#also other thought that i had going through some panels. but is yana's style changing- was it yana's assistants-or is bard becoming thinner

[anewp0tat0]

chapter 184

this may end up being a long post. my bad.

so I want to talk about the topic that has circulated the current chapters and then get into the nice things because I'm really glad we have those again.

chapter 182 had a very one sided portrayal of Native Americans, an already marginalized group of people which have these stereotypes up to modern day. chapter 183 was much worse. I explained my specific issue and why exactly I thought yana's artistic portrayal was harmful in the past post under #kuroshitsuji 182

and now in chapter 183, we have bard showing us that in present day he understands how the world wasn't peachy and giving for everyone.

we have the panel going over the suffering of the natives, but under that are 3 much bigger and more emphasized panels. those panels are meant to be where the reader draws their attention and sympathy towards. not towards the natives, but to Bard's grief, and his family who were killed by natives.

It would be unnecisary story wise to put so much attention on the natives when the main focus is Bard sure(though may be they simple shouldn't have been in the arc to begin with)-

but this panel also demonstrated how yana did a poor job at showing equal levels of sympathy. on the right you see bard fighting a native who is struggling, fighting back, impaled his chest with a knife(wow??? bard never mentions that I guess). it's obviously a tough fight against a vicious foe, but bard prevails as the victor. it seems.

on the left panel, we see bard mourning over a dead soldier who also killed the natives, killed by natives. in this panel we see bard in grief, so we sympathise for the two soldiers. to any unaware reader, the picture painted from these two panels is "natives were savage and killed many soldiers, even almost killed bard, but bard managed to win". I hope it's understandable why this is not a good message to give to people when they don't know American history.

one good thing that this pair of panels does though is show that the cycle of violence and death is equal and endless, regardless of where it started(though, actually the colonists had guns. it was a gun and a knife fight. so maybe not that equal. anyway).

this is where i feel the imrpovement in narative is because it shows bard admitting that his siege of violence against the natives was in blind rage. mostly. at the very least, he acknowledges too that Ada is the better of the two of them for her heart of gold.

I want to clarify in case it wasn't clear before that my problem is not exactly with the events of the flashback because those things did happen, to both colonists and natives, and I am sad for that small child and loving wife. my concern is with people who do not know anything about Natives Americans and what they are facing now, because again- these people are not plot devices or mythical demons. so it's a shame that yana decided to use them as such.

look maybe I am overthinking about this, I just want to get comfortable with being able to criticize media while still very much enjoying it(the other parts I mean).

now then. I hope that I won't need to touch on this again on any more chapter reviews. I think I'm gonna go with my original plan of ignoring that mini arc. most people seem to be ignoring the servant arcs anyway 👁

so if I may continue on what I very much enjoyed:

sebastians face just reaked of "how long is this story". maybe I'm biased idc.

this is unrelated to the whole post but I find this a tad funny, cause if I'm not wrong that's the exact pose(or panel) used the last time he asked this question. the way I interpret this is that Sebastian, in his early human impersonation days, doesn't have enough motor skills to come up with new poses and actions in recycled situations so simple recycles the poses as well.

that or he's just trying to be cute.

this is a chilling statement. though, i gotta ask, genuinely because I think i missed this; does meyrin really not fear death? I'm asking because I remember that after she had failed to kill the earl, she ran away knowing that an assassin would come for her and she now had to try to survive on her own. this seems like the fear of death. especially since meyrin then later tried to assassinate the earl again with a knife, in the hope she still had a chance to return to the den. I'm wondering then what development took place, or if I'm forgetting a detail about meyrin.

also. Finny. look at

this

I'm happy for him. he was always a survivor but I think this point may be where he moves on. which would explain why he never mentioned his past at all.

I'm glad this chapter was able to remind me why I like this series after the bit of annoyance I had with the last one. but before I conclude I have to end with another popular sentiment going around with this chapter...

fear

yea I'm worried. about what ronald's doing. I'm not quite ready to let go of bard yet- I mean I can't imagine what type of toll it would take on the other servants, or the grand mission. and Ada- I mean, it wouldn't hurt the story too much, barely effect it even. though of course it's a shame that the good ones always seem to get it 😐.

but i gotta say i really am wondering what Ronald is doing there. what is so urgent that he has to roam around in the middle of the night(when he could be sleeping) stalking their conversation and checking his death list? in fact, we already saw him check his death list quite suspiciously when he was around Ada and Bard once before, so why do it again? is stuff gonna go down now??? who else could be roaming around the sanitorium about to cause something catastrophic. oh god where did lau go I can't even remember it's been like half a year.

unfortunetly I'm leading towards Ada dying. while some people point to Bard's fear of dying as a reason for him to be the one that perishes, I think the line "you're the "miracle healer"" might signify something upcoming, and it's undeniable that if something we're to put the patients of the sanitorium in danger Ada would stay behind to help. Ada has been established as the giver of life and Bard the taker. if bard came to the sanitorium, caused a mess that would lead to death, and Ada saved him only to meet a tragic end, well... uh. I don't even know.

sorry for the long post and ranting, hope everyone's had a good day!

