#ryoko tsugumo

[bobthebobking]

finally doing my part as an area 88 fan by making my first amv

[entrapdaknation]

Area 88 in Tweets, Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

[bobthebobking]

[bobthebobking]

Mickey, Shin, and Ryoko in that order

[entrapdaknation]

Area 88 and Responsibility

A recurring (and frustrating) characteristic of several characters in the Area 88 manga is their abdication of responsibility for their actions. Unethical or unhealthy actions are framed by characters as inevitabilities rather than choices, which has the effect of stripping characters of their agency.

Mickey tells himself that he cannot live without combat after the Vietnam War changed him, and he frames his decision to become a mercenary as an inevitability. He makes no effort to heal before choosing this course of action, nor does he reflect on the ethics of his choice.

Tracy’s dialog in the manga frames Mickey’s trauma as something fixed and immutable, arguing, “You can’t live any other way.” The fact that he has not tried other ways to live, adapt, or heal is never touched upon.

Saki frames the current state of the war in Asran as an inevitability, something that fate has forced upon him. The idea that the war could be conducted differently — using ethical mercenary recruitment strategies instead of force and deception, paying the mercs fairly, refraining from the use of nuclear weapons, allowing ongoing negotiations with Abdael’s side — are ideas he refuses to consider. Mickey actively encourages Saki to go to the negotiation table and is horrified when he learns that Saki wants to use nuclear weapons, but is rebuffed.

Rishar echoes this sense of inevitability, telling Mickey that Saki would not be in this position unless fate forced him to. To his credit, Mickey calls out this facile excuse, saying, “In the end, you decide it was just fate. That’s the excuse everyone uses.”

Ryoko clings to her idealized image of Shin, convinced that they are bound by the red string of fate. She never imagines a life without him, even after he causes her heartache multiple times. Long after she should have realized that her idealized mental image of Shin does not match who he has actually become, she cannot let go and sees their relationship as an inevitability. She cannot grasp the idea that she can move on from a man who breaks her heart and is utterly wrong for her. She refuses to acknowledge how her obsession is impacting people around her, such as Josie and her father. Despite gently warning Ryoko once that fixation on Shin might blind her to the joys of the present, Taeko ends up enabling Ryoko. Even Kanzaki, of all people, warns Ryoko that her choice to obsess over Shin is pathological, comparing her to his mentally unbalanced mother.

Over and over, characters ignore their own agency, convinced that their circumstances are due to fate. Their inability to recognize their own agency is due to moral laziness, as well as a lack of imagination about their options. Suffering, for both themselves and others, is the result of this obstinacy.

There is no fate, no cosmic puppeteer pulling our strings. There is only the choices we make, difficult as those choices might be. We relinquish our own agency at our peril.

[entrapdaknation]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Area 88 (anime & manga) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Ryoko Tsugumo/Shin Kazama, Hoover Kippenburg/Carlisle Benditz Characters: Ryoko Tsugumo, Hoover Kippenburg, Rocky Mutsuki, Shin Kazama, Mickey Simon, Saki Vashtar | Saki Vashtal, King Zak, Carlisle Benditz, Satoru Kanzaki Additional Tags: Retro World, 1979 with Advanced Technology, Canon Rewrite, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Political Intrigue, Medical Thriller, Biological Warfare, Civil War, Anti-War Story, Global Warming, Green Aesop, Fictional Religion & Theology, Worldbuilding, Violence Summary:

Ryoko trains in New Amsterdam in preparation for her work in Asran. Satoru maneuvers his way into power at Yamato Airlines.

[bobthebobking]

I think some "Area 88" fans forget that Ryoko is a bit unhinged underneath her graceful, glamorous exterior. Ryoko, for the unhinged character bingo!

RYOKO SWEEEEEP

my queen my love my everything she needs therapy so bad. she just needs a good day and like. a puppy or something JKFNGD

[entrapdaknation]

Area 88 is truly a manga of many moods. Shintani offers the reader poignant scenes about the trauma of war, thrilling dogfights, and dialogues about the human condition.

As well as this.

We have to balance pathos with goofy stuff, after all.