heading back into the storm
Jun. 8th, 2024 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikogalateaAfter I'd first started watching it about five years ago and only gotten halfway through before wandering away from it, I've finally started Yuri Kuma Arashi again with the aim of finishing the whole show! I've now just finished episode 9.
For now, I don't have any further comments on the first six episodes to add to what I previously wrote about them, so here's my scattered thoughts on eps 7 to 9.
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Welp, ep 7 sure didn't waste any time killing off Kaoru.
As terrible as she was to Kureha, though, I can't help pitying her a little; she'd been pretty much groomed by Yuriika with false promises of love and being protected from getting excluded. The Yuriika/Kaoru situation reminds me quite a bit of the Akio/Touga situation in Utena, so perhaps my being a Touga fan influences my feelings here. There's also a chance that my being a Shiori fan influences my feelings further, as I'd seen Kaoru compared to her and Ringo in certain ways in the past... but this is enough about a minor antagonist as it is. =/
Ginko's backstory is honestly good and interesting, what with her being a bullied orphan who was then more-or-less indoctrinated into being a child soldier for the sake of the goddess's love. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's made me fully like her, but it's at least made it so I get her more now, and it has made me soften up on her after I greatly disliked this character in the first half of the series (including on rewatching those first six episodes). Also, the thing about "unwanted children" reminded me of Penguindrum.
All in all, I thought ep 7 was genuinely pretty good. As for ep 8...
I noticed in the end credits that "Him" has the same seiyuu as Yuri from Penguindrum, and I have to wonder if that was or wasn't a deliberate casting choice, given that Yuriika is such an obvious expy of Yuri.
That aside, nope, sorry, this backstory does not make me feel sympathetic to Yuriika, especially after she got so murderously pissed over Reia committing the oh-so-terrible sin of having a kid and generally having a life outside of her. (Speaking of Kureha being born, I find it interesting how her name meaning "red wing" is highlighted when there's so much bird imagery in the show in general and surrounnding the school and Yuriika in particular.)
Yuriika is such a manipulative lying bitch in this episode in general, even moreso than she's been before. It says something when her bullshit has me feeling bad for Ginko, whom I'd disliked for half the series; it certainly proved to me how much I'd softened up on her! Fuck the letter that was used to manipulate Lulu, too; as much as I don't like that Ginko was involved in Sumika's murder, that was still pretty damn low!
Also, for this particular rooftop confrontation we got Life Sexy calling everyone who was to be involved, which made me wonder if he'd been calling not just Kureha but her opponents as well in earlier episodes. Is he more of a string-puller than I'd thought? Should I even be surprised if he is? ^^;
With that, we move on to the episode I'd been most apprehensive about watching since I was originally dillydallying about watching YKA at all -- episode 9.
Back when the show was originally airing, long before I'd had any means of watching it for myself (the simulcast wasn't available to my country) and long before I decided I would give it a chance when it did become available to me, I'd heard a bunch of conflicting things about this episode. I saw some people claim it was the most offensive episode to date, and I also saw some other people claim it was the point where they were declaring the show to be Ikuhara's latest masterpiece. You can probably imagine the mixed feelings I got from that.
Now I've finally actually watched the episode for myself, I think it's neither masterpiece material nor the worst thing I've ever seen. The end bit with Yuriika certainly sucks, but I'll get to that in a bit.
First up, surprise, Mitsuko's back! Sort of, at least, as essentially a ghost (reminding me of the Utena movie in the process) and representing Ginko's darker feelings, as best as I'm understanding things here.
So Ginko actually intended to save Sumika from Mitsuko, but then jealousy got the better of her and that's what led to her standing back and watching as Mitsuko did her thing? At least it lends some humanising greyness to a situation that had previously turned me right off Ginko when the twist was first revealed at the end of ep 6...
Now I'm guessing Mitsuko's ghost has taken possession of Ginko, complete with uncomfortable rape-y imagery? That's ominous.
I have to say, Mitsuko calling Yuriika a "bitch-bear" put a smile on my face. I always did, and still do, find Mitsuko weirdly enjoyable in a guilty-pleasure sense despite the fact she's so terrible; I think it helps that the narrative accepts that she's terrible and isn't woobifying her or apologising for her like it does for Yuriika.
As a quick aside before I segue into salt mode: was the only point of the scene with Life Sexy watching those two random girls going at it on the hospital bed just as a gag about male gaze? (Not that this show doesn't have plenty of unironic gaze-y fanservice to begin with...)
Now engaging salt mode, even if for one paragraph! In case I haven't already made it clear, I hate Yuriika, so I cheered "take that you bitch!" out loud when she got shot while trying to rape/eat Kureha... which then lead to her dying moments, which I thought were the one really bad part of the episode. I rolled my eyes so hard at the narrative's attempt to force viewers to feel sorry for her; I don't think she deserved this level of last-minute sympathy after what she did, and I sure as fuck don't think she deserved to be comforted by the girl she just tried to rape and kill -- the girl whose mother she killed out of possessive jealousy, at that! It's bloody rich of her to say anything about Kureha's and Ginko's "rightful futures", too, after she just tried to ruin their futures...
Now I've got my bitching about Yuriika out of the way, and now Yuriika's out of the way in the actual show, I am eager to finally see this series through to the end and form a proper opinion on it for myself after all this time.
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I'm intending to watch the last three episodes in the next few days, and this time I definitely won't wander off from it like I did before!
I also started rewatching Utena recently, which I think was long overdue, especially with it being one of my favourite anime series ever. That's what inspired me to restart and finish YKA now, actually. I'm considering rewatching Sarazanmai while I'm at it, too, as it's been a while since I was watching that while it aired and it's only 11 episodes.