[cheslock]

Cheslock Headcanons and Theories

The way Cheslock dresses and speaks is enough to suggest that he isn’t of very high birth, but what really sealed the deal for me is when Cheslock and Edward are at Sphere Music Hall and Cheslock has to explain to Edward that music halls are for the common people, and afterwards kindof mutters “What a rich kid” implying that he himself is not rich. 

So, if he’s not a rich kid or of high birth, how on earth could he afford to attend Weston? My theory is that he received a scholarship for his incredible music talents. It’s possible that many students in Violet Wolf may be in a similar situation to Cheslock, talented but perhaps not noble or rich. 

Additionally, I believe Cheslock does not have a very good relationship with his family. When the June 4th events came about and Weston students were exceptionally allowed to invite their families to campus for the cricket tournament and the celebrations, no one came for Cheslock. His family didn’t show. He’s just shown with Violet in both the reception and the match itself while others have their families waiting for them on the sidelines. And when he bowls with the Purple Burnout he immediately turns to Violet for his approval instead of some family member.

I believe Cheslock is an incredibly honest individual. He says what he thinks without holding back. Sometimes his thoughts may come off as pretty rude, but that is the price of total honesty. His honest nature also shows itself in the way he presents his aesthetic. He doesn’t try to conform to the strict expectations of Victorian society at the time, and instead stays true to himself with his style of hair and makeup and dress.

Many people in the fandom believe that Cheslock’s scar isn’t real, but is instead a part of his aesthetic and that he draws it on with makeup every day. Their support for this is that he’s later shown without the scar in certain panels, such as formal events like Sphere Music Hall. I’m personally torn on this one, when I first heard the theory it threw me off because I always believed it to be real myself. My first instinct was to say, well, Yana makes mistakes in panels sometimes, she often forgets Vincent’s mole, and even Undertaker is occasionally shown without his scar. So personally I believe that the scar is real and that it came from an abusive home life. But, if I go with the common theory and say, okay maybe Cheslock’s scar is drawn on... My headcanon in this instance is that it’s only partially fake. Perhaps, he has a small scar from his home life, and then extends it with makeup as both a way to cover up for it, and also a way to kindof reclaim it for himself.

I imagine he doesn’t like talking about his scar much, or gets annoyed with people constantly asking him about it, so he starts making up nonsense to get people to leave him alone. While he’s honest, he’s not the type of person to tell random people about his Tragic Backstory™. He’s friendly but he only opens up to his closest friends, as most people would do. 

I believe Cheslock’s love of music comes largely from his bad home life. Of course it’s not uncommon for people to just simply love music because, well, it’s music, but I find that most often the people who are really passionate about music is because it helped them get through difficult times. I believe Cheslock finds escape and catharsis in music, in addition to simply loving the intricacies of the patterns and how creative you can be with it. There would be times even at Weston when he had a rough day so he’d just go off alone to play somewhere away from people to make himself feel better.

So what do you get when you take a kid with a bad home life, an unusual sense of style that would be frowned upon by society, and an incredible talent for music, and put him in a school full of rich kids? For one, I believe Violet Wolf, and especially Gregory Violet himself became somewhat of a pseudo-family for Cheslock. Finally, people who are similar to him and accept him as he is and share his passions! That is an incredibly invaluable thing to find and I believe that’s largely what leads him to become Violet’s fag and eventually prefect himself. His love for this new family is genuine. Why else would a rebellious punk willingly become a Prefect’s fag, or be an upstanding enough student to gain the role of Prefect?

And yet he hates the other dorms so much. This could partially be just because of competitiveness and team loyalty, but also going off of my headcanon about him getting a schollarship and my theory about him not being rich, there would be somewhat of a divide between him and the other students. Where Violet Wolf would have accepted him with open arms, the other students at Weston likely had very different reactions. Students still think Violet Wolf is largely full of weirdos, and then so many of the kids there were likely forced into attending by their wealthy family. I imagine that someone like Cheslock who likely got in through means other than wealth or status, may have initially resented the other kids who seemed ungrateful for something he may have wanted so badly. Of course, after the events at the end of the Weston arc and then working with the other houses so closely in the P5, and especially his closeness with the other Prefects and fags, I imagine his distate for other houses has lessened somewhat. 

Which brings us to Edward Midford, heir to the Midford Estate and future Marquis. Honorable and respectable and always following the rules and his family’s teachings. He and Cheslock probably hated each other at first, but then gradually grew close as both being Prefect’s fags. Now days their bickering is mostly just an example of how close they are. After all, why would they willingly spend so much time together if their fighting was truly genuine? I believe they also can tell the difference between play anger and when the other is legitimately upset, and know when to back off when they notice a change. In fact, I think behind closed doors where no one can judge them, sometimes they can share private things just like any close friends would. That is, before getting embarrassed and turning back to being tsundere again. Of course, with Edward being heir to a marquisate and the expectations that he’d eventually produce heirs of his own, he’d have a real struggle with accepting any kind of homosexual urges, not to mention Victorian views on that at the time and his family reputation at stake. It’s still yet to be seen in the manga what will happen with that, perhaps they stay friends, or perhaps they find a way to be together. But regardless of outcome, Cheslock absolutely is gay for Ed, and their connection is mutually beneficial for the both of them, with Edward grounding Cheslock’s wild nature a bit, and Cheslock helping Ed break out of his shell a bit more and maybe even gain more confidence in himself.