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「命短し腐れよ乙女」 (Inochi Mijikashi Kusareyo Otome)
“Girls, Life Is Short, So Rot Away”
It’s always the quiet ones. This one is just going crazy a little earlier than most.
Actual Character Development
This is yet another hilarious episode, with a great comedic swerve, plenty of over-the-top laughs, and some of the cutest animation cuts since Sakura Trick. But before all of that, I’d like to point out what this episode shows about the storytelling worth of this series. Because, believe it or not, it’s not entirely fluff.
Some stories are afraid of change. To LOVE-ru is a classic example of a story where the status quo strangles anything close to character development. Others have problem bringing about change. Shingeki no Kyojin—which, to be clear, is a show I very much enjoyed—doesn’t have the most dynamic characters in the business, not by a long shot. What this episode proved is that Prisma Illya is willing to let its characters change, in big ways.
Think of the Mimi we first met in the second episode of season one. Now think of the Mimi we know now. They’re undeniably the same character, but hoo-boy, they’re not the same person! She’s undergone some massive changes, and this is in a secondary character. And true, it’s mainly (exclusively) for comedic effect, but I respect a show that’s willing to irrevocably change its characters, whatever the reason. I said last episode that I’ll allow a reset button only once in a while. Had they pressed it again here, I woulda been pissed. Fortunately, they didn’t. We get full-gay-all-the-time Mimi from here on out. Woohoo!
This. Is. BL!!
The comedy this episode was once again in the combo—it wasn’t what happened, which was predictable enough, but how far and how fast she fell into her new hobby. (Those sisters are dangerous, Mimi. You shoulda run.) (Also, Bishi Kuro is clearly the superior bishie. All my bishies have casually tousled hair. It’s the right choice.) And once again, explaining the jokes would ruin them, so I’ll avoid doing so. Instead—is it just me, or do fujoshi have a low opinion of fujoshi? I know I shouldn’t take what’s happening in a comedy episode as the absolute truth, but even the word fujoshi (lit. rotten girl) doesn’t have a good connotation to me. And all the imagery that went along with the fujoshi characters was not positive.
Granted, there’s a strong hint of that in many anime with any kind of otaku, so so this isn’t really new. I was just struck because—well, I’ve met a few ladies over the years who were into fujoshi-type stuff, whether of the anime variety or not. I remember a girl back in high school who liked BL, gay porn, and shipping professional wrestlers. The difference was that she (and most of the others I’ve met) treated it as no weirder than any other fandom. They liked seeing two dudes kiss, I like seeing two women kiss—no fundamental difference, other than preference. I’m not sure if that’s a cultural difference, or simple anecdotal evidence that doesn’t mean jack squat in aggregate (note: It could easily be the latter, because I don’t even have a good sample size for anecdotal evidence). Still, it’s a shame to hear people talk about the things they like (and themselves) like this, even if this is an exaggerated, fictional version. You like what you like! Don’t beat yourself up about it.
Illya’s Youthful Prejudice
There’s a fine line between a character endorsing (or condemning) a certain viewpoint, and the show itself doing the same. To wit: Illya’s initial prejudice. The unfortunate truth is that, to someone who hasn’t been exposed to the idea of homosexuality before, her reaction is probably not an uncommon one. So is it the show saying that homosexuality is wrong, or just the character? In this case, the character, because Suzuka has clearly been a fujoshi this entire time, most anime fans know what that entails, and she’s never been marginalized. Here, it’s just how sudden and how fast Mimi plunges into BL that makes it so shocking—and rightly so. They toed a delicate line in always making it juuuust feel like it was the speed of her “fall” (as they put it) that was the problem, not that she liked BL itself. So it was just Illya’s not-uncommon youthful prejudice, and fortunately, one she got over quickly enough. Not surprising, since she’s clearly been aware of yuri love, even if yaoi was a shock to her.
