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May. 8th, 2012 01:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsSo here is the question: if you know the earth is basically about to be destroyed, and you're picking your team to rebuild humanity, who are you gonna call?
If your answer is 'a bunch of diverse and awesome ladies,' then you are not thinking like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (yes, I am still bitter), but you are thinking like Yumi Tamura! SO LET'S TALK ABOUT SOME 7 SEEDS LADIES.
Natsu
Natsu is . . . really not the first person you would think of to send on a post-apocalyptic adventure. But her social anxiety is so bad that giant insects and constant near-death experiences and other dangers of the apocalypse aren't actually anywhere near as terrifying to her as the prospect of having to actually interact with her teammates, so that's . . . sort of a plus . . . I guess?
But the thing about Natsu is that she tries hard, she tries harder than anyone. And even though she's terrified most of the time, when people are relying on you, you sort of have to start being able to rely on yourself too.
I love Natsu's journey. I love it so hard. Nothing happens by magic -- it's been a long, long, slow, hundred-chapter process of learning to rely on her own judgment and assert her own voice, and it's still ongoing. Social anxiety doesn't disappear overnight just because most of society has. Getting the courage to open up to people is really difficult, and 7 Seeds presents every step that Natsu takes towards connecting with others, and every step that she takes towards being able to trust in herself, as just as courageous as any of the more action-y characters' dramatic heroics.
(Which is not to say that Natsu doesn't get to do any dramatic heroics, because she totally does.)
My ultimate 7 Seeds OTP is Natsu/herself, and every time she gets a little bit of self-esteem, you just want to stand up and cheer for her.
Botan
Botan is a former policewoman turned guide to the ragtag band of misfits that is Team Summer B! She is a clear and certified badass, which sort of backfires at first when they all find her so terrifying that they just kind of want to run away.
(Yes, that is Botan wrestling a crocodile. JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE OF BOTAN.)
Eventually, however, they realize that she has a giant squishy heart, and she basically becomes everybody's big sister. TACKLEGLOMPS FOR BOTAN!
Matsuri
Here we see Matsuri performing for the Team Summer B talent night. Her special skill: doing a cheer routine while reciting the names of all the Tokugawa shoguns in order! YEAH! GO FIGHT GO!
. . . yes, while everyone else is building houses and hunting animals, Team Summer B is hanging out having a talent night. This is why we love Team Summer B. BUT ANYWAY, Matsuri! Who is a teenaged runaway, total girly-girl, cheerleader, dedicated flirt, and the amazing thing is that the narrative never punishes her for this. One time Natsu accidentally says something slut-shaming to her, and then Natsu apologizes and they talk about it and come to a better understanding and friendship! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS.
Also, there's a part -- in the middle of dire peril! -- where Matsuri has a whole hilarious Titanic Leonardo di Caprio fantasy sequence and it's basically the best thing I've ever seen in a post-apocalyptic aventure story
Hotaru
Hotaru is a tiny creepy child!
. . . well, she's not actually all that creepy, but she does predict the weather and read people's fortunes with eerie accuracy, so . . .
Semi-psychic powers aside, though, Hotaru is actually both adorable and very level-headed, and takes to being stranded in the middle of a post-apocalyptic future with remarkable aplomb. It is quite possible that, aside from Botan, she is the most competent member of Team Summer B . . . not that this is very hard on Team Adorable Failboats.
Team Spring, however, puts up some competence competition. Team Spring is ALL competence.
Hana
Hana is probably the story's most central protagonist, along with Natsu -- though that's about the only thing they have in common. From her first introduction, Hana is BOSS. She is often seen running around, climbing things, throwing her boomerang at things, or making dramatic statements in a decisive voice!
Basically, Hana is a natural leader. Even people who hate her are all, "Hana is a formidable woman of iron nerves!" WHICH IS TRUE.
(As a sidenote, we find out in a flashback that Hana's mom: ALSO BOSS.
The details of her badassery are spoilery, but rest assured that she's hardcore.)
Hana has a star-crossed boyfriend who's in Team Summer B; he is a nice, supportive dorkface who's terrified of bugs. AND IT'S GREAT.
That being said, I also love Hana for the fact that one of her biggest concerns is how on earth she's going to find something that works as shampoo in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Much is made of the fact that Hana is so prone to being blunt and bossy and doing Veronica Mars-style crime-busting that she never had many friends at school. Fortunately, all Hana does over the course of the story is make lady friends, so I guess the apocalypse was good for something!
