Aggretsuko - adorable badass

Yesterday I was logging into Netflix to watch my current obsession (Offspring, a charming comedy-drama from Australia), and saw an interesting looking teaser for something called Aggretsuko, based on a character from the Sanrio franchise. I thought it looked cute but maybe annoyingly so, and I didn't have high hopes for the story, but I figured I should probably check this out anyway, just to have an informed opinion.

A couple of hours later I'd binged the entire thing in one sitting and ran off to rave about it to my friends.

It starts out showing us young Retsuko, a fresh-faced college grad starting her new job in a big office, full of possibility and hope for the future. Fast forward five years, and she's a burnt out corporate zombie who has to psych herself up to get out of bed each morning. I think many of us can relate.

Retsuko is the dutiful worker who performs her tasks without complaining and doesn't balk when others dump their work on her or when her sexist pig of a boss (who is literally a pig) goes on and on about how useless women are. She's the kind of person who's afraid of speaking up for herself, even when being followed around a store by an annoying sales clerk. In fact, she buys some socks she doesn't even like because she feels bad for leaving without purchasing anything.

As meek and timid as she appears, she has a secret. One that involves a microphone: she screams her rage out to death metal where no one else can hear her.

And that's where Retsuko's story really begins. Over the course of 10 episodes, we get to watch her come into her own power, with the help of her friends and the guidance of two older, badass professional women who take a liking to her and see a spark of something great behind the anxiety.

OK, so I don't know the characters in the Sanrio universe other than Hello Kitty, and isn't there a chocolate one? But now I'm starting to rethink my assumption that it was all silly fluff. There's something truly subversive going on in Aggretsuko (Aggressive Retsuko) around women's righteous anger as a force for change.

I'm sure there are some self-rescuing princess types out there who came out of the womb already kicking ass and taking names (yay you!), but most of us have had to overcome a huge amount of societal training. As Amy Pohler said, "It takes years as a woman to unlearn what you have been taught to be sorry for." So much of what we've been taught about our worth and how to interact with the world holds us back. Like Retsuko, we were taught not to speak up or talk back, but instead suffer in silence and rage in private.

Another thing Aggretsuko gets totally right is the role of other women in the process of unlearning. The real power comes from truthful conversations with other women, learning from each other's stories and reveling in the support that comes from that kind of shared experience. It's through her friendships with the two older company women, Gori and Washimi, and her coworker Fenneko, that Retsuko is able to imagine other ways of responding to the injustices of life, both professional and romantic.

Aggretsuko earns the Self-Rescuing Princess Society seal of approval for its story of a young woman coming into her own power, and its positive portrayal of female friendships. We get to watch Retsuko unlearning. It's not a straight line. She has setbacks and stumbling blocks. Who doesn't? But with the help of her friends, she is able to grow into a kickass young woman. I guarantee by the end of the season you'll be giving a super feminist fist pump in her honor.

If you like the work I do here on SRPS, please support me!

Read More

KickStart This!

So very many more great projects to consider this week! Movies, music, and loads of great books!

When I saw the description for June, Adrift: A Real Indie Feature (No Offense, Zach Braff), my very first thought was, I'd watch the hell out of that! We get so many stories about young men trying to find themselves, but very few about women trying to figure their lives out. When I was in my 20s, it would have been wonderful to have a library filled with stories about women facing the same conflicts I was. Heck, now in my 40s, I'd still like to have that library.

After a series of humiliating encounters with members of her parents' generation, Emma makes the impulsive decision to return to her parents' house, vacant while they are traveling for the summer, in order to complete a boat kit given to her by an uncle fifteen years ago. As her enthusiasm for the project snowballs, she accidentally collects two traveling companions in Liesl and Rachel.

I grew up in a house full of music of all kinds. Some of my most cherished memories are the family car trips where everyone would sing along with the radio, with my musically talented parents singing in beautiful harmony. I think that's where I developed my love of a cappella music. When I played the clip for Beyond All Reason: Raising The BAR I knew I had to have a copy of their album!

Beyond All Reason is Saint Louis University’s only all-female a cappella group. The group was founded in 2002 and has been entertaining the masses ever since. BAR regularly performs on SLU’s campus and hosts two concert extravaganzas a year. With a repertoire that spans all genres and includes songs ranging from "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons to "At Last" by Etta James.

I have to admit I haven't read much from the manga side of the book shelf. But I do know that it has been instrumental in getting many young people back into the habit of reading. So when I see a graphic novel or manga that tells a story of a kickass young woman, I'm going to throw my support behind it! Jade Dragon Book 1 looks like a good story for young people. And it's important to me that Kaida's character is show wearing sensible clothing and acting in a completely normal teenage fashion.

Kaida Suzuki is a fifteen year old orphan who was raised by monks at a secret dojo, hidden away in the mountains. Abandoned on the doorsteps of the dojo as a child, Kaida has grown up with only her Master, Sensei Shin, to call family. Shin has always known there was something special about this girl so he has trained her in combat since Kaida’s first steps. Kaida was living the normal teenage life; going to school, getting teased by other kids, learning martial arts and keeping secret crushes. All was calm until the one night that would change her life forever.

