Flyvapnet (Level 5)

So, hatred is part of being cool?  You find someone "annoying" so you hate them?  Maybe the lyric John Lennon meant to write was:  "All you need is hate."  Everybody, sing!

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Female character hate is lame. by =schellen on deviantART

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Thanks, HeeroYuy, for your supportive understanding of my assertion that Yoko had PTSD and that Gainax cruelly destroyed her integrity in episode 12.  Indeed, it's a fact a meeting was held at Gainax several episodes into the series' production; and at the meeting it was ordered that Yoko and Kamina be gotten rid of, because some executive thought the "adventure series" theme wouldn't bring in as much money as  would a return to use of formulae (i.e., use of a magical-princess character).  So the formulae were imposed, Kamina was killed off, Nia was brought in deus ex machina style and Yoko was first publicly humiliated (episode 12) and then pushed into the distant background.

It's my understanding the creative staff were quite unhappy about this decision, but orders are orders -- if one wants a paycheck.  I'm thankful, obviously, that they didn't kill off Yoko while they were at it; and I'm further grateful for the fact she was permitted to make a few very-brief but very-important cameo appearances later in the series.  Plus, this news from gia of Yoko's having her own box set -- well, that's just great!  My all-time fiction hero, Yoko from Ritona village, is embarked upon yet another adventure.

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Yes, HeeroYuy, I am thinking of those serious scenes; but I'm also thinking of scenes from prior episodes.  Yoko was very depressed, much more so than anyone else, over Kamina's death.  To an extent, that's only natural.   But when combined with her knocking back a bunch of drinks, being irritable, sullen, being violently angry at the beach, etc., it begins adding up to something larger.  I say it's PTSD.  The jealousy part is, in my view, entirely contrived by Gainax in a (successful) effort to denigrate Yoko and make Underage Princess Perfect seem the omnipotent angel.

Now, the "playing on the beach" parts of episode 12 concern me as well; and that's because Yoko is in fact a quite superior athlete (refer to her rappelling entrance in episode 1 plus her lengthy experience at climbing, running and walking with a 35-pound rifle and its ammunition whilst the males all ride around in big machines) and the idea of Nia winning athletic contests against her is so absurd as to be laughable.  I don't see those beach scenes as just messing around but rather as a dishonorable and mean-spirited way for Gainax to impeach their lead-female character's reputation.  So in my view, there are no lighthearted scenes in episode 12.

What also baffles me is why  people seem to accept the blatant sexism of a bunch of guys at the beach asserting their supposed right to see Yoko in less clothing; but then people accepted without question Kamina's asserted right in episode 6 to see Yoko and the Bachika sisters without any clothing at all!  Perhaps I digress.  Anyway, the whole get-rid-of-Yoko political scenario at Gainax still makes me see red.  I'm sure you're right, HeeroYuy, insofar as Black_Rose and I probably see things from different perspectives.

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I'm sorry to be so late getting back to you, Black_Rose, but here's the thing:  every corporate product has a target audience; and I've been informed the target audience for anime is young males.  Thankfully, at least in Europe and North America, not many young men today have been either called upon or forced to take part in military combat.  Consequently, there aren't many in this particular target audience who would be able to fully appreciate such things as combat or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  This isn't a slam against a generation, just a fact of current events; and I'm sorry I didn't communicate better regarding this aspect of the matter.

We're all victims of our own experience; and I respect your opinion, that Yoko was merely manifesting a normal human characteristic (jealousy) and wasn't traumatized in some way.  My own experience, however, causes me to see her as a warrior who's been in combat too long and has seen too many people die or suffer; and that in spite of her considerable emotional and mental strength she's begun to manifest symptoms of PTSD -- anger, depression, drinking, irritability, etc.

See, it's very difficult for me to envision Yoko as the jealous type.  She'd always been a calm center of rationality and reason, so for her to suddenly become violently jealous is too contrived a situation -- in my view.  But it's quite easy for me to see her as a victim of what used to be called combat fatigue, which debilitates one's mental facilities and is often manifested by out-of-character behavior.  A jealous Yoko is, in my opinion, an out-of-character Yoko. 

Gainax could have picked anyone else, Nia for that matter, to be its beach-party victim; but they inexplicably chose Yoko, who had been a hero and life-saver in addition to being one of the three original lead characters.  I fail to see why Yoko was chosen to be the one humiliated, after all she'd been through and done for the Brigade.  I also find it inconceivable that athletic Yoko could have lost athletic contests to the likes of Nia.  It's impossible, unless Nia had "special powers"; and that would mean she cheated.  Several others, who have much more expertise on the subject of anime than I,  have told me that episode was contrived by Gainax for the sole purpose of making Nia look good and Yoko look bad.  It worked; and for that, I'm very sorry.