Fujiko
Fujiko is Hana's Team Spring BFF! She's a medical student whose life plan involved being a doctor and an astronaut; she's not real happy to have had it disrupted by this whole apocalypse thing, but OH WELL. She's been in tough situations as a medical trainee before; she can cope.
Besides the fact that she's hella smart and competent, the other thing to know about Fujiko is that she was a big fan of hanging out at home playing video games, and regards Hana's fondness for running around athletically and jumping off things with tolerant bewilderment.
Chisa
Before the apocalypse, Chisa was basically the Japanese equivalent of a debutante. She's very upper-class, sweet and ladylike, and tends to avoid conflict; she'd rather take care of the kids and make sure everybody is fed. At first Hana and Fujiko are kind of unimpressed by her and her unassertive ways.
. . . it doesn't take long for them to learn better. It turns out that the people who can continue calmly cooking rice and making sure everybody eats even when giant roach-things have just murdered a man in front of you are pretty good people to have around under any circumstances! Also that there are lots of different ways to be an excellent lady.
And that's how Team Spring became Team Ladyfriendship! Although, to be fair, wherever Hana is, that often basically becomes Team Ladyfriendship.
Kurumi
Hana develops a pretty epic girlcrush on Kurumi from Team Autumn, for example, a total sweetheart whose talents lie in taking care of barnyard animals and making everyone feel at ease around her. They hang out in hot tubs and gossip together, and it's ridiculously adorable.
Team Autumn hasn't had the easiest time of it, but Kurumi is resilient! I'm excited to see more of her.
Akane
I'm also excited to see more of Akane, Team Autumn's excellent lady diver who sometimes sees ghosts! From what we have seen of her she also seems to enjoy trolling people, which is always a trait I'm a fan of.
However, much as I like Korumi and Akane, it is kind of hard to pay attention to either of them when Team Autumn Boss Lady Ran is around.
Ran
When Ran first shows up, she's basically one hundred percent barbarian queen, going out on raids and ruling Team Autumn (along with her sort-of boyfriend Akio) with an iron fist!
However, not all that long ago, Ran was a talented multilingual architect with a great career ahead of her, so, you know.
The thing about Ran is that she's incredibly smart, and incredibly angry. She's so pissed off -- understandably! -- about having her life stolen away from her that she will do just about anything to spite the government that sent her here. Ran is a staunch believer in NO BABIES FOR ANYONE. GO TO RUIN, JAPAN!
However much she doesn't want to restart human civilization, though, Ran is also a firm believer in well-built houses. People gotta live.
Nijiko
So this lady with whom Ran is arguing is Nijiko, from Team Summer A. Nijiko believes in putting yourself first. You want to go out into danger to rescue a friend from certain death? You do that! Nijiko will stay by the campfire with a cup of tea and feel not a jot of guilt.
What I am trying to say here is: Nijiko does not care about your problems.
. . . but, like Ran, Nijiko does care about well-built houses! Even if they're usually bickering about the methods. Except when they're agreeing and then pretending they didn't, because that would be weird.
(I also love how scared that poor dude is. You don't give unasked-for advice to Ran OR Nijiko, dude! Just don't do it!)
So, um, if you have not guessed, Ran/Nijiko is one of my other main 7 Seeds ships, after Natsu/Natsu. TEAM MORALLY AMBIGUOUS ARCHITECT LESBIANS FOR THE WIN! (They will probably not actually turn out to be lesbians. But I live in hope.)
So Team Summer A is basically Team Child Soldiers; unlike the rest of the teams, they were raised with the sole purpose of becoming the ultimate survivors, and maaay have sustained just a little psychological trauma from their unconventional upbringing.
What is the best way to stay sane in traumatizing child soldier school? Ladyfriendship, obviously!
Koruri, Mayu and Nobara
Koruri, Mayu and Nobara are BFFs who have sworn from toddlerhood that they're going to get to the future TOGETHER. They have the friendship bracelets to prove it! (I have so many friendship bracelet feelings after reading this manga, I don't even.)
Nobara is the hard-working, studious one. She's a sweetheart who spends most of her time in the library.
