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Is There A Problem With Mortal/Immortal Romance?

Within the fantasy and sci-fi genre, there is a common trope of long-lived races. Some races are true immortals, dying only when slain, while others are seemingly immortal to those with much shorter lifespans, such a humans, yet still age and decease, themselves.

Humans have long been fascinated with the concept of death--and how one escapes it. Through the ages, countless people have endeavored to seek out potions or spells that would grant them life-everlasting, or even something found in nature such as a fruit or body of water. Some of these ventures have even brought about important discoveries, such as when Chinese monks, in their endeavors to create an elixir that would grant them extended lives, invented gunpowder in the 9th century. Suffice to say, it was natural humans told stories of beings that achieved what they could not: escape the inevitability of death. They often then endowed them further with another great thing humans desire: power.

Oftentimes, these immortal beings were divine--whether holy or wicked. They were gods and demons, saviors and monsters, guardians and tricksters. They helped and blessed humans; they cursed and smote them. They listened to their prayers, heeding to their pleas; they preyed on their weaknesses, luring them to their doom. Power defined them, and mercy was little found. Humanity needed figures to explain the randomness of their world. Why did the sky flash and shout? Oh, it's just Thor passing by on his chariot! Why do humans procreate? Eh, Nuwa got bored making humans. Why do we have winters? Well, Demeter just really hates being separated from Persephone. It brings comfort to have an explanation for why things are the way they are, and modern humans are no different. We, too, rely on explanations to our world, but through the lens of the sciences rather than mythology. Naturally, religion still plays a large role in the lives of many across the world, and also serve as means to explain what science cannot, or what explanations from science they have rejected. Even today, we still believe and worship in immortal beings.

We have long looked up to and quaked in the shadow of those we perceive as possessing qualities we desire, yet feel are hopelessly out of our reach. People tremble and cry when meeting artists they greatly admire, and is that so different from someone weeping before an altar when they feel the presence of God? There is, however, another common feeling people have towards those they admire: lust. It may not be so lascivious as the images the word conjures up--perhaps infatuation would better suit--but for our purposes, we shall hover on the sexual side of it.

Our modern perceptions of sex and procreation drastically contrast those of the past. For many centuries, it was the common societal belief in the Western world that the sole purpose of sex was for procreation. Of course people had pre-martial sex, extramarital affairs, or just loved having sex with their spouse because it felt good, but it was largely looked down upon and could, and did, have dire consequences if found out. The impact it had depended on race, class, and gender to varying degrees, but sometimes even those in positions of privilege could not escape a fall from grace--indeed, could even be the crux by which an execution is predicated on, such as the case with Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. As such, they did not interpret the acts of rape committed against mortal women by immortal men, more often than not, the same way we do. There are examples where rape is presented as a reason to revile a figure, such in the case of Cassandra's rape at the hands of Ajax the Lesser, yet this revulsion is not due to the violation Ajax committed against Cassandra, but rather the violation he committed against Athena. Even then, he escapes his punishment by seeking refuge in the very temple he dragged Cassandra away from to rape her.

This apathy towards sexual assault against women is, obviously, rooted in misogyny. All across the world--though not every single place in it--patriarchy was the norm. This is true of Europe, of pre-colonial and ancient Africa, of ancient China, of pre-Hispanic America, so on and so forth. Rape then, as it is now, was used as a means to assert power, and this is the purpose it serves across many myths and stories in history. As we, as a collective whole, have advanced our thinking and attitudes towards women, their role in society, and how we treat them, we look back at these stories now so deeply-ingrained in our cultural DNA, we cannot possibly part from them, and cringe--rightfully so! Yet therein lies the problem: we don't want to give up these stories, but we are deeply uncomfortable with the subject matter, so what do we do?

We turn them into love stories.

One of the most famous examples of this phenomena is Hades's abduction of and subsequent marriage to Persephone. For many modem people, theirs is a "meet-ugly" love story, that Persephone loves both being with her mother, Demeter, and her husband. Were an ancient Greek person to hear our version of the myth, they may struggle to recognize it. The myth exists to explain why we have winter, why it is so cruel and barren, so why would it be a romantic tale? Well, because we have grown uncomfortable with past perceptions of women--at least, we don't like to make such opinions so public. Part of this stems from our culture trending towards romanticism. This doesn't exclusively apply to romance--we have romanticized views of friendship, family, our careers, etc.--but certainly plays a large role in why these myths have changed. The world is no longer so harsh as it once was, and we desire the stories we tell to reflect that.

