one thing i particularly love about kevin day is that despite all his trauma, pain, grief and guilt he's never really lost his confidence, his self worth. like they took everything from him but they couldn't gaslight him to the point of thinking he's the second best bc that mf always knew he's that bitch. he knows he's better than rico, he knows he's the one and only real son of exy, he knows he's expensive, he knows ppl listen to him and devotedly follow him, he knows he's smart and beautiful, he knows he can allow himself to be arrogant bc he's deserved it, he knows he can enter a building and charm everyone, he knows the stadiums will go absolutely wild just at the motion of his hand. and once they came after that very hand to indefinitely put him down he's bitten back and raised from the ashes to fully claim his throne, the best of the best, the Queen, the GOAT. you just can't take that away from him, "checkmate". and i think this is why he rubs certain ppl the wrong way bc they can't self insert or empathise with that. bc yes he's damaged but goddamn he's not insecure. he's a victim who doesn't act in a traditional way, who keeps his head high, and believes life is worth it, for himself and for others. and to me, that's what makes kevin day an inspirational, important character to have in dark books, the flawed hero, but hero nevertheless.
I’ve recently been seeing a lot of discourse about WHA ch87 and Tartah’s actions. I am not here to talk about anything in relation to that discussion on here, mostly because I feel I have nothing to add to it that hasn’t already been stated by others, so I’d instead like to talk about my own interpretation of that scene, along with a general discussion about the events of the Silver Eve arc and how I think several aspects of that arc are going to affect Coco’s character and the story as a whole moving forwards.
As many people within the fandom have pointed out, the story of Witch Hat Atelier is very strongly moving in a direction that will force Coco to choose between the Brimmed Caps point of view or the Pointed Caps’, and she will chose neither in favor of finding a 3rd option that does not fully align with either of the current main factions of witches. This foreshadowing is probably its clearest during chapters 37 & 38, where Coco is presented with the options of returning to the Great Hall or moving forwards towards the Tower of Tomes, to which she chooses to instead fly straight forwards so she could save Qifrey instead. But, to know to pick neither option of the Witch society, Coco first needs to see the harm caused by both sides.
We see the harm caused by the Brimmed Caps very explicitly throughout the beginning of the story. In fact, the harm caused by the Brimcaps and forbidden magic is something Coco faces firsthand all the way back in chapter 1 when she accidentally draws the petrification spell and loses her mother. She’s later again faced directly with the effects of forbidden magic when she sees what the Brimcaps have done to Euini during the Second Pentagram Test Arc. By the time we start the Silver Eve arc, Coco is intimately familiar with the negative effects of forbidden magic and has developed a rightful distrust towards the Brimmed Caps as a whole.
On the other hand, Coco’s knowledge of the harm caused by the Pointed Caps is much more abstract. Leading up to Silver Eve, it’s Tartah who’s engaging with a more critical view of Witch society and sharing his perspective with Coco. Because unlike Coco, Tartah has an intimate knowledge of the negative effects Witch society has and an abstract knowledge of the harm caused by the Brimmed Caps. Through him, we the readers begin to get a clearer view of how the Pointed Caps can cause just as much harm as their brimmed counterparts. They restrict knowledge, they do not properly accommodate others, and they have a strong black and white view on Forbidden magic with no account for situational nuances. Unfortunately, due to her prior personal experiences with Forbidden magic, Coco continues to cling to the Pointed Cap system because she does not see another option. Her empathy towards Tartah and her acknowledgement of his views can only go so far because, from her perspective, the Pointed Caps are still a better option than the Brimmed Caps.
When talking to my IRL friend about it, they brought up a great parallel between Coco’s situation and Olruggio’s harmless fire from chapter 43. While Coco has heard about and seen how the rules put in place by the Pointed Caps have harmed people like Tartah and Euini, empathy can only go so far in understanding. Just like how no matter how much you tell kids that real fire is dangerous, if they’ve only ever known the safe fire they won’t understand the danger until they’re burned. If Coco only ever hears about how the Pointed Caps harm others, she won’t be able to understand until it affects her directly. By the time we get to the Silver Eve arc, Coco has not been personally affected by the Pointed Cap system, at least not to the extent that Tartah has. Likewise, Tartah has not been personally victimized by Forbidden magic the way Coco has.
Over the course of Silver Eve, Coco finally gets to see a real firsthand perspective of the other side. She sees the direct effects of gatekeeping magic from Custas, and she watches multiple members of the Knight’s Moralis ignore the situational nuances in favor of maintaining the status quo, from Galga attacking Dagda without question on the basis of having Forbidden magic written on his body (ch55) to Easthies attacking any witch in his path to prevent to use of the counter clock seal’s use, despite the lives it saved (ch79).
