Counterbalance: Jessie & James

From November 2015 to August 2016, create a shrine or shrines to celebrate a dynamic duo! Lovers, enemies, brothers, sisters, parents, and close friends contribute to a character's being. Explore the fandom and the relationship from another side.
Lethe
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Lethe »

OKAY. OKAY. Let's see whether I can present all my gushing as something coherent.

Let me preface it with this: Your weeks of talking about this shrine paid off so much, and this is one of your best shrines to me, and this is so going on my wall of favourite shrines so I can reread it again and again.

There are a lot of things to be said about it, but in its identity as a relationship shrine, it's really inspiring. There aren't that many relationship shrines around, and they tend to be summary-heavy, but that's not what you're doing. Your shrine doesn't read as a shrine to two separate characters who have a strong bond either - their bond shines through on every page, and that's what makes it an amazing relationship shrine to me. There are so many great ideas in Counterbalance, I just know that I will be looking to this shrine as inspiration when I make a relationship shrine one day!

I'm glad you went and hunted down all the pictures for this shrine even though it seemed like a pain to you at first, they really give the shrine its colour and charm - I especially liked the wanted poster in the introduction, and the doll episode pic under "commitment" (actually, that last one made me tear up lol, I remember how much I loved that episode, and it's just... such beautiful placement under commitment).

Jessie and James give the series its humour, but you strike a great balance in the things you address and how you address them - your endearing tone is there throughout the shrine, and you point out both the light-hearted, humourous sides as well as the serious ones, not letting either of them keep you from addressing the other. That's so great, considering the source material!

I like that you're not afraid of pointing out contradicting information in a long episodic series, but allow those parallel truths/realities to exist and just examine things anyway, rather than dismissing them just because they're contradicting. Speaking of episodes: When you said you were marathoning Pokémon for this shrine, I thought that the shrine would end up being very anecdotal, which IS a way to go about shrining, but can end up being distracting. But Counterbalance hardly ever does that: It looks at the big picture and who the characters are as a whole at all times, and uses certain moments to illustrate what it's saying, rather than listing all kinds of moments. (And maybe that just stands out to me due to the Pokémon anime being so long and episodic on top of that, and because I... tend to go on and on about details, even if I know it's not ideal.)

Your "The Team Rocket Duo" and "What They Mean to Each Other" pages brought me to tears, and to me, they're some of my favourite pages I've read from you, I love those two pages so so so much. The entire "Romance and Other Issues" section is just really great, including what you wrote about prejudices and the image of masculinity and what you pointed out about accepted perceptions of femininity broadening and of masculinity narrowing. I also think it was important to point out the reversal of traditional gender roles because... Many people, including myself, probably got into the Pokémon anime as children, and they didn't even consciously think that far. But it's something that dawned on me the moment I read the first page of the shrine (since it's been a long time since I thought about Jessie and James, my Pokémon anime childhood being so far back), and it explains why Jessie meant so much to me.

That whole section is also great because you talk about the entire relationship as a whole, and while you say you used to strongly ship them, and still ship them somewhat, you don't make your arguments all about romantic love - because whether or not people look at them that way, their relationship as is is what is to be appreciated.

Your shrine stays engaging and interesting until the very end. Those two character analysis pages are amazing. You'd usually expect these to come at the beginning of a shrine, especially a relationship shrine, but you placing them at the bottom (which I know is at least in part due to your navigation motto) just emphasizes what I said above: It's a shrine about a relationship first and foremost. The way you wrote those character profiles also adapts to the placement of the pages, and they're a great conclusion to the shrine.

As Jae pointed out, reading those two character pages and seeing you contrast them not in structure, but also in content, really shows how they need each other. I also like what you pointed out about the things that make these two relatable, and the "true hero?" part of it is... so touching. It echoes what you wrote in so many different parts of the shrine, of the two of them escaping the confines of their childhood and trying so hard to succeed somewhere, anywhere. And you're thinking beyond just the series and just Pokémon. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

A few other disjointed points I really like:
  • The navigation, but you already know that.
  • The motto comparison.
  • The "Demonstrated Characteristics" bullet points in "First Adventure Together" are such a neat way to summarize not just an episode, but key points for the subject of the shrine!
  • Your own image songs throughout the shrines - it's great, it adds "media", and it's that tells others "ah, that's Robin!" right away. I know music means a lot to you, and I love its constant presence in your shrines.
  • There were several parts where you pointed out parallels between Jessie and Meowth, and then contrast that to James, and while Jessie and Meowth's relationship is not the focus of this shrine, these observations are one of my favourite things about the shrine. I wouldn't have noticed or remembered without you pointing it out.
SERIOUSLY ROBIN THIS SHRINE IS SO GREAT

