__MoBlack’s Twitter Archive—№ 5,223

owo? Fall 2020 seasonal anime thread? Yes! Yes it is. THE JOURNEY OF ELAINA
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood +2 🙂

…in reply to @__MoBlack
This is probably going to be a one and done. I'm actually beginning to realize that I had more time to devote to the Summer 2020 threads because I was out of school. I don't want to give a play-by-play of shows I know will disappoint me
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -3 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
I wanted to do an Elaina thread around the time episode 3 came out, because that episode was a yikes. But I missed the window for a spicy take. It's okay though, I'll step back for a sec and talk big picture, which I think is more useful to the discourse anyway.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood +1 🙂

…in reply to @__MoBlack
The first episode of Elaina is about this girl Elaina who wants badly to become a witch. So she studies hard and then just becomes a witch. She's a little too good at being a witch so her parents pay her teacher to abuse her. It's a wild time
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -5 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
The rest of the story is a series of shorts that feature Elaina's various travels in the world she lives in. And to the show's credit, the world is vibrant and full of life. However, the show itself is more or less unpleasant to watch. The interesting world is wasted on the show
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood +1 🙂

…in reply to @__MoBlack
To explain why, I'll have to go into some 𝕀𝔻𝔼𝕆𝕃𝕆𝔾𝕐 which if you know me shouldn't be surprising. Elaina is what I've been calling an "Anime Individualist". For those who aren't familiar anime tends to feature a distinct kind of individualism (afaik)...
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood +2 🙂

…in reply to @__MoBlack
...so I've been using that as a placeholder name to describe this ideology. Anime individualists distrust society. They are reluctant to help others unless they also stand to gain from the transaction. They view groups as inherently corrupt and mutual aid as deceit.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -5 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
Elaina basically says as much to someone in episode 2. (This is bullshit by the way. The most impressive feats of human history have been done collectively. You're at your best when others support you. Hell, even Elaina needed a teacher so???)
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood 0

…in reply to @__MoBlack
Because of Elaina's ideology, we have a contradiction. The world is supposed to be Elaina's selling point. It's the JOURNEY of Elaina. Elaina herself is the constant and her environment constantly changes. But we only ever see this world through selfish, dispassionate eyes.
On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -3 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
Elaina has such a contempt for her world and her environment I wonder why she wanted to go on this journey this bad in the first place. She's constantly looking down on the people she meets and their traditions, like she's too good to even be talking to them.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood 0

…in reply to @__MoBlack
She will frequently encounter mass death and suffering but the only thing that goes through her mind is how much of a hassle this is for her personally at this moment.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -4 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
Elaina really is like the white tourist who visits Nigeria but stays in the hotel the entire time because she hates all the "gross" local Africans and their "weird" food.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -5 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
The white tourist is only in Nigeria to tell her upper class friends that she took an expensive vacation to Lagos. And the entire time you're with her you want to scream: "IF YOU HATE IT HERE SO MUCH YOU CAN FUCKING GO BACK! NO ONE MADE YOU TAKE THIS TRIP!"
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -9 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
The worst example of this is episode 3. Elaina meets a young man who claims to be in love with his family's housekeeper. The housekeeper turns out to be a slave the master of the house bought from some war-torn country to groom as a sex slave.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -6 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
Elaina has the power to stop this. Easily. She's the most powerful witch in her country and way more powerful than some average humans. In fact, she considers doing just that. But then decides against it. Because it's not worth the trouble.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -1 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
She even starts ordering the slave around herself.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -3 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
Elaina cares more about her own ego than the life of this other human being. She asks an actual slave owner to give her compliments but not to release his slave.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -2 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
So just to recap: I've just spent the last 15 minutes watching an incredibly distressing portrayal of abuse, with implied sexual abuse in the background.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -8 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
And the takeaway? To steal @SubtitledAnime's tweet: "RIP to your friends, family and kingdom but I am built different"? If Elaina refuses to care about its own premise, if it acts like being here is such a Herculean effort, then I don't care either. @SubtitledAnime/1320225741880152065
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood -2 🙁

…in reply to @__MoBlack
Imagine the slave story from the slave's perspective. How tragic it would actually be. Or the princess who cursed her father: we'd care about her only for it to be revealed she was the real monster. Simply put: Elaina would be a good show if only Elaina herself didn't exist.
Permalink On twitter.com 2020 Oct 28 Mood 0