Koruri is the ADORABLE one. She's got a giant baby face, and she gets SO EXCITED whenever she meets other people with giant baby faces! THEY MADE A CLUB. (She is the President.)
It's impossible not to love Koruri; she's super friendly and kind of hyperactive and manages to spend the first seventeen years of her life astoundingly cheerful for someone in child soldier school.
Also she can fly!
. . . some days she's better at it than others.
Mayu is the sensible, trustworthy one; she keeps a level head, looks out for her friends and believes in them no matter what.
She is also aware that the training system in which they live is somewhat messed up, especially for women. And recognizes the importance of women's reproductive health!
Mayu <333333
Ayu
Ayu has unfortunately not had the same network of support as the three BFFs. She's absolutely gorgeous -- her nickname (which she hates) is Madonna -- and that's made her a target for unwanted attention all her life. By the time she's a teenager, she doesn't think much of most of humanity.
izilen said that Ayu hits kind of her same buttons as Irene of Attolia, and I can totally see where that's coming from. Ayu is very emotionally damaged, and will do what she needs to do to survive. Does she have any feelings about that?
That's a question that's still up for debate. (Spoiler: maybe. Yes. A little.)
Mitsuru
Another super gorgeous lady is Mitsuru, the only girl on Team Winter. Mitsuru is an extremely talented dancer, and she knows it. AND THAT'S AWESOME. If people don't recognize, that's their loss!
Aside from being the hope of the Japanese dancing world, she is also a HUGE BASEBALL NERD who enjoys dorking out over sports and complaining about the stupid things her parents packed for her to take to the apocalypse.
WE CAN ALL APPRECIATE MITSURU'S PRIORITIES.
Maria
Maria is a pop singer! THE BEST pop singer. A pop singer who, in fact, saves the world by being a pop singer! Because pop singers, if you didn't realize it, are completely hardcore.
And here's what I love about 7 Seeds, in the end: pop singers are awesome. Dancers are awesome. Action girls are awesome. Smart girls are awesome. Girls with social anxiety who love their cats are awesome. Maternal women are awesome. Women who never ever want kids are awesome.
And they all have something to contribute, to the world and to each other. AND IT'S GREAT.
If your answer is 'a bunch of diverse and awesome ladies,' then you are not thinking like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (yes, I am still bitter), but you are thinking like Yumi Tamura! SO LET'S TALK ABOUT SOME 7 SEEDS LADIES.
Natsu
Natsu is . . . really not the first person you would think of to send on a post-apocalyptic adventure. But her social anxiety is so bad that giant insects and constant near-death experiences and other dangers of the apocalypse aren't actually anywhere near as terrifying to her as the prospect of having to actually interact with her teammates, so that's . . . sort of a plus . . . I guess?
But the thing about Natsu is that she tries hard, she tries harder than anyone. And even though she's terrified most of the time, when people are relying on you, you sort of have to start being able to rely on yourself too.
I love Natsu's journey. I love it so hard. Nothing happens by magic -- it's been a long, long, slow, hundred-chapter process of learning to rely on her own judgment and assert her own voice, and it's still ongoing. Social anxiety doesn't disappear overnight just because most of society has. Getting the courage to open up to people is really difficult, and 7 Seeds presents every step that Natsu takes towards connecting with others, and every step that she takes towards being able to trust in herself, as just as courageous as any of the more action-y characters' dramatic heroics.
(Which is not to say that Natsu doesn't get to do any dramatic heroics, because she totally does.)
My ultimate 7 Seeds OTP is Natsu/herself, and every time she gets a little bit of self-esteem, you just want to stand up and cheer for her.
Botan
Botan is a former policewoman turned guide to the ragtag band of misfits that is Team Summer B! She is a clear and certified badass, which sort of backfires at first when they all find her so terrifying that they just kind of want to run away.
(Yes, that is Botan wrestling a crocodile. JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE OF BOTAN.)
Eventually, however, they realize that she has a giant squishy heart, and she basically becomes everybody's big sister. TACKLEGLOMPS FOR BOTAN!
Matsuri
Here we see Matsuri performing for the Team Summer B talent night. Her special skill: doing a cheer routine while reciting the names of all the Tokugawa shoguns in order! YEAH! GO FIGHT GO!
