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Last season I promised to release mini analyses of the running anime that piqued my interest/gave us stuff to talk about. Unfortunately life got in the way. It's actually happening this time around. These threads will be updated regularly and may become essays. SAO III SEASON 3Permalink On twitter.com
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So some of you may know, despite its flaws, I have some good things to say about SAO. It has deep issues but it's also better than a lot of shows and there are some themes that I can say SAO does better than pretty much any other anime.Permalink On twitter.com
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SAO II is actually my favorite SAO. I'd be comfortable calling SAO II a "good show". Ordinal Scale is also "a good movie" in my book. SAO I and III have commendable elements, but I wouldn't call them "good" overall. They're okay at best.Permalink On twitter.com
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The reason why I'm paying attention to SAO III Season 3 is because it's thematically interesting. It has 2 running threads that are being handled quite well right now. On the one hand, you have the main cast fighting off what is essentially US imperialism....Permalink On twitter.com
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... On the other, there's a complete subversion of the "evil race" archetype. The show introduces us to hordes of dark-skinned "evil people" only to pan back and argue that their lives are worth just as much as any human and the only reason why the humans think otherwise is to...Permalink On twitter.com
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...prop up a blood-thirsty, self-serving regime that's a threat to both humans and the "evil" creatures. It's well done, and SAO III Season 3's first episode hammers this point home. So. What's the catch?Permalink On twitter.com
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So if you know anything about SAO, it's kind of known for having one one-screen rape every season and this episode was a renewal of this fine traditionPermalink On twitter.com
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Since finishing the source material for SAO, Kawahara Reki has since stopped... writing these. Which is good but also makes it worse when you see stuff adapted from his old work and it still has these bad habits.Permalink On twitter.com
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The narrative is really convinced that the only way to show a male character is a good person is to stop some woman somewhere from being raped. And you know what? Plenty of other ways to do this that aren't terrible in every way. Shocking, I know.Permalink On twitter.com
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I'm at the point where I can rank SAO's rapes from most to least problematic. A conversation for another time, probably, but, in general, ONE SHOW SHOULDN'T HAVE ENOUGH RAPES FOR ME TO RANK THEM S T O PPermalink On twitter.com
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I think the worst part of this scene is that I'm not even sure who half the characters involved were. Circumstances had to be engineered for this scene to happen.Permalink On twitter.com
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I could be talking about how the show has a potential to handle racism in a mature way, but I can't because this undoes all the good will you might have had going into it.Permalink On twitter.com
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So I have to continue this thread by noting that SAO keeps doing the thing where it thinks making a villain a rapist is the best way to let us know he's, like, totally evil and stuffPermalink On twitter.com
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I don't want to harp on it forever, because I don't want my objection to the trope to feel performative. But it would also be irresponsible to not point out this has and continues to be the biggest issue with SAOPermalink On twitter.com
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Aside from this terrible habit that continues to not go away for some reason, the show has been launching a pretty coherent critique of American imperialism, actually since last season. And I want to talk about that as well.Permalink On twitter.com
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If you read Bullshit no Yuusha 1, you'd know the main thesis of SAO is that the real world matters as much as the virtual world. Who you are irl and who you are online are deeply connected, and this presents endless opportunity for growth and human connection.Permalink On twitter.com
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It's not a difficult thesis to understand, and yet many don't. And by many, I mean Geoff from Mother's Basement. Anyway.Permalink On twitter.com
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There's an unstated assertion in SAO's themes. Online relationships and experiences are as important as irl ones, but these benefits are constantly under threat by corporations and governments.Permalink On twitter.com
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The big, institutional villains of SAO are basically almost always corporate entities or governments. This season features a Japanese company selling data to the American government, so they can build AI weapons assert a new order of US imperialism world-widePermalink On twitter.com
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The corporations use nationalist rhetoric to get people to put their "lives" (virtual, not real) on the line to defend what they think are their country's interests. But they're always just the interests of monopoly capital.Permalink On twitter.com
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When SAO is being this show -- the show about defending all the wonderful things about video games and the Internet from cynical attacks by the elites... it's being very good and a show I'd honestly recommend to others.Permalink On twitter.com
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When SAO does literally anything else, including trying to make statements about abuse victims, I kinda wish it was never madePermalink On twitter.com
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This show thinks its Eva, which I thought was funnyPermalink On twitter.com
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Unrelated, but I approve of translating nakama as comrade in subs, just because it makes it easier to make lefty memesPermalink On twitter.com
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Boy I sure am glad I watched the movie and somewhat recognized who these people were, otherwise this scene would have no emotional impact whatsoeverPermalink On twitter.com
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I want to talk briefly about how SAO handles racism. SAO, I think, does racism better than every other show this season. This is not a compliment. SAO does not to racism well. It's just not actual garbagePermalink On twitter.com
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Things SAO does well here: the idea that racism can be used by the powerful to manipulate the masses into serving their own interets. Like this dude is so racist he mind controls people into killing each other, and then feeds off that energy. It's a solid analogy.Permalink On twitter.com
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Unfortunately it makes the reason why this guy is racist because he was personally wronged by Japanese people in the past. If racism is caused by people personally wronging others, then there's no fixing it. Because of that the analogy falls apart.Permalink On twitter.com
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However, it's leagues and bounds ahead of Re:Zero and The Misfit of Demon Academy, so there's that.Permalink On twitter.com
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Overall, SAO has always been a deeply flawed show. I like it for some very specific reasons I've gone into in the past, but there's always glaring issues with storytelling, themes, and politics that prevent it from being truly great.Permalink On twitter.com
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SAO, at least half the time, is complete bullshit. But if you twist its arm, and you force it to focus, and deliver a satisfying emotional arc. It'll do that, and it'll do it well. I'll always give SAO credit for that.Permalink On twitter.com
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It's been a really long time since we saw Kirito as himself with his loved ones. Arguably like, 2 and half seasons since then. And a lot of really poor writing decisions have transpired since then and now. And even still, I'm really happy that he's back. It's weirdPermalink On twitter.com
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SAO is what I'll call bare-minimum good. You can just sorta cobble together an enjoyable experience between all the padding that really doesn't work at all.Permalink On twitter.com
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Anyway, more memes. 1) lol she touched titty 2) this show still thinks it's EvaPermalink On twitter.com
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Dang it's been a while, huh? So SAO. What is it about this show that makes me give it chance after chance after chance, while I rip shows like Re:Zero and Rent a Girlfriend up and down every week?Permalink On twitter.com
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@Rebel_Panda1 boopOn twitter.com