somewhat unhinged

Under the cut:

asmodeus was ripped away from sarah because, according to the rules of God, being gay is a greater sin than any manner of sexual assault.

and another thing. when asmodeus does SA priest, what's the first thing he thinks of? the thing that makes him freeze up and prevents him from fighting back?

Asmodeus isn't a victim of "having her entire identity reduced to being the embodiment of rape, against her will." She is actively CHOOSING to be this, and you can't blame her "father" (God) for what Asmodeus is doing of her own free will.

Asmodeus was also not born a demon. She's a fallen angel who CHOSE to rebel against God and decided on her own to live for the sake of lust. The Demon Lords have moral agency and can even go against their own sin if they choose to do so. The whole conclusion to Belphegor's arc was him choosing to confront his problems, which is antithetical to what "Sloth" is all about.

The story also points out that Sarah rejected Asmodeus entirely of her own free will. The entire reason Asmodeus wanted to force herself onto Mr. Priest was to validate to herself that Sarah rejecting her wasn't her own fault because it couldn't have worked out regardless. The reason why Imuri comforting Mr. Priest upset Asmodeus so much is that it proves that, no, it WAS her fault that Sarah left her. Asmodeus chose to murder Sarah's husbands despite Sarah herself telling Asmodeus not to, and this ruined Sarah's life. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with the idea of "filial duty" but Sarah is her own person who has the right to decide for herself what her life should be. Asmodeus wasn't willing to respect Sarah's own decision, and that was what caused their relationship to fall apart.

Azuma's father has drilled into him his entire life that "to shirk justice is cowardice," and it's given the kid a serious hero complex. Azuma Higashi collects newspaper clippings of crimes and runs around town beating up sexual harassers. His choujin form includes a superhero cape. He is the about as obsessed with pursuing "justice" as a character can be.

But the thing about Azuma is that, ultimately, he isn't driven by a desire to do the right thing. He's driven by an absolute terror of doing the wrong thing.

Azuma's father has instilled in him a deep belief that failure is unacceptable. He has to make a choice and make the right one, lest he be unjust and suffer the consequences. So Azuma plays hero, and he does so for fear of the alternative. That doesn't negate the legitimate good he's done! But his pursuit of justice comes from his deeply-instilled avoidance of anything "wrong," rather than any attraction to what's "right."

And that's what Azuma's talking about when he brings up the roly polies in chapter 1. Roly polies seek out damp places, and Azuma suggests that perhaps they do it not because they like the damp, but because it's a reprieve from the intolerable dry. They're instinctively driven to avoid dry places, so anywhere not-dry will do the trick, even if they otherwise dislike it.

Azuma's heroism works the same way. Azuma may not actually like playing hero all the time, but he does it because engaging in heroism is a reprieve from the things his father has made him believe are unacceptable.

At the end of the roly poly conversation, Azuma announces that he'll see if his dad knows a way that he can help with the recent plane crash. Tokio says that sounds noble, and Azuma deflects by saying that no, it's just a "habit." That habit line comes superimposed over a panel of the roly poly getting on the move again, presumably heading off to search for somewhere not-dry.

I'm still sad azuma is prob getting paired with ely. I don't like it... and it really isn't just because it means azuma's not gay I swear

ough... ely... I hate the option for both of them. wish azuma could have her as a friend with their funny fighting dynamic. but, no... hate this dynamic for romance too...

I try to not bring this up around anyone who's happy about it but ow. if tokio ends up their third wheel too... what an unpleasant trio dynamic

New gen manga monsters

(Yuji - Jujutsu Kaisen)

(Denji - Chainsaw Man)

(Kafka - Kaiju No8)

(Okarun - Dandadan)

(Tokio - Choujin X)