#pao-lin huang | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lilyginnyblackv2 · 2 years

Text

T&B Clothes and Style Analysis:

This all started when I was thinking of a way to try and get a better gauge on Ryan’s age, but then it started to kind of become it’s own thing. Basically, something I’ve noticed is how aspects of many (though not all) the character designs are indictive of the decade they grew up in.

Let’s start with the oldest of our heroes (I’m limiting it to heroes so this post won’t be any more massive than I’m sure it will already be).

Kotetsu and Antonio: We know that they are both 38 in S2, so that means they were born in 1942. So their childhood and teen years were the 1940s and 1950s, and you can see the influence of those time periods on their outfits.

Back in the 1940s and 1950s cowboy inspired fashion was very popular. My grandfather had a bit of this style too, and he was born sometime in the 1930s. Of course, Antonio’s outfit is also meant to reflect his NEXT persona as well, being Rock Bison and having, iirc, a meat sponsor.

Meanwhile, Kotetsu has that snazzy look about him. Clean cut, button up shirt, tie, sleek and ironed pants, button up vest - his look is, in a way, rather hip in comparison to Antonio’s look. I also feel is has more of an upscale, blue collar vibe to it than Antonio’s, which style originated with blue collar, “working on the farm,” and legit cowboy types. Of course, Kotetsu doesn’t hold himself in that way, though I do think that his outfit is what adds to the moe gap and charm of Kotetsu. He has this put together appearance to him, but his life is a mess and he can be very immature at times, lol.

(This post is SUPER long and image heavy, so the rest is under a Read More!)

Next, let’s take a look at our newest heroes, since the 1980s influence on their style is obvious. All three of them are teens, so it would make sense that their fashion style and sense would reflect the 80s the most.

Subaru’s is, imo, the easiest to draw a link to in regards to possible inspiration. The outfits aren’t an exact match, but that puffy life preserver like jacket + jean pants combo just screams Marty McFly. I know he is also meant to reflect the “Red Ranger” trope found in series like Super Sentai and stuff like that, but I also think that Subaru’s problems with being looked down on and such is similiar to Marty’s with his issues surrounding being called chicken and what not. They can both be impulsive and quick to anger in that regard.

Lara has a school uniform on or, at least, an outfit inspired by one. Obviously, there are some liberties taken with the design, certain elements to make it cuter and more in-line with how school uniforms are often depicted in anime. The blazer top is really what gives it the 1980s Japanese school uniform vibe though. And since Lara is meant to represent magical girls, it makes sense that she would be wearing a school uniform.

Thomas has the most..anime-like outfit of everyone, imo. His outfit isn’t something you would someone wearing just every day, ya know. I tried looking a bit into high fashion/runaway fashion and the like, but didn’t get very far with that. I think the aspects of his outfit that have some basis in the 1980s though is the combo of “very shiny leather jacket” + tight jean combo like we see MJ wearing in his Thriller MV.

Okay, so now let’s take a look at characters that we know the exact age of, or have a very good, general idea of how old they are. First up here is Barnaby.

Listen, Barnaby’s outfit really doesn’t have much going on in the way of 60s or 70s fashion (the eras when he was a teen), but his hair absolutely does! Without a doubt, the inspiration for Barnaby’s hair was Farrah Fawcett and her hairstyle became popular in the 1970s, when Barnaby would have been in his late teens and early 20s. He had more of a general shaggy hairstyle in the few flashbacks we see of him as a younger teen.

This chunky gold chain is also very 70s.

Now we are more in the “we have a general idea how old they are range, and it was confirmed via outside sources.” The one that I feel most concretely on this is Karina, who is 19 in S2. That means she was born in 1961 (one year earlier than my parents, lol) and her childhood was in the 1960s and her teen years were pretty solidly in the 1970s outside of 19.

Whenever I think of Karina’s dress in S1, I my mind just always goes to the kinds of short dresses that were really popular in the Brady Bunch era. Other elements of her design are definitely different, but that dress is such a key aspect. Her S2 design feels more mature and like Mary Tyler Moore-esque.

Ivan, I believe, is 21 in S2. I think it was confirmed, somewhere, that he was 18 in S1. So he is only a little bit older than Karina and his teen years were the 1970s, period. Design-wise Ivan is a complete fish out of water. At least Barnaby had the hair and jewelry tying him to the 60s and 70s. But Ivan is meant to be a Weeaboo, so that whole idea and concept is far later, and his visual appearance reflects that.

However! Edward Said’s book Orientalism, which goes on to describe the term as:

the exaggeration of difference, the presumption of Western superiority, and the application of clichéd analytical models for perceiving the "Oriental world". This intellectual tradition is the background for Said's presentation of Orientalism as a European viewpoint reflecting a contrived Manichean duality.

