#I’m still as in love with my beloved Eren🤭🤭

[aengelren]

I come back and tumblr changed its icon? WHAT have I missed?

I left when my tumblr stopped working so I permanently deleted the app. I was scared to re-download it again and see that my account is gone. IT WASNT. Hehe

[rahuratna]

WAIT I ACCIDENTALLY PRESSED SUBMIT WKDNNDKSKKD.

My bad, I don’t know what to do… 😭 😭

Uhh, I’ll just continue you off here… (I’m so sorry).

Ahem. Mahito. My sworn enemy. Murderer of the love of my life. I will never ever forgive— but, oh gosh, why is his voice so… AHEM. I got distracted.

Mahito said this one thing that piqued my interest. Don’t remember the exact words but it was something along the lines of: “I’m grateful to you.” So interesting. We talked a lot about how gratitude was one of Nanami’s motivations, how it gave him purpose. And it came from the innocent/weak and his comrades. But this is coming from a curse 😬

I can’t really give an explanation as to why… because his interaction with Nanami led him to discovering domain expansion? Is that it?? I guess Mahito growing stronger is something he gets off of, the thrill of it and also identity shenanigans, but I do not spend time pondering over my mortal enemies 😁 (Just kidding… here I am… intrigued by Mahito and his stupidly cute voice… I still hate him… I can’t help but wonder��� ugh)

The reason I find this so interesting is how at the end, Mahito is stronger than Nanami. When Mahito ends Nanami, I doubt that he remembers or acknowledges any of the gratitude back then. Specifically because he said to Yuji, “I’ll probably forget you in the future too.” Gratitude to Mahito is meaningless. I think that also just shows how different curses are from humans. Gratitude plays such a big part for a lot of human happiness. But not for curses.

I found Mahito’s philosophy very interesting, the way that he saw everything as pointless which led to him doing whatever he wanted to do. Which is killing people (my beloved 😭) and propelling the endless cycle of war between curses and humans. It reminds me of nihilism sorta kinda maybe IDK. Again, I just haven’t given it much thought because he’s Mahito…

Ah, you know what. This reminds me of Attack on Titan (🥸). Marleyans vs. Eldians. Each side is fighting for survival, so they can have their own world. They wanted the same things, have their own peaceful world, but it just so happened that they were on opposing sides with a long history of violence and racism. Same thing with curses and humans. They both want to occupy the world, live their own lives, but they just can’t coexist. Mahito doesn’t see any side as right or wrong. His choices and decisions are based on impulse and desire. The lack of empathy is what makes him realllly different from Eren but I think the vision is very similar. They both stick to one side and fight for it because that’s the side they were born into. It’s so cool how there are overlapping themes of endless cycles. Like either with humanity against curses or a divided humanity against itself.

In conclusion, I feel very frustrated, confused, mad, and intrigued about Mahito. UGH. How dare he have an amazing VA and also cause so much pain and suffering. UNFAIR. CRUEL. I dislike him but I don’t. Would I have disliked him more if I only read the manga and he never had a voice? 😐😑😐

(Side note, I also realized ep 13 was when Nanami actually actually acknowledged Yuji as a sorcerer. Now I have to draw more Papamin. Sigh. I swear, everytime the topic of Nanami is brought up, it evokes a physically sigh from me.)

Sighing to sign off,

courtney 💜💜

Hi @courtneedsleep ! I am the world's biggest procrastinator, both in the way you mentioned and with regards to work I don't like/have little interest in. When it comes to series, absolutely! I put things off when I know I will enjoy them. I have a whole list of shows (anime included) that I know are brilliant and have been putting off for some time now, all because I know I will love them and want to savour them properly!

So, essentially, I don't know when I will end up watching Paranoia Agent, Odd Taxi or From the New World, but I know I'll love them 🤭

I've actually been re-watching some of season 1 myself (ah, simpler times) and Mahito is genuinely such an excellent character (as much as I want to do unspeakably horrible things to him).

