Reviews rants.
You know, I've never really thought of Rabi as a selfish brat, and I don't intend to start now. "Fake friendship?" Dude, what manga have you been reading? And in case you haven't noticed, Rabi pretty much gave up the whole "no heart" BS that the Bookmen go by. And besides, his supposedly "fake" cheerful personality is what he's known for. I can appreciate your attempts to convey Lavi's character, and for the most part you've succeeded, but you made a mistake in thinking that Kanda and Lavi are ANYTHING alike. Lavi, jaded? No way. Cynical? Occasionally, yes, but Kanda's WAY worse.
From what I saw and read - and yes, it was D.Gray-man, and 'The 49th name'novels-but Rabi WAS selfish and a brat, from what we got from his flashbacks. And Rabi HASN'T given up the whole 'no heart' thing: up til this moment he's still trying to decide what to do and what he should do.
And Rabi WAS JADED! I mean! If his 'Everywhere we go is battles, battles, battles. I get it already, humans are stupid' and his 'let's be frivolous and cheerful like always' or his 'I was disappointed in human beings' or his 'I consider everyone one of the Earl's allies' don't speak of someone being jaded, I don't know what does it.
And I don't blame him for that! He spent most likely a significant part of his childhood running around battles and seeing the same patterns repeat over and over and over: wars, betrayal and people dying. He was taught that he didn't need a heart and that he should stay away from people. He was taught that to keep a neutral point of view on history, he needed to stay away and observe.
That would make ANYONE bitter, jaded and cynical, which Rabi SHOWS in the way his inner thoughts run (again, these are shown in the manga: while I mightbe paraphrasing a bit, what I've written here is pretty much written in the manga).
And Rabi pretty much SPELLS IT that his cheerful personality was supposed to be an alibi while he was in the Order. He says that he soon didn't know when his smiles were honest or not. His friendship with the people on the order WASN'T supposed to be real. He was supposed to be their comrade from his teeth out, just enough not to fall unto fault and that's it. He says it. 'One day these guys will be written out of history, too'. His nightmare pretty much confirms the fact that someway around the way, the persona of Rabi bekame real.
And then we have the vision of 'the true successor of Bookman'. Being selfish and cynical and jaded and from what I got as I read and reread and reread and reread, Rabi thinks that THAT'S who he was supposed to be, to be the next Bookman. Let it be that it was Rhode's tweaking or not, it does seem that Rabi thought that THAT'S who he was supposed to be. Bookman tells him: 'do you really think of yourself as one of God's chosen?' and for Rabi's expression, he DID even though he shouldn't, again from Bookman's words.
His friendship with anyone in the Order? It WAS a mistake from Rabi's part as the next Bookman. His friendships WERE supposed to be fake. His cheerfulness WAS SUPPOSED to be a mask. I do believe that up until Bookmen reminds him of his mission, Rabi hadn't quite realized just how deep those roots were running. I honestly think that he did forget that all those links weren't supposed to affect him.
That it isn't is what is putting him in such a place as he is right now in the manga, trying to decide who he is supposed to be, wether he remembers or not what happened in his mind when fighting against Rhode, he still has a duty with Bookman. Being in the Order changed him. In the fic this review is about, I tried to show here is how much he changed. From being a selfish brat who wouldn't sacrifice himself for others to pretty much taking a huge fire snake to save people he wasn't supposed to care about, which is why the first and last points of view overlap each other, to show how much his mind changes.
... and now, a review I just got? Complaining that from a fic which I pretty much spelt that Ritsuka's eyes changed from being blue to violet because Seimei brainwashed him?
'I'm sorry but Ritsuka's eyes aren't blue!'
... this is one of those days in which I want to go all Anne Rice and say 'you're interrogating the text from the wrong perspective!'
From what I saw and read - and yes, it was D.Gray-man, and 'The 49th name'novels-but Rabi WAS selfish and a brat, from what we got from his flashbacks. And Rabi HASN'T given up the whole 'no heart' thing: up til this moment he's still trying to decide what to do and what he should do.
And Rabi WAS JADED! I mean! If his 'Everywhere we go is battles, battles, battles. I get it already, humans are stupid' and his 'let's be frivolous and cheerful like always' or his 'I was disappointed in human beings' or his 'I consider everyone one of the Earl's allies' don't speak of someone being jaded, I don't know what does it.
And I don't blame him for that! He spent most likely a significant part of his childhood running around battles and seeing the same patterns repeat over and over and over: wars, betrayal and people dying. He was taught that he didn't need a heart and that he should stay away from people. He was taught that to keep a neutral point of view on history, he needed to stay away and observe.
That would make ANYONE bitter, jaded and cynical, which Rabi SHOWS in the way his inner thoughts run (again, these are shown in the manga: while I mightbe paraphrasing a bit, what I've written here is pretty much written in the manga).
And Rabi pretty much SPELLS IT that his cheerful personality was supposed to be an alibi while he was in the Order. He says that he soon didn't know when his smiles were honest or not. His friendship with the people on the order WASN'T supposed to be real. He was supposed to be their comrade from his teeth out, just enough not to fall unto fault and that's it. He says it. 'One day these guys will be written out of history, too'. His nightmare pretty much confirms the fact that someway around the way, the persona of Rabi bekame real.
And then we have the vision of 'the true successor of Bookman'. Being selfish and cynical and jaded and from what I got as I read and reread and reread and reread, Rabi thinks that THAT'S who he was supposed to be, to be the next Bookman. Let it be that it was Rhode's tweaking or not, it does seem that Rabi thought that THAT'S who he was supposed to be. Bookman tells him: 'do you really think of yourself as one of God's chosen?' and for Rabi's expression, he DID even though he shouldn't, again from Bookman's words.
His friendship with anyone in the Order? It WAS a mistake from Rabi's part as the next Bookman. His friendships WERE supposed to be fake. His cheerfulness WAS SUPPOSED to be a mask. I do believe that up until Bookmen reminds him of his mission, Rabi hadn't quite realized just how deep those roots were running. I honestly think that he did forget that all those links weren't supposed to affect him.
That it isn't is what is putting him in such a place as he is right now in the manga, trying to decide who he is supposed to be, wether he remembers or not what happened in his mind when fighting against Rhode, he still has a duty with Bookman. Being in the Order changed him. In the fic this review is about, I tried to show here is how much he changed. From being a selfish brat who wouldn't sacrifice himself for others to pretty much taking a huge fire snake to save people he wasn't supposed to care about, which is why the first and last points of view overlap each other, to show how much his mind changes.
... and now, a review I just got? Complaining that from a fic which I pretty much spelt that Ritsuka's eyes changed from being blue to violet because Seimei brainwashed him?
'I'm sorry but Ritsuka's eyes aren't blue!'
... this is one of those days in which I want to go all Anne Rice and say 'you're interrogating the text from the wrong perspective!'