But for Tartah, these scenes act more to reassure his own views against Pointed Cap society. He was right not to trust them, because now from his point of view, all the Pointed Caps have ever done is restrict him, harm his relationship with Custas, and attack innocent people indiscriminately. Where Coco’s doubts towards the Pointed Caps has worsened, Tartah’s distrust of them has been validated, and these two perspectives finally come to a head during chapter 87.
To be able to fully understand the harm that is caused by the Pointed Caps the same way she understands the harm caused by the Brimmed Caps, Coco needs to feel the personal effects of perpetuating the cycle of abuse the system causes. That is not to say she deserves to have her autonomy violated by Tartah and the truth seal, nor is it to blame her for the abuse inflicted upon her. Both Coco and Tartah are victims in this situation, and both perpetuating the cycle of abuse onto each other. By hiding the truth of Custas’ condition from Tartah, Coco unintentionally harms him the same way the Pointed Caps did, and by forcing Forbidden magic onto Coco, Tartah unintentionally harms her the same way the Brimmed Caps did. Neither of them has any malicious intent towards the other, but because they both continue to go along with the systems that have harmed them both they end up harming each other in the same way.
Neither Coco, nor Tartah will ever be happy if they continue to perpetuate these cycles. They’ve both seen firsthand how either side can cause harm, they’ve both felt the effects of harm from their respective sides, and they have both acted as those systems to cause harm upon each other. Coco cannot fully side with the Pointed Caps the same way she cannot side with the Brimmed Caps, because she now knows the direct harm that both sides can cause. From this point forwards, Coco cannot simply choose one side as “correct” and live in ignorance, she HAS to find a middle ground between these two extremes, because she understands how it feels to harm someone and have harm inflicted upon herself.
If you’d like to further discuss these ideas and topic, I kindly direct you over to my asks! If not, any form of interaction with my post is greatly appreciated!
Tartah said : "I'm good at seeing the balance in things. It's what I do all the time."
Both Coco and Tartah represent balance and finding the middle ground. Not really belonging/being raised in witch society, while at the same time desperately wanting to be a practicing witch, put them in this not here nor there situation, a gray area, so their approach is naturally different from everyone else. Coming from that similar background, once they had their first grasps of magic, they both needed to figure out the alternative ways, by using their wit and practical knowledge, to compensate for their witchcraft lackings. Thanks to their ideas and bravery, we see system's flaws exposed, it's just that right now they're both on a journey to find the solution. They reluctantly chose different sides, but I personally think we're going to see them meet halfway, and then together bring needed change to the society they both want to improve.
Kevin Day you have to stop. Your exy too good. Your green eyes too pretty. Your existence too auraful. Your narrative too doomed. They’ll kill you Kevin.
Literally no bigger AFTG ick than when Kevin is belittled and punished for not being a perfectly agreeable abuse victim after living in hell on earth for 10+ years
I am going to make a post about this because I simply cannot help myself and I want to put all my thoughts togheter regarding this.
I feel like there is a lot of defensiveness when people point out how the treatment of the Foxes (specially in TKM) might have been bad or unfair in some moments regarding Kevin. So I am going to try to break this down.
Long as hell, so It Will be bellow the cut
First of all, I feel like it is important to make a distinction between moments in which the Foxes are just being Foxes (fighting, bickering, being assholes) and the moments where the critics to Kevin's treatment really are.
For example, Kevin and Seth's fights were totally an example of the first case. Kevin was frustrated, both with his hand and with the fact he was now in a team considerably worse than the one he came from(and frustrated because Seth being his pair striker was probably a very bitter reminder of everything that had happened to him). Seth was frustrated not only with Kevin's constants critics and harsh push for performance, but also because Kevin was a bitter reminder of everything Seth wasn't by simple virtue of birth. Seth grew up being one more among a bunch of siblings with clearly neglectful parents. He grew up being treated as completely unimportant. So of course having The Great Kevin Day there in his team felt like rubbing salt on a wound.
They were both going through a shitty time and took it out on each other by constantly fighting and bickering. They were hurting so they hurted.
This type of conflict appears through the whole narrative with different characters. It is gennerally a two way conflict.
