melancholicmaze

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The fruits of my labor are finally real,,, a Theresia drawing finally exists (surely she’s happy right?) 👉👈

Haunted by the past? You might want to take some advice from our columnist on page 21! Ha-ha. That was a joke. There's no advice, really. Let's greet Melancholic Maze!

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I LOVE THERESIA VAN ASTREA I WANNA DRAW HER FOREVER

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Doodle

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He’s just a silly little guy

(Birthday gift for a friend 💖)

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Sketch

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Sirius Romanée-Conti

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Christmas present for Roka 💖

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Love

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Lye Batenkaitos

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Natsuki Subaru was here

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Trying out watercolor for the first time 😭

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Petelguese sketch

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I’ve started writing a Heinkel analysis post a while back, I should really finish it. There’s so much to cover, like his relationship with his parents, his resulting insecurity, and his utter desperation to cure Louanna and how it manifests. I really want to examine the picture Heinkel as an absolutely irredeemable monster being painted to cover up the reality of a deeply flawed, depressed, and pathetic man.

I have so much to say about this man, I’m normal about him I swear

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Prologue- “Aldebaran”

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Wow. Arc 9, Chapter 4… Okay I have a lot to say about this chapter. Again these are my unorganized thoughts immediately after finishing the chapter, apologies if I start rambling. I won’t touch on everything, but I’ll try to share my thoughts on as much of the chapter as possible.

Obviously, spoilers are ahead.

The chapter begins with a conversation between Emilia and Madelyn. Right off the bat, I really enjoy the parallel between them. Both have just suffered loss, albeit in a different capacity. It feels fitting that Madelyn is the one Emilia ends up being vulnerable with. She cries, mourns Priscilla, and laments a friendship that could never come to pass. A friendship with the woman she just recently believed she could get along with. I love that Tappei is taking the time to examine how each character is affected by this loss. It’s in striking contrast to Otto’s reaction for example. It really makes me more excited for the inevitable friction within the Emilia camp.

Seeing Schult respond to Priscila’s death so bravely, even insisting that Emilia doesn’t need to apologize, while still clearly being hurt… it’s just so good. Schult feels so pressured to act mature, and to be someone he isn’t.

It’s also interesting to me that Al, in his grief, has locked himself in his room. It’s especially interesting when you consider that he was really the only member of the camp to recognize Schult as a kid, often insisting that he doesn’t need to push himself. Very curious to see more of Schult going forward.

And oh my god the Heinkel stuff. I LOVE seeing his desperation in the wake of Priscilla’s death. I truly think he’s distraught by Priscilla’s death, but won’t allow himself to show it. Instead, he appeals to Emilia’s political goals, begging her to take him because he’d be of some use. He still sees Reinhard as a political threat, and offers himself as a bargaining chip. It’s so in character for Heinkel. Emilia is obviously put off by his immediate proposal, and even more so by his apparent lack of grief for Priscilla.

It reminds me of Subaru’s desperation in arc 3, and his own appeals to Crusch. He wants to stop the Witch Cult, and is so caught up in his own rage and sense of powerlessness that he doesn’t mention Emilia once. And I absolutely see something similar here with Heinkel.

But I think Schult is absolutely right, Heinkel is grieving too, but he’s not great at expressing his emotions. He doesn’t have the same strength that Emilia does, as demonstrated by the first part of the chapter. I’m really curious to see where the Heinkel and the rest of the Priscilla camp go from here. I do want to see him join the Emilia camp with Schult, or at the very least adopt him. I’m less certain on where Al’s story will take him. Right now, I can see him going off on his own. But to do what, I can’t predict.

Overall, I really enjoyed this chapter. There’s so much potential for this arc. Apologies if none of this was coherent, I really do end up rambling sometimes.

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“I’m sorry… I’m sorry I couldn’t kill you…”

Sunlight on the Water really made me interested in the implied relationship between Al and Satella.

I had to do something with that (even though I did this like over half a year ago now 😭)