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ローゼンメイデン 
September 4, 2008 | 
13 Comments
That scene where Chrona is being molested by Ragnarok always brings the LULZ. That scene also suggests two possibilities. The first is that Chrona is a girl and that's why Ragnarok keeps harassing her. The second is that Ragnarok swings the other way. That's why it is keen to check out Chrona's phallic good down there. See? Either way, it's still full of LULZ. The question is, would you rather see Chrona as a guy, a girl, or a sexually ambiguous character like he/she has always been? Personally, I just want them to decide the character a gender and stick with it. I'm tired of having to remember not to call Chrona using gender-specific words. Moreover, I don't see the point of withholding her gender like this except for some occasional LULZ like this episode. If you've read the manga, has there been a situation where Chrona's non-disclosed gender ends up becoming a major plot point? Anyway, if I have to guess, I think Chrona is a girl.
Ragnarok is not happy when he finds out that Chrona has become friends with Maka, claiming that Chrona is his. Frustrated by the creature's harassment, Chrona decides to punch it. Ragnarok, however, is not angry with this treatment, thinking that Chrona is just trying to express his/her feeling. This, however, doesn't stop Ragnarok from sexually harassing Chrona by lifting his/her dress despite protestation from the later. Because of this, Chrona asks Maka and Soul to go ahead because he/she will take care of Ragnarok. Chrona, however, regrets the decision when Ragnarok becomes even more perverse. Meanwhile, Kid tells the sister that in order to defeat Asura, his father had to take off his corporeal envelope and seal Asura within. While thinking about the Kishin, Kid is suddenly attacked by a projectile coming from Free. Kid tries to use his gun to hit Free but the half human/werewolf seems immune against bullet, even pointing out that he's an immortal. After a few failure to attack the guy, Kid decides to perform Soul Resonance move on the guy. However, this attack also has no effect on Free.
To make things worse, Kid is starting to be distracted by the statues/ruins around him, thinking about how some of them don't look right, etc. Thankfullly for Patty and Liz, Black Star arrives in time in his usual grand style and knock Kid aside. This promptly snaps Kid back into reality. Black Star then starts to engage Free in a fight and although Free manages to dodge most of his attack, Black Star manages to slice the guy. When Free is not hurt at all, Kid becomes suspicious and decides to walk into Free. He quickly finds out that Free is just a holographic projection of his own self, which is standing on top of Jackson, the creature belonging to Eruka. They do this so they can continue walking into the sanctuary while stalling the kids. When the two reach the sanctuary, they are confronted by a vision of Asura coming after them and ripping off their skins. Eventually, however, the two realize that they simply hallucinated the entire horrific scene in their mind. When they regain their mind back, they find out that they've been pointing sharp objects at their own neck like they're about to commit suicide.
Impression
I can't believe that even after experiencing those horrific hallucination, Free and Eruka decide to free the Kishin anyway. In reality, even criminals will think twice before unleashing something that can also potentially harm them. It's just survival instinct that exists in every human being. I guess Eruka has no choice since she'll be dead if she goes against Medusa's order but I can't remember why Free decides to tag along as well. At any rate those encounter with Asura scenes were awesome in that horrific kind of way. I thought the animators would have to censor them but I'm glad to see it shows up in all of its gory details. What I don't understand is why they're not pointing the weapons at their face when it's that very area that they thought got devoured by Asura. As for other parts of the episode, it's interesting to see Shinigami-sama's previous look during Kid's narration. He looks a lot more vicious than the persona he's been using as the headmaster of the school. I wonder if there's more to him than the good guy persona that we've seen so far. One has to wonder at the very least about the technique that he used to imprison Asura. Stripping someone's skin sounds a rather nasty thing to do regardless of the reason.
Preview
Next: Chibi Stein
I think Free feels obligated to help Medusa and Eruka since they sprung him from Witch Jail. I'd probably feel the same.
Eruka will die is she doesn't do it, so either way i think i'll try my best to live longer
Free might think that creature is dangerous, but he is immortal anyways, so it doesn't concern him.
I loved the scene when Ragnarok is harasing Chrona LOLZ, and then it was like " go on without me I'll handle him" and the next second is " Help Me!!"
The last part when Eruka and Free are atacked by the madness were really freaky [and frightening] can't wait and see the story of Spirit and Stein
>>"If you've read the manga, has there been a situation where Chrona's non-disclosed gender ends up becoming a major plot point?"
