Cute Girls Doing Cute Things

[N931]

I had an absolute blast making this so I thought it would be nice to share the video with more people.

[Kionon]

I had an absolute blast making this so I thought it would be nice to share the video with more people.

I always try to be diplomatic when I find an AMV actually bothers me. It's a rarity. Most AMVs I either have a positive reaction to or I am indifferent to. This one... Upset me. It's always hard to give that kind of visceral negative review when you know that the creator worked really hard to produce what you have seen and likely did not interpret their choices the way the creator did.

I haven't seen Asobi Asobase, and I'm definitely going to watch it now, because I want to come back to this after having seen it to see if it further informs how I see the AMV positively or negatively. But I've seen enough yonkoma (4 panel comic) based anime over the years to have a pretty good inkling of what the series is about and what each of the characters represent. When I looked over a synopsis of the series, my predictions were confirmed. I correctly predicted each of the characters' basic traits/stereotypes.

I think my main issue was in the way you address Tsugumi. The synopsis uses the singular They in English to address Tsugumi and that appears to be the correct choice. One of the big issues with addressing transgender identities in anime is the misunderstanding about how language is used. It's partly a cultural issue and partly a translation issue. In English we can draw a distinct conceptual difference between "being male" as a group of anatomical aspects and "being a boy" which is a gender identity. In Japanese this is a bit harder. You might be able to say, "Tsugumi no karada wa otoko no karada, demo kanojo ga danshi dehanai. つぐみの体は男の体、でも彼女が男子ではない。" to get people to understand you mean "boy" in the gender sense rather than "male child." Which basically translates to "Tsugumi's body is a male body, but she is not a boy." However, both otoko and danshi use the character of 男 "man/male." So saying "Tsugumi ha otoko desu. Demo, Tsugumi ha danshi deha nai. つぐみは男です。でも、つぐみは男子ではない" doesn't really make sense because that first character could be male or man, so your two sentences just come across as contradictory. This ambiguity is from where the humor derives. In good, positive representations, the humor is at the expense of the (presumably) cisgender/gender-conforming characters who cannot handle it. This appears to be how Asobi Asobase handles it, but I'll have to watch the series. Olivia and the others appear foolish because they are bothered by Tsugumi's gender ambiguity. Tsugumi isn't the joke, they are.

This is why I have a problem with your AMV labeling Tsugumi as a boy followed by "traps are gay." From my understanding, Olivia's theory about Tsugumi comes about because Tsugumi broke up with their boyfriend by saying they were a "boy." Now, given the ambiguity of Japanese language when dealing with conceptualisation of anatomical range/sex vs gender/identity, I am going to have to listen very closely to the Japanese to try to figure out which Tsugumi is saying, if I even can. But it seems quite likely that Tsugumi was telling their boyfriend (her) boyfriend that the body in question was "male" and that would cause problems for their relationship if the boyfriend wasn't able to accept that. Again, this is speculation, I need to go watch the source.

UPDATE: I just listened to the Japanese. Tsugumi basically says, "You and I have the same 'thing' down below." ...and the boyfriend doesn't care. Kasumi uses the term "otokonoko" which in this case is 男の娘 (which means "male daughter" sort of, which is actually not the same as cross-dresser, which the translator used, as it implies more of a transgender identity) and not 男の子 which is a longer version of the above 男子. And then Tsugumi says it was just something (she? cisgender she?) said in order to break up with the boyfriend. That of course pretty explicitly counters what Olivia, Hanako, and Kasumi think.

The big problem with the "traps are gay" thing, and why it isn't funny, is that 1) trans people aren't attempting to deceive. If Tsugumi is playing with their classmates' gender insecurities, it's their own damn fault for being so close-minded. 2) Trans girls are girls, so boys who are attracted to trans girls, especially at the age where the likelihood of seeing genitalia is incredibly low, are not exhibiting homosexual tendencies. They're boys who like girls... liking girls.

...there's even the possibility that Tsugumi is intersex and even anatomically labeling Tsugumi male or female without caveats is complicated.

...I also note that you didn't spend any time joking about other major subversive social element: the complicated nature of Olivia's Japaneseness.

[N931]

I always try to be diplomatic when I find an AMV actually bothers me. It's a rarity. Most AMVs I either have a positive reaction to or I am indifferent to. This one... Upset me. It's always hard to give that kind of visceral negative review when you know that the creator worked really hard to produce what you have seen and likely did not interpret their choices the way the creator did.

First off I would like to thank you for taking the time to not only write a lenghty post but to even watch the source material in order to explain your point of view.

I`m still a little bit puzzled about your issue with the “traps are gay” joke, so if possible I would really appreciate making things clear for future reference. The way I intended for the phrase to be conceived is that if Tsugumi is actually a transgendered person, that would mean that Kasumi had a homosexual dream about kissing other girls, hence “traps are gay”. Now I assume the earlier part that labeled Tsugumi as a boy made it contradictory(?) and the whole intent behind the joke was trashed by the execution.

All in all, there was no ill will behind it, however I do understand that the execution is a huge part of either conveing your intent properly or twisting it in a different direction. I thank you again for sharing your point of view and I would greatly appreciate any other input that you might have so I could improve.

[Kionon]

First off I would like to thank you for taking the time to not only write a lenghty post but to even watch the source material in order to explain your point of view.

Not at all. I am definitely not the "if you only have something nice to say don't say anything at all" type. The Org actually has had a reputation over the years of being brutally honest. I've always tried to balance anything I negatively have to say with my assurance that it isn't a personal judgement on the editor.

I`m still a little bit puzzled about your issue with the “traps are gay” joke, so if possible I would really appreciate making things clear for future reference. The way I intended for the phrase to be conceived is that if Tsugumi is actually a transgendered person, that would mean that Kasumi had a homosexual dream about kissing other girls, hence “traps are gay”. Now I assume the earlier part that labeled Tsugumi as a boy made it contradictory(?) and the whole intent behind the joke was trashed by the execution.

Oooooooooooooh. Okay, see, I can see where that makes sense now that I know where you're coming from. In part, you actually were attempting to flip the entire "traps are gay" joke on its head and underscore that trans girls are girls because if Tsugumi was transgender (no -ed), then Kasumi's attraction would be homosexual, because it's a girl attracted to another girl regardless of anatomy. It doesn't really change my concern about the fact that trans people aren't "traps" (because "trap" pretty much means "deceptive"), but it does address my second concern. I think it did get lost though with you labeling Tsugumi a boy before getting to that point. I think the AMV moves too fast for that kind of point to be picked up by the viewer. The AMV is too chaotic, and that point too serious. Given Kasumi's BL taste, I just assumed you were referencing the common "traps are gay" joke in the English speaking anime fandom "community," which is a fundamental misunderstanding of trans characters in anime, and trans identities in Japan more generally.

I didn't have many technical complaints about the video, I thought it was well edited, though it's definitely harsh and, as I say, chaotic, and I don't know that it's the type of AMV I'd want to watch over and over again.

[seasons]

That was really weird (massive amounts of NSFW humor, for anyone who's read this far and still hasn't watched it), which I get the feeling is what you were going for so I'd venture to guess this AMV was a success. Pretty decent sync in all respects.

I'm extremely challenged when it comes to reading vertical text that doesn't stay on the screen for more than a second or two, maybe I'm alone here, I don't know.