Perhaps I was hoping for an epilogue more in the vein of Blood on the Tracks, but in fairness that series had almost 20 volumes to plumb the nuances of surviving childhood abuse

I think it's less "not reading deeper" and more "arriving at a different conclusion about the effectiveness of the devices at play"--an important distinction i think is being lost. I agree, art should get to be subtle! I think Takopi is more...a goodhearted entry to more nuanced takes on the subject

I think there's a fine line between critiquing and replicating misogynistic violence in stories like this. Takopi wants to be about how gendered violence manifest, but bc its writing is broad and nobody breaks the pattern, it turns into "women are cruel manipulators, men are absent and spineless."

I might have been more willing to shrug that off if it had been more oblique about depicting the abuse on camera--to me, the more intense your content, the bigger the catharsis needed and the more your writing needs grounded in the real. Were it more detached, I would say "okay, it worked out!"

Like I said, this is stuff that I COULD see changing in another timeline...but we don't see it or much of an implication of it. It's down to the reader's hopes to fill in all the logic for why things are different. And I didn't feel it had earned that.

I know their conditions didn't change, that's my point--i think talking is wonderful, helping and helpful. My point was that BC nothing has changed, the situation as we saw it said to me Marina seemed very much in danger of dying at her mom's hand. Having a friend helps with a lot, but not that

Sorry, i'm getting into the paint here when I'm not really interested in converting people to Why Takopi is Bad Actually. I have some umbrage with people calling my friend a bad writer for doing structural criticism, but if Takopi lands in making people be better or feel seen, fabulous. 💯% sincere

I get the urge to want to assure the audience your characters will be okay after putting them through hell, but if your story is about how putting on a happy face is no substitute for real hard emotional work, I want your ending to reflect that too. Make it better, but not some normal HS AU

It's sweet that they support each other, but i don't buy that with nothing changing except Takopi not intervening that they would naturally change so radically in terms of their material conditions. It could totally work with more time spent. But I don't buy it as is.

As far as nuance, I think my problem with the ending is it's NOT sufficient for the suffering before, at least to me. These kids still have no power. Nobody to intervene for them in situations where I highly doubted they were gonna LIVE to high school.

Takopi is similar to DDLC to me bc I think both have clear goals and good intentions. It's their extremity that i find flat and at a certain point comical (and very, very gendered). People clearly resonate with the series, and I think that's wonderful. In no way is criticizing the title an attack.

I mean, the article you're talking about does indeed directly reference Doraemon. it's obvious that's what the story is a play on. I just happen to think that Dead Dead Demons' Dededede Destruction handled a very similar concept with much more skill and care.

No, that's not what the review said. "Or insight" is quite key here. Takopi is a series by someone who isn't a survivor of abuse. If you got something out of the series I think that's wonderful. Another survivor writing about it found it hackneyed while also being carelessly triggering. That's all.

I mean, yeah. I'm not arguing against that. The "or" in the descriptor is kinda key.

That's how we got here with Takopi, though. It has really graphic depictions of child abuse and the most it has to say about it is "man, kids shouldn't have to deal with that." Without any especially grounded insight into abuse dynamics. It has the grace of trying to put out a fire with an airhorn

If you make a series that's just trans people being hate crimed while you nod and go "damn that's fucked up" well....no shit. You've added nothing and monetized a group of people's very real suffering

Sure but there comes a point with extremity of sensitive content where i'm going to ask why you're putting your fingers in an open wound, and did you bother to wash your hands first.