Why the potential man agenda is largely rooted in misogyny
(A rant on my notes app at like 2am because i was pissed off so sorry if its incoherent)
Gojo claiming that megumi has a lot of potential, because of his technique (one that could one day even rival his) seemingly began the veiwers need for megumi to fulfil this claim
However, later on in the manga megumi gets depressed bc both his sister and father figure, FREAKING DIES, (like the only things keeping him going) and practically by his (possessed) hand too. So popping a complete domain does not seem like his top priority BECAUSE HIS WORLD JUST ENDED
and because expressing emotions are obviously a โfeminineโ trait rather than what the goated male character would do, men decide to fucking hate him
STUPID because men complain about not being able to express their feelings freely without a sense of emasculation, but when a male character within a pretty mainstream series actually expresses those emotions they clown the fuck out of him. because at the end of the day men still uphold the same standards of the patriarchy they say donโt benefit them (like the standard that men cant express emotions) and reflect them onto media that even slightly alternates from these standards. This is likely because theyโre insecure of their own feelings and even if they would like to express them, theyโre afraid of experiencing the same treatment. Which is probably why they opt to clown on these โweakerโ characters, to validate themselves
Also AS IF GRIEVING IS NOT THE OBVIOUS REACTION, WHEN LIKE SAVING TSUMIKI WAS HIS ONLY DRIVING FACTOR AND MISSION AND HE FAILED IT
OBVIOUSLY HEโS GONNA BE SAD
mind you heโs 15 to barely 16 years old, like he wouldnโt have reached gojos level within the time frame of jjk anyway because gojo only pulled purple at like 17 or 18
and gojo wasnโt battling fucking sukuna fucking strongest sorcerer in history fucking possesing your body and killing people including your sister
like sure gojos boyfs gone kinda insane and maybe killed people but they break up and put it in the past for like 10 years
and then gojo fucking dies LIKE
MEGUMI EXPERIENCES INSURMOUNTABLE GUILT OBVIOUSLY
and everyone chalks up his depression as a failure
ALSO whenever you try to poke flaws in a mans agenda they will counter it with shit like oh we know its dumb as fuck but its funny and we like to slander the clearly well written character for being well written
And you canโt even dispute because you just sound like an angry feminist whoโs ruining menโs fun and god forbid you do that
Like a great portion of shonen actually delivers clear metaphors or underlying messages about the human condition and the effects of trauma, like aot or csm, but because the target demographic is teenage boys who think that veiwing something objectively with nuance is idk gay or a girl thing to do they dont do it
its killing media literacy
Because man dumb so man funny and cool
Also i think another portion of the earlier slander like bpm (before potential man) was to do with megumi being VAGUELY LIKE REALLY VAGUELY
AND YK IM ON THAT ITAFUSHI AO3 GRIND LIKE 24/7
VAGUELY implied as being gay (queer subtext that i believe his character does possess wonโt be apparent to the common heterosexual male)
And like homophobia is obviously rooted in misogyny and gay men are discriminated against because they are stereotyped to act more effeminate.
And men just hate women and therefore people who act more womenly
So megumis already be cemented as a less masculine character in the eyes of these stupid fucking incelic teenage boys, which only worsens when, oh god forbid, he expresses emotion - a womenly trait
On a seperate note the reason why these fuckers canโt possibly fathom naruto and sasuke being even slightly romantic THEY KISS 3 TIMES BROOOO
is because they canโt fathom their favourite male characters being tuff af and being gay because they associate being gay with weakness because being a gay man is associated with being a woman
and this is shown in season 3 of jjk when some people were switching up on potential man because megumi was realky freaking tuff and the oh hes gay ahh and the oh hes kinda tuff couldnt overlap in the heads, and the looming of potential man and his inevitable failure doesnโt compute in the mix
so many of these guys were left feeling unsure and confused because they canโt approach anything with nuance or with the understanding that oh maybe he can have emotions AND be strong too
anyways idk why they blame a fictional character for his shortcomings when the real failed potential was within gege akutamis writing