#aaeru

4 is not even worth engaging with. That is some "1984 problematic" level nonsense. 2 is also fine, which I talked about in a previous post. The show overtly has Alti say that that wasn't what she actually wanted, and even in Kaimu's recounting of events, it happened in response to wartime trauma. 3 happened in this stretch of episodes, and drumroll.....it's fine! Who woulda thought!? /s This is some "RGU problematic" level stuff. And, like, yeah you can make "2006 yuri anime" jokes which are true, but I am increasingly less sympathetic to those kinds of arguments holding water about a story's actual merits the more time marches on (see my post on Sora no Woto). In the context of Simoun alone, this is a legit move. Paraietta has been watching Neviril be drawn to Amuria and Aaeru, two people who pushed Neviril's limits, chased her and challenged her boundaries. We saw Amuria keep surprising Neviril with kisses and escalating to making out without any warning, and Neviril giving in, culminating in Amuria overriding Neviril's concerns to perform the Emerald RiMaajon. Then, Aaeru seemingly got her way after banging down Neviril's door for while, and bulldozed through a lot of Chor Tempest's other norms. Paraietta watched Aaeru throw Neviril into disarray (by insensitively pushing for the Emerald), saw Aaeru calmly take command and be correct about it in the field, and then Neviril choosing to get over her own upset and deepen her connection with Aaeru anyways. That's a lot of evidence (from Paraietta's limited perspective) for the ol' "why do girls love them bad boys". Neviril has just told Paraietta that she doesn't want to lean on Paraietta, which is the role Paraietta had taken upon herself. So, if that's not working, why not go with the opposite strategy, which evidently worked on Neviril twice before? Paraietta is just a conflicted teenager. She doesn't have the means to understand the nuances in why Neviril feels the way she does. She hasn't seen Aaeru get put into context vs. Halconf trying to force Mamiina upon Neviril, or the way Neviril and Aaeru have been able to discuss the state of Kyoukoku and the nature of freedom together. So, Paraietta tries to brazenly challenge Neviril's boundaries, and instead blunders into taking Neviril's choices away instead. That, my friends, is what we call good writing. 1 is the closest the show comes to actually letting a ~*~Les Problematique~*~ ship through, but also not really? The writing obviously knows that Dominura is a broken person, latching on to the first person who showed an ounce of unconditional affection. It's an unhealthy state of affairs, for sure, but "Dominura devotes herself to making Rimone's dreams come true instead of trying to further manipulate the local situation politically or militarily" is far from the actual problem with age gap ships. I'll talk more in future posts as more of their story unfolds. At any rate, the show is definitely indicting Kyoukoku for driving these two together in the first place. By miring itself in arrogant war, the government exploited Dominura to where she's 18 and never known an honest relationship, and then made Rimone an actual child soldier, and then forced Chor Tempest into increasingly dangerous situations where they had only their Pairs to rely on, in ships where intimacy grants power. "In a situation where everything is inescapable trauma, you can still find honest connections with people, even if those relationships are fraught with blurry lines." Shinji strangles Asuka upon the post-apocalypse beach, and that nightmare of a hedgehog dilemma is still preferable to the lie of perfect orange tang. Dominura and Rimone aren't ideal, but in the environment they're trapped in, they don't have the luxury of waiting for something better. Denying herself in service of the greater situation is what broke Dominura in the first place, and what would inevitably await Rimone in the long run (would she have to hack the enemy's hands off herself next time?). So they forge forward to seize their freedom together. Whoops I accidentally a detour. Anyways, that was just episode 18! :D 17, the Ruins episode, has a whole lot of world-building implications I think I'll talk about in a separate post. 19 and 20, of course, is all about Mamiina. Honestly, I don't have much to talk about it, as it speaks for itself. There are still more world-building implications, though, which we've touched on with our Yun discussions.