We Need to Talk About Love Stage

Disclaimer: I talk about rape here, so if you're triggered by it, it might be a good idea to skip this post. Sorry!

This is a touchy subject.

I don't know why I'm writing it so soon when I said this would be a video game blog but this just doesn't sit well with me.

I just finished an anime called Love Stage! this afternoon and to be honest, I'm surprised I did. The general themes pulled me in because let's face it - I love boy love. I adore it.

It's my thing.

I have a paid account on Crunchyroll and I know that the boylove available to me isn't a very big list. People awhile ago started telling me about Love Stage, so I thought I'd check it out.

I watched the first one, and it was very sweet. 

These two cuties are Ryouma (left) and Izumi (right), the stars of the show. When they were kids they were cast in a tv wedding commercial and then didn't see each other after that for ten years. During those ten years, Ryouma has been pining something serious for Izumi, thinking he was a girl because young Izumi played one, and it wasn't exactly necessary to discuss the sex of the children, also there's the whole lack of masculine/feminine pronouns in Japanese language, so it was unnecessary. 

Ten years later and Ryouma is a TV star, well known, etc, etc. Izumi is an eighteen year old otaku student who spends his free time at the manga club and working on his own manga because he dreams of one day becoming a great manga artist like the artist of his favorite series.

The wedding company who Ryouma and Izumi did a commercial for wants to do a follow up commercial for the ten year anniversary, but only on the condition that they get the same actors who played the kids from back then because now it's 'their happy wedding'. 

Ryouma's in, obviously, and Izumi reluctantly agrees, not realizing what he's getting himself into.

They shoot the commercial, Ryouma doesn't know Izumi's male, finds out a little later and has a crisis. Also, calls Izumi a 'cross-dressing freak'. Hmm.


It takes Ryouma a few days to calm down, and then before we know it, he's at Izumi's house to 'once and for all' get it out of his head that he's in love with Izumi because he can't love a boy, why would he love a boy? He demands that Izumi take off his clothes to 'prove' he's a boy, and then forces himself on Izumi.

You know what Izumi does? He cries. He cries and says 'stop' and 'no'. You know what happens? Ryouma KEEPS GOING.

Hi friends, let's talk about rape culture. Let's talk about consent.

Oh wait, let's not because we don't do that, this is anime where consent doesn't matter because they're animated? That's not how the real world works, people. Consent matters no matter where you are, in video games, in anime, in REAL LIFE because people need to be shown that this is how it's supposed to be. Anything other than an enthusiastic yes is rape, is unwanted. 

Anime needs to stop perpetuating the idea that because he's weepy and submissive looking means that he's just shy, but he still wants it. NO.

NO NO NO

Let me tell you what happens next. 

Izumi's amazing older brother happens to be in the right place at the right time and pushes Ryouma off of him, threatening him. 

Shougo is gayer than Christmas. He's a pop star idol, has loads of fans, and is super protective of his little brother because 'he's just so cute!' Shougo is a light in the darkness. He cares about Izumi, who his friends are, if they're good to him.

He knows Ryouma is up to no good. He tells Ryouma to get lost.




Ryouma leaves, Izumi stays in bed for two days, ashamed, crying, victimized. He convinces himself not to talk about it because it's not a big deal. 





In one of the only redeeming scenes of this entire show, Ryouma pursues Izumi if only to apologize for his horrible behavior. He then publicly bows low on the ground, his face in the dirt, as he asks for forgiveness for his actions.

Izumi reluctantly forgives him, and then they shake hands and agree to be friends. 

Ryouma turns a new leaf and starts behaving like a better person. He helps Izumi with his manga project, texts him casual things, friendly things. Izumi starts to trust him again, and it's genuinely good. I am pleased. 

Then Izumi gets some bad news and goes crying to Ryouma for comfort. Ryouma tells him to take a bath, and then makes him some food and washes his clothes for him and leaves him some pajamas to change into when Izumi decides he need to stay at Ryouma's place for a few days to cool down.

