Space Bodies
Jul09
It’s not so much that it’s on track, as it’s a runaway train.
↓ Transcript
Walton
So, Ace. How about a nice, thorough scrubbing? I’m sure your women will appreciate it and the delicious tension you’ll bring to bed.
Ace
Women? Jaz is my girlfriend, and there’s also Maddie, back home. But Akane is just my bodyguard.
Walton
Just a bodyguard? Oh, Ace. You cruel, cruel boy. I’ve only seen your bodyguard on the vidscreen and she’s clearly as smitten as they come. Are you sure you haven’t been leading her on?
Ace
Not… Well…
Walton
Relax, Ace. A fine bit of man-flesh like you just has to inhale for a woman to take it as a come-on. But a bodyguard would be willing to die for you. Maybe at the first chance. If you don’t want to lose her, you should give her a reason to live for you.
Narration
It’s not like he’s gone and kissed her, or anything.
So, Ace. How about a nice, thorough scrubbing? I’m sure your women will appreciate it and the delicious tension you’ll bring to bed.
Ace
Women? Jaz is my girlfriend, and there’s also Maddie, back home. But Akane is just my bodyguard.
Walton
Just a bodyguard? Oh, Ace. You cruel, cruel boy. I’ve only seen your bodyguard on the vidscreen and she’s clearly as smitten as they come. Are you sure you haven’t been leading her on?
Ace
Not… Well…
Walton
Relax, Ace. A fine bit of man-flesh like you just has to inhale for a woman to take it as a come-on. But a bodyguard would be willing to die for you. Maybe at the first chance. If you don’t want to lose her, you should give her a reason to live for you.
Narration
It’s not like he’s gone and kissed her, or anything.
That is the advantage of someone that is friendly towards you, but not emotionally invested in your life. Clear honesty. The willingness to offend, but not being so emotionally overcharged that they need to smack you.
Oh, Andy. You cruel, cruel boy. To lead us on with such a tempting thought: Is this a false promise or a prologue?
Remember the image of Akane in the wedding dress?
I’m sure Jaz wouldn’t turn that bath down!
Now just a sec, Andy, I thought you were opposed to the idea of the friend zone, and that people who claimed they were in it were nothing more than creeps.
But the way Walton is describing it, Ace has put Akane in the friend zone, and he should “put out” if he wants to be worthy of her attention to him, and wants to keep her around.
Ace hasn’t ‘put’ anyone anywhere, you are implying that it was conscious decision on Ace’s part, whereas he is clearly clueless about how Akane feels (just like he normally is about most things)
It’s the claiming that you, yourself, are in the “friend zone”, and are entitled to sex, that makes someone a creep.
Ace didn’t consciously put Akane in the “zone”. He is probably SUBconsciously trying to avoid adding anyone else to his “Tenchi Syndrome” harem, but not intentionally. And now that it’s been pointed out to him, Ace will be doing SOMETHING about it. That’s the kind of guy he is, once a problem has been pointed out, he can’t NOT try to fix it.
And Walton’s phrasing it like Ace should go bang her, now, is as much due to Orion mores as anything else. It doesn’t appear that Orions have ANY of the social attitudes concerning casual sex that the culture Ace grew up in have. So to Walton, it’s “obvious” how to fix the problem. But for both Ace and Akane, it’s more complicated. (Dear MAKER is it more complicated.)
Giving her something to live for is not synonymous with banging her. Ace already gives Akane the best reason to live she could have. She disgraced herself by the standards of her culture and believed that her family considered her dead. Ace gave her a path back to honor and a family that sees past her mistake, accepting her for all she is. Read the thoughts on mortality where she talks about this. Her last statement after acknowledging that she would die for him (something that shows she does hold the honor of a Japanese warrior) but she will take the even harder path, for that man she will live.
Opposed, yes. And Ace is very specific in his belief that there is no true “Friend Zone.” Being a “friend” with ulterior motives or exploiting someone’s desires is no kind of friendship. None of this is happening here. Akane is not being Ace’s bodyguard in order to snare his affections and Ace hasn’t made any leading or false promises. And Walton hasn’t suggested either.
Not to mention there are more ways to give someone a reason to live. Walton doesn’t know Akane well enough to be aware that the way , Ace treats her with both caring and respect has given her a reason to live. I may be paraphrasing, but when going through the various characters views on life and death, Akane ended with “I would die for that man. That is easy. For him and the second chance he had given me, I will live for that man.” Her choice.
She hasn’t? I would have sworn that Walton just said that Akane would like to die for Ace because of her unresolved sexual tension, and that Ace should change their relationship so that doesn’t happen. Or did I missinterpret something?
I’m going to point out that “sex” was never mentioned.
You misinterpreted what was said: as a bodyguard, Akane would die for Ace, if he doesn’t want that to happen, he needs to give her a reason to live for him
Again, Walton is applying her own culture bias here. She does not yet know Akane’s viewpoint on the matter and so does not see that dieing for Ace would be easy for Akane. In addition to saving his life, her actions could count towards restoring her and her family’s honor (this is part of what seppuku is all about, restoring the honor of yourself, your family, your ancestors, your mentor and the lord you serve by giving up your life’s blood to wash away the shame.) Akane herself has said that rather than take that easy path, she will stay alive and serve him without demands. What he gives her, acceptance, trust, respect and ultimately treating her as family…..inspite of her actions against him, he gives her all this, again freely and without demands. He may sleep with Jaz and Maddie, but he listens to and trusts Akane to watch his back and his reputation. In Japan, this is much more than mere friendship or even a bonded sexual relationship.
I keep forgetting that date was only a few hours ago in their time frame, even though it was years ago for us.
And was followed by a wedding picture where Ace was kissing Akane. Akane appeared to be a bride. However Ace was dressed, he was not necessarily the groom. Gabe? I dunno.
Almost two years ago, as a matter of fact: https://www.tmi-comic.com/comic/2016-08-10/
Hasn’t really been all that long since she stabbed him when you look at it.
I really love that shot of Ace’s face, it really brings out the definition and nuance in the character, something you don’t get to see in a lot of comics due to lack of close-ups.
There is a friend zone, and I have seen someone stick some one else in it as a means of emotional control. poor sap did not know what was going on until it was pointed out.
Essentially how it works as person a likes person b. person b then uses this to control and manipulate person a. this is a thing that happens. they sometimes maintain control by sabotaging person a when they try to move on, telling lies about person a.
Another thing that happens is person a tells person b and then tries to guilt person b into sex by trying to convince them that they friend zoned them.
I have seen both situations. in the first person b is the asshole, in the second person a is the asshole. there are some really not nice people out there.