#dorandy

Template under the cut + unedited:

It's true that the author forgot where he was heading to. At some point, the fanservice got stronger and stronger, even in the Magic Games the strong Mirajane decided to do a swimsuit modeling competition against Jenny (is this her name?) and all the female characters suddenly decided to wear swimsuits too, because why not. That was the moment when I finally thought, "wow, he really forgot the main story just for that". Of course I had already realized since the beginning that the fanservice was too much, but I was still willing to let it go, since most old shonen were / are just like that (I don't know how shonen mangas are nowadays, it's been a while since I've last read manga). One Piece, for example, which is a story that I personally love, likes to give the female characters those 50kg boobs and they get bigger every episode; the author, though, didn't forget what his main story is. Bleach, a manga that I still want to finish just for the sake of finishing, also has the same 50kg boobs; the author was lost and couldn't create the story he originally wanted to, but at least that wasn't because of the fanservice.

Fairy Tail has a good main storyline. Their magic world and all the dragons and Zeref stuff were great for a nice and lasting shonen. Suddenly, though, the author must have lost his notes and memos somewhere, because the story just became full of random stuff with no endings or no correlation, and I'm not talking about fanservice yet. I won't talk much about the storyline because I haven't finished reading it yet, but that's what I've seen up to now.

Why do I still watch / read it? Some characters have really good concepts. Natsu's main story is interesting; Gray, Erza, Wendy, the cats, even Lucy have nice background stories. Though they are sexualized a lot, the women are as strong as the men. The friendship part is cool as long as it's not too much (it's exaggerated mostly, but that's another shonen troupe). The rest though is just a mess.

What does it have, then? A story to just chill and watch. If you turn off your brain and get into the "friendship, loyalty" vibe without thinking much, just like we did with Dragon Ball or Naruto when we were kids, you can enjoy it. I think of it as a childish animation (of course forgetting the sexual stuff) that I watch for fun. The women are sexualized to the point where I do feel bothered about it, but all the men are also maybe unconsciously sexualized too, because they have to keep up with the women. I am a person who hates when everything has to revolve around sex, but I think I can let it pass if I just turn off my brain.

The ships. They are obviously fanservice, some are even too much to handle. Juvia for example is unhealthy towards Gray, sorry. Gajeel and Levy, though, have a safe relationship if you forget his past deeds. Freed obviously likes Laxus. I write some stuff sometimes and I have the personal theory that, after you set up a storyline, main events, and the characters' personalities, the rest of the story writes itself. The characters act on their own and you are just the person holding the pen, just like (if you have a religion) God and humanity. That's what I owe NaLu to. Natsu isn't a character who cares about romance, but he grew up. Lucy, on the other hand, is always conscious of Natsu and dreaming about love. If you think about the characters in the real world, they make no sense. But in the world that they were developed in, even if, or because, it's a super sexualized world, they ended up maybe feeling a little attracted to each other. Attraction isn't something we can just explain with words, there are many types of "attraction". Maybe it's friendship, family liaisons, just "some" (not love, but not friendship), we don't know. Just like when we have that super close friend, and, even if it's just because other people keep teasing you about it, or because you have read it somewhere, or any other reason, we at some point, even if it's for a fraction of second, think "lololol what if we liked each other"; no matter what the answer is, "hell no, I'd never do that", or "hmm maybe?", or "I just don't know", or "let's not think about it, I don't care", the attraction is there, be it love or not.

Anyway that's all that I see with my adult eyes. I had never noticed anything between Natsu and Lucy when I was a kid. Now I see that there is something, and it might develop to love or just stay at what it is or vanish, and it might just be for fanservice, so what, if they get together or not is the fate written by that world's setup and god. So I don't agree with NaLu shippers, but neither do I disagree. I do disagree with shipping them just because they talk to each other though (Lucy says 'hey' and Natsu says 'sup' and everyone is like 'woooow NaLu!!!'), not everything is about attraction.

I personally really enjoyed Dora and the Lost City of Gold, and Randy was my favorite character for sure. I just wanted to share my analysis of the Dora and Randy ship... so here we go. 

