PASSENGER X PRINCESS IS REALLY REALLY FUCKING GOOD
(contains major spoilers)
This is a story that is only easy to explain why it's good to people that wouldn't need convincing anyways. The things PxP does and how its writing presents itself, is at its best when it's at its most horrid and vile. In admitting that you enjoy this work, you invariably also reveal your deepest and most twisted desires and perversions.
In the beginning, Clover is in a familiar position; Early-transition girl with all the problems that entails. Its inner thoughts and how it relates towards the world and itself are true to form. Even the narrator voice itself explores these fields, as that too slowly switches from it/its-sometimes-he, to a very femininity-affirming it/its (with one or two she/hers). She is abducted by Lotus, a cis girl determined to kill herself, and nothing good can come from this.
PxP is so enticing to me because it takes the forces of transmisoginy, othering, and v-coding, and the forces of misogyny, rape culture, and conservative nepotism, and violently smashes them together. The result is a duo of characters that are at the end of their respective ropes, but somehow manage to take a few more steps towards oblivion by weaving them together. These girls are not good for each other in a direct material sense, but they give each other perspectives so far outside of each others' field of view, that they grow beyond themselves nonetheless. Clover finds self-actualization through Lotus. This is complete wish-fulfillment for many of us and it fucking rules. Lotus gets to experience womanhood that stems not from cis-centric patriarchal oppression. Underneath a gory mess of rape, piss, blood, sweat, drugs, and suicide, PxP emerges with a surprisingly rich subtext on intersectional feminism in its narrative.
Both visually and auditively, the presentation is stellar. The fantastical and lightly-over-the-top portraits communicate emotions with so much clarity that PxP becomes a prime case example of "you don't have to stay photorealistic to be versimilitudinous". PxP is so assured in its own style and pulls it off so well. Its inundation with its restricted palette and oppressive reds and blacks becomes even stronger when that setting is subverted with a psychedelically-intense blue filling out the entire screen. The color shift is just so good and after over an hour of being coddled and finding comfort in the misery of Clover and Lotus, does an excellent job at *properly* unnerving you.
To put PxP into a broader cultural context (centered on me because I am self-absorbed), this felt insane to read at times. I talked to Harley, so I know my work was an influence on it, and considering the timeline, this felt like the missing link between the writing styles of loner dog and dog days dog daze. The picture frames work so well to mesh with the dialogue boxes, and from the first opening lines, this had me gripping at my desk, wanting to read more. Also to see where it would go when it didn't remind me of my work dfjhbgfjd
And a broader societal context at large, PxP feels like an honest, filthy sitdown with the dynamism cis and trans women have to femininity. It is a very honest, very raw depiction of many of our deepest desires. Many rancid and dark thoughts we do not, Can Not, share with the rest of society, sometimes not even our peers. If you have ever struggled with your role in soceity as a trans woman / transfem, and dealt with internalized misogyny, this will hit many notes you may or may not have known about yourself.
The relationship between Clover and Lotus is a woderful dynamism of wish fulfillment and carnal filth, and PxP paints an excellent mess throughout the entire ride.
(Other thoughts I couldn't eloquently fit into the review proper: Drunk driving mention was really fucking funny. "Its soul has turned to sludge" was a fun line. References to dolls and empty spaces gave so much natural depth to Clover and her not really knowing what it wants ultimately and how that entire scene / complex can end up as non-satisfactory wish fulfillment.)