. . . yes, while everyone else is building houses and hunting animals, Team Summer B is hanging out having a talent night. This is why we love Team Summer B. BUT ANYWAY, Matsuri! Who is a teenaged runaway, total girly-girl, cheerleader, dedicated flirt, and the amazing thing is that the narrative never punishes her for this. One time Natsu accidentally says something slut-shaming to her, and then Natsu apologizes and they talk about it and come to a better understanding and friendship! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS.
Also, there's a part -- in the middle of dire peril! -- where Matsuri has a whole hilarious Titanic Leonardo di Caprio fantasy sequence and it's basically the best thing I've ever seen in a post-apocalyptic aventure story
Hotaru
Hotaru is a tiny creepy child!
. . . well, she's not actually all that creepy, but she does predict the weather and read people's fortunes with eerie accuracy, so . . .
Semi-psychic powers aside, though, Hotaru is actually both adorable and very level-headed, and takes to being stranded in the middle of a post-apocalyptic future with remarkable aplomb. It is quite possible that, aside from Botan, she is the most competent member of Team Summer B . . . not that this is very hard on Team Adorable Failboats.
Team Spring, however, puts up some competence competition. Team Spring is ALL competence.
Hana
Hana is probably the story's most central protagonist, along with Natsu -- though that's about the only thing they have in common. From her first introduction, Hana is BOSS. She is often seen running around, climbing things, throwing her boomerang at things, or making dramatic statements in a decisive voice!
Basically, Hana is a natural leader. Even people who hate her are all, "Hana is a formidable woman of iron nerves!" WHICH IS TRUE.
(As a sidenote, we find out in a flashback that Hana's mom: ALSO BOSS.
The details of her badassery are spoilery, but rest assured that she's hardcore.)
Hana has a star-crossed boyfriend who's in Team Summer B; he is a nice, supportive dorkface who's terrified of bugs. AND IT'S GREAT.
That being said, I also love Hana for the fact that one of her biggest concerns is how on earth she's going to find something that works as shampoo in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Much is made of the fact that Hana is so prone to being blunt and bossy and doing Veronica Mars-style crime-busting that she never had many friends at school. Fortunately, all Hana does over the course of the story is make lady friends, so I guess the apocalypse was good for something!
Fujiko
Fujiko is Hana's Team Spring BFF! She's a medical student whose life plan involved being a doctor and an astronaut; she's not real happy to have had it disrupted by this whole apocalypse thing, but OH WELL. She's been in tough situations as a medical trainee before; she can cope.
Besides the fact that she's hella smart and competent, the other thing to know about Fujiko is that she was a big fan of hanging out at home playing video games, and regards Hana's fondness for running around athletically and jumping off things with tolerant bewilderment.
Chisa
Before the apocalypse, Chisa was basically the Japanese equivalent of a debutante. She's very upper-class, sweet and ladylike, and tends to avoid conflict; she'd rather take care of the kids and make sure everybody is fed. At first Hana and Fujiko are kind of unimpressed by her and her unassertive ways.
. . . it doesn't take long for them to learn better. It turns out that the people who can continue calmly cooking rice and making sure everybody eats even when giant roach-things have just murdered a man in front of you are pretty good people to have around under any circumstances! Also that there are lots of different ways to be an excellent lady.
And that's how Team Spring became Team Ladyfriendship! Although, to be fair, wherever Hana is, that often basically becomes Team Ladyfriendship.
Kurumi
Hana develops a pretty epic girlcrush on Kurumi from Team Autumn, for example, a total sweetheart whose talents lie in taking care of barnyard animals and making everyone feel at ease around her. They hang out in hot tubs and gossip together, and it's ridiculously adorable.
Team Autumn hasn't had the easiest time of it, but Kurumi is resilient! I'm excited to see more of her.
Akane
I'm also excited to see more of Akane, Team Autumn's excellent lady diver who sometimes sees ghosts! From what we have seen of her she also seems to enjoy trolling people, which is always a trait I'm a fan of.
However, much as I like Korumi and Akane, it is kind of hard to pay attention to either of them when Team Autumn Boss Lady Ran is around.
Ran
When Ran first shows up, she's basically one hundred percent barbarian queen, going out on raids and ruling Team Autumn (along with her sort-of boyfriend Akio) with an iron fist!
However, not all that long ago, Ran was a talented multilingual architect with a great career ahead of her, so, you know.
