Malazan Empire: Maark Abbott - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

D, on 18 January 2022 - 04:10 PM, said:

COMMENT-SURRECTION!

I grabbed volumes 12-15 of the Manga (which is the end of the story; and will form the 3rd season if that ever happens) when I was in Montreal this weekend, and I feel like it's safe to say that very little feels like the fan service of episode 2 of season 1 (the "bikini" fitting/measuring stuff) beyond it. Sure the show and manga return to play around it as it's part of the tension between Marin and Gojo...like there's a whole episode where they rent a room in a love hotel (accidentally) to do a cosplay shoot and the whole thing is played for awkward laughs. But what I feel is really special about this is story is not just how wholesome Marin and Gojo's romantic progression is, but the side characters filling out the wings all have depth and are interesting and progressive. There's a male (possibly trans/femboy?) character who dresses in female cosplay and comes to both Gojo and Marin for help..the latter for trying to look more like a woman. There's another couple of characters who are sisters, one of whom is heavy into cosplay and the other who feared getting into it and being overshadowed by her sister. There's a very interesting interplay between Marin and someone who she thinks is too far above her, and that person thinks Marin hates her (I think this is a play on how some girl groups gossip and how that gossip can pre-ruin relationships). There Is still fan service mind you, but it never really devolves. It serves to show how free-spirited Marin is, and how constrained Gojo is. There is also the element that Marin's family is non-existent. Her father travels for work and leaves her largely to her own devices where she eats crap/junk food every day (and I feel like the secondary layer to this is immersing herself to a ridiculous degree in anime/manga/video games as a replacement for any viable family/home life)...so Gojo and his grandfather take her in as a stray to feed real meals to and to feel like part of a family unit. There's a whole episode about how Marin is sick with a cold and Gojo just comes over and makes her food to feel better and spends time with her and it's so outside what she expected that she's completely overwhelmed...just showing us HOW much she needed a familial type connection. It's stuff like that which make this story so rewarding.

Anyways, I've not finished the manga yet, but I DO hope they finish the anime. it's one of the most unexpectedly wholesome romance stories I've come across that SEEMS on the surface like Gooner stuff but isn't remotely that. Writer/artist Shinichi Fukuda being a woman adds another dimension to it as well.

America is one step from idiocracy as it is.