Mahito initially came across, to me, as something of a contradiction. He was evidently born from human folly, and shows great delight in manipulating and tormenting humans, as he does with Junpei. You could almost say that he uses humans in the same way that sorcerers use cursed tools. That's what they are to him. Tools to be used to further the ends of cursed spirits.

This is where Mahito struck me as being truly dangerous: his fight with Nanami. He comes across (as Nanami comments) as fickle, sadistic, immature, barely aware of the impact of his own actions and with the air of a child playing with and destroying their toys. What is doubly terrifying is the power that he possesses, leaving others at the mercy of his whim.

Mahito's power is also terrifying and, from my initial perspective, almost inappropriate for a cursed spirit like him. He is able to accurately perceive the soul, in spite of being an 'immature' spirit, and downright psychopathic (by human standards). His power, like you said, is heavily instinctual and relies on his reading of a moment, emotions or the way a person responds to things.

The moment when he 'thanks' Nanami also stands out to me. It's almost like a child thanking their parent for a new plaything, something that might increase their status or bargaining power on the playground. Naturally, the child won't remember that act of gratitude for long, over the pleasure that their possession brings, or the manner in which they use it. That's going by the standard of regular children, of course, and Mahito is anything but regular, let alone human.

When Mahito eventually kills Nanami, he feels nothing of normal human gratitude. As far as he is concerned, Nanami has played his part, has helped him achieve more power, and can now be disposed of like all of the other human 'tools' as a means of furthering the cause of cursed spirits.

Yes. Pretty callous and inhumane overall. As expected. But then, Mahito subverted my expectations. As the series progressed, I began to see what you described; the attachment to his comrades, declaring a clear purpose for cursed spirits on earth, bringing about the return of Sukuna, and creating a new reality beneficial to cursed spirits overall. Very similar to the Marleyans and Eldians, this shows two species that are determined to carve a place for themselves in the world, to declare their right to exist, but also not able to tolerate the existence of each other.

Mahito suddenly displayed characteristics that were so much more human. I could no longer think of him as 'just another capricious curse' with no real understanding of the havoc he caused. His attachments to his own comrades spoke very clearly of that fact that he understood just how sadistic and terrible his actions were, they were just directed at humans, and so, he simply didn't care.

He was able to be so carefree not because he was totally unhinged, but because he saw humans the way humans saw curses. If we think of it from that perspective, he killed Nanami, just as Nanami exorcised cursed spirits.

Is there therefore a difference between him and Nanami, as viewed from either side? Fundamentally, yes. Nanami is shown to offer comfort and compassion to transformed humans, even as he has to take their lives. He understands all too well the weight of taking lives; Mahito does not.

This is all too clear when he prioritizes taking out Nobara, someone who's technique is a direct threat to him. Mahito suddenly learns what mortal peril feels like, what it means to be on the receiving end. Unlike Nanami, who truly did expect to meet his death as a sorcerer, and fully understood the risks, Mahito was still a child playing in an adult world, albeit, a horrendously powerful and dangerous child.

It's also extremely clear later (I won't spoil things, because I'm not exactly certain where in the show you are) that he is terrified of Yuuji's single-minded pursuit of him and desire to eradicate what he represents. Mahito does learn the true meaning of fear, he does come to understand the weight of lives, he does come to understand his own smallness on the scale of things. As philosophical as he came across, he applied those concepts very narrowly, and in ways that were heavily prejudiced by his own conception as a cursed spirit.

Mahito is such a great character, a truly adaptable and ever-evolving antagonist, and he's just delectably detestable, isn't he?

(Side note: It WAS the first time Nanami acknowledged him as a sorcerer! Proud Nanamin. 😭 I love that he's so caring and compassionate to Yuuji without ever overstepping the bounds of what he believes is true. He won't give praise where it's not deserved. He's not a sentimental man given to overt displays of affection. He's blunt to a fault. Which makes the occasions where he DOES acknowledge the students so much more meaningful and precious).