Supergirl: ALL his powers, none of what makes him interesting. Not in the slightest. (original post : 2023)

 ugh, that dialogue just maps out what her problem is.

All his powers, none of his legitimacy.

Some articles want to argue that her having memory of Krypton and dealing with it being gone makes it more interesting than Superman.

Seems desperate, if one difference is what you're going with and that only works IN CONCEPT when you actually do something with that.

I repeat, the concept alone doesn't make her interesting you have to actually DO SOMETHING with it- and not retcon it in 4 years.

Kill her, have her death mean something then bring the bimbo to life anyway to just "exist", that's not doing anything, that's using her as a novelty, which is all she is.

Point being, there's another knockoff with the exact same premise as SupergirlNextDoor, but somehow ended being more interesting than Supergirl even as she's had decades of history on him:

SUPERBOY-PRIME

Dude's entire Universe, not one Planet, his UNIVERSE. was erased like a scent in the wind. Gone forever.

Did he become a by the numbers cheap knockoff sidekick? Hopping from team to team, looking for any ounce of relevance in the shadow of the original article? Writers galore wanting to carve an identity discovery narrative for this same character over & over again because they know she has no identity, so the constant theme is she has to find herself or get out of Supermans shadow because that shadow is why she's relevant in any respect. Eternal inferiority complex.

Nope, thats Kara, not SB-PRIME

 

Even though being a sidekick is exactly what he wanted, the kid was manipulated, he started trouble, he snapped, and gave the entire DC Universe a run for it's money.

Was imprisoned, beaten, humiliated, killed (a lot), came back with a vengeance again, then lost again.

Then saved everyone, and got his ending. A PERFECT finale for his arc, full circle arc of violence, hate, delusion, then redemption.

My question for years has been: Why couldn't that have been Supergirl? 

People have this idea in their head that she's interesting when at best she reads like a self-insert than an interesting person with a stake or belonging anywhere. 

kara should've been SB-PRIME in the first place. I would be simping for Kara at that point because her story would've been worth the hype, that's doing something with that pain and anger.

Then Supergirl would be something worth looking at and taken seriously. She becomes a Red Lantern, but ofc that doesn't stick. The more compelling Alt versions of her are not even canon. So what's the point?

So the one thing people attach to to say she's more interesting than Superman- What to ya know ANOTHER Superman did it better, damn near the same origin as her (so she's not unique in the respect that she wasn't a baby when the tragedy happened, so was Prime) and he's canon too. I'm genuinely surprised no one points this out more.

I'm impressed with Tom King's "Up in the Sky" for Supes, and i know he's got a Supergirl run out there "Woman of Tomorrow" (cringe, more coattail riding) Can't even get a tagline of her own.

But i'm going to try the first issue and see what's up. (years later & i'm still fighting to get through issue 1)

I WAS NOT impressed with her Rebirth #1, it was so basic, i almost fell asleep on my keyboard. And the cliffhanger made me bust out laughing like: "I'm supposed to want more of this shit?"

I'm going to "try" (W O M A N of Tomorrow), it's Tom King, so i genuinely hope he does something different for her. (he didn't, she ended up in a cape anyway)

I got spoiled a year back and saw she got a costume change and now looks like a 40 yr old cosplayer from the 30s, and somehow looks worse than before.

"Superwoman", ugh. The reason why Oracle & Red hood works because they're not riding Batman's theme.

They're doing their own shit, i've been saying this for years now. Supergirl doesn't work for me & clearly not in the grand scheme because she has no agency. She needs to break off and lead her own life.

The essence of Kara is she is unnecessary, she is the fat that needs to be cut off.

Superboy-Prime should have been Kara Zor-El-- the alternate Clark from another Earth, not a duplicate Kryptonian in the same fucking universe as Superman trivializing Kal surviving the tragedy at all. I have ZERO clue why people aren't catching that little detail more often.

Think about how contrived her origin is ad infinite:

Unlike evil Kryptonians like Zod who add depth & layers to Krypton's darker elements, like ghosts of the sins of the planet Kal idolizes and honors. 

Instead of that narrative hook, Kara's very existence reduces the impact of Kal surviving because she survived too, in most takes, the exact same way. 

So why is Jor-El & Lara's sacrifice a big deal, if some other jackoff had the EXACT same idea, oh btw that person just happened to be Jor-El's brother, who just happened to be a Scientist too who just happened to have the exact same idea but for some reason didn't go with Kara or at least send his wife with his daughter if the pod was big enough for a damn teenager but another woman who was no taller than Kara, could not go with her, or at least put them in stasis to save oxygen. 

Plot holes, contrivance, FANFIC tier writing, garbage.)  

No idea why WB can't get Kara's stiffy out their mouths but refuse to give Starfire or Cassie Cain the light of day, leagues better characters. Make it make sense. 

