#ch169

[pardon-my-scifi]

Out of context Deku.

[nagirambles]

Rambling about Fairies - Manga Chapter 169

This is usually the point where people start hating Carla because she’s annoying + needlessly builds up tension by hiding, but eh, whatever. 

I think this is more annoying in the dub because she’s motherly to Wendy there for some reason. (she actually calls Wendy ‘child’ in the dub, which, I’m always confused by, is that not kind of condescending? They never treat it as such, but it feel weird to call someone ‘child’ affectionately. But that’s just me,) I feel it gives the impression that she’s older than she is, so she sounds like a brat. But, she isn’t an adult. Just like Happy, she’s only about six to seven years old. It’s a lot for a cat, but not much at all for humans, which is what they’re more like. 

Happy is a child. 

Carla, is, too. And now, she’s frustrated, confused, and at her breaking point. She’s always needed to be in control of the situation, she’s always had to be, because what else could she do when she was born with those memories in her head? 

But look at that pointed sigh Natsu makes. 

I find it great that, consistently, Natsu is the one to understand when people lash out. He understands that people like him express their frustration in anger and crudeness rather than sharing it. He also lashed out at Gildarts just before this, throwing a minor tantrum, and so, he understands that Carla is going through something similar and doesn’t want to share a thing. 

So immediately, just like when it was with Gray and Erza, he changes the subject, brings a smile on his face, and makes sure the situation is back to a comfortable atmosphere so they can move on without drawing too much attention to the secret Carla doesn’t want to share. 

I think that’s the best part of Natsu’s character. 

[abybweisse]

Hi! If it's not a bother, I wanted to ask a question. Something caught my attention in chapter 191. Ronald mentally thanks Bard since it's because of him he realized what Layla was... But why was he following him in the first place? Not only that, but Ronald is muttering “retrievial, retrievial...”Do you think Bard was supposed to die against Layla?

Not a bother at all; it's actually an interesting set of questions. Here's the page in question:

Why was Ronald following Baldo?

I'm not sure he was, exactly. He doesn't seem to be following Layla right then, either. In fact, he seems to be passing through, looking at people/souls on his list, when his attention is caught by Baldo on the ground and Layla biting him.

Was Baldo supposed to die from Layla's attack?

This suggests quite the opposite about Baldo being expected to die then. If Baldo were expected to die then, he'd not only be on the list for that time (or coming up very soon), but Ronald wouldn't be surprised to see Baldo on the ground... and Ronald seems surprised.

The "Retrieval, retrieval" honestly probably has a much more ominous meaning. We don't know how many souls Ronald is planning to collect, but we can bet on at least two. He's planning for deaths coming up in the near future, during this assignment. This highly suggests that someone from the Aurora Society/Blue Sect will arrive at the sanatorium to investigate the missing shipment before Lau and the rest can leave the facility. Or perhaps they manage to leave the sanatorium but are stopped on the road/sometime before they can get to any boat heading to China.

I expect Polaris to show up, and maybe others with him. Considering what Polaris says he wants to do to the people at Heathfield's manor after they fail to protect the blood collection facilities (ch169), Polaris might go into a rage and kill as many of the staff and patients as he can. Even Baldo or Lau could die then. Conny and Nicholas also have iffy chances of survival, if they are attacked. It would be easy to kill off the people we perhaps saw but were never introduced to. However, it would be much more emotional for readers if at least one of the people who dies is someone we have a name for. And I'd expect Yana-san to give us mostly emotional deaths from now on.

The only good news I have is that Ada's chance of survival is high. That's because Ronald was trying to figure out if she's a bizarre doll. That means he doesn't have a page for her, listing her as a soul about to be ready for retrieval. Because if he had a page for her with an upcoming collection date, he'd know she still had a soul. And he was investigating both Layla and Ada because he couldn't tell which one was soulless. Not having a page for her with an upcoming death date can only mean one of two things: either she's a bizarre doll... or she's alive and not yet slated to die. And he seems sure now that Ada isn't a bizarre doll.

This does not automatically mean Baldo's out of the woods (figuratively) just yet. Just because Ronald's surprised to see Baldo injured right then doesn't mean Ronald isn't expecting him to die soon, during some upcoming fight.

