rangetsuryuu

[rangetsuryuu]

tales of the abyss is the best tales game except for one thing. bad foils.

okay every party member has at least one foil/rivalry when it comes to the god generals, right?

In game foils as follows. In the most straight forward, one to one examples. The final battles of each God General really cements this in mind.

Luke - Asch

Tear - Legretta

Natalia - Largo

Jade - Dist

Anise - Arietta

Guy - Sync

Some of these foils aren't really as strong as others, I'd argue. And on top of that some of these characters have much stronger relationships to the final antagonists of Van and Asch, than others do.

Meanwhile, Jade also has a vague relationship to Sync and Asch, as the father of fomicry. Jade is protrayed as someone's indirectly responsible for some incredibly unethical crimes that Sync and Asch are victim to. That's one of Jade's personal dilemma's, so even if it's not acknowledged directly in the game, we can interpret this to be an indirect relationship with these characters who were directly wronged by his science. A bit of a miss to not have any interactions, but still something that we could reasonably interpret from clues even if not seen outright.

But you know what's a bigger miss? Not swapping Anise and Guy's foils.

They should have made Arietta as Guy’s primary foil and Sync as Anise’s primary foil. 

Because listen. Arietta and Guy don't have a single interaction together but they have an actual historical connection to each other?

Both had their homelands totally wiped by the same tragedy.

Arietta and Guy both respect and adore Van and sided with him. They both want vengeance against a world that's wronged them and stolen their family.

But Guy doesn't go through with it. He ends up rejecting Van and vengeance. So doesn't that put automatically pit him against Arietta that's still stuck in that old mindset? Arietta, whose whole deal is vengeance against Anise for taking her only friend in Ion? Arietta, who's stuck in this idea that a single person can be responsible for her grief, in the the same way Guy was convinced that the death of Duke Fabre's family, could bring relief to his pain?

But Guy was able to recognize this wouldn't work. Luke's death wouldn't change the past.

So isn't it possible for him to see himself in Arietta when he found out she was from Feres Isle?

Hod and it's sister isle of Feres, were both wiped out for unfathomable reasons. Guy and Arietta both left as sole survivors of their respective isles. But isn't that insane? To find a survivor of a tragedy you thought was yours alone?

Imagine then, if Guy had been able to see his own past unfolding with Arietta's revenge against another person who had nothing to do with any of the horror. If he's able to recognize that Luke wasn't a justified target of revenge, then shouldn't he see that Arietta's grudge was just as petty as his own?

But Guy's change of heart isn't actually something that's seen in game. It's just something that's revealed to you. So woudn't it be exciting to see someone who can actually be a reflection his past ideals?

So then. The final battle against Arietta could have been a brutal clash with Guy. We could have had that revelation unfold in front of us, no?

Unlike Anise's final fight with Arietta, he wouldn't have necessarily considered Arietta a lost cause. He could have seen himself in Arietta, he could have asked her to choose a different path then vengeance. He could have told her they were both the victims of a war beyond their scope. Survivors of a nation doomed by something completely beyond their control.

Guy could have revealed to her, his own history with Van and vengeance, he could have appealed to her. Maybe she could have felt that connection. She could have heard it. Listened to it, and then admitted that his sympathy had fallen flat.

"You're right. That was short-sighted of me. Killing Anise, wouldn't change anything. But killing all of you will still bring bring the vengeance and justice that my monsters deserve. And if that brings us closer to Van's revenge too... then all of you have to die."

And Guy could realize that there wasn't any talking her out of it. That she'd somehow become even more embolded in her revenge despite his plea.

In a way, Guy could understand that her vengeance was different from hers but still identical. The only difference was that Arietta didn't care about the abstraction of responsibilty. She wanted real and immediate justice for her real and immediate pain.

Hod and Feres Isle could have been left in the dust to her for all she cared. Feres Isle was nothing compared to her love for Ion and Van and her monsters and her pain for them. If that was the case, could Guy who had claimed his vengeance was for all of Hod still be in the right?

When faced with Arietta's selfish, single minded desire for vengeance, could Guy really have claimed that his own vengeance was for anything more than his own twisted idea of justice?

