Kiri ☂ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
taotrooper) wrote2007-03-31 12:13 am
taotrooper) wrote2007-03-31 12:13 am
Entry tags:
Oh, Okashira
Week of Doom is over. Still, we'll have "fun" since we have a lot of practice work to hand out the Friday after Holy Week. Ugh.
But anyway, suddenly I started craving Rurouni Kenshin today. But it wasn't the series itself, but certain parts of it. I was just thinking about my own metafandom, and the trends my mind follows. It's no surprise for anyone I get easily obsessed (or at least love a lot) over minor groups of people and/or random countries. So I was trying to go back, and understand when did this trend started, and with what fandom.
Probably the easy answer was "with Card Captor Sakura". But was it really? I thought about earlier anime/manga and series/movies/books I anjoyed, without success.
Then I got to Rurouni Kenshin. Well, I normally root for the groups the favorite character is in. So when I first read/watched it, I adored the familiarity of the Kenshingumi, as Kenshin is my favorite character, and most of the stuff I shipped in was in there.
But liking the main characters a lot doesn't really count, because I was trying to understand the love for kinda-underrated-by-fandom groups.
Then I had a revelation: I do like the Oniwabanshuu and their subculture a lot. A lot of RK fans focus more on the Shinsengumi, because they're historically famous and Saitou was in it, and probably there are some followers of the Sekihoutai, since Sano and Katsu and captain Sagara are hot. But the Oniwabanshuu calls more my attention, and particularly the Aoshigumi (the Aoiya Oniwaban are really cute, but the other ones are just heart-breaking...)
Particularly, when I first watched the anime, I thought they were awesome. The only turn-off, ironically, was that Aoshi's emo "drags a lot" -I think in my fanbrat days I used to consider the characters more like bishie potential than anything, oh well. But now that I'm seeing them as an adult, their closeness and their tragedy have this new light. If RuroKen was a Jump series right now, I'm sure I would've clinged on the Oniwabanshuu.
And today I reread the parts with Oniwaban canon on it, and it's just that they all love each other SO much. Aoshi gave up his life to bring the four left behind with a purpose, for them to fight for something. And the four of them loved him back, and did their best to be worthy warriors. The irony was that Aoshi was the one who bought it the most, getting obsessed with being the strongest, in order to make them all happy. In a world in which leaders sacrifice their minions so easily, Aoshi respected his men. And this is why you understand this reverence from Hanya and Shikijou, who were the most attached to him. Because, while he probably made awful choices for the five of them, he was a caring leader and he was their world. Loyalty by both sides is just great~
Then tragedy strikes. And I really prefer the way events went in the manga, because it's less loldrama!1! and the crude parts are there (like the beheading and Megumi being a cutter). Also, it's Kenshin's fault Aoshi loses himself to violence, willingly becoming his target in an attempt to prevent he'd kill himself or do crazy things. It kind of makes little sense in the anime, because they never talked after the guys' sacrifice, so it makes it look like Aoshi was just so emo he randomly decided to blame Kenshin and take revenge. Probably that's why I prefer manga!Aoshi a lot. (That, and how he pwned the puppeteer in the Jinchuu saga with smarts, which makes me realize how extremely cool teen!genius!Okashira!Aoshi must've been.) Because his fixation has a reason.
So yeah, rereading this with these things in mind helps a lot to see Aoshi as something apart from the extremely emo bishounen image most people have (me included) about him. Okay, he's still emo, but it's an emo with depth and several layers. And manga!Aoshi does get an answer from his Zen meditation without changing his personality at all, which rocks. He should totally join the "how Kenshin Himura's stupid philosophy changed my outlook on life" club, a club that has a lot of members XD
Oh, and the fact some of the Oniwabanshuu actually did get a backstory in manga was nice. Too bad Beshimi and Hyottoko didn't.
Still, I do like the anime-only flashback of Misao as a little girl practicing kenpo with the guysall going awww how cuuuuute she's faaaaalling watching her. They looked so gentle, which makes such a contrast considering they were supposed to be heartless freaks or something, and Aoshi smiling for real is woah! And Hanya so used to pinch her cheeks when nobody was looking.
I guess the emotacular way the Megumi miniarc is handled in anime didn't make me like the Aoshigumi more. But even if they mostly ended up as "one-hit beaten" kind of antagonists, they were pretty awesome, and the premise behind them is so interesting. It's too bad the group gets overlooked since they're not pretty at all. And for a group with such little canon, they had a lot of unexploited (by the fandom and Watsuki, but he admitted he made them up on the run) potential.
And in the end I didn't get to talk about the Aoiya branch. I admire old Okina's guts and sillyness, and I think the four former Oniwaban working there are nice people. Misao is love, of course.
I think I'm going to bed early.
