Hands up, step away

[foxinthestars]

(Yes, my parents watch a lot of Iron Chef America and Chopped...)

Time to quit fussing with the Yule 'fic. Any mistakes or clumsy bits left in can just stay, but I was fussing with it until just now. Someone on the IRC was kind enough to look over it for me after the proper deadline; it took me longer than it should have to work with their advice due to an attack of "freak out at slightest criticism," and some things I just disagreed with them and stuck to my guns, but they helped me improve in other places.

Anyway, the story, along with the rest of the Yuletide collection, will go live in the morning. People on my access list have been told enough about my assignment to find the one I wrote if they like (or narrow it down very far at least).


While distracting myself from the freaking-out-at-slightest-criticism, I also indulged in my monthly anime marathon. This time I picked Chihayafuru because I'd been meaning to watch it and heard that it has another season coming up. I enjoyed it immensely, and a couple of things particularly caught me. First, two of the hero team members are guys who are not conventionally attractive; they aren't the leads, but they are portrayed in an uncommonly serious and positive way that was nice to see. The other point is more fundamental; I actually don't have much history with sports anime/manga generally and none with shoujo sports before this so it might not be as unusual as it seems, but I love how normal it is for the heroes to lose their games on this show. The "club goes to nationals first year in existence" trope does happen, and of course they all say "I want to win/I have to win," but very often they do lose, enough that the story seems less focused on achieving victory than on learning and moving forward, and I find that really refreshing and positive. Totally looking forward to that upcoming season!

Comments

[branchandroot]

I think it does happen more often with shoujo sports, and also, oddly enough, it seems to happen more often that the heroine and maybe her rival go on alone in individual competition after the team goes down. The girls get to be more individual? Not what I'd have expected but I like it. I think the way Chihayafuru did that all was especially good, though! I really liked how much time the whole team and the relationships between all of them get, and how slowly the three main characters are making their way through their challenges. I'll totally be watching the new season!