#firebird negativity

[firebirdsdaughter]

I’m sorry…

… I don’t mean to be bitchy.

It just… I feel like people are completely missing the point of ‘improvement.’ Now, naturally, the idea is not to stop after improving once, but I think if you compared Yua to even some recent KR heroines (cough cough POPPY cough cough), you’d find she got treated honestly… Rather well, imo. I don’t think her plot went that different than how it would’ve if she’d been male (although in that version she might’ve gotten a third Rider form).

Introducing female Riders who are active fighters and present from early on does not magically mean that KR’s sexist history is over, esp not in regards to their plots relying on male characters (go on, find me a female character who didn’t, in some way), is over. Like, that much is obvious. But, at least in the 01 I watched, Yua showed marked improvement from other female characters. She had an arc, textbook as it was, and she wasn’t the ‘nice one’ for being ‘the girl.’ Now, while, I have an opinion about who got hit w/ KR sexism the hardest in 01, and it wasn’t Yua, that’s not to say it wasn’t present, of course. But it was a step in the right direction.

I feel like I’m being annoying again, but the fact is… I think people are expecting too much from a franchise w/ the history it has, for the reasons it has them. Do we want them to keep doing better each time? Yes, yes we do. It’s important to not stop here. But again, the fact that Reika exists means that Yua fared decently enough to prompt them to take a similar ‘risk’ again. Which is a good sign.

Stop expecting the seas to suddenly part. It’s not gonna happen. We’re gonna need to take it one fathom at a time.

[firebirdsdaughter]

From my perspective…

… Fuwa is literally the only one I trust going into V&V.

Aruto still can’t fathom HumaGear being justifiably angry at humans, is still convinced his views are The Best. If KR MBJR continues to channel what I’m beginning to view as MBJR’s/HumaGear’s anger at their treatment, he would likely rather ‘sacrifice them’ and destroy it to stop ‘evil malice’ bc he has a goddamn saviour complex, thanks Korenosuke. And everyone else, actually.

Yua’s a hypocrite who might improve, but after the way she treated Horobi in the finale, not holding my breath. HumaGear standing up to humans is only ‘acceptable’ if it can be quieted and the HumaGear be sent right back to where she still thinks they ‘belong.’

Izu will do whatever Aruto wants and tell him how wonderful he is bc that’s literally her entire existence.

Amatsu is Amatsu, I don’t care how much they try to tell me he’s ‘actually good,’ you don’t gleefully torture people, cause mass death and destruction, literally mind control people, and then suddenly flip bc a satellite printed you a dog. Bastard is there for himself and his pedigree, though I’m sure he’d be all to happy to play ‘hero’ and destroy mbjr to make all of his ‘mistakes’ go away.

Yotagaki is a bureaucrat to the core, a fucking chessmaster who tells people what they want to hear, esp HumaGear, so that he can use them. Sure, I think out of the ZAIA CEOs, he’s the lesser evil, as I think he’s not into the gloryhounding of creating threats to fix them, I don’t think he wants humans to die. But he’d be all too happy to see mbjr disappear w/ their ‘problematic’ experiences, given his reactions to Horobi in the finale. Yotagaki doesn’t care as long as he can ‘clean things up’ in the end. He can be polite to HumaGear, but will ultimately not bat an eye to let them die if they happen to, essentially, differ in opinion, or have awareness of the negative side of humans and might be upset at humans. He was the one who originally rebuilt Jin as the Soldo Prototype.

Fuwa’s made a lot of mistakes, yes—he super fucked up the confrontation w/ Horobi, twice, for one—but I have more faith in him changing than any of the others. Fuwa’s whole thing is defying expectations and doing what he thinks is right. I am more willing to believe that if he does choose to fight KR MBJR, it will be more bc he feels he has to to protect innocent people and not bc he’s written them off as ‘problematic for the dream.’ I trust Fuwa bc he’s very ‘in the now,’ has this powerful heart and compassion. I believe he would try to save MBJR if someone told him he could, bc his heart and compassion feel real and visible rather than distant/practiced/conditional. Fuwa will do what he believes in at that moment, and he has more awareness of others, esp MBJR, than most of the rest of the cast. He’s literally experienced being manipulated and mind controlled. If Fuwa destroyed KR MBJR, I could buy it as a mercy kill from his perspective, him believing he has no choice. Even if the writing didn’t let him react much, I believe that would be a thing he would carry w/ him as what it was, a preventable, regrettable, tragic death of a group of victims, not a ‘sacrifice to stop malice’ or however the fuck Aruto would justify it.

