Hello everyone. I hope you’re having a wonderful day! I know it’s Monday but don’t worry, the weekend will be here before you know it!
Of course, a big hello to you Scott (guys check out Mechanical Anime). How are you this week? It’s been snowing quite a bit here so we’re getting out the shovels. It’s nice to at least have some winter this year!
Hi Irina! I hope the weekend gets here quickly so we can watch more comfy anime. There really has just been a lot of comfiness recently during the weekends and I want more of it.
My week has been strange weather wise over here. It’s been very cold without clouds, then it started raining the next day, and so many other things. At least its exciting as we slowly move into Spring.
I have to warn you guys, I don’t have that much to say this week so it might be a slightly shorter post. But you know, short and sweet, just like Miyano! So let’s get right to it.
I really like it when stories create these concrete little signs of emotion or sentimentality. Like the cold hands because he’s nervous. I thought that was actually a very romantic idea. And I did enjoy how it got brought up a few times throughout the episode to create continuity.
What did you think Scott?
I think short and sweet is ok. Whether its a person or a write up, as long as it has a strong effect on people. 🙂
I loved those concrete signs of emotions on screen too. Whether it is showing the heart flutter or getting us to see the affection someone is feeling through very on screen material and direction. I love it when a show or book or whatever can make you feel what the character is feeling in those moments because that feels like genius to me.
I also found it hilarious to have Miyano be a fujoshi translator! Those scenes do get a bit tacky but I still have fun with them.
It’s amazing to think that at the beginning of the season, Miyano was doing everything he could to keep his hobby a secret and now he’s basically fine to just be called fundanshi by one of his senpais. He really has grown a lot as a character but it happened so gradually, you could easily miss it.
I loved that too. Miyano really has changed so much in the first episode. Plus, others support his hobbies and interests or at least don’t make fun of his hobbies and interests so he doesn’t have as much to fear. People just like him for him and he finally discovered that.
I also liked hearing Mia on the screen and eventually seeing her even if she is just so faceless. Slowly, the girlfriends and other people that our characters know are leaking onto world and its so good. Her Seiyuu must have had so much fun.
Oh yeah! That’s great to imagine.
I do enjoy the crossdressing trope in anime but I wonder how often it happens. I mean, I have crossdressed with friends of varied genders for fun, but not often and it definitely wasn’t a school-mandated activity. I know a lot of people that haven’t ever done it and I don’t think it’s weird.
Anime will have me believe that it’s a right of passage. Like everyone or at least every guy, has done it at some point in school. And I have to wonder whether that ever happens in real life at all. Maybe anime got so popular that now high schools really do crossdressing maid cafés for culture festivals.
It’s also a little funny that crossdressing maids is what can be considered Japanese culture. I love it!
I think it’s kind of fun too as long as it doesn’t go into that creepy crossdresser trop which puts it all in a negative light. Also, I can say that I’ve crossdressed once as well with some other people and all I will say is that college marching band is fun and leave it at that. If I say more, I feel like I am still under the obligation of being assassinated for it because it’s supposed to be a “secret” event.
I keep thinking of the crossdressing trope as a big fanservice thing. I don’t mean it that way, but in a way that fans wonder about how characters look as the opposite gender and so do the animation team, which is why they do it. Haven’t really considered it a right of passage or anything, but maybe it could be. That’s a lot to think about.
My post is a bit all over the place. I’m jumping from one point to another. I just have these dishevelled notes where I wrote down all the parts of the episode that caught my attention but they don’t really flow together when I’m skipping all the connecting scenes. Oh well on to the next point!
Blogging is hard, so I relate :).
Sasaki has always had this edge to him that isn’t all that pleasant. He’s a bit possessive and jealous. In the grand scheme of BL characters, he’s actually a teddy bear. But in this show, everybody is so nice that even his comparatively mild reactions do come off as oddly forceful at times. I will say that I appreciate that both the show and the character himself, frame those attitudes as somewhat shameful and a character flaw.
Looks like I have just watched BL with big and soft characters that don’t go too far or push the boundary too much, because I have been somewhat put off by Sasaki’s reactions even if they don’t feel as large and violating as they could be. But the show is showing that it is a flaw by him questioning himself and going “why did I do that”. That is why I say somewhat because he is a flawed character and maybe that dynamic will get more interesting if Miyano does accept him.
So I was a bit worried going into that last scene. The way Sasaki locked the door seemed so ominous and that exact moment wouldn’t have been out of place in a thriller or horror anime.
Thankfully it did work out. I don’t think that hug was too out of place and I will admit I squeed a bit when Miyano returned it. As usual, the show erred on the side of cute and I’m all for it!
What did you think of the final scene Scott? And what are you hoping to see next week?
Well, Irina…I was nervous too because it was a bit ominous, but I’m glad it turned out well. I was pretty happy seeing Miyano going “oh, I like him” and hugging back. It was just so good. I hope that is where it leaves off in the end for this scene.
I’m kind of hoping that we get the confession scene now because Miyano knows his feelings and has accepted them. Maybe he will think about it too. Hard to tell on that end I suppose.
I actually enjoyed this episode more than the previous few, but I couldn’t tell you why. It didn’t feel any different. Maybe I was just in the right mood this time round?
I’m already liking glasses boy’s girlfriend; they’re cute together.
Jealousy, oth, isn’t cute and never will be for me. It’s one of my fomance turn-offs. I agree, though, that genre-wise Sasaki’s on lower end. I found the way he locked the door uncomfortable, too, but I wasn’t actually worried. There are shows where I’d have immediately read this a locking the other guy in. In this one, it came across to me as “I don’t want to be disturbed.” Given all the meta elements, I think playing with the type in that way is deliberate, and it’s actually smart. And Sasaki’s body language when he’s trying to hold himself back is very spot on. In fact, if I’d say the production has any strength, it’s body language in particular. You can just tell how poeple feel just by looking at their posture and movements. I don’t think any other show does it this well, this season (though I’m just going off ad-hoc impressions; I haven’t actually compared the shows I’m watching with this in mind).
You might have a point there. I should pay more attention to it. But Sasaki and Miyano is very much conveyed through subtle body language rather than dialogue. So it makes sense