Anyway, perhaps we'll just have to agree to disagree on this:  I can't see Yoko being jealous of anybody in the traditional understanding of what jealousy is; and you can't see her suffering from PTSD.  Regardless, Yoko was made to look the fool.  She deserved much better treatment.

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Thanks, Devilly!  Well, it worked.  jlrm01 provided the key bit of information:  the (somewhat hidden) text box.  Ta da!  I love happy endings.

Thanks a bunch, jlrm01, for your help!  I'd tried both Internet Explorer and Safari, to no avail; but I didn't realize there was a text box near that tick-box!  Black backgrounds are so helpful.

Thanks, folks, for your input!  My local machine is a Toshiba Tecra S1 Notebook.  My operating system is Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3.  I'm using Mozilla Firefox Version 3.0.7; but I'll go try Windows Internet Explorer 8 Version 8.0.6001.18372 and see what happens.  Wish me luck!

I wrote a new topic for the message board and added a poll.  When I clicked "Submit," I was told I needed a question and at least two answers.  I was staring at a question and four answers!  I tried backing up, to cancel the malfunctioning poll and simply post my new topic, but nothing was there.  My post had simply vanished!

Another thing:  I've tried making separate albums in my Gallery, but the tick-box  which supposedly enables that function doesn't work.  What's the deal there?

I dislike seeing my work vanish into thin air, even as I dislike encountering simple functions which turn out to be locked.  Is this Web site just one big video game?

So, Black_Rose, tell me about your experience in combat -- or, your experience with post-traumatic stress disorder.  You're blithely dismissive of my recognizing in Yoko's out-of-character behavior something I've seen many times before and have experienced myself.  But by all means, hurry to discount that too!

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Yoko Ritona is my all-time favorite character from artistic and literary fiction.  It's a tragedy that the same corporation which created Yoko and imbued her with so many fine qualities then turned around and destroyed her in episode 12.  But at least Gainax later tried to undo their damage by showing Yoko successfully pursuing an honorable and respected career in education at war's end.  I think Yoko did a stellar job as lead female character; and it's a pity Gainax failed to recognize the positive impact their own creation -- Yoko -- had on the series.  She could easily carry a series of her own!

On a personal level, I relate to Yoko because both of us are combat-zone veterans of voluntary military service.  The considerable psychological baggage one accrues from spending too much time in combat took its toll on Yoko, who had great mental stamina but finally succumbed to a psychological breakdown in the episodes following Kamina's death.  The fact that her friends chose to abandon her during that time, in favor of the shiny new distraction, was what tipped Yoko over the edge:  she needed companionship and compassion more than ever, but all she got was loneliness.  Sadly, none of her friends appreciated her plight; and this has long been the case in real life with many, many combat veterans when they were struggling with the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder.

I'm willing to bet very few of those who've screened that anime series picked up on what was happening to Yoko in those episodes immediately prior to Gainax dishonorably making her a human punching bag in episode 12.  At least somebody on the Gainax creative staff was able to sneak clues to Yoko's failing health into the script, but that subtext was apparently lost on the target audience -- which doesn't surprise me.  I think a compromise must have been reached between the Gainax creative staff, which liked Yoko, and the management executives who wanted her gone because she was too much of a departure from their precious formulae.

Boota likes to climb into the cleavage between Yoko Ritona's  breasts because it's a much more rewarding experience than hanging around with some male kid.  I think Boota knew Simon needed someone to lean on, whereas Yoko always stood on her own two feet.  But were I Boota, I know who I'd hang with:  Yoko.

Yay!  RedRoses, your advice has solved the problem!  Thank you!  I ended up just putting the story title there, where "Chapter One" had been.  Maybe I'll go back and just make it blank, though, now that my courage has increased.  I love happy endings!

See, RedRoses, that's the problem:  How do I edit the words "Chapter One" out of there?  They're like a permanent fixture.  I can't figure out how to get rid of them.  Well, it's not a life-or-death problem, that's for sure!  Somehow I will survive in this valley of tears....  LOL!

Thank you, RedRoses, for at least letting me know there's presently no way to clean up my profile page.  *shakes head*  By the way, it was your posting of those excellent artistic Yoko Ritona images which inspired me to join this Web site.  Thanks for that!

How do I get rid of the subtitle 'Chapter One' in my short fan-fiction story?  There are no chapters!  Having 'Chapter One' hanging there is both misleading and ugly.  Please help!  Thank you.

On my profile page are two meaningless entries under 'Activities.'  They're aborted attempts to publish a fan-fiction story.  How do I get rid of these unsightly, irrelevant entries?  I finally succeeded in publishing the story, on my third try.  Tell me there's a way to get rid of those phony entries, please.  Thank you.  *is not happy*