Pipozae

I talk about what I like, some of which includes: Attack on Titan, Twelve Kingdoms, Final Fantasy XIV and Witch Hat Atelier.

Her arc is about staying true to yourself in the face of the many influences in your life.

Richeh grew to see the world in the stubborn way she does because her brother inspired her to think that way and the draconian teachings of her old master, in turn, strongly instilled it in her.

So she actually wasn't free of any influence to begin with, which speaks to the truth that all people are influenced by others in some way at some point in their lives.

Richeh's arc also ties into Euini's character arc of finding confidence in himself, which he isn't able to do under his abusive master. Because of his master's constant condescension and dismissal he isn't able to pass the test nor become his own person.

Both Euini and Richeh learn how to stay true to themselves in a healthy way and find a way to solve their struggles by complementing each other.

Euini finds confidence in his strengths: being thoughtful and observant.

Richeh realises that her magic will always be hers and that accepting new ideas isn't about throwing yourself away, but finding new ways to express yourself and to help others.

And what both characters learn only makes the dark twist at Romonon hit harder because for a time Euini does lose himself as a person.

- I really liked the switches to black and white vision when perspective shifted to Tartah, it's something that can't be done in the black and white manga and specifically works because of the medium of anime. It's a very good thematic touch.

- The destruction spell from the dragon arc became relevant in a different form, which is really nice continuity.

- I really like how Coco's arc intertwined with Tartah's here. Just like when she learned to cover her weaknesses with her strengths at the Dadah Range test, so did Tartah learn to cover his in this situation. The specific magic spell he altered/invented with the help of Coco covered for his inability to see colour caused by the Silverwash Syndrome.

The solution also didn't magically fix his disability, which can happen in fantasy. It feels like good representation for colourblindness.

- I really like that these slower episodes are treated with the same love as the big action set pieces. This and episodes 6-9 are still very well-animated and atmospheric episodes, eventhough they're from my least favourite arcs in the story so far (currently at chapter 40).

At this point it feels like the series is about the passion of creating art in an extremely meta way. The Great Hall arc was essentially about telling a story, maybe even more specifically creating a manga and how to keep it exciting and wondrous. It's about never losing that sense of wonder that helps create exciting stories into adulthood.

The story continues to be very consistent, as well. We're introduced to the water magic at the Great Hall and the girls end up using that magic in a beautiful and creative way to impress Beldaruit. I'll now be specifically keeping an eye out for magic introduced at the start of each arc to guess how it'll return later on.

Whenever the story delves into its darker side, it's always surprising because the wonder of magic is such a strong throughline in the story.

After Romonon, I expected a general darker turn for the story, but instead there is a breather arc to recenter the story back on the joy of creation.

So what was revealed about Qifrey was just as surprising as actually seeing the results of the misuse of magic back at Romonon. Since the story also seems to like to alternate tonally, I'm expecting something horrific to happen at the festival.

Unfortunately I was spoiled one detail regarding trees, so I'm expecting that to jump in at any time.

Overall, the story continues to be extremely tightly written. Everything has a point eventually and once again, very little exposition exists. It's all baked into natural conversations between the characters and the panelling. I especially noticed how potential exposition points were all just skipped forward. I really like it.

I can see people who love action bouncing off of it because it focuses on build-up in junction with climactic big moments and creating a compelling package over consistent big action setpieces, but I really enjoy it as a character-focused adventure series.

Hi!

I actually already had an account at some point, so I'm returning.

I really like the designs of the Sin Eater-like giant monsters, but I really hope the sentiment behind them is different.

If a sigil and sign combination is at some point highlighted, it most likely shows up later in some situation in some form, so no screentime is wasted.

It's easy to understand despite its potential complexity and even invites audience curiousity and participation in action/casting scenes because of the really clear cut (maybe even iconic) design of all of the different elements of spells, this to the point where somebody even tried to program the system.

(It probably would make for a cool game were effort put into it.)

There is also the thematic relevance of the system: how well the parts of a spell are drawn depends on the artist/witch and their knowledge/specialisation.

In hindsight, it's a dense chapter that wants to cover all nuances, but finds little time for it all, so it ends up being a mess that is fully open to any kind of faith criticism from bad to good.

(Armin thanking Eren while calling a genocide a mistake will forever live in infamy even when leaning on the most good faith interpretations.)

But the fact that Eren is a complete mess instead of a stoic, stone-faced saviour trope is much more interesting than just accepting he suddenly became hyper-competent and didn't care about anything anymore. This was already clear when looking at his monologues prior to the ending, but the facade completely breaks by 139.

His outburst regarding Mikasa (and in the anime his messy farewell with Armin that might've fixed the whole ending) at least kept character consistency if nothing else.

She's curious, inventive, observant and enthusiastic in positive and negative ways; the story defines what she's capable of and what she isn't very clearly.

Her curiousity lead to her mother's crystalisation, but it's also at the basis of her infectious passion for magic.

Her passion for magic and desire to take responsibility to make her mistake right leads to her overexerting herself.

She's inventive, but her creativity would also be extremely dangerous were it to be used for less benevolent causes like that of the Brimmed Caps.

And her observant nature saved the team and brought her success several times.

I really love how little exposition there is in this series and the story "shows" so well instead of just "telling".

The boarders of the manga are just as alive as the panels themselves and sometimes in very cool ways that meld both.

It's a story about art, so every single part of it participates to convey the themes.