春夏秋冬代行者 春の舞

Speaking as someone who had a terrible mom (not as bad as this bitch good god but quite up there): no, they shouldn't. But more generally, it's the same as the boomers telling our generation that we shouldn't complain because they had to go through stuff too. Or professors being stuck in their rigid ways of education and lack of communication or expecting students to dedicate a hundred hours a week to college because they also had it rough. A history of trauma doesn't justify its persistence in the future

That term is such a pejorative, and so antithetical to the human experience. Even if you didn't mean it that way, it frames the sharing of negative experience as a bad thing, which centers the upkeep of a delusional toxic positivity bubble for the privileged over the real true lived experiences of those around them, their attempts to make connections with others, and their healing. It's like "Oh that person suicided. They should have reached out to someone about how bad things were." but if they do "Oh that person brought up what happened to them in the past, how dare they 'trauma dump' on my mood." But to people who have gone through shit, they know that self disclosures are how you escalate acquaintanceships to friendships and grow closer to people.

Having horrible trauma and all is valid, but anyone like mizusu should be put down. No amount of trauma will justify her actions. And if anyone make light of somebody's trauma when they put on the courage to actually share it...should also consider their life's value. "My trauma is bigger than yours so i suffered more" bullshit. Both of them suffered. I understand what you tried to say and its true, this episode kinda got me.

I had a terrible feeling about the main cause of Hinagiku’s mental breakdown. Therefore, a part of me was relieved when they revealed that she’d been captured by a woman. I could rule out my greatest fear. Except, I didn’t count on Misuzu being this much of a nutjob. It appears that she was fine with having her so-called “daughter” be violated. Because she’d gone through this herself too. Does Misuzu aim to live vicariously through Hinagiku or something?

I agree that irl in any competent organisation bribes won't get you this far. But I don't believe the 4 Seasons Agency is competent. We know that the village of Spring is a horrible place due to a strict ancient clan hierarchy, and because Hinagiku falls outside of the powerful clans she's hated. It's not much of a stretch to think the entire agency is run by ancient powerful clans and families from the villages. Meaning the people in charge are picked not because they're competent, but because they have the right family name. Anything run like that will inevitably become corrup and as leaky as a colander

The incompetence is even worse then because if it's a company not a gov agency then how haven't they been fired for incompetence if it;s a government agency then leadership would of been fired from the top down. You'd have a new group in leadership desperate to never let that happena gain means they 100% would be hunting down spies and making sure everyone EVERYONE was trained and armed well armed. This is the largest flaw of this story NO intelligence and security agency is this weak period. Maybe you could of gotten away with this in one attack they grew fat and lazy and you could of played on that. Yet NOT a massive agency wide failure 10 years ago too recent to have them of grown complacent again. Even if they "hated the current agent of spring" they would still be going "Man they got killed and capture entirely too easy these are the people who protect us? The clans aren't suicidal if there old and corput they been even more willing to rebuild a meaner agency from the ground up. The writing for the agency ruined this show for me because it so bad and lazy and nonsense. It reminds me of the Yakuza games and how the joke became tojo clan being a cockrotch because they near destory it almost every game then claim in the next one there some how became strong again.

There is certainly a lot of "horrible villains, horrible at their job" at-play. But also, see how their world looks modern, with some modern tech, but they also seem to be very behind in other areas relative to the real world. I think this whole thing is the flavor of dystopia where the "cool magic" has stunted civilization's growth in various non-obvious ways. Like countries seem a lot more isolated from each other. Modern intelligence relies strongly on the network effect, using diplomatic & military alliances to shore up holes, and cover blind spots. Can't do a thorough background check if you only have local sources (no Federal, no Interpol, etc). Also makes it easier for these anti-Agent groups to hide in plain sight, since you can't use satellite or financial intel from other nations. All the bad guys have to do is compromise the domestic intelligence infrastructure - a much easier lift.

Yeah, it's also why Hinagiku got sick lots of times in captivity, she's using her powers against its own supposed functions and to its limits. Granted it made her among the most powerful Spring Agents as a result, but growing opium poppies and weed most of the day forcefully, not to mention her being at risk of consistently inhaling those drugs indirectly? It's not a surprise she broke down and crashed out big time.

