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"When I said take me to the moon,
I never meant take me alone
I thought if mankind toured the stars
it meant that all of us could go."

- Penelope Scott, Rät

The premise of Promare is simple. 30 years ago, some people randomly developed fire powers and are now an oppressed minority group (called the "burnish" here). It's a plot I'm sure you've seen before, especially if you've ever engaged with a single piece of X-Men media. However the way it approaches its plot surprised me with how much depth and nuance they were able to pack into a two hour action flick.

The main character of the ... story is a young man named Galo. He is a very proud, passionate young man who carries nothing but love and kindness in his heart, so he dedicates his time to protecting the city as part of a special force meant to apprehend burnish terrorists. He's very charming with how passionate he is about doing the right thing. However, he's also a perfect character for this story because of one thing: unconscious bias.

Most people would not consider themselves bigoted. In fact, most people would be offended at the idea they could be. And this is the problem. People who are granted privilege by society are often blind to what that privilege grants them as well as the reality of life for many minority groups, because they have never had to see that reality. Unlike minorities, they are capable of living in an echochamber that shields them from the truth of this world, and that's exactly what they do. This makes them susceptible to holding biases against these groups that even they are unaware of. They aren't aware of the fact that being kind and loving other people does not make you exempt from saying and doing discriminatory things.

Galo gets offended when other people say all burnish are terrorists, yet when he knowingly talks to a burnish for the first time ever, he asks them if they need to eat as if they aren't human. He very clearly things of himself as Not Bigoted in regards to the burnish, yet he works for a police-esque group meant to suppress the burnish. As far as he is concerned, he's just catching terrorists because some burnish are terrorists even if it's not all of them, but he is completely ignoring the reality that this "terrorist" group is really just fighting for burnish rights and they have to resort to violence because it is the only way to make a difference. He thinks that if the burnish simply stopped being violent people would stop discriminating against them, because he lives in a happy, privileged world where everything is black and white.

It is only through going out and meeting the burnish personally that he has his eyes opened, and it is because of that kindness and love he carries with him that his eyes are able to open. Empathy is an important skill to have, however it requires you to go out and actively try to use it. It cannot radicalize you if you never apply it.

And thus from then on is a "broken pedestal" plot where he has to reckon with the fact that everything he held dear is actually a corrupt system meant to exploit and kill the burnish, and the man he idolized is very specifically exploiting the burnish for the benefit of only the "elite" of society.

When the world ends, the rich are never around for it. They flee to space, to a private island, to anywhere other than here. Just how many spots are available on that ship? And just how many can afford them?

I will say that the allegory isn't perfect (largely for a spoiler reason, but you could argue that anytime an allegorical minority actually does have something different about them that makes them dangerous it doesn't work), but I still felt like it worked well enough).

Anyways, social commentary aside, the rest of the movie is good too.

As expected of Trigger, the animation is absolutely delectable. I wasn't even that bored watching the action scenes because of how pretty they were!

As for the other characters, the second most important character is Lio, the leader of the radical group. He serves as a good foil for Galo. Aina and her sister do well to add to the commentary (prioritizing your personal desires over doing what's right). The rest of the characters were also nice, if a bit underdeveloped, although that's to be expected with only a two hour runtime. It prioritizes action over character development, but it still managed to pack in enough character development to work.

And of course, I can't complete this review without mentioning Gurrenn Lagann. The movie obviously bears a lot of similarities to Gurrenn Lagann because it was clearly made to be TTGL's spiritual successor, but that's certainly not a bad thing. They took exactly what made TTGL work and did something brand new with it in a way that does all of the same things right but still manages to feel fresh and interesting. It also seems to have paved the way for Trigger's later show BNA, which would have many of the same elements of social commentary, and that's definitely a good thing as well.

Trigger definitely knows what it likes in its projects, and all of Trigger's signatures shine through in Promare in the best way possible.

"The war ended. You're just the last remnant. Humanity...the world can never regain the glory it once had. So end it. It must be far too painful, living a miserable life in a world filled with despair. Is there some meaning to survival in a world like this?"

It's easy to write Sound of the Sky off as a military flavored K-On clone, and I certainly see where that assertion might come from, but I am here to tell you how very wrong that is. Sound of the Sky is not just a military themed show about moe and music, but a story of recovery, companionship, ... finding purpose in life, the universal healing power of music, and the horrors of war.

The thing about Sound of the Sky is that, as a slice of life, it is very slow moving. It takes time to savor its setting and characters while it slowly eases you into the meat of what it's about. It works perfectly for the genre and is highly effective. If you are a fan of slice of life stories, you should have no problem taking it slow and taking time for the story's themes to resonate with you.

The story is about a young girl named Kanata who joins the military of her country, Helvetia, because when she was young she saw a solider playing Amazing Grace on the bugle, and it changed her life. She became a solider because she too wanted to learn how to play such a beautiful song of hope and healing, and in this society, no one else will teach her how to play.

That's right, she joins the army not as a solider but as an artist. She didn't go into this wanting to fight for her country or bring violence onto other human beings. Remember that. It is an important fact for later.

She is stationed in a lovely town called Seize with a platoon of other young woman around her age. Seize is a small, peaceful community that did not face the brunt of the war Helvetia has recently come out of. As you can expect, being stationed in a place like this means that not much happens, leading to the perfect setup for a bunch of cute anime girls to hang out together and do cute things.

Except here's the thing: Sound of the Sky does not forget that its characters are soldiers.

The show spends its first six episodes slowly introducing you to the characters and world. It ruminates on its setting and war-laden times of its world. Amidst showing off what the characters care about and examining the little things that make life worth living, it gives small glimpses into the horrors of the world these characters are accustomed to. Due to war in the past, most of the world is now uninhabitable. There is no longer life in the sea. Society was so irreparably screwed over that, while the languages are still the same, countries and cultures are entirely different.

There is something inherently beautiful about a slice of life set in a post apocalyptic world—about finding meaning in a world already destroyed and making it your home again anyways. The world ended but we're still here. Things might look grim but we will find a reason to keep living, even if its only little things like glass animal figurines or lighting fireworks with your friends.

And then episode seven happens, and the show gives all that it has to challenge that idea. Kanata did not join the army as a solider, but the other members of her platoon did. So the show displays the truth of being a solider and the pain and the death, and amidst all of that it begs the question of why? Why keep going on in a world like this?

And Sound of the Sky answers that question. If there is no reason to go on, make one yourself, and you'll probably find it in the people who love you.

It doesn't stop at episode seven, however. The end of the show leans hard into the military aspect, and it isn't shy about showing what being in the military means. Kanata did not join the military as a solider, but she is one and she will have to be one when duty calls. It sets up a kind, empathetic premise about connecting with someone from an opposing culture and opinion and then tears that to shreds with the truth of being in the military.

"As a solider, I have killed people too. So even if no one else forgives you, I will."

But, in the end, things settle. This too shall pass—even war. And when the dust has settled, you look at the damage that has been done, and you rebuild. You mourn what has been lost forever and then you rebuild anyways. It started as a slice of life and it will end as one, even after asking us why we continue to live and laying bare for us the reality of war.

And what do the soldiers hear in their direst of times that gives them the motivation they need to keep going and bring an end to the fighting—the motivation to reach a point where things have settled? None other than the Christian hymn that started it all.

The world ended, but humans are still here. The world ended, but we still speak the same languages. The world ended, but people still play Amazing Grace around the world.

