what's it say? I CAN'T READ!
18 Jun 2010 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaigou1. Rewatching Escaflowne, which I think may've been only the second or third series I watched with subtitles (once I moved into DVD-purchases, that is). Amazing the number of things I missed the first time, because I wasn't yet attuned to catching subtitles fast enough to also catch everything else on the screen. Like, say, the amazingly prevalent number of Greasy Money-Grubbing Jew (GMGJ) stereotypes that appear. For a series I otherwise love, it makes my skin crawl when the GMGJ caricatures show up.
Truly repugnant, especially considering the rest of the cast is drawn as pretty diverse, compared to many of Escaflowne's generational-peers. Not to mention it's not nearly as whacked as some when it comes to the feminine roles, although the cast is dominated by roughly half of its named female characters being stuffed in a fridge. Let's see: Van's mother, Allen's mother, Chid's mother... and then there are the unnamed "not appearing in this film" like Millerna's mother and Maiden's mother. I can forgive general orphaning, since the story's based in a rough and semi-warring world, but it does seem like an awful lot of mothers are conveniently Not Here Anymore.
On the other hand, it doesn't seem as though this adds any particular agony to Chid's storyline, at least, and what I do find curious is that neither Allen nor Van are driven by loss-of-mother, so much as awareness that the loss-of-mother was precipitated by loss-of-father, followed rapidly by loss-of-sibling. Deep grief, topped off by losing either the first-born or the baby of the family, and in each case the mother's represented as one that simply fades away. So instead of the usual drive/ambition that comes with revenge for 'horrible fate of being stuffed in a fridge,' it's more like the two characters are driven by a need to be everything to someone else, in a way they couldn't for their respective mothers -- who loved them, but didn't love them enough to stay, or didn't love them enough to let them make up for all the other love lost.
Rather intriguing, really, when you consider that Escaflowne was intended to appeal to girls as much as boys. Perhaps the "absentee mother" is a trope so prevalent in adolescent male development (and in basic archetypal storytelling coming-of-age routes) that it went unquestioned that Mother won't be appearing in this film, but at least raised the possibility of giving some reason other than gruesome, revenge-prompting death as the reason?
Noticeably, Hitomi's mother is not only alive, but appears to be aware of where her daughter's gone, and relatively confident Hitomi will return, at that, which is why I wonder if the shojo-influence on the storyline is what's showing up in the repeated "mother left". But in this shojo-influenced version, Mother's leaving is (from the other side) an active longing/searching for something (as stated explicitly about Van's mother) that just happens to not be the young man in question -- such that the male character's loss isn't necessarily tinged with blood and gore and horrible nightmares, so much as just deep-rooted grief at the loss of childhood/innocence and/or unconditional love of mother (which if you think about it, proved to be somewhat conditional, or at least impermanent).
And here I was just watching this to kill time while I wait for the next Oofuri.
Damn it.
2. Many years ago there was a commercial for dog treats which for some reason struck all of us working a restaurant as absolutely hysterical. (Maybe it's because bacon was a staple on all but our vegan and vegetarian sandwiches.) Wouldn't be a shift that didn't go by without someone yelling, "what's it say? I CAN'T READ!"
This is how I feel with the latest episode of Oofuri. It's bottom of the eighth, the catcher's out with a torn ligament in his knee, the opposing team has decoded all of our heroes' coach's signs, the replacement catcher's getting thrown so badly he's messing up his batting, the pitcher's freaked, the last-minute substitute is unnerved by (finally) being in a real game, and... things are falling apart. I want spoilers, and I want them NOW. But NicePitching only releases chapters like every once in a blue moon, and their last chapter was on the cliffhanger of the catcher's injury. No clues there! I track down the raws for the manga.
And instead of enlightenment, I want to holler, what's it say? I CAN'T READ!
With some really intense google-fu, I finally track down (rather circuitously ending up smack dab back on LJ) a comm that carries updates, raws, summaries, etc. But the link is dead for the corresponding chapter summary that matches this episode, oh noes! I scroll the comments, hopeful it'll tell me whether this is it or if the team's gonna come through, and the comments are all: "ah, Higuchi-sensei liberally sprinkles fudoshi-service..." and "this character has a crush on that one, right?" and "when does this character reappear?" and "is there anything about so-and-so in this chapter?" and I'm going, WHAT'S THE GODDAMN SCORE!? WHO WINS THE GAME!?
