#I don't want to be so negative about Mei but they've basically done nothing with her except have her spectate since chapter 25

[busghost]

Hi! Happy new year! Can you please help me understand what happened with the main trio now becoming different herrschers?

I was gonna wait until all three were reached on Global, but I'll just do the two we've got now and then reblog for Kiana.

Bronya is an interesting one because if we go off of what the CN name is, she's not a different Herrscher. She's unlocked the true potential of the Herrscher of Reason (more on the localization later). How? Essentially, the past Herrschers of Reason have been caught up in legacy holding onto the past. Welt Joyce and the 300,000 souls he saved in Berlin were the power Welt Yang and Bronya relied upon. But in order to reach the future she wants, she needs more, so she relies on herself and her own hopes and dreams and friends instead of the legacy passed down and she overcomes all previous Herrschers of Reason. It doesn't mean she's forgetting the past but she's moving past it unlike what the Herrscher of Reason has been able to do before.

Essentially, instead of having the past define her as the Herrscher of Reason, she is going to fight for what she believes in as Herrscher of Reason.

In Mandarin, her battlesuit isn't necessarily called Herrscher of Truth but could be True Herrscher of Reason. Marisa has a yt short about it I'll link here

Mei's new Herrscher powers are basically out of nowhere just because the story needs to happen and you can tell the writers were making these decisions instead of the characters.

After confronting and killing her stigma personality (again), Mei escapes the Project Stigma dream (again) and Ai Hyperion Λ hands her a portal to the powers of Origin.

She has a "test of character" which is basically, Question: "are you going to do the most protagonist-y thing?" And Mei says yes.

And then she goes "Wow I love everyone just like Elysia did! I wanna see Elysia again!"

The rest of the time is entirely focused on Elysia instead of Mei so it doesn't matter, she got the powers once she passed that "test" the new outfit was just a bonus. Not that we even know what powers the authority of Origin actually has.

If you can't tell, I hate how they handled this. It's the polar opposite of Bronya defining herself with HoTr or Mei's convictions with HoT. She's just Elysia Mei loves everyone because the writers say she does. Where did that character development happen? It didn't because she has been constantly shoved aside for Elysia.

I'll come back when we see how Kiana gets the authority of Finality to explain that.

[mari-lair]

I got some asks about aoinene before so i may as well get my view on them off my chest.

( warning: I have a negative bias toward this ship and despite trying to be brief and unbias, I very very likely failed.)

To me, Aoinene makes each other worse, not as people, but as characters.

It's the kind of ship that the more I look at it the more empty their friendship feels, and yes sure they have their problems, but I don't mind when a ship have issues (hakubo and sumire are such a cool dynamic, 10/10 for me and they are a million times more 'toxic' then aoinene will ever be), but the aoinene problem is that they feel like fanservice. There is no conflict. There is nothing. They become shadows of themselves.

Aoi isn't stuck in the "I am an exposition girl :D" role because she is oblivious to the bigger story, and all they need is communication, Nene put her there. Iis insane that they've known each other for 2 years but she don't know anything about Aoi. Every time we learn something interesting about Aoi, is when she is seen in other's people's pov, even characters that barely interact with her like Teru and Mei have a better understanding of Aoi than Nene.

To Nene, Aoi is the troupe of a perfect friend. Nene cannot process her flaws, she rejects the idea, and Aoi can't make Nene talk, face her own issues. So there is never conflict. Their friendship is a love that morphed into a horror situation. A staged friendship.

"Aoi is cute and nice and kind. I refuse to believe she wouldl ever be anything else, let's not think about how i was thrown in the trash by her, that aoi was mean, she was a fake. I will not accept her being the real aoi. I won't even think about it."

"I know Nene is going through a lot but I need to play the happy girl with no troubles role for her. I won't ask about her problems or even show hints that I know something is off after learning about supernaturals, and that her crush is dead, and human sacrifices are a thing that happen. That's not what she wants from miss popular me."

It reach the point where their fluffy arts feel like fanservice to me, more of a 'look! cute girls doing cute things!! Aren't they such good friends??' photoshoot magazine than a genuine bond.

Look at this beautiful and cute art for exemple.

You would imagine the chapter is about them, that they will have some form of talk about their feelings in it, so much happened since the last time they talked after all!

Maybe Aoi apologize for throwing Nene out while Nene apologize for planning to die without Aoi's consent, making the same selfish mistake Hanako had done to her when he sacrificed Aoi so Nene could live. Maybe is just a quiet talk about how much things changed? A lighthearted but warm chat of how disorienting seeing supernaturals are as former girls that never had to deal with it? Something, anything, to connect them. Maybe the oposite, a big conflict that gets ugly now that the masks are down...? We had a lot of those in this arc, like kou and teru in chap 87, aoi and akane in chap 69, nene and hanako inc hapter 91! But no.

There is nothing. Is always nothing when they talk.

This beautiful cover art is from the chapter where Aoi issues were immediately brushed aside when she tried to bring them up and the usual bubbly Aoi was forced to come back.

They are bafflingly shallow for how much time they spend together and how much potential is bubbling under their mask, keeping their basic dynamic from their introduction even when the characters are begging for something to change.

So that's why I dislike them, they don't make each other better, they don't even have the gall to make each other act worse, they just make each other boring. Aoi is only allowed to be a fleshed out character when we get away from Nene's pov.

Is only through her interactions with other characters that any hint of dept, or hell, even fun quirks and overall aspects of her personality that are hinted with her friendship with nene, are explored or allowed to shine.

There is potential though! And I could see myself enjoying writing a one-shot exploring how painful for both parties the shallowness of their relationship is in some alternative universe, but unfortunetely the fandom ruined it for me. Which is a shame, since Nene is aoi only other friend, and their charade friendship is genuinely valued/loved by the other.

I tried to read fics and analysis to see if I was missing something but the fandom have a 'omg they are so cute and can do nothing wrong! All their issues will disappear if they hold hands <3' take on them, with so much mischaracterization both girls become unrecognizable. There is also a lot of Akane and aoikane hate, even masked aoi hate, cause god forbid their dear girlboss angelic lesbian queen have any negative feelings towards her bestie or likes a boy whose main flaw used to be the same as Nene (idolizing her to the point of dehumanization), and while that is not the manga's fault, it does affect my negative bias for this ship, make it far stronger.

After 2 years in the fandom, I just don't have the patience for this ship anymore. I don't think people are secretly evil if they ship aoinene or project themselves onto the girls, but it just isn't my thing. I am not looking for a fight either Anon, I block people cause I want as much peace as i can, and if what they ship makes me uncomfortable, is not their problem, is mine. Let them have fun out of my sight so we both strive pls.