My fucking god...these rappers gay...

Sasara’s Duality 

THIS IS NOT AN ORIGINAL POST. Twitter user lily_hpmy recently combed the entire series--we're talking song lyrics, drama tracks, the anime, the movie, the manga, the live shows, the Spotify radio podcasts, the stageplays, and both video games--to discover the two things Hitoya can't stand. Sorry, did I say two? Make that one hundred forty-seven.

so, i made a zine about that thing i’ve been really getting into for the past 3 months.

unlike general hypmic explainers, this zine doesn’t really get into concrete spoilers or general details on the setting and story; this is more of an overview of what drew me into the franchise (and how those same things could get you into it too).

it’s a pay-what-you-want one-page zine layout, so you can print it and pass it out to that special someone you’re also trying to convince. overall goal is just to get as much people as possible into checking this thing out.

and just in case you don’t know how a one-page zine layout works, here’s a starting guide to constructing one.

Lmao you flatter me, but that was a quick word vomit. I just wanted an excuse to go off.

I don't disagree with you about Otome, and I apologize if it came across that way! I feel like we're talking about the same issue. (I'm going to yammer not at you specifically again.) To me, she has realistic weaknesses and psychological issues, but they don't translate to her actions. It seems like she and Ichijiku were originally intended to be less complex, cartoon-esque villains, but the scope of the project eventually expanded to include them as full-fledged main characters several years in. However, by that point, it was too difficult to retcon earlier writing that cemented Otome and Ichijiku as almost bafflingly cruel.

That's not to say that simplistic and plot-focused antagonists are bad writing, and I adore an entertaining, simple villain. Nor does it mean that simple antagonists can have no redeeming features. But there's a huge difference between Honobono (who I think is written much better, the ridiculous framing of her backstory notwithstanding) and Otome or Ichijiku. Honobono exists primarily to further the plot, Hifumi's characterization, and (to a lesser extent) Doppo's characterization. Her interiority is a foil to Hifumi's, allowing the authors to explore concepts of what makes normalcy and if that is even a thing to be desired in ways that would be impossible without her. She furthers MTR's core themes and Hifumi's character themes. However, when she exits the narrative, we intuitively understand that she ceases to exist. She doesn't engage in hobbies or self-growth when the spotlight isn't on her. She's a side character! It's a smart choice to limit her to being just a side character (furiously knocking on wood), and it may have been wisest to limit Otome and Ichijiku similarly. This isn't to say that there shouldn't have been any main female characters, and I think Hypmic could absolutely have leaned way, way, way harder into exploring issues of sexism with a female cast (even while understanding that this could have been a turn-off in escapist fiction for the primarily female target audience), but I think they'd best have been served by planning for more, and separate, female characters from the start.

(Responding directly to you again) Oh man... I have a lot of trouble accepting Ichijiku. I 100% agree with your understanding of her character with one small addition that I don't think permeates the language barrier well. In JP, she talks about wanting to be perceived as "cute" because Japanese treats feminine presentation as a sort of spectrum between the poles of "cute" (youthful presentations, light-colored clothing, small builds, etc.) and "beautiful" (more mature presentations, darker clothing, a focus on "elegance", may involve taller or more-developed builds). Ichijiku's height and body type prevent her from being seen as classically "cute," and she also understands that being any less assertive--which is often a part of "cute" presentation--means she is less likely to be treated seriously in patriarchal society. It's not uncommon to see "beautiful" characters want to be "cute" in fiction, but I really, really like its inclusion in Hypmic because it ties into Hypmic's broader message about the individual's ability to decide their gender presentation on their own terms.

(Yammering again) At the same time, it's kind of uncomfortable that the trajectory of each main female character is to, in some way, accept a caretaker role for the men in their life. (Nemu -> making food for Samatoki, Ichijiku -> becoming the Ramuda clones' "mom," Otome -> reclaiming an active caretaking role in Dice's life) I'm less bothered by Nemu and Otome. Nemu is providing for Samatoki at the conclusion of an arc involving becoming a provider/protector for someone else, and Samatoki is not only able to take care of himself but is shown taking care of Nemu in the exact same way. Theirs is a reciprocal relationship that is a natural conclusion to Nemu's character arc. Ditto for Otome; we see throughout her character arc her struggling to make peace with her feelings for Dice. She seems to believe that she can't be both a loving mother and a political leader. All three stories are in line with Hypmic's broader thesis of every person, regardless of gender, needing to love and care for other people, and I get that it's still culturally relevant in Japan for a "you can be in the workforce without forsaking your family/ability to love and care for people" message. This is definitely a different waves of feminism sort of thing.

