Comment on [Episode] The Ramparts of Ice • Koori no Jouheki - Episode 2 discussion
Rottcodd@ani.social 2 months ago
Huh… this has taken a sort of odd and interesting turn.
Koyun isn’t quite the loner she initially appeared to be. She does have her “rampart of ice,” but she showed with Yota that she’s willing to let someone past, and fairly easily even, if they prove themselves to be trustworthy.
But she still has her rampart up with Minato. And although he came across initially as just sort of filterless, it’s looking more all the time as if what he actually is is self-absorbed and reflexively manipulative, so that’s probably a good thing.
More subtle dynamics than I was expecting.
goreverminski@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I would say that Minato and Koyun are in similar ruts, just from the opposite angle. Minato doesn’t know how to stop, and Koyun doesn’t know how to start. I am loving how her dumbfoundedness is animated, it’s much funnier here than in the manga.
Rottcodd@ani.social 2 months ago
I haven’t read the manga so can’t compare them, but I especially like Koyun’s character design. There’s something very appealing about the contours of her face and the shape of her eyes - she has a “wise beyond her years” look about her.
And yeah - it’s probably true that Koyun and Minato are similar, but in opposite directions. Minato is sort of an even worse version of the kind of person Suzuki in You and I Are Polar Opposites wanted to stop being. It doesn’t appear that he’s consciously manipulative - rather, it’s that, in Suzuki’s words, he constantly “reads the room” and tailors what he says and what he does to what he thinks will fit him in best.
But conscious or not, that still works out as manipulative, and Koyun sees it and isn’t having it.
But Koyun goes too far in the opposite direction. First off, she fails to correctly read the room - she’s hypersensitive to being teased and more to the point, she misunderstands it - the examples of her being teased in elementary school that bother her so much are relatively low key and appear to be, and are specifically said to be by other characters, examples of boys in particular saying teasing things because they like her and that embarrasses them and that’s what boys do when they’re embarrassed. But she thinks they’re all just mean-spirited and deliberately hurtful, so she shuts them out entirely.
And Miki is actually sort of a mix of the two - shifting back and forth between her public persona, who constantly reads the room and plays the role demanded of her, and her private persona, who hides behind her wall and couldn’t care less.
And then there’s Youta… He appears to be entirely the opposite of the rest - he’s entirely and completely open, with no walls and no poses.
Unless that’s another type of pose…
goreverminski@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yeah, Koyun can’t even begin to wrap her head around as to why Minato would even try to approach her. It simply all seems fishy to her, lol. That’s why Minato is going to have such a hard time doing his usual thing.
It’s actually really funny to see Koyun go thru the various alternative behaviours she can think up in real time, trying to see what might work in a particular situation. Nothing comes naturally any more since she’s shut herself out. And yet she’s completely natural with Youta already, so it isn’t that she can’t - she’s just overthinking everything.
I think the way you framed the characters is really good, it’s as if they all have something the others don’t. Youta has his issues, too, but we just haven’t seem them yet :)