fukaimetsu

Something that's been on my mind....

Thinking about how each Xenoblade entry focuses on one of the Trinities, where the narrative and story revolve around how the Trinity behaves, it feels so much like a reflection of human "fantasies" about "female" and "male" fantasy. It's hard to explain, but take XB2 for example, where the main focus is Pneuma. Pneuma's personalities (Pyra & Mythra) behave a lot like what the "ideal" woman looks like from a male point of view. People often think Pyra and Mythra’s demeanor is for Rex, but I digress — I think there’s some meta-commentary in the story. Their portrayal wasn’t meant to titillate Rex, but rather the player (at least that’s what I think). Pyra and Mythra's personalities follow popular female character archetypes or tropes that are well-liked by male audiences in Japanese media. Pyra being the Yamato Nadeshiko (Ideal Wife), while Mythra is the tsundere, adding moe and cuteness, one of the most popular archetypes in many danseimuke media.

It just makes me think that the Trinity Processors were really designed to appeal to, and incorporate, many tropes that players like. In XB1, Ontos feels like a character designed for both male and female players, like Ontos is a combination of both. Though personally, I feel Alvis was more catered to female audiences, hahaha.

As for Logos, we don’t know yet because we haven’t had a Logos-focused game (and no, XB3 doesn’t count, Logos doesn’t play an active role there). But we can guess that Malos seems designed with male audiences in mind, maybe because his resonator was a man (Amalthus). So in a way, Malos or Logos  tailored his personality to appeal to male sensibilities.

Damn, I’m rambling, but I wonder if the Trinity behaves that way based on which human they resonate with? Pneuma resonates with men, and Ontos resonates with both women and men, so their personality and demeanor are tailored to be an idealized version of the gender their ''resonator" represents. Since Logos also resonated with a man, maybe he's also tailored to appeal to males fantasy?

Hmmm... I wonder which gender the XB4 protagonist will be, and who they'll resonate with — Logos, perhaps? Just makes me curious.

Alright, in the second week of Fannish 50, I want to talk about the most important female character for Women's Day! So, I dedicate this post to her!

Meet Suigintou from Rozen Maiden! I feel the need to talk about her and why she’s so important to me. My love for her ended up shaping my preferences and taste in fictional characters.

I first watched Rozen Maiden when I was in grade school. I discovered it through someone in my otaku Facebook group who posted an edit of Souseiseki, and I saw a lot of fan art of the series. At the time, I was also really into gothic lolita aesthetics, so naturally, I was interested.

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some rambling about umamusu from my twitter, bsky, tumblr and discord.

Whenever I rewatch Shinjidai, I'm always obsessed with this scene, because Cafe looks so ikemen and reeks of that old-school unhinged BL seme.

A lot of people seem to think Cafe is a Kuudere, but I think she's a Dandere? Like, I can see why people think of Cafe as a Kuudere, but as a Kuudere lover, I feel Cafe is more like a danmari-type... Duramente and Sirius feel more Kuudere, in my opinion.

I'm still flabbergasted at Biwa Hayahide's voice because you'd expect something like an ojousama-ish voice or a cool-soft voice... instead, we got husky ikebo.

Pokke and her friends sound like a shounen character already. They're just men but in women's bodies, kjshgrhgrj.

Damn, seeing Nice Nature fanart and the anime version is so different... Like, people draw her as a Yamato Nadeshiko waifu and such, but in the anime, she can be a bit snarky, yet she's very passionate and sportsmanlike. It's just jarring seeing most Nature fanart turning her into this uwu housewife when her personality isn't like that at all. I would understand if it were Suzuka, Grass Wonder, and Satono Diamond.