With Ichijiku, though........... This is just a me thing, but I can't wrap my head around her being so vehemently and violently opposed to giving the Ramuda clones personhood and then suddenly becoming their primary caretaker. She sees nothing wrong with killing them for most of the story and still, to this day, does not regret having ordered some of their number to their deaths!! And yet now she's their "mom." Okay. Sure. Why not, Hypmic? I don't think this conclusion to her arc is earned, as the transformation is too sudden and not closely aligned with the character conflicts established earlier in the story.

Your breakdown of the Japanese cultural nuance regarding "cute" versus "beautiful" presentation for Ichijiku was also a massive eye-opener. I completely understand why that layer gets lost across the language barrier. Yet, even with that context, I am 100% with you on her conclusion: turning her into a "mom" to the Ramuda clones feels entirely unearned. For a character who ruthlessly ordered their executions for years without a shred of remorse to suddenly pivot into their primary caretaker is a jarring narrative leap.

This brings me to what frustrates me most about Chuuouku: the way they function as a toxic caricature of feminism. It is incredibly infuriating because their portrayal actively damages the image of women. As a female reader myself, I can't help but feel slighted by how the writers handled this. The narrative completely overlooks the fact that Chuuouku's regime doesn't just oppress men; it profoundly hurts other women. We are talking about vulnerable families torn apart by the capture or loss of their male relatives, leaving mothers, daughters, and sisters enraged and grieving. By tearing apart families and enforcing strict segregation, Chuuouku doesn't dismantle systemic issues—they merely cement toxic gender stereotypes.

Even on a musical level, the female cast receives far less genuine hip-hop material from the songwriters. Instead, their tracks consistently revolve around preaching about how imperfect the world is and how they want to change it using words alone. But the irony is that these "words" literally destroy the target's nervous system. It is just a different manifestation of brutality—mental and psychological violence masquerading as a peaceful alternative to the physical violence they blame men for.

I remember discussing this with another fan who told me, "Don't look at them as examples of actual feminism." But that is precisely the issue! The writing is so poor that it risks giving casual audiences a warped, weaponized idea of what feminism actually is. Ultimately, the writers ended up shoving these women right back into the box of gender stereotypes. They set up independent, strong female leaders only to tie them right back to the traditional, domestic roles expected of them. For those of us who care about writing integrity, it is incredibly disappointing; it makes them look like women who reject men, only to later realize they need men to validate their own worth.

Things could have been handled so much better if the writers had made the choice to let them truly face the music—to suffer the real-world consequences of their actions and live to genuinely redeem their wrongdoings. In real life, an entire government regime responsible for country-wide psychological warfare would absolutely end up in prison. Instead, Chuuouku’s systemic crimes are handwaved away just to fit a tidy, unearned redemption arc.

Furthermore, Nemu’s position highlights how broken Chuuouku's internal logic is. She was shielded from the reality of the regime due to blatant favoritism from the Prime Minister and her advisor. While Ichijiku’s high rank is protected because no one dares to cross her, Nemu’s rapid advancement makes their political expertise highly questionable. They hold vital state positions purely because of personal connections and plot convenience.

To wrap up my thoughts, the ultimate inequality in Hypnosis Mic is just how much better the male characters are written compared to the female cast. Until very recently, the women received almost zero authentic narrative care. The female cast has consistently been sidelined or poorly handled—which, ironically, perfectly mirrors the systemic disadvantages and lack of representation women suffer from in real life. If anything, the sheer corruption of Chuuouku and the devastating existence of the Hypnosis Mic itself prove a fundamental truth: women can be just as corrupt, power-hungry, and deeply flawed as men. Acknowledging that capacity for wrongdoing is what actually makes them equal as humans, completely independent of their gender or any other factor. The writers' refusal to let them face real consequences strips them of that human complexity.

Thank you for diving so deep into this with me! It is such a relief to find a space where we can critically dissect these narrative flaws together.

Agreed! Thank you for having this fun discussion with me and other fans in the tags/reblogs.

I don't disagree with anything you said, and I would love to see the female characters have much, much better writing, but there are two final things I'd like to add that I don't think have come into the conversation thus far.

Even on a musical level, the female cast receives far less genuine hip-hop material from the songwriters.