In what I can only describe as garbage, Ryouma pushes Izumi down onto the bed and demands that Izumi tell him how he feels because if he's gonna stay over for a few days, Ryouma can't be expected to behave himself for that long without touching him.


I raised my hopes for nothing.

Izumi concedes defeat, claiming "Fine. Do whatever you want to me. I don't care anymore."

His eyes are dead. His voice is monotone. 

If Ryouma cared about this kid at all he'd pay attention to this and not think with his dick, but NO. He carries on doing whatever he wants, and is like...stripping Izumi down when he finally realizes Izumi is crying again.

Again with consent. If Ryouma cared about consent at all, he'd stop and be like "Woah, hey this isn't you."

Shougo isn't there to save Izumi that time. It's all on Ryouma. Thankfully he stops himself.

More apologies, Izumi kind of...hermits himself away for awhile, wondering about if he's really attracted to Ryouma, and what he should do about it. He even asks his manager, Rei, for advice.

Spoiler alert: Rei is sort of involved with Shougo, which is THE ONLY THING I'M 10000000% OKAY WITH.

 Rei gives Izumi some sound advice, knowing that the kid's curious, and lets him figure the rest out for himself.

Huge plot points later (not really, it's a 10 episode series) and Izumi finds himself in an alleyway, accosted by three men who have him trapped. All three of them have threatened him with some form of sexual assault. When he resists, they find it 'cute' and it makes them want him more (?????). 

Izumi finds himself thinking about Ryouma during this scenario, and gains the strength to fight off his attackers and manages to escape Rape Attempt #3. 

His reasoning? The only man he wants touching him is Ryouma.

So he runs to Ryouma, throws himself into Ryouma's arms and demands that they 'do it'. 

He realizes after they have sex (because they do, and it appears they weren't even properly prepared for it because hey, classic gags on how much pain Izumi is in later lawl) that he didn't even confess back to Ryouma, he'd just greeted him with "I want you", and Ryouma ran with it.

So they exchange their I love you's and what have you, which you know, would be nice. If Izumi hadn't just been assaulted in an alleyway.

That's it, that's the show.

To be honest, all I want out of a boy love anime is something simple. Boy meets boy. Boy falls in love with boy. They pursue each other. They kiss. They build up to the relationship. 

You know what anime gives me? A pushy, aggressive rapefest that I'm not in any way okay with. 

As explained on the Wikipedia Yaoi article, "Rape scenes in yaoi are rarely presented as crimes with an assaulter and a victim: scenes where a seme rapes an uke are not depicted as symptomatic of the seme's "disruptive sexual/violent desires", but instead are a signifier of the "uncontrollable love" felt by a seme for an uke." 

I watched all of Love Stage! hoping it would get better, hoping that Izumi (while he did tell Ryouma to get lost after the first incident) would tell Ryouma to either leave him alone, or to slow down, or to respect him, though to be fair no one should ever have to demand to be respected.

It should be common courtesy.

Love Stage! was a disaster when I wanted so much more from it. I'm told I have too much faith in anime. I suppose the people who tell me so are right.

Let's look at some examples of mainstream boylove.

• Gravitation
• Junjou Romantica ("Did we have sex last night? I don't remember.")
• Sekaiichi Hatsukoi
• Loveless (Also known as 'let's pretend Ritsuka isn't twelve years old')
• Drammatical Murder (Don't get me started)

These exhaust me. I've seen/watched/read them all, and the only one that I was remotely interested in was Loveless but that's because the art is absolutely gorgeous... But I had to give up on it. 

"But Rainey," you might say, "There's plenty of boylove available online!" 

Yeah, I know. But it's mostly hardcore porn, which...looks weird animated (it's hard to animate that kinda stuff, I get it, it's like sex scenes in video games. You're trying not to laugh but...you can't just easily animate that stuff.).

If you know of boylove that's less aggression and more romantic, that would be stupendous. 

Send me a message, hit me up on Twitter, leave a comment, whatever.

I'm tired of getting my hopes up.

