Reaction Shots: D. Gray-man Ch. 200

[ivory_and_horn]

SO MANY THOUGHTS.

• The thing that jumped out at me the most was the fact that Kanda and Alma were sent to Mater, because of the juxtaposition that creates between the Ghost of Mater arc and this current...Kanda backstory arc. The two facts that stick out most are a) the fact that Lala is an artificial being animated by a piece of Innocence and b) that the story was about a deep relationship between a human being and an artificial creation. Oh, and c) that the Ghost of Mater arc included the idea of love including staying for your loved one as sie dies.
  
  All of those facts are interesting when applied to the Kanda/Alma relationship (whether you believe it to be platonic or romantic or just plain fucked up -- I lean towards the third option, myself). They aren't animated by innocence, but they are both certainly artificial beings who have existences that are, in a sense, defined by and predicated on the existence of their Innocences. They have the same artificial/real relationship thing going on but in slightly different permutations; there's Kanda --> Alma's predecessor, Alma <--> Kanda, Alma's predecessor <--> Kanda's predecessor (and Alma's predecessor --> Kanda??). It's not quite the same thing, but it's...about love between artificial beings, and this knot where "real" relationships -- that is to say, that of Alma and Kanda's predecessors -- intersect with "artificial" ones -- such as Kanda's search for the woman that he remembers having loved. So it's not really the same as Lala and Guzol, but the juxtaposition highlights these questions of real vs. artificial when it comes to love, which are interesting questions. And then of course there's the last point, which is mostly self-explanatory. It's a very...interesting.
  
  Mostly I just think the juxtaposition is interesting, I don't...have any unified thoughts about it. Other than the idea of these "dolls" (as I mentioned before about the porcelain-like cracking of Kanda's body in the last chapter) going to the place where we last saw a "doll" die. It's an interesting choice of location for Alma's death.
  
  
• Kanda's statement to see Alma off to the very end is also kind of intriguing because...Alma had just said that his soul(s? more on this later) deserved to be crushed by dark matter because of all the lives that he took. Even his hatred of the Black Order and the Second Exorcist project can't erase the body count he's left in the name of that hatred, it's like...he acknowledges his reasons, but that acknowledgement isn't...justification? The lives he took are still stolen lives, whatever reason he had for taking them. It's a perspective on his own actions that lacks arrogance and self-righteousness, both of which I think the Black Order has in spades. And yet, it's not quite a remorseful stance? I think Alma regrets the people he's killed, but he doesn't regret his hate. Or something.
  
  
• Though Kanda's last vision is sort of confusing. I thought Alma's soul was the lady's soul? Was the shot of the two of them walking off meant to imply that Alma was himself a distinct being/soul within that body -- that he had become, as it were, a real boy? That there were two selves at work? Was the lady in control when Allen saw her, or was that Alma soul in the lady's guise? Did they not split into distinct beings until the moment of death or was that meant to be ~metaphorical~? Why was Alma's soul-thingy in his child guise rather than his present age, unless it was meant to represent the physical age of his body in which case 9/10 would be about right...
  
  I'm so confused.
  
  
• One thing Hoshino is good at, or at least really works for me in her art style, is the horror of the Third Exorcists...just...the grotesqueness of their bodies is truly over the top, but at the same time contrasted with these little very human and non-monstrous touches that make the monstrous parts worse -- like Alma's head remaining, and his arm still ending in human hands, or Tokusa's head remaining a part of his akuma body and his hair still neatly in place while his eyes just bulge and stare in opposite directions, still dripping...are they tears or ichor? It's ambiguous. Are they signs that Tokusa is still inside that body somewhere, or just meaningless coincidence?
  
  
• Though some of Allen's lines in this chapter ("You aren't Alma. These are just Alma's cells. It's your body!") are quite intriguing because of that body horror/body ownership question. Because when you think about it, the Second and Third Exorcist projects were sort of about...taking ownership of bodies. The parasitic nature of most of the weapons involved makes the Exorcists' ownership of their bodies very interesting. Because on the one hand, parasitic Innocence is a part of the wielders' body; for all intents and purposes it is their body. But at the same time, the Black Order lays a claim of ownership or at least stewardship on all the Innocence they find. So do the body parts of Exorcists with parasitic-type Innocence belong to them, or to themselves? Leverrier thinks that Exorcists belong to the Black Order; during that arc where Lenalee re-syncs with her Innocence he even says that she'll always belong to the Order.
  
  In this chapter we see Allen trying to assert ownership of his own body and its abilities -- repeatedly, even, since when you think about it the Noah is like the ULTIMATE in having ownership of one's physical body and mind wrenched from you. So Allen's constant battle to push back the Fourteenth is sort of emblematic of that murky body-ownership space all parasitic-type wielders inhabit. Allen trying to get Tokusa to take control of his body back is more of the same; Allen can't really do anything other than believe it to be possible, because his own resolve to push back the Fourteenth is predicated on his belief that it is possible for him to assert and keep ownership of his body despite the various forces attempting to lay claim to it in his stead.
  
  ...Sometimes I think that hope is one of the most painful things to watch. Maybe because I'm a pessimist. I hope Allen is right about Tokusa, I think...that he needs to be right about Tokusa.
  
  
• It's interesting how despite his belief in the rightness of the Second and Third Exorcist projects, it's ultimately Allen who has the greatest faith in the strength of both projects' results. He's the one trying to bring them back from the brink, while Leverrier dismisses them as lost causes. Perhaps it's because he views Kanda, Alma, Tokusa, etc. as being more than disposable fighting units, the way Leverrier seems to.
  
  
• Pretty sure Link showing up is going to turn out to be him misunderstanding the situation but who knows? Maybe I'll turn out to be wrong.
  
  ___