And there's nothing more I can say that these parting words will not:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

Smells Like Green Spirit (named for the Nirvana song, which is appropriate for a coming of age story, although I don't know where 'green' comes from) is something most BL manga cannot ever aspire to be: real. SLGS accurately represents what it is like to be queer in a small town as recent as even ten years ago, where everyone has their eyes on you and expects you to be what they want you to be.

The main character is one of those kids who, while never having "come out," is obviously gay and everyone knows it. By the time the story starts, he has resigned ... himself to taking the bullying and harassment because that's just how it goes—a sad truth represented right on the page. Things start to change, however, when he realizes that one of his main bullies might not be so different from here is.

From there is a very honest look into what it is like to come of age as a queer person—especially a young gay man—in an unsafe place, finding love and happiness and themselves amidst all of the pain and struggling.

This manga is a romance, but it makes the really interesting choice of having the main couple not consist of the leads. Rather, they remain just friends throughout, and the main character's love interest is someone else entirely (who is also going through many of the same struggles in his own way). This is an unconventional choice, but it's one I appreciated. Oftentimes, friendship is more important than romance—especially during such a difficult time in one's life when they're struggling to figure themselves out, and what they really need is a friend who understands them.

It also takes the time to acknowledge the overlap between gay men and transgender women that does and has always existed. The two communities have never been separate and never will be, and a lot of people find themselves identifying with both—similar to lesbians and transgender men. Obviously not everyone will identify with both—there are gay men who are not genderqueer in the slightest and heterosexual transgender women—but there *is* an overlap, and seeing that represented here is really important and special.

Also, fair warning, this manga has a very bittersweet ending, and that may be a controversial decision to some, but I think it's perfect. This manga is grounded and realistic, and it is not afraid to shy away from the painful truths of the queer experience, even if it also shows the happiness that can be found in it. Not every queer person gets a happy ending. Sometimes a queer person finds themself and who they are but they have to resign themself to a life of unhappiness because of outside factors. Many queer people sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of other people, and seeing that in the ending of this manga may be a tough pill to swallow, but it's the perfect conclusion.

There's one main reason I haven't rated this manga higher, however. There's something of a sexual predation problem amongst gay men because, well, gay men are certainly still men, and I could go into detail about socialization and the patriarchy to explain why men tend to commit sex crimes but I am not going to assume you are stupid and need it explained to you. The point is, it happens and it sucks. This manga seems to propose that the reason for the problem has to due with matters of homophobia, and while I am open to that idea, I am a bit soured on it due to how this manga presents it.

Sexual assault is very important to the middle of this manga's story. I respect it for trying to address such a pressing issue in this society, as addressing societal issues seems to be the main goal of this manga, however I don't think it handles it with tact and grace. It's decently graphic, and once it's over the story moves on from it much too quickly in my opinion. It is almost entirely about the assaulter and not the victim, and I think telling stories about assaulters is still important, but the victimhood of the character he assaults is essentially disregarded for the sake of proposing society is the reason he molests young boys. I might have been willing to listen to that last point, but I'm not in the mood to be open to it when presented in a rather tactless way. The mangaka then went on to make a spinoff manga about the attempted rapist, by the way.

All in all though, this is a very poignant, thoughtful read that represents queer issues much better than most BL I've seen, and I would really recommend it.

I’m In Love With The Villainess is a take on both the villainess and GL genres that is equal parts refreshing as it is frustrating.

IILWTV has a very specific target audience in mind, and that is queer women, but specifically lesbians. This is one of those shows that you are probably going to like this show a lot more if you are part of the target demographic. Let’s talk about that.

When this show first aired, it picked up a lot of steam for its representation—for how simultaneously explicit and unique it was. In particular, there was a lot of discussion about how it very openly ... discussed homosexuality and how realistically it represented the lesbian experience, and I have to agree. Now, I don’t usually like to disclose my identity in reviews because I don’t think it should matter, but for the sake of clarity, I will say this: yes, I am a lesbian, and I can attest to the fact that it does in fact very realistically represent a lot of the lesbian experience, and I love and appreciate it for that. However, I also think this is the show’s strongest point, so if you are not in the target demographic and thus won’t feel it as deeply as those who are, you’re probably going to get a lot less out of this show.

When talking about the show's open discussion of homosexuality, one scene was making the rounds on social media. One thing that happens in this scene is the villainess, Claire, being told that she cannot be uncomfortable around the protagonist, Rae, just because she’s a lesbian. This is a very good message I’m glad to see in a show. However…

Listen, if you had me guess why Claire was uncomfortable around Rae, I wouldn’t guess that it’s just because Rae is a lesbian. Rae is very openly in love with Claire and wants to make sure everyone knows, and while I think it can be funny at times, I think it can also read as harassment.

Now, I know for certain that Claire’s negative reaction to Rae’s constant professions of love aren’t just because they’re unwanted advances. Claire falls in love with Rae and does it pretty quickly, in my opinion, so I fully believe that a lot of her seeming discomfort is rather internalized homophobia and projection. And this is another aspect of the queer experience that I greatly appreciate seeing on screen. However, just like before, if it’s not an experience that resonates with you, seeing her pretty frequently and obviously turn Rae down in a way that reads as discomfort will likely make *you* uncomfortable as well.

Granted, their relationship also has a lot of merit that I think is really beautiful if you look past the exterior. They have a lot of sweet moments and Claire really develops as a character as she comes into her queer identity, reckons with her feelings, and lets herself be loved. While Rae may be a bit too forward with it, it really does warm the heart to see Claire be so genuinely loved after a life of typical rich kid loneliness, and then to also see her accept it.

I’m willing to give it a lot of leniency because I know what it’s going for and, as part of the target demographic, am able to feel seen in it. But I understand why most people wouldn’t be able to do that.

And it’s not just the romance but the rest of the show that’s like this. Frankly there’s just a lot of anime bullshit in this show—including a random incest jumpscare! Great. Awesome. I wanted to see that for sure. The art and animation is a little off, the comedy is very hit or miss, and the way it seems to be pretty uncritical of the monarchy and nobility just really isn’t for me—although I am fully aware that it is a fantasy comedy TV show so it doesn’t have to realistically comment on it. Just like with the romance, it really boils down to personal preference and what you're willing to both look past and appreciate.

You will take away from it what you choose to. I chose to take away a sweet love story that I can see myself in, but not everybody can or will be able to. And that’s okay. I just think you should really think about what you might take away from the show before choosing to watch it.

In 1985, the manga "Banana Fish" by Akimi Yoshida would begin serialization in Bessatsu Shoujo Comic. It would run for 9 years, totaling 110 chapters and 19 volumes, establishing itself as a pioneer of the BL genre despite keeping the relationship between the male leads ambiguous. In 2018, this legendary manga finally hit the silver screen with a condensed adaptation updated to a modern day setting done by MAPPA, finally bringing this iconic and influential plot to wide audiences.

And that plot is...frustrating.

Like most early BL, Banana Fish is a story of tragedy. It is a tale of bad things happening to young men who never ... get to be happy. And it feels...sensationalized.

Human beings have a fascination with pain and trauma. We pack it into our stories for the catharsis of enjoying the drama and the emotions of these traumatic things in a contained environment where nothing bad actually happens—much like the feeling of fear on a rollercoaster. I don't necessarily think that's *inherently* wrong, but it can easily become tactless and grody with the way it appears to derive pleasure from seeing things that deeply traumatize real people every day—and Banana Fish is a shining example.

