they stumble that run fast

I get why Reiya is controversial. Someone who seemingly takes control over Yuzu’s life, has a dangerous side and can be completely uncompromising. However, I would say I see it from a whole other angle. Namely that if you’ve ever been a person who’s had to bear a lot of burdens in life, having someone come in who’s willing to take those struggles off your shoulders is freedom, not restriction.

This to me would be the case for Yuzu, given all she’s had to bear from her family, emotionally and physically never being taken care of. To have someone like Reiya come into her life who offers protection from all angles, financial, physical and emotional would bring a kind of relief only someone in her situation could appreciate. She wouldn’t see it as domineering or control. He’s the one setting her free from the life that was controlling her and finally giving her choices. To be with her grandparents, to have beautiful clothes and smile freely, to not want for anything and to actually even express that she wants something for herself at all. We see this when she admits herself that it was ultimately her choice to leave her parents but having Reiya with her is what gave her the confidence.

This is just a thought I had about Yosuke vs Kihachi and the whole concept around “sparks.” When they’re at the world’s fair in the beginning and Seiroku leaves his brother, he tells him it’ll give him the opportunity to not be such a scaredy-cat. Kihachi is seen to clearly rely on his brother for protection but he also just doesn’t like the dark or anything where he’s alone. Then we see how Seiroku interacts with his friends. He encourages them in the same way. He tells Yousuke not to worry and is clearly the confident one who takes the lead in ideas and creating that “spark” of creativity. When the lights come on, that’s when we start to see the diverging paths between Yosuke and Kihachi take shape.

Just as the electric lights burst to life, Kihaci is seen huddled up, scared of all the unfamiliar noise and darkness, alone without his brother. But when they come on, his face brightens and his mind comes alive with ideas and possibility. This shows the “spark” that is ignited in him by his brother and the possibilities of electricity. It doesn’t dim after this but only grows brighter as he spreads it to others like Inako. He also gains confidence and his fear fades in the presence of this light, this spark that helps him not be discouraged.

For Yosuke, on the other hand, something much different seems to happen. When the lights come on at first, it’s like he’s in awe. But not of them, of Seiroku. Unlike Kihachi, he doesn’t get any creativity in and of himself but he sees now that Seiroku has the capability to go on to make this world possible. But, as the policemen descend, Seiroku darts towards his brother and doesn’t spare a glance back for his friends. Yosuke is literally and figuratively thrown off balance by his absence. He begins to fall and as he does we see his hand extend towards this one bulb and as his fingers are extended towards it, the bulb flickers out. To me this represents his “spark” flickering out.

The contrast between Kihachi and Yosuke is here. Where Kihachi saw electricity and was filled with creativity for the possibilities in the thing itself, Yosuke only saw someone else with the creativity and ability to make anything out of electricity. So while Kihachi can retain his “spark” and want the Catalog he shared with his brother, he’s not dependent on any supposed knowledge Seiroku may have had because his spark is the hope his brother already instilled in him. However, with Yosuke, he sees Seiroku himself as the only “spark” so he searches for the Catalog with a psychotic fervor, believing that it holds the key to getting his own spark back. So where some might view Kihachi as weak because he’s still trying to overcome his fear or he’s not as “powerful” with electricity yet, he’s actually far stronger because he’s grounded in who he is and the relationship he had with his brother (even if he’s questioned it since he left) vs Yosuke who’s constantly off balance and seeking what he believes to be this outside confirmation of Seiroku’s knowledge, which he’s failing to accomplish.

I love Jeffrey but honestly, how could you not love Jeffrey? He’s such a softie for Victoria and encouraging to Nonna. And oh, the way he so gently leans into Victoria and caresses her braid…that was some Darcy hand flex, make you weak in the knees stuff right there. I also like how, without even knowing, he’s helping Victoria open up barriers she has around her heart. How it didn’t show her face when he leaned in but her narration told us that normally she would’ve put on a fake “face” yet clearly in that moment she likely didn’t with him. She didn’t even know how she reacted but that just says it was one of her first real reactions with someone. Along with having her first true picnic and hopefully, falling in love. It shows how much of a gentleman he is. That he makes it easy for her to be herself, the person she’s rediscovering now that she’s no longer an agent.

In general though I just like the “courtship” approach with these two where you know he’s interested and he respects Victoria but when she tries to use Nonna as somewhat of an excuse at first, he’s swift in making it clear that including her isn’t a problem. That he wants them both in his life and he’s willing to take his time to make his intentions clear to her. And Nonna really seems to adore and be comfortable around him which is so important too.

