This opinion is beautiful! And so is the painting!
Yuuri's parched lips trembled a little as he blew the little air that remained in his lungs into the mateki. His little gamble was the only thing that stood between an aggressive hoard of raging Svelerans ahead and a rampaging sand bear behind them, this is all that stood between life and death - and not just his own but that of his friends who had followed him into the human lands and the mine workers whom he had promised hope. This was the first time that he realised how much he stood to lose, how much he had to protect. He was scared that too much was being asked of his half-hearted, long forgotten musical education.
A single, terrible note emanated from the instrument as his nervous breath rattled through it. It did not offer much promise to his vassals or his recently inducted subjects. However that single tone reverberated through the blood rushing through his veins and resonated through the sandy dunes that surrounded the quickly evolving, flammable scene - magnified thousand times over. At once, a strange tranquility descended upon Yuuri and he felt more rooted to this world and all its lifeforms than he had ever experienced before. He thought to himself, 'If not me.. who?'
He took in a deep breath and blew in with all his mind and mind. Before he had realised as much, his fingers moved in practiced symphony, emanating a song that remained quietly buried under adolescent humdrum, somewhere in his childhood memories. He thanked his younger self for having practiced so hard for the little concerts back then - for close to no effort had to be made for this one, orchestrated in the middle of a desert.
He stopped playing and opened his eyes. To his great disappointment, not much had changed - his heart fought madly against the sinking feeling rising steeply from his guts. Quite suddenly then, a swift wind picked up, and in the distance, just above the Sveleran sand clouds he saw dense thunderstorm gathering ominously. He blew into the instrument harder and concentrated deeply, until he became one with the rain that fell on the white hot sands and the lightning that clamoured overhead the assailants until they finally retreated.
Yuuri had gone back to playing the demon flute many times since that first time - and now he knew that the mateki was another instrument that gave physical form to his majutsu - he could assimilate, within his being, the element of water using the mateki. Therefore, although in the beginning his practice caused cyclonic thunderstorms for days on an end, now he could make it simply drizzle happily or bring it pouring down in sheets of deep mourning.
He realised much later what maryoku meant or what majutsu did. It was not a magical stone that had to be mined or a glass of water that could be drunk. In fact, it was not a tangible physical entity at all. It was nothing and everything at the same time. He played the flute looking for that feeling where nothing but the music of the flute remained - everything around him evaporated like a stale dream. A state of peace and longing, of lost and found, of holding on and letting go at the same time. People called it meditation, concentration, practice.. and until he was 15 he called it those things too.
But now he knew better. That feeling of transcendence was majutsu.
P.S. : all of this is entirely a personal opinion, not canon.
As is I was hyped for Novel 18 after finishing Novel 17 with its various cliffhangers and plot twists!! Now I know what might take place and that it is dark and it involves my dear Wolf and YuuRam moments as well!!! My heart cannot take it!! Please Takabayashi-sensei update!!!!
I hope she writes before I turn into a skeleton while waiting for it.... I'll become like Kohhi and go haunt her then...
