Kannazuki No Miko 11

[zugabdu]

I checked out the Anime News Network and Yuri Nation reviews of this and none of them mention the rape or abuse. To borrow a phrase from Chuck, that's like writing a biography of Nixon and leaving out Watergate. I'm still left confused and profoundly disturbed at how many people think this was cute and romantic or that Chikane's behavior is something to be admired. It would actually be better if people were enjoying this as porn - at least then there's the possibility that people are experiencing this entirely as a fantasy and not something that should happen in real life.

[Trinary]

I'm reminded of another terrible anime I saw reviewed once that also contained a horrific and pointless rape scene, Sins of the Sisters. It was reviewed by Bennett the Sage.

[MithrandirOlorin]

I checked out the Anime News Network and Yuri Nation reviews of this and none of them mention the rape or abuse. To borrow a phrase from Chuck, that's like writing a biography of Nixon and leaving out Watergate. I'm still left confused and profoundly disturbed at how many people think this was cute and romantic or that Chikane's behavior is something to be admired. It would actually be better if people were enjoying this as porn - at least then there's the possibility that people are experiencing this entirely as a fantasy and not something that should happen in real life.

Yuri Nation mentioned it here, though it's technically a redirect to another Blog. This is the post I was referring to.

https://yurination.wordpress.com/2015/1 ... i-no-miko/

[Durandal_1707]

I'm reminded of another terrible anime I saw reviewed once that also contained a horrific and pointless rape scene, Sins of the Sisters. It was reviewed by Bennett the Sage.

Or that time my parents made me read The Fountainhead when I was in high school.

[TGLS]

I haven't seen the review yet, but I have seen the series in whole (Around the time Chuck started the series) so I feel like I can comment.

Honestly, when I first heard about the series, the only anime I had seen was Gundam: War in the Pocket, the Gundam 0079 movies, and Madoka Magica. It was either Chuck’s teaser of the series, or the Wikipedia article where I got any sense of the contents: “Lesbians, Magical Girls and Giant Robots”. I was pretty sure it was going to be a puff-piece, probably a guilty pleasure kind of bad more than anything else. I mean, why would any one have Chuck watch something truly horrible?

Anyway, I started watching along with Chuck on my morning spare. I think either after it started looking like Chuck wasn’t keeping the same pace (I think he started Full Moon or Escaflowne) that he did for the other two anime that I watched along with him up to that point, or perhaps sheer boredom, I decided to watch the rest of the thing in a straight shot.

The first part of the series, was puff. There was robot fights, there was gratuitous nudity, there was a pointless love triangle, heck, there was a catgirl trashing a city for the fun of it. If it kept that up, I’d be entertained. Would rate very highly, but entertained. Complexity wasn’t something I was looking for; I didn’t really care who Blondie chose at the end, because it didn’t really matter; I mean, they couldn’t possibly show her having sex or anything…

The second part of the series that really melded into the first. It was when they decided to start laying the breadcrumbs of Blackie’s diseased mind. I figured at that point they decided that nothing but the cinematic equivalent of a marshmallow wasn’t going to hold up a twelve-episode series. Really, I figured that Blackie’s internal conflict was getting played out with the nun because internal conflicts are hard on screen.

I figured her conflict would drive the plot for the remainder of the series. For example, Blondie and Motorbike Mecha Pilot would do something that Blackie would find intolerable (or emotionally devastating). Then she would be morose and hiding away and Blondie would come over to try and get her out of her state, so they can save the world or whatever. Then Blackie would reveal her feelings, Blondie would admit hers, and they would come together for a final episode push or something.

Then episode 8 happened. So I figured Blackie was evil. Then she raped Blondie. So I figured she had a psychotic break. Then she murdered the rest of the villains. So I knew she had a psychotic break. Then Blondie didn’t seem to recognize what happened. So I figured she was either in denial or an amnesiac.

Then the backstories for the villains were revealed. And I said, “Now? It’s the end!” Then Blackie revealed it was all so she save Blondie from dying or the pain of losing her or something. And I said, “Bullshit!” Then at the very end, Blackie and Blondie met up in a city. And I said, “No.”

Honestly, having let it just sit and digest for three years, it’s gone down in my eyes. While I would be usually be OK rewatching things that I watched all the way through, I’ll never watch this again. The defining flaw in the show comes down the mishandling of the rape in episode 8. I doubt they could have done any better with the rape, but they could have had Blackie do something that wasn’t so vile (she could have killed Motorbike Mecha Pilot, or perhaps Blondie’s friend in the hospital) and barely change the rest of the show.

And no, I’m not going to use the right names because I don’t care enough.

[Starbug]

I can't think of any other review where Chuck's displayed such utter disdain for the subject matter...and this is a man who's put together lists of the worst episodes from each Star Trek series.

I have often considered putting in for something bad, just to see him rip it apart, but even I draw the line somewhere (turned out to be at Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin)

[zugabdu]

I checked out the Anime News Network and Yuri Nation reviews of this and none of them mention the rape or abuse. To borrow a phrase from Chuck, that's like writing a biography of Nixon and leaving out Watergate. I'm still left confused and profoundly disturbed at how many people think this was cute and romantic or that Chikane's behavior is something to be admired. It would actually be better if people were enjoying this as porn - at least then there's the possibility that people are experiencing this entirely as a fantasy and not something that should happen in real life.

Yuri Nation mentioned it here, though it's technically a redirect to another Blog. This is the post I was referring to.

https://yurination.wordpress.com/2015/1 ... i-no-miko/

That's a very generous interpretation of this anime. More generous, in my view, than it deserves. I'm not of the mind that it's impossible to portray sexual assault and relationship violence responsibly in fiction, but I am pretty confident that this series doesn't achieve that.

[Ghilz]

I checked out the Anime News Network and Yuri Nation reviews of this and none of them mention the rape or abuse. To borrow a phrase from Chuck, that's like writing a biography of Nixon and leaving out Watergate. I'm still left confused and profoundly disturbed at how many people think this was cute and romantic or that Chikane's behavior is something to be admired. It would actually be better if people were enjoying this as porn - at least then there's the possibility that people are experiencing this entirely as a fantasy and not something that should happen in real life.

Yuri Nation mentioned it here, though it's technically a redirect to another Blog. This is the post I was referring to.

https://yurination.wordpress.com/2015/1 ... i-no-miko/

I want whatever that person is on.

[SuccubusYuri]

I personally don't despise the series, but mostly out of "historical context". This became the point-series for yuri as a genre because....everything else was so bad. This was king of the hill for a long time by the simple fact it acknowledged female sexuality at all. "Good girls don't want sex. They don't kiss. THEY DON'T EVEN HOLD HANDS! IT'S THE PUREST FORM OF LOVE!"

Yes it's cringe, but I think in the same way Disney's Pocahontas or Song of the South is cringe, the same way The Doctor saying "the Red Indian had a savage mind" is cringe. Dated in its time.

We ARE talking about a country where there is a genre of fiction of lesbians being raped straight as a sub-genre of "romance". It doesn't get translated much. Imagine that.

[Draco Dracul]

I can't think of any other review where Chuck's displayed such utter disdain for the subject matter...and this is a man who's put together lists of the worst episodes from each Star Trek series.

I have often considered putting in for something bad, just to see him rip it apart, but even I draw the line somewhere (turned out to be at Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin)

I think the closest would be Howard the Duck and Transformers 2, though both were far milder and there was a sense that a lot of the disdain was more for the disservice they did the source material.