In other news, Mimi is gay! Maybe. Who knows! She’s still young, but she’s saying some pretty gay things right now.
Mimi: “I think boys should date boys, and girls should date girls.”
Miyu: “I kind of understand that.”
Hah! Of course you do, Miyu. And once again, them backing away to their friend, who they just realized might see them as a romantic partner, is kind of problematic, but largely okay, because they’re young, and they’re back to hanging out the next episode. All in all, a funny episode, I though. I look forward to seeing Mimi geek/gay out about ALL the things. Especially since her friends give her so many opportunities.
Looking Ahead – Theme Park Time!
So this was more of a fluff episode, and though the girls will be transforming next episode, it’s not sounding like it’s going to be a super plot-y episode. (Though it could lead into that. I don’t know, I haven’t read this far in the source. Tag your spoilers or I’ll beat you to death with Saber Lion, fumoffu.) And granted, I’d like to get back to some plot-y stuff, because too much comedy in a mixed series starts to feel … formless? If that makes sense. But the source is the source. We’ll get there eventually.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Mimi falls into the darkness that is BL (teh horror!), to the utter shock of Illya. Kuro & Miyu are cool with it, though #prismaillya s3e3
Random thoughts:
- I hardly mentioned it, but Kuro and Miyu’s argument in the beginning was clearly about more than just Mimi’s problem. I heard the source for this is actually from 3rei? Which means they yanked it out of the sequel, and then gave it a little plot relevance to boot. Well played, Silver Link. Well played.
- Remember what Hiyorin in Raki Suta said, Mimi: “I must … not … ship … my friends!” (Paraphrased, and usually said right before she does it anyway, ufufu~
- My favorite anime episodes are the ones where, when I describe them to a non-anime watching friend, it (mildly or majorly) freaks them out. Anime saikyou!
- Thigh-highs galore + twintail Kuro AND low-twintail Illya? HNG! Well done, girls. *salutes* Well done.
- Why do those two look so familiar… OH NOTES! I see what you did there *nudge nudge*
- Kuro: “Don’t mind me, I’m just staring up Illya’s skirt.” Get a room, you two. You’re interrupting Miyu’s reading. Also, you’re going to give Mimi a heart attack.
- I still don’t mind the comedy episodes, and I know they’re all being done at the beginning to build up to a crescendo by the finale. One thing they could have done, though, is pinch a move from C3-bu and save one of the comedy episodes for the end. That could improve the balance, while still getting a full 10-episodes of content, and giving us a sort of “reward” for surviving the coming drama. That could be what they’re planning already, though. Like I said, I don’t know! (Tag those spoilers, or else. Or else what? Exactly.)
My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now available in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel short story. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Absence (from work) makes the heart grow fonder, The Kingsman princess joke, Be the anime blogger, and If you find yourself using buzzwords, STOP.
Full-length images: 15.
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Kuro and Illya have finally come out of the closet. What? They did.
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I’m sure the contents of Illya’s skirt is quite fascinating and worth study.
Can’t really be helped that they’re using 3rei filler and Anime Only material, there so little left of manga 2wei left they can’t fill 10 episodes with just it. Maybe they could of crammed it all into 13 episode in the first season.
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Ah yes… BL….
I find no reason to feel disgust on the subject since I firmly believe that everyone has one or two guilty pleasures here and there.
If a girl wants to watch two men “dock” by shoving a “cucumber” up another’s “discharge pipe”, then by all means, go ahead. If its Trap-Yaoi, then count me in!
Though I know what you meant, I feel compelled to point to my opinion on guilty pleasures.
Never expected Ilya to be weirded about it when she’s the one getting little crazier whenever Miyu’s got the maido outfit on.
Ah, but you see! Everyone can be crazy about something and not so crazy about another thing.
It is what makes everyone unique! Also crazy.
Is Suzuka’s sister doing the “JoJo pose” here? (Also, was that Yoko Hikasa voicing her?)