For now, I don't have any further comments on the first six episodes to add to what I previously wrote about them, so here's my scattered thoughts on eps 7 to 9.
-
Welp, ep 7 sure didn't waste any time killing off Kaoru.
As terrible as she was to Kureha, though, I can't help pitying her a little; she'd been pretty much groomed by Yuriika with false promises of love and being protected from getting excluded. The Yuriika/Kaoru situation reminds me quite a bit of the Akio/Touga situation in Utena, so perhaps my being a Touga fan influences my feelings here. There's also a chance that my being a Shiori fan influences my feelings further, as I'd seen Kaoru compared to her and Ringo in certain ways in the past... but this is enough about a minor antagonist as it is. =/
Ginko's backstory is honestly good and interesting, what with her being a bullied orphan who was then more-or-less indoctrinated into being a child soldier for the sake of the goddess's love. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's made me fully like her, but it's at least made it so I get her more now, and it has made me soften up on her after I greatly disliked this character in the first half of the series (including on rewatching those first six episodes). Also, the thing about "unwanted children" reminded me of Penguindrum.
All in all, I thought ep 7 was genuinely pretty good. As for ep 8...
I noticed in the end credits that "Him" has the same seiyuu as Yuri from Penguindrum, and I have to wonder if that was or wasn't a deliberate casting choice, given that Yuriika is such an obvious expy of Yuri.
That aside, nope, sorry, this backstory does not make me feel sympathetic to Yuriika, especially after she got so murderously pissed over Reia committing the oh-so-terrible sin of having a kid and generally having a life outside of her. (Speaking of Kureha being born, I find it interesting how her name meaning "red wing" is highlighted when there's so much bird imagery in the show in general and surrounnding the school and Yuriika in particular.)
Yuriika is such a manipulative lying bitch in this episode in general, even moreso than she's been before. It says something when her bullshit has me feeling bad for Ginko, whom I'd disliked for half the series; it certainly proved to me how much I'd softened up on her! Fuck the letter that was used to manipulate Lulu, too; as much as I don't like that Ginko was involved in Sumika's murder, that was still pretty damn low!
Also, for this particular rooftop confrontation we got Life Sexy calling everyone who was to be involved, which made me wonder if he'd been calling not just Kureha but her opponents as well in earlier episodes. Is he more of a string-puller than I'd thought? Should I even be surprised if he is? ^^;
With that, we move on to the episode I'd been most apprehensive about watching since I was originally dillydallying about watching YKA at all -- episode 9.
Back when the show was originally airing, long before I'd had any means of watching it for myself (the simulcast wasn't available to my country) and long before I decided I would give it a chance when it did become available to me, I'd heard a bunch of conflicting things about this episode. I saw some people claim it was the most offensive episode to date, and I also saw some other people claim it was the point where they were declaring the show to be Ikuhara's latest masterpiece. You can probably imagine the mixed feelings I got from that.
Now I've finally actually watched the episode for myself, I think it's neither masterpiece material nor the worst thing I've ever seen. The end bit with Yuriika certainly sucks, but I'll get to that in a bit.
First up, surprise, Mitsuko's back! Sort of, at least, as essentially a ghost (reminding me of the Utena movie in the process) and representing Ginko's darker feelings, as best as I'm understanding things here.
So Ginko actually intended to save Sumika from Mitsuko, but then jealousy got the better of her and that's what led to her standing back and watching as Mitsuko did her thing? At least it lends some humanising greyness to a situation that had previously turned me right off Ginko when the twist was first revealed at the end of ep 6...
Now I'm guessing Mitsuko's ghost has taken possession of Ginko, complete with uncomfortable rape-y imagery? That's ominous.
I have to say, Mitsuko calling Yuriika a "bitch-bear" put a smile on my face. I always did, and still do, find Mitsuko weirdly enjoyable in a guilty-pleasure sense despite the fact she's so terrible; I think it helps that the narrative accepts that she's terrible and isn't woobifying her or apologising for her like it does for Yuriika.
As a quick aside before I segue into salt mode: was the only point of the scene with Life Sexy watching those two random girls going at it on the hospital bed just as a gag about male gaze? (Not that this show doesn't have plenty of unironic gaze-y fanservice to begin with...)
Now engaging salt mode, even if for one paragraph! In case I haven't already made it clear, I hate Yuriika, so I cheered "take that you bitch!" out loud when she got shot while trying to rape/eat Kureha... which then lead to her dying moments, which I thought were the one really bad part of the episode. I rolled my eyes so hard at the narrative's attempt to force viewers to feel sorry for her; I don't think she deserved this level of last-minute sympathy after what she did, and I sure as fuck don't think she deserved to be comforted by the girl she just tried to rape and kill -- the girl whose mother she killed out of possessive jealousy, at that! It's bloody rich of her to say anything about Kureha's and Ginko's "rightful futures", too, after she just tried to ruin their futures...
Now I've got my bitching about Yuriika out of the way, and now Yuriika's out of the way in the actual show, I am eager to finally see this series through to the end and form a proper opinion on it for myself after all this time.
-
I'm intending to watch the last three episodes in the next few days, and this time I definitely won't wander off from it like I did before!
I also started rewatching Utena recently, which I think was long overdue, especially with it being one of my favourite anime series ever. That's what inspired me to restart and finish YKA now, actually. I'm considering rewatching Sarazanmai while I'm at it, too, as it's been a while since I was watching that while it aired and it's only 11 episodes.
