The Princess of Sylph - Vol. 3 Ch. 14 - Tuberose (2)
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If there's something I find consistently praiseworthy about this manga, other than everything, it's the no-nonsense approach Sara and Natalia have towards each other. Sara knows Enna's threats are empty and Natalia would never abandon her, and Natalia surely isn't about to go 3 months without her nunwife.
Tania took a backseat this chapter but still got an impressive amount of characterization: highly perceptive, picking up on every little detail with Sara and noticing Enna immediately, intelligent enough to piece together Sara and Natalia's relationship, and of course superhumanly acrobatic. She's playing nice but we know she's part-antagonist and that's a dangerous combination of talents.
I'm also glad to see her nudging Sara and Natalia together after recognizing Sara's possessiveness, cutely stuffing her words back in her mouth. Of course every princess has their own pair but I was a little concerned things would end up too Sara-centric with both Tania and Snake Princess showing interest in her. Though I'm curious to see where the real Tania lies, between how friendly she is this chapter and the sociopathic fight lover Kamejiro sometimes depicts her as.
Snake Princess also got a big character moment despite her minor appearance. Spoiler from Kamejiro's twitter:
There's some not-so-recent tweets about Snake Princess being the heir to an esteemed noble family that fell into ruin and now struggles to get by. The girl she's paired with, the monk, is meant to be a commoner who found her way into wealth and prestige to contrast her. It would explain why Snake Princess clings to her godlike status and is so concerned with the people's faith.
That probably wouldn't be developed more for a long time however.
Another minor detail: the plaza from chapter 2 was represented again, those same benches and stairs shown in new detail. It gives Ventfleur a greater sense of place.
Chapter 15 will be the end of volume 3 and you can expect it to be sufficiently climactic. Natalia and Tania should finally meet, Tania might somehow realize Sara has the sword, but most of all I expect Natalia to immediately go back on her word to Snake Princess and make her relationship with Sara semi-public. Sara being thrust into the public eye sets us up for things to come, and it likely won't be long before the walls start failing.
Now to talk about the heart of this arc. It always felt like we weren't getting the full picture of Sara's banishment - and we still aren't - but now she allegedly sexually assaulted someone she was meant to be healing. Likely a warped understanding of what really happened, but I did suspect at the very least it was something to do with Sara being a lesbian.
Enna's reaction in chapter 13 to overhearing Sara sharing a bed with Natalia wasn't shock/disbelief but disgust, like she knew just what to expect. And in 12 Sara was uncomfortable sleeping with Natalia not because of her own feelings, but whether Natalia was okay letting her guard down with her. In fact Sara's never been confused about her feelings; she simply struggles to admit she likes Natalia that way.
All this points to Sara being conscious she's gay, having a history being gay, yet being ashamed of her attraction.
Shame has always been key to Sara's character. In the original she was uncomfortable with intimacy despite wanting it, from the combination of her noble upbringing + status as a nun both beating into her that sexual desire is wrong. She's always been the "shame of the Lumiere family" from her abusive father's perspective, which likely hasn't changed from the tiny mention of her father back in chapter 5.2. Though one detail is missing so far: her struggles to meet her father's impossible standards and how she projects that onto Natalia's family obligations.
Saying all that however, I think there's an important distinction this arc: Sara doesn't seem to have been ostracized for being gay. Being gay itself isn't the issue Enna brings up. It's that her desires mixed with her family's holy work.
Homosexuality actually seems fairly accepted in the land of wind? There's been more than enough cases of women openly attracted to Natalia, from the drunk this chapter to a girl among the marriage hopefuls in ch3. Enna doesn't exactly condemn Sara for it, and the way Tania explains homosexuality is outlawed in the land of fire seems to suggest that's not universal.
Can't say for sure yet. But I think this paints a path for Sara's development that's hopefully more satisfying than the usual endless will-they-won't-they. Both Sara and Natalia recognize their feelings for each other and have a habit of disregarding anything that gets between them. So I expect they'll become a couple sooner rather than later, while needing to slowly work through Sara's trauma over intimacy. I know, bold prediction when a good chunk of the twitter extras deal with just that.
Tania took a backseat this chapter but still got an impressive amount of characterization: highly perceptive, picking up on every little detail with Sara and noticing Enna immediately, intelligent enough to piece together Sara and Natalia's relationship, and of course superhumanly acrobatic. She's playing nice but we know she's part-antagonist and that's a dangerous combination of talents.
I'm also glad to see her nudging Sara and Natalia together after recognizing Sara's possessiveness, cutely stuffing her words back in her mouth. Of course every princess has their own pair but I was a little concerned things would end up too Sara-centric with both Tania and Snake Princess showing interest in her. Though I'm curious to see where the real Tania lies, between how friendly she is this chapter and the sociopathic fight lover Kamejiro sometimes depicts her as.
Snake Princess also got a big character moment despite her minor appearance. Spoiler from Kamejiro's twitter:
There's some not-so-recent tweets about Snake Princess being the heir to an esteemed noble family that fell into ruin and now struggles to get by. The girl she's paired with, the monk, is meant to be a commoner who found her way into wealth and prestige to contrast her. It would explain why Snake Princess clings to her godlike status and is so concerned with the people's faith.