Kiritsugu x Kotomine had me in stitches.
And after seeing how quickly Mimi fell into the world of BL, this was basically my reaction. (And it probably would be Joseph’s actual reaction too, if Mimi decided to read all those Joseph x Caesar BL doujins…)
Unless my ears deceive me, I do believe it was Hikasa Yoko, yes.
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Rule 63 in action
For every given male character, there is a female version of that character.
For every given female character, there is a male version of that character.
Love it.
And in Buddism and Shinto this is true of the major gods and buddhas, basically avatars of the male and female nature of the being.
I wonder how Fate Prisma Illya would have been, had it been straight out action Shounen, with Illya being a male raised on a diet of Shounen Manga rather Mahou Shoujo shows. Because Illya’s intrinsic abilities would make BS like Nakama power actually come true. Illya will TRY to be an idiot hero, even if it turns out he is too intelligent to be one.
Hmm… Shounen genderbend Illya sounds like an awesome fanfic, where Illya casually pulls off crazy Shounen esque feat without realizing he’s breaking the standards of Nasuverse magics. Kuro would become Illya’s superpowered dark side given a full, separate human form.
gebder-bent Kuro would be also chivalrous pervert…
Genderbent Kuro is basically bishounen Archer. GARcher! Oddly, Illya ends up looking like generic Eizenbern Homonculi…
Kuro is pretty much a big Archer Expy so its not really that big of a stretch.
Dark Skin? Check.
Lots of blades? Check.
Cynical and snarky? Check.
Hates her other self enough to want to kill her? Check!
I guess there isn’t quite enough material to fill up a whole season with what was left of Zwei, so they’re adapting the extra chapters?
It’s funny, so whatever. 😛
Yeah, there really isn’t too much left to animate in Zwei, so the funny chapters have to be done to fill up time.
Then again, if you put it from front to back for Zwei as a whole, this will be the breather episodes before the climax.
Such top writing so funny this time with a twist of realities pain. Comedy is so hard to write compared to drama yet Comedy does not get the respect it deserves.
Learned a new word. Kifujin meaning “noble rotten woman” what a fujoshi grows up to be.
I so enjoyed the humor of the relations that would actually cause the most scandal, three way yuri incestual self love with a side of love for brother, fell out of the closet with Kuro on Illya. Come on girls come clean, actually come out of the closet, act on and enjoy yourselves and be proud of your loves and Mimi might make a forth or fifth.
This episode brings up the nature of Japanese to believe in two opposing views at the same time. Have read in depth articles on this unfortunately most decades old but I see it not changed. To a Westerner this can seam like the Japanese take hypocrisy up to eleven but I’m with the authors of the articles this Japanese trait is more than that.
In example Wikipedia’s agnostic page briefly had listed the Japanese as agnostic as the vast majority of them indicated that in a poll, now they say instead Japan well it’s complex. This probably after the people who made the entries at the Buddism in Japan, Shinto, and Ancestor worship pages pointed out the vast majority of Japanese identify as Buddhist, practice Shinto and almost all Ancestor worship.
Her we have the facade society that all Japanese are expected to conform to in public. That all women will marry a man and be sexually conservative. A strong part of why the name dirty girls came up. Yet at the same time the vast majority of Japanese married people have lovers and the Japan probably leads the world in kink in private after all they invented a sexual bondage rope system. Of course gays are frustrated Japanese society does not let them live openly but the Japanese facade is also repressive of women and over all people interactions most of the time so a lot more that that would have to change. I recall reading up a western guy dating Japanese girls site many of the men complained of their girls having at least one female lover but not sharing. Also the possible other men as well. The Japanese facade does result in a very orderly peaceful society though so it does have it’s advantages. And to think Japan was the best country to be gay in for centuries up till the 1990’s when gay marriage actually started to be acceptable in other parts of the world.
Come on Japan stop the pointless foreign idea censorship of manga of other works, the rest of the world indicates this will improve women and gay rights.