He could have been terrified to see that she was the worst version of himself come alive. Excuse after excuse for a reason to take out his grief on the world. He could have been disgusted with her revenge or resigned to it. Or maybe he could have embraced it. Regretted it? Wished for things to end differently?

Either way he would have been forced to kill this version of himself that he saw in her, regardless of how he felt about her.

He could have seen Arietta as someone beyond help. He could see the way that Largo and Anise still grieved for her despite everything. And he could have grieved for their shared loss. He could have grieved for the two of them who could never get any justice that could satisfy their pain.

He could have lost the one last connection to his home that he had left, and he would have had to end it himself.

What would it have been like if he had to carry that on him? Wouldn't it have been more fun for us to see that grief unfold firsthand?

Or is that kinda sadistic...?

[rangetsuryuu]

my favorite 1cour anime

You know what, I could pick like a good one like. Death Parade. Lycoris Recoil. Madoka. The Promised Neverland. or I could pick a mediocre one. like Revstar. Rolling Girls. SSSS Gridman. Gatchaman Crowds.

but my actual favourite 1cour anime is actually. Akuma no Riddle. that's right, riddle story of devil (2014). ngl it's shitty in so many ways, but for a huge ensemble cast it does so much? in 12 episodes? revstar could never???

Like when I first watched it, I thought it was a really cut down adaptation, but I recently rewatched it and now I'm thinking like. They did a LOT with 12 episodes and actually. it's. good. And they somehow still had a lot of action, a great OST and individualized ending songs for each character? How?

Like dedicated focus episodes for each character while still being able to throw in plot threads to lead into later plot lines?

The manga itself laid out the framework and story beats in a condensed enough way anyways, but the anime actually elevates the best characteristics of the manga while turning down a lot of the sillier, extraneous parts and cutting away the filler and it's GREAT? It's so much more focused and that's saying a lot because the manga was already pretty short?

the manga does have plenty of scenes that are cut that I do miss. All the scenes with Sumireko and Mahiru? Tragic loss. Any Isuke scene that's cut I'm sad about BUT. In return the anime really nails and refines the characterization. You lose the character's interpersonal relationships, but you boost their actual individual storylines and characterization. While still maintaining all the aspects that make each of them sympathetic?

Kaminaga's character gets really buffed by the anime especially. Just a few small changes, like adding the scene with the secret 'room' and the superstition about a writing your name in a checkout card to grant happiness? letting Haru writing the villian's name in to that checkout was just like. Really? Good? Like bro what?

Every addition or change the anime makes either enhances the character of the week, or the actual main leads and doesn't actually sacrifice anything that couldn't be sacrificed.

It waters down the more explicity gay scenes, yes, I know. Especially any non Haru/Tokaku or Kirigaya/Chitaru relationship. But. In context, the cut scenes that could improve the interpersonal relationships of the side characters do not actually meaningfully impact their relationships with each other. While it's nice that we can see the cast being sympathetic towards each other in the manga, it doesn't actually add anything to the plot or change how they interact with the main leads at all.

And to be honest... in the manga, the relationships the characters have with their respective love interests are kinda shallow or one-sided? They usually get a single scene with each other where one person expresses SOME degree of concern/sympathy/acknowledgement of the other person's circumstances but no actual back and forth or reciprocration.

Isuke acknowledges Haruki's duty is not worth it. No reciprocating scene from Haruki's POV.

Shuutou regrets that Kaminaga has a lot on her plate. No reciprocating POV from Kaminaga.

Sumireko feels like, she has to look after Mahiru I guess? IDK this one just reads more like a one-sided crush which is hilarious.

Despite. The cuts. The anime actually still maintains a pretty gay subtext in regards to the actual main couple?

I don't think anyone that watches Akuma no Riddle thinks that Tokaku is protecting Haru out of the exclusive platonic goodness of her heart. Yes, anime!Tokaku does not give off the same overprotective boyfriend vibes that manga!Tokaku does, but. She's still intensely single-mindedly protective of Haru's survival, if not her happiness. Playing more into the role of bodyguard, but still alluding to a feeling beyond just a professional relationship.

