Ugh, but seriously. Seriously. Why does the show, all the way to end, insist on acting like Phi is the one always in the wrong? Phi became an asshole but he was never the one to leave or the one to not have loyalty so why does the show act like he was!?!?

Tam ghosted him! Tam left him! Tam literally fled the country and blocked Phi's contact info and almost left again with his mother! SO WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYONE WORRIED ABOUT PHI LEAVING AND NOT HIM?! I don't get it at all!

I think I managed to put all my Fena thoughts into a post. Fena pirate princess started slow which and reeved up quickly. We were gonna find out why Fena and her family were attacked and where she was from. Only to find out she's somehow related to Joan of Arc which seems kinda krass to make your anime protag related to a real woman set on fire.

But that's besides the point; my point is I found it slow and incomprehensible at times, There were characters with so little scree time or establishment when they died or vanished I went "well that happened." and felt nothing. And the show really wanted you to feel for these characters. However the small cast though very one note, the twins are both loud and random, big guy is quiet and kind, Yuki is stoic to a degree girl is manic one of them cooks and I forgot existed half the time.

I loved the cast we followed, but dont ask me to remember any other background characters, cause they didn't do a good job at establishing them. And speaking of that, Fena being possessed by her late mother to call an Island from the ocean that housed relics from all over the world in a pile in the corner seemed.....rushed and disjointed. As I said in an earlier post; Fate of the world stories dont bother me, but I was looking forward to something more tame and down to earth, only to be slapped in the face outta nowhere with Fena is a god now and she has to decide to change the world for the worst....or for the worst+ .... Look moral dilemmas tend to happen when you're given two tough choices that can fix the world or a situation for the better, that's what makes them interesting. Not a bad decision topped by one that's even worse! And I'm still unclear what choice Fena made, some say she chose to slowly destroy the world, some say she didn't make a choice at all And from what we see in the Epilogue it seemed like she somehow fixed time cause characters who were dead returned and seem to have no beef with each other or realize they're their and the shitty villain who just gets acquitted for all his shitty behavior while Fena gets lumped with awful choices and responsibilities. (Anime imitates life amirite?)  Gets a literal second chance at life with his love which I feel like idk sometimes villain's just need a bad end, that's why they're villains!

China Targets Muslim Women Witnesses.

www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang/china-counters-uighur-criticism-with-explicit-attacks-on-women-witnesses-idUSKCN2AT1BA

The reason why, as a character, Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows Duology) works and Ransom Quicktongue (Blood Heir) does not work despite being the exact same archetype is this:

(SPOILER WARNING FOR THR SIX OF CROWS DUOLOGY AND UP TO CHAPTER 23 OF BLOOD HEIR)

Brekker fundamentally embraces how fucked up a person he is, he's 'Dirty hands' he's a demon and he embraces that. Because that's what you have to do to survive, but he also has limits that he keeps to; his own personal set of ethics that while not abundantly clear from the beginning can be eeked out over the course of the series.

He's a three dimensional person who's defining qualities is that, he's not a good person but he's still a fantastic character! He is the protagonist and yet still fills the role of criminal mastermind- Kaz Brekker despite being one of the main cast who you're supposed to route for, being one of the people you're supposed to grow attached to is still a terrible person who is a criminal and has open disregard for life at times merely for self gain!

But what keeps him likeable is the aforementioned ethics and his three dimensional nature.

He's not just someone who threatens an opponent by making it seem like the random fire in the distance is actually the deliberate arson of a woman's house, he's also the kind of person who protects those that he deems useful and in Inej's case he's prepared to mutilate a man in some twisted sense for him to punish someone for hurting someone who's under his care.

But enough of Brekker.

The reason why Ransom doesn't work is this (baring in mind this comes from someone who hasn't finished the book so this is a premature assessment at best):

He fluctuates too much. As a character his values, his beliefs they change too often too quickly and I don't believe it's used in an effective way. A rouge, criminal genius who's morals change at the drop of a hat? I love it give me more.

But a character who's opinions change for reasons that don't constitute that level of change? No thank you.

I think this is highlighted in two lines in particular that just, irk me "But he was different around Ana," and "it was a side he never wanted Ana and May to see"

Ransom has so far been painted to us as this suave untouchable rouge, yes in his POV chapters we see that actually he often has moments of struggle but he doesn't care about Ana or May, moments before saying the line about being a different man around Ana he had just reiterated his plan to SELL HER as a means if getting in good graces and it's by his own admission that he's thinking of changing that not because he cares for Ana but because he would still be controlled by someone else.

His behaviour doesn't change, his internal monologue doesn't change it's not until this moment that it's clear he even remotely cares about Ana as anything other than a meal ticket and a debt to be repaid, a deal to be completed.

Not to mention they've known each other for under two months so the sudden jarring switch from revenge driven convict who's ready and willing to swindle anyone out of everything to someone who doesn't want someone who sought him out for that exact reason to see that side of him?

(But that gets into my issues with Ana's characterization which is another post entierly.)

I think the best way I can sum it up though is this.

Kaz Brekker works as a character because he doesn't change to improve and develop his relationships with other characters or as a form of direct character development. Brekker's character development is reaffirming that his character is who he IS but that for the people be cares about hes willing to TRY.

Ransom doesn't work because his character development, as far as I can tell 23 chapters in, is that he changes to enhance character interactions and to build suspense but there's such a weak and contradicting set up of his character from the first chapter that it has no effect.

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