Just My Thoughts Pt. 28
Fairy Tail Manga Reread Version
Let’s dive right into the next arc: Phantom Lord. Honestly I loved how easily Mashima transitioned from the demonic island arc into this, shifting the focus from Gray to Lucy’s past. He does this for the next few arcs, giving glimpses of each main characters past (except for Natsu who we eventually get in the end).
In this particular scene, I really liked seeing a slight defeat for FT. I think it adds room to grow and understand what is prioritized in the guild. After Gramps injury, I liked how Erza took charge and did what was best for the team, even if it meant retreating. I think it shows her experience and battle skills since it will be beneficial for FT overall if less people are injured. Erza pleading for the members to leave is just so touching! She’s one of the strongest but at this moment she felt weak. I also like how the members are circulating around Gramps. They’re being very protective of him and I think it shows how valuable he is for them. Gramps is one of my favorite characters in the series because of how comforting he can be (although I don’t always like his perverted humor)
Simultaneously, I really enjoyed Natsu’s sharp hearing picking up Phantom Lords plans against Lucy. If he hadn’t, I wonder what would have happened to her. Would she have jumped since she mentioned that she heard Natsu? Anyway, I like how he becomes focused on getting her back even though it hasn’t been that long since they met. It really shows how their relationship has evolved and the importance she has in his life.
Until my next thought!!
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Give me my feral Albert: Adoption
I’ve never realized that the adoption of William and Louis differs between the anime and manga. It felt like the anime filled the gaps—vague plots—in the manga, but the more I crosscheck, the more I found differences. Once again, the anime tamed my feral Albert. How so? Let’s have a closer look.
In the anime, the adoption of an orphan revolved around the Earl Moriarty. It showed that the Earl was cornered to foster an orphan.
Duchess Pénières was a noble in a higher rank than Earl Moriarty. If he was questioned by the Duchess herself, in front of the society in the party, how could he say no? Though in this scenario, another question popped up in my mind: How come a noble such as the Duchess had the heart to foster an orphan, at that era where Albert despised literally everything in the world? Following the logic of the story, this was rather questionable. But then, it was an addition, anime only, background.
So let’s just continue. The conversation led the Earl to ask Albert to chose an orphan to bring home.
It was the Earl who took the initiative to foster an orphan, rather than Albert, even though he was forced to do it. It seemed like the idea of taking William and Louis home came to Albert’s mind because the Earl asked him to. He wouldn’t dare to actually ask William and Louis otherwise. At least, with the sequence of the scenes in episode 2, I myself interpreted it that way.
And this very interpretation, was a contrary to the manga.
Interestingly, the adoption revolved heavily around Albert's mother and the original William in the manga. We firstly learn about the adoption from the countess, when she lashed out to our William.
It didn’t say much yet, only that they were adopted, but noticed how full of hatred she was about our William calling her “Mother”. We get so much more about the adoption out of the original William.
Okay so, there were no hints of the Earl making a move to adopt an orphan. So far, the fact that William and Louis were adopted was because of Albert. He was the only one having the “noble” mind to come up with something so bizarre like adopting orphans. Obviously not the original William himself or the countess, but also not the Earl. So where was the Earl in the manga? He showed up a little.
We can see that the Earl was, like all other nobles at that time, hungry for a higher position in the system. He despised and avoid connections with people from the lower class. He based his actions as to whether it would benefit his position in nobility. He was not someone who would just agree to adopting an orphan from the lower class. So, the question now was: How did Albert actually manage his father to adopt not one, but two orphans from the lower class?
Two possible answers as of now.
First, as we’ve seen from the previous panel, Albert used the “noblesse oblige” to bring William and Louis home. He probably had a heated discussion with the Earl about it. I am leaning to think that the discussion was in private, because if the discussions were carried out with the whole family, can you imagine the countess’ reactions? Albert was clever enough to avoid something that will make his plan fail. However, discussing things only, wouldn’t make the Earl agree, I suppose. There must be something else…
My discussion with @hergan416 brought to light, the affair that the Earl was having. I don’t know how could I skip this fact, when it was explicitly there.
Now, this was something we don’t get from the anime either. And where would this bring us to? Did Albert know? Oh, I believe Albert knew. I mean, even the original William knew…
In the past, Albert had won the negotiation for his weekly visits to the orphanage before. Oh I believe this brought dispute before, since the Earl has the responsibilities of his children’s actions. Words spread fast, and what would others say when they see Albert went to the slums every week? Even if it was for charity.
Adoption was much bigger than just visitations though, so I guess Albert had to use a trump card for this. The affair. Did he threaten to leak the affair? Because even if it was probably a common practice, but it would struck the Earl’s position if publicized. Did he ask cooperation from the mistress to smooth out his plan? Because if it could increase the probability even just a little… I honestly don’t know, but I would like to think both?
He had the brain. He had the power and access. He had won against his father once, so I’d like to believe he had the courage too. It was not as big as his desire to get rid of people. It was only to bring two people to his house. I believe he would give it all. After he made the offer to William. After he found his way of salvation.
In the end, we see the adoption happening. Whatever he did, he succeeded. Maybe he asked for William’s assistance, maybe not. Didn’t really matter. But as you can see once again, Albert was not the lame teenager who just did as he was told as the anime showed. He didn’t bring William and Louis home because the Earl asked him to. He pushed the agenda to his father. He was taking the initiative. This is the Albert I know.
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Kuro anime in 2024
So... two blogs have messaged me today about this: there's gonna be new Black Butler anime in 2024....
I'm hoping it's "Book of Weston", or whatever they call it for the anime, though there seems to have been another change to the anime staff, because one of the blogs says the look of the animation has changed again.
Crunchyroll is apparently running teaser ads for it.
Guess we'll see... eventually.
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