Tokaku in the anime is a lot colder, a lot more serious, not as emotional, but still single-minded in her focus. Protect Haru, that's it, the rest of it all will come together later. She's still impulsive in the anime, doing things just because she wants to and still short with peple. And the way they actually framed the final fight actually made her emotions much more intense in the anime. AND how they framed her as the final assassin in the anime was soooo much cleaner. It was AWESOME.

The anime also restructured Tokaku's personal dilemma in a way that unfolded in a more intense way for Haru. Like it was shocking... speaking of Haru.

When I first watched the anime like years ago, I thought the final scene in the anime was the worse scene. But young me was wrong, okay. They're both kinda EXCELLENT?

In the manga's finale, Haru embraces her role as the queen bee, if that means giving Tokaku the release and closure that she needs. Tokaku has to go through with killing Haru to prove that her own love and motivation hasn't been a delusion. Her actions are real, her feelings are real, and to prove they're real she must kill Haru. Romantic as hell, in a very tragic way. But the issue I take with this. For Haru to accept the queen bee's powers feels inconsistent with her character's arc in one way. But at the same time. for Haru to accept the power she's rejected for the sake of someone she loves ALSO is big to me. Haru embracing the pwoer she hates e because it can save the person she loves? Alright, I can fuck with that.

But. I still ended up loving the anime scene more? To me, the anime has the penultimate scene for both Tokaku and Haru. They both have something to prove. Neither of them can back down. But the anime version is the better version because Tokaku actually gets to be the protagonist in the anime.

Haru who's never compromised on her ideals, has to go always go through with doing something she hates, no matter how hard it is. She must survive, no matter what. Even if it means hurting someone she loves, she can't change course now, or everything she's done until now would be for nothing. She must always survive.

Then there's Tokaku who's never had anything to belive in her whole life. For the first time in her life, she's had something to prove for herself and no one else. Not as the esteemed heir of an age old clan, or the prodigy assassin. Not as somene defined by other people, but as someone she has decided herself to be.

They clash together and who comes out on top ? BOTH OF THEM. . . ? No one's ideals actually supercede the other's? They both come out, rsking everything but still not losing anything? Sure, in some stories this would be bad maybe for neither character to lose? But in this context... GOOD. FOR. THEM. They both still had to face the worst case scenario for their happiness, AND still come out with the ending they wanted? They get? A happy ending?

This whole time, Haru's never been able to actually be close to anyone despite wanting it, because she's marked for death no matter what. She wants to be close to people, even if that means putting herself in danger and this time she really WAS about to die. She's cursed with the will of others to LIVE no matter what. So even when she doesn't want too, she forces herself to choose life over any bonds. She wants to choose her bonds over herself but she can't because her family wanted her to LIVE.

Tokaku, this whole time has never been able to choose anything for herself. She's the heir of the Azuma's, her whole existence was nurtured to KILL people. Her curse, is that she's supposed to KILL but she can't. Physically she's incapable, and bound by someone else's will. Her whole life is bound by other people's wills. Until she finally chooses what she wants for herself.

Alright, fine. You could say that it's literally the same scenario as the manga, they clash, and end up getting their happy endings.

But the manga puts the suggestion ni that the Primer might have been responsible for it. That Haru's embraced her role as a queen bee, if that means keeping Tokaku. But like... that just feels a little bit boring to me? Don't get me wrong, I know Haru and Tokaku's love has nothing to do with some bullshit pheromones. And the scene itself was extremely emotional to me, and I'm not kidding because I did cry when I read it for the first time years ago.

But the emotional high of this scene does kinda strip away my favourite parts of Tokaku and Haru's character. They clash, but it's their love for each other and sheer dumb luck that ends up bringing them to their happy ending. Tokaku's willingness to die right after, puts a completely different spin on her whole arc than the anime.