The trauma in Banana Fish feels so overwhelmingly self-indulgent. It is horrible and disturbing, yet here the audience is, relishing in it. I'm not going to beat around the bush here; the trauma in question is mostly sexual abuse— a lot of it, and to a young victim. It is the most upsetting type of trauma here in the real world, and when I see it in Banana Fish, it doesn't feel to me as though it was written to tell a meaningful story about trauma, its effects, and what in this society allows it to happen, but because audiences simply want to see it happen and enjoy the drama it creates so long as there's no real victim. And that feels...tasteless at best.

Furthermore, the victim in question has me skeptical.

The character facing this severe sexual abuse is one Ash Lynx (real name: Aslan Callenreese—yes, like the Jesus lion from Narnia), and...well, before I get into the rest of his character, let's just address the main factor here: he is male.

Yes, sexual abuse happens to men. It happens every day—much more often than one might think. And it's terrible. However, it's important to recognize that men and women tend to face different kinds of sexual violence due to the inherent subjugation of women in this patriarchal society and how rape is often used as a gendered weapon against them (remember, rape is more about power than about sex, and who do men typically exert power over?). Here's the problem: the sexual violence Ash repeatedly faces is the kind usually faced by women in real life. He's treated as this irresistibly sexy lolita in a way that turns the head of every creepy older man in the vicinity. All eyes are on him and they expect him to put out at all times with his pretty blond hair and green eyes and slender body, regardless of whether he wants to. This is more believable during his stint in prison, but outside of it? I can only suspend my disbelief so far. Both the narrative and the other characters treat him like a woman on the topic of sex and rape.

Not only is it unrealistic, but it is essentially ignoring the subjugation of women for the sake of getting catharsis out of it happening to a man.

There are hilariously few female characters in this show, and they’re essentially all family members of the main cast. You know that?

Now, the sexual abuse he faced as a prepubescent child does hold some more ground in terms of realism, and I think it would be acceptable in a vaccuum, but it doesn't exist in a vaccuum. It exists in the context of a story where this remarkably beautiful teenage boy faces rapist after rapist after rapist from the age of eight onwards and it never stops, which just feels so illogically cruel. It's not just that he's objectified like a woman, but that the constant onslaught of assault is immersion breaking. I'd buy it more if it were happening to a woman, but even then it might still lose me.

And there's more when it comes to this character that feels indulgent. Ash Lynx is not just irresistibly sexy. He's an irresistibly sexy white 17 year old who seems to control organized crime in NYC despite being both white and 17. They even lampshade the fact he somehow has gangs of every race under his control despite being some white kid. Just because you point it out, that doesn't make you exempt from any criticism. I am well aware this story wasn't written by an American, but that lampshading goes to show the author seems to have at least *some* understanding of race relations in American crime, and yet they choose to willfully ignore it because their sexy traumatized teenager needs to be super cool and powerful.

And that's not the only problem with race in this show. For a show about gang violence in not just America but *New York City,* you'd really expect there to be a lot more brown people—well, brown people integral to the plot who get treated as fully realized characters, that is. I won’t spoil anything, but there's one black character who is so much of a plot device for the pretty white blondie I had to stop and ask myself if they really just wrote that.

The main cast is full of white and east asian people, but that’s it. Setting aside any possible complaints of racism, it’s just plain unrealistic.

And I also just do not buy his age. He's 17? Really? I don't believe it. I don't believe a 17 year old kid could be that powerful, nor do I believe he acts like a 17 year old. I was 17 once. Neither I nor anyone I knew acted like that. Granted, we weren't working in the criminal underworld, but there's only so far that can take someone. If I had to hazard a guess as to his age I'd assume he was in his early twenties, which I fully think he should have been written as. I also think early twenties is still stretching it for how powerful he is, but it wouldn't necessarily make me raise an eyebrow.

Oh yeah, not only is this white guy way in control of every gang in NYC, but he's underage too. Yeah, sure I believe that. And I believe this character was written this way for an important narrative purpose and not just because audiences wanted to see bad things happen to a sexy white teenager who is really cool and powerful and capable despite all of the debilitating trauma.

By the way, did I mention he’s also a genius? Yeah. Bonafide child prodigy. IQ over 200 (even though IQ tests aren’t actually a proper reading of intelligence and weren’t meant to be used that way). Math expert and super hacker. Because of course. Why wouldn’t he be?

I'm also going to be completely honest and say that, despite being considered a pioneer of the BL genre, it can come off as...honestly somewhat homophobic. Homosexuality seems to only physically occur so pedophiles can prey on Ash, and it occurs strangely often—way too often for me to buy it. Seriously, the amount of creepy older men who prey on him reaches levels that are almost laughable with how cartoonishly traumatic it is. It's the kind of sexual trauma that could only realistically happen to a woman and even then it's pushing it. I don't think there is any explicit representation of homosexuality that isn't in the case of an evil rapist pedophile, and with how weirdly common these gay pedophilic rapists are, it feels like a pattern.

Granted, there's also the relationship between Ash and Eiji, but it's also...the relationship between Ash and Eiji. It is homoerotic, sure, and the author no doubt intended for it to be read romantically—which is why people consider Banana Fish a piece of BL history—but it's still left ambiguous. They act like lovers, but they're not. Those evil homosexuals all put their filthy hands on Ash, but his vaguely homosexual relationship with Eiji is pure and platonic. Did the author...intend for it to read like gay sex is evil? Did it have to be like this? Was this not a change in adaptation that we could have made? I’m not even saying you have to make their relationship more explicit (although that would also have worked), but just…could you not do anything to avoid implying gay sex is some kind of inherent perverted evil?

(And remember, all of those evil homosexuals are ugly and old, but Ash and Eiji are pretty teenage boys).

Let's compare this to another anime of similar circumstances: Devilman Crybaby. Just like Banana Fish, Devilman Crybaby is an adaption of a historically significant queer manga centering the intimate relationship between two men amidst the politics, updating the classic plot to a modern day setting for audiences in 2018. However, it did something Banana Fish did not do, which was take into account how the politics needed to be updated along with the setting so the story could mean to modern audiences what it did to audiences 40/50 years ago. It added additional positive depictions of homosexual relationships and sex to further their updated political views while still keeping the non-explicit yet still clearly romantic nature of the relationship between the male leads.

What I mean is that it was entirely possible for Banana Fish to fix some of its pitfalls in the adaptation process, but it didn’t.

And then there's the ending. Obviously I won't spoil it, but anyone who has heard of Banana Fish has heard the ending invokes lots of emotions in people. All I will say is this: I find the ending to send a message that is completely irresponsible and downright incorrect. It's a message that is very personal to me as someone who has experienced something similar, and I will say that it upsets me—and this is not because it invoked the emotions in me that it was aiming to. I didn't feel the expected emotions because I was too busy feeling upset and hurt about the message it seemed to be sending that is actually applicable to *me* and *my* life experiences.

Banana Fish is pain and trauma and tragedy simply for the sake of it. It is nothing but bad things happening to people who never wanted it and don’t deserve it because wouldn’t it be fucked up if that happened? It’s gratuitous and ostentatious.

