Comments | femgenficathon: In The Dark, Aoi Hyuuga, PG13

slowmercury in femgenficathon

In The Dark, Aoi Hyuuga, PG13

Oct 12, 2009 17:09

Title: In The Dark
Author: slowmercury
Fandom: Gakuen Alice
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None, really, but it might spoil chapter 62
Prompt: 17) I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in. -- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), English novelist and essayist ( Read more... )

titles a-l, fandom: gakuen alice/alice academy, character: aoi hyuuga, author: slowmercury, femgen 2009

Comments 3

edenfalling October 15 2009, 00:33:18 UTC

That is very interesting! I like how you explore the aftereffects of trauma that (you say) the series glosses over. I like the tension between Aoi and her father, and the anger she feels toward her brother both for not finding her and for forging friendships with other people while they were separated; I like that she recognizes the unfairness of blaming them, and yet knowing doesn't make the emotions go away. I like that she empathizes with her captor but doesn't forgive him.

I am not sure if, at the end, Aoi is making a fire as a symbolic act of reclamation, or is committing arson on Persona's house -- the lack of situational detail can support either interpretation. I like both ideas, though for obviously different reasons.

edenfalling October 15 2009, 00:37:29 UTC

P.S. Also, one typo: Nastume, the brother who hadn’t even wanted to leave the school - the prison - that had held them both captive for so long?

slowmercury October 26 2009, 00:57:13 UTC

Thank you so much for your comments! I really appreciate them. I'm sorry for taking so long to reply - I've been pretty busy the last (week? two weeks?) bit, anyway, and I'm only now getting back. I fixed the typo - thanks very much for pointing it out.

Aoi's treatment really did bother me, if only because the authors so clearly didn't think about where she was coming from: they wrote her to be the Perfect Little Sister and defined her solely in relation to her brother. Like, they didn't really consider what effect her experiences would have on her, only how the bad things she dealt with affected Natsume. And then as soon as she was free, she was forced to exit stage left, and the authors never addressed that she'd be angry or even upset about the whole thing. I wanted to know more how Aoi really felt about the whole issue ( ... )