Fuwa is the only one I would believe would respect them as victims of the entire situation, would do it out of necessity, as much for their sakes as the humans. Fuwa’s the only one I believe would fight or speak for them in anyway. Everyone else, from where I sit, would be just like ‘how could they go evil again, we must destroy this evil malice to protect our perfect world.’ Or something.

Fuwa is literally the only person I trust.

[firebirdsdaughter]

…

… I’d like to have watched the version of 01 everyone else saw where Izu had agency…

[firebirdsdaughter]

Thing I wish had happened…

… Aruto and Izu get into a genuine fight and are genuinely angry at each other and have to deal w/ and work through it.

Not ‘you taught me to revolve my life around you and then fake died’ not ‘I don’t think this other HumaGear is being appropriately useful.’

A real, genuine fight. Like how Jin and Horobi argued. Like how Yua and Fuwa argued.

Aruto has to learn that even ‘good’ HumaGear can be upset and have even slight negative feelings towards humans w/out being ‘evil.’ Izu gets to learn that Aruto isn’t some ‘pure divine saviour of HumaGear,’ and that he has failings and flaws just like any other person.

Would have been magical if it was something like them disagreeing about how Aruto treated a HumaGear. Izu seeing that Aruto isn’t 100% perfect and right all the time, Aruto seeing that even if he has ‘good intentions’ some of his views and claims are actually more harmful than helpful. Izu growing to want to use her position to push for understanding support and rights for HumaGear who choose to still work w/ humans, rather than just about how to better help humans. Aruto having to recognise that just saying it ‘nicely’ and just bc they appear to be ‘smiling’ doesn’t mean that HumaGear are actually ‘happy’ or being treated ‘fairly/equally.’

But I’m dreaming now. -_-

Really, hell, Izu being allowed to be angry at Gai on her own, for the sake of other HumaGear, rather than just through the lens of Aruto.

[firebirdsdaughter]

And just to cover my bases…

… This isn’t me saying a ‘nice’ character has no personality.

For ex. you couldn’t remake Kou from Ryusoulger from scratch, or Ui, or Asuna, or Melto.

Aside from the Ark’s influence making him lack empathy, baby Jin was a full character who was ultimately very sweet and kind, albeit in a different way/from a different perspective. Even through the Ark’s control, he had twinges of identity that were his own, rather than purely a mirror of someone else. Which also brings me to the bs of ‘humans taught us hearts’ bc baby Jin loved Horobi on his own, no humans necessary, but I’m digressing—the point is, you could not have complete remade him sans memory.

To bring up another Takahashi female character who got the short end of the stick, Poppy. I don’t think Poppy could be remade from scratch, even though she was technically a computer program, too. Tsukuyomi. I was nowhere near as into her character as others were, but Koyomi. Misora. Mai. Kirihiko. Kanon. To bring up other female characters who verged on ‘designated damsel’ who were also ‘nice.’

But w/ Izu? Oh, you can absolutely do that. There’s a very heavy dose of… ‘Passivity’ isn’t the right word, bc Koyomi was quite ‘passive,’ but… Izu lacks something specific that even other KR heroines, subject to the same sexism, even the ones who stay in the ‘nice, sweet, pure, devoted to the hero’ box have. And my brain is mush lately and I’m not very articulate in nonfiction already, so it’s hard to explain what it is, but… It’s in contrast to the others, she just… Super never developed.

Even Misora, even Koyomi. Honestly, even Kirihiko, had identities outside of ‘loves the mc.’ How exactly those identities were presented, how well they were written… I plead the fifth. But my point is… These characters had something, be it other relationships, other dreams, other purposes, than just being the mc’s cheerleader. They did not exist purely to support the main (you can and absolutely should point out that that was a large part of their characters, and a narrative purpose of them). Mei in Saber, for instance, is a far cry more developed than Izu was already. It’s not that Izu was ‘nice’ that sapped her character, it’s not hat she was ‘reserved.’ It’s that there was literally nothing to her other than ‘lives to serve Aruto.’ All her other plot lines petered out, and her only purpose was to stand around, look cute, and make heart eyes at Aruto. Even her ‘contribution’ to 02 was about… Surprise, surprise, loving Aruto, and the way their relationship developed was… Not one that felt natural. It mystifies me how people will call Horobi and Jin’s initial relationship ‘toxic’ while calling Izu and Aruto ‘cute.’

