where the fuck am I?

(Slight TADC episode 9 spoilers)

I've no idea about the text limits for tumblr replies and I'm not gonna test here either. When we got the leaks for this chapter I actually ended up in a similar argument with people who were similarly trying to apply watsonian values to a problem based in a doylist perspective, "It didn't happen so we have no reason to freak out about it/you're being overly sensitive if you can't handle dark topics in media" etc etc, and the exact same thing is happening here.

My problem with this plot point (and let me reiterate, it is a plot point, intentionally included on a single author's whim) isn't the fact that it opens Chiaki's character to a new layer of harm, in fact in a vacuum I do believe it further lends itself to the themes at play regarding Chiaki's autonomy, my problem is that it's Hokazono writing it. Plain and simple.

If you were around twitter or in a space where you were constantly seeing things from twitter, at the time chapter 116 released somebody had made an offhanded tweet expressing their being upset that one of the first pieces of characterization Chiaki got was regarding her crush on Kunishige (she did have a couple of lines about not wanting her younger brother to push himself so hard but ultimately her crush on Kunishige is what gets the most focus throughout her introduction). They got a lot of backlash for this due to what I can only presume from the attacking party is a lack of reading comprehension, a refusal to comprehend, pack mentality regarding Hokazono (which, this is a conversation for another day) etc etc etc.

Now, for the sake of there being no doubt about what I mean when I say characterization, this little blurb from Wikipedia just about sums it up

"what a character is like", not "what is a character" usually the first thing people would jump to during the heights of these arguments is how, "Chiaki's characterization doesn't start with Kunishige, the very first thing we learn about her is how she has clairvoyance, and is hailed as an incarnation of the goddess Izanami!" This isn't characterization. Chiaki's abilities and her relevance to the nation don't tell me anything about her as a person. A character is impossible to define via their job, they can only be defined by their relationship to that job, and the only way we're shown Chiaki's relationship to her job is through her hesitating to reveal a certain detail relating to her prophetic dream because why? Kunishige was in it.

This is what it means for Chiaki's character to be centered around men from a doylist perspective, and this is why the conversations that pop up whenever anybody applies even a modicum of feminist theory to Chiaki's place in the narrative becomes so frustrating, because if it's not some reactionary refusing to critically examine their own biases or that of the media they consume, it's somebody who thinks that because Chiaki's story is concerning societal misogyny and how she navigates it, it's just fine to never analyze how Hokazono (a male author for weekly shonen jump mind you) employs the things he uses to communicate this and the effectiveness with which he does it. Because surely our glorious woke king who talks about war crimes could never be Doing The Thing in an attempt to criticize it.

Let's talk about Kiri for a second!

Kiri Shirakai was introduced in chapter 88 as the granddaughter of Uruha and Samura's mentor in Iai White Purity Style, Itsuo Shirakai. It's through Kiri that we learn how Itsuo is a raging misogynist who never trained her in the art of swordsmanship, operating off the thought process that "swords are too heavy for a woman's slender arms". So to stick it to him, and because she thinks big things are cute, she skillfully wields a katana that surpasses her in height. It's the only thing we know about her, until further notice.

So Kiri very much exists to provide commentary on gender essentialism, specifically in relation to a woman's ability to take action in the same way men do. Very cool. So you'd expect Kiri to take a large part in the action during a stretch of the story that involves multiple fights at once? She kills the nameless enemies who were giving an isou-less Hakuri trouble. Perfect! And what else? She... gets debuffed and isn't able to confront a named villain head on while a new man who got introduced with a whole backstory right after her does most of the heavy lifting? Yeah? She's sent far away from the fight even though the debuffs on her have worn off by then? And sticks around Hakuri and doesn't try to go back to the main fight of the stretch to get some licks in despite Hakuri having Azami and Ichiki by his side? Uh huh? Then she keeps getting her shit rocked by a 17 year old despite having swung a heavy ass sword around for presumably all of her swordfighting career, which you definitely need a good core and stance for? And then she never does anything else while the men around her are doing all sorts of fancy tricks?

Yeah?

So Kiri is the prime example of Hokazono just Doing The Thing in spite of his attempts to make commentary on it, because he just doesn't seem to be aware of himself enough to notice when he's doing things that make us sharply aware of his misogyny and how it reflects in his work. And for the record misogyny doesn't just take the shape of an obvious hatred of women. It can take on the form of any set of ideals that reflect a lack of respect held for women as one would hold for men. Gender ratios, the rate at which female characters get left behind by the narrative, women's ability to participate in even fights (against who, for how long, and without assistance from men), the rate at which women are brutalized to serve as motivation for men, how much of a female character's story is attached to men, all of these things are silent flags which, if not done with a specific intention for commentary in mind, will genuinely serve nothing to the story and make the people aware of how these depictions can harm that much more distrustful of the author's ability to execute on plot points that regard these matters.

At the end of the day Hokazono is just kind of a dumbass when it comes to this stuff. He has no sensitivity readers to straighten out these kinks. That's why Kiri's character is falling flat so hard. That's why Iori's story has various elements that undermine just how powerful it is emotionally, and that's why the way Chiaki's being handled right now is so disappointing for so many people. I've seen this plot point being compared to torture porn and I can't even disagree. This genuinely came out of nowhere. Chiaki already has her own family controlling her womb to worry about, the same thing being planned by an enemy party isn't adding any new layers to her situation, it just turns her into a damsel that Kunishige has to save. It also adds an extra element of horror to Chiaki's relationship with Kunishige as well. On top of Chiaki never having any frame of reference for being treated as a normal person beyond a man who will go on to have his son doing house chores for him, Chiaki being impregnated by Kunishige now carries the context of her almost being impregnated by somebody else. Kunishige is now "marking his territory" on her, and Chiaki's ability to consent becomes even shakier.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees romantic undertones in this cover? Mahoraga's wings did not have to stretch over Dabura like that?

centipede isn’t my favorite spirit energy manifestation from an enchanted blade but it IS one of the coolest and has complimented every welder’s aesthetic so far. cool parallel with akemura there too