Kind of a funny thought, that Japan might have been the best place to be gay until recently, if you could just quietly be gay behind closed doors and everybody would accept that as absolutely not their business and wouldn’t pry. Of course, you still have to marry an opposite sex person and have kids and whatnot, so you’d still be living a lie.
There’s a lesson here: Don’t choose a half measure, when you should go all the way. It’ll be fine for a while, but history will pass you by.
Why yes, I did just paraphrase Breaking Bad. Muahaha!
Yep that was the way it was as far back in time as I can tell you could sleep with anyone you wanted as long as you pretended to follow the conservative facade everyone except the Queens followed. Gay Queens have been out and living the gay life for centuries in Japan as far as I can tell. And of course the same sleep with anyone you wanted applied to straights then and now. It was even more wild before Western Influence now people don’t take as many lovers and in the classical period very causal sex was common.
But yes Japan has been left behind in both gays and women rights. The problem with changing the Japanese facade of a conservative society is it seams to me most people in Japan see changing a part of the rules would force a change in all the rules. This also is a part of the birth rate problem, women avoid marriage because of the tradition restrictions on what a wife can do in public. The rest of the birth rate problem is the same one showing up in Europe and European Americans. The problem is not expecting women to have children and not having them till past 25 results not enough children being born to maintain the population. Every year after puberty a women waits the chance of getting pregnant goes down and the chance of birth defect goes up so waiting into late 20’s and 30’s is failing.
It’s the slippery slope fallacy. Which is a fallacy because you can stop at any time. You can draw the line anywhere. That’s what we’ve always done. Many people just have short memories.
As for the population thing, not gonna lie, I never much saw the problem. I’d rather people have children when they’re ready to have children, not feel compelled to have them early just to “maintain the population.” As if that’s an undeniable good (I’m not convinced it is). Though maybe I have a unique point of view, because I live in Texas (plenty of hispanic americans here), and my parents were 40 and 41 when I was born. Yes, they were really i their forties.
There definitely will be Male Illya fanfics and doujins coming out from this episode. Considering that in Nasu’s very first conception of Fate Stay Night, Shirou Emiya was a girl….. and true, Illya’s counterpart in Fate Prototype was ALSO a girl….
Also, this chapter came from Drei’s side chapters, not Drei’s main story chapters. In other words, while some of the character conflicts here is informed by Drei characterizations and developments, technically, this chapter was implied to be a retrospective Slice of Life chapter set before Drei (as a breather, since Drei is the grimmest of all the three Fate Prisma series yet).
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You either die a pure girl, or live long enough to see yourself become a fujoshi.
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I see what you did there, Kuro-chan.
I love how the situation was so ridiculous it had Kuro playing the straightman XD Poor Illya was just out of her depth.
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Interesting to hear Hikasa Yoko, even as a minor character. She’s pretty busy this season. Wish she can voice a Servant in Grand Order.
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>Scarecrow
>Dolphin
Heh.
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Had me in stitches with this one. Fate isn’t short of pairings after all. There are as many pairings as there are characters. And admittedly, this is one of the famous pairings given their relationship in Zero.
Still makes me very uncomfortable thoughPrisma Illya kills it with the seiyuu. They don’t fuck about with newbies. It’s rockstars and Fate veterans in every single role.
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No. Don’t go to the dark side… NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Arise, Dark (Rotten) Lady Mimi.
Miyu doesn’t need to be converted, she’s already way in knee-deep herself since season 1, which was why she didn’t seem disturbed even after quietly reading the whole doujinshi from start to finish.
@Stilts: While this was mostly taken from a bonus chapter in 3rei, there is no way it could possibly happen any time after the end of 2wei. You’ll find out why when we hit the point of no return (when they actually go face the 8th card) in a couple episodes or so. Also, the next episode appears to be anime original.
Who buys Kuro clothes? She is really working on her jail bait skills.
