One part of chapter 141 that caught many readers attention was real!Ciel saying that our!Ciel was his only family.
This brought up a lot of questions. What about the Midfords – particularly Lizzie? They are his family too after all.
Interestingly, this reminded me of a conversation the twins had when they were young. Our!Ciel had said that he wanted to open a toy shop, which upset his brother. He said that our!Ciel was going to leave him all alone.
Our!Ciel told him that he wouldn’t be alone because he’d have Lizzie.
This, however, didn’t cheer up real!Ciel. He still thought he was being left all alone.
What makes this interesting is the conversation about the toy shop happened when they were much younger. To someone older, it might seem a bit irrational on real!Ciel’s part, but kids do think and feel different about things. While considering all this, I realized something.
Real!Ciel still has the mentality of a ten year old.
It might have only been three years, but the average person goes though a lot of maturation between ten and thirteen. Real!Ciel didn’t have a chance to mature. He died. No matter how good of a job Undertaker can do with his bizarre dolls, there’s no getting around the fact that real!Ciel did die. Even he accepts this fact.
Undertaker can make sure that real!Ciel’s physical growth is the same as his brother’s, and he can make sure that real!Ciel witnessed many of the major events in his twin’s life so he can vicariously have the same experiences, but that doesn’t change the fact that he died at a particular age. Mentally, it’s doubtful that he can go beyond that age.
This explains the mood swings and single mindedness. He may look the same as our!Ciel, but he’s really still the same as the little boy that was held by the cult three years earlier. His mind hasn’t grown. I doubt that it can.
phoenix wright returning to the court of law after 7 years in a hoodie and a beanie and absolutely dunking on kristoph gavin is one of the most iconic things ive seen in my life
Recently, I made a post saying how I’d like for the ghost of Claudia to show up and slap Undertaker. Basically, I don’t think she’d like the way he has of ‘protecting’ the family or even approve, but he’s so deep in his own delusion and twisted by his goals that he can’t seem to see that.
Well, what if Claudia could talk to him in one sense?
We don’t know a lot about Claudia except that she was a Watchdog. From what we’ve seen or not, she was a beautiful late that could and did fight. This also could a description of Frances, as well as Lizzie.
We haven’t seen Lizzie for a long time, and we know she’s been with the cult. Undertaker has most likely even seen at some point. Now imagine that she shows up soon – ready to fight and to protect those she loves.
Undertaker doesn’t seem to have the strongest grasp on reality right now. What if seeing her actually reminds him of Claudia? If this happens, he might actually listen to her words and might be able to at least glimpse just how twisted he’s become.
I knew I had something else in mind when we discussed this the other day and I finally remembered what!
Anyway, I def agree on the idea. 🙂 I don’t know for sure who’s supposed to give UT a wakeup call or trigger it, but Lizzie amongst others could be a good candidate for the reasons you pointed out. Also considering this…
I think it vouches that any chance of Lizzie siding with the twin in the future will gradually decrease, especially when Sensei also confirmed before that Lizzie was in love with our!Ciel. I even mentioned previously that I could see the twin attacking her (for getting in the way, out of jealousy that our!Ciel might be worried about her), which is yet another reason to believe that slowly the characters will wake up about why bringing back the twin definitely wasn’t a good idea.
Moving on tho’, to add on the idea that Lizzie in particular could remind UT of Claudia and that it might make him reflect about his actions, I remembered this…
And it sure is a nice way of summarizing the current arc, isn’t it (the skeleton UT is holding symbolizing the dead twin I guess)? Look at Lizzie tho’…
…see the crown of thorns (with roses) on her head? Well…
we saw it before on occasions that could remind us (and UT) of Claudia. 🙂
I know it’s just symbolism, so don’t take it too seriously, but I like the idea: you were the one, I believe, who pointed out that the skeleton on UT’s scythe wasn’t a part of its original design (even if we don’t know whose skeleton it might be), just like there are reasons to guess that the skeleton he’s dancing with on the cover of ch54 is Claudia’s (the locket speaking for itself).
Besides, we know there seems to be a pattern about the women of the P family as you also mentioned (they’re strong-willed and fighters, which is why UT could have found Claudia interesting in the first place), so this gives the idea even more of a basis and that’s why I strongly enjoy it. xD
As for the Othello’s line on the last page, I already explained it in this post!
And afaik there was also some confusion about whether RC’s line “A mere servant shouldn’t speak without the master’s permission” was directed at Tanaka or Sebastian, so if you wondered about it, too, take a look at this post.
Aside from those two, there’s one more thing that I personally find a bit questionable / am not really sure about, and it’s this scene:
“But the experiment itself began ages ago. It all started the night I took the young Earl home.I laid him in one of my custom coffins and…” says Undertaker in the YP edition, but his wording in the original Japanese version is a bit different.
