Rise, Silver as fuck

HEAR ME OUT

Despite the fact that Damen is clearly 100% action hero straight from the lines of an ancient Greek epic, he does not go on a hero’s journey, and neither does Laurent. The Captive Prince series follows the heroine’s journey instead and now that I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it and now you all need to know about it.

They subvert the hero’s journey at every turn:  - They don’t ever turn against the call of adventure; they gather the best allies they can and head towards it. 

- There is no grizzled old mentor for them; they have to find their strength in each other. Old men will either hit on you or get you drunk.

- They never abandon their community; Damen is ripped screaming from his and spends the trilogy fighting to regain his place in it, and Laurent does something similar on a different timeframe and in a nastier more head-fucky way. 

- They do not win their final battle on their own, one-on-one; they win it together, using the allies and information they’ve gathered. 

- There is no glorious-but-isolated ending for either of them; instead they not only take their places as leaders in their communities, but unite their kingdoms, in a move that should make each stronger and more peaceful. There is specific mention of them building a new empire together.

They both absolutely follow a heroine’s journey instead (much like Harry Potter or Dorothy in the 1938 Wizard of Oz film): - Damen and Laurent both had their family taken from them, and find the love and closeness that they lost in each other. 

- Like every good heroine, they achieve their goals by sharing information, by requesting help from others, and delegating, knowing what their own weaknesses are and seeking out other people who can make up for them (including each other). Being an action hero, Damen isn’t necessarily good at this at the start but he gets better at it all as the series progresses and he realises that the way he thought his life and reign were going to play out (a repeat of his father’s) isn’t going to work and even comes to understand that this is a good thing. 

- They each sacrifice themselves for the other.

- They have a happy ending, surrounded by allies they can call on, providing safety and security.

AND SPECIFICALLY There are also a lot of parallels in CP to one of the oldest examples of the heroine’s journey, the Rape of Persephone. The bit I’m most struck with right now is the middle bit everyone always forgets about, where Demeter gets really down and gives up for a bit on her quest to find her daughter, and instead of going home, settles down with a King and Queen who take her in, and becomes nurse to their son, Prince Demophon. She tries to make him immortal, to make him her son, except she’s stopped. When I thought about it, this whole bit reminded me so strongly of the bit where Damen is staying in Karthas and thinks Jokaste’s baby is his son and feels stuck, and he goes to Laurent, “We hold the middle; what if we just stay here? Call it a kingdom?” 

I’ve seen several people (mostly on the Discord server) complain that the baby plot is the weakest part of Kings Rising; but what if Pacat was specifically trying to replicate this part of Demeter’s journey? The fact that Jokaste’s ploy in that part of the plot (saying her son is Damen’s) affects Damen so much is more evidence that he’s on a heroine’s journey, not a hero’s. Jokaste is not the female archetype that you might see in the hero’s journey here, seducing the hero into inertia like a Circe; it’s the baby Damen wants here, not her (he couldn’t want her less) and then he goes off to try and get him. 

He then gets into trouble because he does what a heroine shouldn’t do; he ignores Laurent when he tries to warn him that it’s all a trap. It’s the same thing that gets him into trouble again and again - acting on his own and not listening to people. The main times Damen gets into trouble it’s because he’s acting like a hero and not a heroine – he doesn’t listen to Nikandros’s warnings about Kastor, and look where that got him. He runs off when he gets his chance to escape the palace at the end of the first book, instead of listening to Laurent saying it’s not the right time to try it.

“i’m Bob Ross. the painter from PBS?”

Sorry guys but I rewatched the whole show this week and I realized HOW UNKNOWN THIS SHOW IS. Maybe for good reasons.

I SHOULD be studying, but instead I’m gonna write this guide to AF which probably will go unnoticed by the world because who the  fuck knows Angel’s Friend, right? But I’ll try to remedy this situation. 

(This is me, pretending like my content has some type of influence)

I just hope my bff won’t see this post or she’ll whoop my ass. ‘cause she loathes the show. And I’m not studying.

LET’S BEGIN!

So, WHAT IS ANGEL’S FRIEND?

Angel’s Friend is an italian comic published in 2007. The series was interrrupted after 4 volumes and I thank God for that because it was ugly as hell.

In 2009 RTI and Mondo TV created the cartoon, which is what I want to talk to you about!

The cartoon has 2 seasons and a movie which stands between them (it’s canon and also very important for the 2nd season’s plot). There was a 3rd season scheduled to come out around 2015 but we never got that, probably because the cartoon wasn’t very well known. In fact, ironically, the show was more famous in other countries, like France and England; so much that here in Italy we DON’T HAVE the second season dubbed in italian, even if the cartoon was created by us! The second season was not broadcasted in Italy and if you want to watch it you have to find the english or french dub. 

The plot revolves around a group of angels and devils. They are trainees who have to spend three years on the Earth, training to become Guardian Angel and Guardian Devil. They are sorted into pairs (one angel and one devil) and they have to take care of a human (Earthling); guarding and tempting him/her. Both angels and devils are subject to the V.E.T.O.: Vietato Esporsi Toccare Ostacolare (= “It is forbidden to Touch, Expose and Obstruct” one’s adversary. Basically, angels and devils can’t touch). Raf and Sulfus, an angel and a devil, fall in love with each other but it’s  a sacrilege for angels and devils to do so; and even more to kiss.

