Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of The Demon Slayers, Ch 3
-Lina describes Rubia as having a sense of deep exhaustion, something she also describes Luke as experiencing. Parallels between the toll of moving forward after experiencing a personal tragedy? Grief can often manifest as exhaustion.
-There is clear foreshadowing going on with how Rubia had to kill Halciform and how Lina will have to kill Luke. That never hit me until just now. Damn. A whole new layer of appreciation for Rubia comes with that, along with new aggravation at how badly the anime treated her.
-Yeah, Bradu is NOT convincing me that Mazoku feel love and companionship for each other. He’s perfectly happy to sacrifice another demon and to joke at the human response to the loss of a friend. Yet more evidence to add to the pile that demons see each other in terms of power and usefulness and aren’t emotionally attached to each other.
-Somehow, I think Milgazia’s declaration of trust in Lina, specifically with how he refers to her as human, means a lot. I honestly love Milgazia more as the series plays out.
-Yeah, Xellos killing Bradu so he doesn’t tell the group what is happening in Sairaag, he is definitely aligned with Luke Shabranigdu…and Zelas. He just doesn’t like it.
-Zelas and Dolphin mention following orders. I think it implies that Luke did not want Milgazia and Mephy harmed, otherwise the Mazoku Lords wouldn’t have cared it they were hurt or killed.
-Gourry’s one reference to Elemekia (that new translation is going to take some getting used to). Elemekia sounds rather barren.
-Lina describes the time gap between the first time they’d defeated Shabranigdu and now as “two years and some change.”
-Lina implies that she has continued sword training with Gourry and it has helped her to follow his moves better, though she still isn’t able to keep up with him.
-How badly Luke is stacking the deck in Lina and Gourry’s favor is sad in some ways. It is obvious he wants to die and he wants them to kill him. I also think it’s worth mentioning that this is the opposite of what the Mazoku want, but because of how they are wired they have to follow the commands of the person they determine to have the most power even if they don’t like or agree. I think you can see how Zelas, Dolphin and Xellos don’t like the orders they are enforcing but that they have to obey regardless.
-It is significant that Gourry is the one who realizes that Shabranigdu is Luke based on his fighting style. It gives lie to the idea that Gourry is an idiot. I also think it goes to show how Gourry is focused on identifying patterns, hence why he is very intuitive (intuitive people are very good at seeing patterns though they aren’t always necessarily good at breaking them down. Gourry does well breaking down Luke’s fighting style). Gourry is also active in testing Luke. And this is also one of those times where we see Gourry genuinely angry.
