Ah, "Just because I control the power of darkness doesn't mean I'm the Villainess!"
the fandom went APESHIT when she was "balanced out" with light magic and de-darkened in the finale. Even Japanese fans and the fucking scanlators were scandalized by the change.
Ah that one was hilarious.
Alternate title: "That time I was the daughter of a light skinned family but was blessed by the spirit of darkness and had my appearance changed to dark hair and a permanent tan, then had my original appearance halfway/mostly restored when blessed by the spirit of light(negating original appearance change), but then readers of my story had a meltdown and it was recolored like it never happened without rewriting the story so now part of the story makes no sense."
Such a glorious mess by everyone involved. The author for stupidly using skin color as part of a plot device in the setup(effectively treated as a curse), and using the same plot device again later(walking right into a trap they set for themself). Readers for obsessing over skin tone on both sides, injecting reality into the narrative.
(Of course if it were not for her appearance having originally been changed from what it originally was in the beginning and light spirit blessing didn't undo an existing change, I think people could be reasonably upset)
The only thing to make this even more entertaining to watch, would be having a version(or entirely different story by someone else on a similar concept) where everything was reversed, and there would be almost no outrage since the outrage wasn't based on a universal principle but largely based on the concept in reality(which is considered offensive in one direction by many).
Meanwhile all of this could've been avoided if author just had MC hair/eye color change(both times), and nobody would be upset at either time the change occurred. Even if Mangaka tried to go middle of the road, like a Shouto Todoraki half and half from MHA, it could've worked out better. Or maybe make it where the appearance changes based on the season/time of day and her connection with either spirit is stronger.(which honestly could've worked really well with the theme of how people began to treat her different when her appearance changed and further solidify those who love her regardless of how she looks(doesn't matter whether pale or tan or anywhere in between).
The moral of the story is that people who treat others differently for looking different are shitty, and people who change their tune and bootlick when someone's appearance changes are even worse. We should treat people the same regardless of their appearance, not any more special or less special because of it.