As these revised stories entered the mainstream, and as previously fringe topics such as the exploration of human sexuality and depravity permeated it, as well, we began exploring sexuality through the supernatural. What were once representations of society's fears and failings, for example vampires, became sex icons. Anne Rice's Interview With a Vampire, and its sequels, is often credited for this transformation. However, the vampires within Rice's world do not, themselves, experience lust save for blood. This presents them as sensual, hypnotic, sexy beings that were all the more dangerous for their seductive, sexual prowess, and all the more attractive, too. Ever since, vampire fiction has been fascinated with treading this line between dangerous predator and irresistible lover. Humanity, at large, is drawn to the taboo, to the unusual, because it places us in a situation we're uncomfortable with but curious about. Through fiction, whether oral or literary or theatrical, people have explored and examined society by looking at what disgusts and disturbs us, and making it appealing.

In the moral philosophy of the 21st century, age gaps are, at least, worthy of a side-eye. This has not always been the attitude of our culture, and does not ring true to every culture even today, and as such, it is extremely common to find couples with a decade or more between them, the woman younger more often than not and largely in her early twenties or late teens. Despite an 18-year old being a legally-recognized adult, we tend to have a moral issue when a 30-year old, another adult, expresses romantic or sexual interest in them. Why? Because of the gap in maturity between the two.

An 18-year old has just begun their adulthood. At most, they have been an adult for 364 (365 on a leap year) days. Most still live at home with their parents claiming them as dependents on their taxes, keeping them on their insurances, the phone plan, etc. They have not had the time to build a foundation to their future life. It would be extremely rare that someone that age would be able to support themselves without any help whatsoever and not fall apart at the seams. However, even were they able to do that, there is still the issue of their actual maturity. The fact of the matter is that teenagers, even those last two years when one is an adult, are naive, thus easily manipulated. When you contrast them with a 30-year old, who has had time to establish a career, build up their savings, formed professional and personal connections with people of various power, be adults, and biologically develop for another 12 years, the stark difference between their stages of life grow clear. They have undergone developments within their brain that permit them certain cognitive advantages, such as being more logical and capable of handling their emotions. This gives them social, economic, and biological power over the 18-year old. It is hard to look at a situation like that and not worry the teenager is being taken advantage of. How can a 30-year have a fulfilling, equal relationship with someone so unestablished? One has to wonder what their motivations are.

Our issues with these age gaps, therefore, lie with the maturity gap and systematic power their years of adulthood have granted them. But what if those two things weren't a factor? Would we still care about the 12 year age gap? What if the 30-year old looked and acted like an 18-year old, too? Was at the same stage of biological development? What if the 30-year old was actually 300?

One collects a great many experiences living 300 years, and can grow much wiser and carry themselves very differently than anyone else ever could. Yet one can live an eventful life and collect transformative experiences that set them apart from their peers in three decades, so would it then be unethical for them to enter into a relationship with someone their age but with a less worldly perspective? The notion, frankly, is ridiculous. So then what is the problem with a 300-year old frozen at age 18 dating a mortal 18-year old? If they are, as mentioned before, at the same life stage developmentally, is there a problem? Assuming this is a world where their immortality must remain hidden, as is the case for the Cullens in Twilight, they have not had the opportunity to establish themselves as an adult, either. The power dynamics that existed in the previous relationship vanish while the age gap increases.

People, rightfully, are disturbed when an immortal who looks and behaves like a minor is sexualized--ex. Krul Tepes from Owari no Seraph--despite her age being approximately 1,200. Her age does not somehow negate how she is presented, and is, in fact, little more than a shield for pedophiles to skirt around morality. This logic, however, does not seem to extend when it comes to pairing a mortal with an immortal. Suddenly their age does matter, regardless of other factors. This is nothing short of performativeness. Instead of earnestly engaging with a, frankly, complicated and nuanced topic, they look at the surface, see a big age difference, accuse others of pedophilia, and think their activism done for the day. It is an insincere attempt at gaining social points, and may even be attempts at establishing an alibi that they could never engage with such content or do something as deplorable as engaging in sexual conduct with minors should accusations arise.

