#servamp analysis

oh yeah you're right, but before witnessing kuro's breakdown he was still vague on what he wanna do to help sakuya

he was still thinking of "fighting" tsubaki, asking how to get stronger, powering up

and only during kuro's breakdown he starts to realize communication is key

I love historical costume design so much, so getting the idea to go and give Lawless and Ophelia historically accurate* costumes was so exciting for me! I based them off Italian styles in the late 17th century. I did this whole deep dive and matched Ophelia’s kingdom to the Duchy of Massa, with the the neighboring kingdom being the Principality of Carrara, and the bigger power that destroys both being the French under Napoleon. But then I went to look for specific Massa dress and found nothing, so general norther Italy it is!

so in one of the panels in the chapter 131, gear said something like:

" My name is that of the moon-eating beast."

and then he proceeds to nom the red moon tsubaki made

this is a reference to Hati Hróðvitnisson, a wolf in norse mythology who chases the moon and eats it during the time of Ragnarok

Further context: I’m looking into whether there’s more connections for the known arcana of characters to help me assign further Arcana to C3 connected characters, and boy are there

MOST C3 characters with Major Arcana officially assigned to them have the relation inside their names

Jun, Yumi, Tsurugi, Shuuhei, and Touma instantly come to mind (The bolded characters are the relevant ones)

Kurumamori Junichiro, the Chariot: 車守盾一郎 with 車 meaning "car" (listen, it counts, okay. Chariots are just ancient sports cars)

Tsukimitsu Yumikage, the Moon: 月満弓景 with 月 meaning "moon"

Kamiya Tsurugi, the Hanged Man: 狼谷吊戯 with 吊 meaning "hang" (notably, this is also the kanji you'd use when talking about wearing a sword. Clever!)

Tsuyuki Shuuhei, the Hierophant: 露木修平 with 修 meaning "discipline" or "study" (I'm going to explain this one a little since it's not as direct. The Hierophant arcana is one which represents wisdom, traditional values, and guidance, and is characterized by a "mentor" or "teacher" figure)

Touma Taishi, the Tower: 塔間泰士 with 塔 meaning "tower"

Iduna is an outlier whose Arcana, the Star, doesn't appear to have any relation to her name, so I started to wonder what set her apart? And, of course, it's because she's an Eve! Realizing that allowed me to extrapolate likely arcana for some of the other Eves based off of what part of her character is star inspired: her combi with Freya

She draws the constellation Cassiopeia in the air, along with the Nighthawk’s falling star, in order to summon swords of light for her Servamp to fight with since Freya has no weapon of her own, right?

If it’s related to her attack, then, Mikuni would be the Justice, representing equality, fairness, and balance when upright, and when reversed unfairness (duh), lack of accountability (oof), and dishonesty (sounds about right). I think this suits Mikuni's character pretty well, don't you?

For Licht, the Temperance. When using his combi "Phantom of the Opera" with Lawless, Lawless proclaims for Licht to "Sing, my angel of music!" The Temperance arcana is illustrated with an angel as the focus of the card. When upright, it signifies prudence, harmony, and the merging of opposites. When reversed, it indicates excess, a need for self healing, and even a kick in the pants. Pretty perfect for our Greed pair, right?

Now, for Misono, there's only one Arcana that can suit him as needed, and hot take! It's not the Lovers (and the Lovers doesn't represent Lily, either, for reasons I will explain) It's Death! The Death arcana, while possessing a scary name, isn't really a scary card to draw at all. Well. In the grand scheme of things. Ultimately, the Death arcana represents an oncoming major change in life, regeneration, and the start of something new. It can be a shock to the system, but in the end, no matter the outcome, whether upright or reversed the Death arcana is good! Stagnation is spiritual death after all, and change leads to growth. Misono and Lily needed that big wake up and shake up the Death arcana provided for them more than any other pair!

Okay so, now for why I said the Lovers doesn't represent Lily. At first, I also thought Lovers for Lily, and Empress for Freya. However... While the Lovers does embody Lily's relevant character struggles, and the Empress does suit Freya, the Mother... They and another character knock the formula I've been seeing out of whack.

The formula goes like this. The characters with Arcana must be directly affiliated with C3 in some way. Failing that, they must be Eves. If they are affiliated with C3, their Arcana must be tied to their name if they are human.

Which brings me to Shamrock, the guy who threw a big ol wrench into everything. Neither of his names allude to the Devil. But you know what does? His attack, Die Verwandlung

And, furthermore, his literary motif, the Nighthawk Star

When he’s consumed by his wrath, the giant bird appears devilish in nature, BUT, there’s also a genus of nighthawk called the “Satanic Nightjar”

You see where I'm going with this? :3

To finish up, by removing Freya and Lily from the running and considering their Arcana to be tied to their Eve's journey as Servamp pairs are, ultimately, two characters with the same end destination by the very nature of the contract functioning like a marriage, this allowed me to place two more characters, including a rather recent one.

Mikado and Shirayuki.