I love a tragic hero (in the literary sense), but a hero is only tragic if everything is *their* fault. If your hero only does bad things because they were forced into a life they never wanted and they still try to avoid doing bad things to people who don’t deserve it, then the bad things that happen to them as a consequence of their actions aren’t earned. It’s not tragedy for a reason; it’s tragedy for the sake of relishing in and indulging in it. Now, if you’re not going for “tragic hero” with the tragedy and are instead trying to send the message of “isn’t society so fucked up that it allowed this to happen?” I would understand and probably even get behind it (compare Riyoko Ikeda’s Claudine, another historically significant queer manga that ends similarly and has a similar main character). But it’s not. It’s for appealing to the heart and nothing more.

Here's the thing. The manga was written during a time when Japan was growing increasingly fascinated by urban America, and it shows. It was written during the early days of the BL genre full of rape and tragedy and ambiguity, and it shows. Banana Fish is not something easily removed from its time period.

I can excuse a lot of these criticisms of the manga for how progressive and influential it was for its time (nearly 40 years ago as of when I write this). But because of that, I don't think it should have gotten a modern adaptation—especially not one where they updated the setting to modern day too. You can tell the plot was written in a time before modern technology, because with cellphones in the picture the plot becomes a lot less believable—not to mention the outdated politics of it all. If they were going to make this, they should have made it a period piece. It's not a story that lends itself well to the modern day.

I respect the Banana Fish manga for making waves for its time and changing its genre. I respect it as a historically significant work that made a lot of progress in the 80s. However, I also think it should have stayed in the 80s.

There’s no question that Given is *the* BL anime of the modern era. It is the most watched BL on MAL, constantly tops popularity polls, and whenever anyone these days gives BL recommendations, the first thing you hear is Given, Given, Given.

It’s also disappointing.

Here’s the thing: Given is a drama. It takes itself extremely seriously, so I will take it extremely seriously as well, and thus come to the conclusion that it is not as deep and intelligent as it markets itself as.

Now, Given isn’t bad. It’s a competent story and the relationship between the leads, Ritsuka and Mafuyu, is well done. They had ... good chemistry, their relationship was well developed, and I liked how the top was the awkward and inexperienced one paired up with a more self-assured and experienced bottom. It’s a more refreshing take on tired tropes. However, Given is not just a romance, but as I stated before, a romantic drama, and it is in the drama where the problem lies.

There is one main source of drama in this show: grief. (I don’t consider this a spoiler, but if you want to go in blind, stop reading now). Mafuyu, the love interest, is grieving. Very specifically he is grieving his late boyfriend who killed himself.

And that? That’s something. In fact, it was why I wanted to watch the show to begin with. It has so much potential to be a very grounded and deep story about not just grief, but the very specific trauma of losing someone to suicide. There’s so much room there for it to be such a meaningful story about processing trauma and recovery.

And…well, I can’t say it’s *not* that, but I will say that I don’t think it’s enough. The way it addresses this clear trauma is very skin deep, and it feels almost like set dressing. It’s there, and Mafuyu clearly thinks about it regularly, but we don’t really get to see any introspection or reflection on his feelings, let alone the nasty effects that kind of trauma inherently has.

You wanna know something? Yuki, Mafuyu’s late boyfriend, didn’t just kill himself. He killed himself after the two had an argument, and then Mafuyu was the one who found his body.

It needs more. It needs more introspection—about how personally hurt he is, how he simultaneously blames both himself and Yuki, how he hates himself for causing this but hates Yuki for doing this to him, how he still gets flashbacks of finding the body, how he still loves Yuki despite all of that—just...*something.*

But we don’t get anything like that. It’s a trauma that inherently causes a storm of conflicting emotions and negative effects, and we don’t see anything like that. We just know he’s grieving, and it’s sad.

And remember, this isn’t just a drama, but a romantic drama. Dating again while you’re still grieving your old partner is difficult and complicated, so it *should* come with a lot of reflection on the trauma and grief, but in Given, it doesn’t. Mafuyu is grieving and sad but he never talks about his feelings, shows any nasty side effects of the trauma, or lets it affect his new relationship.

I say this as someone who has some personal experience with this subject, because it feels to me like the author does not. There was so much potential for it to be extremely meaningful, but it just comes off like it was added for pathos.

That’s my only real hangup with these 12 episodes. As I said, the story is competent and the main romance is well developed (although, I would not have put their first kiss during the one time Mafuyu was grieving the *most* lmao. Like, what?).

In this first season, the beta couple is also fine, although this does only apply to this first season. I’ll warn you now, the first movie is focused on the beta couple, and it includes the infuriating BL trope of a character being sexually assaulted by his love interest. In fact, it’s worse than a lot of other BL that play the assault as sexy and romantic, because Given fully plays the assault for drama—presenting it as horrifying and upsetting—but then the victim still chooses to forgive the perpetrator and they end up together in the end. It was a really graphic scene of sexual assault too.

The review is marked as a 7/10 because it’s only for the first season (it’s easy to pretend the movie didn’t happen), but I thoroughly dislike the movie, so I’d probably give the manga a 6/10.

Not bad, but disappointing.

Sasaki and Miyano is a romance anime based on the concept of falling in love with a guy over the gay porn he lends you, which is just an inherently funny premise.

I was hesitant at first, when I found out the characters in Sasaki and Miyano were active fans of BL. This is because BL is a genre with a fraught and controversial history, so I was fully prepared for it to be full of unfunny jokes about uncomfortable tropes. Thankfully, I was wrong!

Sasaki and Miyano uses its self-aware nature to its advantage. Some might criticize it for affectionately joking about and including BL as ... a major part of the plot in a way that is almost entirely uncritical (as, like I said before, it is a genre rife with controversy and tropes worthy of criticism), but I disagree. I think most people would agree it's okay to like a genre that is often done in poor taste, and I don't think affectionately joking about and including that genre without criticizing certain tropes it is inherently agreeing with the more controversial side of it.

I mean, it's a lighthearted school romcom. What do you expect it to do? Pause the story to say "by the way, what did you think of the rape scene in the last volume I lent you? I know that BL tends to include tactless depictions of rape, oftentimes done by the love interest in a way that is supposed to be romantic, so I wanted to know your opinion. Personally, I just can't stand for when BL includes rape scenes like that" or something?

Furthermore, I don't even think it *was* entirely uncritical. Primarily, it makes BL jokes that are not, in fact, based around the uncomfortable side of BL, yet at the same time doesn't completely ignore it. At one point, it takes a short time to recognize that certain tropes are not okay in real life, which is surprisingly mature and refreshing from a lighthearted school romcom. And I think that that's proof enough that the author is well aware of the seedy side of BL, and you shouldn't assume they aren't just because their lighthearted story doesn't pause itself for serious literary criticism.

My point is, Sasaki and Miyano stands out from a lot of other BL due to its self-awareness of its own genre, and it does it in a way that's funny and charming, and it hikes my enjoyment way up. Honestly, it was probably the main reason I enjoyed the show so much.

Though, the real driving force of the show is obviously the romance, which, to be honest, I probably should have opened with, but what can I say? I'm a literature student.

Anyways, Sasaki and Miyano (the characters, not the title of the show) have a dynamic that kind of seems like it was written for the Tumblr crowd, but that's not a bad thing. It's the insecure nerd x oblivious himbo dynamic, which is a real crowdpleaser, but it is for a reason. Their opposites dynamic is cute and charming, and it's incredibly heartwarming and refreshing to see Sasaki so earnestly interested in Miyano's hobby, which is often considered niche, weird, and socially unacceptable. They're very different people, yet there is no judgment between them. It's so earnest and empathetic.

