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I’m sure someone has mentioned this by now, but can we please talk about the fact there’s this vicious, blood-thirsty animal within Kurogane that gets unleashed if his loved ones live’s are taken from him? 

The first panel is Kurogane right after he lost his parents, in a state of denial as well as unparalleled anger as he clutches his mother’s dead body, protecting her as if she’s still alive. 

The second panel is Kurogane hearing Yuuko tell him that the cost of saving Fai’s life is too high. This is of course, before Subaru wishes to replenish the water, so in that particular moment in time, the reality is that Fai is as good as dead. That’s Kurogane’s face when someone tells him that Fai is going to die and that there’s nothing he can do about it. Furthermore, like the first panel, he’s holding his loved one’s body in his arms, so heart broken about losing Fai that this inner beast threatens to come out and rip apart anyone who dares to touch him. 

Kurogane is reliving the horror of losing someone he’s sworn to protect, someone so precious that losing them is too much to bear. I think it reflects the fact that Kurogane is someone who not only loves, but loves with his entire heart and soul, unshakably loyal and committed. Kurogane lives to protect. He puts everything he has into their safety and that’s why it shatters his mental stability if they slip through his fingers.