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mania-sama · 26 days ago

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Same anon here, I'm glad you loved TGR so far! I definitely enjoyed it way more than TSC

I'd love to know more of your opinions on the series but I don't wanna bombard you with tons of questions, so i'll just stick to one xD

Who are your top 3 fav AFTG characters? Up to you if you want to explain or talk more about each of them :3

You can bombard me if you want to. I love to talk and share my opinions on things like it's a serious debate on national television lmao.

Yes I'll tell you my top 3 and YES I will talk about them in depth. In this order:

Kevin Day - KEVIN FUCKING DAY. I think my biggest draw to him is the complexity in his character/personality. When we're introduced to him, through Neil's eyes, we see a hardass, daunting, almost unattainable figure. He's telling Neil that he's terrible at the game, but in the same breath, telling Neil that he's going to join, with no room for debate. Their exact dialogue is this:

"I won't play with Kevin." "You will," Kevin said." Wymack shrugged at Neil. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but we're not leaving here until you say yes. Kevin says we have to have you, and he's right." "We should have thrown away your coach's letter the second we opened it," Kevin said. "Your file is deplorable and I don't want someone with your inexperience on our court. It goes against everything we're trying to do with the Foxes this year. Fortunately for you, your coach knew better than to send you in action instead. You play like you have everything to lose." [...] "That's why," Neil said quietly. "That's the only kind of striker worth playing with."

All the while, Neil is having a panic attack because he's under the assumption that this absolute celebrity is going to recognize and expose him for being Nathaniel. Neil is terrified, and Kevin's dialogue and actions reinforce and justify his fear that he is someone who can screw over Neil's life in a variety of ways, Nathaniel being just one of them. Already, he grabbed my attention, but I think the best part of his character is the fact that he is scared.

We don't notice it immediately, but he is a man who is constantly living from one mental breakdown to the next. He's just really good at not showing it (and drowning it out with alcohol). It's shown right at the beginning, though we would not yet know what it meant until much later in the books. Kevin always travels and pairs with Andrew. It's not because they are in love with each other; it's because Kevin literally cannot be alone, or he will actually lose his mind. He is petrified of Riko, and it's an absolute testament to his strength and willingness to change that, in book 3, he steps onto the court and gives a display of power (switching his racket to his mangled hand) on the day that they play against the Ravens. He claims that "being straight" is easier than being gay, clearly scared to be someone more than what the media expects him to be.

But that's what's cool about him. He's a celebrity who knows how to act like it, and his vulnerability comes in rare, shooting bursts that wreck him down to his soul. And then, throughout the series, he shows the most character growth, second only to Neil Josten himself. He grows into someone who can share his pain with his teammates, into someone who can ask for help and tell people that he cares about them. HE CHANGED HIS TATTOO. HE CHANGED HIS TATTOO. It's not that his scars aren't there or that his fear has subsided; it's that he can work in spite of them. He is brave. Very, very brave.

He is truly what it means to be "all for the game". He's sacrificed everything to keep playing. He kept playing even when he wasn't supposed to anymore because of his hand. He kept playing in the face of Riko's wrath. He kept playing because he loves the game, not because of any specific trauma or duty to someone else. Even though he was technically forced to play, he just. Loves the game and wants to keep playing until the day he dies. This love also comes out in the way he coaches the team with his father, the way he takes Neil to the court every night. He wants to get better, but he's not a solo player. He is selfish and prideful, but his selfishness and pride are not harmful. He's careful in all the ways that he's not, and he's obsessive and loud in all the ways that he's limited and quiet.

I could honestly keep going, but I think I'll stop here. Needless to say, I am VERY. VERY excited about his new duology. I love him. Kevin "let Riko be the king" Day, you will always be special to me.

2. Neil Josten - What is there not to like about him?, is the real question. We all read the same book series. We all know what this brat has to offer and why any given person may like him. I almost feel like I don't need to say anything, but alas, here goes a very simplified answer:

I love a character who shoots off at the mouth. I am a very honest person myself, mainly because I never find an occasion to lie. At most, I'll obscure a truth, and that's about it. For Neil, it's in his very nature to lie and obscure and cover his tracks in the mud with leaves and sticks. But when he is honest, it's pretty much always at the expense of someone else. My favorite, FAVORITE quote in the series is from Neil. Yes, you know the one. He tells Riko that he and Kevin talk about his intricate and endless daddy issues all the time:

"You know, I get it," Neil said. "Being raised as a superstar must be really, really difficult for you. Always a commodity, never a human being, not a single person in your family thinking you're worth a damn off the court--yeah, sounds rough. Kevin and I talk about your intricate and endless daddy issues all the time." "Neil," Kevin said, low and frantic. Neil ignored him. "I know it’s not entirely your fault that you are mentally unbalanced and infected with these delusions of grandeur, and I know you’re physically incapable of holding a decent conversation with anyone like every other normal human being can, but I don’t think any of us should have to put up with this much of your bullshit. Pity only gets you so many concessions, and you used yours up about six insults ago. So please, please, just shut the fuck up and leave us alone.”

What a crazy thing to say, Neil.

The really good part about this character trait, though, is that it's not just "quirky"; it lands him and others in a lot of trouble. People get hurt and killed because he cannot shut his trap. But he can't stop, because it becomes to integral to him and his personality. He can't tell the truth about himself? Okay, he'll tell the truth about everyone else. And yes, this causes a lot of trouble and a lot of issues, but it's got the flip side where his yapping does a whole lot of good. This can be most clearly seen in Kevin.

