Soo.

I just finished rewatching Weiss Kreuz for useful purposes. Specifically because I was worried I couldn't write Ken for shit any more and wanted a do-over to be sure I was still doing it right. Hadn't seen it in what felt like an absolute age and if I was beginning to wonder what in the world made me love my ridiculous twelve-year-old show about florist/assassins (complete with plot holes!) well, now I remember. Not that I can exactly put that love into coherent words, because I just love it because I do and it's not the kind of thing you can rationalize, it really isn't.

A couple of things were different this time round. Specifically, Sakura. Sakura is a character who I have previously just kinda tolerated. This time round, though? I liked her. I genuinely did like her. I think she's been unfairly maligned by a vast swathe of the fandom - including, I'm prepared to admit, me in my earlier days - and looking back I really don't know what she did to deserve it apart from daring to have two X chromosomes and a crush on Aya, Object of Fangirl Obsession #1. Which is a ridiculous thing to hold against her, because she's a fifteen year old girl. Of course she's got a crush on the good-looking, mysterious guy who's saved her life. I think I probably would have in her place.

Why the Hell I took against her I can't even begin to explain any more. I've never particularly cared for Aya or thought that Sakura's crush on Aya somehow made her in the way of Fanon Youji or my Mary Sue having him instead. Maybe I just thought she wasn't 'badass' enough for my tastes because God forbid a teenage schoolgirl should act like a teenage schoolgirl and actually get a little upset by, say, being abducted and mind-raped.

Maybe the difference is this time I was actually watching her, not just considering her scenes to be an unavoidable but rather unwelcome delay to the actual plot. I only did this because I'm RPing her over at wk_awakenings and I wanted to be sure I was doing it right, but the more I actually watched her instead of tuning out and wondering when the assassins would be back the more I wondered why in the world I had taken against her in the first place. She only sounds like a demure, passive little thing, and if she's occasionally overwhelmed by the things going on around her - once again, ordinary fifteen-year-old girl. She holds up a Hell of a lot better than I would.

So, purpose statement: I like Sakura now. In fact I like her rather a lot and would like to apologize for all the bad things I ever said about her which were manifestly far more fanon-flavored than they should have been. I was stupid at the time, but now I am smart(er).

See, this is why rewatches are useful.

It's probably no bad thing I rewatched in other ways. I wasn't anywhere near as off with Ken as I feared I might have been, but I was rather ignoring his tendency to get incredibly annoyed at... well, just about anything, especially where that thing is called a Youji Kudou (and then they made out!) which is rather a pity as that is pretty much where the whole I ship it thing originally comes from (AND THEN THEY MADE OUT, SERIOUSLY.) Still, knowing you have a problem is the first step to solving it: I've been practicing my irritable!Ken in the last couple of days and... well, what can I say? I missed him.

Now all I've got to do is rewatch Verbrechen and Strafe, but I'm saving that as a prize for getting my WIP back into some kind of order. Yes, that WIP. It needs extensive reworking and the opening chapter has to be totally rewritten, but I am going to finish it it it kills me.

Further purpose statement: I still love Weiss Kreuz far more than a grown woman ought, and Ken Hidaka is clearly totally awesome.

(The Wunder X episode is still bloody ridiculous, though.)