…that might be Luvia? I guess she allows her wards to make their own choices, cause Miyu prefers demure…
The specials between 2wei and 2wei Herz! mention that Luvia bought clothes for Kuro back when Kuro lived in her mansion, but that doesn’t necessarily hold true anymore. Granted, she might have gotten that outfit from back then.
What? It’s not like I’m that worried about their clothes! Just relaying the information, for thems who haven’t seen the specials :X
Yes. This is filler done right, but filler nonetheless. Ruby and Sapphire weren’t even present. Had to rewatch the episode just to be sure I didn’t miss them , but nope, no magic to be had other than the forces of yuri shrinking back before a frontal assault from BLdom.
I’m all for comedy episodes and was laughing myself stupid throughout this one, but I would’ve appreciated at least a small tie-in to the plot. Didn’t Rin and Luvia say it would only take 12 hours to get to the 8th card? Nothing big, just a nod as to what they were up to, then continue with Golden Comedy Time. If you don’t have the material, you don’t have the material, and like I said this was a damn funny episode, but they could’ve gone one inch further and it would’ve been hilarious and connected instead of just hilarious.
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Kakashi and Iruka?! The one of with mask is even named Scarecrow!
Well if you think about it, Ilya is the reason for making Mimi go down the path of fujoshi. Because of the steamy kiss of episode 1, which actually makes all the more hilarious.
Looking ahead, more slice of life episodes with girls being normal girls before returning to the dark task at hand.
For a focus episode on Mimi, it’s remarkable how much of it wasn’t even about her. She was a pawn that graduated to Queen to quick; blame the players not the game.
But the initial argument wasn’t even about Mimi; it was about them. Miyu, Illya, and Kuro were actually talking about each other. Then it jut escalated by the end, where they were taking Mimi a bit more into account, but their realizations were still about their own three way relationship. Learning is caring is learning!
In Fate-related news, the Bluray Box 2 of the latest Fate:UBW anime will contain a 10-minute short animating the “good ending” of the source Fate game. (The anime’s epilogue was the game’s “true ending”.)
Show Spoiler ▼
Good to know! I’ve always thought the good ending was Show Spoiler ▼
This episode’s title is a parody of the phrase, “Inochi mijikashi, koi seyo otome…/いのち短し, 恋せよ少女…” (Girls, Life is short, (so) fall in love…)
The phrase originally came from a 1915 Japanese song, The Gondola Song/Gondola no Uta.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondola_no_Uta
The trappings of Yuridom and Yaoidom are indeed dangerous.
Laughter and jokes aside, somehow or rather, I couldn’t fully accept the comedy and the episode at face value since there’s a hidden message in the episode that keeps on nagging at me.
I wonder when will Ilya X Kuro X Miyu realise their relationship…
For now, they seem to be in quite a denial, considering reaction to Mimi’s words…
Who knew Mimi would be first to accept Yuri side of the force?
I think it’s a bit too soon to say there’s even something for them to realize. A lot of the yuri has been played for comedy, not real feelings. The trio definitely has a special relationship, but it isn’t like they’re pinning for each other or having thoughts they can’t understand. Miyu’s shown the largest signs, but even then she’s such a mystery that for all we know she’s been locked in a box her entire life before this, so sure, she’d try going that far for the first person to ever become her friend if she thinks Illya’s into that. Kuro has a literal physical need, but I can’t really say if the feelings are there.
I’m definitely not saying that things can’t go that way, I just think it’s a bit of a jump to take the light yuri flavoring to the extreme right now instead of just enjoying it.
…And as I write this I realize that I might take this all way too seriously >.<
It’s as I said in the post. Mimi is gay—maybe. They’re all young! Even allowing for how flexible age-based development is in fiction (and especially in anime), they’re not old enough to know who they really like as more than friends. Even Miyu isn’t conclusive.
