Category: Character Studies

REPOST – The Speakeasy #001: Bloody Mary, A Discussion of Strong Female Characters

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Drink #001: Bloody Mary,
A Discussion of Strong Female Characters

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We decided to go back to the roots of the blog for our inaugural podcast. We start off with the initial question: Is anime actually filled with good, strong female characters or is that dream much like a Satoshi Kon movie? The discussion then unfolds as we look at what our initial expectations of strong female characters were when we started watching anime, the realities of the medium, and its future.

(Listen) (Show Notes)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink

Bloody Mary
* 1 oz. to 1 1/2 oz. (30-45 ml) vodka in a Highball glass filled with ice.
* Fill glass with tomato juice
* 1 dash celery salt
* 1 dash ground black pepper
* 1 dash Tabasco
* 2-4 dashes of Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce
* 1/8 tsp. horseradish (pure, never creamed)
* Dash of lemon or lime juice
Garnish with celery stalk.

May be shaken vigorously or stirred lazily, as desired. Garnish with a celery stalk; a skewer of olives, pickles, carrots, mushrooms, or other vegetables; or even meat or fish (salami, shrimp, etc.) and cheese. Occasionally, pickled asparagus spears or pickled beans are also used.

Shirabe Ako and the Eye of the Beholder

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Pretty Cure is in a strange place where they have a glass. 50 percent of the glass has liquid and the other 50 percent does not. The question is do you see that glass as half full or half empty. Depending on your view of anime, magical girls shows, and fandom it tends to shade your view of the series and its fandom. Everyone agrees that the fandom of Pretty Cure is made of mostly of two categories of fans. There are the young girls who the show is ostensibly aimed at and the older male fans. Depending on your disposition who you think the majority of the fandom is, who the show caters to, and how much it curries the favor of either segment of the fandom depends on if you see that glass as half empty or half filled. I think recent spoiler filled issues in Suite Precure bring that reaction to the forefront. How you interpret recent changes on the show is very influenced on how you see the series before you even view a single episode.

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Red vs. Blue: Saber Edition

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Over the years as an anime fan I have picked up a few skills from just watching enough anime. They include the ability to notice animation errors, an eye to detect directorial styles,  and an understanding of Japanese trends and tropes. You always have these abilities to some degree but the more you watch the better you are at it. The one skill that Narutaki and I have never been that great at no matter how much we watch anime is the ability to instantly recognize voice actors. We are far better at it then when we started the blog but honestly that is because the only direction we could head was up. We have the basic detect Norio Wakamoto and recognize Rie Kugimiya skill set but we are far below the proficiency of any decent seiyu aficionado.

But there is one voice actress I can always recognise and it is very unsurprisingly Ayako Kawasumi. While I remember her playing Melfina in Outlaw Star but she really caught my attention as Lafiel in Crest of the Stars. She has played roles I love like Megumi Noda in Nodame Cantabile and Kanako Ohno in Genshiken. She also starred in shows I have much less love for like Mahoro Ando in Mahoromatic and Aoi Sakuraba in Ai Yori Aoshi. But to cut to the heart of the matter the character that trained me to recognize her voice is very clearly Saber. If there is any character that is going to make me remember your voice it is her. So when Fate/Extra came along they announced that while the playable Saber maybe very familiar looking she would be a very different character to the point where she would be voiced by Sakura Tange. So hearing this new Saber leads me to an odd bit of cognitive dissidence which is what this post is all about.

Past this point is spoiler country. While I assume the identity of Fate Stay/Night Saber is firmly entrenched in the “No. *I* am your father ” territory for anime fans the identity of Fate/Extra Saber is far less a piece of common knowledge.

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