yana. Girl. If you didn’t have any interest in drawing this, then why did you? We didn’t need a million flashback pages to last months chapter. We didn’t need to see the scene play out again if it’s the same illustrations anyways.
We didn’t need to see the same moments drawn with a massive drop in quality.
We would have gotten just as much out of it if we were just told what happened. Seeing it go down is actually worse story telling if you’re doing it like this instead of only showing glimpses and letting us fill in the gaps
there are so many things that don’t line up with what we have precedent for and It’s so obnoxious that I cant have as much fun theorizing because I have barely any confidence that it isn’t just bad writing considering to how carelessly the chapter was executed lol. Yana didn’t even make a comment when she retweeted the g fantasy release like she always does.
It played out as if we needed to hit every beat required by the spark notes. It honestly would have actually made more sense if it WAS just relayed through dialogue, because Sebastian literally did not even do a single thing to tempt Modri and we get basically nothing to show us his frame of mind (…beyond the obvious fact that he wouldn’t like his family being killed. I can’t even say “he wouldn’t be hurt by it” because it’s like, whatever. I’m accepting this. They’re dead now. I hold no resentment towards you for killing them. I’m not even going to ask why you did it, even though you haven’t given any motivation for this, haven’t called yourself a demon, haven’t so much as mentioned souls.)
Modri had nothing to live for and he knew that the serpent doesn’t actually grant you the spoils of your wishes, So why wouldn’t he just ask to be killed, or kill himself? I’m serious. All he wanted was his family happy and they were slaughtered. Why was he smiling LOL it’s not as if he was hypnotized… Sebastian didn’t do anything but say he killed them?? And Modri thinks it’s his own fault to some degree and he didn’t even need Sebastian to say THAT much. Ciel at least wanted revenge against those responsible, but Sebastian was the one responsible this time. Why would he be asking for another “miracle”. Where is the appeal
When I sent this chapter to my friend they thought I messed up and left pages out lol.
I’m being repetitive but seriously I could have gotten just as much out of this by reading it on the wiki. Only the first half of the chapter had remotely any care put into it, so that’s why I was saying I feel like I know the next one is just going to do this scene over again before we see the new guy. Why even release this??????? You’ve skipped a month before! You’ve released 8 page chapters before! WHAT WAS THE POINTTTT
As Modri and Anna walk away, we at first just see the scene as if we are standing behind the demon...
... but next we get to see a demonic mouth, licking its lips.
The following morning, Mr. Kornich wakes Modri up early, commanding him to follow him outside and look at something out in the fields. They get out there, and Modri's shocked by what he sees.
The fields that were bare before are now full of ripened wheat. (I've switched around these two pages and placed them side by side to show the two page spread.)
Anna is with her father and Modri. They walk closer to better inspect the appearance of wheat. Perhaps they wish to touch it, to feel if it's really there. One of the workers and several children are already in the fields, celebrating the miraculous discovery. The kids call out for their master to come look, too. They are so excited about the prospect of making lots of bread, of having plentiful food.
While her father is still in a state of disbelief, Anna seems to be thanking "God", perhaps assuming that's who answers her wish. Modri is silent, but we see his thoughts. He's also attributing this miracle to "God" choosing to save good souls/people. Then someone says "my, my...".
Approaching them, and speaking as he does so, is none other than that demon, though he's still in that human guise. He states, "Ask... and you shall receive."
"That's how the saying goes, no?"
We are behind the demon again. The wind is blowing his wig (or his hair, if it's that color and he's able to simply style it this way). We see a demon contract seal on the back of his neck. Either this demon has a contract with someone else but he still goes around granting others' wishes... or he has made a contract with Anna, without setting any terms and without her even knowing. If it's a contract with her, it's a low level one, meaning her seal is easily hidden. Since she doesn't immediately know it's the work of that demon, that seal might even be where she can't easily see it.
Instead of concluding this demon is Sebastian, I see even more compelling evidence that this demon is not Sebastian.
I was planning to explain that all here, but I think I should save it for another post, which will be long enough on its own.
Mr. Kornich presents Anna to Baron Bethlenffi, and the baron basically calls her plain but sturdy, adding that his last wife was (lovely but) so frail she couldn't bear him any children. Anna is shaking and sweating.
Modri is incensed that the baron would be so rude to Anna. It's bad enough she doesn't want this marriage to begin with, and now her intended fiancé is treating her like he's window shopping for an incubator. Truth be told, that's just what he's doing.
Modri makes a fist and moves to punch the baron, but someone steps forward, reaching out a gloved right hand to stop the attack. The mystery man asks the baron to introduce Anna to him.
I'm not sure if it's simply because the mystery man calls Anna "lovely", but Modri seems to fall under a spell. Anna is still nervous, but now she's clutching at her necklace. The baron realizes who has just shown up, and he introduces the man as his consultant, a financial advisor from Vienna.
The consultant goes on to give his name and specifies that he travels around the (Austro-Hungarian) empire and that he assists "distinguished families" with their "sensitive interests". This leaves his position open to interpretation as more than just a financial advisor.
He puts out his left hand now, also gloved, while essentially saying he might be of service (to Modri, Anna, and/or Mr. Kornich) if needed.
He appears to have blond hair, and that's about all I can see. When he states his name and shows his face, we still cannot see either. Is Yana-san covering those up for a reveal later... or has she decided his face and name don't matter, so perhaps she never decided on his assumed name or appearance?
I'm thinking that Anna and the baron's engagement moves forward, since we've previously seen the bloody scene with the flower wreath from her head. They are at a church, so I'm thinking that might have been their wedding ceremony when the demon changes shape (becomes goop) and starts devouring souls.
Much of the Kuro fandom needs to be understood not only as self-righteous people preoccupied with performative morality, but as actually illiterate and disrespectful of Yana's work. When they trash Sebaciel, Yana's intensely transgressive yet beautifully restrained gothic romantic pairing, they are trashing her carefully crafted main characters and their story, which she has spent the last two decades unfolding. This series is not for willfully illiterate puritans, but they are arrogant and delusional enough to keep trying to make this their territory, while insisting that those who actually appreciate dark fiction are the problematic ones who should leave
origamiaround
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stormborns