He says
“But the experiment itself began way before that. Ever since the night I took the Earl home, I put him in my special coffin and…”
so he does not explicitly state that his experiments began the night he took RC home. He just says he started experimenting on RC ever since that night.
Idk, it’s entirely possible that YenPress’ interpretation is correct and that UT’s ‘Bizarre Doll’ project began just 4 years ago, but I always kinda thought that he started experimenting way before that (like around the time Cloudia died), so I personally found the translation “It all began that night…” a little bit questionable, but yeah, maybe it’s just me.
I suppose it’s about time for my take on the most recent fandom crisis.
To me, it seems that Rize died for the same reason Furuta did. Both indulged in escapism instead of processing their pain, both created tragedy instead of fighting against it, and most importantly, neither took responsibility for their sins and tried to make things right. They never ceased to be driven by selfish desire, even if it was at the cost of everyone else.
Though sympathetic characters, it was this unrepentant irresponsibility that led to their destruction, not because they deserved it, but because giving into tragedy will only ensure it.
You know, I don’t agree that Furuta died because he giving into tragedy. That he didn’t fight against it. If he hadn’t fought against his fate, he would have just lived his 25-30 years and died as a nameless instrument of Washuu family. The decision to destroy everything is his fight against tragedy. And I believe this is quite a logical decision for him. He didn’t commit inconsistent destruction. He had a plan. All this had a certain purpose. So what is it if not a fight against his own tragedy?
Ah, but Kaneki fixed his lifespan, it seems. Arima did not die as a nameless instrument of the Washuu family; he contributed directly to the downfall of systemic tragedy.
When I say “fight against tragedy” I do not mean “act in response to your tragedy”, because that can apply to anyone. The point is the will to create a better, non-tragic world, where people cease to suffer so terribly as a whole rather than simply making oneself the oppressor to avoid suffering yourself. Furuta merely wanted to make things worse, more tragic, destroying everything and maximising oppression with himself at the reins. That is a reshuffling of the systemic tragedy, not a dismantling of it.
He does all this because he does not believe, due to the inevitability of death, that a better world is possible, so he wants to be something more than an insect crushed under the heel of the system. However in playing by the rules of this tragic game, by preserving it even if reshuffling it, he is no more free of tragedy than he ever was. He cannot destroy it while he creates it, so while Furuta indeed fought, he was fighting in the opposite direction to what he should have. This is why I say he gives into tragedy – because he accepts its narrative and, unable to deal with his pain, reproduces it.
This is in contrast to Kaneki who wants to dismantle this tragic world and create a peaceful one for everyone.
Take this analogy: Furuta is a man who, upon hearing that his town will be invaded by an overwhelming enemy army, believes victory impossible. So he decides to live his time left to the fullest by looting, pillaging and indulging in every vice under the sun – to the detriment of everyone else and seriously hampering the war effort. Kaneki meanwhile signs up to fight for the town’s defence. Both strive motivated by a looming threat: only one strives with a chance of stopping it.
Dahlia Hawthorne: More than just a murderous ex-girlfriend. A look into abuse, mental illness, and characterization.
Dahlia Hawthorne. Most people
despise her, for obvious reasons. She tried poisoning Phoenix, sent a man into
a coma, killed her own sister, and seemed to show no remorse for what she’s
done. She’s seen as more despicable than Kristoph Gavin. She’s seen as more
despicable than the Phantom. So, why is it that this young girl, who did not
live past the age of twenty, is seen as one of the most diabolical villain in
video games and why does she act the way she does?
Why is she simply seen as a “murderous
ex-girlfriend” when the entire basis of her evil doings are given to the player
throughout the game?
So why is Dahlia Hawthorne so
compelling? What about her makes the player want to come back to her time and
time again? And why does her breakdown seem to leave you feeling a bit hollow
inside as the ghost leaves the body?
A Note: I understand that
murdering is wrong, I am not claiming that what Dahlia did was excusable. I’m
just simply suggesting that as a fan, it is important to understand why the
character acts the way she does. The blatant mischaracterization is harmful to
the character herself, and leaves the impact of Dahlia behind. Once again, I am
not apologizing for her actions, but rather explaining why. Why she acts the way she does.
This is a four part post, which will be exploring:
Childhood. Why is Morgan Fey’s impact more
harmful than what meets the eye?
Motive. Is Dahlia’s motive simply just for
pleasure? Or is there a deeper, psychological desire?
Relationship to Iris. Why is Iris’s impact so
important to Dahlia as a character? How are the two a symbiotic relationship?
Breakdown. Why is her breakdown so telling to
her as a character? Why isn’t she ready to go?
This is very long, about five pages on Word, and I
apologize in advance for that.
This also includes mentions of
#csa, #pedophilia, #abuse, #parents, and of course, #aa3 spoilers. So please,
read with caution.
midnight-in-town 