#this has so much potential and weight to it

[seysei]

Thoughts on the ending of Servamp (Containing Spoilers)

Okay. So.

I had decided to wait until the final chapter of Servamp was released before forming a final opinion on the ending. Now that it’s finally been released, I’ve taken some time to process it on my own, without knowing how others feel about it, so I could give my genuine and honest take on it.

I... unfortunately found the ending to be somewhat disappointing.

The main issue lies in the final two chapters, which felt so rushed that they failed to leave much of an impact on me– I didn’t really feel the shock, excitement, or joy that the events should (and could) have delivered.

And i don’t mean this in any condescending way– I genuinely loved Servamp, which is why the ending feels so... upsetting. It had so much potential– if only the events had been stretched out over a few more chapters.

With that being said, there were some decisions I personally wasn’t a fan of. They felt a bit forced, a little cliché, maybe? you name it.

Tsurugi’s sudden return and immediate confrontation with Mikuni felt rushed and, honestly, a bit awkward. Like. Tsurugi’s return makes sense within the context of the story, especially with the recurring theme of “calling out someone’s name” as a way to reach them. However, the way it was executed felt far too easy, almost undermining the emotional weight of it.

And while his return aligns well with the story’s themes, his confrontation with Mikuni feels misplaced. I personally believe that it would’ve made more sense for him to confront Mahiru instead, serving as a narrative challenge for Mahiru to come to terms with his death (which I’ll get into later).

This is not to say that tsurugi has no relevance in the themes surrounding Mikuni's arc– if you can even call it that. The theme of blood versus chosen family could have been explored just as effectively through someone else’s confrontation with Mikuni, someone Mikuni isn't just pissed off with, allowing for a more personal moment where Mikuni could genuinely listen and come to terms with the issue, rather than being forced to accept it, which ultimately leaves him without true resolution or peace.

And like, hasn’t this been the go-to for confrontations in Servamp? Pride, gluttony, greed, wrath. Each one leading to emotional growth, where the characters develop through understanding and acceptance. It feels unfair that the envy pair’s confrontation was cut short and kind of sidelined when they’ve played such a key role in the development of the story.

And by now, you’ve probably already guessed who I would’ve preferred to confront Mikuni.

Though honestly, this isn’t just about personal preference– it’s about what felt natural for the narrative. Jeje just seemed like the more fitting choice to confront Mikuni, considering how their relationship had been built up throughout the story, and moments scattered throughout Gluttony’s arc, as well as Chapter 125, seemed to build toward a much needed confrontation between the two.

A moment between them could have given Mikuni the chance to face his pain and begin finding peace– not by pushing him toward a resolution, but by allowing him to feel properly understood. Seen, rather than judged.

Jeje has been shown, more than anyone, to genuinely understand Mikuni, at least in the ways Mikuni can be understood, and does so without judgment. What I mean is that Jeje’s approach has always been one of quiet understanding and restraint, never forcing Mikuni into a box or an easy solution, unlike others. It’s not about fixing him or forcing him to change, but about giving him the space to confront his struggles and, hopefully, begin to heal.

Like, come on, wouldn't it have been perfect for the man with god complex to be confronted by the ex-priest? (T▽T)

With the way Chapter 148 went, though, it feels like all the buildup was brushed aside to quickly wrap everything up.

There’s this moment between them in the final chapter…

And it’s kind of like... aftercare, without the sex. lol. like. huh? okay? Jeje was so sidelined through the whole confrontation that this feels... almost empty, really.

I can’t help but feel like it would have meant so much more if Jeje had been the one to confront Mikuni. Not to change him or force some convenient, happy ending for himself, but to offer him the comfort he so clearly needs.

In the end, this moment could have led to Mikuni realizing that he’s better off without his family– a realization that makes so much sense given everything he’s been through. For countless reasons, Mikuni’s connection to his blood family has been toxic, and that’s why I was genuinely shocked when the decision was made for him to return. It felt forced and, frankly, out of place. There had just been a whole discussion about how blood family isn’t everything. Sure, it doesn’t mean everyone has to cut ties, but in Mikuni’s case? Shouldn’t that have been the turning point?

I wasn’t expecting Tanaka to have him go back to that house after what felt like a half-hearted acceptance, if you can even call it that, of everything Mikuni endured with them. It didn’t feel like true growth for Mikuni. It felt like a step back.

No matter how I look at it, in the final chapter, Mikuni doesn’t seem genuinely happy– certainly not in the same way Misono does, who essentially got the fairytale ending he always dreamed of.

Sure, forgiveness and second chances are important themes, but wouldn’t it have been a powerful and unique choice to have Mikuni walk away instead? Not everyone has to forgive, and not everyone has to be forgiven. I get that it's a tough choice to make, especially with the limited time they had, and that ending in particular being (as far as im aware) unpopular amongst the fans. That’s why I think Servamp could have used a few more chapters.

