127 | in which I expand on my thoughts on Wolf's Rain, & update on Jumin's Route in Mystic Messenger

[straightforwardly]

► So, Wolf’s Rain. I have thoughts, and now that I’ve slept, I think I can put them in some semblance of order.

That ending was gutting. I knew vaguely from osmosis that it was sad, but I didn’t expect for every single character in the series to die. Though, I suppose that at the very least the wolves are reincarnated into the new world, which— I’m not quite sure how to feel about that? On one hand, I genuinely like the ending, and am happy that they get a second chance to meet with one another again. On the other hand, I’m not sure that I like them being reborn as humans, as the fact that they’re wolves, and wolves hiding among humans at that, form so much of their characters and what I like about them.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s try this in vaguely chronological order.

Cher’s death really surprised me— not because it happened, but because of how quick and sudden it was. It does bother me that she was the first of the main humans to go, though, because I felt like there was still so much to explore with her character. She intrigued me, but I never felt like I really got to know who she was— so much of what we see of her is filtered through her ex-husband’s memories of her/who he sees her as, and I wanted to see her how she sees herself as.

On a similar note, it does bother me that the ex-husband was the last human to die— I don’t dislike him, but I do think he was the least interesting of the three human characters, and I personally think it would have worked better for me had he been the one to die in the crash, and Cher in the mountains.

I’d pegged the hunter as the next to die, considering how seriously injured he was— which I was sad about, since I found him to be the most interesting human character, but managed to accept the inevitability of it— but Toboe dying with him completely shocked me. I’d cried a bit before then (“You’re not my dog anymore” okay I know he said it to free Blue to go to Paradise with the others but why did you break her heart like that???) but at that point I started crying and didn’t really stop until the last episode finished.

I am glad that Toboe got to die lying besides a human/being petted, considering how much he loved humans; I’m also glad that the hunter realized it was Toboe who saved him from freezing to death that one time, and got to see Blue one last time before he died— I like to think he finally found some semblance of peace. That partial smile when he saw Blue… T_T

Then, of course, Tsume had to take my heart and completely shatter it. He’s been my favorite since the beginning (though Toboe eventually grew to share that spot with him), and 1) his speech to Toboe’s body after the others left was completely heartbreaking, 2) I’m glad that we finally learned his backstory— like with Cher, I felt like I was missing some essential part of what drives Tsume, but with that revelation everything snapped into place to me. His comment about he’d always “betrayed” everyone he was with, before he met them— god, my heart. I couldn’t help but remember that kid falling, and his failing to save to him. And his telling Toboe he wanted to take him to Paradise. So many tears.

Of course, his telling Toboe that their pack was the first time he hadn’t “betrayed”, i.e., failed those he was with made his catching up with the group even more heartbreaking. His failing to catch Cher’s ex-husband as he fell past him (like he failed to save that kid, ugh), his finding Blue dead and Hige dying, and knowing he hadn’t been there to help them— it hurt so bad.

I did get really angry with Hige, though, for guilt-tripping Tsume so hard. I know he wanted Tsume to end his misery for him, but did he have to do it like that??? I don’t want to focus too much on the negative things (by which I mean the things I disliked, not things that were sad— I wouldn’t have anything to talk about if I avoided that, haha), but I have to say, the longer the series went on the less I liked Hige, and I definitely hated him by the end. I also hated Blue/Hige— not only did she deserve better*, but I also never felt like I understood why she liked him, especially since some of his worst moments were in regards to her. Blue was so great, and too much of her screen-time was wasted on awful scenes with Hige.

*I didn’t actually ship anything in this series, though there were relationships that ended up being very important to me (mostly Tsume and Toboe, and Blue and the hunter, though I did also like Tsume and Kiba’s relationship), but I think that if they really had to ship Blue with someone, it… probably should have been Toboe? They could have bonded together over their affection for humans, and that scene where she asks him to protect the hunter if she dies was really cute. I still would have preferred no romance, but I think I could have accepted that one.

(I also really liked Blue and Cher’s interactions, though Blue being an actual wolf kind of got in the way of me shipping it.)