Let's also think about when William arrives on the scene. Back in the JtR arc, he shows up just in time to save Grelle from Sebastian, but he's actually there to capture Grelle, not to play hero to Grelle's damsel in distress. Similarly, I don't think William shows up at the end of ch191 to save Ronald from Layla/Al; I think he's there in time to help Ronald collect the souls of people about to be killed by the Aurora Society... and he just happens to arrive in time to protect Ronald from a deranged and "ultra ticked-off" Layla/Al. It's good timing, but I think it's a coincidence.

Ch192 will likely have the arrival of Polaris or whoever... as Ada and the others are trying to leave. Unless it gets pushed off another chapter while Ronald and William continue to deal with Layla/Al.

ETA: @fwippysays points out that Ronald might have simply been talking about the two people Baldo just killed. One guy goes free, but the two cloaked figures get killed. Baldo is shown walking away from their bodies, and Ronald is standing (with his death scythe) in the trees.

So, Ronald mutters to himself about the souls he needs to retrieve, and then he sees Baldo on the ground with Layla biting him.

I still say that:

The people there are not necessarily safe from Polaris and/or others

Ada still has a good chance at survival

William probably still showed up for "show time", not necessarily to save Ronald's butt

[nonolullaby]

Bizarre Holidays:

RC: There is no Santa. I killed him. I'll give you the gift of disaster.😊

Is it this hat? I dyed it in blood.

UT: Which type are you? We accept gifts from everyone by the gallon~.🩸😉

Polaris: *shiny and shiny*

[opbackgrounds]

[firstloveagain]

#girlboss

[blackreapersreign]

Polaris and his fragile state of mind

The confirmation that Polaris is, indeed, a bizarre doll...

And his impressive breakdown...

Make me wonder just how much Undertaker could have experimented on this guy. He sounds utterly and completely out of it, to me.

The way he desperately clings to the idea of being a butler...

...seriously has me thinking.

The most obvious and most logical conclusion would be that this guy is a former butler who failed to protect his master and died. Either he was a really dedicated butler all his life, either he died with this desperation that he failed to protect his master, and, when he got revived as a bizarre doll, the desperation of having to protect his master stuck.

If so, then Undertaker’s reaction to his words here has me thinking that, perhaps, the former master Polaris is talking about is actually Vincent. Diedrich mentioned in the past how Vincent also had ‘special’ servants, just that they were different from our!Ciel’s, and Polaris would fit like a glove. Polaris would literally fit perfectly. If I find it, I will add here the panel of what Diedrich said.

The problem is, if this guy was only a random butler/servant Vincent had that we’ve never seen or cared about before, why all this secrecy around him? Why still keep his face hidden? All this secrecy keeps hinting that this guy is, indeed, someone we already know. 

It’s also possible that he wasn’t necessarily Vincent’s butler. Perhaps Undertaker reacted like that just because he knows who that master was, and that’s it. So his master could be someone else entirely. But even so, I still can’t think of such a... um, passionate dead butler. 

Which brings me to my other possibility, which kind of goes a bit deep into crack theory territory. Maybe, just maybe, this guy wasn’t even a butler.

As I said before, it looks to me like this guy has been heavily experimented on. He has the most commonly found blood type in the Kuro universe, so Undertaker probably had the freedom to do what he wanted with him. Plus, his strength and agility are also suspicious. Now that we know that he is a bizarre doll (with unlimited blood supply, kind of), maybe his strength and/or agility are also due to... certain enhancements. 

And we also know that bizarre dolls can still function even with someone else’s cinematic records. So I wonder, could this duty of his to protect his master actually be fake? Could it be that Undertaker created this Polaris person as a sort of parallel to Sebastian? For Real!Ciel? It is something I wonder.

Now, although, at least for now, I’m leaning more towards the idea that he might have indeed been some sort of butler who failed to protect his master (though, again, no one from the past really stands out to me in this case?), I keep all other possibilities open. I really think that Undertaker could have just edited his cinematic records so much that he has lost it. Literally.

Any thoughts? And thank you for reading if you’ve gotten this far!

[iiloffy]

Pell the falcon

Alabasta's greatest warrior