Whats your personal analysis summary/ any thoughts of the last novel 17
Sorry for the late reply. What are my personal thoughts on novel 17? I’ll try my best:
Let me itemize the main points:
1) Shinou: Shinou gets out of the pouch thing, by borrowing maryoku, meaning that he doesn’t have it himself. He then has Anissina work for him, to keep him in the physical world with a sort of battery (underwear), so that he doesn’t have to be borrowing strength from Ulrike constantly. This gives him freedom of movement. At the end of the novel he will threat Wolfram to work for him, making sure he won’t say anything to Yuuri, he also threatens him saying: You’d do anything for the person you love and your family right? You’ve always been like this. Making it clear they’re not safe if Wolfram doesn’t agree to his terms. Assessment: Shinou’s an ass.2) Water box: In novel 17, the guys find out about the water box in Darco. At the end of the novel Yuuri will touch his box. We already know from stories after novel 17 (e.g Do you want an exorcism?), that touching the box has affected him and given him yet another personality. Only Wolfram, who was in close proximity to his box, knows how Yuuri felt, however it doesn’t seem like they can share notes, based on Shinou getting in the way? Yuuri was saved by Conrad because everyone else in the room was being electrocuted. Assessment: Water box is gonna be a problem, or is it?3) Ranatan: The Prison warden who looks and talks just like Yuuri’s mom. She said that she wanted to ‘become one with the box’ to stop it. But I always wondered… weren’t the boxes not supposed to be reactive to regular people? Here’s what the novel said:Her mind was slowly corrupted, and the sense of responsibility she had towards anything sinful, lost out to her own desire for the Box. In the end, she even considered merging her destiny with the Box. If she’d gone on like that, it really would have led her, to be destroyed with it.Why did she want the box so much? Why was she getting destroyed? Didn’t the guys at Big Shimaron had a box for a long time and it was just in storage? I know, the fire box responded to Alazon’s plead and brought Saralegui back to life, but Alazon was powerful and had houryoku and was in an enchanted tunnel… what did Ranatan have? So I’ve talked about this in the past, it has been made pretty clear in the novels that half-mazoku, half humans, don’t really possess maryoku (not even Conrad, and he’s a direct descendant from Shinou). The other thing is that Murata says “the keys” have to be bound to a soul and to a particular bloodline. Why would Yuuri have the water key if he’s not a Wincott? So, he must be. So who’s the Wincott? Yuuri’s dad? Or his mom, that looks like Ranatan who was corrupted by the box? My personal opinion is that there’s something fishy here. I think Ranatan might have been a half-key, and that’s why the box corrupted her. (The Wincotts were human at some point remember? They ruled Caloria until they ‘went crazy’ and were kicked out). Assessment: I think her character introduction had a purpose.4) Kinan and Hawk-eye: This novel closes one of the mysteries of maurma. Why did Kinan shoot Wolfram in novel 9!? It is explained that Kinan was promised the body of his older brother who allegedly died at war 20 years ago in Big Shimaron. However! It is discovered here, that his brother is Hawkeye, alive in Darco, and Conrad pretty much reunited them at the prison (the ‘reunion’ hasn’t taken place yet, but will, now that both of them are in the prison). Assessment: Explanation completed.5) Conrad goes back home: Well, final-fucking-ly! What is going on with this dude!? Wasn’t he planting seeds in Shimaron? Now he’s back? I feel he should have ‘been back’ after Seisa. His explanation of ‘needing to grow seeds of democracy? Anti-monarchy? Who knows what in Shimaron didn’t happen at all cuz he ended up in the prison right after Seisa. I’m just glad he’s back, but what was he even doing? Are we supposed to take the info in the ura cd at face value? Did Shinou scare him after giving him the arm? I don’t know, but I would like a proper explanation for his constantly irrational behavior, and we haven’t gotten one besides the ‘Takabayashi-sensei hates him and doesn’t want him around’. I’m sure there are many ways one could explain what he did, the drama cd explanation was good. Can we get that in writing? Assessment: We still don’t understand anything about this boy.6) Fanfanis a baddie: Not confirmed but he seems to be looking for the boxes. Cherie’s relationship may not last long. Assessment: Future enemy?7) Royal Couple: “ Those words hurt me deeply inside my heart, a pain as though I was burnt in an instant. Because I had an experience like that, in which I nearly lost my most important person, just because he was wearing someone else’s clothes. “And this is what Yuuri thinks when Hawkeye tells him about what he had done. Yuuri used the ‘most important person’ line, which we all know what that means in this novel, to refer to Wolfram. Assessment: Royal couple ftw!Finally the afterword: Takabayashi sensei says that the next novel will be darker and with emphasis on Wolfram. A drama cd with canon info that came out after novel 17, mentions that Wolfram will be aloof and sneaking out for fire box/Shinou purposes in the middle of the night, while Yuuri has no clue and thinks he’s cheating. Murata and Josak seem to be onto the fact that something’s off and will be investigating. As we know, Shinou threatened Wolfram with hurting Yuuri and his family if he says something, so he won’t be talking. It looks like novel 18 will be awesome…. that’s if …it ever gets written.
Tom Hiddleston in Marvel Assembled: The Making of Loki Season 2
Ignore the lack of shading and colouring. I just outlined it. Someday, when I start digital art then I'll correct this. It didn't turn out that well, but it is decent- so it's fine.
