Love Bullet - Vol. 3 Ch. 16 - Loop 1

[UdenEmpati]

I mean Sae being a bully killed by one of her victims because she was generally awful would be the straight forward narrative here with what we see so far. The avenues for nuance beyond that would be in her clear obsession with planning out who is paired with whom, as she clearly has specific notions of what constitutes love and who she feels deserves it. Like she specifically curses that it has to be those two that fall in love leaving out any other possibility. So the "why" of that could be important, though not necessarily.

The way I read it, Sae stipulated the Curse on Touma & Ito getting together because Ena said that she knew them both from middle school.

I'd argue that it's less that Sae has specific opinions on who can love who and who's deserving, and more that she was pissed at Ena for speaking up (p.11 specifically), and when they fought and Ena overpowered her, Sae lost it, and effectively said "you think you know better than me? Then you have to get them together, something I couldn't do, and if you can't then you're stuck here forever". Sae saw it as impossible, and Cursed Ena to torment her for eternity.
Maybe I need another read-through to see if anything else Sae has said would indicate a rigid belief system around love and who deserves it, but everything I did find pointed to her feelings about it as they pertain to Ena, specifically, not a more general mindset. Granted, a lot of it was framed around Ena in the chapters themselves, but.

To the other bit - I think it's fine if the whole of Sae's character is she's just a bully. But she's also a Cupid--meaning that her life ended under similar circumstances as Kanna, and Ena, and all other Cupid. She was also murdered--and the other characters we've had stories fleshed out for imply that anyone of significance in the overall narrative will have themes of love and loss and heartbreak and regret and envy and all of that. So I'm mostly just wondering if something happened in Sae's past that lead her to being this way, or if there's some layer underneath the cruelty that betrays how hurt she is on the inside.

 

[onedumninja]

What too much of the color green does to a motherfucker, holy shit 0_0

Ena popping off on sae was awesome. Well deserved. If only it didn't have this freaky envy side-effect. Sae wouldn't have turned into a green goblin and cursed her, but being stuck as sae's lackey is arguably worse. At least ena has a chance to get away from her now.

Seems implied that sae went too far bullying when she was mortal and her victim slit her throat in retaliation for it. And unlucky for ena, she looks like the victim who ice'd sae. Could've also been an accident somehow but the tone of this chapter is so dark I'm assuming it was related to sae being an evil snake while alive. Only time will tell.

It's interesting that a cupid is allowed to bully humans without any consequences. Why would the goddess grant someone like sae the chance to be a cupid? And then when she predictably uses the position to abuse more victims, the goddess does nothing to stop it. It's hard to fathom why the goddess would be so negligent. Unless it's someone who has the same or similar power to the goddess that turned sae into a cupid for some nefarious reason.

What is the purpose of this whole cupid thing if there are no guardrails preventing misuse? Isn't that too risky? Why would cupid bullets make other cupids turn green with envy and crash out? How can a cupid cast a curse on another cupid?

Lot of questions building up here. I don't really care if we're not given answers for most of the questions. The drama and plot are fucking solid. Really loving ena's origin story. It's sad and painful but what she lacked in life that wounded her so deeply, she can find in the afterlife with 3 dorks who're letting the waves of the cupid sea lead them to their next cupid adventure. Ena can finally have people around her that care about her. Whether she wants them as allies, friends and or lovers (yuri is life) is up to her.

I need the next chapter asap <3

 

[DarkeLourd]

I'd argue that it's less that Sae has specific opinions on who can love who and who's deserving, and more that she was pissed at Ena for speaking up (p.11 specifically), and when they fought and Ena overpowered her, Sae lost it, and effectively said "you think you know better than me? Then you have to get them together, something I couldn't do, and if you can't then you're stuck here forever". Sae saw it as impossible, and Cursed Ena to torment her for eternity.
Maybe I need another read-through to see if anything else Sae has said would indicate a rigid belief system around love and who deserves it, but everything I did find pointed to her feelings about it as they pertain to Ena, specifically, not a more general mindset. Granted, a lot of it was framed around Ena in the chapters themselves, but.

Rather than being about love, I think it's just a narcissistic need for control. The way Sae has been trying to match up everyone in class for over a year and the specific manner in which she's been bullying Ena both before and after she died and became a cupid all read to me like they're about control. The big tell, as I see it, is how she thinks she's doing everyone a favor when she bullies Hasumi out of being in the class photo at the start of ch. 15.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Rather than being about love, I think it's just a narcissistic need for control. The way Sae has been trying to match up everyone in class for over a year and the specific manner in which she's been bullying Ena both before and after she died and became a cupid all read to me like they're about control. The big tell, as I see it, is how she thinks she's doing everyone a favor when she bullies Hasumi out of being in the class photo at the start of ch. 15.

