Yuki Yuna Is A Hero - My Other Wheelchair Is A Magical Girl Costume

It came up in tumblr.txt and I noticed we didn't have a Yuki Yuna thread, so here's a Yuki Yuna thread just in case people want to talk about Yuki Yuna.

DO YOU LIKE: magical girls dealing with disability, a strong slice-of-life focus, weird eldritch shit in the background which eventually comes forward in a big way
DO YOU NOT MIND: some pretty big violence for the magical girl genre, a cure being eventually found
DID YOU PREVIOUSLY ENJOY: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Mai-HiME, Puella Magi Madoka Magica

... then you might like Yuki Yuna!! It's only twelve episodes, so it's totally worth giving a shot if you're interested in this sort of thing. It's on Crunchyroll, too!

Spoiler: spoilery triggers

Depression in one of the characters which leads to an unsuccessful suicide attempt, disability which comes from overusing magical powers and which is eventually cured magically, being very heavily injured and not being able to die, being worshipped as sacrifices in a weird religion, living in a simulated reality, uhhh... it's been a while since I watched the series so this is all I can think of right now, feel free to prod me if you remember anything else which should be on this list.

 

You know, I've always thought

Spoiler

That the Nagano and Shikoku refuges weren't the only ones - they were the only ones in Japan, but there were many other communities throughout the world that had enough favor from their gods that they were protected as well. However, Shikoku didn't have any way to communicate with them, so they have absolutely no idea - the only way would be to venture out across the wasteland for months and hope to stumble across one. But they are out there.

 

i deeply, deeply adore this anime, despite the rather...controversial ending. i think i like it mostly because although it's dark like madoka, the overarching theme is hope and preservation in the face of overwhelming odds and getting your happy ending

Spoiler: spoiler

i wish that curing disability wasnt like, such a shitty trope because i really did find the god healing them at the end while taking away their magical girl powers (for a time idk abt a second season) in order to regroup and figure out another way to fight off the monsters fascinating. it was just sucky that everything involving disabilities was wiped in order to have that ending happen

also im so planning on one day cosplaying itsuki

 

Spoiler: re: eldritch

Oh man, I really like that idea - it makes me think of The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, weirdly enough, specifically the ending where some people leave the city but no one knows what they'll find or if there's even anything else out there. I would have loved to see more about what led the universe to being in that state, and what happened to the world; as it is the show is way more focused on its slice-of-life stuff and we only really get the curtain pulled back in the ending. I think it's eminently possible that there's more refuges out there!

Spoiler: also re: disability

Yeah, I was really disappointed by them going for a cure at the ending, but I did think that given the focus on their God it was... at least something which made narrative sense? Like, I would've been really interested in seeing how it could interact with humanity more, and what its powers were. I think the ending would have been stronger if they'd just gone 'this is it' and not left room for a second season, but I can see why they did that.

Honestly, I'm happy that there was an anime which tried to look at disability when so many just don't, even though it ended up with a Cure Ending. I really liked the stuff in the middle where they were figuring out how to live their lives and went back into slice-of-life stuff to show that, yes, life totally can go on after disability, it's not something which just shoves you in the narrative fridge. I would have loved it if they'd kept to that theme instead of sinking it at the end, but I'm still glad it exists even if it did go 'okay, yeah, but your happy ending means being abled'. I can totally respect people who aren't about that life, because 'everyone lived abled ever after' is kind of a shitty note to end on, but I was really excited to see something which made an attempt to acknowledge people like me.

and please cosplay itsuki she's amazing