I study the pictures in the raw, curse the day that someone decided not to post a Chinese version, and I attempt to decode the final score. I can't! I CAN'T READ!
After all that, I finally track down a later summary that refers to this particular game. Our heroes lose, and are out of the Koshien in the third round, after making it to the top 16.
*sob*
Okay, maybe reading is overrated.
3. FMA is now officially over. Well, mostly -- the anime is rolling its way on to the finish line. Does this mean I'm off the hook? Does this mean it's a sign I should gird myself up and plunge back into the nightmare of complex coding and scripts that form the backend of the WP hacks making up the archive? Can someone wave a wand or a lampshade or a really big magnet and make it all go away? What do you think?
[note: before you assume answers to #1 indicate "so much remaining! like, THIS much!", see comments for explanation of what actually remains & the reason for reluctance in tackling.]
--poll now closed, replaced with short poll on-site--
Truly repugnant, especially considering the rest of the cast is drawn as pretty diverse, compared to many of Escaflowne's generational-peers. Not to mention it's not nearly as whacked as some when it comes to the feminine roles, although the cast is dominated by roughly half of its named female characters being stuffed in a fridge. Let's see: Van's mother, Allen's mother, Chid's mother... and then there are the unnamed "not appearing in this film" like Millerna's mother and Maiden's mother. I can forgive general orphaning, since the story's based in a rough and semi-warring world, but it does seem like an awful lot of mothers are conveniently Not Here Anymore.
On the other hand, it doesn't seem as though this adds any particular agony to Chid's storyline, at least, and what I do find curious is that neither Allen nor Van are driven by loss-of-mother, so much as awareness that the loss-of-mother was precipitated by loss-of-father, followed rapidly by loss-of-sibling. Deep grief, topped off by losing either the first-born or the baby of the family, and in each case the mother's represented as one that simply fades away. So instead of the usual drive/ambition that comes with revenge for 'horrible fate of being stuffed in a fridge,' it's more like the two characters are driven by a need to be everything to someone else, in a way they couldn't for their respective mothers -- who loved them, but didn't love them enough to stay, or didn't love them enough to let them make up for all the other love lost.
Rather intriguing, really, when you consider that Escaflowne was intended to appeal to girls as much as boys. Perhaps the "absentee mother" is a trope so prevalent in adolescent male development (and in basic archetypal storytelling coming-of-age routes) that it went unquestioned that Mother won't be appearing in this film, but at least raised the possibility of giving some reason other than gruesome, revenge-prompting death as the reason?
Noticeably, Hitomi's mother is not only alive, but appears to be aware of where her daughter's gone, and relatively confident Hitomi will return, at that, which is why I wonder if the shojo-influence on the storyline is what's showing up in the repeated "mother left". But in this shojo-influenced version, Mother's leaving is (from the other side) an active longing/searching for something (as stated explicitly about Van's mother) that just happens to not be the young man in question -- such that the male character's loss isn't necessarily tinged with blood and gore and horrible nightmares, so much as just deep-rooted grief at the loss of childhood/innocence and/or unconditional love of mother (which if you think about it, proved to be somewhat conditional, or at least impermanent).
And here I was just watching this to kill time while I wait for the next Oofuri.
Damn it.
2. Many years ago there was a commercial for dog treats which for some reason struck all of us working a restaurant as absolutely hysterical. (Maybe it's because bacon was a staple on all but our vegan and vegetarian sandwiches.) Wouldn't be a shift that didn't go by without someone yelling, "what's it say? I CAN'T READ!"
This is how I feel with the latest episode of Oofuri. It's bottom of the eighth, the catcher's out with a torn ligament in his knee, the opposing team has decoded all of our heroes' coach's signs, the replacement catcher's getting thrown so badly he's messing up his batting, the pitcher's freaked, the last-minute substitute is unnerved by (finally) being in a real game, and... things are falling apart. I want spoilers, and I want them NOW. But NicePitching only releases chapters like every once in a blue moon, and their last chapter was on the cliffhanger of the catcher's injury. No clues there! I track down the raws for the manga.
And instead of enlightenment, I want to holler, what's it say? I CAN'T READ!
With some really intense google-fu, I finally track down (rather circuitously ending up smack dab back on LJ) a comm that carries updates, raws, summaries, etc. But the link is dead for the corresponding chapter summary that matches this episode, oh noes! I scroll the comments, hopeful it'll tell me whether this is it or if the team's gonna come through, and the comments are all: "ah, Higuchi-sensei liberally sprinkles fudoshi-service..." and "this character has a crush on that one, right?" and "when does this character reappear?" and "is there anything about so-and-so in this chapter?" and I'm going, WHAT'S THE GODDAMN SCORE!? WHO WINS THE GAME!?