Not that it’d be bad if they were all gay. Either way is obviously fine, even if they win the Shirou Bowl, since he isn’t blood related to anyone (probably). It’s just that they might not have anything to realize yet.
And I blog this show. I KNOW I take it too seriously, nyahaha!
I can only be thankful that my discovery of yuri goggles wasn’t this insane. And while it does beat you on the head with its Aesop, I do strongly believe that people have the right to celebrate their interests the way they want. Interestingly, I just heard a similar lesson like that on an internet review of a Doctor Who episode.
I do think it was a missed opportunity that they cut out a single line on how Kuro discovered Yaoi. Would have been a great punchline.
Honestly I was actualy worried about that since the the first cour of Zwei. The flaws of adapting the third act of a story to one cour is starting to show. As much as I enjoyed the episode its clear they are stretching it by adapting the side chapters.
Granted, the actual encounter with the Eight card is several chapters long, so when they finally get around to it they will hit the ground running until the end. And yes it will be epic. Here’s hoping that the final battle will be adapted to at least four(five?) episodes.
“They toed a delicate line in always making it juuuust feel like it was the speed of her “fall” (as they put it) that was the problem, not that she liked BL itself.”
I have to disagree, I think it was quite clear that the BL itself was the issue. In the end the show settled on a message of ‘So what if she is weird? She’s still Mimi, your friend’ which is… better than nothing.
Overall my impression was that the show was mainly trying to give otaku a good laugh at the expense of fujoshi, and then backpedalled a little bit at the end to mollify any butthurt. I don’t think it was intended to be spiteful, and you have to credit them with going all out on fujoshi jargon. It’s not like Mimi is an entirely unsympathetic character and it was the main characters’ actions who awakened Mimi’s inner beast anyway.
An understandable difference of opinion. Even for me, they were toeing the line enough that I could easily see myself having fallen on the other side of the wall. It’s mostly their roundly sympathetic and accepting treatment of Suzuka that keeps me from thinking the whole thing is foul.
Plus, I don’t think being weird is a bad thing. I think being weird is good. I’m an anime blogger, a fantasy author, and a craft beer nerd (among many, many other oddities). I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t weird! The opposite is normal, and normal is boring. I’d much rather be weird any day of the week 😀
Fujoshi didn’t give themselves that title. It was other anime fans that gave them that title, and then they took it for themselves. Sort of like, “I know that what I like isn’t looked well upon in society so I am a rotten girl.”
Regarding the relationship dynamics or whatever in this show, you’re looking at it through western lenses. In Japan, there’s a thing called Class S relationships (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RomanticTwoGirlFriendship.) Basically, in Japan it’s OK for two young girls to be “REALLY CLOSE” as long as they don’t pass certain physical boundaries. Japan rationalizes it as “I want grandkids” XD. So now it should make sense why Illya’s OK with Miyu being gay for the most part since she doesn’t really push it very far, but freaks out with Mimi.
Girls being SUPER CLOSE are a staple of the magical girl genre so I think it makes sense why it’s played for laughs in Illya since Illya’s a pretty self-aware show.
From what I have seen the Class S relationship is strange in that it actually acceptable in the facade of in public behavior. But combined with the rule that things can go way farther in private I”m sure that girls go on to petting and maybe even sex. Unscientific but the number of western men I’ve seen in chat and info sties commenting on the girls they date that the girl also commonly has female lovers as well indicates to me Class S carries on. Interesting thing is the girls will not go for a threesome.
The Japanese actually have a word for when the wife and mistress actually share the house or bed. I have wondered if Class S got tolerated when it started in early 1900’s as part of public society because of the men in charge wanted more females to being open to that.
Lol those girls are called bisexuals.
It’s not that Class S has evolved or anything.
Class S isn’t a sexual orientation, it’s a societal view. It’s society saying it’s OK for 2 girls to be slightly physically intimate when in their preteens to young teens. So Shirai Kuroko’s extreme “love” for Misaka in Railgun would be classified as a Class S relationship. It’s that “onee-sama” vibe to two inseparable little girls.