There are absolutely instances where a mortal/immortal relationship is nothing short of a massive power difference and, at best, precariously treads the line between transgressive and repulsive. That does not mean that every mortal/immortal relationship deals with large power dynamics, nor imply those who enjoy consuming mortal/immortal romances enjoys that dynamic in the slightest. Sometimes people just want to fuck a Victorian hottie, but still have running water and central heating.

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ah heem heem. whimpers

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when does it become okay to give criticism without permission? people dont ask permission before writing critical essays on movies or books or art in museums, but if you were to offer criticism to something someone posted without asking first, you'd be an asshole. where is the distinction? fame? experience? monetary compensation? if someone posted a drawing for free but made money off it from selling it as prints, does that open the gate to people offering their opinion? if someone has a recognizable name & sizable following, is it okay then regardless of whether they made money off of it?

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I think the Todoroki family is a good demonstration to how different people respond to abuse, even when the abuse comes from the same source.

Dabi (Touya) turned to villainy. He was the oldest, had a strong quirk, and was being closely trained by Endeavor to be better than his best. In many ways, Dabi and Bakugou aren't too different from one another. However, Bakugou had multiple environmental factors that led him down a different path: parents that cared about him and didn't push him to do what they wanted, a stable idol who represented victory and whose only presence was that of a True Hero. I mention this because I feel Horikoshi is trying to say that any of his characters could have ended up on the other side if their circumstances were different, that people are not destined to be a hero or a villain, its all about how life treated them. The villains had their trust broken by the people closest in their lives who shamed them for something they couldn't help, such as their quirks, or people relying on heroes and not stepping up to help a child in need, etc etc etc. This speaks to the larger issue at hand which is Hero Society as a whole that does sort people into good and bad almost based on quirk (and, to a lesser extent, appearance) alone. I argue that Endeavor acted the way he did because of the principles of this society. Now, by no means am I boiling down Endeavor's character to just some power-hungry asshole who has no consideration for his children because that is just not true. Endeavor is a complex character with nuanced motivations, however I think it is undeniable the effect the values of the society in BNHA has on Endeavor and how he ended up raising his children. I mean, for goodness sake, he married Rei solely to make a powerful, "perfect" child.

There is no comparing the level of abuse the Todoroki children went through--abuse is abuse is abuse. They were all traumatized in different ways, whether because they were being beaten into submission to teach them how to control their quirks or completely ignored because they didn't show potential. And I admire Horikoshi for having the Todoroki children react differently. All Dabi wants is to hurt Endeavor. But, he doesnt just want to just hurt him, rather he wants to crush his father in the most painful way he can so that Endeavor knows how he made his children feel. Fuyumi wants her family. She just wants everyone to get along and be happy--in other words, she wants stability. The pain of the past is important, no doubt, and I get the impression she feels the best way to heal and grow from the past is to be together with your loves ones and help each other. Natsuo is angry, embittered with his father. He resents him for how he treated Touya and Shouto, for how he treated Fuyumi and himself. He hates him and doesnt want to forgive him--may not even be capable of it. At his core, he wants to protect his family from the man who did this to them and tore them apart. Its Endeavor's fault Touya became a villain, its Endeavor's fault for Rei hurting Shouto, its Endeavor's fault their mom is in a hospital, etc.

Shouto is interesting. At the start of the series, he hated his father more than words could express. He resented him for how he was raised, for pushing his mom to her limit and hurting him, for pushing this destiny of surpassing All Might onto him, etc. and one may assume he would refuse to be a hero, maybe even resent heroes as a whole. This, of course, is not the case. And why is that? All Might. Now, when we first meet Shouto, he refuses to use his left side at all and it is only through the intervention of friends and teachers that he learns to accept his whole quirk as his and not half his father's, half his mother's. In terms of Shouto's character development, this was one of the most pivotal moments. It allowed him to pull himself free from these expectations his entire life and be his own hero, not the kind his dad wanted him to be. Rather, he would be the kind of hero like All Might, like Deku.