Well, the above sentiment also applies to fantasy books. Like Melissa Drake's Daughter of Mythos: What if all the myths were real? 

15-year-old Nora Salvatore's dream of a normal life and a permanent family are ripped from her as she's thrust into a world where myths and magic are the reality. When an evil wizard plans to unleash an army of demons on Earth, Nora's the only one who can stop him.

OK. Fine. It also applies to every other book out there. I know a couple of school-aged girls (and boys) who will likely getting a copy of Sage Carrington, Eighth-Grade Science Sleuth, Volume #2 in the coming year!

Sage Carrington is a 12-year-old girl who lives in Washington, D.C. She’s a science lover who enjoys exploring the wonders of our natural world. Along with her best friend Isabel Flores, Sage is a confident, curious amateur sleuth who lives in a thriving community that enables and encourages her pursuit of happiness.

What projects are you excited about lately?

Read More

She's Crafty

The amount of detail in this shadow box filled with Miyazaki miniatures is just amazing:

Looking the perfect gift for your gamer friends' new baby? Beth Smith's Etsy shop is full of awesome, creative, geeky baby items, like this Natural D20 bib:

I am in gamer love with this Super Mario World crochet pillow:

This custom Braille bracelet is really cool. It's made by Alice Woodside Lynch, of BrailleDesign.com, who creates all sorts of jewelry and tags with Braille inscriptions.

This is a great cross stitch pattern for the newest little asskicker and The Walking Dead fan in your life:

What are you working on these days?

Read More

SRPS Movie Night - Howl's Moving Castle

I know this has been out for ages, and I've seen it a dozen times, but I still love it as much as I did the first time I saw it.

The basic premise of the story is that there's a dreadful war, and the King has enlisted the wizards and witches of the realm for fighting. Howl is part of the resistance, and travels around the world in his "castle" -- a magical steampunk contraction controlled by a fire demon. Sophie is an innocent, quiet hatmaker, who accidentally gets mixed up with the war when she is rescued by Howl from some lecherous soldiers.

"Don't worry, he only preys on pretty girls."

I love Sophie. She starts out as the hard-working, good daughter who rarely goes out or has fun. But on a trip across town to visit her sister, who is beautiful and lively and loved by everyone, she finds herself in a alley with some soldiers who won't leave her alone. Suddenly Howl appears by her side and runs the soldiers off. Unfortunately, he's being followed by magical black blob henchmen. He and Sophie take a magical sky-walking trip to evade them. Sadly, because Howl has shown her this favoritism, the Witch of the Waste pays a visit to Sophie in her shop and curses her, turning her into a very, very old woman.

But instead of taking her curse and finding a way of living with it, she gets a sudden burst of bravery and heads out into the Waste to find a way to have her curse removed. It's there where she gets picked up by the moving castle and joins them as their cleaning lady, and her real adventure begins.

"Well, the nice thing about being old is you've got nothing much to lose."

The relationship between Sophie and Howl is magical and transcends time and space, just like Howl himself. Is she there to save him or he to save her? Or a little bit of both? I love how, as their relationship changes, she becomes younger, and closer to her "real," uncursed self. It's as though we get small glimpses of the true Sophie, the one who was hidden all along.

In the castle, she wrecks havoc as she goes on a cleaning spree. She befriends the young wizard apprentice, Markl, and even manages to charm Calcifer, the fire demon. She makes an agreement with Calcifer to help him break the spell that binds him to Howl and the castle, and in return he'll help her.

"They say that the best blaze brightest when circumstances at are their worst."

The main theme of the movie is about how war harms all the people involved. The innocent civilians have their homes and businesses bombed out. The fighters die. Those who use magic for evil purposes will be permanently transformed into the monsters they become for war. But even those who are resisting the evil will be harmed by the effort, and run the risk of becoming monsters themselves. 

I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it. Just know that the magic is amazing, and the true hero of the whole thing is Sophie. Along the way, they pick up a great menagerie of houseguests (castle-guests?) and form a wonderful family held together by their genuine love for each other.

She's feisty and strong. She doesn't take no for an answer, and she doesn't feel sorry for herself. She fights the black blobs, takes command of the castle, and keeps everyone in line. She keeps the family together under the toughest circumstances. She's not a witch, just an ordinary girl-turned-old-woman, but she manages to unravel the grand plans by the King's grand witch, Madame Suliman, which makes her the most powerful character in the movie.

The voice acting in the English version is wonderfully done. Besides Billy Crystal as the comic Calicofer,  Grandma Sophie is voiced by Jean Simmons, and the Witch of the Waste is the legendary Lauren Bacall. Christian Bale is Howl, and Blythe Danner is Suliman.

This is a great story about a self-rescuing princess, because, while she may start out as a plain shop girl, by the end of the movie she truly is a princess.

Read More