![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamyOK, that was somewhat less than great. But let's see if we can salvage some meaning from it.
The setup had some promise; it looked set to give us some character insight on both Kennedy and Satsu against a backdrop of a lightweight but fun monster-of-the-month plot coupled with some subtext advancing the arc. Well, 1.5 out of three is... barely adequate, but enough to keep my interest at least.
While the banter between Kennedy and Satsu – and Satsu and her Slayers – is fun, it doesn't really add a whole lot. We found out very little about where Kennedy is at at the moment (and what she knows about Willow's other affiliations – I was hoping Kumiko would turn up, but nope...) except that she possibly had a fling with a straight girl once and is still a bit miffed with Buffy for sleeping with Satsu. As for Satsu, she fares better; we saw a more of what she's like on her own and it even looked like we were getting backstory, until it turned out she wasn't driving her skin at the time – for all we know, not one word of what she said while possessed was true (the fact that she doesn't recognise the kimono supposedly bought by her homophobic parents seems a giveaway). Which makes it a kind of pointless scene, doesn't it? Well... hold that thought. But nice to see she hasn't been written out, and presumably all these tiny bits of character development will eventually lead to something.
Then there's the MOTM. Yeah, it's a fun idea on paper (heh) (and it is fairly lightweight), but in practice, the vamp!Hello Kitties aren't really all that funny, at least not to this non-manga fan; they just come across as DeKnight trying way too hard to replicate "Smile Time" with cuter monsters. And as many people have noted, the OTT misogyny torpedoes any attempt at using silly characters for a serious subject, when the season arc has gone to some length to establish that it's not just about misogyny. Dial it down a bit and it might work, but as it is it's ridiculous. I suppose the point is to show us (and the Slayers) that they're 101% ev0l while the rest of humanity (in the story) see them as fluffy and harmless victims (how can a boatload of supposed inanimate toys be seen as victims, though?), but which story is really more interesting – the question of whether the Slayers are good guys or not, or the whole "the public are easily fooled morons" plot? Why not try to get those two plot lines to support each other, rather than sacrifice one over the other? Hell, they even gave themselves a great chance to do just that with the DHP thingy – why not play up the idea that the vamp!Hello Kitties actually want to help victims, albeit in a twisted way?
We've got two questions here: are the Slayers fighting the right battle, and how does it look to everyone else? The answers in this issue seem to be "Yes, their opponents are completely evil, no doubt at all about that" and "Bad, since everyone watching TV buys Harmony's spiel without questioning." Subtle. Especially when we don't get to see it happen, when we go from Harmony's TV show in #21 directly to the Slayers being "hated and feared" by "everyone." Buffy doesn't need a submarine; she needs a PR consultant. (Speaking of, isn't it awfully convenient that Harmony is on TV complaining about the loss of a bunch of demons that were affiliated with Twilight? She might not know who she's working for, but she's certainly not a free agent...)
The Slayers have a submarine? Specifically, a submarine stolen from the Koreans? (North or South?) And none of them see - even as they remark on how bad their image has become - that using stolen naval vessels packing enough destructive power to make bin Laden salivate might not make the public more likely to accept their white-hat status? Or have they already given that up, based on... what, two TV interviews by Harmony?
...I got nothing. It not only emphasises how far away this military conspiracy thriller has come from the intimate little show about figuring out life, but looks even more out of place than Mecha!Dawn. And that's saying something. Though I suppose it makes some weird sense in this story, given Buffy's acceptance of Voll's declaration of war in #4 – since nobody seems to be trying to find a way out of that situation, they might as well arm themselves against humanity. Also, hold that thought...
OK, whining over. Because then there's the arc matter, and there's actually a few really interesting things in this issue. We continue the theme of perceived realilty as reality, not only through Harmony's appearance and Buffy's quick-fire exposition about what's been going on between #21 and #22, but also in the form of stereotypes; we've got the way overstated fact that there are two lesbian Slayers defined by their gayness (right down to Stepford!Satsu's speech, reducing her to a gay Lifetime movie plot), there's the clichéd misogyny which makes Caleb look reasonable, there's the MOTM which is a silly take on a stereotype of Japanese pop culture right down to the poor translation, we've got the Red October-style business with the submarine... the whole issue seems to make a point of exaggerating what things seem to be. We know, and are shown in bits and pieces, that there's more to Kennedy and Satsu than just their sexuality; we know that there's more to Twilight than hating women; we know that the Slayers aren't what Harmony and the Swell make them out to be; we know that Japan doesn't just have kimonos and silly toys. (Hopefully, we're supposed to think that not every single person is buying Harmony's "undead bull" either – it just looks like that if your view of the world is based on watching TV from your Scotland hideout.) The point – what happens when you get too hung up on the image of something to see what it really is, how the most obvious is just one aspect – and perhaps not even the most important one? Or something.
