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Artist: Cửu Dạ (Facebook)

Artist: Hải Bình (Facebook)

Artist: Cửu Dạ (Facebook)

Me @ Satake Kousuke and how he adresses gender in Majo to Yajuu: 

First is Guideau and now Oscar. I gotta admit, I’ve been had!!!! ^3^

Oscar, despite having a masculine name, is depicted as rather feminine when we first meet him which entirely shapes our view of him as “being born female” and hardly ever questioning it again before the truth is revealed. Back then I simply thought, “maybe Sensei doesn’t know that Oscar is a masculine name in Western countries”. 

Then Oscar spends the arc changing between pants and dresses, after Count Clensen observes that dresses suit women better when talking to Oscar at the Gala. 

Additionally, there are several scenes where he attempts joking around with Dunward who always so rudely rejects him. When, as a reader, you still think Oscar is a girl, then these scenes just show Dunward as a bully. 

Once it’s revealed that Oscar is a guy and his androgynous appearance is related to having inherited his ancestor’s “style and preferences” though, the explanations behind these banters change, since we know Dunward isn’t as interested in men compared to women. 

Anyhow, it’s very impressive how a first introduction with a braid, a flower and a very cute face where enough to make readers think “oh, cute girl” despite no one using feminine pronouns to refer to Oscar. 

It made a strong impression on me, even more so considering that all the witches we had met so far were women. 

Amazing arc and I usually despise anything Vampire related! I wasn’t expecting such a development either about Dunward’s goal (though, no matter how you look at the issue, he’s a still freaking asshole) and I’m thrilled to think these two will remain in the story for a bit longer! 

Final thought for now goes to Ashaf and Guideau, obviously, as the main duo stealing my breath every damn time with their ambiguous dynamic. 

Hey Anon! Aww, thanks for giving this series a try! It's way too underrated and deserves a bigger fandom!! :))

Anyway, I’m going to ramble a bit here but about this scene:  

As much as I agree with you that a lot of Ashaf and Guideau’s interactions border on innuendo on purpose (and I love it, damn Sensei), I honestly think that Ashaf’s “lesson” might be in relation to...

...Guideau breaking the curse. I mean, we all know that the second method will never work, considering that Angela seems completely unhinged and proved to be enjoying the situation she put Guideau in very much. Just like we know that the third method (a witch’s kiss) is temporary, so that only leaves the first method which, in my opinion, could be a metaphor about finding love?

You know, as in, loving someone who loves you back as who you truly are, thus breaking the curse? This could be Ashaf’s ultimate goal that he addresses in this scene. ¯¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯

Not gonna lie though, Ashaf is very mysterious, even more so than Guideau. I don’t know what he’s hiding exactly, but...

...I think his bond to Guideau has a very plot-relevant explanation (the guy casted a spell onto his own mind in order to mechanize it, so he could attack Dunward and get Guideau back, I mean ??? I doubt it’s just affection, there has to be another reason). 

For now, I believe that it might be because Guideau’s existence (both original body and curse) is somewhat extraordinary and has implications for the plot and universe that we have yet to understand.

Still, I also believe that Ashaf truly wants to help Guideau with figuring out a way around the curse, which again might explain why he mentioned wanting to teach Guideau about love and why Angela...

...didn’t seem to want risking an encounter with Ashaf, all powerful that she is. 

In other words, do I ship it? Hell yeah. As @grelleswife said there is something so deliberately bi-coded about them that I just can’t get enough of their push-and-pull (read: Guideau threatening to kill him idk how many times) dynamic even if I believe that Ashaf is shady and might be expecting something out of Guideau that we don’t get quite yet. xD 

Additionally, thanks to @flycat999, we know that Guideau is starting, very slowly, to open up and to trust Ashaf more (addressing him less aggressively in the recent arc), so who knows just how intricately Ashaf will be related to Guideau learning about love. ;) 

I hope I answered your question, Anon! Thanks for the kind words by the way! Have a nice day! ^3^