I don’t think men invented it. Japanese society is a little more intimate than western society. Kids below a certain age bathe naked together even if they aren’t related. You’re supposed to be Ok with penises everywhere at male’s public baths, and women with female parts everywhere at female public baths no matter the age. In a society like that, I think the idea of a Class S relationship cropping up makes sense.
@ TitanAnteus
Remember, I’m the guy who goes (trope!), all the time—I assure you, I’m aware of the Romantic Two Girl Friendship trope. (Also, all the tropes. Not really. But a lot of them!) I understand that it’s okay there, but … well, I guess I don’t see where anything I said wrote was off the mark? Because I don’t think it’s wrong for them to have a romantic two girl friendship, or even to be completely gay. Am confused o.O (Though to be fair, I’ve been drinkin’)
Sorry, it wasn’t directed at you, but a comment that mentioned relationship dynamics in the show.
I haven’t laughed so hard at an episode of Illya since, well, the last episode of Illya!
That scene where Kuro is explaining what BL was…just noticed that one of the men paired in that scene is her father! O_O I hope the scene wasn’t her inner thoughts!
What the show needs now is Shirou in a maid costume. Illya would go insane, Mimi and Suzuka would start foaming at the mouth, Rin would stammer a bit about “Why are you dressed that way?” while blushing before she volunteered to get him out of those clothes, Luvia would complement him on how good he looked and say how she did not know he was into that but she liked it, Kuro would just be egging people on while having a great time, and Miyu would be standing there trying to figure out what was going on.
Another filler. Seriously what’s going on with this season? The past seasons might have had a few filler episodes here and there but there was usually SOME relevance to the plot or character’s development in them from what I remember. I’d give the show credit for actually taking the time to develop a side character (which was a complaint I had before) but given that it was heavily played up for comedic effect it wasn’t something I could take seriously.
Suzuka was kind of a dick in this episode. I mean it’s bad enough that she forced Mimi to take part in her little game (what a coincidence that Mimi would bring up that she was writing something in time for the comic event! oh the comedic conveniences!) but to go to the extreme of revealing that secret to her friends? That’s fucked up. Nobody even really called her out about it (when they did it was more of a comedic moment). Stuff like that can easily make a friendship go through a rough spot especially if said person has certain traditional/religious beliefs. You can use the whole argument “Oh true friends wouldn’t get upset about that kind of thing” (which the anime does do) but that’s a rather naive way of looking at it.
Regardless of how understanding you may be of such a situation that doesn’t change the fact HOW you look at that person is forever changed. The anime plays up the whole shock factor for laughs which in turn really ruins the message it’s trying to send. I’m a person who believes in traditional marriage however I never openly prosecute people for doing whatever they want with whoever they want. That’s just how I am. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t go through a cycle when finding out some of my closest friends were gay. It makes it awkward knowing a guy who you shower next too after a football game is homosexual. That kind of stuff will stick in the back of your mind even if you don’t openly express it. There is a much bigger psychological aspect that you have to address when trying to tell this message.
Mimi’s obsession would indeed be creepy to most people not involved with manga/anime which is why Illya’s reaction made sense. But for this whole issue to take place and be solved in simply one episode kind of just adds to the how much I can’t take it seriously. If the episode was trying to be funny that’s fine. But since this kind of humor isn’t my cup of tea I’m only left with what message it was trying to tell which was poorly done in my opinion. So overall bad episode.
Where is my Miyu screentime damn it?!!! >:(
Not going to touch a lot of that because we all know I don’t agree, so I’ll only reference one part:
I’ll once again trot out my authorial experience here (I know how that annoys various people, but damned if that’s going to stop me from doing it when it’s relevant). In regards to making plot events less coincidental: To some degree, these things can be fixed with a throwaway line.
