Appare-Ranman! touches on gender equality, racism, sexism, xenophobia, toxic masculinity, neurodiversity, PTSD, teamwork, sportspersonship, ethics, and dealing with bad actors. While navigating all this, the main characters increasingly recognize their interdependence and how that’s not only okay, but their strength and advantage.
Mild character development spoilers:
I enjoyed the character development, particularly how the autistic-coded Appare challenges and breaks out of the usual tropes. The show leans on those tropes, but develops and humanizes beyond them. Appare is also ace and aro coded, and, again, develops sufficiently past the tropes to be satisfying.
Appare says “Feed me” while absorbed in his special interests. Oh, how I relate. Like Appare, I need a Cavendish bubble of support as I go about my SpIns. Like Appare, I’ve taken that support for granted. Like Appare, I eventually recognized that.
I want a season 2, one that follows Appare and Jing and their respective teams as they pursue their passions while navigating society. There can be another race, or not. There can be more action fight scenes, or not. I just want to see these characters develop.
https://www.hulu.com/series/appare-ranman-2d84b975-ecb1-41e4-8bef-5edc003ea2b8
I watched the English dub version, BTW. I’m enjoying the writing and acting on most of the anime dubs I watch these days. Contrast with my childhood in the 1970s and 80s when we existed on frugal fare.
One thought on “Interdependence and Representation in Appare-Ranman!”