All the Todoroki children take their agency back in their own way and that is what unites them as survivors of Endeavor's abuse. Despite what he wanted, none of them are his tool to use. They are their own person no longer under the thumb on their father. And I am so happy Horikoshi gave us this because, frankly, it's a bit exhausting seeing characters who have been abused always being meek creatures in need of saving. We are more than that

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i sincerely do not trust people who dont like deku. "hes so annoying, hes cries too much" bethany, you cry too much. i heard you sobbing for three hours straight through the paper thin walls. hes out there kicking ass and taking names, you cant even do your laundry

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12 year old me is still in a rage that tohru ends up with kyo instead of yuki

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blue is nonbinary bc im nb and i said so thanks xoxo

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forever crying that ronan tried to dream up ways to keep gansey safe from bees/wasps

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11:15 PM: thinkin bout ronan lynch

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y'all will say "let characters be complicated and nuanced!" then get mad at bakugou for being complicated and nuanced

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just saw someone say they don't care about the dancestors....cringe :/

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if u dont like bnha, THATS OKAY!! u dont have to! everyone has different tastes. u just have bad taste

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Kankri is not a good person, nor is he a bad person. In my view, he is a wildly misunderstood character--both by the people who love him and the people who hate him. Both sides like to take only parts of his character and ignore the others that don't align with their perception of him. There is no harm in that, per say, but it does an incredible disservice to him as a character.

The Alpha trolls are, generally speaking, two-dimensional. They are caricatures of certain online groups meant to satirize those aforementioned groups. In Kankri's case, it's the SJWs of tumblr. At the time of Kankri's conception, social justice on tumblr was notorious for being outrageously PC and, hypocritically, malicious. People were threatened and "cancelled" over the stupidest of things. Naturally, this trend still exists and has spread from tumblr; however, it is not to the degree that it once was as those SJWs have now matured and created a healthier space (for the most part).

Kankri is a representation of the worst parts of those people--he is overly concerned with saying the "right" thing at all times, ignoring that words don't matter if your actions don't reflect them. Quite literally, Kankri is all talk. He lectures anyone he can about their "triggering" behavior while turning around and engaging in that same behavior when it suits him.

Therein lies the Mituna problem. Kankri is overly considerate of Latula's lack of sense of smell, Cronus's humankin, Horuss's belief he is two-spirit, etc. even when those (such as the case with Latula) don't actually care all that much. He does this because it's what he cares about and that's all that matters to him. But he doesn't care about Mituna. My interpretation is because he is jealous of him. Kankri is flushed for Latula, who is Mituna's matesprite, but Kankri doesn't think Mituna deserves to be in a relationship with Latula likely due to his cerebral trauma. A trauma he acquired after destroying himself in an ultimately futile attempt to save his friends, which is another reason Kankri is jealous of him. Much like Karkat, Kankri served as the leader of the group. Despite this, he was unable to rally the troops together due to his more passive approach in juxtaposition to Karkat's abrasive leadership style and general nature. Seeing Mituna act so boldly, doing something Kankri was unable to, was a hit to his ego. Already people don't like him and here Mituna was, making him look like even more of a useless asshole.

So, Kankri resents him. He doesn't want to care about Mituna, so he doesn't. Anger, bitterness, jealousy, whatever the case may be, he does not respect Mituna. Regardless, Kankri is Kankri. The way he speaks to him, insulting him and his entire existence, is phrased in such a manner that pins Mituna's disability as a flaw that he needs to work on. So much so, Mituna is obligated to apologize. Now, Mituna is not an innocent infantile thing that does nothing wrong and isn't a jackass himself because all trolls are jackasses. He is crude and can be inconsiderate of others. Regardless, Kankri does not approach the matter in a constructive way, seemingly almost glossing over those fair criticisms in favor of low blows.

This is something that is fundamental to Kankri's character. There are plenty of things he is right about, however he handles it in such a way that it only comes across as pretentious swill that no one wants to listen to. Alternatively, he overlooks those valid points to unjustly attack another's character. But, that doesn't mean he is always wrong.

Kankri, at his core, cares deeply and passionately. Whether or not you agree with what he concerns himself with doesn't matter because he will continue to feel the way he does with everything he has. His passion is palpable. The most notorious of which is the Beforian hemospectrum.