Thanks for listening. :(

A Discussion on Final Fantasy 8

First off, welcome to my blog! I've been thinking about starting one for awhile, and lots of people have told me I should because I tend to like the games that people don't. So here you'll find various reviews, rants, etc, on games I loved or hated and why. It's just for fun, so try to take everything with a grain of salt. :)

Welcome!

Note: This is basically going to be a post featuring me yelling a lot about why FF8 is great. You've been warned. :)

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Let me tell you a little something about Final Fantasy 8.

People usually dislike it because it follows after Final Fantasy 7 which, as I know, is a storytelling masterpiece.

Give me some grace here for a minute, while I explain why FF8 means a lot to me.

It was my first Final Fantasy, which is important to note, as most people who are fans of the series consider their first to be their favorite.

I played it on PC because I didn’t get a Playstation until I was almost fifteen. My parents got it for me for Christmas, along with a copy of FF7, but no memory card because we didn’t know what we were doing! My previous console (and still well loved) was/is an N64, and I didn’t need no stinkin’ memory card for that! (The games I played didn’t. I didn’t get the bigger games that required them but that’s another can of worms.)

My poor little computer could hardly handle PC FF8. The cutscenes alone made my computer freeze, and I had to save as often as possible because ‘you never know’. And you and I both know there’s nothing more disappointing than having your computer/console crash on you after that boss fight you just spent an hour on.

Yes, an hour. This is Final Fantasy.

They make you work for it.

This game has been out for fifteen years, I’m sure you know the premise.

Teen boy goes to military school, has a babealicious rival (What? I have a thing about blonds), and angsts his way through sorceresses and friendship as the world goes to hell.

People complained that Squall, our angsty protagonist, was too angry. I’m sorry, but do you remember what it was like being seventeen? It sucked. Teen years suck in general, but at seventeen, orphaned (like most FF protags), and in military school with people he wasn’t close to, I’d be a little angry myself.

Let me start from the beginning. I could talk about the politics of what’s really going on with Dollet vs Galbadia vs Balamb vs Everything Else but why. It’ll get complicated.

The game opens with my favorite FMV in the entire world, Liberi Fatali, a gorgeous opening that promises ROMANCE and FIGHTING and a REALLY GOOD LOOKING VILLAIN and all kinds of other good stuff.

Squall is fighting his rival on what looks like one of those landscapes from Dragonball where there’s massive amounts of space and where the heck are those places in real life, have you BEEN to Balamb Garden, and he gets injured. Actually, both dudes end up with matching scars which is kind of ironic and romantic and whatever, but I digress. 


Squall is chastised by his super-hot instructor, the love of my life, and probably the reason I love anyone in glasses, Quistis Trepe. She’s so boss she has a fanclub, and she’s been an instructor for years. By the way, she’s only eighteen. By eighteen I’d only just graduated high school and was maintaining a job at Quizno’s in a mall food court so excuse me if she’s not just a little drool worthy. Add Quistis to the list of Women I Wish I Could Be.

But oh no, now is not the time for telling Squall he’s a pile of trash who needs to get his act together, there’s trouble on the horizon in the form of the Galbadian government attacking Dollet, and we must get there Right Away. But don’t worry, you have time to go play cards and go visit the nearby town and level up on the world map if you feel like it.

After you go and handle business in Dollet, you find out things aren’t what they seem, because of course they aren’t, and there are bigger things afoot. Your squad leader, the wonderful and beautiful Seifer Almasy, is a huge tool and dreams of bigger and better things than just a training mission, and gets himself into all sorts of trouble.

I could write a separate article about why I love Seifer, but it would be longer than this one.

Anyway. By the time you manage to escape from a lot of bad dudes and mechanical spiders and the like you head back to the school to find out SURPRISE you did well enough to pass that training mission/SeeD military exam and NOW YOU’RE A SEED. Time to party.

And by party, I mean stand around and not socialize because this is Squall we’re talking about, not eveyone else who is having a great time.

At the party, with the famous waltz scene I’m SURE you’ve seen before, Squall meets Rinoa, who at the time he doesn’t realize is scouting ahead to find people to come help her resistance faction fight against the Galbadians who have taken over her city of Timber and declared martial law.

