Oh, Love Live: School Idol Project... what an endearing little accident you turned out to be.
If only the end of Rin's arc didn't make me want to smash a wardrobe door to smithereens.
(BTW I would of linked a script here to a video I scrapped on the subject, but because of the forums supposed censors and something about a spam algorithm, I've had to make concessions).
I've always been in conflict with myself whether or not this episode of Rin's arc, or Kotori's ep.9-13 excuse for a 'character arc' is ultimately worse, but given that this thread is implying singular episodes, I'll stick to the one for this example. My main problem with Episode 18 (known as 'A New Me') is not only idiotic, but arguably pretty sexist in it's execution of a character with (supposed) body consciousness / confidence issues, and her "femininity" (which don't worry, we'll get to). Rin is probably best 3/4 if we're talking purely character design, but her incessant nya-ing tried my patience on many an occasion, which (atop what I'm about to discuss) dragged her down to worst 2 girls (tied with Kotori).
The first thing that sets off all the sirens is the fact that all of the 2nd years (Honoka/Kotori/Umi) are off on some school trip to Hawaii (as you do...), which is one gigantic pace break off the back of Episode 17 (the end of Nico's arc, I might add). This is obviously one gigantic contrivance for the up-and-coming conflict as part of Rin's arc, atop the Typhoon that the 2nd years end up stuck in (because hey, we annoyed Mega Rayquaza, for some reason). Goes without saying that if Honoka and co. weren't on the other side of the planet, this physically wouldn't be a conflict even if it had legitimacy (which it doesn't).
Sure enough, some bright spark intern thought it would be funny to have Rin be the team leader temporarily, in spite of the fact that:
- Maki has enough agency and experience to at least hold the team up, and also seems to know better given that an earlier episode (episode 8, if I'm not mistaken) had her butting heads with Umi (who Eli had rubbed off on). Instead she ends up bickering with Nico over some minutia.
- Speaking of which, Nico would have no reason to be here did she not come off the back of her character arc.
- Nozomi/Eli are far better guiding figures all around, being the most mature 3rd years. Instead they're busy because SCP is open (again) and Eli only stepped down because something something burnout.
Which leaves Rin to 'lead' because potatoes. Sure enough, shenanigans ensure, and Rin doesn't have the agency to keep up.
After all of that, we get to a "pep talk" Maki (and by extension Hanayo) gives Rin on the way back, which I put pep talk in giant inverted commas simply because it really just berates Rin for 'not being girly' enough for them, and some notion about 'is this what you think of yourself?' Which Maki knows damn well that Rin can take in so many different ways (instead of running off) because it's that vague. We also get another flashback to a 6-year-old Rin and Hanayo with Rin in a dress, and a bunch of similarly-aged boys running past, mocking her for "usually wearing shorts", and this is the bit that REALLY grinds my gears.
Firstly, the bit where it says 'you usually' implies that her more tomboyish attitude was her decision from an early age (and given her more athletic applications such as that one gag in episode 5, she likely never regretted it). I mean, who in the entirety of Japanese academia is teaching nursery-age girls... what, exactly? Did the Marxist dismissal of sex/gender differences slip into this one before red-pilled nippon caught on? Well, given Eli's 'tree climbs your family' Russian heritage, that wouldn't surprise me. Why do we not see their parents, either? And how come Hanayo isn't getting crap for the same logic? In spite of one teensy-weensy but ever so crucial tiny little detail… YOU WERE A WITNESS. Was there literally nothing Hanayo could have said to Rin to get it through to her head that the only reason she's like this after 8 YEARS is because of a group of brats that CLEARLY aren’t worth either of their time, especially considering the clout Muse is getting through being one of the fastest-climbing idol groups in the country? How has this farce taken you 18 episodes to address, anyway? (And yes, I DID just cut-paste this straight from the script, because there's no better way to put it all).
For the record, 'you usually' being a translation error isn't something I want to discredit immediately, but an oversight 180-ing context like this? I thought we were over these file-ems of fail after Dr. Gero being a 'brilliant scientist'... or was it Goku's farther? I can't quite remember.
Second bit goes after the white dress one of Rin (who ultimately receives it) or Hanayo was going to wear for the dress concert / catwalk at the end of the episode. Oh yeah, did I mention that was a thing? And this was why you put Rin on a mental time crunch beforehand 'cos she needs to lead' for no reason?
There's also one scene that negotiated who was going to wear the white dress, and for a split second it looked like Hanayo was going to take it off her, taking pressure off Rin, and strengthening Hanayo as a character. But no, the episode does ANOTHER 180 backstage last minute, and hands it back to Rin. Besides being a real jerk move on the show's part, this scene (and by extension episode) just feels so wrong on so many levels, which I say for several reasons. For starters, this whole 'femininity' angle is a giant non-sequitur for the simple reason that back in episode 16, Rin would be seen in some kind of medium dress as part of Muse's performance vs A-RISE. Why? How? If she has some phobia of dresses, was this episode delayed or something, in the wake of most-relevant-at-the-time hurricane? Not likely, given that CR says this episode came out in May.
That's another point - the way this episode (and Rin's character on several fundamental levels) is structured makes me wonder if an earlier draft of her was some FtM Trans / Dysphoric, with a de-transition arc in the middle. I know I made that joke about renaming her Len or Joey, but I think it's a legitimate inquiry to ask whether or not this was intended before the writing staff scrapped the idea at the concept stage (or made it a last minute change with 99% of the story beats left in) because no one had the knowledge of the subject matter by any... reasonable definition. "It was foreshadowing the fact that she was even interested in Idols" you might say. Oh? Just say she was bi or something, worked for the rest of the team. Call it a ship, because I'm in the same boat as a certain pirate.
Either way, it's disappointing, knowing that the nationalist Japanese do progressivism better than a lot of us here in the west.
And this is the reason Ep. 18 cheeses me off, and is one of the few things I would legitimately call sexist (atop everyone bar Rin looking like Inquisitors by the end of the episode). Anyway, enough of my ramblings, I'm a lot more Tory than most. As I said, Love Live SIP is a show I both loved and hated at the same time, and episodes like this are the reason for the latter.