I see your point in that.
The part of me that wants "tidiness" in stories hopes there's at least some genesis event or reason for whatever it is that motivates Sae--whether it's a need for control, bullying "because she's simply a bully", or some other motivation or impetus at play--but ultimately it's a guessing game until we get actual confirmation from the story progressing to the point it's all revealed.

 

[AgentKuga]

Cursing, being red, this is a demon right? a fallen angel?

 

[nnnn20430]

Wow Sae sure is an irredeemable bitch. Still I'm confused about her motivations, in page 16 she clearly lies about not knowing Ena will be saved by the goddess and turned into a cupid. As far as I understand everyone who never knew love gets saved by the goddess, and she would know that. Also the girl that killed Sae really just looks like Ena a few years younger idk.

 

[summoningthegl]

Man, this is so PEAK!

 

[Coongoon]

she's green for a horrid reason

 

[TanyaTheEvil]

Omg, it is finally back. I was so happy to see a chapter come out. Thanks for the chapter and translation

 

[bright_oceans]

thank you for the food 🙏

 

[DumFck]

kill her

 

[yuri444]

This peak peak i tell you is peak

 

[DJNebulous]

Rather than being about love, I think it's just a narcissistic need for control. The way Sae has been trying to match up everyone in class for over a year and the specific manner in which she's been bullying Ena both before and after she died and became a cupid all read to me like they're about control. The big tell, as I see it, is how she thinks she's doing everyone a favor when she bullies Hasumi out of being in the class photo at the start of ch. 15.

Yeah that was my read too. That she spent over a year creating specific pairings complete with a planning board implies some level of control complex or obsession about how she felt it was meant to play out.

 

[kiero13]

i forgot the fact that since sae became a cupid, it means she wanted to love and be loved too

now i want more of her flashback. was she truly a pos bully or was it all a misunderstanding of her character?

and damn. she became the source of her curse. i wonder if the fried chicken can go back once ena and the gang won over the curse?

 

[MsW0lf]

I mean Sae being a bully killed by one of her victims because she was generally awful would be the straight forward narrative here with what we see so far. The avenues for nuance beyond that would be in her clear obsession with planning out who is paired with whom, as she clearly has specific notions of what constitutes love and who she feels deserves it. Like she specifically curses that it has to be those two that fall in love leaving out any other possibility. So the "why" of that could be important, though not necessarily.

I think it’s all in her need to pair everyone up and control the dynamics of the group. I could see her as, not a bully per se, but as a class matchmaker who “knows” better than people who they should and shouldn’t go for. And then THAT meddling and narcissistic need for control is what led to the wrong people being matched and suddenly things went very VERY bad.

Best friends “perfect” for each other suddenly get together with her interference and they find that they aren’t and their entire friendship is ruined. A girl being paired with someone “perfect” only for them to be very VERY not. A pair of people she deems “not perfect” being torn apart because she thinks they don’t deserve each other. And all focussed on and obsessed over the love lives of everyone else. No wonder she never requited her own love and became a cupid. Especially if she herself doesn’t deem herself “perfect” for the person she loves…

 

[ritoshishino]

man, i haven't read this in so long i forgot there's some time fuckery going on with the cupid reincarnation
unless i missed something, sounds like Hasumi died in the landslide (but also is in the hospital???), the whole class moved on, Sugimoto died being killed by another girl, became Sae the cupid, went back in time and manipulated the situation to make sure Hasumi die, and then became Ena. That's really confusing lol
but that whole mag dump onto Sae is fucking deserved, gods that's satisfying

 

[zerio]

Damn, I thought Sae was secretly nice and would show it after Ena became a cupid. Turned out she's a selfish asshole all a long.

So, I guess she was a bully too when she was human, and she thought the life of bullying was perfect. Then when the victim killed her, she became a cupid and thought her perfect life was ruined. Fuck you.

And now she "lose" her life as a cupid and used her remaining power to trap Ena in a loop?

 

[UberNomad]

Yeah that was my read too. That she spent over a year creating specific pairings complete with a planning board implies some level of control complex or obsession about how she felt it was meant to play out.

She lost her life and now wanted to recreate an ideal class to "live" the rest of what she thinks was stolen from her. And those who don't go into the pods she invisioned for them are on her shit-list. Easy.

 

[MisterMemeDaddy]

It’s been 10,000 years…

 

[Prismatic-chan]

i hope they never try to show Sae in a positive light.
that's not gonna cut it, she needs to go like Mr. N did.