lrt: i'm not taking a stance on the rm / pro ship stuff since i'm not involved enough in modern fandom to actually know what's going on. but this thread is a good take - regardless of what media you consume, consume it critically and keep an eye for how it might affect you

i love me some *nasty* ships. hannibal is, so far as i've seen, INCREDIBLY compelling - and it's obvious and blatant in its gross parts, which makes it easier to connect with

the problem is when things are subtle about it - or at least subtler.

let's talk about akio ohtori.

**MASSIVE CW: RAPE, GASLIGHTING, ATTEMPTED MURDER, PARTNER/CHILD ABUSE, INCEST, PEDOPHILIA, LITERALLY EVERYTHING**

akio ohtori is. whoo! none of those trigger warnings are a joke or overexaggerations. akio *literally does all of these things on screen*. he is fundamentally AWFUL

and most people - the VAST, VAST MAJORITY - obviously get that. like, it's nearly impossible to miss. that's not the issue.

the issue comes in that his evil comes in two forms: near-comic villainy, and *quiet abuse of the patriarchy*.

nearly everyone, without fail, understands that akio is bad. of course he's bad. he is bad to the point of parody. there is a scene where he his future mother-in-law confronts him about poisoning her daughter, *and he fucks her as a distraction*.

and this is, in some ways, what makes his truly despicable acts *arguable.* (people argue about this. i think it's cut and dry, but ymmv.)

it's easy not to romanticize akio when he's the villain. it's when he is deconstructing the shoujo love interest that he is dangerous.

(MASSIVE CW: RAPE OF A MINOR)

in episode 33, akio rapes utena.

there's no way around it. utena is a fourteen year old playing at being an adult, and akio exploits this through the guise of the shoujo prince. he is gentle in his words; he is caring and charming. and a rapist.

the scene in which he rapes her is one of the most important in the show. it is devastating to watch precisely because it is framed as any other love scene might be. it is the shoujo ideal. he is gentle. he takes his time.

and the whole time, utena dissociates.

she quietly and nervously talks about groceries. food. things she has to do, to remember for later. her mind focusing on the mundane, because even here, having been groomed and convinced this is what she wants, she is a frightened young girl.

when i first watched this scene, i had to mute the microphone i was speaking to my partner with. i felt hurt, *having been warned*. i remembered parts of my own history i try not to fixate on.

it was, in many ways, the most realistic depiction of non-forcible rape i have seen.

but i had been warned coming in, and i could stitch myself together. and what utena (as a show) had to say about the event, about everything, was so fundamentally meaningful that it *had* to show this.

the problem came when i realized not everyone else saw the scene this way.

there's a post i remember quite clearly. it acknowledges that akio has done terrible things - but admits that he treats utena *so romantically* that he's a guilty pleasure of theirs.

and this is the core issue: sometimes, when you consume media, what seems obvious... isn't.

i had the life experience to understand just how traumatic akio's actions were. i had been there. i was 24 and could process it.

would i have understood that at 14?

and that's where my fear comes in, with people engaging with media

it's surprisingly easy to look at the obviously bad things and say "of course i would never ignore something like that in reality." but reality, and bad, exist on a spectrum, and sometimes things are subtle.

if you've read this far: thanks for hearing me out. i don't have a neat conclusion or a life lesson here.

i guess all i could say is: be critical of gross things when you consume them, yes. but more importantly, be critical of the *safer* ones.