(Source: The Wikipedia on Orientalism)

And that fits in with Ivan’s Weeaboo persona quite well. It’s a critical concept that is well known today (and which has a long standing documentation of existing before Said’s book was publish), but was only brought into the spotlight with this book in 1978.

Edit: Check out my reblog where I have more information on how Ivan’s outfit actually connects back to the time period.

The last character that we have a general idea of around about what age they are is Pao-lin. She was 13 or so in S1 and around 16 in S2.

The major inspiration for her outfit is obviously Kill Bill, lol. Especially with the martial arts and everything. But, of course, her S1 outfit also takes inspiration from jumpsuits that really gained popularity in the 1970s and tracksuits too. Her later outfits in The Rising and S2 are more masculine presenting and have her wearing tank tops and hoodies, both of which started becoming more commonplace as everyday wear in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. (This could also apply to Ivan, who is wearing a black tank top under his jacket.

Finally, we get into the characters whose ages are vague: Ryan, Nathan, and Keith. Now, Ryan is younger than Barnaby. That’s basically all we have to go off of really, but in The Beginning we can see that he looks in his late teens (he has a slimmer face similar to Thomas and Subaru).

His outfit there also has a very 70s disco vibe about it. Though the hair and other aspects of it are also a bit late 90s/early 2000s in feel too. His earlier designs were quite 60s and 70s inspired too:

The one in the top left almost feeling New Wave / Hippie-ish to some extent (a part of me would have loved if they went with that design, but I love his current design too). His outfit in The Rising (and S2, which I won’t even bother talking about here) are a bit more: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ design-wise.

The closest stuff I could find were like sports jerseys/sport shirts from the 70s and those shorts pictured, lmao. Those shorts are a bit shorter than Ryan’s, and they don’t have the more visually appealing hanging material, etc. But they do show how there were these sort of long shorts/pants in that era as well. Though, visually, Ryan still fits more in the 2000s era here. I started this whole research and post hoping that some of Ryan’s outfit could give more insight into his age...but nope, lol.

More info on Ryan’s outfit! :D

Anyway, our final two are Nathan and Keith. Nathan has made statements that make it seem that she is older than Barnaby and Keith, but likely not quite as old as Kotetsu and Antonio. I’ve always assumed that Nathan was in their 30s. Placing their teen years closer to the late 50s and 60s.

And while a lot of Nathan’s outfits can just be simplified to the idea of being flamboyant, I feel a lot of Nathan’s presence and the air about them is very similar to the Ballroom Scene of the 60s:

While the outfits are not one-for-one matches, there are similarities in posing, feathers, mesh, color choices, and just the outlines that are created. I will say that the shoulder pads in Nathan’s S1 outfit are far more 80s though, lol.

Edit: I realized I forgot to explain what the Ballroom Scene even is and how it relates very specifically to Nathan’s gender identity. From the Wikipedia page:

The Ballroom Scene is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in New York City. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino drag queens began to organize their own pageants in opposition to racism experienced in established drag queen pageants. [...] While the initial establishment of Ballroom mimicked these drag queen pageants, the inclusion of gay men and trans women would transform the Ballroom scene into what it is today: a multitude of categories that all LGBTQ+ people can participate in.

There is a fantastic documentary on this whole subculture and scene called Paris is Burning (link is to the YT video of the full documentary). I watched it back in college in my Queer Studies class. It’s very enlightening and insightful, but it does deal with some heavy topics (SA, suicide, etc.). I definitely suggest giving it a watch if you can though!

Edit: Some more excellent information on Nathan's and Pao-lin's styles. Pao-lin's connection to Bruce Lee and Nathan's fashion connection to the 1970s glam era + visual kei (his The Rising outfit).

FINALLY! We have Keith. His age is completely unknown. I’ve always felt that he was closer in age to Barnaby than Kotetsu and Antonio. His outfit really doesn’t tell us much. It’s a very “All-American, Hard Worker” guys kinda outfit. Definitely something you would find in the 70s (image pictured above is from the 70s) and 80s, though his pants are more 80s-like than 70s (more straight than flared).

(Though, looking at that above image, it seems like Barnaby’s big belt is also very 70s-ish!).

Anyway, I feel I can’t talk about Keith and his appearance and style without also mentioning this:

Keith looks like Tom Cruise, and once you see and know that, you cannot unsee it either, lmao.