She's finally overcome her curse of being unable to kill. She's finally found something to live for but she has to kill it to prove her feelings are real. And then. She wants to STOP LIVING? Bro what was the point of your ARC!? Did you not listen to any of Kaiba's lessons?! Did you finally unbind yourself from your curse, break free of your bonds, embrace that you have free will, just to bind your whole existence to someone ELSE? Tokaku PLEASE.

Ahem.

The anime actually lets Tokaku completely and fully embrace her newfound free will, by removing that part. They let her decide for herself that Haru has to die, and they let her decide for herself to carry the consequences of that forever. Nobody is forcing her to do this, but it's all she can do to prove that she loves Haru. THIS is way more romantic to me okay. She got to realize her character FULLY even if that meant doing something she would regret for her whole life.

Now on the flipside, Haru is someone who doesn't break free from her own curse. If anything she embraces it fully, and goes full blast with it. It's Haru who will do anything to survive, even if that means she is the one that has to kill Tokaku? Haru goes AT HER.

Now it's Haru who's doing somethign she doesn't want to. Haru's who's pretty much the ultimate pacifist, is very much willing to kill Tokaku to survive. Isn't that wild? She's been pushed that far, and is that deeply attached to her family's will for her to live.

But that's the thing that makes the anime adapation the ultimate adapation version?

The anime puts Haru and Tokaku at idealistic odds with each other. For Tokaku to prove her feelings and actions are real, Haru must die. For Haru to prove that her life hasn't been meaningless, she must live. Tokaku's finally been able to overcome her curse but Haru still hasn't.

But in the anime and manga both, despite how Haru's cultivated her relationships with her classmates, she's never challenged in her desire to live. She regrets the death, she regrets the loss, but she will not compromise on her will to survive.

Everyone actions in this show are dictated by their relationships to others. Haru's and Tokaku's especially are dictated very strictly by their family's.

But unlike Haru, Tokaku broke free from that completely in the anime. Tokaku's not indebted to anyone, she's not responsible for anyone's will, she just has to worry about herself. She broke free of her curse. She can choose her own future now, and even if that future means killing she can do it.

But Haru? She CAN'T break free of her curse. And she CAN"T embrace her supposed powers. Even if she loves Tokaku, she's still trapped by her family's desire for her to live. She can't see an ending where she can be happy and live. She has to smile even in misery, because that's what her curse is. LIVE, no matter how painful.

The anime actually lets Tokaku be the one to overcome her flaws, while everyone else is brought down by their unwillingness to change. Kinda. Everyone still gets a happy ending so.

If you think the ensemble relationships are important I feel like the manga would be your favourite version. But if you are a Haru main like me maybe anime is actually the best version of this story.

(haru main? what do you mean? Well, let me tell you, Haru is my favourite character actually. Her being dogmatically obsessed with her survival over her idea of happiness is very important to contrast Tokaku, who's also had her entire existence dictated by other people. For Haru to find LOVE and want LOVE over her CURSE? And still choose her CURSE? I'm sorry, how can I not adore a character who feels doomed by their own obligation to pursue self-dictated martydom over their own happiness? I love Haru. She's completely a tragedy of her own making, noone actually told her to live like this, okay. The anime lets her be obsessed with ehr own survival, because Tokaku will love her even in death and they will let Tokaku live on with that. And that's why I love the anime. It forces Haru to reconcile with being loved even in death.)

Anyways. The artstyle of the anime doesn't really translate the sheer ferocity or feral nature of the manga BUT. The anime still brings a lot of style to the table and it's got a banger of an OST. No, I don't think the image songs are god tier, they do a lot of work for the characterization alright and tha's half the battle.

Long story short, the anime is actually the best version of this story.

[rangetsuryuu]

tozx redeems the most unredeamble parts of the game

Rewatched a lot of the TOZX anime in 2024 and honestly. This show does a lot to save the characterization and plot of the game, but also not enough.

The anime's 2nd season is still burdened down by the rushed 2nd half of the original game. Rose is again done dirty, and everything they do to build her up as a chracter is still reduced to just being a puppet molded by Dezel's meddling and desire for vengeance.

Still, there's still a lot I like about her portrayal in the anime. You get to see the side of ther that's cold, calculating, methodical, brutal... I love it. They actually gave some proper insight into her motivations, whereas the game attributed all of them to Dezel. But. It's not. Good enough.

