DID WE GET ANY MORE INFO THROUGH THE LOREDROP ADAPTATION? (+ me being salty)
I saw @marmalade-chainsaw's reblog and got inspired. Also I have many thoughts on the new episode (and they aren't all great).
(Obviously massive trigger warning for self-harm and suicide)
Huge disclaimer: This entire post is written under the assumption that Yana Toboso has no explicit involvement in the Emerald Witch arc anime adaptation. She is listed on the official Cloverworks site as the original author only, and in no other source is it stated or implied that she has had any part in the adaptation itself (unlike Book of Circus for example, where she was very heavily involved). This means that any changes to the source material were decided on by the animation team and do not necessarily make their way into manga canon.
Which different people respect on different levels. For me personally the manga is gospel unless it disagrees with something from the anime i like (definitely not the story of Will the Reaper OVA) in which case I'll try and twist both to fit my vision! I am being very impartial and unbiased!
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I already stated that the short story is; we do not have any new information, and won't be getting any unless Yana blesses us with more lore drops or background on specific characters. But I want to go into detail and explain exactly why:
Yana as a mangaka is usually very deliberate about details. She loves her Easter eggs and foreshadowing (see: all of the twin ciel theory hints throughout the series). If she's put it there, it's probably there for a reason.
I joined the fandom right when ch. 105 came out, and the whole "who died how" debate was always going strong. I love reading everyone's unique theories on which frame corresponds to which shinigami.
What I remember being very popular was:
Sascha is the reaper who died by hanging, since it clearly has their frame and hair pictured. I think everyone can agree on this.
The one drowning was always a tie between the Undertaker and Grell. Someone in a post's replies (I'll find you) said that it can't be UT, since his hair was short during his trainee days. Which fair, but this is meant to show their deaths from when they were all still human. All trainee reapers we've seen so far had short hair, regardless of their human or fully-fledged shinigami hair, so this isn't a clear indicator of who it is. Maybe they do a military crop on new recruits or something???
The bottom right picture was always said to be Grell (although less popular, I have also seen an interesting theory of it being Ronald), but in my opinion it is often believed for the wrong reason. It would make sense if it was a means of showing us Grell's obsession with blood and red predating her afterlife (something which I completely agree with). However, I never thought that the nail colour is necessarily lacquer. It could be a stylistic choice, which would fit the way b/w contrast is used across the frame, so we can make out the hand, fingers and nails.
(btw at this stage I am going to kindly ask everyone to share their human shinigami headcanons with me. Who were they before. Why did they do It.)
So how did this change in the anime? Generally, we've all noticed this season's weird pacing (5 MINUTE RECAP?!?), and this entire episode has felt especially rushed because obviously they are running out of time. This didn't stop the animation team from taking several liberties in these past episodes, for example
Changing Cedric's death date in the previous episode
2. Making this scene really awkward and clunky (also isn't the unnecessary presentation of Grell as universally annoying kinda old and tired and dropped by Yana in all of Grell's recent manga chapters?)
Like why's he looking like that. This entire segment was awkwarddd
Couldn't have given her a bit of a frame?
No reason to change his lines like that
Also unnecessary. The anime is obsessed with putting that man's name in her mouth.
They took your beauty away babygirl
I think I am very biased so feel free to tell me I'm making a big deal out of nothing but the subtext and framing kind of changes the entire scene. I could write an ESSAY.
3. The seceder bit
Again, seemingly small changes change the characterisation and dynamic of the scene. "What makes them want to run" vs "Do they think they can escape" is a massive difference in how the Association is viewed by its employees and the way it operates. Workplace vs Prison/Cult. Clinical vs oppressive. Especially since resentment for the Association plays a role in the main antagonist's entire arc, I think that line was sort of important. But who knows? Perhaps it is all just a mistranslation?
And of course,
4. The infamous suicide loredrop panel
We can still make out that it's Sascha hanging themselves. The art in the anime is a little more three-dimensional, and there's no pesky text bubbles obscuring the scenes. But the nails? A very deliberate choice of the animators. Especially after that little bit of dialogue both in the manga and the anime where Grell once again is being very vocal about her love of red. However, knowing that the initial manga panel did not make that explicit in any way, and also being aware of the fact that Grell was most likely not out and/or even aware of her own identity up until the OVA, I doubt she was getting her nails done as a human. Don't ask me my thoughts on that unless you want me crying and spiralling.
Indeed, if you accept that Grell committed suicide by slitting her wrists, that makes UT the only person that fits the drowning panel in any capacity. However I do believe there's a chance that Yana is playing with our heads here; the panels could be metaphorical, a red herring, picturing completely random suicies (+Sascha) or even presenting the shinigami we already know in their human skins, which might not be what we expect. Their backgrounds are unknown to us and all we're working with is their personality now, the knowledge that they all once committed suicide, and the rest is pure conjecture.
So I guess this brings me to the conclusion that we really do not have any more information than we already did, and any tweaks on the side of the animator team could easily be just arbitrary. Personally, I am not a fan of how this was handled in the anime, and I like to be surprised by the media I am consuming, so I am content in making my silly little headcanons and waiting for yana to drop another hint. I don't know if any of all this meant something to anyone but thank you for reading through it.
🌿 Sascha and Ludger in traditional German costumes. They have to be from Nürnberg, so I drawn them in traditional Bavarian costumes. I'm so happy with the result! P.S. I headcanon Sascha as a girl, but if Yana will reveal they're a boy, I'll draw them in a male traditional costume.
Please check my video in which I analyze these characters!
Omg y'all what if when a reaper has finally repent for their sins, they get this ceremony for their reincarnation called 'graduation' and all of their reaper friends can attend to say their goodbyes