Nope, not yet. It's always been kind of a non-issue, outside of Patty calling attention to it a few episodes ago. And it's still up in the air as of the current chapter. In this episode we see the closest thing so far to pointing her gender one way or the other, and that's Ragnarok trying to see her pantsu. If you're looking for answers, unfortunately it doesn't get any better than this.
I vote female as well, by the way. The dress was one thing that could honestly go either way, but the Ragnarok/pantsu thing really leans it toward the female side, for me at least.
Look at it this way, though. Either way, "It's a trap!" ^_^
>>"If you've read the manga, has there been a situation where Chrona's non-disclosed gender ends up becoming a major plot point?"
It's actually going to be disclosed real soon when Medusa fights Stein and Spirit. At least, I think that's what happened in the manga. Anyways, Medusa and Chrona have a twisted relationship.
LOL, I never thought about Chron's sexuality in this episode, but dang, you are right! It is LULZ either way! About Shinigami being fishy, I'm not sure if he is a good guy/bad guy, but I think there are lot of things that he hasn't told Kid yet and some of them, questionable acts. Anyways, I can't really get excited for the next episode because Stein and Maka's dad are both my least favorite characters. What's there to talk about anyways? That Stein was a psycho(he still is...) and Maka's dead was a crybaby(he still is!) ;p
I love tat part in the manga lol
Eruka is afraid of Medusa n Free is just grateful for being liberaded from the prison plus I think his witch part enjoys a lil anarchy as well and pluc he cant die so its all an eh for him. Chances are even after this is all over he will still be alive no matter wat lol. I can't wait to see the Kishin he is cool. Ripping off of skin sounds extremely painful lol.
I'm hoping Eruka and Free don't die, and get some little bit of peace, I like them, especially poor little Eruka.... Those horror scenes at the end were nasty.
Chrona's referred to with mostly female pronouns so I'd be inclined to say that Chrona is female.
Shinigami is a weird one for characterisation. His present casual attitude and previous cruelty (the skin thing is undeniably brutal) both seem genuine in their own way.
At the moment, I would guess he is just willing to do whatever it takes to protect his city and order of the world, but it's also becoming very clear in the manga that
Shinigami messed up, and now his city including his Techs, students and his own son are paying for it.
@Garten: You saw this form of Shinigami a few Episodes ago (Nr. 19), did you already forget? ^^
And nobody said that they still want to free him, no one said that after tha illusions and in the Preview you didn't see that too, so maybe they change the Plan.
What really wonders me is why Shinigami doens't have a Guard for the Kishin. I mean he had followers back then so he didn't even have to tell someone of the Kishin. He could make one of his former followers guarding the Kishin, or are they all dead?
And what does the red demon mean with "is it already that time" does he mean the Kishin or something even more dangerous because of the Black Blood, which even Medusa didn't know?
Ah, I'm also happy that the directors left the part with Eruka and Free being devoured untouched. I was actually a little bit scared, but in a good way.
I AM guessing that Chrona is a girl and I wish we would see more of Shinigami-sama's old form because its so hard core!
I could've sworn in the manga Medusa said that Chrona was her daughter. Also, she wore a dress when she was a kid, and what she's wearing now is a dress as well (doesn't really look like it, but it is).
I haven't watched Soul Eater in a while, must watch!
I'm probably reading way the hell too much into this, but I think the writer may have made Chrona genderless on purpose, as a visual cue to show how totally unformed they are. One of the first things you decide about a new person is what gender they are, and you can probably think of dozens of jokes and stories and pictures where the entire point is that some person looks like gender A, but is actually gender B. Now why we should care is a deep subject, but part of it is that we need that information to decide who a person is and what they're like. Or if the person is you, it's one of the first things you consider when you decide what you yourself are like. Are you girly, are you boyish, are you a little of this and a little of that? What are you like and what do you want?
Now, consider Chrona. Here is a being with practically no sense of self at ALL. They're a tool, they don't know who they are or what they're like. Ask them what they want, and they'll just give you a blank look. It's not that they don't fit neatly into one gender or the other, or are possibly 50/50 or 70/40 in terms of identity--there IS no identity to have. The poor little kid is too subsumed in duty and demonic possession to have ever thought that far.
Or, maybe I'm nuts and she's just skinny. :)
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