And the development of their relationship was...God, how many times can I use the word refreshing? They fell fast but took things slow. Sasaki resolved to wait for Miyano for however long he needed to figure out his feelings. I found it to be very grounded. There's just so much care packed into their relationship that I feel a lot of us could take to heart and apply to real life.

Everything about their relationship is just so...*kind.* It's incredibly kind.

Now, it's certainly not peak writing or anything. The plot is inherently dumb and it doesn't take itself seriously at all. I may have opened by praising the literary merit of it, but it's not high art. But that's okay. It doesn't have to be. And it wasn't trying to be.

It still falls into some tired romance tropes (like miscommunication or the whole "how can I like boys?????" thing) but I can kind of excuse them on the grounds that these characters are like, 16. Pretty accurate for teenagers in all honesty, even if I'm tired of seeing it.

TLDR: Incredibly cute and heartwarming with some literary merit buried underneath it due to how well it utilizes self awareness of the BL genre.

"Did they make the pedophile a cute girl so she's harder to hate?"

This is a real quote from a friend of mine when I asked her opinion on the show. After watching it, I'm certain the answer is yes.

Happy Sugar Life is one of those shows that markets itself as a complex psychological story about nuanced characters who are undoubtedly bad people yet still manage to curry sympathy with the audience for how the story digs into them as characters. It is also one of those shows that uses that veneer as an excuse to avoid criticism for its true nature.

The protagonist of Happy Sugar ... Life is a bad person. She is "in love" with a prepubescent girl she is keeping in her house. She kills people who get in the way of her romance with this child. Yet her attachment to this girl is never, ever sexual in nature (and in fact, she *condemns* molesting underage kids in the very first episode) and all things considered, the young girl seems happy and the people she kills tend to deserve it. Her scenes with the young girl she's holding hostage are framed in a way that would invoke feelings of moe (what with all the happy music and shoujo sparkles), not fear.

HSL thinks itself to be a nuanced story about complex people, but really it's a "love story" that took way too much inspiration from Mirai Nikki. It loves its characters too much to actually condemn them. The relationship between the young girl and the pedophile might not be “right” per say, but it's tragic that their poor circumstances led to this relationship where remarkably they both genuinely love each other and are happy and no one is getting hurt (except the outsiders trying to stop this, of course). It’s sad and tragic that this genuine love blossomed in a place it’s not supposed to. You know, genuine love, between a teenager and an eight year old. Because an eight year old can clearly discern what real love is while romantic music plays in the background. She can clearly make adult decisions about what she wants for herself. It’s fine because their relationship isn’t sexual. Isn’t it so sad that that happened, even if it wasn’t “right”? Isn’t it a beautiful love in its own fucked up way? Don't *you* want a cute, pink-haired yandere girlfriend who will kill for you?

And the character design doesn't only serve to make the supposed "villain" easier to like. It also makes it way less scary. Blood and gore aside, pedophilia is scarier when you're reminded that pedophiles are people who look like you. This would be way more unsettling if these characters looked like people and not anime girls.

It never outwardly pretends that the actions of this adorable anime murderer are “good,” technically, but if you pay attention to the attitude that the narrative seems to hold and you'll realize it is way too genuinely attached to her to make her a villain worth anything because it's afraid you won't like her.

And I'm not saying that it's impossible to make a pedophile character who is still sympathetic and complex. In fact, I think other shows that are actually good have done it well (such as Revolutionary Girl Utena or Chainsaw Man). I *am* saying that you have to be detached enough from the character so that your clear love for them doesn't get in the way of making them a villain who is truly interesting. It's interesting when a despicable character is still sympathetic, but HSL is too afraid to make its favorite lolicon truly despicable.

And it's not just her. Pretty much every character, main or not, is also a pedophile with few exceptions. That's just ridiculous. Ever heard of the concept "too bleak, stopped caring"? It pretty much loses all tension when every single character is also like this. What are the stakes? Why should I root for anything?

There's another character who is obsessed with the little girl because he was raped by an older woman and is now afraid of them; even girls his own age can freak him out. So, he thinks loving this very young girl is going to make him "clean" again. This would also be interesting if they weren't afraid to make him actually hurt children, just like with our protagonist, but no, his creepy obsession never actually results in harm. This was just a huge missed opportunity because his rape trauma is taken very seriously, and it actually managed to stir up some sympathy in me because of how broken he was over it (although I can’t give it too much credit; he was intentionally designed with a lot of moe appeal as shortcuts to audience compassion, what with how he wears hair clips and uses boku) but they forgo any attempts at actually making him truly complex because they chickened out at the last minute. He's a pedophile but he can't be *too* much of a pedophile because then you might not like him. Again, they did the exact same thing with the main character. It's a pattern. The show loves its characters too much to make them actually complex. They're afraid making the characters too evil will make them less likable, but it has the opposite effect on me.

(By the way, this guy ends up getting raped again by another woman for like, no reason. Christ)

The only ones who actually molest people are the side characters, who usually end up at odds with our main character. And our "hero" taking down other pedophiles while also being one herself could be an interesting bit of psychology if the story weren't afraid to make her actually commit sex crimes like the pedophiles she's at odds with tend to do. Because between her and them, someone clearly has the moral high ground and it's not the actual rapists.

She's not complex. She's not nuanced. She's not evil enough to be any of those things. She's a pedophile but they're too afraid to make her actually molest children because that's *too* complex. You're supposed to love her in spite of her bad actions because of her pain and trauma rather than loving her because of her bad actions which make her an interesting character. Because this is a love story, after all. This is about how she and an eight year old girl are in genuine love with each other, even though she’s a bad person.

Just commit and make her a full-on child molester, coward.

One of the worst sins a work of parody can commit is to use the guise of “parody” as an excuse to earnestly do the thing they’re “parodying” and presume self-awareness excuses it from any criticism. This presumption is very false, yet it’s one that Ouran High School Host Club subscribes to.

All things considered, the premise of OHSHC is both the perfect setup for not only the reverse harem genre but especially a parody of it: Our female lead, Haruhi, is a poor girl on scholarship who must crossdress as a male to work at a very rich host club she has found herself indebted ... to. Being in a host club, this means she is not just surrounded by pretty boys, but specifically by pretty boys who make themself into a certain “archetypes” that they can sell to women—literally a pre-made reverse harem that comes purposefully packaged with the classic archetypes, as well as the fact that these archetypes clearly aren’t at least 100% genuine. And honestly, a parody of shoujo tropes that uses a host club setup to deconstruct these character archetypes by showing who they truly are when they’re not selling images of themselves sounds awesome! But even though that’s what people act like OHSHC is about, that is absolutely not what it is about.

The archetypes are as follows: Tamaki, the “princely” type, Kyoya, the “cool/megane” type, Mori, the “strong and silent/stoic” type, Honey, the “shota” (or “boy lolita” in the English dub) type and Hikaru and Kaoru, the…technically they’re called the “little devil” type, but really they’re the “twincest” type. Actually, another character later calls them the “twincest” type so I don’t know why the club pretends they’re a different archetype (also, what does little devil even mean? Gadfly?).

So, right off the bat, there are some “inappropriate” archetypes in this club—very specifically inappropriate archetypes that women tend to find themselves attracted to in shoujo manga. It’s a pretty obvious and documented fact that twincest and “shota” characters appeal to certain demographics (in particular women, especially considering the twins are both male), so it makes sense that people would take advantage of the fact they can fit into these archetypes, even though they’re “taboo,” to market themselves to customers. It’s just business, after all. And this fact would make for a pretty clever parody of and commentary on specific shoujo tropes and possibly even the hosting business if that’s what was actually happening!