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton

Supes has a little sister in this universe, "Valora-El", instead of being "female Superman" homegirl decides to go into politics, went to Harvard, she serves her years as secretary working for a Congressman; she earns her seat as Congresswoman in the later years.

That's what i mean, by "living her own life", that shit's badass. 

Valora-El is how you Supergirl without being a knockoff, and OF COURSE she isn't canon because DC hates me sometimes. 

Harley Quinn Fartacular: Stupid Butt Deadly - The writer had no confidemce in this

 

"If you are grossed out by farts, then this comic isn't for you (and that's perfectly okay!... though I am judging you!). Unless you want to put your feelings to the test... in which case this comic is for you."

Why the preemptive defensiveness tho ? lol,  so insecure they pre-emptively judge the people without the mental issues or disposition because they themsevles know exactly what the rightful reaction will be. 

Think about it, fam took it upon themselves to counter argue something people did not say yet, talking about "put your feelings to the test" what the hell does that even mean? 

Is the book good or not?! 

Fact is, Instead of keeping it on deviantart  they decided to use a character they didnt create to make their childhood misfire the worlds business, then wants to gaslight you that if you dont like it you're the one whose wilding. In a joking tone ofc but not rly.

People are too comfortable, they are not telling stories vs just using these IPs to project and vent fetishes like a teenager with some serious growing up to do. 

Its the same shit Mangaka do, its ridiculous, there is a time and a place for everything. Your childhood imprint misfires does not need to be the worlds business and if you have to make it our business, then dont get defensive in advance because you know you wrong. 

You are not the main character.

The only thing redeeming in this trash heap is the Harley teamup with a certain meta-elongated League member. Underrated duo wasted on a garbage book. 

"I've been holding in all my very worst bits of bubble guts for the last 32 years, and it's all been leading up to this epic expulsion" 

And this was the best you could do? I've seen funny fart gags, Starer doesn't know how to use irony to land a joke. Abusing the same punchline for sake of it defeats the comedy potential, they say its their worst bits when its just them wanting to see digestive exhaust, Lmfao. Goofy aaa

"You look like a stripper if the stripper was a baby." - Comedy gold, Joanne, comedy flipping gold **👏slow clap👏

"What are your thoughts on Kallen Kozuki?" - Painfully under-written heroine (2025)

Painfully under-written heroine.

Season 2 was not her downfall, it was the show inflating what it always was: Overrated, hack, rule of cool that thought it was clever.

• R2 only emphasized prevailing issues that already existed in S1
• S2 didn't invent the sidelining, plot armor, contrivances, plot holes & overcompensating fanservice because the show couldn't think of humanizing reasons for anyone watching to give a shit about the women beyond what makes your dicc jolt
• And so, it gave us more of what CG was to begin with, the difference is Season 1 didn't have a reputation yet and so it was more conservative with it's gimmicks, didn't mean it was good, it means R2 was worse.

TL;DR Thoughts are Kallen overall was "fine", not good, but fine for a hollow light novel archetype, which is how she's treated.

A remarkably weakly executed character given how early we saw her in Season 1 and really had very little agency despite how headstrong she is.

Yet she's an excellent set piece for action scenes because of her archetype or being a piece of meat mascot for fanservice because unfortunately she wasn't a male character & due to that fact she isn't exempt from not being treated seriously or with respect, because that's what her worth boils down to according to the writers when she isn't kicking ass or being melodramatic or more noticeable: being Zero's biggest simp, her defining trait, besides her grit.

Episode 9 of Season 1 is still one of few episodes I'll still watch these days of the show without getting a headache because of how uncharacteristically competent the writing is for the most part. The through lines relating to her mother's traumas, her resentment toward her mother and it ends with somber closure between them both, though it should've been explored more as with Kallen's entire motivation namely her brother & daily life.

Kallen's goals, her motivation, her flaws, her abilities. She can carry a show easily, an OVA, really she's just as much main character material as Suzaku & Lelouch.

In Zero's absence, I would've liked to see Kallen directly leading the knights, her way; because how Lelouch leads isn't the only method to lead effectively.

• And the respect she already has due to being one of the front line fighters and being THE most valuable fighter: Her being Chief would've given an interesting challenge for us to see her not thinking like a brute, reliant on orders to aim her talents but instead thinking like a tactician, thinking for herself in this way whilst having that combat prowess, so being a nerfed combination of Suzaku & Lelouch but not being especially exaggerated in either category, a balanced Jack of All Trades. And unlike Xingke, she's not sick or anything, she's just not overpowered in terms of being a tactical genius, she goes off instincts.
• Because her decisions in this way would dictate whether or not her comrades live to fight another day, seeing her deal with the weight of that would be an easy arc for an episode, because they're not just chess pieces to her; all of which happens without Zero there to be her emotional safety net vs him/the mask being her metaphorical emotional shackle.
• Easily could've had R2's first 2-3 episodes or less be on that focus, whilst leading up to Lelouch' emancipation from his illusion, building up to it through Kallen's eyes. Easy w.

