Hi Anon! Ah, I believe there are two possible explanations for this but they come down to basically the same thing. I’m aware it’s something that’s often misunderstood frequently though so I’ll explain the full thing. 🙂
First of all, it’s often forgotten but Shinigamis have the power to hide or reveal themselves to human eyes, it’s something they choose to switch on and off by their own will. Examples of shinigamis allowing themselves to be seen by humans:
when Grell was Madam Red’s butler
or when UT was working as a mortician
or when William was investigating the circus,
or when Ronald was on the Campania
or Grell and Othello in ch125
However, when Shinigamis choose not to be seen by humans, they become invisible to human eyes, except in two very specific cases:
1) the human who can see them is actually going to die soon
2) some humans have a very specific lineage allowing them to see Shinigamis, that’s the example of Ciel and his family:
In Lizzie’s case during the Campania arc though, her seeing Grell never was meant to imply that she was going to die because:
either Grell chose to be visible to human eyes at the time
or Grell chose to remain invisible to human eyes but Lizzie being a Phantomhive could still see them regardless.
That would be the two theoretical possibilities as to why Lizzie might see any Shinigami in general, despite not necessarily dying “soon”.
Back to the Campania, the explanation that is the right one is that Grell chose to be visible to human and demon eyes at the time
and that’s how Lizzie, Ciel and Seb could see both them and Ronald back then.
I might as well include a friendly reminder that it seems thatSeb, like most humans who don’t belong to the two exceptions stated in ch103, can’t see/sense Shinigamis unless they choose to be seen.
TL;DR no, Lizzie was never meant to be dying “soon”. It’s just that on the Campania, Grell and Ronald (and UT) chose to reveal themselves to human eyes. :))
Mmm, that scene was so weird! Actually, the first few pages of ch133 where RC was crying and throwing tantrum because he didn’t want to be separated from OC made me almost believe that he might be a normal child (just a little bit clingy), but then there was this scene
which reinforced my suspicion that there is something wrong with RC Yana even used a completely different font for this line to emphasise the sudden change in his tone. I honestly have no clue what’s going on with him and what exactly he meant by that, but at this point I’d even believe that he might have had some kind of split personality lol (it would be funny if after all the 2C discussions in the past 5 years it turned out that RC was the one who suffered from DID and not OC xD)
maybe he planned to kill their parents so that way Smile becomes emotionally atteched to the “last piece of family”, or in debt
That would be one hell of a super-yandere plot twist! RC definitely seems to have some sort of obsession with OC, but tbh I still can’t figure out whether it’s just brotherly love (just like Edward’s brotherly love for Lizzy) or something more dangerous But yeah, we’ll see in the next chapter, i.e. in 1 week, whether he had a hand in the attack or not!! 😀
And do you know what the JP fandom said about this chap?
Mmm, afaik two things were pointed out by several people:
– RC’s line “It seems I have no choice but to become Earl Phantomhive…” Was he really convinced by what Rachel told him? Can we really trust his “Fine!” and his bright smile? Could it be that he was just pretending to be convinced but was actually not happy at all about becoming Earl Phantomhive and being separated from OC?
– RC’s behaviour in the last 3 pages Was RC really sleeping until 6? Could it be he was awake while OC was sleeping? If so, where was he and what did he do? What’s with RC’s look on the last page? Does he know what is happening?
Yes, I think that’s actually what real Ciel always thought would happen. He was used to being the strong big brother since his twin had his weak health and was shyer. He grew up taking care of our Ciel and feeling the need to protect him or to make sure he wasn’t too lonely. And real Ciel really enjoyed doing that. For him that was natural and therefore he probably also thought things would stay like that forever.
That’s why he was so shocked to learn of our Ciel’s plans on standing on his own feet by becoming a toymaker. Real Ciel never expected that and seeing that he himself clings to a future where everything between them stays the same while our Ciel is striving for change and for a chance to become independent must have deeply damaged real Ciel’s ideals. And since it came so suddenly it was a shock to him.
Only the prospect of still being able to remain in his role as his helpless brother’s protector and supporter real Ciel got over his desperation.
So yes, real Ciel wanted a future where he could still be the big brother who could help his little brother. This distribution of roles and the thought that our Ciel needed to be protected by his twin seemed to be really strong in real Ciel’s mind and I think it may have also given him a sense of security and confidence since that’s a role he was used to be in his whole life until then.
That doesn’t have to mean that he didn’t want our Ciel to be able to live by himself or to grow up to become independent. He probably didn’t even think that far. I mean, he was eight (?) at that time. I think in that moment he was just afraid because he feared that the future he had always envisioned in which both twins would stay together forever wouldn’t happen like that. So he tried to cling on to the idea that he would always be the protector and the one who has to support our Ciel since our Ciel is the weaker one who needs his brother.