I'm actually surprised you came away with the impression Quiffrey manipulates everyone, though! Because my impression was that the narrative *intentionally* misleads you with the goal of making Quiffrey actually, genuinely caring about the kids come as a surprise... and I loved it! I love it when stories get clever about using tropes as tools to play with reader's expectations. (mha does this as well but I DO know THAT particular fandom wouldn't want to hear it lmao)

My read was that Quiffrey's introduction SEEMED like it was leading to a "I'm manipulating everyone to achieve my revenge" character archtype, but THEN it's softly... deconstructed? He worries about Argott pushing too fast and too hard, about Richeh's issues with past teachers, about not letting Coco take her first exam while the Range is at it's highest point... he gets genuinely angry at Euini's teacher being shitty... those things rang as genuine to me 🤔

I think WHA does that deconstruction really well, for all the characters. It puts them in neat little boxes — Argott The Rival, Tatia The Best Friend, Richeh The Quiet One — only for later to unpack them softly, show you that they have more going on for them. For example, I didn't expect Tatia to have the emotional maturity to apologize for blaming Coco when she didn't even say it out loud! But Tatia owned up to it and apologized, which I found super admirable.

Then again, I'm anime-only, so my read might be totally off lol. My impression is that it's too early to tell what WHA's themes are, as every introduced point seems to get a twist later on - e.g. Quiffrey firmly stating that magic is better off hidden, but later delving how The Pact also had bad sides - magic healing is completely forbidden, so it has died off and witches can't cure at all, for example... little conveniences that would make people's lives easier, like humidifiers or clean water whenever, are kept from the public... but we see the horrors of the golden city and get why such drastic action would have been taken, at the same time.

I dunno, I guess I liked what I watched, and I wanted to share :] totally open to talk about your read on quiffrey and the series' themes though, if you want to expound on it!

I appreciate you asking for my thoughts 😄 And thanks for sharing yours. I can totally get the appeal of WHA, for one the animation is beautiful and even with the manga, the line work is stunning. I get saying that as an anime-only we can’t know the themes from the get-go. That being said, I think I may have mentioned in one of my posts that I do a fair amount of research into most of the shows I watch so even when I’m an anime-only, I usually know a good deal about the plot as a whole. Sometimes I like to go in blind and be surprised but with WHA, I decided to look more into what people were thinking the theme was as fans because of Quifrey’s character and the fact that so many fans were saying he and Olruggio were lovers or something and I don’t want to promote anything with a prominent lgbtq theme.

Reading fans posts on Reddit, I picked up on a few things. One, that they did ship Olruggio and Quifrey pretty hard even though there wasn’t any clear indication past friendship but if certain fans pointed that out, they were hated on pretty swiftly. The other thing was, most fans believed the underlying current of the narrative to be about access to knowledge and that the story is teaching sort of universal free knowledge, that restriction in any form is stifling to children (basically a socialist mindset) is what they were taking away from it. That being said, there was also a lot of division even in the fandom because others wanted it to be about the problems with ableism and restricting people who have disabilities. Even without this research though, it was pretty easy to figure out what the narrative was saying from how hard it was trying to get it across through some of the characters.

I actually like the changes the anime is making from the manga. Namely in regards to Kail and Yuri’s relationship. While the desire is still evident between them, they’ve toned down the overt sexual elements which will hopefully make their dynamic more romantic. At least for me it was somewhat a struggle to get the connection between the two when most of their “bond” was purely physical. Only issue I could see with the changes would be someone innocently expecting wholesome romance from seeing this and then being surprised at some of the content in the manga. I like though that they’re keeping Kail’s confident personality and Yuri’s sweetness but making him less, let’s say aggressive, towards her. We’ll see if they change it as it goes on but I’d rather have Kail who’s clearly intrigued and interested than the one who’s just driven only by lust.

I’m also hoping that Yuri will be less two-dimensional in this adaptation than she felt reading the manga. It often came across like she was merely an object to be passed around between the rotating carousel of men who desired her and then the people who worshiped her. While there was a semblance of “empowerment”she was little more than a lucky person and didn’t have much the mind for leadership beyond being from the future. That being said, I’m not for pulling the opposite of the damsel in distress and making her a “girl boss” either or just a bossy girl more like it. Hoping they emphasize how she starts off a foolish young woman who makes mistakes but can learn from them and become a grown, mature lady. Just don’t want it to be a constant string of naivety.

(Red River Spoilers) - One thing that I wish would’ve been slightly different in Red River is having Yuri go back at least once to say goodbye to her family. Nothing wrong with having her decide she wants to stay in the past with Kail, Kagome did the same with Inuyasha but I think giving the family closure is important too. Having her family be left in the dark is tragic cause you wonder if they’re forever believing she was kidnapped or went missing which is so sad.

What’s that saying? Screaming, crying, throwing up 😂 No, seriously though, nothing really compares to Apothecary Diaries right now I feel like. The story is so well written, the characters are captivating and the animation…just look at it. Cannot wait to have Maomao and Jinshi back in the anime and in this movie. The trailer was a welcome surprise 💜💚

It is true that to become an atheist, all you have to do is read the bible, I guess

@postingtime2 I asked you to cite specific scriptures, not just give untrue generalizations which all atheists do when they have no ability to prove what they’re trying to claim. Nice try but until you actually can prove your argument, there’s no discussion here.