Under pre-scratch Feferi, culling doesn't mean killing. Rather, lowbloods are seen as incapable of taking care of themselves, so highbloods are responsible for them. Kind of like a pet. While not being killed is nice, being treated as a second--maybe even third-class citizen is still oppression. Kankri sees this and resents how their society functions. He doesn't want to be coddled and treated like he is inept because he isn't. Subscribing to how society wants him to behave would be a fate worse than death. If he cannot be independent and think for himself, doing what he thinks is best without the concern of others looming over him at every step he takes, he would rather die. These are the beliefs he held even as the Signless, although with different context. Thus, his motivation for his personal boundaries. When Porrim tells him he has grubsauce on his face and tries to clean it himself, he flips out. Porrim is high enough on the spectrum to be considered able to take care of him, and Kankri does not want any part of it. The mere thought is mortifying to him. Being touched is something that is (actually) triggering to him. He doesn't want pity, he wants respect. Even if his friends hate him and think he's annoying, at least he's being himself.

When Porrim wishes to discuss issues regarding women, Kankri doesnt want to hear it. Here is where many call him misogynistic, but I implore you to consider not applying human society onto the trolls because it doesn't make sense. Trolls are a matriarchal society, what with the empress being in total control. And, so far as we know, it has always been an empress. We don't know just how much gender affects things considering the hemospectrum plays such a large role in how everyone falls in society. My interpretation is that gender is nowhere near as big of a deal as it is with humans. Even if it were, between fusciabloods being primarily female and rulers, and jadebloods also primarily female and nurturing the Mothergrub (aka how all trolls are born), I don't feel it's too far a stretch to say that the women of trollian society are not oppressed. I don't believe the men are oppressed either because I feel that gender isn't much of a consideration for trolls, but that is just my interpretation.

That being said, Porrim expresses her concern that their matriarchal society was a false one operating under Lord English, ergo making it patriarchal in nature. Kankri does not share that view, feeling that it's a non-starter. In his view, Lord English's actions truly had no effect in that regard. Why would a time traveling demon set on destroying everything worry about frivolous details such as ensuring women are beaten down? In Kankri's eyes, it's stupid to assume he would even bother.

Regarding Kankri's celibacy, it's another example of Kankri merely trying to keep his chin high in the air and feel as if he is better than everyone else. His intellect is too high to concern himself with the oppressive nature the quadrants come with. It seems too much like another means to be controlled. However, his commitment to it is...questionable. Porrim and him are essentially moirails in everything but the name due to Kankri's pride. Not to mention, his flushcrush on Latula. If he were truly committed to his Vow, he would not pursue this crush as much as he does. All Latula has to do is say the word and Kankri would drop his celibacy like a hot potato. Again, another example of how he is willing to say the "right" things, but his actions do not reflect that. This hypocrisy is one of Kankri's defining traits. He simply cannot put his money where his mouth is despite the mountain of effort he puts into convincing everyone how serious he is.

As someone who admires social justice, he doesn't care for the Signless. His official reasoning is in regards to a difference in approach. While the Signless's rebellion reflects the violent society of Alternia, Kankri expresses how he feels a more peaceful method would have been better, a reflection of the peaceful society he was raised in. He feels that words hold more power than violence, something those baser than him resort to.

Perhaps this is due to the tenderness I hold for him, but I think the reasoning runs deeper than that. All of his friends liked hearing about the Signless, Aranea in particular. So much so that she wears his symbol around her neck. This is something that clearly bothers Kankri, but is it really just over a difference in opinions? At the end of the day, the Signless is Kankri. My theory is because everyone likes his post-scratch self better than they like him. The people who he considers his friends, who he trusts to return when they leave mid-sermon, who he tried to lead and protect can't stand him, referring to him as the Insufferable. Wouldn't that hurt you, too? He knows he's long-winded, he knows he preachy, he knows people find him irritating, he knows. Naturally, Kankri doesn't let it show, but he wants his friends to like him. The only person who (kind of) listens to him and actually treats him with respect is the crowned worst character of homestuck, Cronus. It affects him to hear how much others admire the deeds of someone who is him when, in truth, he is not really that person.