But anyway, suddenly I started craving Rurouni Kenshin today. But it wasn't the series itself, but certain parts of it. I was just thinking about my own metafandom, and the trends my mind follows. It's no surprise for anyone I get easily obsessed (or at least love a lot) over minor groups of people and/or random countries. So I was trying to go back, and understand when did this trend started, and with what fandom.
Probably the easy answer was "with Card Captor Sakura". But was it really? I thought about earlier anime/manga and series/movies/books I anjoyed, without success.
Then I got to Rurouni Kenshin. Well, I normally root for the groups the favorite character is in. So when I first read/watched it, I adored the familiarity of the Kenshingumi, as Kenshin is my favorite character, and most of the stuff I shipped in was in there.
But liking the main characters a lot doesn't really count, because I was trying to understand the love for kinda-underrated-by-fandom groups.
Then I had a revelation: I do like the Oniwabanshuu and their subculture a lot. A lot of RK fans focus more on the Shinsengumi, because they're historically famous and Saitou was in it, and probably there are some followers of the Sekihoutai, since Sano and Katsu and captain Sagara are hot. But the Oniwabanshuu calls more my attention, and particularly the Aoshigumi (the Aoiya Oniwaban are really cute, but the other ones are just heart-breaking...)
Particularly, when I first watched the anime, I thought they were awesome. The only turn-off, ironically, was that Aoshi's emo "drags a lot" -I think in my fanbrat days I used to consider the characters more like bishie potential than anything, oh well. But now that I'm seeing them as an adult, their closeness and their tragedy have this new light. If RuroKen was a Jump series right now, I'm sure I would've clinged on the Oniwabanshuu.
And today I reread the parts with Oniwaban canon on it, and it's just that they all love each other SO much. Aoshi gave up his life to bring the four left behind with a purpose, for them to fight for something. And the four of them loved him back, and did their best to be worthy warriors. The irony was that Aoshi was the one who bought it the most, getting obsessed with being the strongest, in order to make them all happy. In a world in which leaders sacrifice their minions so easily, Aoshi respected his men. And this is why you understand this reverence from Hanya and Shikijou, who were the most attached to him. Because, while he probably made awful choices for the five of them, he was a caring leader and he was their world. Loyalty by both sides is just great~
Then tragedy strikes. And I really prefer the way events went in the manga, because it's less loldrama!1! and the crude parts are there (like the beheading and Megumi being a cutter). Also, it's Kenshin's fault Aoshi loses himself to violence, willingly becoming his target in an attempt to prevent he'd kill himself or do crazy things. It kind of makes little sense in the anime, because they never talked after the guys' sacrifice, so it makes it look like Aoshi was just so emo he randomly decided to blame Kenshin and take revenge. Probably that's why I prefer manga!Aoshi a lot. (That, and how he pwned the puppeteer in the Jinchuu saga with smarts, which makes me realize how extremely cool teen!genius!Okashira!Aoshi must've been.) Because his fixation has a reason.
So yeah, rereading this with these things in mind helps a lot to see Aoshi as something apart from the extremely emo bishounen image most people have (me included) about him. Okay, he's still emo, but it's an emo with depth and several layers. And manga!Aoshi does get an answer from his Zen meditation without changing his personality at all, which rocks. He should totally join the "how Kenshin Himura's stupid philosophy changed my outlook on life" club, a club that has a lot of members XD
Oh, and the fact some of the Oniwabanshuu actually did get a backstory in manga was nice. Too bad Beshimi and Hyottoko didn't.
Still, I do like the anime-only flashback of Misao as a little girl practicing kenpo with the guys
I guess the emotacular way the Megumi miniarc is handled in anime didn't make me like the Aoshigumi more. But even if they mostly ended up as "one-hit beaten" kind of antagonists, they were pretty awesome, and the premise behind them is so interesting. It's too bad the group gets overlooked since they're not pretty at all. And for a group with such little canon, they had a lot of unexploited (by the fandom and Watsuki, but he admitted he made them up on the run) potential.
And in the end I didn't get to talk about the Aoiya branch. I admire old Okina's guts and sillyness, and I think the four former Oniwaban working there are nice people. Misao is love, of course.
I think I'm going to bed early.
no subject
Misao is adorable ♥ I also like Kaoru, but Misao is so cute and awesome.
I think the emo bothered me a bit at first because it's all "in your face" in the anime, and I watched the anime first. I like how it's all for Kenshin's intervention in manga, because Aoshi comes across as less batshit crazy. In anime it was like random revenge mixed with sore loser, since his logic was in the lines of "I AM THE BEST!!one". I don't know if I make sense, it just felt better explained.
I love Aoshi's smugness and rational intelligence. And yeah, he's a cool ally and antagonist.
Soujirou <3 I find odd that Sou was 100 times more emo and confused than Aoshi, but I still liked him. I think it's a shame Watsuki never made a one-shot continuation to tell us what happened to him, since his ending had so much potential. Of course, that probably makes great material for fanfic, but the fandom probably is a bit scary and I don't dare checking it out.