Honestly, the simplest way to put it is that the last two chapters felt a little inconsistent– not just with each other, but also with the chapters that came before them.

Mahiru’s role in these final chapters is another example of those inconsistencies. I hate to say it, but my guy didn’t really do anything– other than preach something he went on to contradict. I understand that Servamp isn’t a story where progress only happens when the main character is involved, and honestly, I love that about it. But this was the final battle. Giving all the spotlight to Tsurugi, especially when he already had so much focus during C3’s arc, felt like such a missed opportunity.

Oh god, everytime I mention tsurugi it sounds like i hate him i feel so bad XD seriously though, I love him– but come on!

Sure, Mahiru wasn’t the right person to deal with Mikuni, but that’s exactly why I think it would’ve been more fitting for him to get his moment through a confrontation with Tsurugi instead. This could have been a chance for the narrative to challenge Mahiru to accept Tsurugi’s death– just like he once challenged Mikuni to accept his family’s fate.

And that brings me to something that’s felt off for a while now, even before the ending. There’s a contradiction in the narrative being pushed throughout these chapters. It had been pushing this theme of accepting people’s choices and mistakes, no matter how flawed or tragic they might be.

Yet, it contradicts this message by changing Mikuni’s decisions and actions, no? While extreme, his choices were his own, and the story had emphasized that even bad decisions deserved understanding. So why was Mikuni’s attempt to rewrite his past– however messy and full of loss– condemned, while rewriting the past to undo the mess and losses during August was apparently acceptable? It felt like the narrative was suddenly rejecting the very ideas it had been building up to, leaving the ending feeling inconsistent and unsatisfying to me.

And sure, Mahiru wasn’t the one to directly make it happen, but his willingness to do so and his suggestion alone should still count.

If the hypocrisy here had been acknowledged, it could have added depth– I’m all for flawed protagonists, after all. But instead, it feels like it's been treated as more "reasonable" or "fair" compared to Mikuni’s re-writing of the past.

And that has me like...? I'm failing to see how it's any different?

Now, take this with a pinch of salt since the official translation isn’t out yet, and I’m not entirely sure if Touma’s conversation with Mahiru addressed this contradiction. If it did, then hooray.

Because what seemed like the best way to handle it would have been either to address it and, as I've mentioned, use it to add depth, or to have Mikuni reconsider and change his own decision. Otherwise, it feels odd that the person who (genuinely) preached against changing others' choices ends up doing it himself for his own convenience, and it's completely accepted, although the antagonist had just been condemned for it.

wwwww... am I being too harsh about it? XD

While this is a critique of the ending, I want to make it clear again that it’s not meant to be disrespectful towards Tanaka-sensei. It comes from a place of appreciation and investment in the story. It’s because I care so much about these characters and themes that I feel compelled to share my thoughts on how the conclusion played out honestly. It’s easy to just call it a good ending simply because everyone is alive and seemingly happy. However, I wanted to take the time to offer a genuine, albeit somewhat critical, evaluation of the final events, because a story as great as Servamp deserves it.

To sum it up, I feel the ending was a bit rushed and didn’t quite match the usual pacing and flow of Servamp. Personally, I’m not sure this was the direction Tanaka had in mind from the start, based on certain elements in the story. But if it was, I respect their choices, even if I don't necessarily agree with all of them.

On the bright side, most of the questions about the Count were answered, and the whole idea of him being an 'entity born from people's emotions' really suits his character.

There are other things worth mentioning, such as the truth about Mikuni's " My fair lady" ability.

In the final chapter, it is revealed that Mikuni's ability isn’t just about the act of murder itself– it’s also about the guilt that comes with it. It’s about the weight on your heart, whether you actually committed the crime or not yourself.

The guilt you feel for it, the emotional burden, replaces the weight of the act itself, and becomes what kills you.

This matches the method of hanging used in the ability, which often symbolizes suicide– because it’s like you’re killing yourself, consumed by the weight of your own guilt.

And this... ties back to a central figure in Mikuni’s life, his mother, Kiriko, whose guilt consumed her and drove her to commit suicide.

So yeah.

The writing there is fire.

I'll have to see if I change my mind regarding certain things when the translation comes out.

[moonspirit]

Annie was stuck in the crystal during the time that puberty would hit her the most. How does coming back from the crystal AND losing titan powers affect her? I was wondering what are your thoughts about it. Does her body change afterwards or not? How does she feel about it? Whats her reaction to getting her first period/PMS? How are the girly talks with Pieck? Did Armin notice the change and/or sense Annie's worries related to the lack of it?

Hello anon!

I've spoken about this a few times in the past so in case you haven't seen those posts yet, they're here if you're interested :O~

the whole age discourse

the growth discourse

Annie being malnourished and a HC that she develops agoraphobia.

