Jujutsu Kaisen ep 3 livetweeting

"HOW ABOUT ME, FOR THAT MODELLING GIG?"

WE LOVE A GIRL WITH CHUTZPAH!!!!!!

i always forget how much emphasis is placed on fushiguro's long eyelashes and then the opening plays and i am reminder all over again

"she took one look and sighed" MOOD

kugisaki itadori
loving tokyo because of growing up in the countryside

"WHO DOES HE THINK IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RICE HE GETS TO EAT" HOLY SHIT THIS GIRL IS EVERYTHING

i could watch this animation allllll daaaaayyyyyyyy

oh man the weird pacing in this part got me thinking about KnY and giyuu getting all weirdly emotional within 2 minutes of meeting tanjiro but it's okay chop chop we got anime to get through

did itadori just punch through a wall

THIS MUSIC SLAPS SO HARD MAAAAANNNN

this is now a nobara stan account

WAIT WHAT DOES THAT ENDING MEAN

okay time for my post-ep processing. TBH, i was kind of putting off watching this ep bc i wasn't really looking forward to being subjected to Yet Another Annoying Female Character In A Shounen Anime Because Most Shounen Writers Don't Know How To Write Compelling Female Characters

However, I was SO WRONG. I'm SO GLAD I was wrong!! I LOVE KUGISAKI NOBARA I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! She's strong-willed, stubborn, opinionated, outspoken, self-assured, and unafraid to speak her mind...WHILE STILL BEING A GENERALLY LIKEABLE PERSON!!!

Here's my take on it: a lot of animes have tried to introduce the Strong Independent Female character archetype, to varying degrees of success. Most of the time, it falls short. Because, in the pursuit of wanting to focus on the character being Strong and Independent and Female--

something falls by the wayside: making them LIKEABLE.

Being strong and independent doesn't have to mean being a bitch. It could, if that's the character you want to write, but most of the time, it's so formulaically repetitive, I can't help but feel it's really just a shortcoming due to lack of mastery over portraying nuance.

Female secondary protagonists/supporting characters in shounen anime (at least, the ones I've seen, which is HARDLY representative) usually come EITHER as strong and independent (read: a bitch) OR as likeable. There's this weird dichotomy to it which shouldn't exist, but does.

(and, in the cases where a female character falls into neither end of the spectrum, she falls into an unfortunate third category: flat and forgettable.)

Why does the 'strong independent female' character always have to be mean and generally abrasive? Why is the common backstory for such a demeanor usually a history of being looked down upon for being soft (and, in many cases, that softness is equated to being female)?

And why is the response to jump right to the opposite end of the spectrum--if soft = bad, then hard, abrasive = good? For many characters of this archetype, it's the defense mechanism that is defaulted to. And there's nothing wrong with that! But is it the only way to respond?

And for the other end, for 'likeable' female characters (read: easily digestible because they're not as likely to spew vitriol), they are generally soft, sweet, and submissive. Again, nothing wrong with this archetype either, but having only 2 poles of the spectrum ever being--

--represented makes it hard to find a lot of female characters compelling. Female characters can (and should!) come in more flavors than just Boss Bitch and Sweet Girl, and there has always been a shortage of characters who fall in between.

I, personally, have always found it hard to relate to female characters in shounen anime because of this (idk about other genres). I don't really identify with the soft, sweet female characters and I don't identify with the hardened, take-no-prisoners female characters either.

And that is where Nobara is different. She easily falls into the 'strong independent female' side of the spectrum, BUT she is NOT MEAN OR ABRASIVE!!! She is....GENERALLY A LIKEABLE PERSON!!!!

Like, this shouldn't really be revolutionary but it kind of is??? She has a strong personality but she isn't trying to overpower Itadori or Fushiguro because, for once, that strong personality is not being driven by a hidden inferiority complex.

She isn't trying to put them down, she isn't trying to outshine them to prove that she's better than them or whatever. This girl is literally just vibing, and it's so, so refreshing to see a female character just exist w/o trying to prove herself and her capability every second.

And that's what I love about her. As she said, she's just being true to herself. Unapologetic, self-confident, outspoken, but never putting anyone down.

Tbh, Nobara feels more like a shounen anime protagonist than Yuuji does and I LOVE THAT!! I, too, am a girl who would love to embody shounen anime protagonist energy, which is why I love them so much! But to see a girl have this kind of energy too is...validating, actually.

The only other character I can think of within the same vein is Ryuko from Kill la Kill. However, Ryuko was a major tomboy, putting her a bit closer to male shounen protags. On the other hand, Nobara does NOT put her femininity aside to embody shounen protag energy.

(Not to mention, a major theme in KLK was females vs. females--which is what makes KLK so unique!--while most shounen anime are usually boy vs. world)

Anyway, this thread has gone on long enough. Tl;dr: Nobara is the female shounen anime character who embodies shounen protagonist energy I've always longed for and proves that the 'strong, independent female' character archetype doesn't always have to be mean or abrasive. *bow*