Japanese hip-hop has a machismo issue in much the same way that English (language) or other language hip-hop does. There are many talented female Japanese hip-hop artists, but even in a space that is ostensibly about the acceptance of defying social rules, female artists are policed with the same harsh gender roles that apply to women outside of counterculture spaces. Female artists, especially those under big labels, are more likely to have a J-pop/J-hip-hop fusion style, and most female rappers who are solely in the J-hip-hop or J-reggae/J-ragga scene are very clearly carving out a space for themselves amongst their male counterparts. Rap groups and collabs are dominated by male artists; most collabs are either all male, all female (and then the fact that it's an all-female group is front and center), or a "mix"...where the mix is a single female artist alongside several male artists. Many female rappers have bars or whole songs that express "I'm a woman" when few male rappers ever overtly state "I'm a man," and even artists who otherwise dress and present much like their male colleagues, like reggae and hip-hop artist 775, will often be marketed in atypically femme styles. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that female artists are putting their womanhood front and center, but it's a bad thing that, should you be female and a rapper, you can never be anything but a female rapper. There is no ability to be a rapper without the non-default adjective "female."

I find it fascinating and really rather sad that Hypmic inadvertently perpetuates this problem. In general, I think that Hypmic inherits many social factors from J-hip-hop but--again, inadvertently--exacerbates them due to its nature as a josei-muke multimedia idol project.

I keep bringing up the word "inadvertent" because my main analytical lens for this and other works I translate is "What is the author's intent, how does the text aim to achieve these ends, and to what degree are these aims successful?" This is, imo, reasonable if we operate under the assumption that a media translator's purpose is to reproduce the author's intent to the best of their ability; the media is also expected to be unable to achieve its aims perfectly, and the audience is expected to engage with it at a relatively shallow (as in, for entertainment and not academic purposes) level. I'm generally willing to meet authors where they're at and engage with their texts on a non-personal—what do you, the author, want to say; not what do I, the reader, want to hear—level, which is why I don’t mind openly discussing where Hypmic falls short. But I don’t think this “falling short” is the same thing as saying the work is entirely without value.

I definitely think Hypmic is a bit dated (I would be surprised if the scenario writer is younger than 40) and, having started in 2017, is not reflective of the state of affairs in Japanese gender politics in 2026. Its core message aimed at women—and I truly do believe it aims a lot of messages at men, even when men aren’t the target audience—is an encouragement to stand up for oneself and be a financially independent adult without renouncing your ties to family and friends. (Which is sound advice for everyone!) I think this would’ve been much more topical even twenty years ago, but financial and social conditions are such nowadays that Japanese women of my generation (mid-20s) generally assume they’ll have to juggle career and familial responsibilities as the default. Back when I was in late high school (2017, when Hypmic started), conversations about life plans with female students of various economic backgrounds from our Japanese sister school always led to careers, higher education, or both. I have no doubt there are women who plan to marry shortly after high school/college, but as in the US and other countries with high CoL, these numbers continue to drop. More and more women are also attempting to reenter the workforce after marrying and/or having children, thus bucking convention of single-income families with a female caregiver.

But I can’t help but think of all the anecdotal evidence I’ve run into on Twitter and YouTube over the years of Japanese women being inspired by Hypmic to stand up for themselves, assertively chase their dreams, and try new things. Even if it is retreading familiar ground, the more feet tromping along a path someone else trailblazed, the more attention is drawn to it and the more people realize “Hey, I can walk that path too!” Clumsy executions or no, Hypmic has boosted enthusiasm for Japanese hip-hop among Japanese women—to say nothing of people all across the globe—and given attention to artists who might never have otherwise achieved the same level of success. It is by no means perfect, but I do very much think Hypmic’s heart is in the right place on matters of sex and gender.

I completely agree with your macro-analysis, but I wanted to loop back to one specific thing you mentioned about Otome, just to dig a bit deeper into that character writing.

You noted that Otome has realistic weaknesses and psychological issues, even if they don't translate well into her actions. I would absolutely love for you to elaborate on that! Because her flaws are so poorly translated on screen, I feel like we never truly get to see her deeper insecurities.

To me, a character's plot weakness and their internal insecurity are two entirely different things. Perhaps her structural weaknesses as a leader are evident, but her personal vulnerabilities feel completely shielded from the audience. Because those internal insecurities were never shown, I still find it incredibly difficult to empathize with her or the rest of the Chuuouku members. Ichijiku is really the only one whose insecurities were given any authentic depth, and we briefly caught a glimpse of Nemu's inner conflicts in the manga, but Otome remains a total fortress.

Since you look at this through the lens of the author's intent, what do you see as her realistic weaknesses and psychological issues? I’d love to hear your take on what the writers intended to show with her, even if the execution fell flat!