I learned a lot about politics in this game.

The kid with the stupid shorts is Zell, one of your permanent party members who is like… a puppy. He’s excited about everything, and a martial arts expert. He speaks before thinking, fights from the heart, and sees the good in everyone. Unless that person is Seifer.

Selphie is the girl in the tiny yellow dress. She’s a transfer student from another Garden up north, and she’s happiness and sunshine in a tiny little body. Also she likes explosions. She’s kinda scary.

With Squall’s team and Rinoa’s resistance faction, The Timber Owls, they manage to figure out that all of what’s going on is to basically introduce a new Peace Ambassador for Galbadia, who turns out to be a sorceress.

Time to head to Deling where stuff’s going down, with our new ally Irvine, a sharpshooter from the local military school, who will be responsible for taking the sorceress out.

I never understood the appeal Irvine had when I was young. I get it now. It’s the gun. It’s always been the gun. It’s not his sassy attitude or his womanizing personality (because he tries and fails every single time), it’s the gun.

He’s a lousy flirt, and tries too hard, and has next to no self esteem, and that’s totally okay. He’s also seventeen but we’re gonna pretend he isn’t so I don’t feel like a perv. Cool.

The assassination attempt after the amazing and beautiful parade scene is a failure and Squall gets ‘killed’ by the hot sorceress.

Time for disc 2!

It occurs to me that I haven’t talked about Rinoa yet. Not important. I’ll get there.

Disc 2 starts out ...rough. You and your party are in jail, Squall isn’t really dead (or is he?) and now we have to bust out before the jail is submerged in sand and everyone dies.

With enough teamwork, you get out of there and find out that oh no, the nearby military base is going to be shooting missiles at every Garden because the SeeD attack on the sorceress is treason so everyone has to die.

Well, obviously no one wants that, so you have to split your parties so one goes to the military base to stop the missiles, and the other goes to Balamb Garden to warn everyone.

Hopefully everyone gets there in time.

There are a lot more politics involved here, including who is really in charge, not Headmaster Robin Williams - er, I mean Cid…

Anyway. Some heavy plot later, you find out the Garden is actually able to be mobile and you have only a small timeframe to make that happen or everyone dies.

But don’t worry, you can still find time to play cards.

There’s always time to play cards.

You don’t have to, but this minigame is pretty fun. It’s incredibly frustrating, and you can get Character Cards of everyone from other characters, like Zell’s Ma has his Character Card, etc.

It’s time consuming.

ANYWAY THE GARDEN CAN MOVE. But please be careful. You don’t want anything...bad to happen…. OH NO Everyone is in big trouble because no one knows how to actually pilot the mobile Garden!??!?!

After crashing into my favorite place in the entire game, Fisherman’s Horizon, everyone gets a chance to chill out for awhile and just be teenagers. Which includes getting a band together because this is what teenagers do - learn instruments and be able to perform a concert in just a few simple hours! (I wish I was that awesome…)

The concert is to cheer up Squall, who is the new Commander of the Garden because Cid’s got enough on his plate. Turns out Sorceress Edea is actually his wife. Oh, okay.

Anyway, Squall and Rinoa have a chat about life and trust issues, and Rinoa tells him that it’s okay for him to talk to them if he needs a friend. He’s still not too cool with this whole ‘warm and fuzzy’ business, but they’re getting there.

Rinoa is a cool lady. She believes in her friends with her whole heart and when she came to Balamb to find someone to help her, she did it with a smile and a belief that things were going to work out okay. She comes from tough roots. Her father is a General, and he doesn’t believe in her. He’s not a good guy.

But she keeps on smiling and relies on the SeeD team to help her out, because she knows with enough hard work they can get this thing done. She believes in Squall, even if he doesn’t believe in himself.

Once the Garden is mobile again, they head to Trabia up north to check on Selphie’s old Garden. Unfortunately, Trabia didn’t escape the missiles and so your team is now on cleanup and morale duty.