Anyways, back to Tsume. I had a feeling he was going to die protecting Kiba, or at least jump in to save him at one point, to make up for “failing” to be there for the others, so pretty much nothing about his fight with Darcia surprised me. Especially not his death— at that point I figured that only Kiba was going to survive. (I knew Cheza wouldn’t, because she’s an artificially created being in an anime.) I was really touched by how Kiba actually didn’t chase immediately after Cheza, despite her being in danger, and instead went to Tsume— his eyes were so sad. It struck me in that moment that while Kiba cared about the whole pack, it was probably Tsume he was actually the closest to.

I will say that I’m not quite satisfied with what became of Darcia, character-wise. I liked him in the beginning of the series and found him to be a vaguely sympathetic, but some point post-Jagara he really collapsed. He seemed almost like a different person entirely during his fight with Kiba.

When that tree of all seeds froze, I was 100% convinced that Cheza was going to become the new tree, and became even more so when she started transforming. I’m...not completely sure if I was right or not anymore, but she did become the seeds that repopulated the earth, so I think I was at the very least partially right.

During the Darcia-Kiba fight, Darcia said something that I initially didn’t like— he told Kiba that his memories of his pack dying all around him when he was born was a lie, and that he’d always been alone. I’m a bit picky with the “false memories” trope, and felt like that one came out of the blue, and so resolved to ignore it.

But then Kiba collapsed into the field of moon flowers dying, looking just like he did in one of the opening scenes of the series, and I suddenly realized: that memory, of his pack dying around him while he laid in a field of moon flowers? It wasn’t false. It’s just that it wasn’t his birth that he was remembering, but his death.

And when they were reborn into the new world— the city they were in was the same city from the opening theme. And then Kiba started running, just like he did in the opening, and the theme started playing— and the screen went black, the credits rolling as the opening song played, and I was just stunned by the revelation.

One thing that I noticed in the latter-half of the series was the parallels to the beginning*, and I think now it has to do with the themes of the ending as a whole: the cycles of death and rebirth, and renewal and decay. The beginning of the series was actually the end of the series, the beginning of Kiba’s life was (likely) actually the end of his life— the anime’s opening, which is something usually not directly connected to the series itself, is actually its ending. Even though I’m uncertain about my feelings about certain parts of the ending, I definitely do love and admire the structure of it, and how it tied into the structure of the series.

*Some examples of the parallels I noticed: Jagara’s city was actually laid out like the city in the beginning of the series (Freeze City?), with blocks (walkways?) connecting the alleys in place of the pipes that I remembered so well in my vague memories of this series from when I was a kid. The difference was that everything seemed so fresh and bright in Jagara’s city compared to the darkness and grime of Freeze City— though it was just as dirty underneath. There was also a scene between Toboe and the hunter which mirrored one in the beginning involving those pipes and walkways. IIRC, in Freeze City it was the hunter who stood up high, while in Jagara’s city it was Toboe.

One last complaint: at the end of the series, when everyone was worn and beaten down and injured, the female characters— Blue and Cher— were still drawn perfectly pristine. Even when she fell off a cliff and was dying, Cher didn’t have so much as a smudge on her face, whereas when her ex-husband fell off a cliff and was dying, he was beaten up and bleeding everywhere. Blue also died looking perfectly put-together. It really bothers me, and not just because it was really distracting (though that was a reason too), but also because the only explanation I can think of it is a sexist one— the women must always look perfect and pristine. (I also didn’t like Jagara’s motivations, or Hige’s stupid speech to Blue before going to Jagara’s castle— I like the series, but it does have some problems re: this.)

Finally— I feel like there were a lot of fairy tale references throughout? Some of it might be my reaching, though. The one that I’m certain was actually meant was the Little Red Riding Hood reference. I don’t remember the precise episode number, but it was the one where the wolves and Cheza meet the old flower woman. She’s clearly the grandmother figure, living in a cottage in the woods, and she begs Cheza not to go with the wolves— and Cheza gets a pink (or “red”) hood in that episode.

I also got some Snow White vibes from Jagara, mainly because there was a scene where she looked into the mirror and asked the soldier behind her (whose face was reflected in the mirror) if she was the most beautiful. I immediately remembered her eating the wolf’s meat and drinking the wolf’s blood (ick), and thought of the stepmother wanting to eat Snow White’s heart and liver.

