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May. 25th, 2012 10:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI would like to make it clear that it is entirely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
izilen's fault that I faceplanted straight into Kaze Hikaru as soon as I finished classes.
Kaze Hikaru is a manga about a plucky crossdressing girl in nineteenth-century Japan! Whose family is all killed, so she does the logical thing: shaves off the top of her head and joins up with the troupe of warriors called the Shinsengumi so that she can seek her REVENGE.
Revenge takes her up to maybe the third volume; after that, she decides she wants to stay and be a warrior anyway -- partly because there's a booooy, but also because she's adopted this as her way of life and her code of honor.
That code of honor and ethics is really different from what we would consider ethical today, and the story never glosses over that. This isn't the kind of story where our heroine's innocence is protected. Sei/Seizaburo learns how to kill people -- and the first person she kills is a comrade who's broken the extremely strict troupe rules. Sympathetic characters do things that, objectively, are kind of terrible by our standards! But not by theirs, is the thing. (But sometimes by theirs. And then they either find a way to resolve it, or commit seppuku.)
. . . I mean not that it's all doom and gloom. About 30% of the time, the manga is full of wacky hijinks!
Of course, wacky crossdressing rom-com hijinks look a bit different in a situation where there is no stigma against homosexuality, which . . . is an amazingly refreshing change! The one person who knows that Sei is a girl is also just about the only person who has no interest in pursuing her romantically (much to her dismay.) All the other guys just think the cute new boy would make the BEST boyfriend. At one point they all send her a group signed love letter! IT'S ADORABLE.
I guess I should probably include a picture of the love interest? He is Okita Soji, who is here represented as a cold badass 30% of the time and a lulzy ditz 70% of the time. Needless to say, I prefer the lulzy ditz.
However my actual favorite character is Saito Hajime (who some of you may know from other manga and/or anime I think? He seems to be a pretty popular historical figure) because his face always looks deeply dubious and vaguely judgmental:
Everybody loves Saito Hajime! Saito Hajime hates his life.
izilen's fault that I faceplanted straight into Kaze Hikaru as soon as I finished classes. Kaze Hikaru is a manga about a plucky crossdressing girl in nineteenth-century Japan! Whose family is all killed, so she does the logical thing: shaves off the top of her head and joins up with the troupe of warriors called the Shinsengumi so that she can seek her REVENGE.
Revenge takes her up to maybe the third volume; after that, she decides she wants to stay and be a warrior anyway -- partly because there's a booooy, but also because she's adopted this as her way of life and her code of honor.
That code of honor and ethics is really different from what we would consider ethical today, and the story never glosses over that. This isn't the kind of story where our heroine's innocence is protected. Sei/Seizaburo learns how to kill people -- and the first person she kills is a comrade who's broken the extremely strict troupe rules. Sympathetic characters do things that, objectively, are kind of terrible by our standards! But not by theirs, is the thing. (But sometimes by theirs. And then they either find a way to resolve it, or commit seppuku.)
. . . I mean not that it's all doom and gloom. About 30% of the time, the manga is full of wacky hijinks!
Of course, wacky crossdressing rom-com hijinks look a bit different in a situation where there is no stigma against homosexuality, which . . . is an amazingly refreshing change! The one person who knows that Sei is a girl is also just about the only person who has no interest in pursuing her romantically (much to her dismay.) All the other guys just think the cute new boy would make the BEST boyfriend. At one point they all send her a group signed love letter! IT'S ADORABLE.
I guess I should probably include a picture of the love interest? He is Okita Soji, who is here represented as a cold badass 30% of the time and a lulzy ditz 70% of the time. Needless to say, I prefer the lulzy ditz.
However my actual favorite character is Saito Hajime (who some of you may know from other manga and/or anime I think? He seems to be a pretty popular historical figure) because his face always looks deeply dubious and vaguely judgmental:
Everybody loves Saito Hajime! Saito Hajime hates his life.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-25 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-25 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-25 05:24 pm (UTC)oh my god, i think this is the first time i ever hear of okita being the love interest for a girl. i'm used to him being represented as feminine and either asexual or paired with other men.
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Date: 2012-05-25 06:19 pm (UTC)Also thus far in the series it's totally plausible to read him as largely asexual! Sei's crush is mostly one-sided, Soji is mostly oblivious in the "I am not interested in romance because I have dedicated my life to my leader" mode. Although I suspect Sei/Soji will end up being endgame to some degree (before everybody dies tragically.)
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Date: 2012-05-27 08:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-27 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-27 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-27 10:29 pm (UTC)But SOON! YOU ARE SO CLOSE. <3333 I am looking forward to your email also!
no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 02:26 am (UTC)...........
I on the other hand do not come with a preexisting interest in general or Japanese history but! perhaps this will be my next Reading Material.
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Date: 2012-05-29 02:35 am (UTC)