(Hi) Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

[Marina2]

Ep.11

Not sure what to think about Kiui's drama conclusion but look like it ends up as a ladder for Mahiru motivation.

Around middle of episode, it seems Mahiru was going to regret working for Kano mom, but she managed to turn thing around and made things work for both Sundolls business and JELEE's activity.

I assume Mahiru saw the lyric that Kano wrote and sense that she want to sing for her parent(?)

[stray]

Seems like Mahiru was plotting her own schemes all this time. Only one episodes left lets see if the series can stick the landing.

[Kanon]

How can Mahiru compare venting out her frustrations on the net by shitposting to having a Youtube's channel whose purpose is to ruin people's carrers? Is it actually worse than I think, and she was telling people to kill themselves because their art sucks? Was she a 2channer?

Kiwi being trans or whatever actually makes sense, since she always made a point to wear baggy clothes and clearly hated it when a guy ogled her G-cups in an early episode. Not sure retreating into an online persona (which, to be fair, is mostly her real persona but with a different appearance) is all that healthy though, but as long as she's having fun, it's fine.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised Mahiru suffered zero consequences for going to Yukine, and will even help JELEE in the process. She can do no wrong. Even her accepting Mero's channel is portrayed as a good thing because it shows she's empathetic. She understands and accepts everyone. The costumes in the first episode were foreshadowing, Mahiru is an angel and Kano is a devil who punched a poor misunderstood girl and lashed out at our little angel Mahiru.

[ryllharu]

The scene with Mero in the cab was the only part of the episode that really felt out of place for me. It's absurd that Mero would trust Mahiru enough to even ask about the tabloid scandal channel she secretly runs considering how the fallout with Kano went.

The entire scene didn't fit either character's character development to date.

[deadite]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

The scene with Mero in the cab was the only part of the episode that really felt out of place for me. It's absurd that Mero would trust Mahiru enough to even ask about the tabloid scandal channel she secretly runs considering how the fallout with Kano went.

The entire scene didn't fit either character's character development to date.

I disagree, this is clearly spurred by her recent encounter with Mei, which Mello saw as the kind of person Kano associates with now. Doesn't help that Mei got for 2 million view from her sincere desire for Kano not to disband JELEE, which she no doubt followed.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Kiwi being trans or whatever actually makes sense, since she always made a point to wear baggy clothes and clearly hated it when a guy ogled her G-cups in an early episode. Not sure retreating into an online persona (which, to be fair, is mostly her real persona but with a different appearance) is all that healthy though, but as long as she's having fun, it's fine.

I don't know that she's "trans," strictly speaking. She seems content to keep her male persona online. She may wear baggy clothes and the like, but she still presents as female in person.

I'm a man, but when I write fiction my main characters tend to be female. My subconscious even uses female characters to represent my writer-side in my dreams. I suppose if I was in ancient Greece, I could have said I had a muse. Here in the modern world, however, it's just a certain way my brain chooses to represent and express itself. That doesn't make me trans. I'm completely comfortable in my own body and my own physical gender. Kiwi might be the same way.

[Ragashingo]

I'm not liking Mahiru's plot. At all. It's just too big of a strain on credibility that a producer obsessed with getting to the top would hire and keep a high school girl who, for weeks(?) now, has been not delivering a good enough product. Is Mahiru the only artist on this project?! Is Kano's mom really gonna compromise her idol group's show by allowing a second group to join in via a last minute request? The storytelling is just too convenient and too lax.

I'm not very happy with Kiwi's story either. Mostly because it feels more like a mishmash of incomplete plot threads than a cohesive thrust. There's the thread of losing one's identity when others think you are weird for liking the things you like. There's the thread of being a streamer to show your real personality, but we've also seen that Kiwi turned heavily to gaming as part addiction, part avoiding of problems. The gender stuff has been hinted at a bit, but in odd ways like with the biker woman hitting on Kiwi and Kiwi not really being all that receptive to it.

Today's "dramatic" yelling moment only to have Kiwi quickly call it lame similarly felt incomplete. I want Kiwi to be whoever they want to be. But I also want them to get over their fear of being in public. And to get over being so unhappy with themselves that they continue to feel the need to lie to their actual friends all the time. Maybe it's more I don't see Kiwi as having made much progress towards being who they want to be that's throwing me off...

[serenade_beta]

So they used the "Screaming solves everything" plot (now with screaming in public) AND the "We did something and it just happens to trend" plot again
Man, modern day kids have it easy. I wish screaming helped me so often

[ryllharu]

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

I don't know that she's "trans," strictly speaking. She seems content to keep her male persona online. She may wear baggy clothes and the like, but she still presents as female in person.

Originally Posted by Ragashingo

The gender stuff has been hinted at a bit, but in odd ways like with the biker woman hitting on Kiwi and Kiwi not really being all that receptive to it.

I don't think she is trans either, but she is a bokukko bordering on orekko, though I'm not exactly sure where the line is.

They also didn't go all the way on any follow through from her rant. Kiui is deeply unhappy that her body is very stacked, and they cover it with her finally saying it, but still only as a passing mention. The one line of the rant revealed that she really despises her body much more than we thought from the earlier episode that hinted at her cup size.

So, I don't think she's trans, but she has some degree of gender dysphoria. Maybe she'd be fine with it if she was smaller, and she didn't have any issues with it when she was younger, but she certainly does now as the end result of her puberty. She still presents as female otherwise. Overall her character is a bit confusing, mostly from this episode feeling like it contradicts the others where she got development.

Maybe it would have been better if she had a whole episode about it instead of a half-episode.

[stray]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

So, I don't think she's trans, but she has some degree of gender dysphoria. Maybe she'd be fine with it if she was smaller, and she didn't have any issues with it when she was younger, but she certainly does now as the end result of her puberty. She still presents as female otherwise. Overall her character is a bit confusing, mostly from this episode feeling like it contradicts the others where she got development.

This is the first episode that really went into detail about Nox Ryugasaki -- we never got any details about Nox or her streaming other than its just what she does. Transbait? Japan is still probably too regressive when it comes to LGBTQ rights for a confirmed trans character anytime soon. She's definitely an internet onabe (nenabe) at the very least.

[grecefar]

I love kiui more now after she told them off.