Twisted Wonderland's 2025 anniversary cards and what it says about the characters
English is not my first language and I translated this with the translator, as I'm in a hurry to finish the chocolates for Easter, so please excuse any grammatical errors.
Feel free to comment on what you thought about the character cards, maybe some of your thoughts make more sense than my conclusion, and by the way, it's always good to hear from other people about things you like!!
It's really cool to see how seriously the characters in Twisted Wonderland take self-care. I thought this was just something Pomefire did, but no!!
The worst part is that it makes a lot of sense!!
Initially, I thought 'the fact that they look like they're wearing makeup is for the game's aesthetics or to make the characters look better and sell more!!', but boy, was I wrong!!
From the beginning of the game we notice that most of the characters are hostile and only think about themselves (I mean literally the beginning of the game, before the overblots).
Crowley himself tells us that the students never work as a team and would rather lose than carry all the victory and glory on their backs. They see themselves as the best and are full of ego, and whether we like it or not, isn't ego a type of heightened self-esteem?
Yes, as the game progresses we see that they are like onions, full of layers. And this ego is just a fragile wall encrusted with diamonds that hides their true feelings and internal conflicts.
But this self-care doesn't go away, this ego of wanting to be the best creates a 'friendly' rivalry as the game progresses. And it's good to see that they care so much about themselves, how their appearance and way of acting reflects who they are.
And the cherry on the cake is that the pajamas show that there are times when they allow themselves to be comfortable, ignoring everything else and focusing only on themselves. Even if there is a day full of problems, chores and obligations waiting for them outside (and the decision whether they go out or not is theirs, *cough cough* Leona and Idia *cough cough*).
And what's more, despite them getting ready and taking care of themselves, in some cards we have small moments where those who show themselves to be the strongest and most self-assured, are 'vulnerable', with their walls down.
It's funny how few images reveal more about them than practically half the game.
I don't know if you understood what I meant, but it would be practically that despite all the bad things they faced, they still allow themselves to get up and get ready and take care of themselves. And this perfectly matches the type of student that Dark Mirror brings to the NRC!!
These birthday cards are simply the most brilliant idea they've ever done (not really, TWST is like a box of surprises lol).
Well here are some pictures of the characters and notes about:
Jamil has always been someone full of obligations and responsibilities, I wonder how long it took him to learn how to do such a complex hairstyle in less than 5 minutes.
He seems to have few beauty products and I think this is due to the fact that he has to avoid drawing attention to himself, hence the basic makeup and a few decorations here and there.
I hope I'm wrong in thinking that this is one of the few moments where he can think only of himself and not of Kalim and his obligations as a servant of the Al-Asim family.
On the other side, we have Sebek, someone who always tries to appear confident and flawless in order to be the perfect servant for his lord Malleus-sama!!
In this letter, we have him wrapped in a blanket and thoughtful, even though Lilia and Malleus never demand much from him about not making mistakes, this is something that doesn't enter his head.
I imagine that Sebek at some point heard the phrase "to make mistakes is human" and thought something like 'And mistakes because I'm half human? How do I make up for that?'
It hurts to think that he might be thinking this.
Of course, he could be thinking about anything in the image, but it seems to be something much more about himself than anything else, much more like anxiety than something banal or trivial.
As I said before, some images show us how they have more layers than what we see on the surface.
Now, Floyd!!
Did anyone else think that he is cleaning his shoes on orders from Azul, like 'It is necessary to have an impeccable uniform to work at the Lougue'?
We know that not even Azul has 'control' over Floyd's actions and it is quite likely that Jade has to encourage her brother sometimes to do these things.
But it is interesting to see that even though Floyd does not seem to enjoy this part of the day, he still does it. Growing up at sea, keeping his shoes clean and polished must be something that Floyd does not see much point in, but he still does it.
Whether it's a way of respecting the ground dwellers (I don't think so), self-care (maybe), or a way of saying something like 'I'm only doing this because Azul and Jade get annoying when my shoes stay dirty for so long' (probably), we'll never know!!
But I see it as a way for the ovto-trio to take care of themselves, influencing each other to do boring things that still preserve their self-care. The way they take care of each other is nice. (◕‿◕)
And lastly, Azul!!
It's cool to see how our leader of Octavinelle appears in the image, just like Sebek, Azul has the habit of always demanding the best of himself, be it in his studies, hobbies, food, in everything.
He always tries to avoid making any mistake, because one mistake and they can use it against him. In the Octavinelle arc we learn a lot about Azul's layers, so it's not a surprise to us that he takes such good care of himself.
It would be clear to us players that Azul takes great care of himself, so showing him putting on makeup like Jamil or keeping his things clean like Floyd would be something we would already expect from him.
But seeing his messy hair, his face without makeup and like someone who just woke up, which is exactly what he did, is surprising.
Showing not the leader of Octavinelle, the perfect and unbeatable owner of Mobstro Lougue, but Azul, Azul Ashegrotto.
Imperfect, perfectly imperfect!! It's good to see this side of him, it shows how much he fought for everything he achieved. Not that we didn't already know his struggles, but seeing this is something else entirely!!
