MatsuokaKiran's Blog

Anime Relations: Ga-Rei: Zero

I really liked this anime, it had a lot of different aspects involving characters and their morals and how that played into the story. But the following will be my abridged thoughts.

The way that Kagura was the amateur that must learn the ropes, and somehow become a competent fighter helped the anime talk about morals. Kagura was portrayed as an idealist who wanted to help and protect, and the way she confronted the realities of the situation were very nice. I liked how as a warrior she was able to fight and yet still maintain her sense of morals.

Yomi was also a well constructed character, and her story helped examine issues such as how birth and blood shouldn't be the basis for power.

Both of the above characters were terrific, they made the anime what it was, and this was obviously a character based anime.

Moral Dilemmas

-Killing creatures that were once people. As far as the dead/zombies in this one I know it would probably be hard to kill them, but I see no reason to think that this would be murder... but as far as the ones with leechers (whatever the ones that stuck to their heads were) you don't really know if they are still human do you? Or if they can be saved? Unfortunately the anime never addressed this.
-Killing out of hatred. Very interesting, and it was incredibly jarring when Yomi chose to kill Mei. I was shocked at how cold she was even though she knew that Mei had no choice and it wasn't really her. Not sure if we are supposed to read this as "passionate emotion is a bad thing that can lead you into acts you wouldn't normally commit" or "we all have it in us" ...which leads me into my next point.
-Pushing your expectations onto others. I think Kagura was grasping at straws when she got emotional and everything started coming out and she said "no, of course Yomi wouldn't murder Mei!" Kagura didn't want that to be true, and yet she thought it was so she didn't want to realize that she doubted Yomi. And when Kagura left the hospital room and looked back at Yomi while crying, I am certain that she knew Yomi murdered Mei. The fact that this was uninformed and hurt Yomi greatly, makes me think that the thing about "hate" was meant as "we all have it in us". The circumstances in which Yomi killed Mei were extenuating, and the way she reacted after Kagura left.... my heart went out to her, she felt so alone and abandoned even by Kagura, her "treasure".

Romantic Moments

I will be honest, I watched this expecting yuri subtext... so take what I say with a grain of pink yuri sugar XD

Hetero: It was half baked, under developed, and jarring when it took away from the time that Yomi and Kagura had on screen together. I don't think it was until ep5 that we even got a hint of development between Nori and Yomi, that was also the same episode that they kissed. Later there was a scene (in the episode where Yomi's father died) where they meet and spend they evening together... even I, a yuri shipper, have to admit that that was an obvious nod to a sexual relationship between Nori-Yomi. And for me it was absolutely horrible. The het in this anime was not of a good quality and only served to take away from the Kagura-Yomi dynamic. The amount of development for Yomi-Kagura vs. Yomi-Nori was skewed towards Yomi-Kagura, and the quality was much better too. The het in this anime made me think it was a bone throw to the majority of viewers who might have wanted some romance. My advice to the studio? You don't need het romance to make a great anime! It would have been even better without it, even from a non-yuri perspective. (note: instance of where it was jarring was when Kagura was fighting Yomi for the second to last time and bam there is Nori disrupting the flow)

Yuri: I honestly don't know how you can make it through this anime without shipping Kagura and Yomi together. Despite the numerous "sister" references, the time they spend together, the things they do together, the dedication and love (yes love) they show each other is far too great to be sisterly love (at least in my opinion). Heck, they even share a kiss! After Kagura blushes from the two of them being so close! Kagura was also the one that helped Yomi overcome her injuries, she was by her side constantly and only wavered for about 10 minutes total before she realized her mistake (which was an enormous display of maturity and empathy, not to mention love for Yomi). No one else showed that kind of dedication, and the anime even explicitly states that the one person the other holds most dear is the other, respectively (meaning that the person Yomi loves the most is Kagura and vice versa). They belong together, end of story.

To wrap it up, I don't think I will read the manga since I expect Kagura to fall in love with some boy. But one thing the anime alluded to, and something I hope happens, is that Kagura reclaims her heart and realizes her emotions again... and that she never, never forgets Yomi.

Much love for this anime, oyasumi.

.....but who/what did Yomi hate??? *edit: looking back on the anime, I think the response she gave was "I hate this world" because that is part of the EC song, and it would have been the tipping point for Yomi when she became a Category A. But I find it extremely hard to believe that Yomi hates the world, considering this world is the one with Kagura in it ^_^

Anime Relations: Kannazuki no Miko

*Edit: Upon reread of this, there is a ton of stuff that I disagree with, and like I said, I hope to come back and do a full rewatch/analysis, with more coherence and rational thinking.