There are also moments that involve great emotional distress and you can understand why a certain character might have taken a certain action, even if that might have caused damage to another character (i.e choking incident. I have a post somewhere analysing it, so I definitely won't do it now, because this will get too long)
But the point is, specially in TKM, there are plenty of moments in which the Foxes are just unnecessarly cruel or unforgiving towards Kevin, specially in moments in which he is fragilized and this isn't adressed at all
1-We already start the book with Matt punching Kevin TWICE because of what happened to Neil. Kevin, who was probably already feeling horrible, didn't react or tried to fight back at all.
I don't think I really need to explain why punching someone who isn't reacting is a bad thing.
And yes, he was shocked, worried and mad because of what was done to Neil. Assaulting Kevin didn't change anything and also didn't 'punish' the right person. It was absolutely pointless.
Yes, Kevin didn't tell them where Neil was going. Maybe he didn't say anything for the same reason Neil went there in the first place. If Riko had enough of a levarege to force Neil to go, than he definitely had enough to make Kevin stay silent about it(which was true. Riko had Andrew and Kevin knew it. If he stopped Neil from going, whatever happened to Andrew would be his fault. Kevin did the right thing by allowing Neil to decide what he wanted to do and respecting it). But of course, instead of assessing the situation for 5 seconds, we jump straight to assume Kevin didn't say anything for giggles and kicks.
(Just to make it clear, this is not saying Matt is a horrible person. This is just me saying in this instance he was wrong)
2-Andrew threatening Kevin with a knife because of that stupid trip.
I hate this scene so much and on so many levels that it is not even funny anymore.
It makes me so sad that this is what Nora has decided to do with Andrew and Kevin's relationship.
Because the thing is: Kevin was never afraid of Andrew.
There is one other moment in the series in which Andrew lifts a knife to Kevin and this is when Kevin literally presses him against a wall and ignores his warnings to let go. Andrew uses the knife to nip Kevin and make him let go, and that is it. They are mad at each other, but there is no fear.
It is a heavy scene, but Andrew was completely on the right and doing it out of self defense(honestly, Kevin had that one coming from a mile away).
But in this instance in TKM, Andrew threatens Kevin for what? Being against a vacation? This is literally the most stupid reason Andrew threatened someone over in the series.
And the worst part is: even though this is a bluff, this happens a few days after the choking incident and Kevin is actually afraid of Andrew. So instead of calling Andrew out on it, like he would probably usually do, Kevin actually stops talking.
In other words: he is now afraid of the one person who used to protect him and this person is using this as a way to control his behavior.
Wonderful
Gets even better because no one ever touchs this subject again. Is Kevin forever afraid of Andrew now? Or was this just because it happened so soon after the choking? Will Andrew keep on acting like this towards Kevin now?
No idea, we are pretending it didn't happen
To think their relationship was essentially based on kevin's unwavering trust that Andrew could protect him and that is where it is by the end of the three books.
(And this isn't shade on Andrew, but on Nora's writting choices. Andrew gennerally uses violence whenever he feels like there is a threat, but here he seems to do it simply for control and to me it doesn't make much sense with his character at all. It also doesn't make sense with what happens after, because Nora signals Kevin is now afraid of Andrew and doesn't adress it any further. It is a fucking mess)
3-Then we have the shitshow that was the Foxes finding out Wymack is Kevin's dad
I find this one the worst of them all, to be honest. Their reaction bordered on cruelty. It wasn't just the Foxes being the Foxes. It was a complete lack of any consideration for another person.
After Kevin talks to Wymack, he and Neil go back to the Fox Tower and Kevin is clearly on the verge of a panick attack when Neil leaves the car. He has his hand in his face and cannot even speak, gesturing for Neil to go away. Neil interprets the gesture however he wants (as permission to tell the Foxes the truth) and goes up leaving Kevin there.
(Honestly, I believe Neil's intentions were good here, that is not the problem)
Neil gathers everyone and the Foxes react as if Kevin not telling Wymack is the worst absurd ever seen and Kevin is selfish because of it(wonder why the guy who was raised wihtout a father, has scaped a mafia run cult and has no where else to go felt like it was better to not reveal this information). Also, Kevin literally doesn't owe the information about his patternity to anyone. Getting mad at him is fucking WILD.
Dan makes a literal scandal, turns the situation onto something about herself and her feelings and how she is mad because >Kevin< hurt Wymack. No, not Kayleigh, who literally lied in Wymack's face. Not Tetsuji, who had this letter hidden all along and also didn't say anything while he broke and abused Wymack's child for a decade. No, none of them. Kevin. The kid who spent a decade raised as a human pet because his mother trusted the wrong person. He is the one who hurt Wymack.