Sure, I'd be glad to talk about this. Thanks again for having this conversation with me!

This isn't an exhaustive list, but here's what I'd consider her major personal conflicts that make her an empathetic main character (which may not be perfectly synonymous with her weaknesses or psychological issues; rather, these are conflicts the narrative wants her to grapple with and/or overcome):

Per The Wind Comes First to the House Before the Storm (as an aside, it's a little odd that such a crucial part of Otome's character is basically supplementary material, as this was a sales bonus for a guidebook. Hypmic rarely releases much of substance in sales bonus drama tracks, instead focusing on goofy or heartwarming slice-of-life moments--fan service, basically. However, looking at the release date (Sept. 2020), this drama track predates Chuuouku being marketed as a group; their first song, Femme Fatale, wouldn't come out until over a year later (Nov. 2021). It feels like Otome and Ichijiku were still intended to be side characters, making these drama tracks more "fun backstory" than "core plot content," until Hypmic was like "Wait, we kinda cooked there" and pivoted the Chuuouku characters into a marketable unit of main characters.), Otome chafes under the expectations for Japanese women of her and her mother's generation. She refuses to accept that women act merely as accessories to men or should continue to suffer abuses--both personal and societal--at the hands of men. She does not believe that women should be disenfranchised in politics and society, and she makes it her life's mission to change this. I call this an empathetic conflict because her frustrations are reflective of reality. Women are disenfranchised in Japanese (and global) politics, and the struggles Otome faces with her parents and spouse (her father's open and demeaning misogyny, her mother only valuing her as a wife and upper-class "lady" (see the insistence on training Otome to recognize niche varieties of tea by taste, essentially a party trick with little value other than impressing upon a visitor the classiness of the individual), her father dismissing her opinions and ability to participate in political discourse, her mother's reluctance to engage in political discourse or share original thoughts on the basis of it not being "women's business," her inability to choose her own spouse, her inability to choose her own place of living (as she is found and brought home against her will every time she leaves her father's house), her mother's insistence on "throwing away all [Otome's] dignity" by "[enduring] any [and all] pain, fear, shame, and humiliation," and her spouse's physical and verbal abuse) are all real and realistic struggles of Japanese women in Otome's generation and--to a lesser degree--Japanese women today.

Similarly, I consider her inability to condone physical violence and injustice (to the point that she wraps back around to committing violence and injustice) an empathetic struggle as, again, her concerns are founded in real-life issues. It is a travesty that money and power inform society far more than ethics, and it is unacceptable that war takes precedence over dialogue. She's not wrong when she says that Japanese tax reform of the 2010s (and beyond) is more about lining pockets of wealthy and powerful interests than improving the lives of the average Japanese citizen, and as the recent lifting of restrictions on selling lethal weapons overseas under the Takeichi government has proved, she's really not wrong that the Japanese weapon laws are "incredibly loose"! (Although even that's a continuation of a long-running trend, and Hypmic is probably speaking directly to the 2015 amendment of the constitution under the Abe government that enabled the SDF--essentially, Japan's military--to be deployed in assistance of allied nations, effectively allowing the SDF to go wherever a politician can spin "defense of an allied nation" into. (This is an oversimplification, and I am not bothering to hide my political bias. Please go read more on your own time if interested.)) Nor is she wrong to say that Japan "purchases weaponry only because other countries tell us to do so," wherein "other countries" is understood to be the US and "they tell us to do so" is understood to be the US's unspoken threat of revoking its gargantuan volume of financial investment and military assets should Japan fail to buy US weapons. The conclusion she comes to (if I put women in power, that will fix everything) is wrong, but her ability to identify issues in Japanese and global society is accurate and reflective of mainstream, majority Japanese political opinion of a certain generation. (For a whole host of reasons, including everything from WWII's devastation on Japan's civilian population and post-WWII educational propaganda to the work of leftist and progressive moments in the 50s and 60s, Japan has had a sizable political pacifist presence throughout the late 20th century and into the 21st. With generational shift and growing right-wing influence, the needle seems to be swinging back the other way. But assuming Otome is meant to be around 50 in the late 2010s, it makes sense that she would be a political pacifist and comment on the political and gender climate of the 1980s and 1990s in Japan.)

