Making this my pinned post because I have to expressly say that I have NOT read all of the light novels! My knowledge of the series is very limited!
I have seen all of the anime that has been released.
Of the manga I have read all of Part 1, up through Part 2 volume 9, and up through Part 3 volume 4.
Of the light novels, I am working on Part 4 (on volume 5).
Aside from this, I am aware that Myne and Ferdinand end up engaged.
PLEASE NO SPOILERS! I really enjoy experiencing things for myself. Although I have an abysmally slow reading speed, I do intend to read all the light novels eventually!
Hey, lookit me remembering to share my reactions BEFORE going to read more! 😃
^ I love his love for good food. It's so silly and cute.
^ I could go off on a whole tangent about another series entirely and a I theory I had about it for the longest time... But instead all I'm gonna say is "Ferdinand is a man of many talents, clearly" 🤣
^ NEVER! SHE WILL NEVER STOP RAMPAGING!
No screenshot as it was a couple of pages, but yaaay! The scholars are starting to learn how to talk with commoners! =3
^ Poor Damuel... 😅
Once again, no screenshot. BUT! Reading the prayer for the Starbind Ceremony blessing made me think of something. If praying to more than one god for a blessing is unheard of (as said when Myne prayed to all of the main 7 at the end of part 2)...maybe that's part of why no one's been able to do the blessing right. Since the prayer is to both the God of Darkness and Goddess of Light. (Do not tell me if there's anything spoilery about this thought.)
^ This is honestly just really cute and made me smile.
I try not to complain, as I generally don't like doing so when I genuinely enjoy something. In fact, I am deliberately not tagging this because I don't want to gunk up the tags with my complaining. But I need to complain a little about the newest episode (Night of Flutrane).
I read this part not that long ago, about a month and a half. In fact, I have a whole post about the entire event. I found the anime's interpretation of it kind of...lame???
"Lame" is the best word for it, honestly.
For anime-onlys, the whole thing came in two parts. The part we see first is all the women having quite the delightful time. They play music, sing, give offerings of sweets. The lights are supposed to be dancing along and showing the goddess(es?) clearly enjoying everything. Then Rozemyne collects the nectar, admires the sunrise as the lights from the night fade...and then she begins to fall. And in falling, she and the other women kind of snap out of the trance they had been in and start panicking. And that is when Ferdinand suddenly swoops in and catches her. And he is pissed.
Or rather, deeply upset and unsettled.
Because we only learn after this that the men had been kept out by the barrier that even Ferdinand couldn't break. They watched the women all having a good time going "OH GODS, PLEASE! WHAT IS HAPPENING! YOU ALL COULD LITERALLY DIE HERE! PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE! STOP! PLEASE STOP! STOP STOP STOP!" and generally panicking and practically having heart attacks the whole time. All of the men were frightened and worried for them.
And the anime didn't...convey any of that? Not really. Like yeah, it did show the women doing their thing and the men gathered outside watching. But it didn't get across how much the women had been in a trance induced by the mana in the air, nor how terrified the men were.
Which kind of bums me out. I remember laughing a lot about how stark the contrast between their two experiences were. But the anime tried to blend them, and ended up doing that contrast no justice.
AND THEN-
The ending where Ferdinand and Rozemyne talk about her mana and growing feyplants and how if Ferdinand wants her mana, she doesn't want money but a whole library and how she'd be willing to wait 10 years for it.
I have not finished the LNs. I'm only in the midst of Part 4. But I am more than certain that this conversation is incredibly meaningful.
And I have a screenshot of that part of the conversation in the other post I linked. The last sentence is "Ferdinand furrowed his brow harder, but he avoided giving a clear answer." I read this as a form of contemplation along the lines of "You drive a very hard bargain...but I really do want your mana so it's not entirely out of the question..."
The anime gave us
which looks more like "You're insane. You think only of books, as usual. And that really sucks."
Like on the surface the expression isn't wrong. But the vibe of the conversation is off and his expression being different from what I imagined doesn't help that.
Oh and, this conversation is one of the first times we get to see Ferdinand being a fucking nerd about something. Like he is described as being far more talkative than Rozemyne has ever seen him. But the anime skipped over that part and went straight for the "I have no idea what you're talking about." Which is, again, kinda lame.
I found another part that I wanted to mention, but couldn't remember where it was in the LNs. Turns out it was part of a post-epilogue chapter!
In the novels, it comes across as Ferdinand being frantic about the situation. "Pounding his mana against the thinning barrier over and over again until shattered" is a lot more than simply striking it once with a sword as the anime showed. Not to mention he himself admits that Rozemyne would've been fine had she landed in the water, something the usually calm and analytical Ferdinand had likely completely forgotten about in the moment.
I've got more reactions for tonight coming, but I had to pause a moment to utilize this blog for one of its original purposes; reacting to things in a way that I don't want my brother to see. 🙃
Because you CANNOT JUST DROP AN ILLUSTRATION LIKE THIS ON ME OUT OF NOWHERE! 😳 YOU CANNOT! I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS!