Tho to put it simply, my thoughts are that she suffers from weakness, tiredness and exhaustion post losing the titan powers and this lasts for quite a while. Something about the strain of carrying the power inside her all this time that makes itself known only once its gone. Imo she probably also suffers from insomnia and *some* binge eating tendencies.

Tho I've always thought that post-canon she's likely to maybe gain a bit of healthy weight and perhaps even grow an inch. The fact that we saw her stunted at the pre-timeskip height means we will never know if Annie's was always destined to be a short person through her genetics or if she's just that way because of the crystal with potential to grow more post-canon, or if the crystal irreversibly damaged the possibility of that ever happening - but it's fun to think about any which way xD I personally like to imagine she does gain an inch!

As for what she feels regarding this, hmmm, not a lot because her skillset has always mattered more to her than physical attributes and this attitude is here to stay, but if we talk about post-canon Annie who's hit by a 10000 tonne truck of new feelings and emotions, then it won't be too wrong if I say it makes her insecure sometimes???

Coming to the whole period thing - I have a very very specific hc about this, and it is that she doesn't get them until her powers are gone haha xD It's just an idea of mine but playing around with some vague titan science and biology ideas, the shifter powers do not prevent her puberty from kicking in, per se, but rather that it "wicks away" the physical aches, pains, and bleeding. So Annie experiences a normal period as we know it, only post-rumbling. (If you're a reader of VBEOW this is actually a major and recurring point of discussion and there's a lot of involvement of Armin and Pieck in this subject!)

As for girly time with Pieck, ahahaha xD Omg post-canon Pikuani is one of my favourite things ever, because I really REALLY love thinking about these two finding comfort and friendship and "sisterhood", shall we say? in each other after all this time being separated. With Annie's aloof personality, it's just my hc that during her training years before being sent off to Paradis, she didn't really get to "bond" with Pieck. But post-canon? So much time to get close and silly and confess some of their deepest feelings to each other, under the reassurance that, here is someone just like me who has all the pains I do and will understand me :>

[konvoluted]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Call that a Cave Story.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[kingtuna]

now that tbb is ending its time

🕯 . 🕯

🕯 . 🕯

🕯 Rex show 🕯

🕯 . 🕯

🕯 . 🕯

[shoezuki]

Man i fuckin wish hoyo did more w gepard. Like hes so sidelined to jus being the captain of the silvermanes. I mean holy fuck i need them to do More. Jus the whole landau thing theyve built up, this major military family thats known for having numerous captains n notable silvermanes? Fuck theres so much potential around the weight of that on gepard, essentially being primed and molded into becoming a captain. How its whats been expected of him for his whole life and continues to be entirely what his family and Every sees of him.

[twodimensionalboyfriend]

here’s a collage bc i have nothing but love for MY anime it boy gojo satoru

he and everybody else deserved better closure

[jfkisonthemoon]

they honestly couldve done so much with junpei beheaded/dismembered and im disappointed that it ended up just being mira. so much of his character and his relationship with akane is characterized by his lack of bodily autonomy, and him being openly beheaded during the nonary games would be the ultimate example of this. its perhaps the most brutal death in the game, and it never really gets explained or developed beyond the one puzzle that we get with it. junpei has been shown repeatedly to be subject to akane's plans or follow her blindly and i just think that would have been a really interesting angle to approach his beheading from. junpei has willingly signed up for nonary games in two different timelines just because he knew he would see her. he was infected with a deadly virus trying to find her. he grew desensitized to death as he took underground jobs to try and find her. his safety always comes second when shes in the picture, and his beheading wouldve been a prime opportunity to 1. exploit his willingness to let himself die/be injured for her and 2. make akane confront the fact that her confidence that junpei will always follow after her is not necessarily a positive thing.

[here-there-were-dragons]

i'm seeing three times as many people bitching in the tag about the very idea that someone might not like this breed than i see people actually expressing unambiguous dislike for this breed

[sysig]

Bitter breakup rivalry (Patreon)

[iniziare]

Tag drop: Aventurine.