Because of course, we also see what happens when you buy into that image, as Buffy assumes the role that Twilight sees her playing.
VOLL: Do you really think we were going to sit by and let you create a master race?
BUFFY: We need to stop being whatever we've been and focus. Be more than human. Or the less-than is gonna win.
Not "act more human than them", "be more than human." Nietzsche's Übermensch concept (as opposed to the mangled meaning later generations have given it) is pretty much a benign (not to mention literal) interpretation of that line; any more would invoke Godwin's law. It would be a peculiar conclusion even if Buffy hadn't heard Voll's reasons for declaring war on her. And again, Buffy's not so much regressing as retracing.
FAITH: We are better. That's right, better. People need us to survive.
Yes, it's good that Buffy wants to prove them wrong; but generally speaking, doing more of what you're accused of doing isn't considered proving somebody wrong, and she seems to think there's something else she needs to do before she starts with the wrong-proving. One last binge and I'll stop drinking, I swear.
...Sorry. One more thing; as in #21, the last image is striking and provides wordless commentary on the whole issue. Satsu's discarded cinnamon lipgloss, which is mentioned and used throughout the issue (a bit overdone, but it's to make sure the payoff works) can be seen several different ways. Is that Satsu falling out of love with Buffy? Perhaps, though again I wish we could hear actors speaking these lines so we'd know how Satsu and Kennedy feel about Buffy's speech – do they agree with it, are they disgusted, are they going shopping to get away from it all or to prepare themselves for the oncoming storm? It's not insignificant that that lipgloss has come to be the thing by which people identify Satsu – literally, in Buffy's case. She just shed her identity. The Slayers just stripped their insignia. Run silent. Run deep.
Of course, the more underground an organisation becomes, the more difficult it becomes to operate as an organisation at all. How do you tell who's on your side when you don't even know what side you're on yourself? If everyone's in black ops, if everyone might be a double agent (willing or not), how do you know who's who? Especially if what your leader just suggested that the only way to win is to give up who you are?
Things are not what they seem.
Details:
- The vamp!Hello Kitty ad: "Grrr! Argh!" Heh. Yes, they've used the joke before, but hey.
- The poor four-armed demon's "Crap." Heh.
- "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty Slayer!" Heh. Is it a coincidence that in an arc about how things look to the uninitiated, Satsu's quoting one of the quintessential "things are not what they seem" movies?
The setup had some promise; it looked set to give us some character insight on both Kennedy and Satsu against a backdrop of a lightweight but fun monster-of-the-month plot coupled with some subtext advancing the arc. Well, 1.5 out of three is... barely adequate, but enough to keep my interest at least.
While the banter between Kennedy and Satsu – and Satsu and her Slayers – is fun, it doesn't really add a whole lot. We found out very little about where Kennedy is at at the moment (and what she knows about Willow's other affiliations – I was hoping Kumiko would turn up, but nope...) except that she possibly had a fling with a straight girl once and is still a bit miffed with Buffy for sleeping with Satsu. As for Satsu, she fares better; we saw a more of what she's like on her own and it even looked like we were getting backstory, until it turned out she wasn't driving her skin at the time – for all we know, not one word of what she said while possessed was true (the fact that she doesn't recognise the kimono supposedly bought by her homophobic parents seems a giveaway). Which makes it a kind of pointless scene, doesn't it? Well... hold that thought. But nice to see she hasn't been written out, and presumably all these tiny bits of character development will eventually lead to something.
Then there's the MOTM. Yeah, it's a fun idea on paper (heh) (and it is fairly lightweight), but in practice, the vamp!Hello Kitties aren't really all that funny, at least not to this non-manga fan; they just come across as DeKnight trying way too hard to replicate "Smile Time" with cuter monsters. And as many people have noted, the OTT misogyny torpedoes any attempt at using silly characters for a serious subject, when the season arc has gone to some length to establish that it's not just about misogyny. Dial it down a bit and it might work, but as it is it's ridiculous. I suppose the point is to show us (and the Slayers) that they're 101% ev0l while the rest of humanity (in the story) see them as fluffy and harmless victims (how can a boatload of supposed inanimate toys be seen as victims, though?), but which story is really more interesting – the question of whether the Slayers are good guys or not, or the whole "the public are easily fooled morons" plot? Why not try to get those two plot lines to support each other, rather than sacrifice one over the other? Hell, they even gave themselves a great chance to do just that with the DHP thingy – why not play up the idea that the vamp!Hello Kitties actually want to help victims, albeit in a twisted way?