Lelouch is the MC of base form Code Geass but he wasn't the only protagonist, same with Avatar the last Airbender, Codename Kids Next Door & The Avengers movies, hell even Lego Monkie Kid. You can't just sparingly sprinkle some scarce development in there in 1 or episodes and then piss off, you have to add more development to eventually cultivate an arc. That's how it works.

When the plot hijacks the character writing, when fanservice regresses the profile of the characters, you get stagnation, which leads to sidelining & narrative deprivation. Season 2 didn't undermine Kallen, Code Geass as it always has been: undermined Kallen.

Unfortunately CG's writers had mismanaged priorities.

Otherwise, easily top 5 best pilots in CG, considering how many skilled pilots there actually are in the entire franchise beyond Lelouch' drama, so for her, that says a lot; beside the fact that The Black Knights' Ace pilot, "Q1" is globally infamous, which is also something I liked about what little we got from Kallen's profile in the long term.

But you need more going for you than just a part in action scenes & being boner bait, which is where most people get muddied when it comes to Kozuki or anime female leads in general. We get latched on for superficial reasons vs her actually being "well-written" due to exploration & tests, and it pains me to see (still) how many people will say that term but don't know what it means.

The "lewdness" or fanservice didn't defeat any depth for Kallen, because fanservice, especially in high frequency (in a serious setting like this) is generally what happens in a vacuum of not having depth in the first place. It clashes.

Fanservice can't undermine depth Kallen never got to have, which is why the fanservice was there to begin with; so with depth gone, you have to fill it with something, and lazy writers usually go with Mary Sue-isms (woke, condescending & politicized) or oversexualization (anti-woke, dehumanizing & disrespectful). You'll seldom see that kind of treatment with characters that are actually taken seriously by the writers.

There's a big difference between fanservice cameo, an easter egg, having fun; vs compiled humiliation rituals labeled "fanservice".

It's overcompensation so that the writers give us something to attach onto about the character the easy way, so they don't have to do any real work with their pens to layer the character. That way they can prioritize pushing the plot along while the characters get dragged in tow.

And because situations around the characters develop & escalate, we by proxy think they / the characters are developing as well, when at best they're just reacting to rising events but in reality most of them are actually still the same exact people.

Code Geass was & has always been plot driven over character driven, which is partly why it's a mess, style over substance.

So unfortunately despite her high ranking in The Black Knights, outspoken nature & prominence in fight scenes, the fanservice never undermined her depth because she had none to begin with.

Episode 9 Season 1 was the foundation for depth, & it wasn't fully realized or exploited, despite how early her debut was.

• She isn't an NPC that showed up in Episode 9 or 15, she was there since Episode 1, you'd think she'd get more respect or more to do.

Kallen wasn't useless (her preventing Lelouch from shooting up, rejecting his advance, course-correcting his vision is one of the better scenes in R2 EP7 because of how the drug relates to her personal life- is one of the better moments), she was whiney & clingy at times but not fragile. Written to be way too reliant on "Zero" overall for my taste, with no proactive attempt to use leaving him behind as a sign of growth for her, another wasted opportunity. Otherwise she had a stake & a role (as limited as it was), but not agency nor depth. At best, she was a highly prominent tool, high ranking lackey. What she needed was more independence, more proactivity vs being a reactive henchwoman.

Again, Fanservice definitely regressed her representation but it can't undermine depth Kallen never got to have in the first place, which is why the fanservice was there to begin with.

With depth nonexistent, you have to fill it with something, and lazy writers usually go with Mary Sue-isms (woke, condescending & politicization) or oversexualization (anti-woke, dehumanizing & disrespectful). You'll seldom see that kind of treatment with characters that are actually taken seriously by the writers.

Kallen really could've been the Katara of Code Geass with the theme of vengeance being the parallel, but Anime Japan yet again proved it's not capable or willing to write competent characters of high caliber in mainstream because quotas must be met at the characters expense for reasons that benefit everything & everyone except the characters.

Kallen is cool: strictly as an archetype, that's what she is & treated as, an archetype. As a character (generously): undercooked & painfully under-written because of lazy writers that felt style mattered more than substance. which is Code Geass in a nutshell.

"Rule of Cool:" The Animation, Mechs, superpowers, pretentious pseudo-intellectual political mumbo jumbo, supernatural shit pertaining to the will of man & god, cults, a ninja maid, etc.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Asspulls was doing too much, it's why it got me into anime, it was an ambitious melting-pot experiment but it really didn't know what the hell it was doing & aged as well as a heroin addict.

Kallen is a casualty of that, one of many.