[roobylavender]

im really sorry if this question ends up being repetitive: but, if not for bruce’s over reliance on dick to regulate his thoughts and emotions, why would dick grow up into feeling like he needs to repress his emotions so much and his eagerness to act as people’s support? i know youve spoken about wolfman and his altering of their relationship but if ntt is generally an accurate portrayal of an adult dick, to me this nevertheless sounds like the consequences a parent-child relationship where the responsibilities are titled too much towards the child

i suppose this could also segue into asking for recs that would help me better understand your interpretation of their relationship 👀

not repetitive at all! to me the irony of wolfman's depiction of dick lies in that it is simultaneously something you can logically ascertain from prior canon but not for the reasons actually presented by wolfman. if that makes sense. he does extra work that isn't actually necessary to help explain why dick would act the way that he does because there's plenty of reasons for it without rewriting his history with bruce to have always been suppressed and edgy and dark. to me it makes far more sense to capitalize on the inevitable disconnect between bruce and dick as an adult and a child. batman: full circle is a good example of that dichotomy (and although it was published in the early 90s it built on mike w. barr's prior understanding of the relationship between dick and bruce that he wrote into the early 80s). bruce's primary concern for the people he works with is never standards or finesse but safety. he worries constantly about others coming to harm under his watch and with a child in particular those worries were exacerbated. he ran a tight ship not because he believed dick had anything to prove but because the only way dick could keep being robin was if he went about it safely. that was obv easy for an adult to understand. but not so much for a child

to bruce these worries were practical and par for the course (as well as an expression of his love and protectiveness) but for dick their consequences formed the crux of his entire world. as a child he idolized everything about bruce. his heroism. his work ethic. his skill. his resolve. his preparedness. if dick couldn't live up to the standard he set for himself in idolizing bruce then what could he ever hope to amount to? that was the thought constantly going through his head. and it's why the bulk of his childhood and primary tenure as bruce's partner was so precariously protected by the fact that nothing bad ever really happened during it (and admittedly this framing is convenient because even chronologically speaking nothing very significant happened in their history with each other until dick left for university in 1969) (i know dixon opted to write that whole shtick with dent in his version of events but personally i never found it necessary to do so). there is enough there in the idea of dick working hard for the course of a decade to embody who he believed bruce to be that lends itself to it eventually being difficult for him to healthily express himself once the rift between them actually began to emerge

because what about bruce was there to actually see that was broken and dark before dick became an adult? i know a lot of dick fans hate batman #408 because they don't like that it enforced "retirement" upon dick (which i personally believe is a conclusion they come to because of the way batman #416 re-framed the same scene) but to me that's an inaccurate reading of the text. batman #408 was about bruce (admittedly far too belatedly) recognizing that he could not in good conscience continue to ask dick to go out and be a vigilante on what he considered to be his own "orders". he viewed dick's close call with death at the hands of the joker as something directly of his own making. although their tenure with each other had been wonderful if dick wanted to continue to be a vigilante it had to be on his own terms and of his own volition. obv that was logical to bruce and it was something dick managed to accept in the moment. but it's still hard to go from always having a purpose alongside someone you idolized to finally being entrusted entirely to forge your own

in general i like the idea of dick the adult becoming privy to all of the personal problems and conflicts that come with being a vigilante. he was conveniently shielded from a lot of those problems as a child because all he had to do was be bruce's partner and hope to live up to the title. bruce had no reason to trauma dump on him or talk about his worries and concerns at length with him because it was never supposed to be dick's job to field those worries and concerns in the first place. he was a child. the only thing bruce wanted to do was to help channel his emotions through an outlet and provide him with a home to grow up in. but when you become an adult often that dynamic shifts. you're still not responsible for fielding those worries and concerns but you can perhaps be trusted with them. that's why i like the framing in batman #408 of dick now being a man. it's a subtle way to frame the double-edged sword of adulthood. the world is in your hands now but so will be the horrors that come with it. coming to terms with the real world that bruce lives in should be hard for dick. coming to terms with who bruce is when he's not perfect should be hard. coming to terms with how quietly bruce kept his grief because he did not see fit to overwhelm a child with it should be hard. that dichotomy of dick both wanting to be bruce's brother and his son should form the crux of their conflict with each other because you can't hope to be someone's equal and someone's protected at the same time in that kind of relationship. for dick to transition into the position of equal he has to expose himself to the fact that bruce is not in fact an idol but someone irrevocably human. and that should interfere significantly with his head and his own standards for himself

[capriciouscaprine]

caring for your intestines is not fun; knew I had too many fiber-based treats yesterday, so I had some fruits and veggies today plus some dried prunes and, for the first time, kombucha

turns out kombucha carbonation is next level compared to soda carbonation, and intestinal distress is a known side effect of having kombucha for the first time, on top of everything else happening in my guts at the time

and then I went over to my parents for chili and cornbread for dinner

finally the evil is being expelled, and since this is the oversharing about your body community, I'm venting here about it

[scorndotexe]

my mother is inching towards winning a prize for being the least helpful person who thinks she's the most helpful person in the world

[noblest-roman-of-them-all]

Contemplating the concept of "potential" when it comes to intelligence and realizing how heartbreaking Logan's "Dreams come true, that's news to me" line in the Crofters Musical.

[natasha-in-space]

Deadass didn't eat anything in over 10+ hours, and I have the nerve to lay there and think 'hmmm, I feel kind of very weak, shaky and unmotivated.... I wonder what could have possibly caused this 🤔'