Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. - Episode 12 discussion - FINAL

[u/AutoLovepon]

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo., episode 12: The Colors of the Hearts of Maidens

Alternative names: Maidens of the Savage Season, O Maidens in Your Savage Season

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Encourage others to read the source material rather than confirming or denying theories. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Streams

• HIDIVE
• Youtube
• VRV

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website
• /r/O_Maidens

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Previous discussions

Episode	Link	Score
0	Link	1.91
1	Link	6.76
2	Link	7.79
3	Link	9.24
4	Link	9.4
5	Link	9.44
6	Link	9.15
7	Link	9.03
8	Link	9.6
9	Link	8.31
10	Link	9.24
11	Link	8.12

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[u/alwayslonesome]

Checking in after watching the raws, I'll watch the subs later.

I'd thought it'd be an impossible task to properly conclude all of the outstanding narrative threads in just a single episode, but as ever, this show greatly exceeded my expectations and left me completely satisfied. The colour-tag as a device for characters to exposit their insights and character growth wasn't the most elegant, but man the dialogue is as on point as ever that I can forgive absolutely everything.

I think a big question I'm left pondering at the very end is "how are we meant to read this text?" Given Okada's filmography, I came into this show expecting a delicate, character-focused (melo)drama with some really novel and praiseworthy sex-positive themes. I think if that's what drove your investment in the show, you'll find that it's still one of the pinnacles of its genre, but just like me, be moderately disappointed at the direction that the last few episodes went. There's just wasn't that much exploration of conflict, not that much suffering, and not that much narrative richness as I would have wanted.

However, I feel like the artistic intent of the show goes beyond that. Viewing the show as a complete whole, and knowing the background behind this being an original work penned by Okada adapted as a TV anime, I feel much more comfortable reading this work as being an expression of the multitudes of sexual expression, and a paean to, and a celebration of feminine sexual liberation. The core conflict that's foregrounded in this work isn't the interpersonal conflict of romantic drama, but the triumphant rebellion against social and institutional expectations. Each of the characters presents a different facet that captures the vicissitudes of coming-of-age and taken together, delivers such a rich and insightful tapestry of themes. It's such a promising direction for Okada as a creator to be able to so elegantly use her characters as vessels for broader themes, and I can't think of many themes as valuable as such an authentic and sex-positive portrayal of coming-of-age.

For being one of the absolute funniest shows I've seen, on top of engaging with such praiseworthy themes, this show really is nothing short of perfect in my books. It's trivial to point out nominal flaws, but there's simply nothing that at all detracts from my appreciation of the show - I can think of few high school shows that are this ambitious, let alone so well-realized - not flawless by any means, but perfect all the same. The first show in almost two years I'm tremendously glad to be able to give 10/10.

Edit: I also absolutely need to shout out what's one of the best official TLs I've ever read. I have some small gripes with accuracy, but the quality of the dialogue translation has just been so, so impressively good. The staff behind the subs do such a phenomenal job of writing natural dialogue, and they go above and beyond to capture the varied range of registers and abnormal diction that the characters use. Every time one of Prez or Senpai's purple-y, grossly-literary lines was on screen just brought a big smile to my face. Give these folks a raise!

[u/ZBLongladder → u/alwayslonesome]

The core conflict that's foregrounded in this work isn't the interpersonal conflict of romantic drama, but the triumphant rebellion against social and institutional expectations.

I just wish Okada hadn't needed to make the principal and vice-principal so cartoonishly evil in order to do that. The one issue (and it's admittedly a minor one) I had with O Maidens is that the principle and vice-principle don't really seem like believable characters...I mean, they're introduced by trying to shut down the literature club of all things (wouldn't a high school principle know that modern literature has a lot of sex in it?), and their big contribution to the conflict is trying to expel a model student based on hearsay just to make their no-dating policy more effective. Like, sure, they needed to be hardasses to make them work in their role, but they just seem like they're doing everything in the most pointlessly evil way possible, which kinda takes me out of the story.

I'm not saying O Maidens is anything but an amazing show..after all, Persona 5 had the exact same problem, and that's a brilliant game. But it just seems like a lot of Japanese works with themes of rebellion feel the need to undercut their message by making the authority being rebelled against unrealistically cruel.

[u/thearistocraticbear → u/ZBLongladder]

these things have happended in real life, that is not unrealistic. They did act a bit too goofy for me to take them seriously.

[u/Zeph-Shoir → u/alwayslonesome]

Yeah the color tag game definitely felt weird to me but it worked quite well.

I really like your conclusion that this is more about rebellion than interpersonal conflict or romantic drama.

I am also going to give a 10/10. For some reason I am too way about giving it to too many shows but I really need to be more lax on it at times. I really loved this show, it reminded me quite a lot to A Place Further than a Universe.

Btw the small time skip was great and the final line is just perfect!

[u/HarleyFox92 → u/Zeph-Shoir]

it reminded me quite a lot to A Place Further than a Universe.

The first episode is literally Sora Yori, it shocked me hard.

[u/Crazyjay1 → u/alwayslonesome]

Well said, thanks for the write up. Even if it felt like the anime stopped too soon, what it did accomplish was great, felt like I witnessed something really special. As you said, the characters represent themes, and their design mashes really well with that, like how Kazuza has the naive round eyes, or Sonezaki's big nose of superiority and ordered clothing.

Someone said there is another manga that goes further on their future, looking for that right now lol

[u/DimmuHS → u/alwayslonesome]

I'm glad we were both wrong about the possibility of the show going to another narrative in the finale. They completely tied the conflicts, didn't forced Momoko's feelings in Sugawara's and with proper communication made the characters reflects on Izumi thoughts and not making the whole drama awkward and forgiving.

As a 10/10 for me ranges from 9.5 to 10, this was easily 10/10 (that doesn't means it's perfect at all). This was the most anticipated show for me every week, I laugh, I relate, I acknowledged the grudge of the teenagers in dealing with many barriers to discover their feelings, their struggles, and even society - in this case the school - censoring even more this proximity between men and women.

[u/isthewindstillrising → u/alwayslonesome]

Bearing in mind Japan is still, unfortunately, a very patriarchal and conservative society and its attitudes towards female sexuality and LGBTQ issues in particular is far from ideal... we've had freaking recent members of parliament call LGBTQ people "undeserving of support and recognition for being UNPRODUCTIVE" (1930s fascist governments called, they want their vocabulary back), and some prestigious Tokyo Medical universities have been called out for enforcing gender quotas against women, and "because you'll get pregnant and you'll have to take maternity leave" is still a valid reason to not employ people.... yes the show still had lots of flaws but I must say it was one of the most frank, progressive animes on sexuality i've seen yet.

Who screamed like I did when Momoko finally recognised her feelings for what they were.... i sure as hell did ><

[u/Atario → u/alwayslonesome]

how are we meant to read this text?

However we want. Death of the author.

Now, what you haven't said in all that is whether you enjoyed the show.

[u/alwayslonesome → u/Atario]

I don't understand, I feel like everything I wrote is a discussion of why I enjoyed the show. I'm recontextualizing my original reading of the show with what I think is a more fitting one based on what I think the show's true artistic goals are, and I mention at length all of the things that I think makes the show great and enjoyable - the really thorough and multitudinous exploration of different perspectives on youth sexuality, the consistently great comedic beats, the ambition to engage so authentically with a subject whose treatment in this medium is usually really poor, etc.

[u/Atario → u/alwayslonesome]

Everything you wrote is an analysis of the meta level of the show — what the author did or didn't intend, the "reading" you should take, which themes were or were not present, and on and on. It's like living inside a writers' workshop