I just finished Kannazuki no Miko, and I rated it 8/10, it would have gotten a 9 or maybe even a 10, but I will outline what I liked about it and what I didn't in the following pages.
Once I get a little distance emotionally from the show I will rewatch and do a part 2, which will really just be my extended thoughts, and probably a much more rational critique

allow me to clarify a few things: I got into this show knowing it was yuri, I was looking for it because I had just finished puella magi madoka magica, and the pmmm wiki said that some of the homura/madoka scenes mimicked chikane/himeko (which they do, obviously).

anyway, moving on...

Kannazuki no Miko SPOILERS Below!!

bear with me, I actually loved this anime, I just wanted to get the cons out of the way.

CONS:
-the cliche use of "every female needs to be protected" ...what can i say other than one of the main characters is seen as a weak person and is abused because of it. Himeko is constantly being protected by ogami, though she is motivated later on in the series and becomes determined to revive the god of swords, she is still seen as helpless.

-fanservice/sexism (and by sexism i mean visual sexism) self explanatory, but I will say that that the fanservice wasn't too detrimental to the story (keyword: too, it was still somewhat detrimental in parts). there were quite a few times that I facepalmed, paused the show and was like "come on" but overall I was too wrapped up in the Chikane/Himeko relationship to care.

on the whole sexism was a little too prevalent in this anime, but I was able to get past most of it and enjoy the show

-I could have done without the mech elements, I wish they would have had a yuri romance with action elements. I know that that is pretty much what it is, but at times the action feels repetitive and obstructive to the story. though at other times its not bad

-the person that loves Himeko the most rapes her. I was so upset by this, I mean the Chikane that raped Himeko was NOT the same person that we had seen throughout the anime, and later the show tries to explain it away by saying that Chikane did it to make Himeko hate her (it didn't work). there would have been so many different ways to do this effectively... i just can't get over how arrogant, emotionless Chikane was after all the love and emotion that she had displayed up to that part of the series. the personality that Chikane displayed during/after raping Himeko was so counter everything that her personality had been built on, even if you are putting on a show and are doing it with ulterior motives, there is NO WAY you could get through doing that to the person that you love most without literally breaking down/shedding a tear/contemplating suicide even! (ok here I am obviously ranting and projecting myself into character too much) she just seemed like a completely different person
Chikane said she wanted Himeko to smile and that was all that mattered, but she ended up putting herself first and willingly hurting Himeko. and when I say she put herself first i mean: you know Chikane could have come up with other more effective ways to get Himeko to hate her, so it had to be a fulfillment of her own selfish desires....
it was just too much, and I ended up head-canoning that it never happened... at first at least, now I am trying to come at it from a different angle. still very difficult

-Himeko forgives Chikane... a little more neutral leaning than I am negative leaning, but that's only because I wanted these two to end up together. I have never been raped, so I can't say what I would do, but... I just don't know. I mean, I know that no rational person could ever go back to that no matter what the explanation, but I feel that it was so out of place with the rest of the show that the only way for there to be any type of conclusion was to have Himeko forgive Chikane. arguably this could have been after they fought, and after Himeko stabbed Chikane. so theoretical:
Chikane actually displays emotion/regret/depression about what she did to Himeko, but decides to go through with her plan. you could see Himeko in despair at first after the rape, then see her angry/motivated/distraught etc, she revives the sword god, and then proceeds to confront Chikane, hell bent on revenge. Himeko is in tears but angry and fighting Chikane, trying her hardest to kill her, while Chikane is seeing the full repercussions of her actions i.e. losing the love of Himeko. Chikane is stabbed/dying, Himeko realizes what she has done, her anger subsides, she tries to commit suicide, and the show proceeds as it does in reality. I actually like this idea (because it would still stay true to the manga but would be more realistic), and would have preferred for this to happen.

PROS:

-the only thing this show is worth watching for is the Chikane/Himeko relationship... and that makes up all 8 of the points that I scored if for. meaning this: this is the best romance I have ever seen/experienced.
I am new to yuri (though I will be watching more), but this is by far the most emotional yuri I have seen so far. the other yuri that I have seen either don't have the two people ending up together, don't have the people professing their love, or treat it like its taboo and should be completely abandoned once you reach marrying age... so when I watched this (which is pretty much the opposite on all counts) I was shell shocked. I was able to relate to the characters, and I ended up shipping them so hard that I couldn't possibly imagine putting myself in their place. meaning: when I ship a couple its generally because I connect to one/both of the two characters strongly, and then I end up projecting myself onto that person and using their relationship as a fulfillment for my hopes (maybe not the way other people would put it, but I think this is the general idea for anyone relating to a fictional couple). well at the end I was so happy with them as a couple, so satisfied with their conclusion, with the love and dedication that they showed for each other that I was like "there is no way I can project myself into this, they are just too happy, too in love, too perfect for each other..."

...I cried so hard during and after the last episode...

CONCLUSION: I honestly haven't seen something this moving (for me at least) in a long time. I almost want there to never be anything like it ever again because it would take away from Kannazuki no Miko. this show will always hold a special place in my heart, I won't forget it and I hope that other people were able to enjoy this show in a similarly profound way