#the whale has to be my fave design. its neat. theyre all neat tho.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

totsukuni no shoujo worked really well for me from every point like the creature designs are very interesting the pacing gives u a reason to care about the charas bonds without getting bored with it it handles its themes well & i love that the strongest bond isnt a romantic type of love and its still undeniably one of the most important aspects that makes the story work. its got its twists & i never saw them coming yet none of it felt like it was only for shock value. definitely recommend.

spoiler time but

man. just. the lengths they went for each other. teacher doing anything to keep her safe when the whole time there was nothing to keep her safe from. he cant save her from herself. but that he wouldve killed for her, the fact he literally gave his soul for her, gave up the last of what he had. man it really hits. and then that shiva came back and cared got him to return to himself. like it goes both ways. and yet. the whole time there was nothing to protect.

but also the whole. shiva and the kuro no ko are the same. that whole underwater scene. idk. im sleepy i cant say it well but. that like. even if shiva isnt actually the real thing, she exists somwhere inside that kuro no ko(i read in jpn im so sorry idk what eng term is used for it & im not using a literal translation) so in a way. shes still there. theyre the same. but also not. the whole idea of there being truth in falsehoods.

bc im going to be honest with u i thought the twist was going to be like. shiva was actually teacher's kid the whole time & when something happened to his wife she ended up with a random lady so the whole thing about her not actually being related wouldnt have been a lie. then idk i was expecting a reveal like yeah since he was such a good doctor it was proof of his relation to the gods they keep mentioning. and then they hit me with the twist they did & im still like What. but in a good way. from a plot perspective it's interesting i like it but as a reader god. pain.

& i think it handles the whole "one cannot exist without the other" theme pretty well. teachers whole existence as a way of saying not everything ur told is bad is actually bad & the fact most of the creatures seem to be pretty neutral. its true they can spread the curse but that in itself doesnt really make them bad. meanwhile the whole kingdom willing to sacrifice a child for a chance at being saved from something they dont really even understand. neither are true good or bad yet portrayed as dark and light. that theres no clear answer so to speak but the two cant truly be separated.

i feel like this is definitely one of those medias thats going to stay on my mind for a while