#it’s a character arc for sure. but it barely passes as a redemption arc imo

[thestobingirlie]

it’s still wild to me that i’ve seen a lot of people say that steve harrington had a “zuko level redemption arc” and i just??

steve was a normal teenage boy and had, like, one bad day and then went “aw nuts. i should apologise.” that isn’t… anything like zuko’s redemption arc lmao.

[rmorde]

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2HA, Erha) delivered everything I wanted in a story plus everything I never knew I would actually want in a story.

When I consumed all four books and realized there was more, I was horrified. So, I ventured to all fan translations I can get and practically lost sleeping hours to finish it. It is that good imo.

First off tho, it is not for the faint of heart. Do not be fooled by the cover with pretty art. The premise barely scratches the surface of how dark the story is. Book 4 is also a fucking trap that lulls you into bringing down your defenses before giving you an upper cut in the face then pummeling down your soul into tiny little pieces.

It promised me a cute albeit dark-ish story of two men falling in love. However, what it delivered was a narrative with a thin veneer of fluff to hide tons of absolute brutality concerning racism, classism, elitism, generational trauma, body horror, genocide, rape, mob mentality, gossips, and so much more.

At its core tho, it is still a love story. You just need the patience of a saint and nerves of steel to power through all the pain and agony after the Farming Arc (Basically, be like Chu Wanning as a Reader). ----> I guess you can summarize my feelings as "Went in for the BL. Stayed for the plot. Surprised how underneath that pain, horror, and tragedies woven in the story - it was always about love."

Sure, there were asspulls here (Nangong Bloodline Mo Ran) and there (Butterfly Boned Beauty Feast Mo Ran). There were attempts to set up those reveals tho but they were a bit clunky. However, it is not too detrimental to the overall appeal of the story for me. There were weird phrasings and word choices too but I gave them a slide since it is a light novel after all.

The gore in the story is unexpectedly top notch tho. The fights and monsters are interesting. The stakes in the plot really ramps up the suspense. While some Reveals are fairly obvious, they were still rewarding because they were set up quite nicely such as the reveal of 0.5 Chu Wanning's soul being implanted in the current timeline Chu Wanning, Taxian-Jun appearing, and Shi Mei not being as nice as he presents himself to be.

I also like how redemption was explored in the story. A lot of characters, like Mo Ran, were presented with second chances to fix their own fuck ups. While the villainous characters were sympathetic, they were not given a pass. All of them have to work hard and make the right choices to achieve true redemption.

Just for example: Mo Ran. He feels remorse for everything he had done as Taxian-Jun. He did his best to make up for it. Chu Wanning even forgives him. However, it was not enough. Because the wrongs he had done are not just againstbWanning after all. He still had to pay for his sins with his peaceful life as Grandmaster and earn his happy ending through zombie Taxian-Jun.

There are many more characters trying to seek redemption in the story but I think it would be better if that is in a separate post instead.

Now, another recurring theme featured in Erha is kindness. In the story, Kindness can both be a blessing or a curse. A small amount of it can have big repercussions. Also, contrary to what most people think, kindness is a choice that requires a lot of (mostly thankless) hard work and sacrifice.

Anyway, Erha is my first danmei and I love it. It is dark but with a nice satisfying ending. I'll check out others. Scumbag Villain Self Saving System seems to be a good follow up but from I have read so far about it, it's kind of a parody/comedy type of story?

Maybe I'll check out Heaven Official's Blessing first instead.

[mrspettyferr]

Unpopular Theory: Tamlin is getting a healing arc.

I honestly debated posting this at all. Tamlin is a very hot button, understandably, but I like to think he can still be discussed. So please, no pitchforks please, lol. This post is simply exploring what I think is likely to happen, based on the way the narrative shifted in ACOSF. (And really, started to shift in ACOFAS.)

Now, what I typically hear is people debating whether or not Tamlin deserves a redemption arc. But no one really talks about a healing arc.

From my experience, redemption arcs are typically for villains and antagonists who usually present a stance that opposes the good guys. Then they go on a journey, have a change of heart, learn from their wrong doings, and join the good guys. That's pretty typical, no?