While there is more debate about the twins (put a pin in that), Honey instantly disproves the “parody” argument. I would love it if they truly were parodying shoujo tropes by having the boys very specifically only act this way to sell themselves to women (which would make for good satire too), but Honey instantly makes it clear that this is not what’s happening by the fact he continues to act like a ten year old boy even when no customers are present.

For anyone who somehow is unaware of this character, Honey is a third year in high school (so, about 17) but he happens to look incredibly young, so the joke is that everyone calls him “senpai” even though he does not look like he should be called that. Yes, Honey is 17 years old, and he never acts his age. It would actually be funny if he only acted like a “shota” in front of customers, but he continues to act like a literal ten year old even when there are no customers around. I cannot fathom why he does this unless it’s because the mangaka genuinely wanted to include a “shota” character and thought that being self aware about it would make it less weird.

Actually, part of the reason he joined the club was because he was allowed to act childishly there which…obviously there’s nothing wrong with teens and adults liking “childish” things such as sweets and stuffed animals, but he doesn’t just *like* childish things. He acts like an elementary schooler in every single regard and every action he takes. Like childish things all you want, but like, grow up.

It gets even worse when they temporarily let an *actual ten year old boy in elementary school* join the host club, and Honey feels threatened. Yes, Honey feels threatened. By a 10 year old boy.

And the unfunny jokes about children don’t even stop there! A few episodes later they joke that a very young girl is like Romeo and Juliet with her teenage brother! It never stops! And it’s never funny!

Anyways, let's take that pin out. The twins have more of an argument on the “parody” ground because they don’t actually flirt with each other outside of work, but they still act like a single celled organism in the middle of division, so really, what’s the point?

Alright, to be fair, their unhealthy attachment to and inability to be their own people outside of each other is examined in the story as something they need to work past—and apparently in the manga (I say apparently because I am not going to read this) they have a full character arc about learning to be different people outside of each other. However, this doesn’t really start to get addressed until episode 20, and the show had already lost me by episode 2 because the way they act has me feeling like, even if they don’t flirt when alone with the club, the incest still isn’t actually just a show for the audience; I don’t know what they get up to behind closed doors! I mean, we do see them canonically sleep in the same bed. Naked. And when they wake up they wrap their arms around each other. So forgive me for raising an eyebrow or twelve.

Now, depiction of incest obviously is inherently a bad thing, but OHSHC really only depicts it as a “joke” (quotation marks because jokes are supposed to be funny). Because it’s a romantic comedy, it isn’t serious enough to actually examine incest in a thoughtful or meaningful way, so it will have tamer drama during the more serious parts and then play incest as a joke. It’s a lose-lose scenario.

Also, in regards to their apparent character arc, no twins I have ever met (and I’ve known quite a few) have ever had that problem. Even identical twins I have known who have had the exact same interests and friends naturally developed into unique and independent people, if similar. The idea of (usually identical) twins being unable to have identities outside of each other very much seems similar to the “raised as the opposite gender” trope to me in that it is weirdly common in fiction but it never happens in real life. Why are writers seemingly unable to grasp the fact that identical twins just…are fundamentally different people?

Actually, I want to talk about the twins some more. It took me 16 entire episodes to be able to tell the difference between them in terms of personality. It wasn’t until we were *16* out of *26* episodes in that I was able to tell you what the difference in their behavior was. Before that, they literally just acted like a hive mind.

And you know *how* I was finally able to differentiate them? Because Hikaru decided to get pissy that Haruhi has friends outside of the club (driven by romantic jealousy) and Kaoru was left to clean up after his mess. Yes, not only was he upset that Haruhi had friends, but he couldn’t even get ahold of himself and fix the mess he made himself. I don’t like either of the twins, but I almost felt bad for Kaoru with the way he seems to be responsible for his brother’s behavior.

Moreover, he continued to let this jealousy overtake him until he realized he had left Haruhi alone and scared because he had ignored the hints she was dropping all day that she was getting scared. Which…

Is it an intentional character flaw on Hikaru’s part? Yes. Do I find it compelling or interesting? Not at all. He’s a spoiled rich kid in a romantic comedy. It is absolutely entitled behavior without a sympathetic or compelling reason behind it, and when I see him work on this flaw I don’t feel happy to see him grow but frustrated that he hasn’t already learned this lesson yet, because it seems like common sense to me. I guess it wouldn’t be common sense to a spoiled rich boy, but why should I sympathize with that? Get over yourself.

Fun fact, at one point in the show, Haruhi says Hikaru gets worse on his own. Why did they just so casually move on from that? That’s terrible lol. If someone told me that I would change my name and flee the country.

Sorry, I seem to have gotten sidetracked. The point is, the “parody” defense holds no water. Just because Haruhi says that shoujo romance is full of debauchery (her exact words), that doesn’t mean this show isn’t also doing those “debaucherous” tropes just because they’re self aware about it. Every time I see someone who likes this show say that these “taboo” elements aren’t actually weird because it’s parodying or even *satirizing* these “fetishy” tropes I have to laugh.

Speaking of laughter, this show *is* primarily a comedy, and even setting aside the incest and shota jokes it just really is not very funny. A lot of the jokes are horribly dated including a joke about characters *doing the nazi salute*—although honestly, I don’t think that was appropriate even in 2006. Reminder that Japan was one of the Axis powers.

Despite the fact that the show is self aware of its more “problematic” aspects, so to speak, it is absolutely not self aware about the rest of its comedy, which is honestly kind of impressive.

But the poor quality of the writing does not stop there. We’ve already covered the comedy and how it tries to avoid criticism of certain tropes by being self aware, but what about the romance and the rest of the cast?

Well, the one saving grace is Haruhi. She’s witty, charming, relatable, caring and compassionate, and adorable. And, as you’ve probably heard, in spite of some other aspects of the show, she’s a surprisingly progressive character when it comes to her attitudes towards gender and gender roles. Many viewers enjoy this show because they relate to her, especially in how she views gender as something unimportant. She is an absolute delight of a main character and I love her dearly. Honestly, without her I doubt I would have been able to finish the show.

Her main love interest is the “princely” type—Tamaki. And honestly? *This* is the show’s biggest pitfall.

Tamaki sucks. I am not afraid to say it. I love blond pretty boys but this one is terrible. He is controlling, possessive, and egotistical. He doesn’t want people to know Haruhi is a girl or for her to wear revealing clothing because he doesn’t want other guys looking at her, as if it’s his decision. He even calls her “my Haruhi.” And this is in spite of the fact they’re *not even dating yet.*

I’m sorry (well, actually I’m not), but you have no right to say that about someone you’re not dating. If you’re going to act like that about her, at least have the balls to ask her out.

Well, actually, it’s not that he doesn’t have the balls but that he’s too stupid to recognize his own emotions, which, contrary to popular belief, does not make it better! In fact, there is a running joke where he repeatedly *refers to himself as her dad,* because rationalizing why he feels possessive over her that way is easier than admitting to himself he has a crush on her. Because, you know, dads tend to be irrationally overprotective of their daughters. Like Tamaki is over Haruhi!