I study the pictures in the raw, curse the day that someone decided not to post a Chinese version, and I attempt to decode the final score. I can't! I CAN'T READ!
After all that, I finally track down a later summary that refers to this particular game. Our heroes lose, and are out of the Koshien in the third round, after making it to the top 16.
*sob*
Okay, maybe reading is overrated.
3. FMA is now officially over. Well, mostly -- the anime is rolling its way on to the finish line. Does this mean I'm off the hook? Does this mean it's a sign I should gird myself up and plunge back into the nightmare of complex coding and scripts that form the backend of the WP hacks making up the archive? Can someone wave a wand or a lampshade or a really big magnet and make it all go away? What do you think?
[note: before you assume answers to #1 indicate "so much remaining! like, THIS much!", see comments for explanation of what actually remains & the reason for reluctance in tackling.]
--poll now closed, replaced with short poll on-site--
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 06:44 am (UTC)Scimitar Smile was the first place I found FMA fanfic, so I do have a sentimental attachment to it. But I know that anyone who has been in fandom for more than a few months knows the reputation of Scimitar Smile, so I think there would be someone out in fandom who would be interested in taking it on if your other commitments no longer allow you to. I don’t have a Dreamwidth account, so I don’t know how active the communities here are, but the LJ communities are still active.
I was one of those who was checking on the site as fics were shifted over, and I will continue to check it as long as I’m interested in FMA. Thanks for all you have done to establish the site, and for all the care and love you have put into it, because I have really enjoyed and appreciated it.
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 07:05 am (UTC)Frankly, it's not that the site has that much left to be done -- it's that the code I hacked for it is so freaking complex and I've not touched it in months that I'm almost afraid to go near it. It's like putting away fine china so it all finally fits in the closet, and then realizing the next time you go in to get a pair of gloves, you're probably going to breathe wrong and it'll all come crashing down on your head. A delicate balance, thank you complex-coding. So the bulk is me being intimidated by what I did, and not wanting to break anything, and partly because it was really damn lonely working on the site. I don't need constant ego strokes (well, unless I'm severely depressed, and that has been the case throughout this winter, worse than usual for reasons unrelated), but it's still awfully lonely to build something like that for a fandom you never see, never hear, and aren't even sure really exists.
Sigh. I'm still pondering, but it's not like I plan to decide immediately, since I still have a contract I have to finish up on a site that does, fortunately, get a lot of noisy thank-yous. But then again, that's a site for a kite festival, and if there's any one thing about nonprofits, they're almost always pretty vociferous when they like something. So that's good.
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 08:16 am (UTC)Scimitar Smile reminds me a bit of GW Addiction. It's become more of a nostalgia archive of fanfics (probably cos I haven't kept track of the newer fics) but that hardly means no one visits. There are some great fics there that are worth recommending and can't be found elsewhere.
Also on Oofuri -- GAH, I was spoiled over a year ago when someone made an entry on LJ announcing they were going to stop reading Oofuri. Turns out it's cos Nishiura lost to Bijou in one of the chapters. I'm surprised you had to go such lengths to find out.
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 08:27 am (UTC)Still, I had no idea the fandom was still around. That's how little I hear/see of any of it. I figured it was dead enough that I fully expected the top votes to go to "just kill the damn thing already" or at best, "freeze it and leave it for posterity but don't bother with more".
And for Oofuri... yeah. Lost! To Bijou! And I so want to punch Roku in the face. I'm holding out hope that Kazu wises up and does it for me. *plots*
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 01:51 pm (UTC)Questions: I was always under the impression that Scimitar and Touka Koukan were invitation-only. Was that and/or is that still the case? And are both truly closed archives or still open, active, and accepting? The fandom this last year really exploded all over LJ with lots of new writers and artists. And unless someone has their own web page, all of that creativity has not really been collected up and archived. Many have just gone the ff.net route to reach a wider audience as I've not seen anyone step up to create a new archive site.
Here's the link aggregator news digest that watches ~227 communities, some more active than others, http://community.livejournal.com/fma_herald/
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 02:00 pm (UTC)-J
no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Jun 2010 08:20 pm (UTC)*dies*