#esp compared to some other mangakas that are obsessed with mapping out their side characters lives for better or worse

[so-bitya]

youre so right and you should say it!!! like this is what's been on my mind. yana's writing shines when it comes to her characters, they're so funny, charismatic, and complex, but likewise her biggest flaw is how often she sticks them into status quo.

it's been a common complaint the in the fandom for a long time, esp towards ciel and sebastian. and while i can understand the appeal of characters never changing (sherlock holmes and watson for instance) what about everyone else? because despite having all these characters in the story, none of them seem that present in each other's lives. like the world doesn't move on it's own if that makes sense.

just one special chapter focusing on rachel as a character would add so much insight into every character around her: vincent, madam red, the twins. and i want to see how other characters effect each other like this, just like the recent arc between finny, doll, and snake. even if these interactions doesn't affect the main plot, it adds depth and atmosphere to the story, showing how every character matters and are interconnected.

its also something i think about a lot, what would happen after ciel assumedly dies? what would all the other characters do? while i don't expect yana to show them beyond an epilogue, nor would i care to see it that much, it's nice to assume what might have happen to everyone afterwards. would mey-rin join ran mao as a bounty hunter duo? Would lizzy and soma cope together with ciel's death? would any of these characters make new bonds and keep in contact with each other? or does that not matter

As much as I love the side characters in black butler it pains me to see how many of them are only used as mere comic relief and how often they fall into predictable tropes without any substantial depth or growth. This is especially disappointing for a story that has been released for like 18 years , where characters that have been introduced since the first arcs still haven't get any significant development at all . I'm talking mainly about Tanaka , lau , ranmao , Francis , druitt and Rachel ( even though Rachel is dead she still don't get enough screen time compared to Vincent for example) . But at least I'm glad that the recent arc " blue revenge arc " focused on phantomhive servants and gave us more insight to their past and their motivation .