WHY THE RED EYES DON’T WORK ANYMORE: A LENTHY RANT ((SPOILERS FOR THE DEMON SLAYER MANGA INCLUDED))
This post was inspired by everyone over at @antiloreolympus. Hey y’all!
Persephone’s red eyes stopped being impactful when RS gave her red eyes for every strong emotion (including horny) while removing the accompanying effects associated with red eyes (primal goddess form, uninhibited powers) and allowing other gods to have red eyes too.
The red eyes would be more terrifying if they were exclusive to Persephone’s dread queen alter ego and accompanied by violence.
The popular Demon Slayer manga makes very good use of red eyes by making this trait exclusive to a single character (Kanao Tsuyuri) while enhancing the impact of the eyes by demonstrating that they are a side-effect of using one’s enhanced strength (out of anger/need for vengeance) and have lasting consequences (permanent vision loss or even complete blindness).
Basically, when a change in appearance is rare, exclusive to a single character, is indicative of only one thing and is accompanied by lasting consequences, said change in appearance leaves a greater impact on the audience/reader and allows them to truly grasp the significance of the moment/the sheer emotional turbulence undergone by the character.
The red eyes in LO don’t really have meaning anymore! RS could’ve done what Demon Slayer did and I really thought that’s what she was going for initially what with all the hype about Persephone’s dread queen form..
TLDR: I just really dislike the character design, writing and use of colour in LO, ok?