He’s about to say something formal again so I pat his back hard without hesitation, and it gives me a feeling of reality, like “Ah—right here”. I’m here, and so is Wolfram.
“Because we’re already back.”
We’re all here, be it Conrad, Murata… or Josak.
“I can’t say for all of it, but I brought us back with my own strength.”
“Uh-huh.”
The sea breeze caresses Wolfram’s hair, and he nods his head firmly in reply, very naturally extending his hand to me, standing on the side of the port,
“Come home, everyone is waiting for you.”
Nobody knows how things will turn out in the future, but this country will definitely change.
I follow the creaking staircase as I climb upwards, preparing to return home.
This is my attempt at illustrating Wolf extending his hand to Yuuri in this scene. I have wanted to do it for a long time, so I did. I'll get back to it and improve it someday, but for now this is it.
Just to add, Wolfram behaves more impulsively because of Cecilie's shampoo, and all the events that happened after it. So, Wolfram wouldn't really have done all that if not for his heightened emotions and his disdain for "the new maou" that came up suddenly. I feel like people tend to forget that part and label Wolfram as impulsive, when clearly he is not. He is just your cute haughty Wagamama Puu- "A yapping Pomeranian" in Yuuri's words. And we see his character development as well, and a lot at that, while he also keeps this cute to a fault side going.
Wolfram is a precious little one, and I'll always defend him.
Since I really didn't have anything to share yet (cause my fic is making me sweat buckets) so I thought I could share this awesome part of how our Royal Couple were engaged. It is so amazingly written that every line makes me laugh and hold a different emotion.
You feel it more once you thoroughly know all the novel characters, or have travelled with them through some part of the 17 volume long adventure. It is a wonderful and tender feeling, when you know how they'd grow from this point on. And develop because of a misunderstanding of all things!All you need is a quick read of chapter 4 of volume 1 and you find so much.
Conrart's years of wait and his mission when he assures Wolfram that he can never mistake Yuuri.
Gwendal's years of dedication and calm care when he accepts Yuuri but had increased frown lines when he concluded that Yuuri didn't want to be a Maou- knowing him it was probably his way of taking care of him, probably indirectly saying "You don't need to burden yourself with something you don't want to do".
We also see Wolfram's judgement, as even though he was annoyed but he had his reasons because he didn't want to witness this country go through another war. All he wanted was a ruler who loved this country and he'd serve him gladly. Thankfully he did get one.
We see the forshadowing of Julia's soul when Yuuri mentions he can always know when Conrart is smiling.
We see a Günter in the initial stage of becoming Heika fanatic and spilling juices all around.
We see Cecilie's love for her children, and her husbands. Their unique but endearing mother-son bond.
We see the acceptance of homosexuality as another form of love. Because, love is free to pursue!- in Lady Cheri's words.
We also witness Shin Makoku's culture, it's delicacies and know how different it is just as much as it is similar. (Admit it, we are all secretly glad for Yuuri's clumsiness- and him not wanting to punch the beautiful face🤣)
All of this woven humorously, just like how Takabayashi-sensei does. And, I realise, yet again, just how much this novel means to me.
So Yuuri and Wolfram are in completely separate places, but I want you to notice how in the scenes with other characters the ‘Dacascos and Adalbert’ scene, and ‘Anissina and Greta’, they all talk about Yuuri and Wolfram as partners, good match/ideal partners, etc. Then, there’s Yuuri who’s constantly thinking of Wolfram (especially when he’s not well)
—————————————————————— Novel 11. ch.2 -Yuuri thinking of Wolf -
“But with such bad turbulence, even people other than Wolf would find it hard, right? I don’t usually get seasick, but now my stomach’s all bloated, and I feel like I’m going to vo-vo-vo-vomit—Mph!”
Before tragedy can strike, I clasp my hand over my mouth, my throat full of bitterness. Thank goodness I didn’t just eat.
—————————————————————— Novel 11. ch.3 -Wolfie’s rumors-
As expected of Gisela, not only does she watch Wolfram, who’s imagining a crazy drunk Grantz, expressionlessly, she’s also remembering the rumors on the street about Lord von Bielefeld at the same time. He may look cute, but he has a shocking alcohol tolerance, and he doesn’t go crazy after he gets drunk either, could that be true? She wants to verify the validity of this rumor. Compared to that adopted father of hers, who strips stark naked, wears his underwear on his head and starts dancing madly whenever he drinks, she wonders, who’ll be more fun when they’re drunk?
