la_vie_noire (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
la_vie_noire) wrote2011-01-07 10:29 pm
la_vie_noire) wrote2011-01-07 10:29 pm
Entry tags:
Eden, vol 3. Promised complaining delivered.
Well, see, this manga has problems, but somehow it managed to have two secondary characters of color, a black man (ex-soldier) and a Andean Indigenous girl who were both shown as awesome sympathetic characters, going by themselves on a mission, bonding in a platonic way, talking about themselves and their issues (briefly), and we got to see their respective pasts. All this in two volumes.
Dude, the research was even good! Kachua, the girl, even loved everything about Inca's culture. Wycliffe, the soldier, was a knowledgeable man.
We got dialogue like this:
WYCLIFFE: They say that in this fortress of Sacsayhuamán... Francisco Pizarro and Manco Cápac had their worst battle, right?
KACHUA: Yes, this is the entrance of the capital city and we can see Cuzco from here.
WYCLIFFE: Kachua.
KACHUA: Yes?
WYCLIFFE: The Incas lost their fight here. But we will win.
You know, this manga has a lot of talk about power inequalities. They are in South America, we have quotes like: "people join the guerrilla because they are poor; a small group owns everything, and the rest of the population only can fight for equality."
Now. What can you do to mess this? YOU KILL THEM MESSILY AND HORRIBLY AND POINTLESSLY TOGETHER AT THE END OF VOL 3. YES. ONLY THE TWO OF THEM. DIED TOGETHER HORRIBLY. Because this manga? It's also gore.
Wycliffe, who couldn't save a little girl who died by one of his mines in his past as a soldier (in what, I assume, was an African nation; even if the protagonist described him as "a Caribbean man," didn't look like it), wanted to save Kachua who was going to have the same fate as the girl. HE FAILED HORRIBLY and we got the very gruesome death of them together.
And I get the: "oh, let's kill horribly two sympathetic characters who everyone thinks are going to survive and are become main characters to show the world I'm daring and edgy!" But you know what? MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS IN THIS MANGA ARE STILL WHITE, and not seeing many black characters here right now (who knows if we will get another one positively depicted). The protagonist is a cis white boy. SO FUCK YOU, MANGA. (Yes, there is lot of mention of race and ethnicity here. There is actually one Japanese character among the main group: Kenji, a kinda sociopathic troubled man.)
Also, Helena, the most awesome thing manga gave, was a friend of Kachua (the two of them together had an amazing bonding in vol two). Both are girls of color. Helena, a Peruvian badass cynical and incredibly awesome young prostitute (who really looks like is going to become the protagonist love interest, but well, if that can keep her alive), made Kachua promise her she was going to survive. Helena also had the last words of this volume, which I shared: "GO TO HELL!" (Just for a note: while the protagonist cried and covered his face, she screamed in rage. But nothing to be surprised if you know their interaction; she is older, and he looks really naive in comparison.)
but Helena alone can make me continue this manga.
Dude, the research was even good! Kachua, the girl, even loved everything about Inca's culture. Wycliffe, the soldier, was a knowledgeable man.
We got dialogue like this:
WYCLIFFE: They say that in this fortress of Sacsayhuamán... Francisco Pizarro and Manco Cápac had their worst battle, right?
KACHUA: Yes, this is the entrance of the capital city and we can see Cuzco from here.
WYCLIFFE: Kachua.
KACHUA: Yes?
WYCLIFFE: The Incas lost their fight here. But we will win.
You know, this manga has a lot of talk about power inequalities. They are in South America, we have quotes like: "people join the guerrilla because they are poor; a small group owns everything, and the rest of the population only can fight for equality."
Now. What can you do to mess this? YOU KILL THEM MESSILY AND HORRIBLY AND POINTLESSLY TOGETHER AT THE END OF VOL 3. YES. ONLY THE TWO OF THEM. DIED TOGETHER HORRIBLY. Because this manga? It's also gore.
Wycliffe, who couldn't save a little girl who died by one of his mines in his past as a soldier (in what, I assume, was an African nation; even if the protagonist described him as "a Caribbean man," didn't look like it), wanted to save Kachua who was going to have the same fate as the girl. HE FAILED HORRIBLY and we got the very gruesome death of them together.
And I get the: "oh, let's kill horribly two sympathetic characters who everyone thinks are going to survive and are become main characters to show the world I'm daring and edgy!" But you know what? MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERS IN THIS MANGA ARE STILL WHITE, and not seeing many black characters here right now (who knows if we will get another one positively depicted). The protagonist is a cis white boy. SO FUCK YOU, MANGA. (Yes, there is lot of mention of race and ethnicity here. There is actually one Japanese character among the main group: Kenji, a kinda sociopathic troubled man.)
Also, Helena, the most awesome thing manga gave, was a friend of Kachua (the two of them together had an amazing bonding in vol two). Both are girls of color. Helena, a Peruvian badass cynical and incredibly awesome young prostitute (who really looks like is going to become the protagonist love interest, but well, if that can keep her alive), made Kachua promise her she was going to survive. Helena also had the last words of this volume, which I shared: "GO TO HELL!" (Just for a note: while the protagonist cried and covered his face, she screamed in rage. But nothing to be surprised if you know their interaction; she is older, and he looks really naive in comparison.)
but Helena alone can make me continue this manga.