Like EXCUSE me! What is he doing looking hotter than even Wilma's drawings of him!?
I'm probably over-thinking this because it is very late for me, but I want to set the record straight regardless. 😅 I've called a few characters "fucking nerd" a few times now. So let me be perfectly clear!!!
I am the one over here comparing and contrasting a few minutes of an anime to a few pages of a book. When I call someone a "fucking nerd" I am, in fact, a pot calling a kettle "black"! 🤣
I try not to complain, as I generally don't like doing so when I genuinely enjoy something. In fact, I am deliberately not tagging this because I don't want to gunk up the tags with my complaining. But I need to complain a little about the newest episode (Night of Flutrane).
I read this part not that long ago, about a month and a half. In fact, I have a whole post about the entire event. I found the anime's interpretation of it kind of...lame???
"Lame" is the best word for it, honestly.
For anime-onlys, the whole thing came in two parts. The part we see first is all the women having quite the delightful time. They play music, sing, give offerings of sweets. The lights are supposed to be dancing along and showing the goddess(es?) clearly enjoying everything. Then Rozemyne collects the nectar, admires the sunrise as the lights from the night fade...and then she begins to fall. And in falling, she and the other women kind of snap out of the trance they had been in and start panicking. And that is when Ferdinand suddenly swoops in and catches her. And he is pissed.
Or rather, deeply upset and unsettled.
Because we only learn after this that the men had been kept out by the barrier that even Ferdinand couldn't break. They watched the women all having a good time going "OH GODS, PLEASE! WHAT IS HAPPENING! YOU ALL COULD LITERALLY DIE HERE! PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE! STOP! PLEASE STOP! STOP STOP STOP!" and generally panicking and practically having heart attacks the whole time. All of the men were frightened and worried for them.
And the anime didn't...convey any of that? Not really. Like yeah, it did show the women doing their thing and the men gathered outside watching. But it didn't get across how much the women had been in a trance induced by the mana in the air, nor how terrified the men were.
Which kind of bums me out. I remember laughing a lot about how stark the contrast between their two experiences were. But the anime tried to blend them, and ended up doing that contrast no justice.
AND THEN-
The ending where Ferdinand and Rozemyne talk about her mana and growing feyplants and how if Ferdinand wants her mana, she doesn't want money but a whole library and how she'd be willing to wait 10 years for it.
I have not finished the LNs. I'm only in the midst of Part 4. But I am more than certain that this conversation is incredibly meaningful.
And I have a screenshot of that part of the conversation in the other post I linked. The last sentence is "Ferdinand furrowed his brow harder, but he avoided giving a clear answer." I read this as a form of contemplation along the lines of "You drive a very hard bargain...but I really do want your mana so it's not entirely out of the question..."
The anime gave us
which looks more like "You're insane. You think only of books, as usual. And that really sucks."
Like on the surface the expression isn't wrong. But the vibe of the conversation is off and his expression being different from what I imagined doesn't help that.
Oh and, this conversation is one of the first times we get to see Ferdinand being a fucking nerd about something. Like he is described as being far more talkative than Rozemyne has ever seen him. But the anime skipped over that part and went straight for the "I have no idea what you're talking about." Which is, again, kinda lame.
Not like I ever truly care whenever I ask things like this, but is it weird that I kinda ship Zack and Johann? Not like a lot but I find their dynamic amusing and I think they should be made to awkwardly hold hands.
I found the part where Rozemyne accidentally writes smut! 🤣🤣🤣 I knew this was coming, but it's still funny!
Seriously though, she just needs a pen name and 10-15 years for the industry to grow and she'd make a killing. 😜 Or at least she'd receive high praise from a select group of women. (Something I know well...)
I won't go into detail, but tonight's reading was rather cathartic for me. As such it is super late and I've read 7 chapters and have cried my eyes out and now only have the two bonus chapters left of 4-3.
I've too many screeshots, so I'll just kinda recap my thoughts and reactions to most things.
-----
First of all, I think Philine's stepmonster should be burned at the stake. For funsies. 🙃
Poor Damuel deserves all the crepes.
And the part that had me crying more than I already had today was Myne telling Lutz, Benno, and Mark that they could no longer use the hidden room together. 😭 The end of another era...
^ Fran really is just the biggest sweetie pie.
^ And this is only further evidence that Rozemyne must lead by example! 😤 I said back when Gil claimed he didn't need head pats that even adults could get them. Rozemyne needs to teach Ferdinand how to do it through demonstration!!!
Also it was rough seeing Ferdinand recall the few times his father got to praise him. That was a source of yet more tears for me. 😭
All the different analogies were quite interesting. Comparing people to hidden rooms, a bed and blanket, chairs, bookshelves, a fireplace... I loved that. 🥰 And of course, my man Justus came through with asking about Ferdinand! To which she called him a bench. In fact, I'll just slap in the three screenshots I have here...
It's so cute and silly. And guessing by Ferdinand's recent methods of messing with her, her cheeks probably hurt from being pinched. 😂 I really do love seeing them both loosening up and goofing around with each other in their own weird ways.