If it weren't for Neil, Kevin would not have stood up to Riko. That's what I love both about the previous passage from The Raven King, and then the Kathy Show scene from The Foxhole Court. In that scene, there are three major things going on: Neil shooting off to defend Kevin (however unwanted it was), Kevin having a literal panic attack at both Riko being in front of him and Neil insulting Riko in a way that he knows there will be dire consequences, and Riko fuming because he is being insulted heavily and personally on live television. The result of this scene is Seth's murder.

But.

This is the first moment that Kevin realized that Riko is just a guy. He can be insulted and mocked just like anyone else. And then, Neil does it again. And again. And he keeps doing it, and it rubs off on every single person on the team, most of all Kevin. Kevin lifted his head and looked Riko in the eye because Neil called Riko useless and a commodity. Neil cares so much about the team and everyone around him, despite trying so hard not to, and he does everything in his power to protect them, that Kevin now feels that he's able to tell Wymack that he's his son and that he loves him.

Neil cares because it's in his very bone marrow to care. He lies and steals and runs, but what ties him down is not just the game, but the family he's made with the Foxes. Neil is "all for the game", because he associates the Foxes with Exy. Without the Foxes, there isn't Exy. That's why he ran from Edgar Allan. Hell, that's why he went to Edgar Allan, to protect Andrew from Neil's earlier actions (that being the... "intricate and endless daddy issues"....). He sacrifices everything for the game and the people around him that it brings the team together and makes them stronger.

His growth in the series is almost unmatched. And that's what I like in a character the most; one who can change and grow and be different by the end of the story. Neil does that. He's unrecognizable by the end. Not to mention all of the identity crises over Nathaniel and his father, the suffering he's endured, and how he uses it to become a better version of himself. I also love the symbolism of running and the inextricable ties it has with his character. I'm not going to get into it, but running scenes are some of my favorites in the entire world across all media, so. Obviously, I like Neil a lot because of that.

3. Jean Moreau - I liked him from the moment he was introduced, though I really started to love him during Neil's time in the Nest. Again, it's a result of his complexity that I've come to really enjoy his character. His first and general claim of his friendship with Neil is that they were "meant to be". They were meant to be partners because Raven bullshit idk, and Jean takes that and runs with it.

The reality is that Jean just wanted a friend. He had been alone and miserable for so long since Kevin left that he pretty much leaped at the opportunity to speak to someone in his native language. Despite everything, he was very quick to have someone stand in Kevin's place. Neil was that person. He will never admit it, though, either at fault of his conditioning or that he genuinely believes that he and Neil weren't friends (and therefor doesn't understand why he was so quick to take falls for Neil).

His entire being is shrouded and covered in a thick overlay of the trauma he's endured. He can be summed up very nicely with his own quote that he says to himself over and over again:

My name is Jean Moreau. My place is at Evermore. I belong to the Moriyamas. I will endure.

He has spent years convincing himself of his reality in order to survive. His thought process was clear to me from the moment Neil stepped foot onto Edgar Allan's campus. Survival is one of my favorite things to write and consume, mainly because it can be interpreted and shown in a variety of ways. Survival by "manipulation of self perception" is what's demonstrated through Jean's character. He survives because he gives himself up. He locks his love, thoughts, and emotions behind an eightfold fence and doesn't let anyone through.

He doesn't let anyone through because in the times that he has, he has been beaten and betrayed and burned. I have enjoyed immensely seeing the way that he interacts and swallows his ongoing and perpetual trauma. Abuse isn't easy. Abuse isn't easy if it's been happening for a day or if it's been happening you're entire life. He takes it all in and bears it on his skin and heart, and he doesn't let anyone see that he just wants to see a rainbow in the sky, feel the wind on his face, or have a genuine friend or two.

I was very excited when Sokavic announced Jean's trilogy. I had already written a fanfic one-shot detailing a nightmare and how Jean may be recuperating with the Trojans. I've imagined and loved his recovery from before it was even written. What makes this recovery the most complex is that he is both suicidal and convinced that he needs to live (in order to serve). Wanting to die, having to live; wanting to be free, having to stay caged. There is only one way to endure that, and that is to convince yourself you are meant to endure it.

As long as he plays Exy, Jean will not be happy. Interestingly, I don't think we've seen Jean actually. You know. Enjoy playing Exy, except when he was young. In a perfect, happy world, Jean will quit Exy after college and go on to do something nice in the quiet countryside with a golden retriever and Jeremy Knox at his side. But this is All For The Game, and Jean is owned by the mafia. I don't want to see him become happy with Exy, but I would like to see him become happy with all that surrounds it; Jeremy, Cat, Laila; ice cream, open roads, wind, and adrenaline; Kevin, Neil, and the ones who don't want to leave him behind.

I read fanfiction that contains traumatic events in order to read about the recovery. I like the aftermath and growth better than I like the event itself. I want to see Jean claw his way up until he finally realizes he can grab someone's hand. I want him to let go and realize that hands are already holding him and dragging him out of the grave he's been tossed in. I want to see Jean play Exy and go home to a family who makes him smile. I want to see him recover and realize that he can take medicine, doesn't have to listen to authority all of the time, and do things that make him personally happy. I want to see him recover.

That is why I like Jean. I like all that he has to offer in terms of a narrative not about running and learning how to stay, but learning how to find contentment and love even when you don't feel like you deserve it.

thank you for letting me ramble i love AFTG and I really need to read TGR lmao

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