My Hero Academia Notes (Fanservice & Momo Yaoyorozu) *2022

 

You have Wonder Woman, who's basically in a one piece swimsuit for most of her career. 

The differences for Wonder Woman

- Besides 70+ years of different outfits, writers, History: Is also context

• #1 The reason/context behind her looking like that, is not specifically for her to eventually open her top to use her powers
• #2 She's not a minor in a School, so there's no concern as to why a SCHOOL Institution would issue/or allow a Student to wear essentially a swimsuit made of paper
• #3 She's not limited in a given situation to either be support, reduced to a literal cheerleader or B plot player who stays out of the way fighting side bosses  until the boys are doing their thing elsewhere with BIGGER explosions and sakuga
• #4 And her powerset makes her one of the top strongest in her power class and DC period

Momo’s Quirk is essentially small scale sub-dimension manipulation, that kind of power should be realized, expanded upon, developed.

Like someone else with an extra-dimensional power that can summon shit..

Elizabeth’s basically a god. (I love Elizabeth)

The difference is Wonder Woman is allowed to be realized, she’s not in the picture to be solely eroticized eye candy or the butt of a gag meant to objectify her in a context where’s she’s a spectacle.  

Doesn’t mean Wonder Woman has never in Human history has been subject to fanservice or sexualization, it means that the context of fanservice wasn’t her primary function nor the thought process behind how she goes to work in her entirety.

Was it subtle? Enough that i didn’t cringe, i actually laugh because in this show where the writing is overall satisfactory- I DID NOT see this coming. That’s why it works, it’s not predictable.

The action isn’t halting completely so Atom make a “hur dur” face, he’s not even reveling in the situation, he’s trying not to die lol.

• Also why it works, other characters aren’t feeding into the fanservice in-universe- thus not exaggerating it.
• Exaggerated fanservice misses the mark by being obnoxious, MHA suffers this IMMENSELY.

Midnight is hilarious unironically because 90% of time she looks like an idiot, strutting in a classroom full of teenagers, chest perked out lmfao.

She has no pockets, she carried him by hand, she’s getting overwhelmed, and HAS to put him there so she can catch more bodies, otherwise, she’d crush him like a grape if she clenched her fist on accident. 

Again, the crucial part is he’s not going “gaga”, and the plot isn’t putting a sparkle filter over the footage to make it whimsical. 

Simple enough.

I’m an 80s anime viewer, retro. I’ve seen, laughed at, and enjoy fanservice. Other times it was brutal, but in the context, it works, it wasn’t glorified, wasn’t laughing, it was tragic.

• It’s all about execution. The best fanservice is one you don’t see coming. 
• Fanservice that doesn’t STOP everything just to pan on some crotch. That’s why JLU’s fanservice, in this context works

In My Hero Academia, unfortunately I expect it, and it’s always exaggerated. Always creepy.

Trinity 2008 #3-6, Superman gets one shot by a heavy hitter, and guess who steps up to the plate until he's done with his nap? WONDER WOMAN

What didn't happen was she wasn't exploited for fanservice, she was put to use. (She had cake, but she was kicking ass)

• If it were an Anime/Manga, the villain would've smacked her into the ground, Supes would wake up and See Diana's bum sticking up in the air and he gets the iconic anime nosebleed. *Insert laughing here*

The difference is execution, women are attractive, putting a female character in anything will elicit a reaction, visually. 

Women looking like women isn’t the issue. It’s execution. 

IE. What are you trying to tell us? Dear Writer

The issue is when you go out of your way to contrive a situation to emphasize what's already doing it's job in a more subtle way.

(That’s the issue. That and this series entails a lot of underage kids. Culture gap be damned, you either take your characters seriously or you don’t. MISS ME with that age of consent “culture” shit, that’s not an argument, I will obliterate that excuse like a nuclear warhead) 

edit 2025: apparently so did Japan 2023 raising the age of consent lmfao, so we can’t even use that excuse anymore, even their own country is FINALLY waking the hell up.

• Doesn't mean Horikoshi has to make every girl in 1A Diana Prince or wrap em up in a Nun’s habit, it means respect your characters. Realize them.

But when you don't, nor take them seriously, you tend to do what Horikoshi does, occasionally. 

To be fair to him, has way too many characters #1 (His fault btw)

2nd, he’s not exploiting them 24/7 (some shit in the anime is BONEs going out of their way to be scumbags), but when it happens on authors part, it’s very awkward: The question is “why” most of the time.

Some people say they watch this with their kids and I’m like:

S5xE1 (One of the various things in the Episode that didn’t annoy me, Momo taking command)

Momo’s tactical mind is something i would like to be more explored ()would’ve liked, her and Izuku brainstorming a plan together to win a big battle would be awesome to see.

This harkens back to that shitty video I made back when, one minute you act like you care & want to give her some identity, the next minute her ass is in the frame.

My Hero is too bipolar, make up your mind.