OK, everyone in this anime has tragic backstories, including the villain! We even get Ishihara monologuing a bit of her backstory! There is no character backstory we won't dive into on this show! And wanting Hinagiku to make children Also Misuzu insinuating she was also raped multiple times when she was a child. For a "mother" she isn't even a good one to Hinagiku, forcing her affection and forcing Hinagiku to do horrible things against her will the same way she was. But she's too broken to realize that. That was the breaking point and Hinagiku's alter ego used all that power to break free Did the real Hinagiku really die and pass on to the afterlife with her mother? Or is it all just her minds way of coping?

Trauma isn't a point A to B, I get that. Unresolved mental illness can make you act manic/irrational, I get that. Hurt people hurt people, I get that. Abusive parents often get a lot of their talking points from their own relationships with their parents I GET THAT. But the way this chick handles both Nadeshiko and Hinagiku puzzles me. She projects her trauma of weakness in her past relationships and with the loss of her child on them so I can understand why she micromanages them and some of the physical abusive, but the pimping her out to be raped by grown men when she's barely a teenager because "It happened to me so get over it" is kind of ???????? She's both weirdly methodical and batshit bonkers in ways that don't really feel like they mesh, it kind of feels like a lot is being brushed away with the excuse that she's a traumatized girl boss from an arms dealer family. The agency's vetting process is an abject nightmare. I know it's not conductive to call and drive especially on an ice bridge, but you're already doing dangerous shit so I feel like maybe you should continue to call and drive considering that the terrorists are currently planting bombs in the headquarters. Also what do you mean "are you alright" Itecho, of course she isn't. For stuff I did like though Hinagiku's dissociation culminating in her scream/attack of despair was evocative Rosei screaming for completely different reasons did make me laugh I'm not sure all the contrivances to enforce it were retroactively justified, but I do like how Itecho finally got over his guilt enough to finally talk to Sakura when he knows she's feeling isolated and panicked. Get back on that bike though. Autumn team managed to find the stronghold surprisingly fast. But I guess there's a catch.

I guess you could look at it is a stage mom forcing their child to go through the same stuff they did because they're too broken to realize how wrong it is, but also I think ultimately by that point Misuzu's desire as Kasai leader trumped her desire as a mother. She actually called Hinagiku by her name when threatening her into doing it, because this wasn't something she was asking for as her "mom" but as the leader of Kasai who can ruin her and everyone she loves' lives if she doesn't give in. "Are you alright" - I think that was necessary because Sakura needed to hear a reassuring voice care about how she feels that isn't Hinagiku.

I interpreted this as a plan B - if she can’t get Hinagiku to accept her role as daughter, then she’ll use her to create a new daughter that she can sculpt from birth, and then kill Hinagiku in the hopes that the child will become the Agent of Spring in her place. After 8 years of trying and failing to convert Hinagiku to the daughter role, it’s a reasonable fallback strategy, even if completely disgusting.

I don’t think Misuzu really sees the agents as replacement daughters, they’re more like replacement dolls. Her own daughter’s death broke her, she’s someone who can’t be replaced. But she can get a new doll to play house with easily without the pain that would come with it “breaking”. In every scene with her and Hinagiku, she’s surrounded by dolls and toys to emphasize this. She doesn’t do it to feel like a mom, she does it to have control over someone smaller and weaker than her. It’s like being able to replay her own abuse but with herself in the abuser’s seat this time. She probably wouldn’t have gone this far in her abuse with her own daughter, but she would’ve likely been emotionally abusive (probably with vibes of enmeshment).

piling on the trauma It's pretty standard fare for what gets posted at /r/cptsd . Maybe more on the right side of the bell curve, but it's still within normative experiences for trauma survivors (sans maybe the magical powers used to grow poppies). Since we're all conditioned to keep our traumatic experiences quiet (e.g., "don't trauma dump it makes me sad") they aren't talked about much, so it seems rarer than it is. The author isn't playing anything up much beyond what happens in the world today, aside from the magic powers and agencies thing maybe.

