ichiharas-familiar

[ichiharas-familiar]

person who has only watched one anime: what i really love about dungeon meshi is how it subverts our expectations of a typical anime by not sexualising women and having a good plot!

#I think this image is the answer to everything

[ichiharas-familiar]

she put a little lipstick on him and it made him so sexy that she had to lock her memory of it up in her mind palace where she puts everything else that's undeniable but makes her uncomfortable to think about

#Apothecary diaries

[ichiharas-familiar]

#Kitty cat moment #Loveless

[ichiharas-familiar]

In the land of gods and monsters i was an angel living in the garden of evil

#loveless

[ichiharas-familiar]

Comrades which version of ai no kusabi is supposed to be 'better'? I watched both before I was even into anime otherwise because of certain tumblr mutuals but now both have merged in my mind.

#Which one has 'this is our last deep kiss'

[ichiharas-familiar]

Please Save My Earth (1993)

“I want to go home…”

#please save my earth #Shojo #Unknown #Ohhhhhh I need to watch this I have it downloaded and everything

[ichiharas-familiar]

what are your opinions on the thought process that Shigure groomed Akito so he could have control over them?

i think this opinion is a massive oversimplification of akito and shigure's power dynamic that has roots in the latent sexist idea that men inherently have power over women, as well as the heteronormative idea that love between a man and a woman is inherently romantic.

first off, i think it's a pretty bizarre assumption that a child could have the wherewithal and foresight to enact a complex series of actions that relies on the aggressor having a working knowledge of children's needs and behavior and years of planning and execution. people like to cite shigure's childhood declaration that he "...want[s] to make that [love] last forever...to give it form and make it [his]" as a statement of intent to groom and control. not only is this an absurd thing to say about a child who can't be any older than 10, it disregards two vital facets of akito and shigure's relationship: the magic in combination with shigure's own trauma. in my opinion, these lines speak to the power of the bond and how shigure interprets it. hatori and ayame reject it, the former letting himself sink into despair over his lack of control and festers in resentment, the latter completely removing himself from family life in order to avoid it. shigure, however, copes with the curse by diving in head first; just like the rest of the zodiac, he knows that there is no way out, so he embraces the good things about it in order to cope. in addition to this, though we don't know much about shigure's upbringing, we can assume based on his short interaction with his parents that he came from an emotionally neglectful home (expanded on here), so the prospect of unconditional love from akito is something he craves. i think these are much more reasonable motivations for the beginning of shigure's obsession rather than positing that grooming a person he had never met before he even went through puberty was his goal.

with regards to gendered power dynamics, i think this take severely underestimates the amount of abuse shigure withstands from akito. the idea that shigure is somehow in control of the relationship is simply not true; their relationship is DEFINED by their power struggle, which is a game that akito was winning until the very end. it ignores that men can be abused (and we see him being abused by akito, both physically and emotionally), and it also ignores that, in many toxic and abusive relationships, there is not always someone who is purely a victim. shigure is undoubtedly horrible to akito back—he is vindictive, cruel, and cold towards them. he also knows full well that he is one of akito's most important emotional supports and uses this position to manipulate them. however, his gender and age does NOT give him power over akito. he must do as akito says, both because of the magic and akito's position as the family head. while their relationship is not necessarily a victim-and-perpetrator situation, the power dynamic clearly favors akito, who is literally all-powerful and a professional abuser.

with regards to the heteronormative idea that men and women who love each other is inherently romantic: the scene most often referenced for this opinion is the scene between teenage shigure and child akito in chapter 101 where he tells akito he loves them. i do not interpret this scene to be romantic whatsoever, and i actually think it's really weird and telling that so many people do. these are two people whose only comfort is one another and have known each other since early childhood; i don't think it's weird at all for shigure to tell akito he loves them in this situation. given fb's focus on familial and platonic love, how platonic love can transform into romance, and the fact that akigure is a parallel to kyoru, i interpret this scene as entirely familial/platonic.

i can understand why people have this opinion: shigure is a man, and he's older, and he is a manipulator. he gives people very visceral reactions because he's incredibly well written. his actions do also fit into some of the stages of grooming, but it falls apart upon closer look (source): he targets a child (ie, he becomes close with his cousin who he is supernaturally bonded to against his free will), he gains the child's trust (ie, they become friends), and he fills a need, in this case akito's lack of parental support, all of which he does as a child himself. he does not, and cannot, isolate the child because he doesn't have the power to—akito's status would prevent them from being completely isolated (a good example of akito's position inherently giving them more power). when it comes to sexualizing the relationship, we just don't know, there isn't enough textual evidence to argue either way. as for the last step, maintaining control, shigure does NOT try and make akito think he is the only person who can fulfill akito's emotional and physical needs. in fact, he's doing the opposite; he WANTS akito to meet and be changed by tohru, and he has no problem with akito's intimate relationship with hatori, who probably provides more emotional and physical support to them than anyone. you could argue that shigure is trying to isolate akito by driving the other zodiacs away, but i don't think shigure attempting to separate an abuser from their victims is what "isolate" is meant to reflect here. so, as we can see, shigure fulfills SOME of the stages of grooming, but i don't think they hold up to scrutiny if you're thinking about fb in a nuanced and world-appropriate way.

i can also see why people misinterpret shigure's bid for control as some sort of abuse, but he states that he wants to be equal with akito, not above. i do think there is an aspect of misogyny here; shigure's masculinity, and the role that masculinity grants him in society, is threatened by akito's control over him, but i don't think having fragile masculinity and making grabs for power because of it when you're in an abusive relationship is abuse in turn.

i'm not trying to absolve shigure of anything here. he is cruel, he is manipulative, and he does things to hurt akito on purpose whether it's in revenge or not. but i don't think shigure meets the standards of being a groomer, and i think this assumption, in addition to what i previously stated, is a symptom of fandom misusing buzzwords to gain points. it's not a nuanced view and i think a lot of it, in my experience, comes from projection; shigure, in all his awfulness, is extremely easy to project onto. however, i think that there are some things in fb that are just not analogous to real life, and that this aspect of akito and shigure's relationship is one of them.

#Furuba

[ichiharas-familiar]

The god, the prince, the king, and the witch

#rgu

[ichiharas-familiar]

I said this when i watched the anime but it's a damn shame that consort gyokuyou doesn't have access to cosmopolitan magazine. she needs to be subscribed to at least five different influencer blogs who post about sex chakras. she has a deep desire to know top five sex positions that will blow his mind and unleash your inner goddess and no one in the China-inspired fantasy realm is telling her that except maomao

#Apothecary diaries

[ichiharas-familiar]

内田善美 「星くず色の船」 単行本収録作の扉絵と雑誌掲載時の扉絵との比較

#pretty #unknown #shojo #I assume... #yoshimi uchida

[ichiharas-familiar]

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino ヴァンパイア騎士

#I watched one season of the tv show and it was not nearly as wild as I hoped :/ #but I LOVE this belly button piercing/necklace situation #vampire knight #shojo

[ichiharas-familiar]

yotsuba makes an important decision

#Yotsuba #Nge

[ichiharas-familiar]

surprised more people aren’t talking about the “kabru might be the child of an incubi” comic that also features “laios knows way too much about monster reproduction.” was that one just too easy or

#dungeon meshi

[ichiharas-familiar]

I LOVE HER

#Mweh heh! #Hee hee! #Apothecary diaries

[ichiharas-familiar]

#sakura namiki #unknown #shojo #yuri

[ichiharas-familiar]

#Cutie honey

[ichiharas-familiar]

Composing Made Easy (For Gyaru)

#unknown