It was basically the same thing—intentional or not, Aruto kept her isolated, ‘learning’ only from him, literally the same situation Horobi and Jin were in; and you could also say the same of Horobi and the Ark, too. And here’s the thing… That’s… Not ‘cute.’ Just bc Aruto was ‘nice’ to her, that’s not cute. It’s not different. Deliberate or not, it’s still manipulation and conditioning. Izu learning to see/expect/look for only the good in people is just as dangerous and harmful as Horobi (and Jin) being trained to look for the bad. The concept of self-fulfilling prophecy and confirmation bias. While approaching people w/ the attitude of wanting there to be good in them, choosing to be kind, giving them a chance is one thing, weathering through all bullshit to draw out their ‘heart’ is not healthy.

The message for AI, and for people, shouldn’t be, for people in power who are willingly behaving in the way they are, ‘be nice to them until they’re nice to you,’ esp when the person is… Actively causing massive pain and damage. Gai was not the character to pull ‘the power of kindness’ on bc of everything he willingly did. Additionally, ‘people are actually good’ being used as a justification to excuse the harm they do and to invalidated their victim’s anger… Is also not healthy. Yes, Horobi was too angry (well… given what he went through, I think he was the right amount of angry, but all humanity doesn’t deserve to die bc of the actions of a select, etc. etc.), but Izu… It’s not that she wasn’t ‘angry enough,’ it’s that she couldn’t process that he was rightfully hurt and in pain and had reason to be angry. She could not conceive his point of view. She couldn’t feel his pain, let alone him feeling hers (which… didn’t look that painful). Basically, just like Aruto, she couldn’t understand that there could be very justifiable reasons to be angry at and wary of humans. Despite the fact that the Ark was technically created ‘artificially,’ the data she had was accurate, and Gai’s actions and Yotogaki’s actions were real. Apologies, a sob story, and ‘good intentions’ (if you can call Yotogaki that) do not remove harm done. Some benefits do not remove harm done. Just bc humans can be nice, doesn’t mean all of them are or excuse the harm they can also do. Izu’s argument lost water when it went the way of ‘you’re wrong for being mad at humans they’re actually ultimately good.’

But I’m digressing again. The point is… Ultimately, Izu was an empty mouthpiece for Aruto’s opinions and delusions. Her entire ‘identity’ was parroting his one-sided, unbalanced assumptions. She had no development from the beginning other than giving Aruto a couple extra heart eyes and repeating what he said. Her entire identity was ‘loves Aruto,’ like she was programmed to do, and her isolation w/ him meant that that was all she ever knew, and bc he was ‘nice’ to her and insisted that humans were ‘acvtually good.’

And that’s not a personality.

[firebirdsdaughter]

…

… Okay, I swear to the gods, if I have to sit through more Izu-based manpain or whatever…

It’s not Fumiya at all, but I have to admit I heard the drama-saturated ‘Izu…’ in the trailer and just… 🙄

To be fair… I don’t think we got it that much in the actual show, but I think the last arc just… Sapped any sympathy I might’ve had. And let’s be real, the fact that the trailer is taunting me w/ what looks like Horobi and Fuwa w/in ten feet of each other means I will sit through it, I just…

I’ve driven this into the ground, so I see no point in going into detail here, but I just do not see the difference between this allegedly ‘new’ Izu and the ‘old’ one. None of her memories changed her, she was just ‘everything as master Aruto wishes’ right to the end. Trying to make ‘drama’ out of her being ‘different’ is immediately gonna have me rolling my eyes. Nothing was lost, get over yourself, show. Aruto didn’t suffer anymore consequences than Gai did. (actually no, no: I’m going to call myself on that. He did see someone he cared about, albeit in a kind problematic way, ‘die’ and blow up, that’s more consequences for just bad decision making than Gai got for active malice)

And I’m… I’m gonna say it.

I’m tired of Aruto and Izu.

Additionally, I just, personally, do not see the appeal. They were literally… One of the most boring relationships in the show to me. And they were like… Always together in show. Like, I know that he’s the mc and she’s the ‘main girl,’ but… Would it have killed the writers to let them fully develop bonds w/ other characters? Izu it esp bothers me bc it just fed into the ‘only exists to serve Aruto’ thing. I wanted to see her interact w/ Fuwa and Yua, get proper development via Jin and Horobi, kinda curious about her and Naki, just a bit. (it’s showing that I had more interest in Izu than Aruto, isn’t it…)

But no, she essentially only appeared hovering at Aruto’s elbow, ready to serve him, and it… Irritated me. They didn’t feel like a real relationship? Bc Aruto was just all ‘Izu’s so perfect, she’s such an angel just like a HumaGear should be!’ and Izu was all just ‘my life revolves around Aruto-shachou!’