Much of Otome's life is characterized by a lack of autonomy. She escapes her father's controlling household only by marrying Mikado, a partner she did not have the liberty of choosing herself. The political party she leads is founded only with the assistance of her father, and when Mikado faces stressful pressure from Otome's father, he takes the stress out on Otome, trapping her in an abusive marriage. Rei offers her the tools to escape this marriage and parental control, but it's little wonder why Otome remains wary of Rei for the remainder of the series--in her own words, "I became a puppet in his hands." Rei often acts as a tempter in the series, providing people exactly what they want if they further his ambitions, and Otome is aware of this even while she can't resist the bait. Having lived most of her life under the thumb of one man or another, it's not surprising that she leaps on any opportunity to gain autonomy and literally shut men out of her life. Again, she reaches the wrong conclusion from a problem both realistic and tragic in its near inevitability. We know that Otome shouldn't go along with Rei (or along with her own worst impulses) but know just as strongly that, because of how she's written, she can't possibly resist.

Otome possesses a strong sense of justice and struggles to accept other people's immoral actions, even when she directly benefits from them. However, she struggles to extend that same discernment to her own actions, and it isn't until the Stay Gold drama track that Otome's sense of justice forces her to consider that there are other disenfranchised voices that need to be listened to, not just her own.

Otome cares deeply for Dice but is conflicted about openly displaying her affection for him, ostensibly due to concerns about his safety (The Wind...the Storm). She disguises her care for him in front of Rei (TDD 9 and TDD 11) or to Dice's face (FP/M+ 15). However, she keeps a photograph of him in her desk (TDD 11) and seems to be proud of her son/relieved to see him making something of himself (the sigh after Dice leaves her office and the "I hope...that you do" when he tells her "We'll prove that there is a way to save Ramuda" in FP/M+ 15). Only in the Today drama track can she openly admit that she cares for her son and wants to be a part of his life--albeit in the same controlling fashion that her parents controlled her. Otome and her need to be in control of a situation can't change overnight, it seems.

Gently, for your and other anons' information, I don't have the bandwidth to handle requests to summarize large chunks of the series. If there is a part of the series you haven't experienced that has available translations, may I suggest checking it out yourself? It would be more fun than hearing about it from a stranger.

If you haven't already read it, Cyril (Twitter user quailsharks) has a comprehensive summary of the "Today" drama track. (I also have a more casual summary available here.) It doesn't seem like Nemu or any of the other Party of Word members are facing consequences for their actions.

I have not watched the Chuuouku stages, but from snippets that I've seen, they seem highly engaging. They seem to introduce a handful of new characters who engage with the Party of Words' philosophies in a different way. Stageplays can be watched in a variety of legal and less legal ways, and Kou (Twitter user linktieria) has translations for most of them.

Furthermore, I find it confusing that while the three girls knew they would have to pay for their crimes, Nemu stated in Mic As One that she wanted to watch everything unfold until a "new justice" was introduced. Because of this, it doesn't feel like they've actually admitted their wrongdoings, which is incredibly irresponsible considering their status as the government. It was entirely selfish of them to start this whole regime under the guise of their precepts, causing tremendous injuries to citizens by issuing a psychological weapon they claimed was less violent than "man's way." They were well aware of what the Hypmic could do, yet they released it without any proper regulations or policies to mitigate the damage. They only know how to satisfy their own desires without a second thought for the people. They abuse power to get their way, use their ideology to justify their actions, and above all, they are misandrists. Even if some of them don't actively hate men, their policies have caused men to suffer from massive inequalities. Otome’s personal issues are not everyone else's problem; making her trauma the entire country's burden is childish and immature for someone in her position.

I'm saying all this because I find the writing behind their motivation to change the world incredibly poor. Am I the only one who can't empathize with them? They need to pay for what they've done—perhaps by going to jail. The pain and suffering they caused are monumental; we are talking about an entire country here. Yet, Nemu is just getting a new job? Otome still doesn't know what to do next? It feels like the story is treating their massive crimes as if they never even happened. I'm not saying they don't have the right to feel enraged, frustrated, or even dictatorial as women; rather, it's the broader gender stereotypes that I am addressing. I am looking at this from a purely human perspective. I'm sorry, but I just don't find their motivation reasonable. Many people might jump into my tweets and claim that I am mistreating these characters, but that isn't the case. The reality is that most of the fandom tends to defend them. You can have good intentions, but if your methods hurt people—let alone an entire country—then what you are doing is fundamentally wrong. Providing an explanation of your "good nature" does not excuse intentional wrongdoings, nor should it whitewash your reputation. Finally, I feel like there is no safe place for me to express my thoughts. I hope this doesn’t overwhelm you. I don't necessarily expect my thoughts to be answered, but if there is anyone else out there who shares my perspective, it would be a true comfort to me. Thank you for reading my rambling.