—————————————————————— Novel 11. ch.3 -Gossips-
“Although he’s only sixteen, I heard that his love life is really colorful! I don’t know if it’s true or false, but I heard that he got engaged to the previous Maou’s third son a long time ago?”
“That’s right, that’s true. That’s why His Excellency Günter’s nose ran like a river, and he cried while biting onto his handkerchief! But most of the people are happy to see it. In the bet for His Majesty’s affections, His Excellency Wolfram is rather popular too. But that’s unsurprising, since they’re such a good match! Aiya, like that time when the two of them were hiding together in the fruit carton, I thought they were some foreign dolls and couldn’t look away! But I spent three month’s worth of salary to bet on His Excellency Günter—I’ll just take it as my congratulatory present for them.”
—————————————————————— Novel 11. ch.3 -If he has the most ideal partner by his side -
“Don’t act so violently in front of children, look how scared Greta is. I understand your hopes and concerns for your little brother. But these things happen in the world, situations when you’ve done your all and things still don’t go your way. Some people are just that unlucky, so all you can say is that he’s born under an unlucky star.”
“Is Wolfram the Little Prince (/Prince from the Stars)?”
The little girl asks, her voice nasally as she holds back tears.
After releasing her childhood friend’s hand, Anissina smile brightly at Greta,
“Maybe? But maybe not. Wolfram may be the Little Prince, but he might not be a king. However that doesn’t have to be an unlucky thing, Greta. Even if he can’t win on his own, if he has the most ideal partner, and he’s standing by his side, they can bring out a power that’s stronger than his innate strength.”
—————————————————————— Novel 11. ch.5 - It’s like no one else can comfort him-
“I’m guessing it might because I’m too wound up. Rather than call it gastric pains… it’s more like I ate too much and feel tight in my chest.”
“Could it be a cold? Maybe you were too worn out that time when we were drifting on the sea.”
And sometimes I get headaches and horrible chills too, very evidently the pre-symptoms of a cold.
(…) And I deduce that this sense of discomfort isn’t a cold, but due to pressure.
I’ve been in a series of emergency situations since Small Shimaron, and I didn’t have any friends during the trip. Josak is definitely a comrade I can rely on, and is a trustworthy guard, but that’s different from the sense of safety Wolfram gives me. Because we can’t banter with each other, and comfort each other.
—————————————————————
Yuuram in Novel : 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17
* dead *
Seems sensei loves killing Connie as much as she loves killing us with these!
To anyone out there wondering: part 2 of ”It happens to everyone” (Which Takabayashi sensei wrote in English as the title being: “It comes equally to everyone”- sensei’s English is not good, she made a mess with other titles too) and a short “Shibuyas” (from the Winter 2019 doujinshi) is translated and available on Baka-tsuki; doujinshi section. Thank you to the translator! Go read if you haven’t!
And now, to the spoilers! (under the cut)
Keep reading
Loki is like "When will they learn?"
I’m gonna have to ask you to turn that prisoner over to me.
Vanitas from 'The Case Study of Vanitas'
He looks so cute in this! A very interesting character!
*credits to the author and the one who edited this picure*
I agree with the last point you made. Greta is her own person and Yuuri and Wolf understand and support it. And, we all know that Yuuri, being raised on Earth, has accepted the circle of life and death and it's short span (even though we still don't know about his acceptance of his long life- if he would have one). Plus, Wolfram slowly accepting Conrart shows his slow acceptance of losing his loved ones while he is still 'young'. I am sure that the moment they thought of becoming a parent to Greta they must've, at some point, thought of this issue.
This just gave me a nice fanfic idea. Mind if I borrow it?
Something I’ve been curious about but haven’t seen anyone bring this up but since Greta is a human does that mean she’ll age Wayyy faster than her dads (wolf and yuri) like she’s human so she’ll age like one right? Hence her lifespan is much shorter, am I correct? (And like does this mean she might like die before them????)