Okay, okay, let’s wrap this up! I’m going to be including sources and references for the clothes images and that’s basically it. If you have anything else to add, please do, and thank you to anyone who has read all the way to the end! It’s greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoyed reading this! <3

Sources:

Antonio’s: blue17 and Vintage Dancer

Kotetsu’s: Vintage-Retro

Lara’s: qph.cf2.quoracdn . net

Pao-lin’s: Plaidstallions

Nathan’s: Esquire

Ryan’s: Vintage Vixen and Bored Panda, Dress That Man and The Empire Tribe

379 notes · View notes

lilyginnyblackv2 · 2 years

Text

Pao-lin’s Gender Presentation, Gender Identity, & Sexual Orientation

First, I want to give a big thank you to @isleofair for providing me with this scan! Now, let’s get going. :)

Along with Nathan, who I also did a write up on the other day for both gender identity and sexual orientation, Pao-lin is another character who a lot of fans perceive as being queer. This is due to a variety of things, such the mention of her experiencing “amour” (read: a crush) on Karina in the S1 Drama CD #5 (I will link to the full translation in the comments, but here is the segment that mentions Pao-lin’s crush) :

Pao: [Karina looked so pretty as she applied it to my lips. It was almost like she was sparkling.]

Karina: Okay! Wow, it's sooo cute! Just perfect! Let's go!

[Karina runs off]

Pao: [I don't know why, but my heart was pounding like it never had before.]

Agnes: That look on your face...that's "amour".

Pao: Ms. Agnes, you were there?!

Anges: You guys looked so close, I didn't want to spoil the scene by calling out.

Pao: Um, just now...you said "amour"...

Anges: Don't worry so much. You were looking at Blue Rose so intently. Even if she isn't a boy, you can still fall for her, you know?

There are other small things in the series as well, like how Karina was angry with the old man for what he said about Nathan, but Pao-lin was definitely hit harder and was the one that actively spoke out, likely because she can probably relate a bit to what Nathan has experienced. There is also that scene where the girls are all talking (Nathan, Pao-lin, and Karina). Karina makes a (rather transphobic) joke about one of them “not belonging” and Pao-lin immediately thinks Karina is talking about her, rather than Nathan.

This was meant to be a “comedic” moment, but after The Rising and how they basically had Karina stop making transphobic “jokes” like that in S2 and such, I think we can safely say that this scene isn’t just a throwaway joke, but a serious aspect of Pao-lin’s character. Something that is also touched upon in S1 Ep 9, with the whole baby thing and the barrette, etc.

So, let’s break down the above Hero TV Vol. 2 page on Pao-lin and see what it tells us about her gender presentation and sense of gender identity. We are going to start with the title:

Translation: A unisex girl who uses the “boku” pronoun.

Okay. So, we want to take a look at three things:

1. The word ユニセックス or “unisex,” checking the Japanese Wikipedia on the word shows that both English and Japanese have the same definition for this word (you need to be careful of that, because English loan words in Japan don’t always share the same meanings). That definition is: a word used to describe something that has a lack of distinct between masculine and feminine. For example, a skirt isn’t considered unisex, because it is still heavily associated with feminine presentation, but something like Pao-lin’s track/body suit from S1 would be. Because that is a style, especially back in the 60s and 70s, that was worn by both men and women and didn’t lean too much in either direction. The same goes for Pao-lin’s haircut in S1, which is at a length that isn’t perceived as being overtly masculine or feminine.

2. The word 少女 (shoujo) or “girl.” This term is very straight forward. It means girl, doesn’t have any other secondary meaning, outside of like “young lady” or something similar to that. When someone uses this term, especially in regards to marketing for anime and manga, the age range is 7 - 17 years old. What this is telling us though is that the creators (at least at this point in time, about two months post the end of S1) view Pao-lin as a girl. So, her gender identity by the writers and creators is of a cis girl.

3. Last, we have the fact that she uses “boku,” which is a masculine way to say “I.” However, it should be noted that girls using “boku” isn’t super uncommon and “ore” is perceived as even more masculine, but you can still find some women who might use it. When I lived and worked in Toyama City, the secretary at my junior high school was a lovely old lady who used “ore.” I loved it! T0T

Bringing this back to Pao-lin though, we have to take into consideration that she is an anime character. And a bokukko (literally just a combination of the word “boku” + “ko,” which means “child” but is also often commonly associated with girls) is a very common anime trope. It even has its own TV Tropes page, where it mentions how often these characters are meant to be tomboys. Some other things mentioned in the TV Tropes page are:

Even with Japanese speech patterns becoming more gender-neutral over the years, this would be considered unusual in real life

And:

Although none of this has to be reflected in her appearance, bokukko are usually either flat-chested, athletic, or extremely well-endowed.

Pao-lin does check off two of these, her breast size isn’t as big as Karina’s (something which is discussed in the Drama CD as well, show below) and she is athletic (very focused on martial arts).

Karina: Whoa! Don't pat my boobs all of a sudden!

Pao: If you never eat, why are they so big?