I love that Rose is getting the opportunity to finally confront her past on her own terms. That she's choosing a version of justice that's not really as straight forward as Brad's. But I dislike how much influence Eguille and Dezel seem to have on her. People always want her to be a certain way. Eguille's constantly reminding her to be calm and indirectly implying that she needs to be cold when it could have been better if it was the other way around. IMO, her final attack on Konan would have been much more impactful if she was telling her guild to stay calm, when she was the one who still carried a very personal grudge.

I feel like that's also better in line with how her own malevolence is described in the game. She does 'evil' things but doesn't breed Malevolence. In the game, it's implied that Rose has no hate or negative emotions despite her job. She lacks Malevolence. In the anime, negative emotions are said to influence malevolence and that threshold is different for everyone. No real indication of the the level malevolence in Rose in the anime.

The anime comes this close to bringing her hate to the surface and makes it seem like she WILL be overwhelmed by it. She acts recklessly and takes Konan on solo even when he's clearly become a hellion. The biggest proof of that is that she takes off her mask when she's about to kill him so that Konan KNOWs why he's going to die. That is in complete contrast with how she took out the pope dude in Lastonbell's church. Rose took that guy out, in cold blood. It was just something she had to do.

But Konan's hit was PERSONAL. She's not turning off her emotions fort this. She's angry, she's got all these negative emotions and compared to how impersonal Rose has been about almost everything else, it's awesome. I love it. It's real vengeance for her own sake, not just for someone else's.

Her inner turmoil, her doubt, those are all things I like. By itself, I don't think this would be an issue, but my issue is how they follow up this episode. What the heck is the conflict that they're giving Rose here? She confronted Konan, but now what?

What are the consequences to her giving into her emotions that she was supposed to have buried? To taking on a personal grudge? What are the repurcussions? Especially now that her identity as an assassin is exposed to Sorey who doesn't want her to kill?

The game and anime both fail to bring her into any real conflict with Sorey, the Shepherd who insists that killing is not the answer. And that's because the anime kinda implies that Rose's methods are not wrong. (IMO the game kinda does too tbh)

It's almost suggested that her method are actually one of the few tools that people have in combatting an otherwise unseeablee threat; the Malevolence of the modern age. While not the solution, her assassinations have been alleviating the symptoms of something awful, unseen, and untreabale. She's never painted in the wrong for it. It's implied that Rose never hurts or kills anyone that doesn't deserve it.

And the anime never puts Rose in a position where she might have hurt someone that doesn't need to be killed. She never actually has to be truly combatted for her ideals by anyone but herself.

The Scattered Bones take on contracts and enact vengeance for civilians. For those that don't have the power to protect themselves or defend themselves. That's the vibe you get when you see them killing the corruption that's in power. Killing those that need to be killed. The law and people in charge aren't doing enough. So someone needs to take action. Real action. Not just promised action for the distant future. Immediate action and immediate justice.

A philosophy that was inspired by Rose's lost foster father. In a way, Rose's guild is portrayed as a successor to her father's guild that was revered as the kind that doled out vigilante justice.

What other parties have been dealing with that corruption that's hurting the common man? Who's actually standing up for those who can't?

Alisha is implied to be lowborn princesss constantly struggling against the corruption of her country's monarchy and military despite being a princess and a knight. She's monarchy and military, but she's separate from the actual decision making. She is constantly butting heads with them. She has limited influence but her conflict has always been that she's struggled to make an actual meaningful change for her country's people. That's why she wanted to find the Shepherd. She believed the Shepherd would be needed to save this place. It's largely implied that she doesn't believe she has enough power to make any change of her own power. She believes in true pacifism and never hurting someone else. Even in self-defense, to never kill someone.