Despite the way things played out, Tamlin was never really a villain and technically, he was always on the "good" side of things, assuming Amarantha and Hybern represent the bad side.

While he has a lot to overcome and face, I don't see him on the same level as the people who want to slaughter humans and take over Prythian.

ACOSF is where you start to see what sort of arc Tamlin might get--and its healing.

“You’ve been trying to bring Tamlin back for a while. But he isn’t getting better, is he?”

If war was coming, they needed Tamlin and his forces in fighting shape. Needed Tamlin ready. Rhys had been visiting him regularly, making sure he’d be both on their side and capable of leading.

“But Tamlin is already hanging by a thread. You and Lucien have made it clear that he’s barely improved this past year.

"Not if Tamlin cannot master his guilt and grief and become what he once was."

"Become what he once was." <- You don't say that about a character you aren't planning a journey for. And you don't say it about a character fans are meant to truly hate.

The narrative makes a point to focus on his struggle to recover, to come back, to become what he once was--not his "villainous ways." And I think the reason for this is because SJM is placing breadcrumbs for his journey and warming the audience back up to him.

Frankly, Tamlin is at rock bottom--and that's exactly the place SJM likes to write her characters from. There's also a reason for him to recover, because the plot needs him for the war. When you combine the two, it feels a sure thing for SJM to explore. This was from an interview in 2017:

"I don’t want to get into spoilers, but I think there are still some interesting things to explore with Tamlin and how that character fits into this world."

Lastly, there is this monologue from Eris in ACOSF, which felt like he was reading a prologue straight from a Beauty and the Beast retelling:

“They say a beast prowls these lands now. A beast with keen green eyes and golden fur. Some people think the beast has forgotten his other shape, so long has he spent in his monstrous form. And though he roams these lands, he does not see or care for the neglect he passes, the lawlessness, the vulnerability. Even his manor has fallen into disrepair, half-eaten by thorns, though rumors fly that he himself destroyed it.”

IMO Tamlin was never really the beast from the tale in ACOTAR, but he is now--hopeless, broken, alone, fallen into despair. And Spring will need to recover, and Tamlin along with it, in order to face Koschei. Rhys and Azriel both seem to realize this, too.

Whether Tamlin will get a novella, or feature heavily in Lucien's book, I just think a healing journey is on the horizon.

[phantomthiefjeanne]

Hey, I saw your blog with the pic of Jeanne from the Manga Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. :) And i just finished (the third Time 🙈) the Manga and i wanted to ask for your Option. If you don't want because it's for you a long time since you read them it's okay 😊🙈 if it doesn't bother you here my question 😄 In the last Chapter we see noyn (which i really really like him) with silk and that he said he will wait for the next reborn of Maron. Part one

Part 2 So what do you think how would he use the time? I mean is he teaching in the old school for years as teacher and then stop because he doesn’t age and take an other identity to come back or do you believe he travels with silk. I also stand in chapter 22 in arina comments that noyn and silk (in his human body) have a relationship like yaoi. I was surprised because i thought he loves Jeanne (Woman) and not both man and women. 🙈

Part 3 Sorry i didn’t plan to write so much. I just had to ask you. 🙈🙈😊 and i now a Crazy question

Hey! First of all, I’d like to preface this with an apology for answering so late. I’ve been mostly off tumblr because of school and then piano stuff and then gearing up for university, but hopefully I’m not too late! 

Ok, so for Noin…I gotta start by saying that I’m not the biggest fan of his ultimate trajectory in the manga (full disclosure: I’m not the biggest fan of his character to begin with, so that bias might colour this response). Of all the changes and resulting tonal/themic shifts the anime didn’t land (Finn’s brainwashing for example), I think Noin’s arc there was handled better than in the manga the constraints of tv also removed the horrifying assault scene among other things. so I mean, staying with the lost love he should’ve long gotten over by then might not have been the best ending when letting go might be the better option, but it was better than deciding to continue to pursue said lost love’s underage reincarnation years in the future even after having assaulted her, lemme tell you. 

