O Maidens in Your Savage Season is a coming of age anime by Mari Okada about a group of girls dealing with topics like romance and sexuality. But rather than reviewing the show, I'd like to delve into how Okada has expressed the many and varied coming of age themes of the show through her characters and their respective arcs. Finally, I'll discuss the ending which carries the main message of the show.The Rejection and Acceptance of S-E-X (es-ee-batsu) Sonozaki starts as someone who is very prudish and uptight when talking about s-e-x, even in literature. At the beginning of the story, Sonazaki commands the club to make up euphemisms for the act when they discuss it. She looks down on other girls for trying to be physically attractive in order to get boyfriends. However as the story progresses, she learns to embrace it. She changes her physical look to resemble a famous beauty icon after she is told she looks like her. She makes friends with Jujo, the kind of girl that she disdains- dyed hair, lots of makeup. She even gets a boyfriend who she gets a little physically intimate with.The Duality of Romantic and Sexual AttractionKazusa and Sugawara have to deal with the confusing nature of romantic and sexual attraction, which both believe to come hand in hand. From the first episode when Kazusa walks in on Izumi doing the deed, she's hurt by the fact that he doesn't view her as sexually attractive. She takes it as a rejection of herself. Sugawara, who is also crushing on Izumi, has to deal with the opposite. However hard she gets him (forced train groping, really?), Izumi's sexual attraction to Sugawara will never turn into romantic attraction. Even though Kazusa and Izumi end up dating, the turmoil that Izumi may not like Kazusa sexually still remains unresolved. Fortunately, Izumi explains in the final episode that he doesn't view Kazusa sexually because he isn't personally ready for a change in their relationship but eventually he will, which Kazusa accepts. She learns that romantic attraction can exist without sexual attraction, but not to worry because the latter will come round eventually. Discovering your Sexuality Momo is one of the characters who has less screentime, but still has a struggle that is true to real life. After discovering she likes girls, she starts crushing on Sugawara. The hard part is having to deal with the fact that Sugawara and her other friends do not share her orientation. We see this when she asks Kazusa whether she'd rather do it with her or Milo-sensei, which Kazusa responds with Milo-sensei purely because he is a male. Why would Kazusa do it with her teacher rather than her, her friend? In the last episode, she questions how Sugawara can tackle her to the ground without hesitation, something she wouldn't do with a guy. How can she initiate physical contact with a girl so easily but not a guy?Unfortunately, I think Momo doesn't really come to terms with the fact that other people don't share the same orientation as her. We do see her accepting that Suguwara doesn't love her, but rather as because she loves Izumi rather because she is just not attracted to girls. I think that's a weakness in her character arc the anime didn't address properly. Accepting Your (lack of) Attractiveness to the Opposite GenderHongo, out of all of the characters, is the one I find the strangest to break down and probably the least relatable to real life. Her conflict is that she loves her Milo-sensei, but he doesn't love her back. It's kinda obvious that he can't love her because she is a minor, but I don't think that the taboo nature of their relationship was the struggle she had to deal with. It is her coming to terms with the fact that even though she is a woman, she isn't physically attractive (at least not yet) to him. Puberty doesn't bless all of us unfortunately. We see this in her attempts to seduce him and get him aroused in some rather absurd ways, all ending in failure. However as the story progresses though, she gets over the fact that she can't be with Milo-sensei and accepts it, even helping in his wedding. The Ending: A Loss of Innocence?Put aside the fact that the ending of the show required the school to be comically evil, the anime ends with a strong thematic conclusion that rounds up the growth of the main cast quite nicely."When the blues of youth that have enveloped our school are hit by a white light, so many new colors are revealed.All these colors were sleeping beneath those deep blues.They're not dying us, or dirtying us.When new feelings shine light upon us, we discover colors within us that we thought we never had."-Kazusa The girls were once too afraid, too embarrassed to discuss romance, physical attraction, and especially s-e-x. But now they're the ones who are standing up for those things to be expressed. They realize these things are not something to be ashamed of, but to be accepted and embraced. This is portrayed by the imagery of the white protest posters painted in different colors. White is commonly regarded as a color of purity, the color of innocence. And so the loss of the poster's pure white color can be likened to the loss of innocence in the girls. But that's not what the show means- the process of growing up, going through new emotions and experiences, does not dye or dirty you. Instead, it reveals parts of you (colors) that you have never known, ultimately making you a more enriched, better person.
Sep 22, 2019 • Subscribe
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