In the interest of time, I'm not going to respond to every one of your points, but I also find the Chuuouku characters' writing frustrating. Imo, it's consistently one of the weakest parts of the series, which is a damn shame. Otome, Ichijiku, and Nemu all have the potential to be brilliant characters with compelling personal issues, but their simultaneous need to be plot devices hampers their ability to be characters. That Otome and co. commit atrocities or fail to recognize these things as such aren't issues; that the narrative fails to recognize these things as atrocities is. In some scenes, the narrative asks readers to treat the Chuuouku characters as complex, multi-faceted, flawed adults. In other scenes, the narrative asks readers to treat them like cartoon villains. The audience can easily ignore the ramifications of abuses that come from cartoon villains. It can even be a kind of campy fun. However, it's difficult to then shelve the cartoon villain abuses and pretend they don't exist when it's time for this character to be a complex, multi-faceted adult. It doesn't do the story favors to force the Chuuouku characters to be both.

Another major issue--and again, this is a damn shame, because Hypmic is addressing very real injustices--is that Hypmic struggles to differentiate between personal issues and societal issues. Hypmic is a character-focused story, and most of the stories it tells are personal, man vs. self conflicts. However, even with the male characters, underlying these stories are broader man vs. society conflicts of characters interacting with and suffering under patriarchy and toxic masculinity. Yet Hypmic approaches these societal conflicts as if they have personal solutions. To a limited extent, this works with the male characters because patriarchy and toxic masculinity, in very broad strokes, affect men and women differently. Negative traits or negative emotions that stem from societal patriarchy can be unlearned, but the individual involved will still be subject to other people's policing of societal patriarchy. Because men as a class hold the power in patriarchy, some men can brush off this policing to a certain degree--if, say, present-day Ichirou was told that "men don't cry unless it's for the loss of a family member," he wouldn't place as much weight in it as he did when he was told this a vulnerable teenager at the start of the story. That is, the personal conflict is greater than the societal conflict. Yet the reverse is true for women, the less powerful class in the patriarchal societal structure. If someone tells Otome, "You can't be the prime minister or have a say in government," Otome can't just say, "I don't care what you think" and walk it off. It's not a matter of, what, girlbossing hard enough to be represented in government. Women in Japan aren't disenfranchised in government because they aren't trying hard enough--it isn't a personal issue at all!--but Hypmic refuses to engage with this concept. Because every solution is a personal solution, the only way for women like Otome to have their societal problems solved is if everyone in the world collectively pulled their head out of their ass and treated women with respect. This would be lovely, but so would everyone having a dragon. It's a fantasy-level solution to a real world-level problem, and it's insulting with the unspoken implication that the only reason women face this societal issue is because they haven't made enough effort to solve it like a personal issue.

On the one hand, I do get why the Party of Words' behaviors are either comically evil (brainwashing, the Ichirou/Samatoki TDD breakup nonsense, etc.) or buffoonishly tame (the man tax). A section of Japan's alt right is obsessed with the notion of women being the "real oppressors," and it seems likely that the writers needed to avoid anything even vaguely realistic to avoid the PoW turning into an alt right dogwhistle. In current UsAm political terms, it's similar to writing a story that criticizes the outsized influence Christianity has on American politics by writing a story in which Judaism has outsized influence--you'd have to be damn careful with what you were doing. But I don't think Hypmic is anywhere near as careful as it could be, and I think it unfortunately defangs and belittles the PoW characters by having their party be so inept. The narrative points out that, despite the cartoonish boys-vs-girls segregation of Chuuouku, Japanese society is still fundamentally patriarchal. Non-party women are still disenfranchised in local power structures, women still struggle to be paid as much as and respected as much as their male colleagues, women are still forced into gendered jobs and child-rearing roles... The list goes on and on. By failing to overturn existing power structures, Hypmic argues that hate (misandry) is not the answer, but this argument suffers from the misandry being cartoonish at best compared to the very realistic and very real misogyny.

I get that true societal solutions are outside of Hypmic's scope, but it is frustrating that Hypmic chose to include societal problems in its scope without planning to address it. There's a lot of potential in Hypmic's overarching story and the Chuuouku characters' stories, but too often, I feel that Hypmic undermines itself.

Hifumi is the original "TBH creature" apparently. I fucking love that.

Melon suit for my melon guy.

Inspo:

Sure thing. Because it's short and topical, I'll bump it to the top of the queue.