These two motherfuckers are so pining for each other all the damn time for fucks sake just let them be happy Jesus Christ

Obviously, this cartoon is intended to be for kids; but I rewatched it just the other day and I enjoyed it very much. I’ll now explain the pros and the cons of this cartoon!

PROS:

- If you know this type of cartoon, you’ll know that nearly all episodes are auto-conclusive: they follow a cycle that repeats itself every episode and the plot goes on veeeery slowly. And it’s annoying. In AF they still follow a cycle (the terrestrial has a problem -> angel and devil challenge each other to have the first move on the terrestrial -> they try to guard/tempt him -> the terrestrial makes a decision, for better or worse) but at the same time the main plot begins and progresses since episode 1. They don’t “waste” time, and every episode the plot advances a little. I really appreciated that.

- Devils are not seen and depicted as “bad” evil. Yes, they are evil. They’re devils, after all. But the Earthling has free will to decide between Good or Bad! And as Dumbledore said “it’s our choices that show what we truly are”. Every choice they make will contribute to creating the adult they are going to be. The devils are only doing their job, they’re the angels’ counterparts and schoolmates. They’re not “bad” being that enjoy the suffering of their terrestrial (this will be shown multiple times troughout the cartoon; more than once devils will protect their earthlings from harm) and sometimes the “bad” choice will benefit their human.

- Gas/Miki. Fight me.

- The cartoon depicts all kind of problem every episode; both from the humans’ side and from the a/d side. They cover a really vast pool of topics and more than once I found myself relating to what was happening. And the solutions they find to the problems sometimes are really eye-opening… I wasn’t expecting that from a kid’s cartoon.

- Even if it’s a cartoon about angels and devils and even if it’s italian, there are no mentions of God or the Bible or things like that, so I think everyone can enjoy without feeling like they’re being “indoctrinated”. No one’s gonna shove christianity down your throat :3

- So many ships are gonna sail. Believe me. Gas/Miki is one of those.

- You won’t have to wait FOREVER to see the main couple become canon. And for the other couple(s)? In my opinion there’s a good “building”. See Gas/Miki. (jesus christ i’m SO not over them.)

- Did I mention Gas/Miki?

- The episodes are more or less 12 minutes long, so you can watch it very easily/quickly

- I really like Raf and Sulfus’ love story?? Especially in the second season they’re very mature about it?? Lord save me?? Sulfus is so well characterized in my opinion, he is a devil but he can feel love, the need to protect, he sacrifices himself again and again, he’s loyal… and he loves Raf so damn much. *wipes away tear*

- The devils are REAL SLYTHERINS. Like, the fandom version of the Slytherins. They protect their own while dissing them. They insult and despise each other but if you try to badmouth one of them you’re in for a ride.They genuinely support each other and I love this. For angels it’s normal, but it wasn’t “expected” on the devils’ side. They are also intellingent and clever… They’re not the stereotyped devils, ugly stupid and despisable.

- The angels are more or less Gryffindors, BUT they too are not perfect. They can feel envy, jealousy, they can fight each other, sometimes they take the wrong decision, they can be stupid… I like that. They could have made them very common and pristine but they chose not to. Another plus!

CONS:

- The dub. I hate when they groan and wheeze during attacks or moan during the transformations or every fucking time a character opens his mouth without talking. (And, as I mentioned before, the italian dub is not available anywhere)

- The animation isn’t TOO bad, but it’s very… repetitive. Not always, but especially in certain scenes, to gain time they make a monster/enemy repeat the same stupid action (like roaring or stomping or shit like that). Still, we have to remember that this is a kids cartoon… so… yeah. There’s that.

- Since it’s not well known, the fandom is small and the fanwork (fanart, fanfic) is very few. This is one of the reason I made this post. I NEED MY DOSE OF FF OKAY? In the future I’ll definetly write a Miki/Gas. I just need to find the time.

- The story NEEDS a sequel. The second season ends and it could be okay even as a ending, I guess? But there is a piece of the plot and a character that aren’t explained and the final scene is a clear “bridge” to a 3rd season.

- There is a little bit of fatshaming, I guess? There is a devil, Gas, who is fat and loves to eat and is often mocked for this but he actually takes pride in that…? It’s not that big of a deal but it still made me grimace a bit. Beside. Gas/Miki. Gas is best boy (after Sulfus). Fight me.

SO, in my opinion Angel’s Friend is a underrated cartoon which is typically italian: half trash and half beautiful (Winx I’m looking at you). I got hooked and I personally love every part of it.

I want to add that thanks to the superb @positivemoon14, on Youtube there’s the second season with english dub and italian subs! I personally don’t need them but they’re very helpful. She also made HILARIOUS crack videos that made me literally piss myself.

On YT there’s also the first season and the movie, but if you want, idk, HQ, I’m pretty sure there are some streaming websites you can consult!

Please, give this show a chance if you can! Hopefully, you’ll like it as much as me!