For instance, if someone is searching for a file in a file cabinet, a quick line of, “Five minutes later, she found it,” can do the trick. That’s harder to do in a visual medium, though, since showing the passage of time (especially small leaps) can be tricky, but it’s still usually possible.
That said, the cost/benefit analysis for smoothing over these small coincidences can be prohibitive. The reason is usually pacing. To smooth it out in this episode, they would have had to insinuate that Suzuka suspected Mimi’s new-found inclination beforehand. Certainly possible, but they then might have needed to lay out why Suzuka hasn’t approached her about it before.
They also could have skipped a few days between the study session and Suzuka’s onee getting on her about their deadlines, but to most people, that would have been a flow-breaking curiosity. Many of the fixes threaten to slow down the narrative or interrupt the flow, and pacing is far more important than smoothing over a coincidence or two. That’s ESPECIALLY true with Prisma Illya’s style of comedy, since it heavily relies on tsukkomi combos.
There’s also the simple fact that, to many people—including many authors—these kinds of minor coincidences don’t annoy them. You’re the type that does, and so am I, which is why I usually try to smooth out these minor coincidences in my own work. But to many, it’s not even noticeable.
My suggestion: Learn to ignore the minor ones. You’ll just work yourself up into a lather over something that may in fact be a net positive (via improved pacing) in the narrative. MST3K Mantra (trope!) and all that.
Touting one’s experience isn’t a bad thing. I know for a fact you can back up your statements so it doesn’t bother me.
You are right about minor coincidences and how they are easier to ignore. I didn’t really mind it as much you might think since this episode was comedic driven so that kind of stuff is just par for the course. However I think this instance is a little different from those other minor coincidences (at least for me). Mimi showed interest in Kuro last season so this part of her being brought out isn’t completely random. Suzuka on the other hand from what I remember was never shown to be an obsessive manga artist/collector. There might have been a line mentioning it at some point that I missed but up until this point it’s not something we had any idea about. Hell even Illya who has been friends with her has never come over and knew about the huge collection she had. So clearly she doesn’t talk about this kind of stuff with her friends (though I guess the whole beach episode thing at least gave SOME foreshadowing of this).
So that being the case it just really feels ultra convenient for this string of events to happen so suddenly for Mimi specially.
It really reminds me of an episode of MLP called “putting your hoof down”. I don’t watch the show personally but a reviewer I’m subscribed to reviewed it and it sort of put episodes like this in perspective. In the episode it shows Fluttershy (who is the kindest pony) constantly running into assholes until finally she gets help with being assertive. The problem with this setup however is that in an episode JUST prior to this everyone in the town was singing a song about friendship. So where did all these jerks come from? Well the simple fact is the writer wanted to get through a stage of a characters development in one episode so they were written into the story to get it all accomplished ASAP. THAT’S coincidental writing that I can’t ignore as easily. Even if a show is heavily laced in comedy I think if you want to have genuine character development setting these things up properly is more respectful of them. Mimi appears to be getting a significant amount of attention compared to other side characters in the show so I feel if this is the ONLY side character they are going to have go through some development it should have some better construction.
Still having said all that I realize that she’s mostly been a character played up for laughs so in retrospect it probably has more to do with my sense of comedy not lining up with the show. If you think something is funny you tend to ignore details like that. Which is something I’m guilty of. But when you aren’t enjoying the comedy you are pretty much left to judging everything else about a show which can lead to nitpicking. It’s a cycle I’m caught in sadly but I’ll say there are still aspects about the show I enjoy. They just don’t surface as much as I’d hope =/.
No surprise that Ilya feels uncomfortable with same-sex eroticism. I mean, how many times have she been molested by Kuro already? lol
But yeah, this filler was just… what? I mean, how much do you wanna bet that after this Mimi will go back to being an irrelevant character whose antics are played for laughs. Very disappointing, I really thought they were gonna do something interesting plot-wise with the story she was writing, not use it for some vapid meta-commentary.