Survival games and moral choices

You don't get many editorials about your so I would think you would be a bit more interested

 

One of the more common complaints about Stella c3 bu was that it was a show that didn't know what it wanted to be. I think part of the problem is that it wasn't really a conventional anime show or even a conventional experimental anime show (the idea of what passes for a conventional experimental show is it's own topic that I will cover in the future). However it did something so very right in the advancement of gender equality that I think that it deserves mention.

 

One of the main problems with discussions of gender in anime or media in general is that unless some art piece crosses one of a few rather set lines in which interested parties will usually usually offer their almost canned outrage but other than that the wider idea of gender is generally left unexamined and thus little if any real progress is made or understanding is reached and most of our predispositions remain unexamined.

 

Even through there is no real villains in c3bu consider how female villains are often treated in media. Most often they are given the angst ridden back stories and easily end up joining the hero in the end. There is even a trope associated with this the high heel face turn (the link is here). While at first may look like a good thing, usually under some guise of violence against women is wrong or something, but in fact it demeans women by making them look as through they are incapable of true moral choice. What is even worse is that many so called feminists will ignore this because it grants them a type of leniecy for misdeeds.

 

How does this all connect to c3bu? First of all think of the show's nominal villain, Rin. While at first she appears to be a cardboard jerk and is later revealed to be a deeper character the redemption tropes do not apply. The most obvious reason is that she never changes moral positions, her positions are simply shown in a different light. This gives her a sense of dignity that the high heel face turn never could.

 

The character that I really want to talk about though is Yura. Her character is something that I rarely if ever see in any characters, much less female ones. She is a main character who is allowed to be corrupted by her own choices and is only redeemed when she realizes her own faults. This causes her to fail as not only the "strong female character" but also severely undercuts if not destroys her status as an innocent moe character. Given that Yura ended up failing to live up to these standards it is no wonder the show tanked in sales. However that very fact is something that made Yura so very human and unique as a character.