This has been brought up a couple of times over the years, but it’s always good to revisit the topic for the new fans. Option 1: They can all move to Earth and age at the same rate
The ‘moving to earth’ thing would be a fix to the problem. The fathers would only be slightly older, but they could still be a happy family and all age at the same rate. (I also think Takabayashi sensei is partial to the word ‘daddy’ in English for Wolf, as shown in her work.) In Yuuri’s ‘dream’ Wolf and Greta aged at the same rate as him, meaning this is most likely what would happen if they moved to Earth.
However, Takabayashi sensei has said she does not want to have an ‘Earth arc’ (her excuse is that the anime team did it before she had a chance and now she can’t do it). Whether she’ll stick to this or not it’s up to her.
---------------------------------------------------------
Option 2: Magic/Majutsu/Maryoku
How did the mazoku end up aging so slowly? The green tribe. (novel 1) They’ve only been in Shin Makoku for 2000 years and people are already averaging a life span of 400 years (In “Do you want an exorcism?”, Yuuri said the "middle aged/old meddling neighbor lady” was about 250, 80x5= 400 ).
Before the green tribe showed up mazoku aged at the same rate as humans. It was the green tribe’s healing majutsu that caused the longevity of mazoku. In fact, earth mazoku age at the same rate as humans. The difference being that there’s no maryoku on earth.
What about Yuuri, what is it that he does again? Oh right, yeah, his box is the box of regeneration. And what else can he do? Yup, healing.
And who has he healed already? Greta. In fact, Greta is the only person he has healed. He tried healing Wolf, too, but he would let him.
An absolute possibility is that Greta gets so irradiated with healing majutsu that it will naturally slow her aging.
---------------------------------------------------------
Option 3: Natural aging, but it’s okay
Yes, Greta is the cute little princess of Shin Makoku now, but she’s getting educated to be queen. Remember when in novel 4, Hyscliff told Yuuri, what if her people want her back? What if she becomes queen? Shouldn’t she be prepared? Yuuri agreed and sent her to study abroad. In fact, she spends half her life getting educated to be queen.
Yes, she wants to be a ‘trap lady’ and have adventures now. She would love following in Anissina’s footsteps. But she’s 10.
Greta could very much end up having to return to Svelera. Currently, the revolutionary government is ‘destroying monuments of the past’ to erase the memories. So clearly people are still very much remembering their monarchs. She might be given a chance to go back. What if she’s 16+ and can choose? What if she wants to do it? There’s a another huge possibility that she’ll have to part from Yuuri and Wolf’s side much sooner. At 16, Yuuri would be 22.
But it’s okay. It’s life. When Yuuri had to see her leave for Cavalcade there were tears too, but it’s part of growing up. And if Greta wants to return to her country, she should.
She’ll marry, have a family and Yuuri and Wolf will have time to adapt to her being away, being grandparents, visiting, etc.
Greta will grow up one way or another. Who wants to be a kid forever? And that’s okay. When people say “Omg! she’ll age way faster!" it’s like they forget that parents don’t really have their kids at home forever. Sure you visit your kids and grand kids, but you don’t live with them. You let them go be their own person.
People make it seem like ‘she’s dying now!’, but that’s not it. She’ll grow older and separate from her fathers long before she dies. She’ll live a full life, marry? rule? have adventures? have kids? all of this in her own life without her fathers, long before she dies. (I know, they’ll visit; but if you’re old enough to understand, you know living with parents and getting a visit once a month, or every half a year, is not the same)
And sure, yeah. It’ll be sad if she passes of old age and Yuuri and Wolf are still young, but look! It’s okay.
Culturally, we say things like “A parent should never bury a child” but that’s only because due to the rules of our bodies, if a child dies before the parents it is due to a tragic event/ illness” not because they lived their lives to the fullest.
We have many cultural pre-conceptions that wouldn’t apply, if , like in this case, both the parent and child can live long fulfilled lives. As the child of old parents, I wouldn’t mind if they they were young and lived happily while I die of old age. Who would? They’re family and you love them.
When it comes to a fantasy world like this, we need to expand our mind a little bit and try to get rid of cultural bias to understand what a full natural life cycle would entail when it comes to Greta aging and Yuuri and Wolf’s perception of it.
A book adict. Drowning in ORV feels like a sunfish. An anime, manga and LN addict. A good story craver. A Marvel and DC fan. A crazy fan! Love fandoms!
254 posts