warbunny

I got into act 3 in A10 doing crazy claw damage but next to no block and was struggling, when the very first merchant after Vakuu was selling kifuda. There was a mystic lighter there too, but I couldn’t afford both

Because of how music box works, you make more of the first attack you play, which includes enchantments! It’s like free Feral, with extra steps. And combined with Feral, it’s like you get to play 3 claws in a single round.

I think it was @rozemynelovebot who relatively recently made a post discussing their very complicated feelings towards Wilfried? Hopefully I’m right. Anyways, it was a post that of which I really enjoyed reading, and I want to add onto that discussion, if just a bit.

I really like Wilfried as a character, because more than any other, he feels like an actual child to me. Children in this series have a tendency to show a lot of maturity, even at really young ages, and while I do think that is reflective of real life (children irl are WAAAAY smarter than most adults give them credit for. they’re people too), I do think it goes a bit too far sometimes.

Ultimately that’s just my opinion, but it reflects my thoughts towards Wilfried. He’s impulsive, brash, naive, thick-headed, arrogant, and thinks he knows everything: which is exactly like many a teenager.

But that’s not all there is to him. Much like his father, Wilfried can be kind and thoughtful. Ultimately he wants to do good for the people around him, and he grows to understand the qualities of people that one should hold respect for. As the story progresses, he does grow and change, and it’s so great to see.

And yet…he’s so dumb. He’s a spoiled brat, who doesn’t understand anything about the real world. As far as I remember, he never comes to realize just how often he’s so easily manipulated by the people around him. He’s blind to the harm he often causes, and unlike his father, he never shows that greater judgement you’d want to see in someone who’s supposed to be a leader.

He makes decisions and says things without thinking, he forgets his place and orders around people he has no business ordering around, and he never truly understands either of his sisters.

It’s hard to blame him due to the damage Veronica’s obsessive love caused him growing up, especially since that damage is so difficult to see. But at the same time, much of his faults are, well, his fault.

How many times does he refuse to grow as a person? How many times does he accept when he’s made a mistake? He almost never comes to these conclusions himself, he only ever evolves when given external pressure and expectations. It’s almost like he has little to none self reflection, and what self reflection he does show is, ironically, inherently selfish.

There’s a post somewhere on this lovely hell site that talks about Rozemyne’s connection with her many mothers, and the inherent sadness of none of them ever really being able to properly mother her.

In her first life, it was because Urano was distant, and didn’t fully appreciate everything her mom did for her, and she died before she could realize that.

Then she became Myne, and she struggled with the love given to her by Effa because it felt so disorienting and alien. But then too she grew as a person, and realized the faults of her past life and realized that Effa was her mom, and that she loved her family so much, to the point that she was willing to die again rather than be taken away from them.

But ultimately, after only a few short years, she is taken from them, and she has to accept that because it’s the only way to protect her family.

She then gains Elvira, but Elvira doesn’t know her and she doesn’t know Elvira. In her head, Effa is still “mom”, but Elvira is only “mother” whenever Rozemyne has to talk to someone else irl. We very late in the story learn how much Elvira grew to love and appreciate Rozemyne, and how much she regrets never taking action to properly mother Rozemyne, instead making the assumption that, with Ferdinand and Florencia around, it wasn’t her place. And the fact that she feels this way even after knowing the whole time Rozemyne was commoner born is so so so tasty. She comes to regret her prior hesitation and ignorance towards what she could’ve been for Rozemyne, and those conversations they have in the hidden rooms emotionally devastates me every single time I read them.

And finally, Florencia. Florencia, for a long time, never really saw Rozemyne as her daughter. She couldn’t say that she loved her, even though it wasn’t long until Florencia would come to admire and respect her adopted daughter. Still, though, her lack of action to be a mother to Rozemyne always sticks out to me, and in the latest parts of Part 5, you finally learn that she does actually regret it. In a sad ironic twist, Florencia thought very much in the same way as Elvira did, thinking that it wasn’t her place to be a mother for Rozemyne.

Ultimately, it’s implied Florencia doesn’t know about Rozemyne’s commoner status, but we don’t actually know. Whatever the case, by the time the series comes to its climax and Ehrenfest prepares to separate from Rozemyne, Rozemyne learns that, after everything, she doesn’t really have a place in her home duchy anymore.

Whether that could’ve been fixed by Elvira or Florencia is unlikely, but it’s sad. Just when both adoptive mothers realize what they’re losing, they also realize just how much they actually cared for this girl who became their daughter. And now she’s leaving, and any chance to build their relationship with Rozemyne is leaving with her.

Rozemyne forgot Effa, Gunther, Lutz, Ferdinand, but she didn’t forget Elvira. And every single time I realize that, I can feel my heart ache for the love that could’ve been there but never was.

Ascendance of a Bookworm and its many parents is so layered. It has so many stories of how complicated these relationships can be, of how regrets can build from ignorance, misconceptions, and simple miscommunication. Or of how obsessive adoration can hurt a child’s future, or how explicit physical and mental abuse from a parent can shape that person’s entire life.

It’s so human, it’s such a human story. It has magic and politics and things to say about government, power imbalances, religion/faith and corruption, but at its core, Ascendance of a Bookworm has always been about family.

takes a deep breath

thattimeigotreincarnatedasaslime

And for a lot of reasons. I particularly like Isekais, as I enjoy the escapist aspect, but also because the concept of being reborn in another world, in another body specifically, has always been just so enticing.

Could you tell I’m trans yet? Anyways, Rimuru is just so fucking gender. I understand that the human form they can take is ultimately based off of Shizu, but he did test and learn that he could mold the body however he wanted.

And you know what they did?!? They remained small and innately androgynous. At least in the anime, Rimuru does grow in size a little bit as the series progresses and as they transition (not in that way but lol) into becoming a demon lord.

They frequently dress is various different styles of outfits, lets his friends have fun by letting them dress him in both feminine and masculine styles, and often himself picks clothing that rides that line in between masculinity and femininity.

Heavy scarves and long coats that give him more of an intimidating presence, which can be interpreted as vaguely masculine? Check. Or wide collar shirts that leave the shoulders bare, with long sleeves that are just a little bit too long in that very cute way, which could be interpreted as a vaguely feminine? Check.

Hells, Rimuru at one point ran down his own city streets in a fucking bunny girl outfit. Like, it was clearly the classic joke of “look how embarrassing this is”, but i mean, cmon. We all know they can shape shift at will, if Rimuru cared about being seeing that way, alls they would have had to do was transform himself back into a slime.

So yeah! And like, i love the anime for a lot of other reasons: i find the story interesting, i love the ensemble cast of unique characters, I enjoy the artistic style and I particularly love the world building. I do feel like its magic system is a bit lacking, but hey, no series is perfect.