In all fairness, he is not consciously aware of the fact he is doing all of this out of romantic jealousy, but frankly, I don’t care. Intentions only go so far, and I don’t care that his stupidity and unawareness of his own emotions makes him the butt of the joke. I wasn’t laughing.

I think the author confused the word “uncomfortable” with the word “funny.”

There’s an episode of this show titled “Tamaki’s Unwitting Depression” which is about how another man saw Haruhi changing and it not only aggravated all of the hosts but sent Tamaki into shell shock, in spite of the fact Haruhi literally does not care. Yeah, it’s hilarious how these men are possessive over her body.

Again, they *weren’t even dating* and some other guy seeing Haruhi in her bra sent him into a state of shock. Even though Haruhi literally didn’t even care.

At the end of the episode, there’s a “joke” where Tamaki asks “if [she doesn’t belong to me], then to who?!” and Haruhi has to say she doesn’t belong to anybody. And that’s supposed to be funny?

*This* is the winner of the harem?

Man, I know when I’m looking for a man, I’m looking for a lack of self awareness and emotional immaturity!

And I fully understand that all of this is clearly meant to be an intentional character flaw, but this is a comedy, meaning character flaws are played for comedy, and it is so horrendously unfunny.

It’s weird, Tamaki actually has a sympathetic backstory when they get around to revealing it, but his flaws are completely unrelated to it; he’s just like that. Not that this is some sin of writing, or even a real criticism on my part, but I just find it odd. Of course nobody needs a sympathetic reason to be a flawed person, but this is a fictional story in which everything is a deliberate choice by the writer in order to mean something. Unlike real life, everything happens in a story for a reason. I just felt like that could have been a bit more tightly woven, although that’s simply my opinion.

Now, I don’t want to be unfair, so I’ll say that Tamaki isn’t *entirely* terrible, as the show actually takes time to highlight his main virtue: compassion. Despite his inflated ego and severely out of touch nature, he routinely does good things to help people simply because it is the right thing to do and he doesn’t give up on people. And ordinarily this could curry some more favor for me (even though compassion is like, basic human decency), but it gets absolutely drowned out by the fact he spends most of his screentime yelling about how people are going to take his “little girl” away from him or whatever.

What I really mean by this is that at least she didn’t end up with Hikaru! Because he has the exact same flaws as Tamaki but he’s also mean!

Oops, did I get sidetracked complaining about Hikaru again? My bad.

There are two members of the host club I haven’t mentioned yet. The first is Kyoya, and thankfully he’s easily one of the less annoying characters because the “cool” archetype naturally befits amiable behavior. However, passing the “not obnoxious” bar still isn’t doing much in his favor, and *his* intentional character flaws that don’t work in romcom are selfishness and a lack of empathy (so he can serve as a foil to Tamaki). Although, I will say that for what it’s worth, his flaws actually make the most sense out of all of the club members considering how his father is when you eventually meet him, so he’s easily one of the more bearable characters—well, except for that one time. Put another pin.

The last remaining character is Mori, who I am mentioning last because given that he is the “strong and silent” type, it’s easy to infer that he doesn’t do much. He seemingly just exists to carry Honey around. Like, genuinely he has no character outside of Honey and is surprisingly boring. It’s like the author just didn’t know what else to do with him.

There’s really only one “Mori episode” and it 1) is not until the end of the season (episode 22, to be precise) 2) spends most of its time focused on a new character in comparison to Mori rather than Mori himself, and 3) spends the rest of its time lampshading the fact that Mori has nothing going on outside of Honey. And how many times do I have to say that self awareness of a problem doesn’t excuse you from it?

Unsurprisingly there’s some yaoi subtext between Honey and Mori—they have a master/servant dynamic going on; Mori’s family has been erving Honey’s for generations—which would be fine if they weren’t also cousins. This isn’t even a bit like with the twins. They just genuinely get Too Close for people who share a family tree. Like, customers may ogle their close relationship but they’re not putting on an act. They’re just genuinely like this.

Anyways.

I just can’t find the screentime of any of these guys enjoyable. Haruhi is awesome, but she is surrounded by a bunch of pretentious men who think they’re God’s gift to Japan—some of whom spend the vast majority of their screen time pandering to a fetish that, dare I say, most people not only do not have but are actively uncomfortable with.

Oh, and don’t forget they’re all rich. I don’t care that this is meant for the women who want a rich man to take care of them; I immediately lose all sympathy for them and their rich boy feelings when Haruhi is too busy worrying about if she’s going to be able to afford to eat that week—especially considering that (with the exception of the last two episodes) their rich boy feelings are very entitled and self-centered. I just cannot sympathize with that. Entitlement can be a good character flaw but in a low-stakes romantic comedy? Extremely hard sell—especially when the characters have this flaw because they have privilege most people can only dream of.

And the characters are also really weird about Haruhi’s class. Like, I know they’ve always been rich so it’s not like I expect them to be unsurprised, but their attitude towards it made me genuinely uncomfortable at times. Stop acting like lower class people are martians.

Also, for a show meant for teenage girls that’s weirdly progressive in the gender department, it’s also weirdly sexist?

It’s time to talk about the infamous episode 8.

I am not the first person to criticize episode 8. You’ll see it criticized in other reviews on this site. It is widely hated even by fans of the show. However, I have to bring it up anyway, because it is just that egregious.

In episode 8, Haruhi defends some girls from being sexually assaulted and as a result, she gets hurt. And this is portrayed as *her fault.* Tamaki tells her that she shouldn’t have done that because women can’t protect themselves from men, and everyone else agrees with him. And rather than having the boys learn the lesson that no one is at fault but the assaulters and the right thing to do is to try to help women being sexually assaulted (especially when there is no one else around), Haruhi eventually realize she was wrong and decides she has to apologize to Tamaki. What????

I don’t care that Tamaki said that because he was worried about her; that’s insane.

And to make matters worse, do you know how Kyoya tries to prove this point? He threatens to rape her. I’m not joking. Take that second pin out!

Yeah, I’m being dead serious. It wasn’t just a verbal threat either. He turned off the lights and pinned her to the bed underneath him. The way she asks him why he’s turning the lights off makes my stomach drop.

In all fairness, he wasn’t planning to actually do anything and was just proving to Haruhi how vulnerable she is because she’s a woman—you know, to prove that she shouldn’t try to stop men from sexually assaulting other women—and, luckily, Haruhi sees through the act and calls his bluff. But as I said previously, “intentions” only go so far.

I’m a woman. If I were in Haruhi’s position, I would not see through the act. I would assume my friend who I had trusted is about to rape me.

The worst part of all of this, though, is that he was pretending he was going to force himself on her to prove victim blaming is correct and she needs to apologize. And do you know what Haruhi says in response?

“I never realized what a nice guy you are.”

At this point, I don’t even care that he wasn’t planning on doing anything, because excuse me?

The target audience for this show is teenage girls. That’s the message you want to send to them?

You know, I find it funny when people complain about Haruhi ending up with the wrong guy, because aside from the fact the obvious winner of the harem was clear from the start, what better option is there?

Oh boy! Who is Haruhi going to end up with! Just look at her options!

1) Immature and controlling
2) Threatened rape to prove it *is* the victim’s fault
3) Shotabait
4) Will cheat on you with his brother
5) Will cheat on you with his brother and then get mad at you for having friends
6) Boring. Also will cheat on you with his cousin

Oh no. However can she choose.

Honestly if I had to pick one I’d pick Mori but it’s just because you can’t do anything wrong if you don’t do anything at all!