My brother also pointed out to me last night that Darcia’s backstory had some elements of a Beauty & the Beast narrative, considering the Darcia family curse, and I do think that makes some sense.

tl;dr I think the series had a lot of flaws, but I still liked it a lot.

► Mystic Messenger update:

First, I feel like I should probably explain why I was so annoyed at Zen the other day? Basically, Jumin allowed himself to be vulnerable on the chat, and then, immediately afterwards, Zen called, laughing himself sick and making fun of Jumin— and then did so again in the next chat, though he teamed up with Seven that time. It was incredibly mean-spirited, and I was horrified.

He’s been irritating me nigh-constantly since then. I initially was charmed by his narcissism, if you recall, because I never felt like it was mean-spirited, and that he genuinely cared about the others— but in this route there were so many moments where he was all, ‘ugh, why are we talking about Jumin when we could be talking about my new role’ and was very much ‘me-me-me-me-me-me-me-me’ about it… and I also feel very uncomfortable with how he talks with the MC? She’s clearly into Jumin at this point, but ever since she went to and has been staying in Jumin’s apartment— Zen seems almost too concerned? The other characters are too, but they don’t push like he does, and he keeps talking about “rescuing” her, and, I don’t know, I don’t think I’m explaining it well, but tl;dr he’s making me feel really uncomfortable, and I’m not even actually in that situation.

There were a few moments where I was happy with him— how, after he has his psychic dream, he warns Jumin about it because he knows how much he loves Elizabeth, the other brief moments where he genuinely worries about Jumin (and some of the others), when he said that if Jumin decided to take care of his cat, then “he should be with her until the end”*— but in general, not best pleased with him right now.

*Mainly because that’s my family’s philosophy to animals— it’s a life-contract.

Anyways, there’s a lot to cover from the past few days, so let me go back to the start. Initially, I really liked how the Jumin romance was more of a slow-burn? Not precisely, of course, because there’s only 11 days no matter how you slice it, but I liked that unlike with the Zen and Yoosung routes, it wasn’t already taken as a given on Day 5 that Jumin and the MC would be a couple, though they were marked as being clearly close.

Jumin’s turn to the possessive did take me by surprise— though maybe it shouldn’t have, considering that scene with Elizabeth 3rd in the cage. He does clearly seem to realize that it’s a problem, though, and worked to overcome it. Though, in one phone call he made a joke about the MC going into the cage, and I thought, “whelp, it’s Toma all over again!” Haha.

One thing that did confused me: He said to the MC… last night? This morning? Idk anymore, but recently he said to her in a VN segment that she’s “warm and soft… unlike Rika.” They’d talked about Rika before, true, but not in that moment, and it felt like it came out of the blue. Also… I’m intrigued, because pretty much everyone seems to have remembered Rika as being kind and warm, and here is Jumin, one of her childhood friends, saying that she wasn’t? Curious.

There were more references to the game being a game, from both Seven and Yoosung. Weirdly enough, there were also two werewolf mentions? In one of the thought-bubbles, Zen thinks, “My heart races when I see a full moon. Maybe I’m a warewolf descendent?” (Spelling errors retained.) Then, later in a chat Seven says:

Seven: “The moon up!!!”
Seven: “Ahwoooo~~~!!!!”
Seven: “When the moon is up”
Seven: “my focus level”
Seven: “goes up like crazy.”
Seven: “Maybe I have wolf blood in my veins. lol”

The moral of this story is that there should be a werewolf AU for this game, haha. (Though probably not a Wolf’s Rain AU.... T_T)

Also, Seven later made a Harry Potter joke. :D

Zen: ”What the hell do you read in your free time?”
Seven: “All the books in this world.”
MC: “Let’s be more serious about this.”
Seven: “Yup!:
Seven: “Serious!”
Seven: “Sirius Black!”
Zen: “...Just shut up.”

I did really relate to Jumin’s relationship with Elizabeth 3rd in the first few days, though that went away after he went into lovey-dovey mode, ahahaha. ._. Also, the game did go to the people > cats route, and I’m disappointed by that. Though, I do like when the MC is comforting him about his feelings of loneliness, she pointed out that he’s not alone— he has the other members of the RFA, “including Jaehee”. I really liked that Jaehee got a special mention— and, on that note, I really like how the Jaehee & MC friendship is developing on this route. ♥

Though, I was touched by how worried some of the members got after she got lost— Seven and Yoosung even changed their profile picture/background to her! And Seven’s profile text at that point: “My Elly T_T Elly T_T_T_T_T....” I was really worried too, I’ll admit, even though I knew it’d probably turn out fine. I can’t help it— I’m weak for animals in distress.