We've got two questions here: are the Slayers fighting the right battle, and how does it look to everyone else? The answers in this issue seem to be "Yes, their opponents are completely evil, no doubt at all about that" and "Bad, since everyone watching TV buys Harmony's spiel without questioning." Subtle. Especially when we don't get to see it happen, when we go from Harmony's TV show in #21 directly to the Slayers being "hated and feared" by "everyone." Buffy doesn't need a submarine; she needs a PR consultant. (Speaking of, isn't it awfully convenient that Harmony is on TV complaining about the loss of a bunch of demons that were affiliated with Twilight? She might not know who she's working for, but she's certainly not a free agent...)
The Slayers have a submarine? Specifically, a submarine stolen from the Koreans? (North or South?) And none of them see - even as they remark on how bad their image has become - that using stolen naval vessels packing enough destructive power to make bin Laden salivate might not make the public more likely to accept their white-hat status? Or have they already given that up, based on... what, two TV interviews by Harmony?
...I got nothing. It not only emphasises how far away this military conspiracy thriller has come from the intimate little show about figuring out life, but looks even more out of place than Mecha!Dawn. And that's saying something. Though I suppose it makes some weird sense in this story, given Buffy's acceptance of Voll's declaration of war in #4 – since nobody seems to be trying to find a way out of that situation, they might as well arm themselves against humanity. Also, hold that thought...
OK, whining over. Because then there's the arc matter, and there's actually a few really interesting things in this issue. We continue the theme of perceived realilty as reality, not only through Harmony's appearance and Buffy's quick-fire exposition about what's been going on between #21 and #22, but also in the form of stereotypes; we've got the way overstated fact that there are two lesbian Slayers defined by their gayness (right down to Stepford!Satsu's speech, reducing her to a gay Lifetime movie plot), there's the clichéd misogyny which makes Caleb look reasonable, there's the MOTM which is a silly take on a stereotype of Japanese pop culture right down to the poor translation, we've got the Red October-style business with the submarine... the whole issue seems to make a point of exaggerating what things seem to be. We know, and are shown in bits and pieces, that there's more to Kennedy and Satsu than just their sexuality; we know that there's more to Twilight than hating women; we know that the Slayers aren't what Harmony and the Swell make them out to be; we know that Japan doesn't just have kimonos and silly toys. (Hopefully, we're supposed to think that not every single person is buying Harmony's "undead bull" either – it just looks like that if your view of the world is based on watching TV from your Scotland hideout.) The point – what happens when you get too hung up on the image of something to see what it really is, how the most obvious is just one aspect – and perhaps not even the most important one? Or something.
Because of course, we also see what happens when you buy into that image, as Buffy assumes the role that Twilight sees her playing.
VOLL: Do you really think we were going to sit by and let you create a master race?
BUFFY: We need to stop being whatever we've been and focus. Be more than human. Or the less-than is gonna win.
Not "act more human than them", "be more than human." Nietzsche's Übermensch concept (as opposed to the mangled meaning later generations have given it) is pretty much a benign (not to mention literal) interpretation of that line; any more would invoke Godwin's law. It would be a peculiar conclusion even if Buffy hadn't heard Voll's reasons for declaring war on her. And again, Buffy's not so much regressing as retracing.
FAITH: We are better. That's right, better. People need us to survive.
Yes, it's good that Buffy wants to prove them wrong; but generally speaking, doing more of what you're accused of doing isn't considered proving somebody wrong, and she seems to think there's something else she needs to do before she starts with the wrong-proving. One last binge and I'll stop drinking, I swear.
...Sorry. One more thing; as in #21, the last image is striking and provides wordless commentary on the whole issue. Satsu's discarded cinnamon lipgloss, which is mentioned and used throughout the issue (a bit overdone, but it's to make sure the payoff works) can be seen several different ways. Is that Satsu falling out of love with Buffy? Perhaps, though again I wish we could hear actors speaking these lines so we'd know how Satsu and Kennedy feel about Buffy's speech – do they agree with it, are they disgusted, are they going shopping to get away from it all or to prepare themselves for the oncoming storm? It's not insignificant that that lipgloss has come to be the thing by which people identify Satsu – literally, in Buffy's case. She just shed her identity. The Slayers just stripped their insignia. Run silent. Run deep.
Of course, the more underground an organisation becomes, the more difficult it becomes to operate as an organisation at all. How do you tell who's on your side when you don't even know what side you're on yourself? If everyone's in black ops, if everyone might be a double agent (willing or not), how do you know who's who? Especially if what your leader just suggested that the only way to win is to give up who you are?
Things are not what they seem.
Details:
- The vamp!Hello Kitty ad: "Grrr! Argh!" Heh. Yes, they've used the joke before, but hey.
- The poor four-armed demon's "Crap." Heh.
- "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty Slayer!" Heh. Is it a coincidence that in an arc about how things look to the uninitiated, Satsu's quoting one of the quintessential "things are not what they seem" movies?
