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JackJeanne: Kokuto Neji
Sep. 27th, 2024 08:46 pmMasterlist
I had SUCH mixed feelings about this route. Some parts worked really well, other parts were Interestingly Flawed, and others were just... REALLY DUMB AND IRRITATING.
I went in thinking he was cheerfully bi and androgynous but bad at sexual boundaries, and quickly realised he is a whole OTHER kind of mess.
Overall the central problem with this route is that classic romance trope where the male love interest has a specific trauma response which is designed to be a believable angsty impediment to the relationship, but can also believably be fixed by the Power of Love. The trauma itself was believable and handled reasonably well in a "trauma healed by the power of love and friendship" sorta way, but his trauma response was a mixture of effective and VERY SILLY AND ALSO SEXIST that kept throwing me out of the story.
Also the narrative leaned a little too hard onto what an INCREDIBLE genius Neji is, and Kisa was a little too passive for my tastes. But they do have some great romantic scenes.
The rollercoaster of "this feels aggressively queer"/"this feels aggressively cishet" was pretty intense on this route. I kinda feel like Neji was intentionally written as implicitly attracted to men, and accidentally written with trans vibes, but god knows.
Content note: suicide, Unfortunate Gender Shit, mild dubcon, mental health problems handled in a well meaning but flawed way
( Read more... )
I had SUCH mixed feelings about this route. Some parts worked really well, other parts were Interestingly Flawed, and others were just... REALLY DUMB AND IRRITATING.
I went in thinking he was cheerfully bi and androgynous but bad at sexual boundaries, and quickly realised he is a whole OTHER kind of mess.
Overall the central problem with this route is that classic romance trope where the male love interest has a specific trauma response which is designed to be a believable angsty impediment to the relationship, but can also believably be fixed by the Power of Love. The trauma itself was believable and handled reasonably well in a "trauma healed by the power of love and friendship" sorta way, but his trauma response was a mixture of effective and VERY SILLY AND ALSO SEXIST that kept throwing me out of the story.
Also the narrative leaned a little too hard onto what an INCREDIBLE genius Neji is, and Kisa was a little too passive for my tastes. But they do have some great romantic scenes.
The rollercoaster of "this feels aggressively queer"/"this feels aggressively cishet" was pretty intense on this route. I kinda feel like Neji was intentionally written as implicitly attracted to men, and accidentally written with trans vibes, but god knows.
Content note: suicide, Unfortunate Gender Shit, mild dubcon, mental health problems handled in a well meaning but flawed way
( Read more... )