I’m super concerned about Seven. In this route, he also went to the hacker’s place with Yoosung, with predictable results (though no one got permanently injured this time, at least not physically.) There’s… actually a lot about that trip I want to unpack, so let’s go in somewhat chronological order.

First, Seven gives the RFA instructions about what to do if he disappears for 5+ hours.

Seven: “1. Call Mary Vanderwood the 3rd, the number I left with Yoosung.”
Seven: “2. When you are connected say the password.”
Seven: “The password is “ASDFQWERRTYASDF123””
Seven: “3. When you hear the voice say “it has been processed”, hang up and throw the phone into the river.”
Seven: “4. Don’t try to find out what happened and go back to your daily lives.”

It’s that last one that gets to me, honestly. :/

One thing that confused me: Yoosung called about driving home before the confrontation with V— before the chat where it’s discovered that Elizabeth’s is at the hacker’s place! That surprised me— I wonder if it was a mistake? In the phone call, he’s worrying about Seven (and says he’s “stronger than anyone I know” awww ♥), and has Elizabeth with him— to quote, “And tell Jumin Elizabeth is safe in my arms. I feel like we solve one thing and another just blew up.”

So I was really confused when the next chat started, and Yoosung was still at the hacker’s place, waiting for Seven to come back. Though I’m amused that it was Zen who noticed that Elizabeth 3rd was in the picture that Yoosung showed them. (And that, in a later chat, Jaehee first said that “Elizabeth can’t get hurt or anything” before correcting herself to say, “both of you can’t get hurt”.)

I was initially surprised when Seven didn’t recognize Unknown (considering my brothers theory). But then he did after a moment, which makes me wonder if, assuming my theory is right, they were separated when they were young?

I really want to know what happened between them, agh. One thing that Unknown said that struck me was this: “Even if I forgive everyone else… not you…! Never!”

Afterwards, I checked on the thought-bubbles, and one of Seven’s came up that said this: “In the beginning there was earth… no the universe… and there wasn’t any place for me…”

He also called a MC a bit later on, and dropped what I think are more delicious hints about his past in guise of advising her on her relationship with Jumin. Things like, “...If you make the decision to leave thinking it’s the best of the other person, you’ll just end up hurting both.” and “I called you to tell you that. Just know that you can’t ever recover lost time.” and “It may look the same… but if the inside has changed… it hurts.” and “You can’t ask forgiveness to a person in your past… and say thank you.”

He also said, “Don’t… care too much about me. You might not hear from me from now on.” Which. ._. He sound so depressed, like he did at the end of Yoosung’s route, and his avatar went black again.

On a more cheerful note… Jaehee! Jumin appreciating Jaehee and saying thank you, and her expression when he does that! Jaehee getting a vacation! She’s just so happy, and that makes me happy for her. ♥ (Though, haha, afterwards I got a thought-bubble from her saying, “I don’t really like alcohol, but at a time like this I’d like to go drinking with a friend.”)

Elizabeth 3rd at Yoosung’s house missing Jumin hurts my heart. Though… I think both Unknown and Yoosung need to do a better job giving her water— she licked Yoosung’s hand at one point, and he said, “It feels as if some wet sandpaper just brushed my hand…”

I mean, I know he says “wet”, but in my experience, sandpaper feeling = not properly hydrated.

I did have to laugh at how Yoosung completely ignored Zen’s admonition to not, under any circumstances, bring Elizabeth 3rd to the party. I kind of hope he does, if only for the potential for at least one more cute Elizabeth 3rd & Jumin CG.

I feel like I’m forgetting something… but I went through all of my reminder screenshots, and I can’t think of what it might be, so I suppose I’ll end this here. Tomorrow’s the day of the party, so my next update will probably be over that + Jumin’s After Story (and maybe Yoosung’s After Story, as I’ve belatedly realized that I… didn’t do it, whoops.)