That probably wouldn't be developed more for a long time however.
Another minor detail: the plaza from chapter 2 was represented again, those same benches and stairs shown in new detail. It gives Ventfleur a greater sense of place.
Chapter 15 will be the end of volume 3 and you can expect it to be sufficiently climactic. Natalia and Tania should finally meet, Tania might somehow realize Sara has the sword, but most of all I expect Natalia to immediately go back on her word to Snake Princess and make her relationship with Sara semi-public. Sara being thrust into the public eye sets us up for things to come, and it likely won't be long before the walls start failing.
Now to talk about the heart of this arc. It always felt like we weren't getting the full picture of Sara's banishment - and we still aren't - but now she allegedly sexually assaulted someone she was meant to be healing. Likely a warped understanding of what really happened, but I did suspect at the very least it was something to do with Sara being a lesbian.
Enna's reaction in chapter 13 to overhearing Sara sharing a bed with Natalia wasn't shock/disbelief but disgust, like she knew just what to expect. And in 12 Sara was uncomfortable sleeping with Natalia not because of her own feelings, but whether Natalia was okay letting her guard down with her. In fact Sara's never been confused about her feelings; she simply struggles to admit she likes Natalia that way.
All this points to Sara being conscious she's gay, having a history being gay, yet being ashamed of her attraction.
Shame has always been key to Sara's character. In the original she was uncomfortable with intimacy despite wanting it, from the combination of her noble upbringing + status as a nun both beating into her that sexual desire is wrong. She's always been the "shame of the Lumiere family" from her abusive father's perspective, which likely hasn't changed from the tiny mention of her father back in chapter 5.2. Though one detail is missing so far: her struggles to meet her father's impossible standards and how she projects that onto Natalia's family obligations.
Saying all that however, I think there's an important distinction this arc: Sara doesn't seem to have been ostracized for being gay. Being gay itself isn't the issue Enna brings up. It's that her desires mixed with her family's holy work.
Homosexuality actually seems fairly accepted in the land of wind? There's been more than enough cases of women openly attracted to Natalia, from the drunk this chapter to a girl among the marriage hopefuls in ch3. Enna doesn't exactly condemn Sara for it, and the way Tania explains homosexuality is outlawed in the land of fire seems to suggest that's not universal.
Can't say for sure yet. But I think this paints a path for Sara's development that's hopefully more satisfying than the usual endless will-they-won't-they. Both Sara and Natalia recognize their feelings for each other and have a habit of disregarding anything that gets between them. So I expect they'll become a couple sooner rather than later, while needing to slowly work through Sara's trauma over intimacy. I know, bold prediction when a good chunk of the twitter extras deal with just that.
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Enna feels a bit too cartoonish for my taste but it's not super out of place. A bit surprising that the snake princess has all this time to be around for another country's politics too. Looking forward to this'll all shake out. Thanks for the chapter!
Sara's face in page 3 and page 10 is absolute gold XD
is the Water Princess jealous lol?
I'm glad we're slowly learning more about Sara's past. Though I'm hoping someone bitch-slap this asshole first, and/or demote her.
thanks for the chapter!
is the Water Princess jealous lol?
I'm glad we're slowly learning more about Sara's past. Though I'm hoping someone bitch-slap this asshole first, and/or demote her.
thanks for the chapter!
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Enna: Angry ranting.
Sara: Ok.
Utterly destroyed.
Sara: Ok.
Utterly destroyed.
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I fucking love Sara, she has such a strong mind that doesn't go along with bullshit
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thank you for the chapter.
i'm mildly concerned about this, given that this is one of my favorite series at the moment and that i am very uncomfortable with those types of themes.
is this an allegation in the original text? i can't find anything that would suggest this in the wording used in this chapter. the closest i've found is "beastly nature," which could mean various other things.
i'm mildly concerned about this, given that this is one of my favorite series at the moment and that i am very uncomfortable with those types of themes.
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At the bottom of page 30 Enna says Sara touched someone sexually under the excuse of healing them, that she's literally "the embodiment of lust." This isn't in reference to Sara and Natalia. It kind of gets lost in how hectic the end of the chapter is.
But again, Enna's extremely biased and probably heard this secondhand. There's a number of situations I can think of that make it more sympathetic. For example, Sara might have simply been using "healing" as an excuse to visit her girlfriend at the time, but given her pedigree this would have been enough to disgrace her family. I'd be shocked if Sara did anything truly wrong. She's very much the "heart of gold down on her luck" archetype.
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Sara just "Okay boomer..." the girl. For real though, she's so intent on destroying Sara's réputation, she left a good citizen to die. It's always the religious ones.
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While I joked about her the last chapter, Enna has to be dealt with. She's too malicious and nothing short of some good old lifetime imprisonment will fix her at this point. But this is not that kind of manga, so I am all expectation!
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter!
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she’s winning the idgaf war
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OH NO SHE'S HOTI LOVE HER!!!!
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Nothing pisses a person off more than when they're angry but you're not.