I believe if both had grown up normally real Ciel may have grown out of it. Both would have become more mature and the childish imagination that they would always be together would have become less important since I believe both would have found things to enjoy without the other being present, as well. However, we know that it didn’t come to that because of what happened on the twins’ tenth birthday and afterwards.
So with everything that happened, rather than growing out of the dependence real Ciel had imagined, that thought may have grown much stronger – even to a point where it has become an obsession now.
TLN: “In chapter 133 there’s the impression that… Vincent is a little unduly distant. Actually, the children of English nobility were usually raised by their own exclusive personal servants (i.e. teachers and wet nurses). Often the rooms they ate in and their meal times were different, and they also often lived on different floors. It was kind of a dreadful environment! (lol) So, I draw [Vincent] with the sense that he’s somewhat unfamiliar with his children’s inner workings 【Toboso】”
TLN: “The Jack-O-Lanterns in chapter 133 aren’t pumpkins, but turnips. In the Victorian era, they were usually made with turnips. The pumpkin sort was popularised by America, or something 🎃 It seems because of the climate pumpkins grew well there. That’s why Bard was saying the English [lanterns] were plain 【Toboso】”
Out of all OC’s flashbacks, I think this scene is the most mysterious and confusing one. I’m sure we are going to see a more detailed version of it next month, but before that I need to organise my thoughts, so
I made these notes for myself. Just me rambling as always😀
Whose POV is this?
→ probably from OC’s. The whole flashback in ch19 seems to be from OC’s POV: We see everything through his eyes, how the cult “bought” the twins, how RC was killed etc, so I assume this scene is supposed to be from OC’s POV, too. Also, the boy gets out of breath from running.
This might be a hint that this was the sickly twin, i.e. our Ciel
(though you could argue that even RC, the healthy twin, would get
exhausted if he ran from one room to another in panick).
What I’m pretty sure about though is that there was only one boy in this scene because Tanaka said 「貴方様には酷すぎ」which literally means “For *you(*singular), [this is] too afwul”. If both twins were present in this scene, Tanaka would have used the term 貴方方 (’you(plural)’) or お二人 (’you two’). So he was most probably talking to one child which then raises the question “where was the other twin?”.
Why did the child call Tanaka “Tanaka” and not “Jiiya (Gramp)” as he’d usually do?
→ it doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything, but it’s a little bit weird that the child – regardless of whether it’s OC or RC – called Tanaka “Tanaka” in this scene because both twins would usually call him “Jiiya (Gramps)”.
the meaning of “Lord Ciel…”
→ the translation “Lord Ciel…” makes it seem like Tanaka is referring to the child as “Lord Ciel”, but that’s not necessarily the case! In the Japanese version Tanaka’s line goes “Ciel-sama (Lord Ciel) wa—”. The particle “wa” is a subject marker, so grammatically speaking, as long as “Ciel-sama” is the subject, Tanaka could have meant anything: “Lord Ciel (got kidnapped)”, “(Where is) Lord Ciel?”, etc. So to me it rather seems like Tanaka tried to tell or ask something about “Lord Ciel” but didn’t/couldn’t finish the sentence – which leads me to believe that the child he was talking to was OC, not RC.
What did Tanaka mean by “This is all too awful for you?”
→ it’s such a weird wording, and a weird thing to say in general. If he meant the bloody bodies lying on the floor or something, why would he say “This is all too awful for you”? It surely would be awful for every normal person?? What would be so “awful” particularly
for OC to know/witness? Maybe the culprit Tanaka was facing was someone OC knew?
Where is RC (or OC in case it’s RC’s POV)?
→ we see in the latest chapter that both twins stayed in their room until at least 18:45, but judging from OC’s flashback in ch19 he was alone when he found his parents’ bodies and asked Tanaka for help. Where was RC at that time? Why did the twins act separately?
Related to this, there’s also the question when and how the twins (or one of the twins) managed to get the Phantomhive ring. Was it passed down to RC before Vincent’s death? Or did RC take off the ring from Vincent after he found his body?
Did Tanaka really not see the culprit’s face?
→ it definitely seems like he was facing (one of) the culprit(s) in this scene
however, when he reunited with OC in the hospital (ch63), he stated that he didn’t see the culprits.
Why the lie? He obviously knows something and seems to hide it from OC for some reason. Yana even went through the trouble of painting the background of Tanaka’s panel all black in the comicbook version (left) to make his “……” even more ominious and meaningful.
So why would Tanaka lie to OC? Does it have something to do with his line “This is too awful for you (OC)?” Did he try to protect OC by hiding the the truth? What does he know?? And most of all, why was he, a badass sword fighter (ch100) and baritsu master (ch43), defeated in the first place???
Yana even used a completely different font for this line to emphasise the sudden change in his tone. I honestly have no clue what’s going on with him and what exactly he meant by that, but at this point I’d even believe that he might have had some kind of split personality lol (it would be funny if after all the 2C discussions in the past 5 years it turned out that RC was the one who suffered from DID and not OC xD)
midnight-in-town 