I think im so upset about chariot and croix...
Honestly though, I feel like the series itself addresses that? Like, how Chariot and Croix act in the show are two responses to their previous failure. And they do bad things but toward the end they become more reconciled with their failure and start moving toward a place of healing and growth (as shown by the last scene, where croix promises to return chariot’s flight/redeem herself) but I do feel like this could have been developed better overall.
you’re right of course, they go into it a little.
Especially when it comes to Chariot, she resolves to help and protect Akko whatever the cost so she can shine more brightly that she ever has. And she made that happen! That’s a positive way to deal with such failure.
But GOD, that second to last scene with Croix, when Croix is like: I never could have imagined that belief = magic. And Chariot is like: this is way beyond us.
I’m like....NOO?!?! Croix was the one to coin the catchphrase: ‘a believing heart is your magic’ in the first place! (and she found out that emotion can translate into magic bc she’s literally brilliant) Chariot performed this whole idea with GREAT effect (on Akko and Diana). Though they failed, they were the basis to success. They were the ones to pass the torch.
Why couldn’t they have had Chariot combine the stick with the rod together with Akko? As a way to say: you WERE worthy, and the way you made this moment possible, of finally being able to truly connect with your fan and your student - you could do it. And you have redeemed yourself - and the magic knows!
There was so much build-up for Croix’s (and Chariot’s) damagedness because of their joint failures. They spent so much time on Chariot havind developed such an insecure and unsure persona, wracked with guilt and regret and clearly some kind of loneliness. Croix turned to such cruelty and hatred and even more broken sense of superiority to deal with every single one of her messes. So much time in the show was spent on the results that their failures had on themselves, on their dynamic, leading them to outright lethal conflict. But very little time was spent on how they even got there. And basically no time was spent on their reconciliation. On all of that exploding in another failure but ultimately SUCCESS
And so little time, most importantly, was spent on the utterly most failed failure of a character in the show: Croix. She suffered not just one, but two, three MAJOR failures in the whole show - with absolutely devastating effect. And she is never allowed to express true remorse for the horrible shit she did, she’s not forgiven, her contributing to the World Reconstruction Magic is minor if essential - but she’s not given the screentime to come to grips with that - to move past ten-year-long hurt and ultimate devastation towards recovery of true self-worth.
Her resolve to heal Wagandea Sickness is a small indication that she’s somehow made a huge stride without any scene in which they maybe talk about how terribly they hurt each other.
so...it’s true they made small gestures. But honestly it feels like Chariot and Croix just failed period. Like the narrative is like: you failed, period, and you’re not really important enough to spend more time on you truly recovering from that failure, on you regaining self-worth and human connection.
That makes me feel deeply sad because failure....well I think the anime itself SHOWED how it can absolutely wreck ya