OKAY LETHE OUT
Both despair and ecstasy are part of the elements that compose a person.
Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

@Lethe: Awwwwwwww this is great! Thank you so much for the high praise! :D I'm glad you enjoy the site and that you find it inspirational. It was a lot of fun to build, AND I find myself going back to it to reread it, too (probably because I let my English major self go nuts on it xD)!

(...And to think I was worried I wouldn't have enough interesting content because I only focused on the first two seasons of the anime, LOLOLOL)
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FandomSavant
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by FandomSavant »

Robin wrote:Image
Counterbalance - Jessie & James

Team Rocket's Blasting Off Again--onto my domain! This is my not-so-small tribute to a pair of anime characters I've adored since I was thirteen. <3

I intend the site to serve not only as an introduction to Jessie & James, but also as an introduction to the entire show for those who haven't seen the first couple of seasons in a while. (I chose to use the Kanto and Orange Islands seasons as my sole basis for this site, because I feel that those two seasons had the best writing and character development for my favorite characters.)

I hope you enjoy reading the articles as much as I've enjoyed writing and compiling them!! :D
That is really cool. I really enjoyed the unique navigation and the way you included images throughout to help explain things. I'm only very casually familiar with Jessie & James, so I found it very informative. :)

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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by FandomSavant »

Lethe wrote: There are a lot of things to be said about it, but in its identity as a relationship shrine, it's really inspiring. There aren't that many relationship shrines around, and they tend to be summary-heavy, but that's not what you're doing. Your shrine doesn't read as a shrine to two separate characters who have a strong bond either - their bond shines through on every page, and that's what makes it an amazing relationship shrine to me.
I second this. It's about the relationship itself, rather than just being about both characters who happen to have a relationship. I really like that approach. It's very focused. :)

Hi! I'm Patricia.

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Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

@FandomSavant: Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed it and found it approachable even not being familiar with the topic. (And yay for images! I was about to not include many images because they can be a pain to find, but I'm glad I put in as many as I did now :D )

I definitely feel like this marathon really helped inspire me to do the focused "relationship shrine" that I've been wanting to do for ages :)
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Larissa
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Larissa »

I am SUPER SUPER LATE so forgive me, but this is such a fantastic site that I had to come by and leave a comment about it. (Eventually I will catch up on everything, lol.)

I love what you did with the navigation and the structure of the site, and how we learn all about the relationship before we get to the character pages -- I know you were following the motto, but it actually works really well because by the time you get to the character pages, you know a lot more about them. :heart: I also really love that you only focused on the first two seasons; Pokemon is such a huge franchise now that it's tricky to cover it in depth, and limiting your scope intentionally worked really well for this site.

I love everything under your "romance" and "further thoughts" pages; you've captured a lot about them on those pages and I'm sure I'll be coming back to reread them time and again. :heart: This is such a lovely site, congrats for finishing it!
tonight fate is the
Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

@Larissa: Thank you for all the compliments! :D I'm ridiculously happy that the motto navigation turned out working as well as it does, LOL :D It makes my Team Rocket nerd-self happy. XD

Also, I'm definitely glad I didn't try to cover every last bit of the Pokemon franchise--that would have resulted in "Robin-asplode." :P
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Chibi
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Chibi »

I am also super late, but I really, really enjoyed reading this! :heart: I always like anything Pokémon related and I'm happy to see a James/Jessie shrine out there!

Just like everyone else, I really like the navigation and the way you used their motto as links to different pages. I really liked all the sections of the shrine, it was really a pleasure to read! I really like your writing style. And, as Lethe said, this really felt like the relationship was the focus of the shrine, which I loved.

Great job, Robin! :star:
Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

@Chibi: Thank you! I'd been stumped for years on how to build a proper dedication to Jessie & James, and this challenge REALLY motivated and inspired me :D
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Kate
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Kate »

I'm late AND I read the shrine and never left a comment! Ahhh.. But I truly loved your shrine. I loved reading about their relationship, and learning so much about them individually as well! I love your writing style and,,, ahh I just adored this shrine Robin! <3
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