The thing about Ran is that she's incredibly smart, and incredibly angry. She's so pissed off -- understandably! -- about having her life stolen away from her that she will do just about anything to spite the government that sent her here. Ran is a staunch believer in NO BABIES FOR ANYONE. GO TO RUIN, JAPAN!
However much she doesn't want to restart human civilization, though, Ran is also a firm believer in well-built houses. People gotta live.
Nijiko
So this lady with whom Ran is arguing is Nijiko, from Team Summer A. Nijiko believes in putting yourself first. You want to go out into danger to rescue a friend from certain death? You do that! Nijiko will stay by the campfire with a cup of tea and feel not a jot of guilt.
What I am trying to say here is: Nijiko does not care about your problems.
. . . but, like Ran, Nijiko does care about well-built houses! Even if they're usually bickering about the methods. Except when they're agreeing and then pretending they didn't, because that would be weird.
(I also love how scared that poor dude is. You don't give unasked-for advice to Ran OR Nijiko, dude! Just don't do it!)
So, um, if you have not guessed, Ran/Nijiko is one of my other main 7 Seeds ships, after Natsu/Natsu. TEAM MORALLY AMBIGUOUS ARCHITECT LESBIANS FOR THE WIN! (They will probably not actually turn out to be lesbians. But I live in hope.)
So Team Summer A is basically Team Child Soldiers; unlike the rest of the teams, they were raised with the sole purpose of becoming the ultimate survivors, and maaay have sustained just a little psychological trauma from their unconventional upbringing.
What is the best way to stay sane in traumatizing child soldier school? Ladyfriendship, obviously!
Koruri, Mayu and Nobara
Koruri, Mayu and Nobara are BFFs who have sworn from toddlerhood that they're going to get to the future TOGETHER. They have the friendship bracelets to prove it! (I have so many friendship bracelet feelings after reading this manga, I don't even.)
Nobara is the hard-working, studious one. She's a sweetheart who spends most of her time in the library.
Koruri is the ADORABLE one. She's got a giant baby face, and she gets SO EXCITED whenever she meets other people with giant baby faces! THEY MADE A CLUB. (She is the President.)
It's impossible not to love Koruri; she's super friendly and kind of hyperactive and manages to spend the first seventeen years of her life astoundingly cheerful for someone in child soldier school.
Also she can fly!
. . . some days she's better at it than others.
Mayu is the sensible, trustworthy one; she keeps a level head, looks out for her friends and believes in them no matter what.
She is also aware that the training system in which they live is somewhat messed up, especially for women. And recognizes the importance of women's reproductive health!
Mayu <333333
Ayu
Ayu has unfortunately not had the same network of support as the three BFFs. She's absolutely gorgeous -- her nickname (which she hates) is Madonna -- and that's made her a target for unwanted attention all her life. By the time she's a teenager, she doesn't think much of most of humanity.
izilen said that Ayu hits kind of her same buttons as Irene of Attolia, and I can totally see where that's coming from. Ayu is very emotionally damaged, and will do what she needs to do to survive. Does she have any feelings about that?That's a question that's still up for debate. (Spoiler: maybe. Yes. A little.)
Mitsuru
Another super gorgeous lady is Mitsuru, the only girl on Team Winter. Mitsuru is an extremely talented dancer, and she knows it. AND THAT'S AWESOME. If people don't recognize, that's their loss!
Aside from being the hope of the Japanese dancing world, she is also a HUGE BASEBALL NERD who enjoys dorking out over sports and complaining about the stupid things her parents packed for her to take to the apocalypse.
WE CAN ALL APPRECIATE MITSURU'S PRIORITIES.
Maria
Maria is a pop singer! THE BEST pop singer. A pop singer who, in fact, saves the world by being a pop singer! Because pop singers, if you didn't realize it, are completely hardcore.
And here's what I love about 7 Seeds, in the end: pop singers are awesome. Dancers are awesome. Action girls are awesome. Smart girls are awesome. Girls with social anxiety who love their cats are awesome. Maternal women are awesome. Women who never ever want kids are awesome.
And they all have something to contribute, to the world and to each other. AND IT'S GREAT.
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Date: 2017-05-11 01:06 am (UTC)2) NO I DON'T, this is why I'm so many chapters behind D: did you figure it out? If so, tell me!!