"You are giantly rotund!" "And ill-smelling!" "Please remove your offensive presence!"
I don't know how obvous it would be to someone who doesn't have English as their first language but trust me: the dialogue is definitely a parody of badly-subtitled anime. The excessive violence, giant monsters, etc are also stereotypical.
The whole issue, to me, is similar; it's gloriously over-the-top, cartoony parody. I think it's quite deliberate. The current arc of the comic is five independent stories by five different writers, and I think they're using the opportunity to play around with different styles that might not fit into the more serious arc episodes.
I can't understand if it's a clumsy plot device to signal us that something in wrong with Satsu, or a reference to some mangas, or an insight into Japanese culture
Well, traditional Japanese culture is even stronger on the need for women to stay home, look decorative and have babies than American culture. Dressing Satsu up in an old-fashioned kimono is another signal that whoever was responsible for the Swell wants to turn back the clock. (That wasn't just 'national clothes', it was 'clothes people wore two centuries ago'. It's like the dress Buffy wore in 'Halloween', and had similar implications.)
To make a spell that takes away all slayer power? To banish slayers from Earth dimension?
I hope not. If the theme of the season is "Empowering these women has led to some of them using their power unwisely" I don't think offering the solution "And therefore it was a mistake to empower these women, and we should make them helpless again" would send a good message...
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Date: 2009-02-08 12:35 pm (UTC)I read a suggestion that ludicrous dialogues are parodying anime subtitles. Maybe. Maybe not.
Have you seen the Dark Horse webcomic that accompanies this issue, also written by DeKnight?
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"You are giantly rotund!" "And ill-smelling!" "Please remove your offensive presence!"
I don't know how obvous it would be to someone who doesn't have English as their first language but trust me: the dialogue is definitely a parody of badly-subtitled anime. The excessive violence, giant monsters, etc are also stereotypical.
The whole issue, to me, is similar; it's gloriously over-the-top, cartoony parody. I think it's quite deliberate. The current arc of the comic is five independent stories by five different writers, and I think they're using the opportunity to play around with different styles that might not fit into the more serious arc episodes.
I can't understand if it's a clumsy plot device to signal us that something in wrong with Satsu, or a reference to some mangas, or an insight into Japanese culture
Well, traditional Japanese culture is even stronger on the need for women to stay home, look decorative and have babies than American culture. Dressing Satsu up in an old-fashioned kimono is another signal that whoever was responsible for the Swell wants to turn back the clock. (That wasn't just 'national clothes', it was 'clothes people wore two centuries ago'. It's like the dress Buffy wore in 'Halloween', and had similar implications.)
To make a spell that takes away all slayer power? To banish slayers from Earth dimension?
I hope not. If the theme of the season is "Empowering these women has led to some of them using their power unwisely" I don't think offering the solution "And therefore it was a mistake to empower these women, and we should make them helpless again" would send a good message...