This gets even worse when we learn Riko almost put a hit out on Wymack as things were. Of course Kevin was cautios about revealling the truth.
The Foxes make sure someone stays with Dan to console and take care of her, meanwhile Kevin was literally left alone on the verge of a mental breakdown inside the car. And he is still down there, alone, inside the car.
Because of course, the one that needs support here is Dan. Makes all sense in the world.
Right after all of this, Kevin is forced to go on that trip he didn't even want to go in the first place, with the team that is now mad at him.
At some point, Dan pushes Kevin aside to talk to him and Matt tells her to NOT STRIKE HIM ANYWHERE IT WILL BRUISE.
We don't get to know if Dan did hit him or not, but there is no excuse whatsoever for what Matt said.
It would already have been absurd if that was anyone else. You don't hit someone for growing up without a dad and being afraid to tell their dad the truth. Kevin had the right to take however long he needed to talk to Wymack. It is not a son's job to tell a father he is a father.
But the fact he said this about Kevin, who would suffer physical abuse constantly, everything in places that either could be hid by clothes or where it wouldn't leave bruisess, is absolutely horrible.
Then both Kevin and Dan come back from that talk and Kevin specifically sits on the OUTSKIRTS, which is how he spends most of the trip.
All those scenes are only made worse when we learn from Jean that Kevin would read Kayleigh's letter all the time. Or when we learn in the EC that Kevin's best non-Exy memory was finding the letter.
Those are just a few examples, all from TKM, which honestly I think is the worst part.
The whole idea of the series is that team unites around Neil and on the process, the rifts between them start to close. By this point in TKM the relationship between all of the Foxes is considerably better than it was during TFC . Of course, it is not perfect, far from it, but definitely better. They are all on their way to healing.
Except Kevin.
His relationship with essentially everyone has gotten worse (except Nicky and Aaron, I feel like it remained the same), he is isolated inside the team and constantly being belittled, berated and more than once the victim of unprovoked physical violence or threats.
The funny part is that he was way more of an asshole in TFC, and still he didn't get treated half as bad as he does in TKM.
So no, Kevin is not a sweet victim of the Foxes mistreatment for most of the time. He knows how to be violent and how to be an asshole. Most of the time he gives as good as he gets. That is what happens during the first two books.
But then we get to the end of TKM and it is just a sequence of the Foxes kicking Kevin while he is already on the ground, and there is no resolution.
(But of course, Kevin and his obsession are very useful when he appears left handed to play against the Ravens. Then he is a part of the team. When he might have been in need of support after the hard conversation he must have had with Wymack, he got a "don't strike him where it will leave a mark". But when he is "dancing circles around the Ravens defense line" then the fact is an obsessive bitch is very useful.)
This is not saying the Foxes are horrible, here the critic is mostly to the writing. Because what we essentially have is an arch of union and proximity between characters of which only one character is excluded. It is bad and it makes honestly amazing characters look horrible for no reason.
Sometimes I remember that at some point during Kevin's last book theres gonna be a point that definitively kills my dream of a kerejean endgame and I feel genuine anguish
After watching FMA: Brotherhood with @mouiface, we decided to rewatch FMA 03 as well. I haven’t seen this show since way back in 2005-ish.
It was an interesting watching experience. I never found myself emotionally invested into the characters or intrigued by the story.
The revisit revealed 03 to be an incredibly flawed series, riddled with character inconsistencies, plot conveniences and a general lack of direction. Despite all of that, I still found an appreciation for this series. The execution was not great by modern standards, but the concepts and thematic backings were fascinating.
FMA03, in comparison to its counterpart, has an arguably more intriguing theme of equivalent exchange in relation to entropy and the ideal state vs the imperfect reality. This leaves the series with a much more tragic ending, which in turn leaves the world full of gaps for the viewer to fill with their own imagination. So while feeling incomplete, it also feels more interactive.
Furthermore, a retrospective look at this series makes it clear, to me anyways, that this series was a corner stone for better storytelling to come in the anime medium. I also believe that because of the flaws and missteps this series took, it made Arakawa write her manga better, which in turn made FMA:B better than it potentially could have been.
While this series sits at a 6/10 for me, oddly enough, the flaws and open ended nature make this a must-watch, to me.
Started out as a redraw of this photoset and just so everyone knows it brings me so much joy when people re-reblog it and continue the lyrics in the tags!!
i'll be uploading the 20 something minute version of the speed paint on my patreon soon as well as some close ups and maybe the layered file after I clean up all the empty layers lmao
