trust me my blog is like the number one place to complain about the Reira stuff. mostly because Reira feels so insanely real to me personally. very similar feelings as Yuusaku (Yuusaku some days felt like an apology for Reira, some days not) they instilled real trauma into a real guy and animated it. and then gave them an awful ending because fuck you
every part of Reira's character feels more than undone by this choice. killing off a character is a conclusion. they rode it out and they died, and people get to mourn them, and grapple with what happened. genuinely if Reira was allowed to die we would get more from it because Leo (and Reiji and Himika) would have to grapple with the fact they are in part of the reason why a person, a child, died. obviously not a great plot point in the "everyone let's smile" show, but part of life does involve dealing with loss, and the closest person in the world to me died when the two of us were six, so ten isn't exactly the youngest a child has died. but think about it. the subtle kindness of Shinji that made Reira not prioritize the mission, but rather their own feelings. Jack seeing the potential, grit, in Reira's dead soulless eyes because he had those same dead eyes once. whatever Ray did. it means less than nothing because that Reira that believed in those things is not dead, but rather missing. Reira doesn't get to keep the kindness of strangers, since Reira gets everything factory reset. sure the "trauma" is reset for "everyone's delight", but so are the happy moments. the moments Reira actually got to be a kid, playing with Crow and Shinji's kids, being allowed to find solace in characters like Yuuya and Sora. those people aren't going to be around when Reira gets older. when Reira turns ten again, Yuuya is going to be 24. I think he'll be saddled with the memories of hanging out with Reira, but realistically he's not going to have time for them, same with everyone else Reira had emotional connections to, of which just don't exist anymore (Shinji only calls Reira kid because he didn't know their name and never really had a reason to learn it. since Reira doesn't know Shinji anymore, this actually vital connection is now gone to the ether)
and yeah, again, the idea that Reira's trauma is just toooo great absorbing Zarc that they regressed, completely in limbo with how much memory they have is just. so cruel. Reira was a great character because they DIDN'T subscribe to Yuuya's ideals WITHOUT being an antagonist. they don't duel for fun because they literally cannot. they cannot find love in it because of how poorly their fragile mental state was handled. they were in a desperate place and they were nothing but something to be remolded by genuinely awful people. cuz like, that doesn't not happen. people do take advantage of oppressed and abused children for their uses, including family members
there is nothing kind about a mind wipe. not even Shun would have been better off forgetting that Yuuto and Ruri existed (still insanely cruel). there is no kindness in pointing a gun at Reira and shrugging, saying "well, we can't be sure therapy would help you, so, this is better!", especially when Reira is just going back into the hands of the people who ruined their life to begin with. Himika can say over and over that "now" they have the chance to do it right, but considering how messed up she made Reiji, who added to Reira's trauma, I think a third chance isn't deserved so immediately. the Akabas should never haven gotten near Reira.