Except make bedroom eyes at your cousin who acts like a child.

Moving on.

Quite frankly, I know that earlier I mentioned it’s actually somewhat progressive, but I was exaggerating. People love to praise this show for being progressive for its time, but they’re really overhyping it. I already said that Haruhi’s gender non-conforming nature is progressive, which is true, but as for everything else…well…

Remember the Nazis salute I mentioned earlier? It’s done by a character who is canonically a lesbian and is a total man-hating caricature of both a lesbian and a feminist. Her hatred of men is compared to the literal actual Nazis. Diversity win! We included a literal feminazi!

Somehow, she was still one of the better characters! Actually she’s not; I lied. I’m just saying that because she punched Tamaki in the face. She’s actually also obnoxious—because, you know, she’s a caricature. She even tries to kiss Haruhi against her will, because everyone knows lesbians love to prey on unwilling straight people.

The most ironic part is that Tamaki is also canonically homophobic to her, which is *crazy* considering he was clearly attracted to Haruhi from the very beginning, even when he thought she was a boy at first. Insert “the demons are bisexuality” meme here.

But wait, it gets worse! The club she leads is a troupe of actresses called the Zuka club, taking its name and inspiration from the Takarazuka Revue.

The Takarazuka Revue is a historical all-female theatre troupe known for its feminist takes on classic theatre and challenging gender roles. They’re hugely influential on Japanese feminist and especially queer feminist media. They inspired Osamu Tezuka (you know, the godfather of manga, known for Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Blackjack, etc) to create Princess Knight, which would pave the way for Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena—two of the most famous queer feminist works of animanga of all time. They even inspired some parts of Sailor Moon! (Which makes sense, as one of the team members behind it would go on to create Utena).

Their influence didn’t stop in the 90s, either. To this day they’re still inspiring female-led queer anime and manga such as Revue Starlight and Kageki Shoujo.

And in 2006, after *decades* of making leaps and bounds for feminist media, OHSHC made fun of them, likening them to strawman caricatures of man-haters and going so far as to compare them to Nazis.

Christ.

OHSHC is praised for its surprisingly progressive take on gender roles and gender expression, yet this is what it thinks of some of Japan’s most influential feminists.

Anyways, the funniest part about Tamaki’s involvement here is that he’s so afraid that this evil lesbian will take Haruhi away that the entire host club crossdresses, and then he proceeds to be a bit weird about Haruhi’s crossdresser father during the next episode. Her father is also canonically bisexual even though the English dub cuts this out. The worst part though is that he (and another character) gets called a transphobic slur multiple times. You know, for the sake of comedy! It’s funny!

Okay, I’ll admit I’m being mean. He’s actually treated better than a lot of GNC characters of the time period. He’s a loving father and a character we’re clearly supposed to like, and it’s clear that Haruhi’s forward views on gender expression and identity are inherited from her father, who had been very happily married to his loving wife who was totally cool with him being a bisexual crossdresser—not to mention any initial apprehension the boys have about him wears off quickly. But the way he’s treated is still not great; there’s no excuse for the literal, actual slurs.

Granted, the word used in Japanese is “okama” which is significantly less derogatory (and even more of a neutral word in certain contexts) than the word used in English, which I do not care to repeat, but it *is* still a derogatory word at the end of the day and *who* is using it and why matters. The English dub also uses the word “transvestite” at times which is significantly less derogatory so I have no clue why they didn’t use it 100% of the time. Tamaki using the slur in question is insanely funny when you remember he has canonically worn women’s clothing before.

When Haruhi crossdresses it's cool, but when her father does we call him a slur, I guess. Sure, whatever.

Did you know that on Crunchyroll this series is rated 14+ for “profanity, slurs.” There is no profanity.

It’s all just…exhausting, honestly. This is possibly the unfunniest comedy and least romantic romance I have ever seen.

And listen, I am not here claiming moral panic and censorship because at the end of the day, it’s just a television show and you are well within your right to be a fan of it. However, while it’s true that this is a work of fiction and it’s not really hurting anybody, I’m still allowed to find it weird, uncomfortable, and deeply annoying—and no matter what, I just don’t think it’s responsible to market to teenage girls. If you fully understand that it’s not real and should not be real so you love OHSHC and its tropes, then more power to you—but I don’t like it. Honestly, I’d be less dissatisfied with it if it just did its “debaucherous” tropes in earnest without pretending that its self awareness makes it different.

And you know what? The show claims that shoujo manga is full of “debauchery” which is why they’re “parodying” tropes like shota and twincest, but quite frankly that’s giving a bad name to shoujo manga. It’s true that it has its “problematic” tropes, but every genre and demographic will have tropes like that. To act like this is a problem specifically with media for girls, or that all of this media for girls has these tropes (which is why OHSHC is *affectionately* “parodying” them) feels really…weird. I don’t want to say *sexist* but then again episode 8 exists, so if the shoe fits…)

There is plenty of shoujo manga out there that does not have those tropes. Stories for teenage girls are not inherently full of “debauchery” and inappropriate behavior.

In the end, OHSHC is just emblematic of every single frustrating and uncomfortable trope of 2000s shoujo manga, and then it thinks its above criticism because it claims all shoujo is like this and then makes fun of itself just enough to pass off as “parody.”

Dare I say teenage girls deserve better than this. And dare I say there *is* better than this.

One common argument made in favor of Pretty Boy Detective Club is that, because it is by the author of the Monogatari series, one must be a Monogatari fan to enjoy it. For two reasons, that's bullshit:

1) One should not have to enjoy a completely unrelated work of fiction to enjoy something.
2) Whether you are a Monogatari fan or not does not change the fact that the plot of this show is absolute nonsense.

I cannot express to you how much this anime lacks any amount of reason or sense. Don't get me wrong, I am very good at suspending my disbelief, and a lot of ... my favorite anime are the stereotypical "confusing" anime (Lain, Utena, Baccano!, etc), and not even that can save this show for me. The plot is just one random, absurd, and unrelated event after the next without any reason for any of them to be happening or any logical pathing to get us from point a to point b. Things just kind of happen. Once you think you're on track, something comes so far out of left field it has you baffled by how random it is, because there was no build up to its insanity or reason for it to happen.

The characters leave little to be desired as well. They're all middle schoolers, which...fine, whatever. That's not the problem. It's a bit ridiculous, but I can suspend my disbelief enough for that. The problem is that they're all boring, one-note, annoying, or confusing.

One of the main characters has nothing going on outside of showing off his sexy legs. He's 12. Another character is in an arranged marriage with a first grader so we get treated to jokes about him being a lolicon. Wow, this is so funny. Someone get the writer of this a late night show.

The main character is a girl crossdressing as a boy to join the club, which is...fine, I guess, but they never treat her like she's a boy nor is she really putting on an act for anyone outside the club (not to mention the male lead frequently crossdressing as a girl for no reason that actually holds up or makes sense) so I really don't get what the point is. And when it comes to her actual character...well, I'm not going to spoil it, but it's just bizarre. The male lead is...honestly too young——he's in elementary school——and exists to just do random things and act very smart in an attempt to make the show come off as smart. Spoiler alert: neither are actually smart.

There are two other characters I haven't mentioned but they're also pretty one-note and not worth mentioning. One's an artist and the other cooks.

It's just 12 episodes of nonsensical bullshit that thinks it's smart when in reality it's just saying random things and acting like they connect.