Like, there were some sneezes towards more rounded relationships for them in the start, but at the end… They literally had no relationships w/ anyone but the… Kinda ‘huh’ one w/ each other. And that’s, like, a) not healthy, for either of them, esp for Izu, but for either of them, and b)… Really… Boring. For lack of a better word. I found both characters much more engaging (setting aside other stuff) when… They were interacting w/ other people. I want to see them (esp Izu) be allowed to have relationships w/ other people that they actually, like, are invested in.

Fuwa and Horobi are getting shot at by a jet. Jin’s getting the damn jet dropped on him while saving Fuwa (I might’ve said he deserved it in another conversation but I didn’t mean it like that). Naki’s having a wonderfully photogenic day while sitting in the rubble looking rather sad. Ikazuch might only have one scene in the whole movie. Yua’s fighting an army on her own. There’s plenty of other people in danger and getting hurt. I don’t think we need more of Aruto whining and moaning and raging and going nutty again bc something something Izu.

And even putting aside my issues w/ the way their relationship was presented, the fact that I can’t sympathise w/ melodrama about Izu ‘dying’ bc she’s exactly the same, nothing was lost… The ‘designated damsel’ is a really tired trope, imo. Again, the manpain. Why is Izu’s only function to stand around gazing lovingly at Aruto and then to ‘get hurt’ and make him ‘rage,’ as an anon I am still working on summarised it, pretty much. Like… I know people were throwing the ‘sexy leg lamp’ at Yua (which I disagree w/, I think she fared slightly better than that), but that same ask I’ve yet to post pointed out that, ultimately, Izu was the sexy leg lamp, and I was like ‘oh my gods, you’re right.’ She started out pretty well, but in the end, even her ‘contribution’ was… Adoring Aruto like she was programmed to do? But I’m digressing into details again.

My point is that, even setting aside all my other issues w/ how they were portrayed, the bare bones trope of ‘girl who literally is only there to be the ‘pure angel’ and then get hurt to upset the hero for drama’ is tired. And they already played that card, and really badly. Now, if I thought this was going to be Izu taking responsibility for her part in the incident that led to her getting blown up, or even Aruto learning to take responsibility (or, admittedly, just… Anyone recognising their responsibility in that incident, rather than trying to pretend it was all Horobi’s fault, bc that was a case of everyone having a piece of the fault), then I might be swayed… But I find it highly unlikely (admittedly, like I’ve said before, I consider Izu and Horobi the least responsible for what happened, they should never have been left alone together, he was volatile and she did not have the wherewithal to properly talk him off the ledge, someone w/ emotional maturity should have gotten in there).

So it’s like… A perfect storm. I know I’m preaching to a choir and calling water wet to be complaining about this kind of overused sexism in KR, but… W/ the addition of how poorly handled it was at the end of the show and the way both characters were treated… It just increases my frustration and annoyance tenfold.

I just… I really hope we’re not rehashing for… Oh, gods, for a third time. Bc this happened w/ Baby Jin, too. Bc you know, it’s the five year old’s fault the homicidal satellite that brainwashed his father gave him weapons. -_-

And the worst part is, bc Eden’s human, what do you wanna bet he’s gonna be getting away w/ it.

[firebirdsdaughter]

…

… I miss Horobi and Fuwa interacting.

[firebirdsdaughter]

…

… While Naki talking about wanting to reunite mbjr is cute in theory, and I think the first gen earpieces suit them better…

It turns a little sour when I know they’re a) talking to the guy who is (somehow?) going to manipulate the baby into reconnecting them all to the Ark, then plotting w/ a human he hardly knows to have the Ark take over his father’s body to sacrifice him to ‘kill’ her, and will then later order the assassination of said father again despite the Ark being ‘dead’ bc gods forbid a HumaGear have awareness of the negative aspects of humanity and have any anger whatsoever, and b) going to turn on Horobi at most two weeks (?) after being freed from the chip bc he can’t immediately forgive humans for making their lives hell for twelve years.

Also is that convo happening while they’re in Fuwa’s chip? In that case, what’s continuity, I guess, bc the show clearly established their personality was repressed and they were pretty much completely a drone, so it should be impossible for them to be waxing on about freedom at that point. If anything, they  should be even more of a drone in this, bc it’s allegedly a sequel to the first one, so they would have just just gotten installed, so… Is this a flashback, or are we retconning the show?