[WEP] got reminded of this again and today's thing about this anime I'm mad about (sorta): man I feel really bad for the woman who directed both of Momoe's focus episodes
they thought they were making a heartfelt series about the depressingly diverse kinda of traumas teenage girls go through especially in Japanese society
it's kind of. weirdly, darkly funny to realize that like, all the convos we were having trying to work out the way the series was going and what all the character arcs were leading to and what all the imagery meant
like out of a script that was in hindsight clearly supposed to be going "oh kaoru's not REALLY a boy" the director managed to make a, like, genuinely compelling and good, if blunt about trauma, narrative about these two trans kids that ended with that amazing t4t kiss
I was aware of all that shit after it was brought up on Tumblr but I was super naive and thought "well writers can grow he's probably trying to do better with this series"
honestly I think the reason why I'm so bitter about momoe in particular is that I felt really seen by her and what it seemed like her experiences were in a way not a lot of other stuff, even very trans media, has done
and like who can blame me for reading into things when the climax of her second focus episode had her scream "I'M A GIRL!" and rip off her shirt to show a trans flag themed bra to compliment kaoru's jacket
Production team: so Kaoru and Momoe are both trans and the reason Kaoru is an Egg even if he's not a girl is because they're all people who were victims of misogyny-- Nojima: what
honest to god if the finale just never released and all we got was ai's final episode i'd probably be gleefully playing momoe somewhere and that's depressing to think about
there was a lot of stuff where when you look back at it makes no sense/shows nojima's bullshit but the passion of the team and the high production value masks it
I was with the weird swerve into sci-fi even since it gave us some really interesting storytelling opportunities but in the end it just seemed really weird and unnecessary
I remember the feeling went from "this is great" to "this will be great if it sticks the landing" to "oh, the landing was less than nothing" oh god i know this feeling
had it with the school for good and evil series where the first book's ending was like "gay true love's kiss!" and the second was "a boy comes between them but he likes both of them so maybe there's future polyamory....?" and then the third went "haha PSYCH they're sisters have a boring het marriage for one of the girls"
Nojima: what
I remember the feeling went from "this is great" to "this will be great if it sticks the landing" to "oh, the landing was less than nothing"oh god i know this feeling