I don't think this is a toxic positivity bubble, at all. The complaints weren't that the abuse or trauma was unrealistic, but that it's not providing depth/context to the characters or narrative that we didn't already have. A writer/viewer complaint, not a social commentary. I'd warrant that anyone still watching & commenting on the show at this point isn't wondering why everyone can't just shut up & be happy. Don't belittle folks' valid complaints about this piece of fiction to make some broader point about treatment of trauma IRL...

I can't help but feel this anime is wasting its potential through bad writing. The emotional scenes do hit, yes, but that's all the show has going for it. There's a lot of questionable story decisions, like the winter pair's lack of urgency while being shot at last episode, and Ishihara's "betrayal" this episode that ended up being a nothing burger. Same thing with the winter pair racing towards the building, then stopping mid-ride to answer the phone call and wasting crucial minutes. The best moments so far have been moments focusing on the relationship between characters-Hinagiku's history with Rosei and her desire for Sakura to forgive, Sakura being driven by spite yet trying to change for Hinagiku's sake, the co-dependency between the summer pair, and even though Rindo doesn't have much screentime, his too-late realization of how important Nadeshiko was to him was very well done. Everything is hinging on a cathartic reunion between the spring and winter pair, and the execution of that is going to determine how I ultimately feel about this show.

Honestly I agree with you. It feels like it's spinning its wheels and while flashbacks can be great, this show has been more flashbacks than present time. I do like the character interactions and relationships but we've gotten so few of them and so few bright spots and moments of joy or even humor. I get it's a dark show but even Violet Evergarden and some comedy. Also I just feel like this show is blaring neon signs saying "feel sad!!", "cry here!!", "are you sad?!! Feel sad for Hinagiku!" Ok show I get it. You constantly pushing the melodrama doesn't help.

When it started, I saw that it's trying to kind of adapt multiple versions of the source. (novel & manga? seinen & shojo? smth like that) That kind of stitching together doesn't always work out - the pacing can get borked, or the focus & tone will swing wildly. That's the vibe I get here, or at least how I explain some of the dissonance moments to myself. Other issue is that not every cool worldbuilding idea has an equally good execution. The base premise is fairly neat, kind of like a modern spin on ancient shrine-maiden/sacrifice worship. But it feels like about 3 very diff stories in that world are playing out simultaneously, with the same cast. You certainly can have a story where we care about the tender dokidoki romance stuff amid high-stakes peril. But this feels a bit whiplash-inducing sometimes 😩

There's so much in this ep worth talking about, but one line from Misuzu in particular really stood out to me There are worse things in life. I endured it. So, you should, too. Enduring is a word that's carried so much weight in this series all about living in spite of pain, so to see it twisted in order to justify rape was already incredibly striking and really added to what was already one of the most viscerally uncomfortable moments in the series. But, more than that, it feels to me like a reminder of, ironically, the opposite of what Misuzu was trying to get at: people aren't resilient enough to just endure pain over and over on their own I mean, this episode alone is already a massive reminder that just taking trauma in hopes of something good happening later left Hinagiku a shell of her former self and Misuzu a violent misanthrope perpetuating the cycle of abuse. And that's not even mentioning what trying to endure the pain of Hinagiku's loss without anyone to lean on ended up doing to Sakura. Life might always be worth living no matter what, but just trying to hold out without either doing something about it or having someone to share those burdens with ultimately begets more pain. It's such an absolutely brutal contrast to the present day plotline's focus on the cast slowly overcoming their trauma through their bonds with each other

Honestly it's one thing that Misuzu was craving to fulfill the hole left by the loss of her child which basically destroyed her mentally, but that even to the children she would project on as her daughter after kidnapping them would get subjected to being used as nothing more than a disposable doll... Hinagiku has tried to look after Sakura's mental health the whole time, but I feel like the fact that so much of Sakura's mental health is focused on Hinagiku has prevented that from really sinking in. It took Itecho asking if she's all right, that he cared and wanted to make sure she was okay when she's prioritized so much above herself, that it really sunk in.