And with all that, as cool as the timeloop concept objectively is with Noin being the one to infect himself with a demon in the first place, I wish Arina hadn’t gone down that route because it left him with not only a bad ending, but one that didn’t really exist. It didn’t serve a purpose thematically, and it didn’t serve the story, either. His only notable appearance after the time travel arc is showing up to swoop in on Maron when she thought Chiaki was rejecting her. Despite being quite powerful, he’s not a player in the final battles and is barely mentioned in the main story afterwards. 

A better resolution imo would be 1) having him succeed in making sure he never became a demon knight in the first place, then 2) having him find out that Jeanne wasn’t actually saved, 3) having him deal with the tragedy of that again, but this time 4) finally making peace with it and fading away to allow his human self to live on in the past and continue the good fight in Jeanne’s memory (operating under the time paradox theory that a new universe has been created or something, so that demonknight!Noin’s impact on the future could be preserved. or not preserved. he never really did that much for the main storyline and even Zen’s sideplot could have functioned without him oops). Is that too idealistic and even forgiving of a redemption for him? maybe, but hey, at least this resolution doesn’t involve forgiving the man for trying to assault someone, congratulating him for not repeating the deed and saying it’s ok because “he wasn’t going to go through with it was he”, allowing his obsession with a teenaged girl to continue because apparently that kind of persistency is romantic, and calling that a “redemption arc”! haha! because that would never be the canonical alternative! 

cries

In any case, to answer your question, I’d like to think that Noin spent the years after the Devil’s defeat continuing to be a teacher. We never really saw his teaching in action in the manga, but maybe he’s good at it, maybe those extra years spent on Earth has given him special insight on the subject he teaches, history, and the languages he’s accumulated (because asides from French and Japanese, he could’ve easily learned more) get to finally be put to use after his years of recluse. Maybe he finally gets a hobby now that the devil is gone. For all the art thievery in this series, there’s no actual artist character, so maybe he can be that. 

I also really like your idea that he goes on to travel with Silk, after some time passes and his unfading youth is starting to look more and more suspicious, and his chances with Maron seem to get slimmer and slimmer as she and Chiaki progress in their old-married-couple-life. We don’t have much insight on how Noin spent his life while waiting for Maron’s birth (just that he somehow watched her grow up from afar?) but since he’s still immortal he can fill in the blanks on some of the things he didn’t get to do, places he didn’t get to visit while under Satan’s command. Will he learn to let Maron go? Who knows. It’s not even a sure thing that she’ll be reincarnated afterwards, and I’ve always liked the ambiguity of that. Without as potent of power since giving Eve’s powers to Finn, maybe her reincarnations’ll be harder to track down, and what starts as a quest to finding that reincarnated soul more or less ends with Noin finding HIMSELF on his travels. Maybe the real Maron was the friends he made along the way, amiright?

Maybe without the Devil around, Noin’s immortality won’t last? I like the thought of that, because like I said, I think he deserves a finite end at some point. His fatal flaw’s always been the inability to let go, and somehow he’s never really punished for it. Giving up his life or at least his immortality to save someone or do something, now that would be a grand gesture for a man this persistent, grander than his “time travel and possess your past self with a demon so that you can wait for a girl to be born in 500 years” imo.

I don’t know if I like the idea of Noin and Silk together romantically because power unbalance and other unhealthiness aside, Noin was Silk’s creator and Silk is supposed to look like a little kid (Zen, specifically) in his human form, making for an age difference and something akin to a parental relationship as far as physical appearances go as well. But I mean, if Noin softens up in the future and becomes kinder I guess it could work out? To clarify, though, Arina actually states in the volume 22 free speech that Noin and Silk are platonic, mentioning the yaoi genre only to say that she wasn’t herself a fan of the genre but she didn’t mind people who were, and that Silk and Noin didn’t fit under that sort of relationship. (At least, that’s what it says in my copy of volume 5; I have the CMX English edition. Where did you read that part? I’m wondering how if there’s been a mistranslation) Of course, you can have queer representation without being put under that label uh in fact please do. Noin can very well be attracted to both Jeanne/Maron and Silk, though! I can hc him being pan very easily. I don’t think sexual orientation really adds to or detracts anything from his character–I’m just not too sure that he’s great representation considering his villainy. 

And now it’s totally my turn to apologize for writing this much, haha