A lot of people don’t like the ship because they feel Randy comes off as over flirtatious. When you watch the movie, he never crossed over any bounds besides socially awkward nerd or genuinly caring friend. If anything, I think he’s just a bullied kid who doesn’t have any friends, which is a LOT like Dora. This is one of the reasons they work well together. Both have to go through what it’s like to have friends for the first time (That’s basically the theme of the movie). You have this super awkward nerd whose only form of human contact is shown to be physical abuse at school and emotional abuse at home. He’s shown eating at the lunch table, alone, with Dora his only table companion. He’s been going through for years what Dora went through for likely a month.

One day, when Randy is at his locker probably anticipating a daily bullying, this beautiful new student comes up to him, treats him like an actual person, has a conversation with him about an interest of his, and gives him a freakin cupcake. Does he jump all over her then? No! If anything, he just seems genuinely confused, because he’s not used to kindness. Even at the lunch table, when Dora asks him what the food she is eating is, he seems a little shocked someone is actually sitting near him and talking to him. He responds, but doesn’t ridicule her. More just confused at the question XD.

I think Randy doesn’t really fall for Dora until after she hallucinates. Before he flirts with Dora and Sammy, probably just excited to be with two girls his own age treating him like an equal. It isn’t until after Randy lost Dora, when he realizes her life is in danger, that his mindset changes. At the beginning, it was a little crush he would show to any girl. After, he falls for her hard. He is so thankful to see she is okay (his face at that scene is adorable), and keeps his hand on her head even after she wakes up. He also sleeps next to her. Some might say this is weird, but obviously, this dude is worried sick about her. Dora almost died, and you better believe I would be SUPER overprotective for a few hours after one of my only friends and crush literally almost died. 

You also get the ADORABLE animated scene with DiegoxSammy and DoraxRandy SUPER obvious.

After that night, Randy seems a lot happier and makes a comment about how for the first time, he’s actually feeling really good. Then they fall into the aquifer, and you have this scene where he tries to impress Dora. He starts directly flirting with Dora, using a few “classic us” lines which yes, were cringey, but expected from such a nerd. When he ends up almost drowning everyone (oops), he saves the day and they all get dumped into this big pool. The first thing Randy does is run straight to Dora to give her a hug. Even Dora pulls away from her parents and excitedly hugs him back with a big smile on her face. 

The attraction isn’t completely one-sided (though Randy is definitely the more affectionate of the two). For starters, Dora was the one to first approach him, give him a cupcake, be super friendly, and to ASK TO DANCE at the winter ball (out of everyone, she goes to him). She was so happy to ask him, and then seems a little sad that Randy didn’t want to dance, but she shakes it off real well since her personality is to be cheery (and even though she knows she was rejected, she has to be herself <3). Too bad Randy is SO awkward and didnt want to dance :P. They also eat lunch together. Just a lot of little things early on that points to a crush from Dora, or at least clear signs from a possibly autistic girl that she has a special interest in him. Keep in mind Dora is possibly autistic, at the very least socially challenged, so she probably would show a crush in a different way. However, Dora definitely gives Randy a few looks toward the end that cement the fact of a mutual crush.

There are also a few scenes before the Hallucination, that I particularly liked between Randy and Dora. One is Randy calling Dora amazing, and the other is the really sweet look they share before they part ways (Randy to return home, Dora to find her parents). I think that sets up Randy saving her very well. And I like how well Randy and Boots got along, with their cute fistbump (don’t have that picture, sorry)

One big thing that gets me is that at the end of the film, when Dora’s parents tell her she can explore with them, she looks right back at Randy, while Randy is speaking loudly, and says she wants to stay to study the indigenous people 😂 Plus the dip between Dora and Randy makes it canon for me that they are on the path to dating, if not already dating in the final scene. There’s also this really adorable look the two give each other at the end of the movie that I’m so mad I didn’t take a picture of in time. 

I thought they were adorable together, and hope they become more canon in a sequel. There’s so much a sequel could do with them. I’d love to see Dora dealing with dating for the first time. I imagine them taking things slow, but also Dora randomly saying things about mating that just turn Randy into a nervous wreck XD. I especially want to see how her Papi would react XD!! And I’d love to see Randy spending time with Dora’s extended family, maybe getting a few lines with her Abuela while making dinner, and just interacting more with Dora’s culture. I also want an astronomy club meeting at some point, and Randy nervously asking Dora out for the first time. I WANT A KISS!

OK :P That’s all. Hope someone out there appreciates this super long post :P

There’s an “I love you” from Randy to Dora.

I repeat.