Many of the core traits in Karkat exist in Kankri. They are both drawn to leadership, drawn to helping their friends, short-tempered, and emotional. Kankri says a multitude of harsh things, things that are much crueler than the what Karkat says, and it's important to acknowledge Kankri's cruelty. That doesn't detract from the fact that Kankri does care for others, even if his feelings towards them are less than pleasant, because that's who the Vantases are. They are deeply flawed and oftentimes foul-mouthed people, and yet, at the end of the day, they still care fiercely. Kankri is not some disinterested, detached critic. He is just as much a part of the group as the others and he wants what is best for them. If he didn't care, he wouldn't bother lecturing. No matter how annoying and egocentric you are, no one likes to waste their time.

At the end of the day, Kankri is not a perfect person. Far from it. But he's endearing and he's relatable and he's flawed. None of the trolls are good people. They are all assholes who say fucked up things. They use the r-slur, they make fun of Tavros for his wheelchair, Meenah is elated that her post-scratch self commits genocide on the regular, Vriska. Just Vriska. A lot of the hate I see regarding Kankri reduces him to a soulless monster who's only goal is to insult and talk down to everyone in his way. A lot of the admiration I see boils him down to an uwu sweet innocent blushy baby when that is the furthest thing from the truth. He's a snarky bastard who gives a fuck about his friends, even if they spit in his face because he spits right back. Please respect his depth, even if you interpret things differently from how I did. He is not as flat as many make him out to be. No one in homestuck is.

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there is no such thing as a "wrong headcanon"

except for height, i'll kill u if u think karkat vantas clears 5'0"

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thinking about the psychic damage i will receive when the anime gets to genya's death 😌🙏🏻

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opal watching pynch have sex is....something else lmao

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i finished KNY the other day and it's really all i have been able to think about. i read the whole manga in just about two days (it's only 205 chapters and they're relatively short so it was pretty easy) and i am just overwhelmed with emotion.

i understand a lot of people may be upset with how the manga ended--it's normal to feel like we are missing out on a lot of story possibilities bc frankly we are! gotōge, as far as i know, didn't want the series to end as quickly as it did, but certain unavoidable things popped up and they had to make that decision. it's fine to feel however u feel about it, but don't be upset with them bc i'm sure they're plenty upset about it themself.

i agree that the ending was rushed (bc it had to be), but i don't think the flow of events don't make sense. on the contrary! i think the way things happened do make a lot of sense. in my eyes, it's kinda obvious to see where certain things were pushed in order to transition to the last arc (nezuko suddenly being able to withstand the sun, for example). that isn't necessarily a bad thing and i know that this development would happen eventually. nezuko was, from the beginning, a different kind of demon. she was special from the first chapter on--not eating tanjiro, using sleep to recover rather than consume humans, remarkable strength, etc. i do not believe her developing to withstand the sun was "jumping the shark" nor do i think it was a cheap gimmick of any kind. i guess what i'm trying to say here is that, yes, i think it happened a bit abruptly and could have come later after a lot more development if the circumstances were different. seeing as they're not, it is what it is. i don't think it was done poorly, it just makes me wonder how it could have been better introduced if gotōge had more time.

having said that, it makes me think of how early we are introduced to muzan. he is the Big Bad, someone who no one else had seen before, and we meet him in chapter 13. this is part of why i don't think kny is all that rushed and the ending coming so soon isn't all that disappointing to me. now, granted, many manga introduce the Final Boss pretty early. BNHA introduced shigaraki in chapter 11, for example. but, with shigaraki, we see development in both his character and abilities. we watch as he comes into his own so he needed to be introduced early so horikoshi had time to see him mature. muzan, on the other hand, is more akin to all for one--someone who is borderline overpowered (i would argue muzan is overpowered, but i guess it makes sense considering he's lived ~1000 years, so one would get pretty fucking jacked after all that time plus demons get more powerful with the amount of people they eat soooo) and has posed as a threat to the heroes of the story for a Long Ass Time. i personally feel it would have been better had muzan not been introduced so early if the manga was allowed to be more fleshed out, as i'm sure gotōge planned/hoped. however, it works with how short the manga is. i don't really have a problem with it, it's just something i found interesting to think about and i haven't seen a lot of criticism on.

