Girls Band Cry is the fantasy of having somebody who cares when you have a trauma-based meltdown while out with them and will go after you to find out what's wrong instead of continuing the fun without you, oblivious to your distress
Jellyfish Can't Swim At Night is the fantasy of having somebody who cares when you have a self-hatred spiral meltdown about how much you've isolated yourself from the world and then get reminded about how your gender presentation both offends larger society and that men still see you as a sexual target for predation
Jellyfish went wild this episode and really raised the bar in its head-to-head competition with Girls Band Cry. Every episode feels like the two are responding to each other.
What makes the confession and kiss not feel like "just gal pals" anime friendship stuff, is that both didn't act like it was just a normal friendship thing. It clearly affected them, they realized what happened, and given that it's only episode 5 (god every episode of all 4 music lesbian anime this cour feels like a gd MOVIE), it's very likely going to be followed up on.
Like how I said with Kizuna no Allele having Quan be trans, a show about the freedom of the virtual world to define who you are not having a trans girl would feel like a missed opportunity, similarly, if Jellyfish, a show about girls pushing back on societal expectations of being a "good girl" (it's even in the opening song) didn't have any exploration of queerness it would also feel like a missed opportunity. And I'm glad it did!
They also dipped their toe in exploring non-normative gender expression with Kiwi/Kiui & the double bind of not being "feminine" enough for society while still being seen as a target for sexual predation and street harassment from men. And like KnA, also said that there's nothing wrong with defining yourself however you want online.
@ami_angelwings gawd I have been adoring pretty much everything about jellyfish can't swim in the night and I'm so glad others are too. This show is a beautiful social commentary masquerading as a slice-of-life moe romp
according to the writer of Jellyfish, the kiss was suggested by the director who said it made sense, and I hope this is all part of keikaku and the writer isn't looking at social media being like "what did you just get me into" and the director being like ">:3c"
I also hope this doesn't mean we're pulling back to class S or unreciprocated, cuz there's gonna be so much chaos if they do that
@CeeZ if they pull back on this it'll be worse than if they did nothing at all, b/c in the past it was like "well it's just intense girl feelings but they're not gonna kiss" but if even KISSING and STARING AT EACH OTHER AFTER doesn't mean yuri, then it's gonna wreck things for yuri fans going forward in terms of trauma and not being able to trust
@ami_angelwings 100% yes, like I'd still finish the series but I'd be mad about it because of ALL THE SIGNALS. ALL OF THEM. I WROTE A BIG WALL OF TEXT ABOUT JUST ONE EPISODE. There's so much more.
@CeeZ this being the season of Hibike Euphonium s3 is either a sign that Jellyfish is here to fix its sins or an omen that we're about to get even more cursed
@CeeZ but like there were so many signals, from the angel/devil yuri poster at the beginning and then the two of them wearing the angel and devil costumes finding each other at the end of it, and the love song Kano sung to Mahiru in the first episode, then the reciprocal love song Mahiru wrote for Kano in episode 4 after saying there's somebody she's into, and Kano getting naked in Mahiru's room and wearing her clothes and pressing her face into her stomach, the aquarium date... like if even ALL OF THAT is just "gals being pals" then there's gonna be so much chaos and disintegrations
@ami_angelwings the lip closeup! when Mahiru was talking to Kano on the train and getting really close when trying to pry the reason she wanted her specifically to draw
how was this not Kano stealing a glance at her lips
like by the end of that episode I would've been shocked if something HADN'T happened
@ami_angelwings so glad more people are seeing it like this because I was starting to think I was going mad seeing people say that ending was such a surprise
doesn't stop me losing my shit over it but SOMETHING had to happen with all that buildup, if not now, then soon
@waitworry@CeeZ i have been thinking about how much yuri fandom feels like being fans of a cursed team, like you never expect them to win so you can't be disappointed but deep down you still care and then they get you within striking distance and suck you back in and then axe falls cuz of course it does and now you're less trusting than ever before
i never thought Mei was anything other than a weirdo stalker whose main role was comic relief, so I never thought of her as a real romantic rival, but the memes that have come out about her getting corked/girlblocked by The Kiss™ are very funny, esp since the official promo material even gets in on it xD
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