And so we keep marching on with the series of posts. This one revolves around the show’s premier mask-wearer, Ninomiya Rui, the show’s would-be-utopian benevolent dictator, and one of the show’s many unsure characters. Two small write-ups, the first focusing on his uncertainty (and on using “he”), and the second on the nature of the world, as he sees it, and wishes to reshape it.
This is a Things I Like post, it’s not a review, but more a discussion of the show and of ideas that rose in my mind as a result of watching the show. There will be spoilers for the entire first season of the show.
Return to the Gatchaman Crowds Project page.
Rui and Protective Masks, The Battledress of Make-up:
Man, I’m entering this one with trepidation. So, a couple of notes beforehand. I’m not interested in discussing whether Rui is a man or a woman. I can see arguments for both sides, and I don’t have qualms and won’t argue against anyone who wishes to call Rui a “he”, nor against those who wish to call Rui a “she”. I’m sure there can be fascinating discussions on the topic, and how it relates to presentation of gender and cross-dressing in anime in general (usually quite awfully, but another great show from 2013 that did this mostly very well was Genshiken Nidaime), but it’s not the discussion I wish to be having here. I’m referring to Rui as a “he” because that’s how Hajime did, and because that’s how he first appeared before us, and for a number of other small characterizations.
Geekorner-Geekulture. 