now, i am making a lot of assumptions on what gotōge had planned--perhaps they planned it to be shorter than i would have anticipated and the end just came a little bit faster than expected. perhaps they planned this to span for 400, 500, 1000 chapters. who knows? i am, after all, projecting my own thoughts on the pacing of the story and what would be appropriate. in my mind, i expected the series to follow tanjiro until he, himself, became a hashira. i would expect it to take hundreds of more chapters to reach that point before the final confrontation loomed on the horizon. i am in no way saying that that is the correct pace the story should have been at. again, it's just my thoughts. i would like to say i am in no way disappointed with how the story turned out. i don't think it was too rushed, i just feel like it's obvious there was more gotōge wanted to tell. we were only just (relatively speaking) introduced to the hashira and now all but 3 are dead. no doubt the quickness is elevated for me since i finished the whole series in 2 days, so things that spanned over years happened in a blink of an eye. however, i would argue that seeing the whole story in a short amount of time emphasizes just how short of a timeframe we are looking at (i realize there are timeskips, but i am speaking from a storytelling perspective).

rengoku dying quickly after being introduced is effective as a tool to show that even the hashira have trouble combatting the upper kizuki. this effectively conveys how much of a challenge the demon slayers have laying ahead of them. it was important to tanjiro especially to see how strong his opponents are. if upper 3 could strike down rengoku, arguably one of the most skilled of the hashira, single-handedly then muzan is a bigger threat than he could have anticipated. from a narrative perspective, this sets the tone to how much of an upward battle tanjiro was facing. it also effectively conveyed to the audience that tanjiro would not be the sole person to end the demons, that he would need help from his friends and peers to end things. this, in my eyes, is so important. yes, a part of me wanted tanjiro to be singularly responsible for muzan's defeat, but i know it wouldn't have been a good decision. when facing an impossible opponent, u have to rely on teamwork. this is something that has been conveyed from nearly the beginning. tanjiro wouldn't have made it to final selection had it not been for sabito and makomo helping him; he would have been overwhelmed and died on his first mission without nezuko; tanjiro wouldn't have been able to save kiyoshi (and teruko + shoichi) without zenitsu and inosuke there to kill the other two demons; he certainly would not have been able to kill the Spider Family by himself; etc. Teamwork has been the focus of the story from the beginning and rengoku's death reminded the audience that the demon slayers needed everyone they could in order to even come close to beating muzan.

still, seeing so little of the other hashira before they died is, understandably, disappointing. i wish we got to know them better, i wish we got to see the trio becoming tsuguko, i wish we got to see the five that passed final selection become hashira themselves, i wish i wish i wish. but it's okay that it didn't happen that way. gotōge still made me care about them in such a short amount of time. i sobbed when they died. genya hits especially hard. he and sanemi only just reconciled and then he died....and sanemi loved him so much. there was so much unsaid when he died and, as of right now, we won't get that resolution. again, not a bad thing. sometimes, while it hurts and you want to know, some questions are best left unanswered.

it hurts thinking about all the people who died. i am still getting choked up at just the thought. chapter 204 hurt me a lot--when nezuko smiled and sanemi saw genya....ouchie!!!! it hurts me so so much and i am so heartbroken and distraught over it. mitsuri and obanai dying in each other's arms, feelings still unsaid but it wasn't necessary bc they knew. they knew they loved each other so much. himejima seeing his orphans again and finding out they were just trying to protect him....and he spent so much time hurt by them running away.....god. it all just hurts so so much. i am so sad. i really don't have the words to capture how much my heart is aching. i fell in love with all the characters and i had to watch them die, watch as the ones they loved and loved them come to terms with their loss, and somehow i'm expected to be okay???? i'm not lmao i am heartbroken. i don't like things a normal amount so after i was done, i literally triggered a depressive episode. i hate it!!! i don't regret reading it and i think the story is beautifully done. the deaths were impactful and they meant something--i don't think anyone's death was unnecessary. they just....hurt. it's a beautiful story and i will recommend it to anyone who wants to try reading it (hopefully those people aren't reading this considering i spoiled uhhhh everything lmao).

thank you, gotōge, for sharing this amazing story. i loved it so much. it was a pleasure to read and i am so excited to experience it animated. seeing rengoku die in theaters will diagnose me with Sad Bitch Disease and i am ready 😌🙏🏻

especially thank you for this ❤️