Sorey on the other hand, has never actually lived in the day-to-day reality of the modern world. He was raised in complete isolation by Seraphim. As a Shepherd, he's supposed to learn and fight back against humanities long bred Malevolence. His entire journey is learning about humanity and where humanitie's Malevolence comes from. He comes to understand Malevolence as a cycle of hate and vengeance. It's something he wants to stop cold after he sees the aftermath of it firsthand. But he doesn't have to take any action against humanity or anyone. He doesn't have to actually stop humanitie's conflict, he just needs to deal with the aftermath. In the game it's outright implied that he needs to take a neutral stance for peace. That his goal is to really cut down the symptoms of human hate, rather than to take on the root problems. Still, he knows he doesn't want people to die, no matter what.

Both Sorey and Alisha, have a stance of pure of never killing.

Alisha and Rose have an outright conflict of ideals, with Alisha's pacifism at the cost of self, and Rose's killing for the sake of others. Sorey and Rose are practically DESTINED to have a conflict about how they handle the cycle of hate respectively.

But Rose's ideals are never challenged in any meaningful way by anyone else.

Again, Rose's methods are implied to actually be a realist solution.

This is really cemented by the fact that Alsha takes absolute 0 issue with Rose being an assassin. She welcomes Rose to kill her in season 1, if Rose truly believes her to be in the wrong. The PACIFIST PRINCESS. Gives an ASSASSIN the green light to kill her, if that would mean true justice for her people.

To me that's how that scene reads. Not as some game of chicken, but an acknowledgement that Alisha's methods, if flawed, deserve the judgment of a third party that the Scattered Bones have set themselves up to be. Rose's methods may be different but they have the same goal, of protecting the people that need it. If Rose's method can do that better than Alisha's then THAT'S how it'll go down.

Now, obviously, there is that scene where Alisha prevents Rose from going in for the kill in an act of self-defense, when they're surrounded by Landon's men. But this instance of kiling is separate from Rose's actions as an assassin. In this instance, Rose is about to kill a man for supposed self-defense. THIS is what Alisha takes offense too. If Rose is going to kil Alisha for being evil, FINE, that's okay but if Rose is going to kill someone else for trying to kill them, then THAT'S WHERE SHE DRAWS THE LINE.

It's honestly hilarious, and a little messed up. Alisha never takes any action to report Rose. She never steps in to stop her or talk her out of it. She never even tells Sorey that Rose is an assassin. She never rats them out, even after exposing Rose's actual identity. She picks Rose out as an ally she wants to back her up. Is it just me, or does that read as complacency? A silent, acknowledgement that she won't interfere? This is Alisha we're talking about, if she thought somoene was doing something wrong, wouldn't she try do someting? Especially since she has the upper hand. She's clocked Rose, and the Sparrowfeather's guild as assassins.

But instead...Alisha HIRES them. (I mean as merchants but.)

Point being. No one contests Rose in any meaningful way for being an assassin. They should have let someone have an actual confrontation with Rose about this. And they almost did.

When Edna learns that Rose is an assassin she has a PROPER reaction and a proper response, as someone who does not like this, and won't condone it, unlike Alisha's who's pretty much dropped it.

Edna immediately hops off to try to get Sorey to stop Rose. It doesn't matter if she's heard the tragic backstory. To Edna, not even monsters deserve to be killed.

Edna has a an actual, deeply personal reason to be opposed to Rose's entire character. Edna's brother has been turned into a literal monster. And he's been slated for death, by just about everyone except Sorey. But shes clinging onto hope that he can be saved.

That is DIRECT conflict with Rose's ideals who will kill monsters for the sake of others.

Rose: Monsters(human) deserve to die.

Edna: Monsters(any) don't deserve to die.

Isn't that perfect?

So how does this resolve? With crickets. Nothing.

That's what Sorey's lukewarm intervention was to me. Just crickets. He finds Rose, tries to stop her. He doesn't even do shit, he just gets beat up and knocked around while Rose is trying to kill a man!

AND THEN HE CARES FOR HER IN THE AFTERMATH. AND RIDES WITH HER CARAVAN. And Edna? What does she do? Fuck all.

Like bro what? You have a perfect drama baked into their characters. WHY NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS? Why can't we have characters actually disagreeing and fighting each other? I want to see how that would have resolved.