By this time, a couple team members have started to pair off, Irvine having given up on pursuing ALL of the women and just going after Selphie. Not because she’s cute, but because he actually likes her. (And Quistis gave him crap about being a womanizer)

Rinoa has made her interest in Squall clear by this time, not that he knows what to do about it… Poor kid. Being a teen is rough.

He’s already got too much to worry about without throwing hormones in there.

By the way, through the entire game, the team has been experiencing flashbacks to about twenty years prior of a trio of soldiers, Laguna, Kiros and Ward, who have something important to do with the story. Squall and Co are being sent back in time by Squall’s ‘Big Sis’ Ellone to Laguna’s team’s consciousnesses to see the entire story, to understand what’s happening now and why.

Sorceress Edea is now all chill and resting at the old orphanage where (conveniently) your entire troupe, minus Rinoa, spent their first few years until they went their separate ways.

Also conveniently, your team can’t remember about this because the summon system, Guardian Forces, take up that space in their brains so they lost a lot of important memories. The price we pay for power, I guess.

After more plot stuff, like Edea saying she was sorry, and talking about her powers, Squall and Co head out to find that Galbadia Garden, also mobile, is waiting to attack. Awesome.

Squall, we don’t have time for cards. Your girlfriend is hanging from a cliff.

After some awesome bosses, Rinoa gets possessed by a sorceress and goes into a coma. More awesome.

TIME TO GO TO SPACE!

No, really.

The only place that Rinoa can be treated is through Ellone and that happens to be at a space station.

Without spoiling too much, you run into Current Day Laguna who explains all that’s going on, and tells you you have to compress time to defeat the Big Bad, a sorceress who is possessing people from the future.

She’s pretty rad.

The final boss world is actually really awesome, and requires a lot of strategy because once you’re on her turf, she locks all of your abilities and you have to defeat certain bosses and CHOOSE which abilities you actually want to use.

You can unlock all of them, or only some of them, but make sure you choose wisely, and equip EVERY CHARACTER because the final boss battles are completely randomised so hope and pray you remembered to Junction/Equip everyone with the best you have or you’re SOL.

Ultimecia’s set of boss battles can take over an hour. I’ve always loved how good it feels to succeed in a Final Fantasy final boss set because when you see that ending movie you know you’ve earned it.

FF8 is no different. You deserve the beautiful thirteen minute ending.

Even if creepy stuff like this is in it.

The ending movie is a beautiful scene of Rinoa and Squall trying to find each other through time and a desolate wasteland, as well as visiting other characters post-time compression. (Seifer included! He’s not such a Bad Guy after all!)

I prefer him smirking evilly but that’s just how I like my blond video game dudes.

Unimportant.

End credits involve a home-movie style video of the after-party, which includes Zell hoarding bread like it’s going out of style, Quistis being sexy as hell, and Irvine and Selphie being cute and dumb because that’s exactly what they are.

But Oh, what’s that on the balcony? Is that SQUALL WITH RINOA?

They look like they’re gonna kiss.

Are they gonna kiss?! ARE THEY????

YEAHHHHHHH GET IT GURLLLL

To summarize...

I can see why people don’t like this game. There’s more of a focus on romance than a typical Final Fantasy, more teen issues. But what do you expect from a FF that is run by teenagers?

We could be here for ages if I sat here and listed off reasons why each FF Protagonist should be hated but I won’t. They should be loved, because people all over the world can relate to each Protagonist for different reasons.

I related to Squall because I was around his age when I played this game, and in high school. Squall and his friends taught me how important it was to trust each other. How love really can break through obstacles.

The music is incredible, and for Playstation, the graphics are amazing. This is back during the time when story drove a game, not just graphics.

Sure, the Junction system was super annoying and time consuming because drawing 100 magic spells for each character to raise their stats took way too long, but if you put the time into it it was worth it.

It made up for it later when you developed your GF Abilities so they could create magic out of items you had in your inventory.

Anyway. I’m not here to give this game a 10/10 or whatever, I’m here to write about why I love it. I don’t expect people to be swayed once they read this, because I left over half of the game out.

Hope you enjoyed reading, let me know what you think!