https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2023/06/astolfo-is-masculine-actually.html
Update December 2018: PedanticRomantic's video has successfully made me uncomfortable with continuing to use the term "Trap" and thus some of what I argued here. But much of this post is still important to me. And it's important to remember that what's "Canon" about Astolfo's gender is different for Apocrypha then it is for Grand Order, and this analysis was purely about Apocrypha.
Further Update, but I also watched RikaDot's Trap Video and consider it's points pretty solid. As well as this video]]
So 2017 has been spoken of as perhaps the most Trap heavy year in Anime thus far. Even before Fate/Apocrypha started there were already YouTube videos suggesting that. I think the most underappreciated Trap of 2017 was the one in Twin Angel Break.
First I want to explain that to me a "Trap" in the context of Anime/Manga fictional characters is a Cis male character who dresses like a girl and is able to pass as one. I prefer not to use it of characters who I think of as Transgender or even Non-Binary, (which I feel Anime definitely needs more of) and that includes the character in Steins;Gate who I wish had been handled better. Now some might disagree on the Cisness of Traps, and that's fine I fully support fans reinterpreting characters however they want. But as far as Canon goes I don't think the character in Twin Angel Break would boldly declare "I'm actually a Boy" if that wasn't his preferred Gender Identity.
Trap characters have been important to me as a mostly Cis-Het Male (though I've recently considered that I may be a little Fluid) who still doesn't confirm to Gender norms easily. I would dress more femininely if I felt I could look decent doing so. Before I got truly deep into Anime the fictional characters I identified with and liked most were almost always female. And since going full Otaku they still tend to be, but the characters considered Traps have been the refreshing change.
The word "Trap" is not truly being used literally, the fandom generally means it affectionately. Western media has a long history of even the slightest gender ambiguity being a sign of depravity and villainy that still lingers even today, and has popped up sometimes in Anime and Video Games. But the characters that define the Trap archetype have always been morally solid characters, sometimes (including Astolfo) the most honorable and good hearted on the show.
And now to what people actually came for, what is distinct about Astolfo at least among the ones I've seen thus far? Making him not necessarily better but certainly notable.
It's that he is still for a Trap pretty "traditionally" masculine. For example while other Traps might get involved in action and fight scenes from time to time, they're not usually a type of professional solider.
Now I know it's sexist to say that is an inherently masculine trait, but that's the point. Traps often aren't truly questioning the Gender binary because they're just boys who look like girls by every external appearance, both physically and in personality. They're very traditionally feminine often more so then the Cis-Women of the show.
Astolfo however is kind of the counter part to what I like about Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino/Lita. I'm not too fond of the first Sailor Jupiter post I made on this blog given some of what I've learned since. The gist is she's a character who at first glance seems like the designated Tomboy, but she does have many very traditionally feminine traits. And some would argue Minako is the true tomboy, which has it's own poetic irony to it.
Basically Astolfo, Makoto and Minako are characters who are not simply an attempt to swing the pendulum of gender norms hard in the opposite direction, but rather are nuanced individuals.
Update June 28th 2018: Apparently Astolfo's gender is unspecified in their FGO Profile. So they could be Non-Binary or Fluid. But that wasn't an a factor in how Apocrypha was written.
Further Update, but I also watched RikaDot's Trap Video and consider it's points pretty solid. As well as this video]]
So 2017 has been spoken of as perhaps the most Trap heavy year in Anime thus far. Even before Fate/Apocrypha started there were already YouTube videos suggesting that. I think the most underappreciated Trap of 2017 was the one in Twin Angel Break.
First I want to explain that to me a "Trap" in the context of Anime/Manga fictional characters is a Cis male character who dresses like a girl and is able to pass as one. I prefer not to use it of characters who I think of as Transgender or even Non-Binary, (which I feel Anime definitely needs more of) and that includes the character in Steins;Gate who I wish had been handled better. Now some might disagree on the Cisness of Traps, and that's fine I fully support fans reinterpreting characters however they want. But as far as Canon goes I don't think the character in Twin Angel Break would boldly declare "I'm actually a Boy" if that wasn't his preferred Gender Identity.
Trap characters have been important to me as a mostly Cis-Het Male (though I've recently considered that I may be a little Fluid) who still doesn't confirm to Gender norms easily. I would dress more femininely if I felt I could look decent doing so. Before I got truly deep into Anime the fictional characters I identified with and liked most were almost always female. And since going full Otaku they still tend to be, but the characters considered Traps have been the refreshing change.
The word "Trap" is not truly being used literally, the fandom generally means it affectionately. Western media has a long history of even the slightest gender ambiguity being a sign of depravity and villainy that still lingers even today, and has popped up sometimes in Anime and Video Games. But the characters that define the Trap archetype have always been morally solid characters, sometimes (including Astolfo) the most honorable and good hearted on the show.
And now to what people actually came for, what is distinct about Astolfo at least among the ones I've seen thus far? Making him not necessarily better but certainly notable.
It's that he is still for a Trap pretty "traditionally" masculine. For example while other Traps might get involved in action and fight scenes from time to time, they're not usually a type of professional solider.
Now I know it's sexist to say that is an inherently masculine trait, but that's the point. Traps often aren't truly questioning the Gender binary because they're just boys who look like girls by every external appearance, both physically and in personality. They're very traditionally feminine often more so then the Cis-Women of the show.
Astolfo however is kind of the counter part to what I like about Sailor Jupiter/Makoto Kino/Lita. I'm not too fond of the first Sailor Jupiter post I made on this blog given some of what I've learned since. The gist is she's a character who at first glance seems like the designated Tomboy, but she does have many very traditionally feminine traits. And some would argue Minako is the true tomboy, which has it's own poetic irony to it.
Basically Astolfo, Makoto and Minako are characters who are not simply an attempt to swing the pendulum of gender norms hard in the opposite direction, but rather are nuanced individuals.
Update June 28th 2018: Apparently Astolfo's gender is unspecified in their FGO Profile. So they could be Non-Binary or Fluid. But that wasn't an a factor in how Apocrypha was written.
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