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Comments
Meanwhile there's this:
it seems there are two mangas but no anime yet
It's a mecha series largely set in and off the coast of the city of Kamogawa. For many years I'd just watched the first season. The second season is supposed to start after a timeskip of one summer break, or something like that. At first, I wanted to start it but held off because I hadn't waited a summer yet. Then, a year later, I was like, maybe I should go watch it. But I didn't. Well, at some point (I forget when), I watched the fist episode of the second season. Didn't go on though.
And, at some point, I remember I got into arguments with fourteenwings about this series. From what I recall, he ended up hating it, including the first season, based on watching the whole thing, while I loved it, based on watching just the first season.
I have no idea what my opinion will be by the end of the second season of Lag-Rin, but I do find it a little ironic that this echoes some arguments I've had with folks elsewhere (mainly on Heapers' Hangout) about Madoka Magica. (And here the comparison ends, because the rest of the thing isn't similar at all.)
I watched only the TV series of Madoka Magica, while many of them watched quite a bit more. And the thing that we got into very intense arguments (at least twice) over whether the relationship between Madoka and Homura could be interpreted as friendship rather than romance. While I personally felt it as friendship based on what I'd seen, and interpreted it as such in part because of my longstanding annoyance with people shoehorning/"over-reading" romance into character interactions (usually opposite-gender ones), others argued that it was unambiguously romance, drawing upon subsequent material and creator's statements that indicated this, and even saying that I was committing an act of queer erasure by denying this. (Someone informed me that their relationship is a particularly iconic one for the LGBTQ anime fandom community, stressing the social significance of the matter.)
No, we never settled that. And, since we eventually had a falling-out, it's not like it'll ever be settled, heh.
I still have an intense antipathy for the show itself, but for reasons unrelated to this. Heck, if they're in love, that would ironically be an even stronger reason for me to hate the show, because my opinion has to do with the plot screwing over Homura.
Sidenote: I do remember the "queer erasure" angle generating citations of a few other lesbian pairings elsewhere in the course of said arguments. I don't know if they actually think I just deny all lesbian pairings (someone argued this, but I don't know whether they actually believe it or whether it was just said for the sake of argument), but for the record, I don't; I remember them mentioning Nanoha and Fate, for example, who I think are pretty clearly a couple. (I think at one point one of them mentioned Anthy and Utena (I think I got those names right?), whom I just have no take on because I've never watched Revolutionary Girl Utena.) Meanwhile I remember thinking of Mireille and Kirika from Noir as another counterexample to their claim, since I watched that years ago, but I don't remember mentioning them. Amusingly, I ran across another counterexample very recently, when I watched The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady (good gosh that title is a mouthful).
And yes, I know that LGBTQ relationships (and representation, more generally) in anime is a thorny subject, especially (though not only) because of the use of female characters as fanservice. Though, I really don't have much to say about this, as I'm not gay, nor well-read about the topic, nor am I particularly interested in romance aspects in plots, very much including straight ones.
(No, I will probably not be issuing a ruling on whether Madoka (Kyouno) and/or Lan and/or Muginami are romantically involved. Don't bother waiting.)
I was conflicted as to whether I wanted the first season fresh on my mind going into the second.
A decade is a bit longer than a summer, so eventually I got interested enough in rewatch that I'm doing it now.
Sidenote: I'm also noticing various details I missed originally. Dunno whether I'm paying more attention or doing so differently nowadays, or whether this is solely because I've watched it before. But I hope my emotional perspective hasn't changed that much.
lagrange is apparently the name of a flower, canonically
so the title basically means "the [flower] of reincarnation" (since rin-ne basically means that)
also, this is a pretty interesting story in how it's like you have grand space war politics and they just end up colliding in a very small town slice-of-life atmosphere in the weirdest and most informal of ways
and the characters have quite a bit more depth to them, which i kinda forgot about and/or didn't pay attention to the first time around
Euphyllia is like a pinnacle of noble elegance, and navigates her duties with grace and elegance even under fire. Which is something she often does out of necessity, being caught up in the complex web of nobles' intrigue. She is quite capable, but kinda trapped by social expectations. Spectacularly intelligent, she has enough charisma to navigate said intrigue, but not particularly effectively on her own.
Laffinty, on the other hand, while feeling similarly duty-bound and being quite serious about her missions, ends up proving herself as quite a dork outside of them. She is loyal to her side of a social conflict, but has trouble navigating social situations that involve reaching beyond allies. Though she is occasionally willing -- whether for duty or envy -- to try things that end up embarrassing herself.
Well, there's one more thing in common, at least, which is that to varying extents their lives are buffeted by the social forces and organizations around them making big moves.
And I guess there's one more thing which is that they're both contrasted to lead characters who are more socially bold and comfortable with being so despite being socially isolated in some ways. Though said foil characters are also pretty different -- Madoka Kyouno is socially respected and admired, and it's just that she doesn't really have a close circle of friends of her own, while Anisphia Wynn Palettia is essentially a social outcast seen as a total weirdo by everyone except those close to her.
Instead I thought of the white-haired girl from Seirei Gensouki, Celia Claire.
I might go watch season 2 of that next, rather than jumping straight into Lagrange season 2, in order to put some distance between the two seasons.
Though I was suddenly reminded that I randomly started watching Blue Archive. And I've been meaning to watch the first recap movie of Crest of the Stars. too many choices, too little time...