the amount of fury this post incited in me was immense. i've never seen someone miss the point of an episode so hard so much that it made me so angry

no, i will not be linking to the post or providing a name. this is not about the person in question. this is about their horrendous take that i need to clear up and hopefully help other people realize that writing isnt just about a singular episode but how a character is written over a course of their ENTIRE ARC

there was no reason given in the episode for why he wanted to duel Yudias, other than "having the urge to."

i'm going to speak bluntly. have you seen the rest of go rush? have you actually watched the episodes themselves? have you realized that, for a majority of zwijo's character arc and motivations, he has been struggling eternally against the thought of free will vs fate? that he did not value his life because he was a pawn, and he has been constantly struggling against being controlled by ANYONE - not just the creator, but fate itself - for this whole series? did you think the dinois vs zwijo duel in the middle of kuaidul's space time was just... filler?

this duel has meaning because zwijo finally, for the first time in his life, not only felt alive, but because he was able to finally choose his own fate

HE decided when and how he should go. HE decided that he wanted to duel yuudias. it was HIS wish and his wish ONLY. THAT is what it made significant. it didn't have to be yuudias, it could've been anyone - the point of it was that zwijo MADE THAT CHOICE ON HIS OWN

the thing is all velgearians were ALREADY dying. the dudi ducasse, without even dueling, were already disappearing en masse. we knew all of their time was limited. way more limited considering zwijo was already on the verge of disappearing before he even began his duel with yuudias

what would you have him do? waste away into nothing? wait for his death patiently? do you understand zwijo as a character?

this person then goes on to state that this episode paled in comparison to............... kaiser vs. hell johan, because, uh

"There is a crucial difference however that made Ryo's death work and not feel like a suicide: he was duelling [sic] an ENEMY."

excuse me?

this is not even implying, this is outright STATING that zwijo's death held no meaning because it didn't... take down?? an enemy???? WHAT ENEMY? HE WAS ALREADY DYING.

not to mention that death can be meaningful without needing to serve the plot. zwijo's death served his character arc. it was the culmination of his struggles and suffering for the whole past two seasons of this show.

the POINT of his death was his CHOICE to do something NOT related to the plot

not ordained by fate, not because it serves a greater purpose. the point was his ability to CHOOSE - and by god, did you miss it

"the point [of zwijo valuing his life because it was no longer eternal] does not come through in this specific episode as much as it should"

makes me scream.

again. the point of his death was his choice to do something not related to the plot. it was his choice to do something trivial, to go out the way he wanted to instead of the way fate needed him to

"While Zwijo's time was established to be short, much like Ryo's or Valvelgear's was, it wasn't so short or so hopeless that choosing to duel or not duel Yudias would have been his final act"

yes it was? yes it was??

did you see the last episode? he was already losing limbs way before he even laid eyes on yuudias again. i'm so baffled and confused. he was LITERALLY DYING ALREADY

"Zwijo made an intentional choice and that choice was to die faster, seemingly because being alive as an "artificial being" caused him suffering"

no. oh my god, no.

i dont know how someone manages to contradict their own point later in their own post, but congratulations. you already correctly deduced that zwijo was happy because his life had an end. it finally made him feel alive and treasure his time. then this sentence smacks me from left field

again - he was already dying. he was dying before he got to yuudias. he chose to go out because he finally valued his life in a way that let him finally make a choice that has no plot meaning. the point is that it had no meaning to anyone but him. the point is that zwijo was not controlled by fate, the plot, the creator, or whatever any longer

"No other reasons for Zwijo's actions in this episode, actions that did nothing but speed up his own death, were given so I cannot see what he did here as anything other than knowingly suicidal."

i don't need to repeat myself again for the upteenth time. just reread my previous paragraphs, i beg of you.

"And I'm gonna be blunt: I don't think that's acceptable to put in a show whose target demographic is children. [...] It's something I find so reprehensible that it casts a shadow over the entire episode."

something i find even more reprehensible is somehow turning this into a morality debate as if kid's media has not dealt with suicide, death, and departures since we've had kid's media as a thing that existed.

the lion king, up, bambi, the land before time, old yeller, my girl, bridge to terabithia...... do i need to go on? because i can.

spinning this into some sort "children cant see people who are suicidal hoohoo" is actually the most morally reprehensible thing i've seen this entire post. pushing aside the fact that zwijo was NOT, in fact, suicidal, and the point has gone over your head...

children with mental illness DO exist. there ARE children as young as 11 or 12 who deal with suicidal thoughts or feelings. to pretend they dont, to sweep it under the rug and treat them silently, to make them feel unseen and unheard is the most morally reprehensible thing i have ever thought of. to think that being suicidal is not "kid friendly" is a laugh, as depressing as it is. watch "my girl" sometime

i'm done here

i think this is comparing apples and oranges.

sevens leaned into its characters heavily, and as a result, even though it wasnt as plot heavy, the comedy made the show work. we had a lot of beginning episodes dedicated to building characters. it was fun, it was goofy, it was surreal. the characters were great to see on screen because they had a lot of chemistry and they knew how to balance it

go rush, on the other hand, has not really leaned into its characters as much. the show basically hit the ground running in arc 1 in terms of plot, which set up different expectations for it than sevens. one prominent example i can point to is yuuhi. none of the gags with him feel funny to me, he really hasnt been built much (or at all), and i can only view him as a gag character.

in sevens, if there were comedy episodes between, or an arc lagged in the middle, i could at least still enjoy the show for character interactions. romin and luke had that whole part of arc 2 where they were just back and forth about romin "betraying" them

in go rush, i find myself not looking for character interaction as much, but developments in the plot. because that's what the show has conditioned. because it hit the ground running from arc 1. the whole thing with goha yuuna and sevens road magician was a huge highlight bc it was the first instance of actual plot stuff we got in a long while

if go rush takes some more time and episodes to properly give characters highlights (that arent yuudias or yuamu, because imo they are the only well-established main characters in the show), then i think it could start to actually lean back into the comedy to great success. right now, the comedy just isn't hitting the same, but the plot sure is