it was quite the coincidence!

Onto your question. Shiori is an archetype of character that I usually really don’t like- but for some reason I never found myself disliking Shiori. I think her relationship with Mai, and how it's handled, is what makes her work for me where similar characters fail.

If a particular relationship is kind of the core of a character, but that relationship is too one-sided or played for gags, it starts to grate on me. I find Elise of XBlaze forgettable because her relationship with Kuon feels like a punchline a lot of the time, and I've written before about my issues with C-Series Nu and how shallow she felt being isolated from the rest of the cast in her obsession with Ragna. I can eat up certain one-sided relationships, but these two fell flat for me.

But Shiori dodges both of these issues. She participates in plenty of gags, but her feelings for Mai don't feel like the standard "uncomfortable gag lesbian" to me the way Elise threatens to. And crucially, her relationship with Mai isn't one-sided or one note; Mai may not return her romantic feelings, but their care for one another is mutual. We get to see their relationship built on that care over the course of her introductory arc; empathy and understanding between them is established immediately, first through how Shiori's cover story about entering the Academy mimics Mai's, and then through their shared background as isolated tools of the NOL's elite.

Maybe I'd be able to appreciate Elise's gags more if we ever got to see her relationship with Kuon outside of those gags, as we see Shiori and Mai connect on a thematic level. The fact that we see Mai fight so hard to forge that connection is also a boon to Shiori's character; we know Mai cares about her, even when her later quirkiness makes Mai uncomfortable. This makes Shiori feel more like a horribly socially awkward girl rather than a stalker archetype. We're seeing her with more stability, safety, and freedom than she's ever had before, experiencing and expressing a crush for the first time in her life. So she's a fucking weirdo about it, and thanks to the friends around her, she's allowed to be.

I could also talk about how her upbringing informs her obsession. Looking at how other NOL loyalists are expected to act (Hibiki's struggles, Tsubaki's struggles, the general attitude of the Zeroth Squadron) suggests that the only framework Shiori would have for 'love' IS this uncanny devotion that she's turning from the NOL/Hazuki family to Mai specifically. It's the only thing she's had all her life, so it's the only thing she can offer Mai- and the only familiar guidelines to process her new feelings through.

Then there's how she completely avoids my issues with how Nu was handled. Nu's love for Ragna isolated her from the rest of the cast, which the narrative exaggerated further. In contrast, Sumeragi wastes no time integrating Shiori into the relationship dynamics of the story.

She's introduced alongside Chachakaka. Unlike Mai, the two don't share history, but they do share a profession, and a sort of understanding through that. Then in the very same scene where Mai finally gets through to Shiori, we see Chacha- watching her fellow assassin give up on a mark.

Now this also serves as foreshadowing for Chacha's whole deal; Mai is her mark, and she's here for more compassionate reasons than to take her life. But I'd argue it also works to establish that even if we don't see them interact much, Chacha cares about Shiori. She never reports Shiori's betrayal, even though I'd wager that "giving up an opportunity to kill your mark and sobbing in their arms instead" is a pretty big no-no for a hired killer.

Then in the chapter immediately after Shiori swears herself to Mai, she spends most of her screen time interacting with someone else; Taro! They share a connection through Mai, as Shiori recognizes him as a love rival, but the story lets them bond on a deeper level than making her resent him for the crime of Evil Boy Close To My Waifu. Shiori knows Mai cares about Taro, so she does her best to grit her teeth and try to help him out. We get to see them start building their own sort of awkward friendship that continues on into their Variable Heart appearances where they're able to fight side-by-side and Shiori shows genuine concern for him.

Sumeragi's willingness to let Shiori take up space in the cast is immensely beneficial to her character. We dive into the reasons behind her behavior, we see her struggle with the same themes of the NOL's legacy that her castmates struggle with, we see her navigate ALL her relationships with the same clumsiness she does with Mai.

So I dunno, Star. I love BlazBlue, I love a LOT of its character writing, and yeah, I love Shiori. And you're entirely right that I should be talking about her more. It's a damn shame we didn't get to see her in CF.

#chachakaka

Trending Tags

Recently Viewed Tags

#chachakaka