I love this comment!! I think it's spot on, but i just wanted to add my perspective if you don't mind!
I don't think that M did look for another young demon to surpass him. J did it because he truly felt lonely and somewhat scared/apathic after Wald died, but Makoto never felt the need to be surpassed! J was in love with Wald and i feel like he also felt guilty about ending him, while M was just straight up obsessed with J.
Love, hate, respect, obsession: in the end the only thing he always ever strived to have was J in every form. J dying and cursing him was just another tie between them. To me, M went to the slums looking for someone bc that's what J did, rather than because he felt the need to. He did just what he was supposed to, following J footprints. Realizing it didn't bring him any closer to J had him down again, but Fjord was able to get him motivated again just by mentioning J (and he said so himself). Everything J did was because of true loneliness, everything M did was because of J!
It's a bittersweet ending, but i feel like it's also perfect, because we can see that M personality and true drive is still the same, the only thing that changed is the way he's trying to get closer to J.
Of course this is just the way i feel abt it and i may be completely wrong, but i loved your comment and just wanted to add my piece to it!! <3
Noo, I love your stance on this, honestly, I am super media-illiterate and love to see replies with better understanding of the story hahaha
thanks for the reply (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Thank you for sharing, I finished it all last night and my head is reeling. I needed to read other people’s perspective, because there are sooooo many layers to this story to unpack.
I have a question for you though. What do you think Wald’s regret is? Why did his shade remain behind?
Also, Jonathan mentioned at what point if Makoto can “undo wald’s curse.”
Was Jonathan really hoping that Makoto would surpass himself? Or was he hoping that Makoto would only surpass Wald for Jonathan? make Jonathan forget about Wald and make jonathan love Makoto instead? Both scenarios would free Jonathan.
I think this story is about loss. Everybody lost. Wald, Jonathan and Makoto. Truly, love is a demon’s ruin, and we have not seen it reciprocated at all throughout. Even between Datenshou and S. Datenshou is in love with Jonathan, not S.
I find the theme ironic given the whole reason Makoto started this journey is that he wanted to be free from the world and his psychotic desires. It’s like even after all that character progression and plot, Makoto is back to square one. Nobody understood him but Jonathan, and Jonathan is now gone.
I love your thoughts,
and to answer your question,
I am also unsure... part of my unsure-ity stems from my forgetfulness lolol. I don't know if it's because I read the new chapters out in one go, or if it's because I haven't read any of the older chaps since around a year ago (happy new year!!) haha
Perhaps Wald felt regret for even picking the child, Jonathan, up from the streets, knowing it would only end wrongly, considering love for demons never ends well. I think Wald knew he would grow to love Jonathan, considering how overindulgent he was. I think that's also why he didn't want Jonathan to touch him, so the love wouldn't deepen
No demon wants to become weaker or "die," but demons, ironically, still depict humanly desires
Though, that was mostly what I was able to take from what I've read, what you think is probably more in depth... (づ￣ ³￣)づ
What I think Jonathan subconsciously wanted was for someone to, somewhat, replace Wald
That's why he kept picking up little apprentices here and there, who subsequently failed.
When Makoto came, and demonstrated strength and perseverance, whose wish was to literally eat Jonathan, it peaked his interest
Finally, Jonathan thought, someone capable to... to what? I don't think Jonathan really knew himself
I agree with what you said, of how the story is about loss. But I also think it can also be about overcoming tribulations... while Jonathan suffered in the centuries Wald was gone, once he was faced with his past, because of the incense given to him by Makoto, he was able to grow stronger, in a way, he was able to break the curse and understand more, I think..............hmm...
Still not content with this, he waited for Makoto to become more powerful than him, and maybe because he felt he shouldn't go down too easily, he played around with Makoto after the 100 years had passed (ie breaking his horn and such)
Didn't Jonathan finally overcome everything, finally free himself from the underworld and his persistent guilt, once he uttered Makoto's name?
Makoto suffered, and still is suffering, but he is growing from it, and soon will, someday, be in Jonathan's position.
Love may be a demon's worse weakness, their undoing, but it is what also teaches them growth, considering their hedonistic tendencies
Really, I don't know... I think being a demon itself just guarantees pain and suffering, regardless of whether there is love or not
Maybe love acts as the catalyst in one's life and finally teaches them what their self-indulgent, gluttonous choices from before couldn't, that they can truly lose somebody
This story makes my head twirl, I only wonder how intelligent the author must be to conjure all of this up lol
But take what I've said with the tiniest granule of salt, I'm a little embarrassed as even I am unsure with my own thoughts and interpretations, hahahahahahaha
No no, I really appreciate hearing your take on it. this is seriously what keeps the story from being gratuitously violent: The many layers that are open to interpretation. I loved reading your take on it, as it’s almost like rereading the work in a new light. I think I’ll be revisiting this manga in a few months. I think the gore and depravity were mostly allegory: I keep returning to what Makoto said… how terribly human these demons were at their core.
I totally agree (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
I don't know how to feel, at all
I'm just flabbergasted...
I genuinely don't know what I expected but it wasn't this,
while being incredibly well-written, I do feel that it was definitely bittersweet and, personally, would not reread lololol, my therapist will be hearing about you jesus
I guess, all in all, Jonathan just really wanted to be freed, really wanted to have somebody know him and surpass him, just so he could succumb to them, pay off his debts to Wald
Even now I don't know if J really loved Makoto. He released himself from the curse, and admitted to loving Makoto once. However, Makoto knew that it wasn't true, that he was never loved once by J
So are we supposed to take Makoto's word? I guess it makes the most sense, and Jonathan could have been trying to throw Makoto off?
I would have loved to see more of J's background? I feel like everything just happened, and while I definitely felt the tension, I wasn't truly able to feel, like, the emotion? is that dumb? the author def did an amazing job, but I didn't really develop an emotional connection to any of the characters beside Makoto and J, which could be mainly a me-problem
I don't know how I feel about Makoto taking in someone, much like how Wald took in J and J took in Makoto, it seems, just a little, contrived, in my opinion? After reading all of this and reaching the final chap. with him in the slums, I could just predict that, oh, he is probably trying to find someone like J that he can project himself on and hope that one day that boy will surpass him
Though, I do get it? Being that powerful can only last for so long, and you will always want for more. More being, destruction, something different, the end
I only know that that boy he picked up may be one of many, or the final key into ending his life
Will he join J in whatever twisted afterlife there is afterwards? Is there such a thing?
Truth be told, this artist inspires my art, I love just everything about it