Mikado represents the Emperor Arcana. While the Kanji in Mikado's name does not directly allude to this, the most common way for his name to be written is 帝, literally "emperor." The emperor represents control, stability, protection, and leadership, but reversed, means abused authoritative power and rigid thinking. For stubborn hovercopter parent Mikado, there's no Arcana that fits better! Fittingly, someone who draws the Emperor arcana can often learn a thing or two from our next character, the Empress

As for Shirayuki, her name is also the way a Japanese person would refer to Snow White. This, while kiiiind of a stretch, qualifies her for the Empress arcana, since at the end of the story, Snow White lives happily ever after after killing the evil queen, right?? |D And she IS a mother, sooo... She fits the Empress Arcana's maternal energies and symbolism, along with the connotations of creativity, abundance, and fertility. I mean, lady's got three kids that we know of AND she's the previous former Branch Manager of Tokyo C3. Statistically speaking, she would have been running Tokyo branch while lil baby Yumi was still on her hip. You gotta have some brass ones and a hell of a lot of brains to manage THAT.

As Mahiru once said, "EXPLAIN IT TO ME, AND SAY IT SIMPLY!"

What I understood for sure is that Servamps have jinn and when they're killed, a mass of jinn explodes into the world. BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS JINN ACTUALLY?!

The most recent explanation I remember is Touma's.

But listen. We, witches, call spiritual energy ONLY the energy that comes from Spirits, not the Spirit itself. We call spiritual energy the energy they give to us when we do spells or need to channel other spirits. We call spiritual energy the residual energy left in the rooms, homes and places all around the world.

So ok, Touma says that's needed to unite the demon and the servamp, and somehow I guess it makes sense.

BUT THEN

I remembered that Kuro also talked about jinn to Mahiru, and he told him this fucking thing

"They're underclass creatures". Fine, ok, so like a lower class of spirit, I get it. So not spiritual energy?!

AND THEN IN THE SAME FUCKING CHAPTER, HUGH SAYS FUCKING THIS

"Vampires turn into jinn when they die."

Sooo... I guess this is more about subclasses instead of servamps, because in the same chapter or the other, we have Belkia saying that thing about jinn coming out of servamps when they're killed.

BUT then vampires turn into underclass creatures? And humans? Didn't I-don't-remember-who said that lives are sacrificed to create a servamp?!

And that's not all. Because remember that professor Inner Kuro also talked about jinn? He said first this –

*CRIES IN MY HEAD HURTS*

So they're... spiritual energy and together they're underclass creatures?! NANI?!?!

Also "used to materialize one's mind" makes me think of meditation, in the sense that that too is kind of a world that our Spirit Guides make for us using their and our spiritual energy.

But that's a talk for another time because Inner Kuro also said THIS

So a vampire is "jinn which bonded together and took the form of a person."

EXCUSE ME BABY WHAT THE FUCK

WASN'T THAT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN WHEN VAMPIRES DIE?! THEY REBORN?! REINCARNATE?!

AND IF THEY TAKE THE FORM OF A PERSON THEN WHO ACTUALLY IS THAT PERSON?! A LIVING CORPSE?!

it's undeniable that being paired up with the envy pair definitely played a part in helping tsurugi survive as a teenager

i'm talking less about field mission and more about their daily life

we see even as an adult, tsurugi still had to beg for food, possibly taking up smoking to stave off his hunger, with mikuni and jeje around preparing for food he probably had a more stable source of daily nutrients

not to mention clean freak mikuni will ensure there won't be any black mold growing in their shared dorm room lmao

i think, that kind of day-to-day chores tsurugi never gets the chance to learn is something that he's truly grateful for. it's something mikuni easily brushes off but means so much for tsurugi. and mikuni doesn't understand it, because he doesn't want to understand tsurugi.

just like jeje who shoots at mikuni to make his eve laughs, tsurugi mirrors mikuni's sentiment towards him because he correctly deduces what mikuni wants from him is someone to direct his frustration at.

I mean is he well-written or deos he make sense in the plot ?

i think he's a prime example of how being a good person doesn't mean you automatically will become a good parental figure

even with the little screentime we have of tooru we can infer what kind of person he is solely from examining mahiru

mahiru grew up to be someone who prioritize others before himself, but unlike people pleasers who became like that because of abuse, mahiru isn't scared to voice his disagreement with people he just met

this makes it clear that despite spending most of his time working, tooru makes sure mahiru knows his opinion holds weight, it doesn't matter that he's a child

in general, tooru seems to be an adult who knows how to regulate his emotions properly despite coming off as childish due to his jokes. it's something that he raised mahiru with

so why isn't he a good parental figure? well, it's because he accidentally neglects his nephew to the point mahiru internalizes some pretty distressing mindset

unfortunately it's something that he doesn't see as a problem

and the thing is it's not entirely his fault. he's part of a clandestine organization that is in charge of protecting humans from vampires. if he focuses on his family while sacrificing his work, a lot of people will be in danger

sometimes despite doing your best you will still fail anyway.

here is the protagonist, mahiru, finding his goal outside of his desire to please his uncle

and here he is 29 chapters later after seeing his uncle got stabbed through the stomach

it's such a realistic portrayal of how healing actually works. servamp doesn't do contained character arcs, instead whenever a trauma seems to have been resolved you fucking bet turns out they STILL have unaddressed problems that have been foreshadowed since their introduction