And this is so unfortunate, because I feel like we are SO so close to a character in this show having some kind of growth or real conflict with SOMETHING.

But at least Rose has a conflict wiith herself. For once she is challenging her own ideals.

She has baggage, she's chosen a course of action for herself. She knows it's immoral in some way, but she's still taken this on to beat down those that are even worse.

And she has this awful revelation in the middle of this forest full of the dead, where ghostlike banshees, that she can't see are screaming past her, that maybe, she realizes, it was all for NAUGHT. She has this horrible realization that she might not have made an impact at all. That everything she's done up until now might be completely insignificant. That she might not have had any real power to do good, maybe she's just deluded herself into thinking she could.

It is the only time any character has to actually confront some aspect or part of themselves in a MAJOR way.

BUT THIS DOESNT HAVE AN ACTUAL RESOLUTION. . .? There are no CONSEQUENCES to what she did. Her actions aren't actually painted as wrong in any light, it's literally just set up as a completely personal drama. The conflicts that she has with other characters about this is brought up and then dropped. And then it's left up in the air whether or not she really killed Konan but somehow still imples that he kinda is actually DEAD for real this time. So. She still won? She beat the guy who ruined her life. Didn't she get her revenge in the end?

I don't understand and I can't actually understand what the anime is trying to say about her character after this point.

What direction has her character actually taken? Does she regret choosing killing as her method of justice? Has she renounced her previous way of life? What about her role as leader to a whole assassin guild? What does this mean about her relationship to Eguille and the rest of her guild? Does she have the entire guild change tunes? What does this mean about the legacy of her guild and foster father's ideals?

Well. I don't got a clue. Her inner conflict changes nothing about her relationship with anyone, despite how it very directly has conflicts with other people.

Instead, we see her really pushing to find a way to help Sorey. The power he has to do good is something that she's been lacking. She thought she was doing everything she could be to do good for the weak but it wasn't enough.

For me, I interpret this as her trying to choose a new path for herself. A more solid way to make an actual long term, permanent change for people, and not just the short-sighted justice she was carrying out.

Okay. So she's moved past the philosphy she's long since believed in, in that sense. But what about the stuff she already has going in? Is she completely renouncing her entire past?

She'll fight malevolence with the Shepherd's power instead, sure. She's course-correcting, I guess. But the issue is, this doesn't actually address her past actions. It's not implied at all that she's disbanding the Scattered Bones or turning a new leaf in the same vein. So is she regretful for killing people? Or is she regretful of the fact that she misinterpretted what power she needed? Maybe it can be both, but I don't think she's put in the wrong for her actions at all.

if the act of her killing was actually wrong, why isn't it condemned? Where are the repurcussions? Proof that she's actually hurt someone or set her own goals back by doing what she's been doing? Conflict from people she cares about?

There's nothing. Not even a single acknowledgement by anyone that she'll stop. So what the HECK does that mean?

Every time she's killed someone they HAVE deserved it. They've been proven AWFUL people that would have continued to hurt people if she didn't take action.

Sorey, never learned about the corruption of the Blue Storm Knights and the church. And even when he learned about the corruption of Hyland's royaly, what could he do?

He didn't confront Alisha about it, he didn't develop a mistrust, and he didn't need to. His role was to acknowledge, learn, and understand humanity to be the Shepherd that they needed him to be. His role is the Shepherd of the world.

So who else was going to stop the pope or Konan? It wasn't going to be Sergei or Alisha. So were they supposed to wait for someone like Sorey to findout he was a hellion to purify? No! If Rose didn't take the action she had taken, then people who had suffered would have continued to suffer.

So is she still in the wrong for what she did? Is being the Shepherd's squire the only way she can actually help people? What BULLSHIT!

Anyways. The whole game was trash, every character deserved better and only Alisha got better in the anime(kinda.) I don't think she should have been crowned Queen TBH i think they should have just kept the political drama going and let ALL characters slowly and surely address the malevolence with their powers, and be unified under Sorey's meteoric rise and fall.

Game sucks. Anime sucks less.

[rangetsuryuu]

rose’s mystic art should have been translated to rangetsu style kingfisher. smh.