Utena meta: Why I love Shiori
Dec. 13th, 2018 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikogalateaIt's not exactly a secret that Shiori is my favourite Utena character, and since 2012 I've written a lot about her on Tumblr -- whether it's defending her and establishing why she's not the scum of the universe most of the fandom thinks she is (that was even literally my tag for such posts: shiori is not the scum of the universe) or examining certain scenes and seeing how they reflect on her character.
Unsurprisingly, I've had a few people send me asks about why I love this incredibly unpopular character so much, so I thought this particular response I wrote around 4 years ago would be a good place to start as far as porting my Shiori-related posts over to here goes.
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Honestly, I never expected to love her as much as I do, never mind the fact that she became my favourite character! I'd heard some horror stories about her before I actually got into Utena, but when I watched episode 17 for myself, I must've spent a good part of it wondering if I was seeing a totally different character to most of the fandom.
One of the big reasons I love Shiori is because I relate to her a lot; I may not lash out at people in the way that she does, but I do see myself in a lot of other aspects of her character. She has crushing self-esteem issues, which I've certainly experienced; she hates being coddled or treated with pity, much as I do; she can be distrusting of other people's intentions even when they're nice to her, much like me; and she has a bad tendency to bottle up her negative feelings, which I'm guilty of as well.
Even when I take myself out of the equation, I feel that all her flaws make her one of the most realistic and bitterly human characters in the series. Her neuroses are very fascinating to me as well, especially the way her romantic feelings for Juri are buried under several layers of jealousy and resentment and internalised homophobia. It all makes her such an interesting character to watch, even if it can be painful for me sometimes; I think Shiori is actually a very tragic character, and one of the things that makes her tragic is the fact that she does not help her own case. (The same can be said for Juri, really -- and a lot of the other characters, for that matter.)
Finally, for a character who's only really in a few episodes, she's pretty well developed. She undergoes some subtle change even over the course of episode 29 (going from hiding in her room and snapping at Juri to quietly following her home, plus the way her chair is turned to face Juri's by the end is worth noting) and by her final appearance, it's clear that she's gaining a lot more confidence and is on her way to having a better relationship with Juri. I really have to hand it to Be-PaPas for writing secondary characters like her so well. ♥
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I won't be bringing over every single one of my old Shiori posts -- there's way too many of them, I tend to say the same things several times, and some of them don't quite reflect my current feelings, among other reasons -- but I do want to get my favourite pieces over here. :3
Unsurprisingly, I've had a few people send me asks about why I love this incredibly unpopular character so much, so I thought this particular response I wrote around 4 years ago would be a good place to start as far as porting my Shiori-related posts over to here goes.
-
Honestly, I never expected to love her as much as I do, never mind the fact that she became my favourite character! I'd heard some horror stories about her before I actually got into Utena, but when I watched episode 17 for myself, I must've spent a good part of it wondering if I was seeing a totally different character to most of the fandom.
One of the big reasons I love Shiori is because I relate to her a lot; I may not lash out at people in the way that she does, but I do see myself in a lot of other aspects of her character. She has crushing self-esteem issues, which I've certainly experienced; she hates being coddled or treated with pity, much as I do; she can be distrusting of other people's intentions even when they're nice to her, much like me; and she has a bad tendency to bottle up her negative feelings, which I'm guilty of as well.
Even when I take myself out of the equation, I feel that all her flaws make her one of the most realistic and bitterly human characters in the series. Her neuroses are very fascinating to me as well, especially the way her romantic feelings for Juri are buried under several layers of jealousy and resentment and internalised homophobia. It all makes her such an interesting character to watch, even if it can be painful for me sometimes; I think Shiori is actually a very tragic character, and one of the things that makes her tragic is the fact that she does not help her own case. (The same can be said for Juri, really -- and a lot of the other characters, for that matter.)
Finally, for a character who's only really in a few episodes, she's pretty well developed. She undergoes some subtle change even over the course of episode 29 (going from hiding in her room and snapping at Juri to quietly following her home, plus the way her chair is turned to face Juri's by the end is worth noting) and by her final appearance, it's clear that she's gaining a lot more confidence and is on her way to having a better relationship with Juri. I really have to hand it to Be-PaPas for writing secondary characters like her so well. ♥
-
I won't be bringing over every single one of my old Shiori posts -- there's way too many of them, I tend to say the same things several times, and some of them don't quite reflect my current feelings, among other reasons -- but I do want to get my favourite pieces over here. :3
no subject
Date: 2018-12-13 09:20 pm (UTC)