Charmed by two-faced beauties
Hypocrisy is often regarded as an Absolutely Bad Thing. I don’t think it’s necessarily so. Scholars, like Nils Brunsson, have even argued that it is not only an inescapable part of complex social forms of life but also an essential part that keeps things going. While not as essential to anime, the two-faced beauty is often a treat to watch. And we have two such exemplars this fall.
Kawashima Ami, who appeared in Ep 5 of ToraDora, gave me serious Asakura Ryoko vibes. But on further reflection, aside from the long blue hair and coquettish giggle, the resemblance broke down quite quickly. Hypocrisy is not something I could accuse Ryoko of. After all, she still has the same consistently cheerful manner when she’s doing her ‘Pretty please you’re Haruhi’s spokesman’ to her ‘Let’s gut you to get some reaction from Haruhi’ to Kyon. And also because Ami doesn’t seem to have Ryoko’s level of naughtiness. Furthermore there’s no possibility of some evil psychotic lesbian action from Ami in the way that we can expect from the Ryoko of The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi. *Sigh* Nonetheless I’m looking forward to see how Ami becomes integrated into the core group and how the dynamics will play out - mostly because it’s a welcome departure from more Taiga-abuse of Ryuuji.
On the treant front, Stripey has moved firmly into the Zange camp while I’m joining totali in the Nagi fan club. She’s got her cute girl, nun-cosplaying idol act; on the flip side, there’s her willingness, nay, eagerness to be nasty to Nagi - though that may be completely justified given Nagi’s haughtiness. For me, the most troubling thing about Zange is her possession of Hakua. It might be an arrangement by mutual consent, it’s still damn wrong. But as this series doesn’t seem to be the zero sum type of anime, I’m looking forward to see how Zange will release Hakua and reconcile with Nagi.
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