Karina: Are you mocking me?

Pao: Huh?

Karina: [sighs] Just seeing Ms. Agnes's body makes me feel miserable.

Pao: If we're talking about that, I'm not that way at all...

Karina: You still have room to grow.

Pao: But I'm tiny! So short!

Karina: Ah, you thought we were talking about that?

However, this is not something that is totally exclusive to anime and manga. You can find real life Japanese women and girls who use “boku,” and a native Japanese nonbinary (they/them) Twitter user, who lives abroad now, called MishimaKitan wrote about this for one of their Ko-fi posts. I will be linking to their website in the comments. Here is what they had to say about minors (girls) using “boku” in real life and how that is often perceived by cishet Japanese and Japanese society as a whole:

If a person who is perceived as female (vocally and visually) by others who is a prepubescent minor and uses 僕, surrounding adults likely think that they are going through “a phase” (or being a tomboy) because usage of 僕 by girls (and children who are classified as “female” at prepubescent age by others and yet to determine their own gender identities) are quite common in Japan.

They then go on to mention the “bokukko” archetype that we talked about above, and also mentioned this in regards to adults who are perceived as women by others in society using boku:

2. Creating an “I use 僕 as my personal pronoun” public persona and has their own little world, perhaps because they were influenced by anime and/or manga.

So, now lets just recap and see where we might be with Pao-lin’s gender presentation, identity, and sexual orientation.

Gender Presentation: Unisex

Gender Identity (According to the Above Text and as of S1 of T&B): Girl (so likely Female)

Sexual Orientation: (Going Off of the Drama CD): Lesbian (or, at the very least, Not Straight)

Now, let’s continue with the actual text of Pao-lin’s character write-up:

Translation: Pao-lin’s forte is fighting, but she has little interesting in anything outside of that. And her boss tells her, “Be more ladylike!”...

This translation doesn’t tell us too much. But this is obviously talking about the struggle we see Pao-lin having in S1. The series does have her eventually put on a dress and present more feminine:

But, the series does make it clear that 1. Pao-lin is uncomfortable presenting in this way, a way that is decidedly not unisex, and is very clearly feminine. And 2. Pao-lin is very strictly doing this for her parents.

Still, I remember when this episode first aired - it left a really bad taste in a lot of the fans’ mouths, mine included. A lot of fans wished that Pao-lin’s story line had been handled differently. We could see Kotetsu’s advice and intentions, but we also hated the whole “make the gender non-conforming girl or unconventional girl look conventionally feminine” trope.

Of course, then The Rising happened, and that really changed things. But, before we get into that, let’s take a look at the last bit of text:

Translation: She is still young and has an androgynous body. So she is mistaken for being a boy...!?

Here “androgynous” is being used as a descriptive marker (since it has the descriptive marker 的 added to the end of it 中性的 and is being used as an adjective with the inclusion of な + 身体 (body)). It should be noted that 中性 on its own does means (from Wikipedia’s X-gender Japanese page) :

自分のことを男と女の中間であると認識する人の性自認のこと

Translation: A gender identity of an individual who identifies themself as being between male and female

And it falls under the X-gender umbrella term. All that being said, that specific term isn’t being used with Pao-lin here.

However, I do think we are seeing Pao-lin existing in a queer space and identity, and not just in a “tomboy phase” or existing solely as “tomboy character archetype” that you often see in other anime and manga series. The reason for that being 1. how T&B chose to handle Nathan’s character in The Rising - that was a very raw and genuine deep dive look into gender identity issues and 2. how they’ve chosen to present Pao-lin in the continuing movie (The Rising) and Season 2. In both of these, they’ve gone harder in having Pao-lin present more masculine.

Even though Pao-lin has gotten older (by S2 she is 16 or years old), and likely has developed a bit more in regards to her body’s development, we see her designs in The Rising and S2 placing less emphasis on her breasts and her hair cuts are also shorter (more in the masculine presenting shortness range, in a generally speaking “this is how that length is generally perceived” perspective) and styled more masculine-like as well.

That makes me think a lot in regards to Pao-lin’s gender identity, just as how the slight ship teasing between her and Lara makes me think a lot about that Drama CD and Pao-lin likely (possibly) being attracted to girls. But, as far as official identity goes, we don’t have anything new beyond what we were given in that Hero TV Vol. 2 fanbook and Drama CD (as far as I know). Pao-lin is definitely GNC (Gender Non-Conforming) though, and I would love it if we could get a new Hero TV Volume fanbook soon, one that is updated to include The Rising and S2 content.

#Tiger & Bunny #Taibani #Pao-lin Huang #Dragon Kid #Tiger and Bunny #TnB #T&B #long post #image heavy post

91 notes · View notes